re
guess or the dropping of stones. A private of pioneers remembered the
formula for that--or else remembered part of it and obligingly invented
the remainder. I had never any real confidence in that formula; and even
had we got it from a book, there were difficulties in the way of the
application that might have daunted Archimedes. We durst not drop any
considerable pebble lest the sentinels should hear, and those that we
dropped we could not hear ourselves. We had never a watch--or none that
had a second-hand; and though every one of us could guess a second to a
nicety, all somehow guessed it differently. In short, if any two set
forth upon this enterprise, they invariably returned with two opinions
and often with a black eye in the bargain. I looked on upon these
proceedings, although not without laughter, yet with impatience and
disgust. I am one that cannot bear to see things botched or gone upon
with ignorance; and the thought that some poor devil was to hazard his
bones upon such premises revolted me. Had I guessed the name of that
unhappy first adventurer, my sentiments might have been livelier still.

The designation of this personage was indeed all that remained for us to
do; and even in that we had advanced so far that the lot had fallen on
Shed B. It had been determined to mingle the bitter and the sweet; and
whoever went down first, the whole of his shed-mates were to follow next
in order. This caused a good deal of joy in Shed B, and would have
caused more if it had not still remained to choose our pioneer. In view
of the ambiguity in which we lay as to the length of the rope and the
height of the precipice--and that this gentleman was to climb down from
fifty to seventy fathoms on a pitchy night, on a rope entirely free, and
with not so much as an infant child to steady it at the bottom, a little
backwardness was perhaps excusable. But it was, in our case, more than a
little. The truth is, we were all womanish fellows about a height; and I
have myself been put, more than once, _hors de combat_ by a less affair
than the rock of Edinburgh Castle.

We discussed it in the dark and between the passage of the rounds; and
it was impossible for any body of men to show a less adventurous spirit.
I am sure some of us, and myself first among the number, regretted
Goguelat. Some were persuaded it was safe, and could prove the same by
argument; but if they had good reasons why some one else should make the
trial, the