tirrup to support the body, while one arm would
hug the pole, leaving the other free to push forward the runner by short
gradations. In this way each was to work himself across. Their guns,
and the few other things, were to be tightly strapped to their backs.
They had only those that were worth bringing along. As for Fritz, he
was not to be left behind, although the transporting him across had
offered for some time a serious difficulty. Ossaroo, however, had
removed the difficulty by proposing to tie the dog up in a skin and
strap him on his (Ossaroo's) own back, and thus carry him over. It
would be nothing to Ossaroo.

In less than half-an-hour after the bridge was in its place, the three
were ready to cross. There they stood, each holding the odd-looking
stirrup in his hand, with his _impedimenta_ strapped securely on his
back. The head of Fritz, just showing above the shoulder of the
shikarree, while his body was shrouded in a piece of shaggy yak-skin,
presented a very ludicrous spectacle, and his countenance wore quite a
serio-comical expression. He seemed quite puzzled as to what was going
to be done with him.

Ossaroo proposed crossing first; and then Caspar, brave as a lion, said
that he was the _lightest_, and _ought_ to go _first_. Karl would not
listen to either of them, Karl alleged that, as he was the builder of
the bridge, by all usage it was his place to make trial of it. Karl
being the Sahib of the party, and, of course, the man of most authority,
carried his point.

Stepping cautiously to the point where the pole rested on the ice, he
looped the rawhide rope over it, and then suffered the yoke to drop
down. He then grasped the pole tightly in his arms, and placed his feet
firmly in the stirrup. For a moment or two, he pressed heavily upon the
latter, so as to test its strength, while he held on by the beam above;
and then, disengaging his left arm, he pushed the runner forward upon
the pole, to the distance of a foot or more. This, of course, carried
the stirrup along with it, as well as his feet; and then, throwing
forward the upper part of his body, he swung himself out above the
abyss.

It was a fearful sight, even to those who watched him, and would have
been too perilous a feat for idle play; but the very nature of their
circumstances had hardened them to undergo the danger.

After a time, Karl was far out from the ice, and seemed to hang upon a
thread between heaven and earth!