an answering
bray.

"It's pretty hard lines on that jackass," said Young, "leaving him
behind down there. But he might be left in a worse place, after all."

I could perceive that Pablo was stirred by uneasy thoughts of the
separation that now so clearly must take place between him and his dear
friend; and he looked wistfully along the path across the mountain to
the westward--cut and smoothed so that it was an easy path to go on--and
evidently thought how simple a matter it would be for El Sabio to travel
on with us if only once he were up the stair. But he did not speak, and
I hoped that he was nerving himself to bear manfully this sore trial.
For the rest of us, we had but one thought: to get our packs up the
stair-way as quickly as possible--and at its quickest this work would be
slowly and painfully done--and then once more go forward. Just as we
turned to descend again an eagle came sailing slowly towards
us--evidently without fear of us--and Rayburn was so fortunate as to
bring him down with a pistol-shot. We tossed him over the edge of the
cliff; and a famous breakfast we made on him when we returned into the
valley again. I can't say that I would have much stomach for so dirty a
bird now, but I certainly did think that eagle most delicious eating
then.

The hearty meal that we made on him strengthened us mightily, and we
went to work with a will at getting our traps up the stair. With our
pack-ropes we hauled the various articles first into the little room at
the stair-foot, and then toilsomely carried them to the heights above.
Saving only that this work did not blister my hands, it was worse than
the building of the raft had been; and all of us, using in climbing and
in descending the stair certain muscles which normally are not brought
often into play, found our legs so stiff and sore for the next day or
two that walking gave us very lively pain.

It was as this heavy work went slowly forward that Pablo said to me,
speaking in an insinuating and deprecating tone: "Up a stair such as
this is, senior, the Wise One would bound like a deer."

I did not call in question Pablo's simile, for I knew that the boy's
heart must be very sad. Laying my hand kindly upon his shoulder, I
answered in a way to show that I was truly sorry for him: "The Wise One
will lead a happy life, Pablo, in this beautiful valley--where nothing
can do him harm, and where he will have an abundance of water and of
rich fresh grass. Up