“I’m afraid it is impossible, Long Hair,” he replied in his own tongue. “You see that there is a zigzag path cut in the face of the cliff up to that ledge. In some places, as you can see, the rock is cut away altogether and the path is broken. They must have ladders to cross these breaks, and no doubt they would draw them up at once if they were attacked. You see that the lower ones have already been pulled up. “Likely enough, sentries are posted at each of those breaks whenever they are threatened with an attack. Besides, we must remember that our first aim is not to attack, but to rescue Red Cloud. If they thought there was any risk of our getting up, they would almost certainly kill him without waiting for the feast of Toshak.” “I understand all that, Eagle Eye,” replied Buffalo Bill, “and I have no idea that we could make our way up by that zigzag path. The question is, could the cliff be climbed elsewhere? The other end of the ledge would be the best point to get up at, for any watch that they might be keeping would certainly be where the steps of this path come down to the ground.” Eagle Eye looked doubtful. “Unless a man could fly, Long Hair, there would be no way of getting up there.” “I don’t know about that,” the border king responded, carefully scanning the cliff. “Wait till I have had a good look at it.” For a long while he gazed intently at the cliff, observing even the most trifling projections, the tiny ledges that ran here and there along its face. “It would be a difficult job and a dangerous one,” he muttered presently, “but I am not sure that it cannot be done. At any rate, I shall try. When I was a boy one of my favorite sports was cliff climbing, and there was nobody who could beat me at it, Eagle Eye. “Do you see, just in the middle of that ledge, where the large square entrance to the principal cave is, that the cliff bulges outward? That is lucky, for if there are any sentries on the steps of the zigzag path, they will not be able to see round that point. If they could, I would not have much chance of getting up, for it will be a bright, moonlight night. “When I get to the ledge, if I do get there, I will lower down a rope. You can fasten the lariats of your braves together to make that rope; they will hold the weight of a dozen men easily. The lightest and most active of the warriors must come up first, and when two or three of them have mounted the ledge we can haul the rest of them up easily. “Now you can leave me and see that the rope is made ready, and tell your braves what I propose. I shall be here for half an hour at the least. I must see exactly the way to climb and calculate the number of feet along each of those little ledges to the point where I can reach the big one above. I must have the whole thing well in my mind before I start to climb.”