He pointed, as he spoke, towards a long thin rope thrown across from one cliff to the other. On getting up to it we found the bridge--for so it might be called--consisted of a long rope made of hides, the ends secured by stakes driven into the earth; to this a sort of basket was suspended, with two smaller ropes fastened to it--the one reaching to the side we were on, the other to the opposite bank, where a man-- apparently the guardian of the so-called bridge--was seated on a log smoking. Antonio shouted to attract his attention; and getting up, he made a sign for one of us to enter. "You go first, Senor Ricardo," said Antonio to Uncle Richard. But the latter insisted on going last, and made me and Lion get into the basket. The bridge-keeper immediately began to haul away, and I soon found myself dangling over a fearful chasm. I was, however, quickly across; and, by means of a rope passing through a block on the side I had left, the basket was immediately drawn back. Antonio was passed over in the same way, and joined me. Uncle Richard had, in the meantime, gone to the height overlooking the path behind us, but he soon hurried back and took his seat in the basket. "Tell the old Indian to be smart in hauling me across," he shouted out. The man obeyed; but Uncle Richard was not more than half-way over when we saw a party of soldiers on the height above the river, and I clearly made out that they were Spanish soldiers. Should they reach the end of the rope before Uncle Richard was safe, they might, by threatening to cut it, compel us all to come back; so we hastened to seize hold of the tackle, in order to assist the Indian in dragging the basket over more quickly. "Take care, senores; you will break it, if you pull too hard," he observed. We were not aware whether he had seen the Spaniards coming. "Haul away," shouted Uncle Richard. We obeyed him, and he was soon able to spring on to the ground. His first action on doing so was to grasp Antonio's sword, and to hack away at the rope, to the great astonishment of the old Indian, who loudly expostulated, and attempted to stop him. But Antonio and I seized the bridge-keeper and held him fast while Uncle Richard finished the operation, and soon the rope swung across to the opposite cliff. "Now," said Uncle Richard, "we shall have to make the best use of our legs, or we may chance to have some bullets whistling about our ears."