Feeling the impossibility of making farther progress, Murray was surprised to see Wahika, after a little reconnoitring, begin to climb the face of the precipice, finding foothold in tiny crevices, and grasping at tufts of grass, till he had surmounted an almost perpendicular portion of the face of the rock. But his object soon became plain: some thirty feet up there appeared to be a shelf and a dark opening, but so full of verdure that it was impossible to make out its extent; and here, it seemed, that the savage intended to make his stronghold, for, having reached the shelf, he drew out his knife, and, in a very short time, from the hanging creepers had woven a kind of rough rope, sufficiently strong to bear the weight of his companions; and this he at length let down. Katie shrank from it at first; but a whisper from Murray sufficed. The loop made was passed over her, so that she was seated within it; a couple of handkerchiefs bound her securely, lest her courage should fail; and then the young men watched her, trembling, as Wahika stood striding on the crag above, his brow knit, and the muscles upon his arms standing out like knotted cords, as he, by sheer strength, hand-over-hand, drew up the frightened girl. Twice Murray, his heart beating rapidly, stood with outstretched hands to break her fall; for it seemed that Wahika had over-rated his powers, and that he must be drawn over the edge. But slowly and steadily he hauled up his rough cord, Katie swinging to and fro, and clinging with closed eyes the while, till by an effort the savage drew her to the edge; and the next instant she was in safety. In a few minutes the rope was lowered; and Murray tied to it the guns and such provisions as still remained; and when, once more, the rope descended, Bray seized it, and half drawn, half climbing, reached the top, just as a shout from below told that not only had the gully been discovered, but that he had been seen. The next instant a bullet flattened itself against the stone, a little below the edge, and fell at Murray's feet, while the rocks above echoed and re-echoed the report with a roll as of thunder.