Three hours after sunset Donald arose, and said that it was time they made their start. Adrian quickly joined him, and Billie also stretched himself; for while he did not feel very much enthusiasm about the affair, he was determined not to be left there alone. So the three boys went forth, carrying their guns along, of course; and in addition Donald made sure of a couple of ropes, which he judged would be plenty long enough to reach from the top of the cliff down to that ledge the wizard had used. CHAPTER XXVIII. AT THE END OF THE ROPE. “Careful, everybody; we must be near the edge of the drop right now!” When Donald said this in a low but thrilling tone, Billie drew himself up into as small a space as possible, and strained his eyes in the endeavor to discover for himself any danger that might threaten them. He chanced to know what it meant to feel himself plunging downward through space, and was in no hurry to repeat the experience. “There’s the crooked tree you marked down, Donald,” whispered Adrian; “right off there to the right.” “So it is,” came the pleased response; “and that means we are just a little to the left of where I calculated to strike. Slowly now, all; and in three shakes of a lamb’s tail we ought to be there.” Crawling carefully along the rough surface of the mountain in the direction of the crooked cedar that grew close to the edge of the steep precipice, which had appeared to their eyes when seen from below as a cliff, they presently reached their destination. “That part’s done, anyhow,” the others heard Billie say to himself, with a certain air of relief that told how strained his nerves must be, what with all the excitement through which he had lately been compelled to pass. Now, although they had as yet not told Billie about it, his chums had talked the matter over, and determined that one of their number should by rights stay there on the top of the precipice, while the others descended the rope to the shelf they felt sure lay just one-third of the way down the rocky wall. And of course this should be Billie, for everything combined to mark him as the victim. He was so very heavy that it would be a task to get him up, once he managed to slide down the rope. Then again, he was inclined to be clumsy, and might in some way make a slip that would result in a sad tragedy. Last but far from least in the list, Billie was not fitted as well as they were to take part in a desperate enterprise like this. And so all that remained to be done now was to tell him. Neither of them liked the job, but it must be done; and when Donald nudged Adrian, and whispered in his ear that he ought to speak, the other lost no time in doing so. “You know, Billie,” he said, getting his lips as close to the ear of the stout chum as possible, “all of us can’t go along, because there’s got to be one stay up here to help pull, when we’re ready to come back.”