The first thing to be done, was to look to the quality of the rope, and
test its strength. The ladders were already in place, just as they had
been left. The rope once _proved_, there would be nothing further to
do, but make it secure to the shank of the bearcoot; ascend the cliff to
the highest ledge, reached by the ladders; and then fly the bird.
Should they succeed in getting the creature to go over the cliff--and by
some means entangle the cord at the top--they might consider themselves
free. The very thought of such a result--now apparently certain--once
more raised their spirits to the highest pitch.
They did not count on being able to "swarm" up a piece of slender cord
of nearly fifty yards in length--a feat that would have baffled the most
agile tar that ever "slung the monkey" from a topgallant stay. They had
no thoughts of climbing the rope in that way; but in another, long
before conceived and discussed. They intended--once they should be
assured that the cord was secure above--to make steps upon it, by
inserting little pieces of wood between the "strands;" and these, which
they could fix at long distances, one after the other, would form
supports, upon which they might rest their feet in the ascent.
As we have said, all this had been settled beforehand; and no longer
occupied their attention--now wholly absorbed in contriving some way to
prove the reliability of the rope, upon which their lives were about to
be imperilled.
It was not deemed sufficient to tie the rope to a tree, and pull upon it
with all their united strength. Karl and Caspar thought this would be a
sufficient test; but Ossaroo was of a different opinion. A better
plan--according to the shikaree's way of thinking--was one which had
generated in his oriental brain; and which, without heeding the
remonstrances of the others, he proceeded to make trial of. Taking one
end of the rope with him, he climbed into a tall tree; and, after
getting some way out on a horizontal branch--full fifty feet from the
ground--he there fastened the cord securely. By his directions the
young sahibs laid hold below; and, both together, raising their feet
from the ground, remained for some seconds suspended in the air.
As the rope showed no symptoms either of stretching or breaking under
the weight of both, it was evident that it might, under any
circumstances, be trusted to carry the weight of one; and in this
confidence, the shikaree descended from the tree.
With the eagle carried under his right arm, and the coil of rope
swinging over his left, Ossaroo now proceeded towards the place where
the ladders rested against the cliff. Karl and Caspar walked close
after, with Fritz following in the rear--all four moving in silence, and
with a certain solemnity of look and gesture--as befitted the important
business upon which they were bent.
The new experiment, like the trial of the eagle's strength, did not
occupy any great length of time. Had it proved successful, our
adventurers would have been longer occupied, and in the end would have
been seen triumphantly standing upon the summit of the cliff--with Fritz
frisking up the snowy slope beyond, as if he intended to chase the great
_ovis ammon_ upon the heaven-kissing crest of Chumulari.
Ah! how different was the spectacle presented on the evening of that
eventful day! A little before sunset the three adventurers were seen
slowly and sadly returning to their hut--that despised hovel, under
whose homely roof they had hoped never to seek shelter again!
Alas! in the now lengthened list of their unsuccessful struggles, they
had once more to record a failure!
Ossaroo, bearing the bearcoot under his arm, had climbed the ladders up
to the highest ledge that could be attained. From it he had "flown" the
eagle--freely dealing out all the cord in his possession. That was a
perilous experiment for the shikaree to make; and came very near proving
the last act in the drama of his life.
Thinking that the bearcoot would rise upward into the air, he had not
thought of anything else; and as he stood balancing himself on that
narrow shelf, he was but ill prepared for what actually came to pass.
Instead of soaring upwards, the eagle struck out in a horizontal
direction, not changing its course till it had reached the end of its
tether; and then not changing it, nor even pausing in its flight, but
with the fifty yards of rope trailing behind it--which, fortunately for
Ossaroo, he was himself no longer at the end of--it continued on across
the valley towards the cliffs on the opposite side--the summit of which
it would have no difficulty in attaining by following the diagonal line
in which it was making that unexpected escape from the clutches of the
shikaree.
Not without chagrin did Karl and Caspar behold the spectacle of the
bearcoot's departure; and for a while they were under the impression
that Ossaroo had bungled the business with which he had been entrusted.
Ossaroo's explanations, however, were soon after received; and proved
satisfactory. It was evident from these, that had he not let go in the
right time, he would have been compelled to make a leap, that would have
left him no opportunity for explaining the nature of the eagle's escape.