“It is madness; you shall not go,” said Maqueda.  “You will fall and be dashed to pieces.  I say that you shall not go.”

“Why should he not go, my niece?” interrupted Joshua.  “Shadrach is right; we have heard much of the courage of this Gentile.  Now let us see him do something.”

She turned on the Prince like a tiger.

“Very good, my uncle, then you shall go with him.  Surely one of the ancient blood of the Abati will not shirk from what a ‘Gentile’ dares.”

On hearing this Joshua relapsed into silence, and I have no clear memory of what he did or said in connection with the rest of that thrilling scene.

Now followed a pause in the midst of which Oliver sat down and began to take off his boots.

“Why do you undress yourself, friend?” asked Maqueda nervously.

“Because, Lady,” he answered, “if I have to walk yonder road it is safer to do so in my stockings.  Have no fear,” he added gently, “from boyhood I have been accustomed to such feats, and when I served in my country’s army it was my pleasure to give instruction in them, although it is true that this one surpasses all that ever I attempted.”

“Still I do fear,” she said.

Meanwhile Quick had sat down and begun to take off his boots.

“What are you doing, Sergeant?” I asked.

“Getting ready to accompany the Captain upon forlorn hope, Doctor.”

“Nonsense,” I said, “you are too old for the game, Sergeant.  If any one goes, I should, seeing that I believe my son is over there, but I can’t try it, as I know my head would give out, and I should fall in a second, which would only upset everybody.”

“Of course,” broke in Oliver, who had overheard us, “I’m in command here, and my orders are that neither of you shall come.  Remember, Sergeant, that if anything happens to me it is your business to take over the stores and use them if necessary, which you alone can do.  Now go and see to the preparations, and find out the plan of campaign, for I want to rest and keep quiet.  I daresay the whole thing is humbug, and we shall see nothing of the Professor; still, one may as well be prepared.”

So Quick and I went to superintend the lashing of two of the light ladders together and the securing of some planks which we had brought with us upon the top of the rungs, so as to make these ladders easy to walk on.  I asked who would be of the party besides Shadrach and Orme, and was told no one, as all were afraid.  Ultimately, however, a man named Japhet, one of the Mountaineers, volunteered upon being promised a grant of land from the Child of Kings herself, which grant she proclaimed before them all was to be given to his relatives in the event of his death.

At length everything was ready, and there came another spell of silence, for the nerves of all of us were so strained that we did not seem able to talk.  It was broken by a sound of sudden and terrible roaring that arose from the gulf beneath.