_ventre à terre_, bending over the cliff as far as we dared. Great
was our dismay to perceive that some eighty or ninety feet below us a
narrow rocky ledge, which had escaped our notice when looking up from
the foot of the cliff, projected shelf-wise from the face of the
precipice, shutting out all view of a crevice which we had descried from
the bottom, and which, as we anticipated, contained the eyrie.

After consulting some time, we decided to lower ourselves down to this
rock-band, and make it the base of our further movements, instead of
operating, as we had intended, from the crest of the cliff, where
everything but for this obstacle would have been tenfold easier. Posting
one of the men at the top of the cliff to lower the heavy rope, three
hundred feet in length, by means of a cord, we descended to the ledge,
which was nowhere more than three feet in width, and in several places
scarcely over a foot and a half. Standing in a single row on this
miniature platform, we had to manipulate the rope with a yawning gulf
some eight hundred feet in depth beside us, and nothing to lay hold of
for support but the smooth face of the rock.

We began operations by driving a strong iron hook into the solid rock,
at a point some two or three feet above the ledge. Through this hook the
rope was passed, one end pendent over the cliff; and to obviate the
peril of its being frayed and speedily severed by the sharp outer edge
of our platform, we rigged up a block of wood with some iron stays to
serve as an immovable pulley. These preparations completed, the men were
assigned to their respective positions. Hansel and Tomerl, two renowned
shots, were to lie at full length, rifle in hand, one at each end of the
row, to act as my guardian angels if I were surprised and attacked by
the old eagles while engaged in the work of spoliation. The remaining
woodcutters, with the exception of the one who had been left on the top