into a little bundle about which she twined the lower extremity of
her sinuous tail and thus carrying them made her way to the outer
edge of the balcony. Assuring herself that there was none about
to see, or hinder her, she took quickly to the pegs already set in
the face of the cliff and with the celerity of a monkey clambered
swiftly aloft to the highest row of pegs which she followed in
the direction of the lower end of the gorge for a matter of some
hundred yards. Here, above her head, were a series of small round
holes placed one above another in three parallel rows. Clinging only
with her toes she removed two of the pegs from the bundle carried
in her tail and taking one in either hand she inserted them in
two opposite holes of the outer rows as far above her as she could
reach. Hanging by these new holds she now took one of the three
remaining pegs in each of her feet, leaving the fifth grasped securely
in her tail. Reaching above her with this member she inserted the
fifth peg in one of the holes of the center row and then, alternately
hanging by her tail, her feet, or her hands, she moved the pegs
upward to new holes, thus carrying her stairway with her as she
ascended.

At the summit of the cliff a gnarled tree exposed its time-worn
roots above the topmost holes forming the last step from the sheer
face of the precipice to level footing. This was the last avenue
of escape for members of the tribe hard pressed by enemies from
below. There were three such emergency exits from the village and it
were death to use them in other than an emergency. This Pan-at-lee
well knew; but she knew, too, that it were worse than death to
remain where the angered Es-sat might lay hands upon her.

When she had gained the summit, the girl moved quickly through