firmly rooted, then sitting on the 

 up-side I wrapped my legs around 

 it and leaned back against a rock 

 and tried to imagine being in a 

 place from which I could not fall 

 and where there was not constant 

 danger from sliding rocks. The goat 

 is a very slow moving animal and 

 its protection is living in a region 

 where no other four-foot wants to go, 

 and as for two-foots, there are much 

 easier ways of committing suicide." 

 His eyes twinkled for an instant. 

 "I don't know how long it was 

 that I clung there with the sensation 

 of being suspended in mid-air and 

 only half aware of the surroundings, 

 when I heard muffled noises, the slight 

 clicking of one rock with another. 



"What could it be? A goat cer- 

 tainly would not approach that fire, 

 tiny as it was. It was just possible 

 for a mountain lion to have strayed 

 up so high. It might come near 

 to the fire but it would not be so 

 clumsy. Why, the Cap'n of course. 

 My wits were so befogged that I had 

 forgotten that there was any other 

 human being in the world. 



"He came very slowly, jumping 



