THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 197 



out from beneath a strong branch, it would be necessary 

 to swing myself upwards towards the nest, and at the 

 same moment relinquishing my hold, change fingers, 

 and hold on by the three others only. In doing this 

 my body would necessarily be for a moment without 

 any support whatever, hanging backwards over the 

 abyss. I considered whether I ought to venture it; 

 and it was only with the feeling of being able to main- 

 tain my equilibrium, without causing the ladder to rock 

 in the least ; — it was only with the consciousness of being 

 as calm, cool, and possessing the same presence of mind 

 as if I were sitting at my writing table, that I under- 

 took the movement. This, insignificant as it may appear 

 to many a reader, was, after all, the most perilous mo- 

 ment of the whole undertaking. Thank Heaven! I had 

 calculated rightly, and it succeeded; — my three fingers 

 held me firm.* 



* As this moyement was, at first, not quite intelligible to me from 

 the description, I asked Count Arco to explain it to me more clearly. 

 "Look," said he, " you will understand it in a moment." And shutting 

 and locking the folding-door of the room, he grasped the handle with all 

 the fingers of his left hand, three being on one side and the forefinger 

 on the other, with the thumb below. Then putting his feet close to 

 the bottom of the door, he let his body fall back at arm's length. He 

 was thus hanging on to the handle of the door by his left hand, which 

 had to support the whole weight of liis body as it hung backwards. In 

 this position he could not loosen a finger, each one having its duty to 

 perform without coming down on his back. " Just as I am standing 

 now," he continued, "I was standing on the topmost round of the 

 ladder, with this difference, that the space that is now between me and 



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