76 EVERYDAY ADVENTUR 
or an ibex. At last I found myself perched on a shelf 
of stone about the width of my hand. The Collec- 
tor, who was above me on an even smaller foothold, 
took this opportunity to tell me that the rare Alle- 
gheny cave-rat was found on this cliff, and nearly 
fell off his perch trying to point out to me a crevice 
where he had once seen the mass of sticks, stones, 
leaves, feathers, and bones with which these versa- 
tile animals barricade their passage-ways. I refused 
to turn my head. That day I was risking my life for 
ravens, not rats. Above us was the long, rough 
tongue of rock. Below us, a far hundred feet, the 
brook wound its way through snow-covered boulders. 
Again the Collector led the way. Hooking both 
arms over the tongue of rock above him, he drew 
himself up until his chest rested on the edge, and then, 
sliding toward the precipice, managed to wriggle up 
in some miraculous way without slipping off. From 
the top of the tongue he clambered up to the niche 
where the nest was, calling down to me to follow. 
Accordingly I left my shelf and hung sprawlingly on 
the tongue; but there was no room to push my way 
up between it and the rock-roof above. 
“Throw your legs straight out,” counseled the 
Collector from above, “and let yourself slide.” 
I tried conscientiously, but it was impossible. 
My sedentary, unadventurous legs simply would not 
whirl out into space. At last, under the jeers of my 
friend, I shut my eyes and, kicking out mightily, 
found myself sliding toward eternity. Just before 
I reached it, under the Collector’s bellowed instruc- 
