I wanted those spears. I did not stop to ask myself what I
intended to do with them; if I had I would probably have been
hard put to it for an answer. But I wanted them, and I sat in my
dark corner gazing at them with greedy eyes.
The Incas had disappeared in the passage.
Finally I rose and began to search for an exit from the recess in
which I had hidden myself. At first there appeared to be none,
but at length I found a small crevice between two boulders in the
rear. Into this I squeezed my body with some difficulty.
The rock pressed tightly against me on both sides, and the sharp
corners bruised my body, but I wormed my way through for a
distance of fifteen or twenty feet. Then the crevice opened
abruptly, and I found myself on a broad ledge ending apparently
in space. I advanced cautiously to its edge, but intervening
boulders shut off the light, and I could see no ground below.
Throwing prudence to the winds, I let myself over the outermost
corner, hung for a moment by my hands, and dropped. My feet
touched ground almost instantly--the supposedly perilous fall
amounted to something like twelve inches.
I turned round, feeling a little foolish, and saw that from where
I stood the ledge and part of the lake were in full view.
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