“You'll see. Make sure you don't get ahead of me,” Nighthawk said, and without another word, he pushed on. Ten minutes later, Ben slowed his pace to a walk. Advising them to proceed with care, he brought the group to an abrupt halt at the edge of a chasm. Austin flashed his light on the steep vertical walls, then pointed it downward toward the sound of rushing water. The beam exhausted itself before reaching the river far below.

“I think I know why there are no guards on this side,” Zavala said. “We took a wrong turn and ended up on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.”

“This is called 'Dead Man's Leap,' ” Ben said. “The people around here aren't very original when it comes to naming things.” “They make their point well enough,” Austin said.

Zavala looked to the right and the left. “Can we detour around this little ditch?”

“We'd have to travel another ten miles through thick forest,” Ben said. “This is the narrowest point. The lake is a half mile from here.” “I remember an Indiana Jones movie where they crossed a chasm on an invisible bridge,” Zavala said.

“Ask and you shall receive,” Austin said, as he removed his back- pack. He unsnapped the flap and pulled out a coil of nylon rope and a compact folding grapnel.

Zavala's eyes widened. “You never cease to amaze me, amigo. Here I was thinking I was well prepared because I brought a Swiss army knife with the corkscrew. I'll bet you have a bottle of fine wine in your little baggie as well.”

Austin produced a pulley and rappelling harness. “Before you nominate me for a Boy Scout merit badge, I should confess that Ben told me we'd have to cross this moat before we scaled the castle walls.”

Austin warned everyone to give him room. He stepped danger- ously close to the rim, whirled the grapnel over his head and let it fly. The first try fell short and clanged against the chasm wall. Two other tosses landed on the other side but failed to hook on. On the fourth throw, the hooks wedged into a cleft between some rocks. Austin be- layed the other end of the rope to a tree and tested his weight to see if the grapnel would hold. Then he attached the pulley and rap- pelling harness to the rope, took a deep breath and stepped out into space.

By the time he reached the other side, he seemed to be moving at Mach 2. A clump of bushes cushioned his landing. Using a retrieval line, Zavala pulled the pulley back, attached Austin's backpack and sent it over. After the rest of their gear was transported the same way, Zavala and Ben made the next crossing, then the two Basques followed.