As soon as they are no longer able to see down into the chasm we will find some kind of a hiding-place.

Mukoki will be able to travel then." A memory of the cleft in the chasm wall came to Rod and he quickly described it to his companion.

It was an ideal hiding-place at night, and if Mukoki was strong enough they could steal up out of the chasm and secure a long start into the south before the Woongas discovered their flight in the morning.

There was just one chance of failure.

If the spy whose trail had revealed the break in the mountain to Rod was not among the outlaws' wounded or dead the cleft might be guarded, or the Woongas themselves might employ it in making a descent upon them.
"It's worth the risk anyway," said Wabi.