I knew well that this would collapse under me if I allowed my weight to rest more than an instant upon it.

And so at last it did; but my fingers had clutched the coping in time; had grabbed it even as the insecure pyramid crumbled and left me dangling.
Instantly exerting what muscle I had left, and the occasion gave me, I succeeded in pulling myself up until my chin was on a level with my hands, when I flung an arm over and caught the inner coping.

The other arm followed; then a leg; and at last I sat astride the wall, panting and palpitating, and hardly able to credit my own achievement.

One great difficulty had been my huge revolver.

I had been terribly frightened it might go off, and had finally used my cravat to sling it at the back of my neck.