I climbed upon the bars-and the whole cage rolled over on top of me.
Coming to the surface, I found to my joy that the hen-coop had righted itself; so now I climbed up again, but this time very slowly and gingerly; the balance was undisturbed, and I stretched myself cautiously along the bars on my stomach.

A good idea immediately occurred to me.

I had jumped as a matter of course into the flannels which one naturally wears in the tropics.

To their lightness I already owed my life, but the common cricket-belt which was part of the costume was the thing to which I owe it most of all.

Loosening this belt a little, as I tucked my toes tenaciously under the endmost bar, I undid and passed the two ends under one of the middle bars, fastening the clasp upon the other side.