For the first few steps the way was easy, yet carried him from the shelter of the intervening roof, so that, had he cared to look, his eyes could have fathomed the whole depth of the chasm. But when, working from ledge to ledge until he had mounted some twenty feet of the forty, he came of a sudden to a bulging shelf which forced the upper part of his body from the rock, he thought that he must let go; and he seemed in his mind already to be whirling through the air and waiting the final shock of death. He had hoped that the strip of path running to the stone house would have hid the whole of the ravine's depth from him, but that was cut in this place under a projection of the cliff, and did not help him. And now he came to a ledge where he could neither go on nor retrace his steps; and as he held to a branch of a bush which began to tremble at its roots he knew that if he moved so much as a foot he would fall inevitably. In his terror he closed his eyes, and, with his head whirling as a sick man's, he waited for the end—and was very near to death when something hard struck him upon the arm, and he looked up, to see a short bar of iron with a rope swinging before him. At this he clutched, and three minutes after he was upon the bank above, lying flat, and feeling the ground with his hands to be sure that fancy had not cheated him.
"I'll give you a minute to get your head, and no more," said Messenger, who bent over him. "You should send a letter of thanks to the woman who owns this place for roping in the cliff with lines and posts. I pulled the last post up, and let the cord swing down to you. But we'll have to run for it; I can see men moving in the woods already."
"AT THIS HE CLUTCHED"
Fisher sat up at the last words, and perceived that they were upon the sward of a great park, with the cliffs of the sea stretching upon their right hand, but bordered thickly with woods of pines; while greater woods, principally of chestnut-trees, environed them upon their left. Between the coverts there was a great open space of grass, and behind them, at the distance of a third of a mile, the castle which they had seen from the other bay shone brightly in the first light of the sun. It was from a wood which ran almost to the very door of this rugged building that twenty or more men now appeared, shouting to the two, and running hard across the great green, which had the smoothness of a lawn.
"Come," said Messenger, when the men stood out plain to their sight, "I was something of a runner at Cambridge, and I know you are. You've got to do a mile now, and under 'five;' I'll trouble you to make the pace."
"I'll make it fast enough for a Spaniard, any way," said Fisher, as he started; and for the next ten minutes the men ran like hares, hearing wild shouts, but no reports of guns, behind them. When at length they came to the woods, the pursuing party was two-thirds of a mile away; but Messenger still held on, forcing his way through untrodden brushwood and thick coverts of thorns, until at last they came within view of the sea, and both stood to pant like horses that have run a race. Then they doubled back through the wood, but kept parallel with the shore, until at last they plunged into the dry bed of that which was never more than a rivulet; and finding it roofed with a thick canopy of leaves, they followed its course for some quarter of a mile. The gully carried them at length to a deeper pit, all fenced about with shrubs and saplings, and here they lay listening to distant shouting in the thickets, and to the call of men to men for directions or for orders.
During the whole of the heat of the mid-day hour, and on through the terrible afternoon, the two lay in their place of concealment, the furze thick above them, their bodies flat upon the ground as the bodies of the dead. Often they heard the voices of men quite near to them, and the crackling of the brushwood about spoke of the continuance of the search; but in the later afternoon the sounds ceased, and thence onward a rustling of aspens and the music of leaves alone disturbed the silence of the woodland.
It must have been very near to the hour of nine o'clock before Messenger, being well assured that the wood immediately about them was free of men, ventured to stand up and take a swift survey of his environment. Twilight had then almost given place to the dark of night; the sky was wanting clouds, and tree and wood and hill-land stood plain to be seen; there was stillness of the air which gave to every sound, even of an insect buzzing or a bat winging, a distinctness of poor omen to the two who lay hid. Yet the time for action had come, nor could it be delayed any longer, as both of them knew.
"Hal," whispered Messenger, when he had crawled once right round the pit, "I've lost my bearings altogether, man. There's north right between the thickets yonder, and the cove should lie a little to the east of it—but we're to find a path, God knows."
"And the place will swarm with men," said fisher.
"Of course, if they haven't thought better of it and gone to bed. But that's to be learnt. Do you see the hill with the big furze bush on the crest of it? I'm going as near to the top of that as I can get without drawing shot. While I'm gone, you crawl up to the green between the thickets there, and use your eyes for all you're worth. But you won't forget that if you're seen, you may as well say your prayers at once."
"How long shall you be gone?" asked Fisher, with a disregard to the question which showed that he was aware of its importance.
"Just as short a time as will tell me if I sleep here to-night or alongside old Burke."
"And if men should sight us?"
"Why, just run for it. A shot would bring a regiment down on us. You must use your wits, man; you can't be laying it down like lines upon a plan. But I'm hoping the road's clear."
All this he said in whisper, and at the last word he threw himself flat again, and began to crawl through the brushwood with a supple cleverness which was wonderful But Fisher did not wait to watch his path, seeking to imitate his litheness, and to reach the high thickets which lay to the north of the stream's bed. His was the fairer work, for he passed through a plantation of young trees which gave shelter to his movements, and the grass below him was almost free of briar. Yet he went with infinite caution, and his heart quaked at every snap of crag or rustle of leaf. When at the last he had come to the summit of the wooded hill, he felt his face wet with perspiration; and he lay for many minutes fighting for his breath before he looked out upon the scene below him.
It was as he had thought. From the place by the thicket there was view of the sea, then shining with silvery light, and unruffled; but the beach was not to be observed. And the lower lands around, both the park and the woods bordering upon it, were very clearly visible, no men being about them, nor any sign of watch or camp. And this was so plain that he had intention immediately to return to the place of the pit, when the sudden flash of a light between the trees compelled him to throw himself down once more, and to watch the path of the lantern (for so he judged it to be) with all the fear and expectancy he had known so often since the stranding of the yacht.
Whence came the light? By whom was it carried? An older man than he would have said that one of low stature bore it, since it swung but a handsbreadth from the ground; and in like manner it was plain that whoever carried the lantern had no thought of concealment, but advanced quickly through the thicket, as the dancing light gave witness. Presently, the rays went darting here and there upon fern and flower with lurches, which told that the one who used it ran; and there was much crushing of the dead leaves, and the sound of quick breathing. But the lad listening lay closer than eve r at this; and as the light steps were more clearly audible, it seemed to him that by a miracle alone could he escape observation and all that must accompany it.
When the lad was wondering, as we wonder in danger, where he would be, and under what conditions, in an hour's time, the lantern suddenly cast an aureola about him; and in the shadow he saw the face and figure of the girl of Monaco. She was passing swiftly, a mantilla half hiding her pretty head, her dress drawn up about her knees, in her right hand a whip, the great Dane at her heels—but at the lad's