guilty of such a thing.

That decided Hugh. He left the road, and started toward the spot
where he judged that strange sound had welled forth. The country was
exceedingly rough just there, and he fancied that some sort of deep
gully, possibly a precipice, might lie off on his right, judging from
the aspect of the land.

Not hearing the sound again, Hugh uttered a loud hello. Then, as he
continued to press hastily forward, he once more caught the beseeching
cry. It had an agonizing strain to it, and Hugh could plainly make out
the words:

"Help! Oh! help! help!"

Someone was evidently in trouble, Hugh decided, accelerating his pace
as well as the conditions of the rough surface of the ground permitted.
He had taken pains to locate the cry this time, and was, therefore,
altering his course just a little.

Again he called, and once more received a reply, more fearful than
before:

"Hurry! Oh! hurry, before it gives way, and I'm lost!"

It sounded more like the voice of a girl than anything else. Hugh was
thrilled at the bare thought of one of the opposite sex being caught
in a trap whereby life itself was imperiled. He had been ascending
all this time. From a single look, which he cast over his shoulder,
he could see the road he had lately come along, trace his course, in
fact, until it was lost at a bend half a mile away.

He noted that a runner had just turned that bend, and was jogging along
in a rhythmic, contented fashion, as though satisfied with the
progress he was making; although "Just" Smith would have to speed
up considerable on the morrow if he wished to be anywhere near the
head of the procession when the race neared its close. Hugh, somehow,
fixed the fact of his comrade's presence on his mind. He even
mentally figured just how long it was likely to take the other to
reach the spot where he himself had left the road; or, perhaps, that
circumstance might loom up large in his calculations.

Then he arrived at the brink of what seemed to e a precipice. The
presence of this told Hugh plainly the nature of the task that awaited
him. Someone had undoubtedly fallen over the brink, and was, even
then, hanging on desperately to some jutting rock or bush that
represented the only hope of safety from a serious fall. He threw
himself down and thrust his head out over the edge. What Hugh saw
was enough to give any boy a thrill of horror. Some ten feet below
the top a human figure sprawled, kickin