had been forced by the sea, after which we
scrambled up the ledge on which we had passed those awful hours of
darkness. Everywhere the rock was wet and slippery from the drenching
it had received during the storm. I felt George's foot slide as I
clambered up on to his shoulders, and a horrid feeling of faintness
seized me, for I was then high enough to have broken my neck if we had
fallen. With dogged determination to get as far as I could, I planted
my foot on the narrow shelf which my companion had indicated; and
receiving the piece of plank which he handed up, I thrust it into the
crack some two feet higher up, and almost in what might be called the
mouth of the chimney. Fortunately this crevice was just wide enough to
admit the wood a sufficient distance to make it secure; another step
upwards, and as I made it my head struck sharply against something
projecting from the side of the hole. It was evidently an iron bar
bent round in a semicircle, with both ends embedded firmly in the rock.
The surface was eaten with rust, but pull and tug at it as I would, it
showed no signs of giving. Rising carefully to my full height, I found
another piece of iron exactly similar to the first some little way
above; then suddenly it occurred to my mind that they had been put
there to serve as steps, as I had once seen similar irons placed in a
new chimney-stack at Castlefield. Hesitating no longer, I mounted from
one to another, until I must have climbed a dozen; then feeling with my
hand in the darkness, I discovered an open space, evidently the mouth
of some subterranean tunnel.

Far beneath me I could just make out the pale shadow of my companion's
upturned face as he gazed anxiously into the gloom, wondering, no
doubt, what had become of me.

"George! George!" I yelled excitedly, "I've found the entrance of a
passage. Come up quick, and see for yourself. I believe we're saved!"

CHAPTER XVI.

THE SUBTERRANEAN TUNNEL.

Whether George understood me I could not tell; he made some reply, but
my increasing deafness rendered his words inaudible, I shouted again,
and told him of the iron steps I had discovered; and this time he must
have heard, for he waved his hand. He disappeared, but after a few
moments I saw him again.

"Catch the end of this rope, and make it fast if you can," he roared.

Twice he threw, and I heard the coil of rope whistle in the rocky
shaft, but it did not reach my hand; then the third