he life of the most indifferent person been in
jeopardy, under the circumstances named, Mildred would have been filled
with deep awe; but a gush of tender sensations, which had hitherto been
pent up in the sacred privacy of her virgin affections, struggled with
natural horror, as she trod lightly on the very verge of the declivity,
and cast a timid but eager glance beneath. Then she recoiled a step,
raised her hands in alarm, and hid her face, as if to shut out some
frightful spectacle.

By this time, Dutton's practical knowledge and recollection had
returned. As is common with seamen, whose minds contain vivid pictures
of the intricate tracery of their vessel's rigging in the darkest
nights, his thoughts had flashed athwart all the probable circumstances,
and presented a just image of the facts.

"The boy could not be seen had he absolutely fallen, and were there no
fog; for the cliff tumbles home, Sir Wycherly," he said, eagerly,
unconsciously using a familiar nautical phrase to express his meaning.
"He must be clinging to the side of the precipice, and that, too, above
the swell of the rocks."

Stimulated by a common feeling, the two men now advanced hastily to the
brow of the hill, and there, indeed, as with Mildred herself, a single
look sufficed to tell them the whole truth. Young Wychecombe, in leaning
forward to pluck a flower, had pressed so hard upon the bit of rock on
which a foot rested, as to cause it to break, thereby losing his
balance. A presence of mind that amounted almost to inspiration, and a
high resolution, alone saved him from being dashed to pieces. Perceiving
the rock to give way, he threw himself forward, and alighted on a narrow
shelf, a few feet beneath the place where he had just stood, and at
least ten feet removed from it, laterally. The shelf on which he
alighted was ragged, and but two or three feet wide. It would have
afforded only a check to his fall, had there not fortunately been some
shrubs among the rocks above it. By these shrubs the young man caught,
actually swinging off in the air, under the impetus of his leap.
Happily, the shrubs were too well rooted to give way; and, swinging
himself round, with the address of a sailor, the youthful lieutenant was
immediately on his feet, in comparative safety. The silence that
succeeded was the consequence of the shock he felt, in finding him so
suddenly thrown into this perilous situation. The summit of the cliff
was now about six fatho