ning into a steep earthy slope, some ten or a
dozen yards in height, above which the precipice again rose sheer to the
top. And, as far as he could see in the quick-gathering darkness, this
precipice again presented a rocky face, up the inequalities of which it
might be possible for them to climb.

But a single glance was enough to assure George that the most perilous
portion of their journey still lay before them. In the first place, the
slope was frightfully steep, rising at an angle of fully fifty degrees
from the horizontal; and, in the next place, it was covered with a long
thick growth of grass, rendering its face almost as slippery as ice.
And its lower edge terminated abruptly in a vertical overhanging face,
similar to that which towered above the place where he had left Tom and
Walford, so that, should either of them slip in traversing this
dangerous part of their journey, they must all, lashed together as they
were, inevitably slide and roll helplessly down and over the edge into
the depths below.

As George contemplated the fearful dangers attending their further
progress, the idea occurred to him that perhaps, after all, now that
their pursuers had gone, and the ground was left clear below, it would
be better to retrace their steps and endeavour to find another and more
practicable way out of the ravine.

But a few seconds' consideration of this plan convinced Leicester of its
utter impracticability. They had, by superhuman exertions, succeeded in
climbing _up_ the precipice; but he knew that they could never get
Walford safely _down_ again. There was nothing for it, then, but to go
on, and _upward_, even though they should find their pursuers awaiting
them at the top, a contingency which so much lost time rendered only too
probable.

Before going back, however, and attempting the passage up that awful
slope, encumbered with Walford's helpless body, George thought it would
be prudent to essay the passage alone, so that he might learn, from
actual experience, the full extent of the danger, and thus be the better
able to guard against disaster.

Accordingly down he went upon hands and knees, and forthwith began the
ascent. His first attempt proved to him that he had in no wise
magnified the perils of the journey, for his knees slipped helplessly
from under him the moment that they touched the grass, and it was only
by clinging desperately with his hands to the long tough herbage that he
escaped bein