ascending vapour indicated
chimneys. "Two miles at least," muttered Jim Airth. "I could not run it
and get back with a boat, under three quarters of an hour."

Then he looked down into the cove.

"Both ends cut off. The water will reach her feet in ten minutes; will
sweep the base of the cliff, in twenty."

Exactly beneath the spot where he stood, more than half way down, was a
ledge about six feet long by four feet wide.

Letting himself over the edge, holding to tufts of grass, tiny shrubs,
jutting stones, cracks in the surface of the sandstone, he managed to
reach this narrow ledge, dropping the last ten feet, and landing on it by
an almost superhuman effort of balance.

One moment he paused; carefully took its measure; then, leaning over,
looked down. Sixty feet remained, a precipitous slope, with nothing to
which foot could hold, or hand could cling.

Jim Airth buttoned his Norfolk jacket, and tightened his belt. Then
slipping, feet foremost off the ledge, he glissaded down on his back,
bending his knees at the exact moment when his feet thudded heavily on to
the sand.

For a moment the shock stunned him. Then he got up and looked around.

He stood, within ten yards of the scarlet parasol, on the small strip of
sand still left uncovered by the rapidly advancing sweep of the rising
tide.

CHAPTER X

"YEO HO, WE GO!"

"A cameo chaperonage," murmured Lady Ingleby, and suddenly opened her
eyes.

Sky and sea were still there, but between them, closer than sea or sky,
looking down upon her with a tense light in his blue eyes, stood Jim
Airth.

"Why, I have been asleep!" said Lady Ingleby.

"You have," said Jim Airth; "and meanwhile the sun has set, and--the tide
has come up. Allow me to assist you to rise."

Lady Ingleby put her hand into his, and he helped her to her feet. She
stood beside him gazing, with wide startled eyes, at the expanse of sea,
the rushing waves, the tiny strip of sand.

"The tide seems very high," said Lady Ingleby.

"Very high," agreed Jim Airth. He stood close beside her, but his eyes
still eagerly scanned the water. If by any chance a boat came round the
point there would still be time to hail it.

"We seem to be cut off," said Lady Ingleby.

"We _are_ cut off," replied Jim Airth, laconically.

"Then I suppose we must have a boat," said Lady Ingleby.

"An excellent suggestion," replied Jim Airth, drily, "if a boat were to
be had. But, unfortunately, we are tw