frosted stone. There was no rope hanging there, but I
well knew that it could have been removed from below by means of a
few dexterous jerks and twitches.

I reasoned with myself upon what I saw, and I considered that the
person who had gone down the cliff could be none other than Thora,
for I believed that none but she knew of that way down to the cave.
Only she and Tom Kinlay knew that I kept my climbing ropes in the
byre; but Tom had, as Ann told me, gone out in the St. Magnus. Only
Thora could have taken them, then.

What her possible reason for going down to the cave might be, I did
not pause to reflect, further than surmising the probability of her
having had some quarrel with her father, and of her having run away
from Crua Breck as she had once threatened to do. But why do this
on such a night of storm?

The first thing to be done was to ascertain beyond doubt if Thora
was now in the cave. Had it been expedient, I would at once have
gone over the cliff, notwithstanding its frozen condition.
Unfortunately, however, I had no other good rope than the one that
had been taken away. An old one I had which was neither long enough
nor strong enough for the purpose; but even this might be of
service, I thought. We went back to the farm, and Jessie helped me
to lengthen the rope by joining to it several shorter pieces. Then,
judging that Thora, if she were in the cavern, would be suffering
from want of food, we got a small basket and stored it with
tempting eatables--some newly-made scones, two hard-boiled eggs,
and a closed flagon filled with hot tea. Thus prepared we went
together through the snow to the cliff.

Whilst I was tying the rope to the handle of our basket, Jessie
gathered some stones and threw them down the precipice to attract
Thora's attention to the mouth of the cave. I stood out on the
brink of the cliff above the cavern and allowed the line to slip
through my fingers as though I were "heaving the lead," until the
basket touched upon the rock at the entrance to the cave.

For several minutes we waited for some sign that the food was
accepted. Twice the line was drawn up a little, and the weight of
the basket was still felt. I called for more stones to throw down,
at the same time kicking a loose piece of rock well out, so that it
fell with a loud splash into the deep water. Jessie went about
picking up stones from among the snow, when suddenly an exclamation
escaped her.

"Eh, Hal!" said she; "