ow, do go; what _is_ the use of you staying?"

"Harder work for the wind to lift two of us than one. It can't last
long, I'm certain; it's chopping already."

They relapsed into silence, and listened to the storm as it dashed on
the cliffs above them.

A quarter of an hour passed. Then Jeffreys felt the boy's head drop on
his shoulder.

"Percy, old man, no sleeping," said he, raising his head.

"I'm not sleeping; only wondering where Julius is."

But his voice was drowsy, and the words drawled out slowly and dreamily.

"Perhaps he's down the lower zigzag now," said Jeffreys, giving his
companion a shake, under pretext of readjusting the wraps.

"I guess he'll go to Raby first," said Percy. "Won't she be scared?"

"She will probably go to your father, and he'll get Appleby and Kennedy
and some of the men, and they'll--Percy! hold up your head!"

"Scarfe would like to get engaged to Raby, but she would sooner--"

"Percy, old man, you're talking rubbish. Unless you sit up and keep
awake we shall both come to grief."

"I'll try," said the boy, "but I don't know how."

"Tell me something about your year at Rugby. I want to hear about it so
much. What form were you in?"

Then followed a desperate half-hour of cross-examination, Jeffreys
coming down with a question at the slightest symptom of drowsiness, and
Percy, with all the cunning of a "somno-maniac," taking time to think
before each answer, and even shirking a syllable here or there in order
to snatch a wink.

The daylight slowly faded out of the mist, but still the wind howled and
shook them on their narrow perch at every gust. Jeffreys, with dismay,
found his limbs growing cramped and stiff, boding ill, unless relief
soon came, for the possibility of moving at all.

Surely, though, the wind was abating. The dash overhead sounded a
trifle less deafening; and the driving sleet, which an hour ago had
struck on their faces, now froze their ears.

Yes, the wind was shifting and falling.

In the half-minute which it took Jeffreys to make this discovery Percy
had once more fallen asleep, and it required a shake more prolonged than
ever to arouse him.

"What!" said he, as he slowly raised his head, "are they here? Is
father there?"

"No, old boy, but the wind is going down, and we may be able to move
soon. Where did you field in that cricket match you were telling me
of?"

"Short leg, and I made two catches."

"Bravo! Were they hard ones?