ave
it up, leaving go hold on me with a groan, and at that moment there rose
from the under-cliff, below a sound of voices and shouting.

'Zounds, they are down already!' cried Elzevir, 'and have found Maskew's
body; it is all up; another minute and they will see us.'

But so strange is the force of mind on body, and the power of a greater
to master a lesser fear, that when I heard those voices from below, all
fright of falling left me in a moment, and I could open my eyes without a
trace of giddiness. So I began to move forward again on hands and knees.
And Elzevir, seeing me, thought for a moment I had gone mad, and was
dragging myself over the cliff; but then saw how it was, and moved
backwards himself before me, saying in a low voice, 'Brave lad! Once
creep round this turn, and I will pick thee up again. There is but fifty
yards to go, and we shall foil these devils yet!'

Then we heard the voices again, but farther off, and not so loud; and
knew that our pursuers had left the under-cliff and turned down on to the
beach, thinking that we were hiding by the sea.

Five minutes later Elzevir stepped on to the cliff-top, with me
upon his back.

'We have made something of this throw,' he said, 'and are safe for
another hour, though I thought thy giddy head had ruined us.'

Then he put me gently upon the springy turf, and lay down himself upon
his back, stretching his arms out straight on either side, and breathing
hard to recover from the task he had performed.

* * * * *

The day was still young, and far below us was stretched the moving floor
of the Channel, with a silver-grey film of night-mists not yet lifted in
the offing. A hummocky up-and-down line of cliffs, all projections,
dents, bays, and hollows, trended southward till it ended in the great
bluff of St. Alban's Head, ten miles away. The cliff-face was gleaming
white, the sea tawny inshore, but purest blue outside, with the straight
sunpath across it, spangled and gleaming like a mackerel's back.

The relief of being once more on firm ground, and the exultation of an
escape from immediate danger, removed my pain and made me forget that my
leg was broken. So I lay for a moment basking in the sun; and the wind,
which a few minutes before threatened to blow me from that narrow ledge,
seemed now but the gentlest of breezes, fresh with the breath of the
kindly sea. But this was only for a moment, for the anguish came back
an