ky waste, full of dangers now, for
in the deep valleys between great rock boulders the incoming tide
was rising and making deep pools where a little before had been dry
ground.

It was these pools that Jervis feared. If Mary had slipped into one
of these deep places she might easily be caught by the rising
flood, and drowned before help could reach her.

The mere thought turned him sick, and he whistled shrilly as before.

The answering whistle came so promptly, and sounded so close, that
he started in surprise, then shouted: "Where are you?"

"Here," replied a voice that sounded so close, so audibly that he
looked round in mystification. Then he saw a deep gulch yawning
below him, and caught the flutter of a handkerchief on the far
side. But how could he reach there? Down he plunged with reckless
haste, having little or no regard for his own safety--and, indeed,
he who hesitated here was lost, for at every step the rock crumbled
and slid under his weight.

"It will be queer work getting back!" he said to himself, then
pressed onward to reach the side of the gulch, where now he could
see Mary Selincourt crouched on a narrow ledge or shelf against a
perpendicular cliff, while the water was rising higher and higher,
creeping nearer and nearer to where she sat.

How could he rescue her from there? One hope he had, that her
shelf might be above high-water mark, in which case patient
endurance would be all that was needed until the tide ran out
again. A glance at the wall of cliff behind Mary proved this hope
to be futile, for the mark of the water showed above her head, and
if she were not rescued speedily, he could only stand by and see
her drown.

"Are you hurt?" he called out when he had scrambled low enough to
talk to her.

"I have twisted my foot rather badly," she said in an exhausted
tone, "and I seem to have been shouting and whistling for help for
so long. I had great difficulty to make the dog leave me and go
for help, but I think it understood at last, because it went off at
such a pace."

"Well, we must get you out of this as soon as possible, for the
tide is coming up fast. Do you mind a wetting!" he asked, creeping
down to the edge of the dividing water, and wondering whether he
could wade or if he must swim.

"Mind or not mind, I shall get one, I expect," she answered, with a
nervous laugh. "Be careful, Mr. Ferrars, there is a very deep
place just below this shelf, and the water showed