f went sheer up
like a vast wall of rugged granite, at a part of which, where a mass of
broken stone had either fallen or been thrown down, Will stopped and
looked round to see if they were observed. As they were alone with no
other watchers than a swarthy-looking cormorant sitting on a sunny lodge
drying his wings, and a shag or two perched with outstretched neck,
narrowly observing them, Will climbed up, followed by Josh, till they
were upon a broad shelf a hundred and fifty feet above the sea--a wild
solitary place, where the heap of debris, lichened and wave-beaten, was
explained, for mining operations had once gone on hero, and a great
square hole yawned black and awful at their feet.

They had evidently been there before, for Will stepped close to a spot
where the rock overhung, and reaching in, drew out some pieces of
granite, and then from where it was hidden a large coil of stout rope,
and threw it on the broken fragments around.

"It's your doing, mind, you know," said Josh. "I don't like the gashly
job at all."

"Yes, it's my doing," said Will.

"And you mean to go down?"

"I do, Josh, for certain."

"It be a gashly unked hole, and you'd best give it up. Look here."

As he spoke he stooped and picked up a piece of rock weighing quite a
hundredweight, poised it in his hands for a moment or two, and then,
with a wonderful display of strength, tossed it from him right over the
middle of the disused mine-shaft. The mica flashed in the sun for a
moment, and then the great piece plunged down into the darkness, Josh
and Will involuntarily darting to the side and craning over the awesome
place to try and follow it with their eyes and catch the reverberations
when it struck the sides and finally plunged into the black collected
waters far enough below.

CHAPTER FOUR.

A FOOLHARDY VENTURE FOR A GOODLY END.

It seemed as if that stone would never reach the bottom, and a curious
expression was upon the eager faces that peered down, a strained look
almost of pain, till all at once there was a start as of relief, as a
hollow heavy plash was heard that came hissing, and echoing, and
reverberating up the rocky sides of the shaft past them and into the
sunny air.

"Ugh!" growled Josh, "who knows what gashly creatures lives down there.
P'r'aps its harnted with them as tumbled down and was killed."

"Don't talk nonsense, Josh," said Will, in a voice full of contempt; "I
never heard of anybody falling dow