ce on the narrow and dizzy
passage of the Razor's edge.

And stopping there they looked back at the dangers they had passed--at
Appenfell piled up to heaven with white clouds; at Bardlyn rift looming
in black abysses beneath them; at the thin broken line of the Devil's
Way. They looked:

"As a man with difficult short breath,
Forespent with toiling, 'scaped from sea to shore
Turns to the perilous wide waste, and stands
At gaze."

They stood silent till Power said, in ejaculations of intense emphasis,
"Thank God!"--and then pointing downwards with a shudder, "Oh, Walter!"
and then once again, "Thank God!"--which Walter and Kenrick echoed; and
then they passed on without another word. But those two words, so
uttered, were enough.

The man, who was more than repaid by the sense that he had rendered them
a most important aid, and who had been greatly fascinated by their
_manly_ bearing, entirely refused to take any money in payment for what
he had done.

"Nay, nay," he said; "we poor folks are proud too, and I won't have none
of your money, young gentlemen. But let me tell you that you've had a
very narrow escape of your lives out there, and I don't doubt you'll
thank the good God for it with all your hearts this night; and if you'll
just say a prayer for old Giles, too, he'll vally it more than all your
monies. So now, good-night to you, young gentlemen, for you know your
way now easy enough. And if ever you come this way again, maybe you'll
come in and have a chat for remembrance sake."

"Thank you, Giles, that we will," said the boys.

"And since you won't take any money you'll let me give you this," said
Walter. "You _must_ let me give you this; it's not worth much, but
it'll show you that Walter Evson didn't forget the good turn you did
us." And he forced on the old shepherd's acceptance a handsome knife,
with several strong blades, which he happened to have in his pocket;
while Power and Kenrick, after a rapid whispered consultation, promised
to bring him in a few days a first-rate plaid to serve him as a slight
reminder of their gratitude for his ready kindness. Then they all shook
hands with many thanks, and the three boys, eager to find sympathy in
their perils and deliverance, hastened to Saint Winifred's, which they
reached at eight o'clock, just when their absence was beginning to cause
the most serious anxiety.

They arrived at the arched gateway as the boys were pouring out of
eveni