“Are we to be ended now,� I cried, “after having come thus far? Stand clear, madam,� I shouted, not giving her time to answer.
Then with all my strength I swung the axe and struck the rock fair and square and by good fortune upon some fissure, for it shivered and a crack started. Once again, this time with even more tremendous force, I swung and struck. The axe sank into the stone, the helve shivered in my hand. It was a right good blow, if I do say it myself, for the rock was now fairly split in two, the pieces falling to the right and left. Still, the two halves yet lay within the entrance, blocking it. We had not achieved a clear passage.
I was mad now, as mad as I had been in the outer cave fighting for her, or when I had cut the Duke of Arcester. The blood rushed to my face, a mist to my eyes. I stooped down and with my naked hands I seized one piece of that rock and with such strength as Hercules or Samson might have used, I drew it back, lifted it up and hurled it aside. The second piece followed in the same way. My mistress stood staring at me in awe mingled with terror. The way was opened and we stepped out upon the sand.
Never before or since did sunshine seem so sweet. My muddy clothes were torn to rags, blood was clotted in my hair and on my forehead, my face was black with sweat and dust, there were wounds upon my legs and arms. I was a gory and horrible spectacle. Mistress Lucy had suffered no wounds, but her clothes were rent and torn. Her face, too, was grimy, but beneath the dust and earth stain it showed as white as the cap of a wave.
“Thanks be to God,� she said at last, “and you, we have won through.�
I thought she would have fainted. I caught her by the arm, set her down upon the sand and sprinkled the water from the brook in her face until presently she revived.
“We are not safe yet,� I urged. “There were hundreds of savages upon the island; they may not all have been at the cave. We must go warily, we cannot rest now.�
“I am ready,� she answered with great spirit, getting to her feet and stretching out her hand. “If you will help me I can go anywhere.�
I still had my sword. I drew it out and led on, keeping well under the shelter of the cliffs. We walked up the sand toward the giant stairs. There we saw men, islanders, on the top of the wall, but my first glance told me that we had nothing to fear from them, for the stairs were gone. They were but a scattered heap of stones. The false gods were down, too. I wondered what had come to those at the main altar in the center of the island. The earthquake had crumbled the work of the builders of bygone years, and as the stairs had fallen away they had left the cliff sheer and bare for a hundred feet or more. Those above could not come at us, nor could we approach them, for which indeed we had no mind.
“It is an act of God,� said I, “that has broken down the stairs.�