"Jump for your life!" shouted Forrest.
I had wit enough to obey without hesitation.
As I leaped, my eyes were fixed upon Mannering who at that moment had reached the very edge of the cliff. I saw him disappear, and then I rolled over on the turf. I was unhurt, and gathering myself together, I regained my feet just as the car which had carried us so well followed the maker over the cliff. A dozen paces took me to the spot. I shuddered as I glanced downwards and saw the fate I had escaped. Two or three hundred feet below the tide was boiling over the jagged rocks. I fancied I could discern a few fragments of the white car and that was all.
Not ten seconds before I had seen Mannering wave his hand at us mockingly as he rode to his death, and I guessed that his intention had been to lure us on to a common destruction. Once again he had disappeared, but now I knew it was for all time.
A strange calm came upon me. Straight in front of us the Longships lighthouse made a pillar of black marble against the huge red disc of the setting sun. In the far distance the Cassiterides floated cloud-like on the horizon. I gulped down a sob of thankfulness, for the memory came upon me that the one whom I loved had been saved by the merest chance from sharing the fate of the madman who had so unhesitatingly rushed upon his doom.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Forrest.
"Our work is done," he said, and with an impatient sigh, he took from his pocket the useless handcuffs and hurled them after the cars. "One thing we have to be thankful for," he continued, "thank God, Miss Maitland is safe."
For reply, I could only grasp his hands and wring them silently. As I did so, I became conscious that a number of excited people had gathered about us.
"Where—where is she?" I gasped.
Some one pointed to the hotel a hundred yards or so distant, and Forrest and I hurried towards it. I was a prey to the most horrible anxiety. I dreaded to contemplate what the result upon the mind of my darling might be. I had nearly reached the hotel door, when I saw a slight figure step across the threshold and shade her eyes with her hand. With a cry of delight I sprang forward.