Vince did not stir even to feel for a place to plant his hands, but remained motionless for some moments. Then there was a dull splash echoed from the barrier rock which shut-in the cove, and the rushing sound of wings, as the startled birds rose in clouds from their resting-places all around.
At last the full sense of his perilous position came to the boy, and with it his coolness; and he grasped the rock as well as he could, and called up to his companion.
“Grip hard, Ladle!” he cried. “I’m going to try and turn face to you.”
There was no reply; but a thrill seemed to come down the fibres of the rope, and the strain upon the boy’s chest to increase.
It was no easy task, for it was hard to find a resting-place on either side of the gap for his feet; but, full of trust in Mike’s hold of the rope, and strengthened by the knowledge that it was secured to the granite block as well, Vince gave himself a quick writhe, and turned upon his face. Then, after a scrambling slip or two, his toes found a ledge, as his hands already had, and he climbed steadily up.
That task was not difficult, for the foothold was easy to select, the rope tightening still, and giving him steady help, while the distance, long as it had taken him to descend, was only short.
In another minute he was over the ridge, looking down on Mike, who, instead of hauling in the rope as he came up, had let himself glide down like a counterpoise, and as soon as he saw his companion in safety, he drew himself in a crouching position and stared up with his lips apart.
“It’s all right,” said Vince huskily. “Why, your face is white as white, and your hair’s all wet.”
“Yes,” gasped Mike hysterically, “and so’s yours. Oh, Cinder, old chap, I thought you had gone! Let’s get away from this horrid place. Old Joe’s right: there is something terrible about it after all.”
“Wait a bit,” said Vince, rather feebly, as he too crouched down upon a piece of rock. “I don’t feel as if I could move much for a bit. I am so stiff and weak, and this rope’s cut into my chest. Yes: old Joe’s right; there’s no getting down there. But it was awfully grand, Ladle, and I should have liked you to see it.”