The Heir to Grand-Pré

by John Frederic Herbin

"The way has been so difficult, I do not wish to conjecture as to the rest of the ascent. Yet I think we have gone over the worst of it," rejoined Winslow, looking up the face of the mountain, which from where he stood could be seen rising into the woods of the summit. On the right a strip of hardwood ran down the face of the cliff and shut off their view to the north-east, but on their left hand the rough formation extended for several hundred yards, patches of green shrubbery and woods alternating with rough stone broken off the cliff and sloping downward. Everything seemed to be clinging to the steep face of the mountain, and was apparently at any moment likely to lose its hold and go sliding and tumbling down into the sea. The wind often started a rock or slide of sand downward, and the noise of invisible movement often came to their ears. Yet the birds were all about them. Eagle and hawk were interrupted in their warfare on the smaller bird life, and the seagulls floated through the air with graceful motion.

"Let us go, Grace," said Miss Forest, at last becoming impatient.

By this time Winslow had succeeded in attracting the attention of Len, though he could not make him understand in the roar of the waves, but by motioning in the direction he intended to take he kept him going on to the termination of the mountain.

The ladies were climbing up and were able to get along very well without assistance. Their course lay up a long, loose slide of rock and earth not easy to traverse at times because of its tendency to slip from beneath their feet and endanger the limbs of the person who happened to be just below. Large rocks were easily set rolling downward, and their way was marked by a continuous rolling of stones and earth.

Taking a diagonal direction up the face of the mountain, they approached the long line of trees and brush which seemed to extend from the brow of the bluff of Blomidon downward to where they were.

They now stood within a short distance of the wood they were aiming for, but to Winslow's dismay he found that the more solid formation on which they stood and the woods beyond were separated by a long slide, steep and treacherous, of fine red sand. This slide was as level as a roof. The particles of sand moving so freely over each other had made the slide extremely steep, and the whole slope presented no visible break in the smoothness of its surface. Winslow found that when he tried to go across it was necessary to step very quickly, as his feet sank in the soft material, and the whole surface seemed to move downward in a body, bearing him along with it. His strength kept him from sliding down quicker than he could walk, and he was able to make his way across, where he found another difficulty. The rise from the slide was high, the margin of the wood making a steep bank held together by the countless roots of the trees that bordered it. It was higher than his shoulders, and could only be climbed by the aid of the bare roots and overhanging branches. To stand in one place was impossible, and it would exhaust the strongest man in a short while to attempt to walk up the slide.

"Your assistance, Mr. Winslow," said a voice near him, and turning around he found that Miss Gaston had followed him, but without strength enough to enable her to keep in line with him, she had been carried down some distance by the moving sand. He was at her side in an instant, and together they slowly came up the slope until he was able to grasp a projecting root, and with much difficulty he succeeded in helping her up the bank. As a muscular feat it was the most severe he had attempted that day. They had torn so much of the sand down in their passage across that now the whole face of the slide was amove, the particles filling up all the traces of their exertions. Returning quickly for Miss Forest, he led her up the bank some distance, and as she was slight of figure he was able, by half dragging and half lifting her, to get her safe across. And they again stood together, glad to rest for a time.

"Admirably done, Mr. Winslow," said Miss Gaston, laughing. "You surely have repented of this undertaking many times since we left the beach."

"I have regretted what it has caused you, rather. You will have painful reminders in bruised body and stiffened and strained limbs for some weeks. This trip will be one to be remembered."

"And much torn clothing," added Miss Forest, whose spirits had revived somewhat, surveying the disorder of her garments, at the same time exchanging glances with Miss Gaston whose meaning seemed to be mutually understood, for merry laughter followed.