“Anna! Anna!” cried van Nerekool in despair—for yonder, far beneath him, he could see the girl cautiously climbing down the long ladder which, made of rottang ropes, was dangling and swaying about under the burden it had to carry.
The foot of this crazy ladder dipped into the sea, and was being swayed about by the breakers as they came rolling in shore.
When a wave thundered up it swept the end of the ladder into the cave as the water rushed into the opening; and then, when it receded spouting out of the mouth with the force of a cataract, the foot of the ladder was whirled away again in the opposite direction. This violent motion repeatedly dashed Anna up against the face of the rock as she was dangling there far above the surface of the sea, and every now and then a roller would dash its blinding spray upward as if greedy for its prey.
At that fearful sight van Nerekool shuddered.
“Anna! Anna!” he called again and again in heartrending tones.
His voice seemed to reach her above the din of the water. Timidly she glanced upwards. When she saw that face which showed clearly against the blue sky, and which she recognised in an instant, she uttered a faint shriek and hurried down faster than before.
Van Nerekool sprang to his feet.
“I must go down!” cried he nervously.
And before his friends could do anything to prevent him, he had grasped the top of the ladder, had stretched out one foot over the abyss, had placed it into one of the rungs, and had begun his perilous descent.
It was now Murowski’s turn, and Grenits’s turn, to fling themselves down flat on the ground.