As she had walked along the shore she had used the opportunity to observe the face of the crag more attentively than she had ever done before, and she had seen how that it had been gnawed into by the sea-winds till it resembled a piece of old Stilton cheese of which little save the rind is firm, and how difficult and perilous it would be for any one to attempt to reach the recesses and ledges where the birds harboured. To ascend from the beach would be a sheer impossibility; moreover, the places employed by the sea-birds for breeding were all near the summit, and were protected by the beetling brows of that summit.
With quivering lip, Winefred went to the three young men she saw before her, and singling out Jack, said roughly, 'It is nonsense—I do not want the choughs.'
'You offered a guinea for them,' he replied.
'Take the guinea. I do not choose to endanger any one's life. I had not noticed before how the brow overhangs. I will not have the choughs.'
'I am satisfied that they are possible to be got,' said he; 'I can but try.'
'I will not have you try.'
'You held me to my promise.'
'I hold you no more. I withdraw everything I said. But you shall have the guinea.'
'I do not want your guinea. I shall go after the birds all the same.'
'I beg you will not go.'