Cormorant Crag Part 13

"I say!" he cried, "father said it was a shame for us to lose such a fine day, and he told Mr Deane to give us a holiday."

"Eh? What's that?" cried the Doctor. "Here, I'm off up to the house to put a stop to that. I'm not going to pay half that tutor's expenses if this sort of idleness is to be encouraged."

Mike looked aghast.

"It's all right," said Vince merrily; "father doesn't mean it."

"Oh, don't I!" cried the Doctor, frowning.

"No: does he, mother?"

Mrs Burnet smiled and shook her head.

"Here, you boys, don't get into any mischief."

"No, father," said Vince, and the next minute they were outside.

"Scraw?" said Vincent; and his companion nodded unwillingly, as the boy thought, but he changed his opinion the next moment.

"I've got the hammer and bar ready, and a small rope; but we must have yours."

"Yes, of course."

"Well, run back and get it, and meet me out by the Dolmen."

"Brought it," said Mike: "tucked it under a furze bush out on the common."

Vince's face lit up with eagerness, and the pair were about to start when they saw old Daygo in the distance, and they turned back, went into the house, and waited till he had gone by.

Giving the fisherman time to get well out of sight, they sallied forth, and went to where the coil of rope was hidden--a thin, strong line that would have borne a couple of men hanging on its end--and as soon as this was brought out, and a glance round taken to make sure they were not watched, Mike cried--

"But what about the hammer and bar?"

Vince opened his jersey to show the head of the hammer on one side, the crowbar on the other, snugly tucked in the waistband of his trousers.

"Well done! that's capital!" cried Mike. And the two lads went off in the direction of the Scraw, but in a zigzag fas.h.i.+on, as if their intentions were entirely different; and this at Vince's wish, for he had a strong impression that old Daygo was keeping an eye upon their movements, though Mike laughed at the idea.

"I don't feel nervous about it now, do you?" said Vince, as soon as they were well under cover of the rugged ground.

"No; but I don't like to think about that ugly slip you had," said Mike thoughtfully.

"I didn't have an ugly slip: you knocked me over."

"Oh, well, I couldn't help it, could I? and I did hold on till you got out of it."

"Never mind that now," said Vince; "let's think about what we are going to do. There'll be no danger so long as we are careful--and I mean to be, very, and so I tell you. Wonder whether we shall see our black friend? I say, didn't it seem as if it was on the look-out for us to have a bad accident?"

"No: seemed as if it was on the look-out to keep us from finding its nest."

They chatted away merrily enough till they had nearly reached the chaos of tumbled-together rocks, when, in spite of the bright suns.h.i.+ne and blue sky overhead, the wildness of the place once more impressed them unpleasantly, and, instead of the cheery conversation and banter in which they had indulged, they became quiet, only speaking at intervals, and then in quite a low tone.

The bottom of the steep, rough slope was reached, and they paused to consider their plans. They had come out some fifty yards from where they made their former ascent to the ridge, for it was marked by the jagged sugar-loaf upon which the raven had perched. But the sloping wall of granite where they were presented just about the same aspect as that portion where they had struggled up before, and there was no reason for making a detour over very difficult ground, c.u.mbered with huge blocks that must have fallen from above, and tangled in the hollows between with brambles; so they determined to climb from where they stood, and began at once, each selecting his own route, with the understanding that a pyramidal block eighty or ninety feet above their heads should be the meeting-place.

"Come on, then," cried Mike. "First up!"

"No, no," said Vince. "This must be done steadily. We shall want to be cool and fresh for anything we may have to do. One of us is sure to be obliged to go down by the rope."

"Very well," said Mike; and they commenced the ascent, each feeling the wisdom of the plan adopted, the climb being difficult enough, though there was not the slightest danger.

They were glad enough to rest and wipe their brows as they stood by the rough block, and upon which they found they could easily climb; but there was nothing more to see than at their former visit, save that the rocks looked far more rough, both at the torrent-like entrance and the narrow opening on their right, while even from the height at which they stood it was plain to see that the circular cove was in a violent state of ebullition.

But here, close in, was the slope which ran down towards the sea--very similar in character to that by which they had ascended, only that it was, as it were, chopped off short. In fact, they seemed to be on the summit of a stony ridge of granite mountains, one side of which had been nearly all gnawed away by the sea.

"Don't seem much choice of where to go down," said Vince, after a long scrutiny to right and left. "Shall we try here?"

"Just as well as anywhere else," said Mike. "Only what is it we are going to do? If it means creeping down with a rope round one, and then going over the edge to play chicken at the end of a roasting-jack, I feel as if I'd rather not."

"It means going carefully down to the edge and looking over first,"

replied Vince. "It may only be a place where we can get down easily enough."

"Or it may be a place where we can't," said Mike. "All right: I'll go, if you like."

"No: I'll go first," said Vince. And he drew out his hammer and crowbar; but a block of granite close by stood up so much like a thick, blunt post that there seemed to be no need for the crowbar to be driven in; so, making one end fast round the block with a well-tried mooring knot--one which old Daygo had taught them might be depended upon for securing a boat--they calculated how much rope would be necessary to well reach the bottom of the broken-off slope, and at the end of this the line was knotted round Vince's chest and he prepared to descend.

"Ease it away gently, so that I'm not checked," said the lad, as Mike took hold close to him and knelt down ready to pay the rope out and so as to be able to tighten his grasp at any moment if there was a slip.

"Right! I'll mind; and you'll be all right: you can't fall."

"I know," was the reply; and trusting to his companion, while strengthened by the knowledge that at the very worst he must be brought up short by the granite block, Vince gave a sharp look downward, and, selecting a spot at the edge a little to his right for the point to make for, he turned his face to the slope and began to descend, carefully picking hand and foothold and helped by the steady strain upon the rope which was kept up by Mike, who watched every movement breathlessly, his eyes fixed upon his companion's head, and ready to respond to every order which was uttered.

Vince went down as calmly and deliberately as if the level ground were just below him till he was about two-thirds of the way, when he could not help giving a start, for Mike suddenly exclaimed:

"Here's that old raven coming!"

"Where?"

"Off to my right--in a hurry. You must be somewhere near the nest."

Vince hesitated for a few moments, for the thought occurred to him that the bird might make a swoop at him, as he had read of eagles acting under similar circ.u.mstances; but the next moment he had thought of what power there would be in the blow of a fist striking a bird in full career, and knowing full well that it must be fatal to the raven, he continued to descend, with the bird flying by some fifty feet overhead and uttering its hoa.r.s.e croak.

"Lower away a little more," said Vince, as he drew nearer the edge of what might either be a precipice or an easy slope for aught he could tell.

"I'll lower," was the reply; "but I want to feel you well."

"That's right. I must have rope enough to move quite freely."

"Yes, that's all very well; but I don't feel as if I could haul you up if you slipped over the edge."

"Who's going to ask you to?" said Vince. "I should try and climb, shouldn't I? If you keep me tight like that I can't get down."