"Winnie!" he exclaimed in a tone that quite alarmed her; "I--I--" He hesitated. The solemn embargo of his father recurred to him.

"What is it! Is there danger?" exclaimed the poor girl, clasping his hand tighter and drawing nearer to him.

This was too much! Nigel felt himself to be contemptible. He was taking unfair advantage of her.

"Winnie," he began again, in a voice of forced calmness, "there is no danger whatever. I'm an a.s.s--a dolt--that's all! The fact is, I made my father a sort of half promise that I would not ask your opinion on a certain subject until--until I found out exactly what you thought about it. Now the thing is ridiculous--impossible--for how can I know your opinion on any subject until I have asked you?"

"Quite true," returned Winnie simply, "so you better ask me."

"Ha! _ha_!" laughed Nigel, in a sort of desperate amus.e.m.e.nt, "I--I--Yes, I _will_ ask you, Winnie! But first I must explain----"

"Hallo! Nigel!" came at that moment from the other side of the obstruction, "are you there--all right?"

"Yes, yes--I'm here--_not_ all right exactly, but I'll be all right _some day_, you may depend upon that!" shouted the youth, in a tone of indignant exasperation.

"What said you?" asked Van der Kemp, putting his head through the hole.

"Hi! I's a-comin', look out, dar!" hallooed Moses in the opposite direction.

"Just so," said Nigel, resuming his quiet tone and demeanour, "we'll be all right when the light comes. Here, give us your hand, Van der Kemp."

The hermit accepted the proffered aid and leaped down amongst his friends just as Moses arrived with the lantern.

"It's of no use going further," he said. "The pa.s.sage is completely blocked up--so we must go round to where the mountain has been split off and try to clamber up. There will be daylight enough yet if we are quick. Come."

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

THE LAST.

Descending to the boat they rowed round to the face of the great cliff which had been so suddenly laid bare when the Peak of Rakata was cleft from its summit to its foundations in the sea. It was a wonderful sight--a magnificent section, affording a marvellous view of the internal mechanism of a volcano.

But there was no time to spend in contemplation of this extraordinary sight, for evening approached and the hermit's purpose had to be accomplished.

High up near the top of the mighty cliff could be seen a small hole in the rock, which was all that remained of the observatory.

"It will be impossible, I fear, to reach that spot," said Nigel; "there does not appear to be foothold for a goat."

"I will reach it," said the hermit in a low voice, as he scanned the precipice carefully.

"So will I," said the negro.

"No, Moses, I go alone. You will remain in the boat and watch. If I fall, you can pick me up."

"Pick you up!" echoed Moses. "If you tumbles a t'ousand feet into de water how much t'ink you will be lef to pick up?"

It was useless to attempt to dissuade Van der Kemp. Being well aware of this, they all held their peace while he landed on a spur of the riven cliff.

The first part of the ascent was easy enough, the ground having been irregularly broken, so that the climber disappeared behind ma.s.ses of rock at times, while he kept as much as possible to the western edge of the mountain where the cleavage had occurred; but as he ascended he was forced to come out upon narrow ledges that had been left here and there on the face of the cliff, where he seemed, to those who were watching far below, like a mere black spot on the face of a gigantic wall. Still upward he went, slowly but steadily, till he reached a spot nearly level with the observatory. Here he had to go out on the sheer precipice, where his footholds were invisible from below.

Winnie sat in the boat with blanched face and tightly clasped hands, panting with anxiety as she gazed upwards.

"It looks much more dangerous from here than it is in reality," said Nigel to her in a rea.s.suring tone.

"Das true, Ma.s.sa Nadgel, das bery true," interposed Moses, endeavouring to comfort himself as well as the others by the intense earnestness of his manner. "De only danger, Miss Winnie, lies in your fadder losin' his head at sitch a t'riffic height, an' dar's no fear at all ob dat, for Ma.s.sa neber loses his head--pooh! you might as well talk ob him losin'

his heart. Look! look! he git close to de hole now--he put his foot--yes--next step--dar! he've done it!"

With the perspiration of anxiety streaming down his face the negro relieved his feelings by a wild prolonged cheer. Nigel obtained the same relief by means of a deep long-drawn sigh, but Winnie did not move; she seemed to realise her father's danger better than her companions, and remembered that the descent would be much more difficult than the ascent. They were not kept long in suspense. In a few minutes the hermit reappeared and began to retrace his steps--slowly but steadily--and the watchers breathed more freely.

Moses was right; there was in reality little danger in the climb, for the ledges which appeared to them like mere threads, and the footholds that were almost invisible, were in reality from a foot to three feet wide. The only danger lay in the hermit's head being unable to stand the trial, but, as Moses had remarked, there was no fear of that.

The watchers were therefore beginning to feel somewhat relieved from the tension of their anxiety, when a huge ma.s.s of rock was seen to slip from the face of the cliff and descend with the thunderous roar of an avalanche. The incident gave those in the boat a shock, for the landslip occurred not far from the spot which Van der Kemp had reached, but as he still stood there in apparent safety there seemed no cause for alarm till it was observed that the climber remained quite still for a long time and, seemed to have no intention of moving.

"G.o.d help him!" cried Nigel in sudden alarm, "the ledge has been carried away and he cannot advance! Stay by the boat, Moses, I will run to help him!"

"No, Ma.s.sa Nadgel," returned the negro, "I go to die wid 'im. Boat kin look arter itself."

He sprang on sh.o.r.e as he spoke, and dashed up the mountain-side like a hunted hare.

Our hero looked at Winnie for an instant in hesitation.

"Go!" said the poor girl. "You know I can manage a boat--quick!"

Another moment and Nigel was following in the track of the negro. They gained the broken ledge together, and then found that the s.p.a.ce between the point which they had reached and the spot on which the hermit stood was a smooth face of perpendicular rock--an absolutely impa.s.sable gulf!

Van der Kemp was standing with his back flat against the precipice and his feet resting on a little piece of projecting rock not more than three inches wide. This was all that lay between him and the hideous depth below, for Nigel found on carefully drawing nearer that the avalanche had been more extensive than was apparent from below, and that the ledge beyond the hermit had been also carried away--thus cutting off his retreat as well as his advance.

"I can make no effort to help myself," said Van der Kemp in a low but calm voice, when our hero's foot rested on the last projecting point that he could gain, and found that with the utmost reach of his arm he could not get within six inches of his friend's outstretched hand.

Besides, Nigel himself stood on so narrow a ledge, and against so steep a cliff, that he could not have acted with his wonted power even if the hand could have been grasped. Moses stood immediately behind Nigel, where the ledge was broader and where a shallow recess in the rock enabled him to stand with comparative ease. The poor fellow seemed to realise the situation more fully than his companion, for despair was written on every feature of his expressive face.

"What is to be done?" said Nigel, looking back.

"De boat-rope," suggested the negro.

"Useless," said Van der Kemp, in a voice as calm and steady as if he were in perfect safety, though the unusual pallor of his grave countenance showed that he was fully alive to the terrible situation. "I am resting on little more than my heels, and the strain is almost too much for me even now. I could not hold on till you went to the boat and returned. No, it seems to be G.o.d's will--and," added he humbly, "His will be done."

"O G.o.d, send us help!" cried Nigel in an agony of feeling that he could not master.

"If I had better foothold I might spring towards you and catch hold of you," said the hermit, "but I cannot spring off my heels. Besides, I doubt if you could bear my weight."

"Try, try!" cried Nigel, eagerly extending his hand. "Don't fear for my strength--I've got plenty of it, thank G.o.d! and see, I have my right arm wedged into a crevice so firmly that nothing could haul it out."

But Van der Kemp shook his head. "I cannot even make the attempt," he said. "The slightest move would plunge me down. Dear boy! I know that you and your father and Moses will care for my Winnie, and--"

"Ma.s.sa!" gasped Moses, who while the hermit was speaking had been working his body with mysterious and violent energy; "ma.s.sa! couldn't you _fall_ dis way, an' Nadgel could kitch your hand, an' I's got my leg shoved into a hole as nuffin' 'll haul it out ob. Dere's a holler place here. If Nadgel swings you into dat, an' I only once grab you by de hair--you're safe!"