"I wish to be the first to descend," said I.

"No, no, Mr Godfrey; if there is danger, it is not you should run it,
as it would be a sad thing if you were to be lost as well as your
brother and sister," exclaimed Paddy Doyle. "If Mr Mudge will give me
leave, I'll be the first to go; and if I get safe down I'll shout out,
and you can follow."

"Doyle is right," said Mudge; "let him go first."

Without waiting a moment, Paddy threw himself over the cliff, holding on
by the rope, and began to descend. It must have been somewhat trying
even to his nerves, for the rope swung backwards and forwards, being at
a considerable distance from the cliff. How the black came to conceive
that we should venture down, it was difficult to say; as he himself
certainly could never have climbed up or down such a rope, it must have
been a perfectly original idea with him. He had seen the rope in our
camp, and formed a just opinion of its strength; and he must have argued
that as he could climb a thin and lofty tree without branches, so could
we get up and down a stout rope.

On hearing Doyle's voice I was going to follow, when, to my surprise,
Pullingo approached the cliff, and seizing the rope, began to descend as
fearlessly as Doyle had done. I waited till he had reached the bottom,
and then, not without some feeling of anxiety, followed their example.
I found that we had reached a narrow beach, which extended some way up
in the hollow formed between the two sides of the cliff. I looked
about, half expecting to see Edith and Pierce.

Pullingo observed my disappointment, and beckoned Doyle and me to follow
him. He turned back--that is to say, to the northward of the spot where
we stood--and made his way along an exceedingly narrow ledge, a few feet
only above the water, which beat with a hollow sound beneath our feet.
Sometimes I had the greatest difficulty in making my way; and when at
length we came to a broader place, Doyle stopped and pulled off his
shoes, which he put into his pocket. I followed his example, and was
then able to get on somewhat better. The cliff was too smooth to afford
any hold to our hands; and a slip would have plunged us headlong into
the sea.

At length the black stopped at a somewhat broader place, which allowed
us to join him; when, turning round, we looked down into a shallow
cavern, in the centre of which we saw Edith and Pierce, kneeling down
side by side, and gazing towards the sea. We had a