means of getting to the summit, for then Fritz
would never incur any danger through climbing there.

Little did Eric think, as these hasty reflections passed through his
mind, that, in a very short while, his last wish would be gratified--and
that in a way, too, which would seriously affect them both!

The very next morning, indeed, he was glad enough to go up the cliff by
the tussock-grass ladder, in order to fetch the young goat he had shot
the day before, which, in the excitement of Fritz's accident, had been
left behind on the plateau; and, as he was coming down the gully again,
he saw the old goat "Kaiser Billy," and shook his fist at him.

"You old rascal!" he cried--"had it not been for you and your nasty
horns, poor Fritz would be now all right."

He then fired a shot at the animal in the distance; but, the knowing
fellow, who must have noticed the lad's deadly aim the previous
afternoon--when he had slain one of his family while she was galloping
along beside him--now kept carefully out of the range of Eric's rifle,
so that the bullet did not fall any way near him, so the lad had to
descend the tussock-grass ladder in a somewhat disappointed frame of
mind.

He had not wished actually to hurt the old goat, but merely to give him
a sort of mild lesson anent his impudent treatment of Fritz. However,
the astute animal declined learning even from so gentle an instructor as
Eric, despite the possibility of the lad having his welfare at heart!

This was the last time the sailor lad ever had the chance to climb up or
down the face of the cliff by means of the much-abused ladder-way; for,
within the next few days, a sudden mishap happened that cleared the
tangled masses of grass away in a jiffy, leaving the precipitous pass
through the gorge bare--the grim rocks thenceforth disclosing themselves
in all their naked ruggedness, for, there were no friendly tendrils
hanging down whereby to escalade the heights.

The accident occurred in this wise.

When clearing the land for the garden, a large amount of brushwood and
weeds had to be removed from its surface. These, when cut down and dug
up, made a large heap of rubbish, which, for the sake of neatness and
being out of the way, was piled up at the bottom of the gorge adjoining
the waterfall--the embrasure of the gully making a capital dust-hole, as
Eric had suggested.

From the effects of the hot sun, this rubbish was now as dry as straw;
so, one afternoon, when