ver her true servant and most unworthy
cavalier."

The old knight said no word, but he put a hand on either shoulder, and
kissed his squire, with the tears shining in his eyes. Alleyne sprang to
the rope, and sliding swiftly down, soon found himself at its extremity.
From above it seemed as though rope and cliff were well-nigh touching,
but now, when swinging a hundred feet down, the squire found that he
could scarce reach the face of the rock with his foot, and that it was
as smooth as glass, with no resting-place where a mouse could stand.
Some three feet lower, however, his eye lit upon a long jagged crack
which slanted downwards, and this he must reach if he would save not
only his own poor life, but that of the eight-score men above him. Yet
it were madness to spring for that narrow slit with nought but the wet,
smooth rock to cling to. He swung for a moment, full of thought, and
even as he hung there another of the hellish stones sang through his
curls, and struck a chip from the face of the cliff. Up he clambered
a few feet, drew up the loose end after him, unslung his belt, held on
with knee and with elbow while he spliced the long, tough leathern belt
to the end of the cord: then lowering himself as far as he could go, he
swung backwards and forwards until his hand reached the crack, when he
left the rope and clung to the face of the cliff. Another stone struck
him on the side, and he heard a sound like a breaking stick, with a keen
stabbing pain which shot through his chest. Yet it was no time now to
think of pain or ache. There was his lord and his eight-score comrades,
and they must be plucked from the jaws of death. On he clambered, with
his hand shuffling down the long sloping crack, sometimes bearing all
his weight upon his arms, at others finding some small shelf or tuft
on which to rest his foot. Would he never pass over that fifty feet? He
dared not look down and could but grope slowly onwards, his face to
the cliff, his fingers clutching, his feet scraping and feeling for a
support. Every vein and crack and mottling of that face of rock remained
forever stamped upon his memory. At last, however, his foot came upon
a broad resting-place and he ventured to cast a glance downwards. Thank
God! he had reached the highest of those fatal pinnacles upon which his
comrade had fallen. Quickly now he sprang from rock to rock until his
feet were on the ground, and he had his hand stretched out for the
horse's rei