end.

"All right, Jimmy. Pull up now," he called.

Jimmy pulled, but pull as he would he could not budge Bobby one inch. He
did not dare release the line where it made its turn around the
bowlder, for without the leverage he feared the line would get away from
him, in which case Bobby would crash to the bottom of the cliff. So
Jimmy pulled desperately. But it was of no avail, and presently he took
another turn of the line around the bowlder, and secured it so that it
could not slip, and ran forward.

Bobby was shouting to be drawn up, and Jimmy, throwing himself upon his
face and peering down over the edge of the cliff, saw Bobby dangling in
mid air some forty feet below him and thirty feet above the deep black
water. He also saw that, supported only by the line, Bobby was in a
strained and perilous as well as most uncomfortable position.

His first impulse was to lower Bobby to the base of the cliff, and let
him wait there until he could get the boat, bring it around and take him
off. But he saw at a glance that at its foot the rocky cliff rose out of
the deep water in a perpendicular wall, so smooth that there was not
even a hand hold to be had, and this was its condition for a
considerable distance on either side. Neither was there hope that, in
the strong outgoing tide, and encumbered by clothing, Bobby could swim
in the icy waters to a point where a footing could be had.

"Hurry, Jimmy; I can't stand this much longer! I can't stand it much
longer!" Bobby shouted, as he caught a glimpse of Jimmy's head.

Jimmy in return shouted reassurance to Bobby, and ran back for another
effort to pull him out. But again he pulled and pulled in vain. With all
the strength he had he could not pull Bobby up a single inch. With a
sickening dread at his heart, he refastened the line.

CHAPTER V

THE RESCUE

Jimmy realized that there was no help to be had from outside. There was
no one at home but Mrs. Abel, and rowing the skiff alone against the
tide fully four hours would be consumed in reaching there and another
three hours in coming back. Then it would be well past dark. An easterly
breeze was springing up, and a chop was rising on the bay. This
easterly wind was likely to bring with it a cold storm, and Bobby,
suspended thirty feet above the water, and not warmly dressed, might
perish.

"Yes," said Jimmy, "he might perish! He might perish! And it would be my
fault!"

The thought brought a cold perspiration t