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 masses 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 reassuring tone.

"Das true, Massa 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
Massa 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