ther above or
below.

My boat looked small away deep down there as she tugged at her
mooring line and tossed wildly about in the rising tide. O, how I
wished that I was seated at her helm, and in sight of my beloved
Stromness!

Instinctively I felt for my magic stone. It hung safely under my
knitted shirt. I trusted in the security it gave me, and my courage
was renewed. The way out of my predicament was so hopeless, my
danger so great, that I solemnly resolved, should I ever reach home
again, to attribute my escape from this peril to the intervention
of the viking's talisman.

Long and wearily I waited, contemplating the difficulties of my
situation, and in the end I almost determined to hazard the further
descent without the help of the rope, trusting merely to the skill
of my hands and feet.

My first endeavour was to get back along the shelf of rock until
the rope should hang perpendicularly. Accordingly I restored the
young seagulls to their nest, turned myself round with my face to
the cliff, and, with much difficulty, retraced my way for some
distance. I was in a half-creeping position, holding by the right
hand to niches of the cliff, when, a sharp corner of stone digging
into my knee, I stumbled, and would surely have fallen far down
upon the rocks of the beach, had I not still held firmly to the
rope.

The sudden jerking, however, did one good thing; it loosened the
knot from the place where it had been held in the rock above, and
the rope itself came down by its own weight until it hung from my
waist where I had tied it.

The further descent was now performed with comparative ease, and in
the manner I had at first intended. I hung the rope at half its
length over a point of rock, seeing now that it had a free run, and
allowing the two ends to fall. Then I swarmed down the double line
until I found another suitable place for hanging the rope by. Thus
making the descent by repeated stages, I stepped at last upon the
level rocks of the beach, sincerely thankful for my escape from so
great peril.

When I scrambled over the rocks towards the boat I found she was
floating in full three fathoms of water, so that my only course was
to swim out to her. This, however, was a small matter after what I
had gone through. I stripped myself on one of the outlying rocks,
and plunging into the water soon reached the boat and clambered
over the stern. I was obliged to "slip the anchor," for the painter
was tied dee