and touched
the grass at the very edge of the upper step--he sprang upwards and
gained a footing on the top--he breathed more freely, and his followers,
one by one, ascended and took their place by him. He then advanced a
little distance to defend the position and to allow the rest of the
party space to assemble as they came up. The five minutes passed away,
and Raby led on, followed in a line by the other boats, for there was no
room for two to pass abreast, and as they entered they all ran up side
by side on the beach. Raby led them with the same good success as his
captain, though the marines with their muskets had some difficulty in
getting up, and ran no little risk of falling over again; but no
casualty occurred. It was, however, a long business, thus getting up in
a single file at so slow a pace, but at last the whole body were drawn
up together. Captain Fleetwood, for greater convenience, separated them
into two divisions, he leading the first, and Jack Raby, who was
delighted with his own importance, acting at; guide to the second. It
wanted just half an hour to midnight when they were put in motion. He
found the greatest difficulty in passing over the rough ground, and
keeping the direct path near the cliff, without the risk of some of his
followers slipping from the precipice to their left. He had, it must be
remembered, gone over the same path several times in the day, and once
on the night of his attempted escape, when he and his friends went to
get the rope, and the arms, and provisions, or it would have been almost
impossible for him to find the way. On the party went, silent as the
dead, and though the sound of the marines' heavy and regular tread might
have been heard at a distance, had any one been on the watch for them,
the footsteps of the blue-jackets, as they sprang from rock to rock,
were light almost as those of Indian warriors on any similar exploit.
The weather, which had hitherto been serene, with a gentle and balmy
breeze blowing from the west, now gave symptoms of being about to
undergo a change. A low moaning sound was heard as the night wind blew
among the pointed rocks, and it struck with the chilly feel of the north
on the right cheeks of the adventurers. It served, however, rather to
raise their spirits and strengthen their muscles; they knew that their
ships were in safety, if the anchorage was tolerable on the lee side of
the island, so they thought or cared little about the