the precipice at my feet, seized on me. I felt my hands
stretching themselves out towards him without my willing it--if I
had waited another instant, I should have dashed him or myself to
destruction. But I turned back in time; and, reckless of all danger,
fled from the sight of him, over the rugged and perilous surface of the
cliff.

The shock of a fall among the rocks, before I had advanced more than a
few yards, partly restored my self-possession. Still, I dared not look
back to see if Mannion was following me, so long as the precipice behind
him was within view.

I began to climb to the higher range of rocks almost at the same spot
by which I had descended from them--judging by the close thunder of the
water in the chasm. Halfway up, I stopped at a broad resting-place; and
found that I must proceed a little, either to the right or to the left,
in a horizontal direction, before I could easily get higher. At that
moment, the mist was slowly brightening again. I looked first to the
left, to see where I could get good foothold--then to the right, towards
the outer sides of the riven rocks close at hand.

At the same instant, I caught sight dimly of the figure of Mannion,
moving shadow-like below and beyond me, skirting the farther edge of
the slippery plane of granite that shelved into the gaping mouth of the
hole. The brightening atmosphere showed him that he had risked himself,
in the mist, too near to a dangerous place. He stopped--looked up and
saw me watching him--raised his hand--and shook it threateningly in the
air. The ill-calculated violence of his action, in making that menacing
gesture, destroyed his equilibrium--he staggered--tried to recover
himself--swayed half round where he stood--then fell heavily backward,
right on to the steep shelving rock.

The wet sea-weed slipped through his fingers, as they madly clutched at
it. He struggled frantically to throw himself towards the side of the
declivity; slipping further and further down it at every effort. Close
to the mouth of the abyss, he sprang up as if he had been shot. A
tremendous jet of spray hissed out upon him at the same moment. I heard
a scream, so shrill, so horribly unlike any human cry, that it seemed
to silence the very thundering of the water. The spray fell. For one
instant, I saw two livid and bloody hands tossed up against the black
walls of the hole, as he dropped into it. Then, the waves roared again
fiercely in their hidden depths; t