o halt now was useless; to turn back impossible. So, gripping as best
he might at the rugged rock, he stepped boldly on to the ledge. I could
but follow. Yet, at the first step, my feet slid from under me, and but
that my hands held firm I should have been headlong. Inch by inch
hugging the cliff, with our backs to the sea, we crawled over that
treacherous ledge, sometimes slipping to our knees, sometimes hanging
sheer by our hands.

Once, in a moment of weakness, I looked back to see how our men were
faring. As I did so, a youth, next after me, a tall, brave youth who
had been foremost in all the peril, suddenly staggered and slipped. For
a moment he hung by hand and knee to the ledge; the next with a loud
groan he fell backwards into the darkness. I heard the crash of his
body on the rocks below, and, in my horror, my own grip for an instant
relaxed, and I felt myself following. But a strong hand caught me and
held me up, and Ludar said:

"Humphrey, are you a fool? Lookup, man, or you are lost."

After that I had eyes for naught but the cliff before me. And although,
before that terrible passage was ended, I heard five more groans and as
many more crashes on the rocks below, I managed to keep my own footing,
till at last, with my head in a whirl, I stood beside Ludar on a
broader, straighter ledge, within a dozen feet of the cliff-top.

Ludar was pale, and his breath came and went hard, as he made room for
me beside him. He too had heard those terrible crashes.

"That path," said he, "is easier passed by a boy than a man. Had I
known what it would cost us-- Yet, come on now!"

There was indeed no time to tarry, for the men behind--all that were
left of them--came up, and we must perforce move forward to make them
room.

Now, once more we heard the guns above, and a mighty shouting on the far
side of the Castle. But, towards us, all frowned black and solitary.

The short distance yet to climb compared with what we had passed, was
easy. For, steep as it was and often overhanging the sea, the rock here
was rough and dry, and our feet held fast. Just as we came to the top,
Ludar turned.

"Follow close, my men; shout, and discharge your pieces if you can,"
called he, "and once entered, make for the drawbridge."

Almost as he spoke, we heard a shout above us, and the report of a
musket discharged into the darkness. A sentinel had heard our voices,
and this was his greeting.

Next moment I saw Lu