now reached into the valley,
seemed to be searching for the spot where the fatal accident had taken
place, as if to assist him in the train of thought which his friend's
words had aroused. The dark group of human beings were seen dimly in the
moonlight, moving with a slow pace along the hollow of the gorge towards
the city, bearing along with them the body of the young sailor.

"Dear, dear Frank," said Rhimeson, deeply commiserating the anguish
which developed itself in the clasped uplifted hands and shuddering
frame of his unhappy friend, "bear up against this cruel accident like
a man--he may still recover." Elliot moved away from the ridge which
overlooked the valley, muttering, as if unconsciously--

"'Action is momentary--
The motion of a muscle this way or that;
Suffering is long, obscure, and infinite!'[G]

How profound and awful is that sentiment!"

[G] Wordsworth.

The sound of a piece of rock dislodged from the mountain side, and
thundering and crashing down the steep, awakened Rhimeson from his
contemplation of Elliot's grief; and, springing again to the brink of
the almost precipitous descent, he saw that one of their pursuers had
crept up by the inequalities of the rock, and was within a few yards of
the summit.

"Dog!" cried the young man, heaving off a fragment of rock, and in the
act of dashing it down upon the unprotected head of the policeman,
"offer to stir, and I will scatter your brains upon the cliffs!"

A shrill cry of terror burst from the poor fellow's lips as he gazed
upwards at the frightful attitude of his enemy, and expected every
moment to see the dreadful engine hurled at his head. The cry was
answered by the shouts of his companions, who, by different paths, had
arrived within a short distance of the fugitives.

"Retire miscreant! or I will send your mangled carcass down to the foot
without your help," shouted Rhimeson, swinging the huge stone up to the
extent of his arms. His answer was a pistol shot, which, whistling past
his cheek, struck the uplifted fragment of rock with such force as to
send a stunning feeling up to his very shoulders. The stone fell from
his benumbed grasp, and, striking the edge of the cliff, bounded
innocuous over the head of the policeman, who, springing upwards, was
within a few feet of Rhimeson before he had fully recovered himself.
"Away!" he cried, taking again the path up the mountain, and closely
followed by Elliot, wh