ust wait," said Jeffreys. "Try to sit up, old fellow. I'll help
you."

It was evident that the boy's arm, if not broken, was so severely
damaged as to render it powerless.

"I could stay here, I think," said he, "if you went on, Jeff."

"Nonsense!" said Jeffreys; "we'll send Julius to fetch help. Here,
Julius, good dog," said he, patting the dog's head and pointing down to
the valley, "go and fetch them here. Fetch Appleby, and Walker, and Mr
Rimbolt. Go along, good fellow."

The dog, who had been crawling behind them, looked wistfully at his
master and licked the hand that caressed him. Then, stepping carefully
across them as they sat with their backs to the rock and their feet
beyond the edge of the path, he departed.

He was out of sight almost a yard away, but they heard him whine once as
the wind dashed him against the cliff.

"Julius, good dog, fetch them!" shouted Jeffreys into the mist.

A faint answering bark came back.

Next moment, through the storm, came a wild howl, and they heard him no
more.

Jeffreys guessed only too well what that howl meant; but he never
stirred, as with his arm round Percy, and his cloak screening him from
the wind, he looked hopelessly out into the night and waited.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

SCARFE PROMISES TO REMEMBER.

"Jeff," said Percy, after a minute or two, "it's nonsense your staying
here to get frozen; do go on."

"No, old fellow; I prefer your company to my own."

"But, Jeff, we may not last out till the morning."

"We won't give it up yet, though." Jeffreys had great faith in the
caloric of hope, especially for a boy of Percy's temperament. For
himself he saw enough to guess that their position was a desperate one.
The ledge on which they sat was narrow and slanting, and the wind,
shifting gradually to the west, began to get round them menacingly, and
cause them now and then to grip at the stones while some specially
furious gust blew past. Add to that, Percy's arm was probably broken,
and, despite a makeshift bandage and sling, adjusted at imminent peril
of being swept away in the operation, increasingly painful. The mist
wrapped them like a winding-sheet, and froze as it fell.

"How long will Julius take getting down?" asked the boy.

"Not long," said Jeffreys, with a shudder, not wholly caused by the
cold.

"An hour? He could bring them up in three hours, couldn't he?"

"Less, perhaps. We can hold out for three hours."

"Jeff, old fell