hing torrent, and, collecting all his
energies, he scrambled up the incline. Though nigh fainting with pain
and exhaustion, he pressed desperately higher and higher. He heard the
hideous shriek of the whirlpool which was beneath him grow louder
and louder. He saw the darkness grow darker as the rising water-spout
covered the mouth of the cave. He felt the salt spray sting his face,
and the wrathful tide lick the hand that hung over the shelf on which he
fell. But that was all. He was out of danger at last! And as the thought
blessed his senses, his eyes closed, and the wonderful courage and
strength which had sustained the villain so long exhaled in stupor.

When he awoke the cavern was filled with the soft light of dawn. Raising
his eyes, he beheld, high above his head, a roof of rock, on which the
reflection of the sunbeams, playing upwards through a pool of water,
cast flickering colours. On his right hand was the mouth of the cave, on
his left a terrific abyss, at the bottom of which he could hear the
sea faintly lapping and washing. He raised himself and stretched his
stiffened limbs. Despite his injured shoulder, it was imperative that he
should bestir himself. He knew not if his escape had been noticed, or
if the cavern had another inlet, by which McNab, returning, might
penetrate. Moreover, he was wet and famished. To preserve the life which
he had torn from the sea, he must have fire and food. First he examined
the crevice by which he had entered. It was shaped like an irregular
triangle, hollowed at the base by the action of the water which in such
storms as that of the preceding night was forced into it by the rising
of the sea. John Rex dared not crawl too near the edge, lest he should
slide out of the damp and slippery orifice, and be dashed upon the
rocks at the bottom of the Blow-hole. Craning his neck, he could see, a
hundred feet below him, the sullenly frothing water, gurgling, spouting,
and creaming, in huge turbid eddies, occasionally leaping upwards as
though it longed for another storm to send it raging up to the man who
had escaped its fury. It was impossible to get down that way. He turned
back into the cavern, and began to explore in that direction. The
twin-rocks against which he had been hurled were, in fact, pillars which
supported the roof of the water-drive. Beyond them lay a great grey
shadow which was emptiness, faintly illumined by the sea-light cast up
through the bottom of the gulf. Mid