She walked a few paces and stood at the edge of the path looking out over the sea. It was a high tide and far in, but only the very highest tide with a winter gale behind it ever reached the foot of the cliffs. Black ridges of rock ran down into black water. There were scarcely visible, darker shadows in a general gloom, but she knew that they were there. Over them and over the cliff the wind blew cold. It had voice enough to drown the sound of the oncoming footsteps. There had been a lull, and there would be a lull again. She waited for it and listened, looking out over the water.
And then there was the sound, right behind her. She made to turn, received a violent blow between the shoulders, dropped her torch, and stumbled forward over the edge of the cliff. That half turn saved her life. She fell sideways instead of headlong, her right arm flung out, the hand grasping at emptiness, but all her left side in contact with the shelving cliff. Her left leg rasped against rock, her left hand caught at a sod, a tussock. Her foot checked the descent for a moment, and in that moment she had both hands fast in the twigs and branches of some small shrubby bush. She hung there, not dazed but sharply, horribly aware of the rocks below. But she knew that she could not hang there long. The bush would give, or her frantic grasp.
And then her left foot found a hold again, a little jutting shelf of rock, narrow, oh, so narrow, but firm as the cliff itself. She got the toe of her other foot upon it, and the worst of the strain was off her hands. The bush and her hold of it were enough to steady her.
For a moment the relief was as sweet as if she had been saved, but on the heels of that came the realization of her position. She could just make out the edge of the cliff. It seemed to be about eight feet above her. She could maintain herself here for a time-but for how long? It was very cold. Her hands were bare-she never wore gloves if she could help it-and this had helped to save her. But if her numbed fingers could hold no longer, if she were to turn faint-the rocks were waiting. The only living soul within call was the one who had pushed her over the cliff. She did not dare cry out.
As she looked up, there was a sound from above-a kind of grunt and the scrape of stone on stone. Something blacker than the darkness came over the verge and rushed past her. She heard the crash of its fall far down below. The wind of it sang in her ears-and her own cry-and the wind that came in from the sea. Her body shook, and her heart. If she had not remembered the rocks she would have let go.
She looked up at the place from which the big stone had come and waited for another. There were plenty there, great lumps of rock from the ruined wall-loose too, and not hard to push over. The next would stun her, carry her away… None came. She thought, “I cried out. He thinks I fell.”
Then she was aware that someone was looking at her-looking down at her as she looked up. She could see nothing that could be called a shape, but there was a place where the darkness was solid. It was the same place from which the stone had come. Someone who hated her was there-someone who wanted her to die-someone who wanted to make sure that she was dead before he went on his way. She said “he,” but she did not know that it was a man. There was someone there who desired her death. That was all. It might have been a woman That scrutiny was worse than anything that had gone before. It seemed to last a long time. Then the blackness moved. She did not know which way it went, but it was gone. The worst horror left her. She shut her eyes and tried to pray.
She never knew quite how long it was before she saw the light. She must have been aware of it through her closed lids, because she stopped in the middle of a verse from a psalm and opened her eyes. And there, not a dozen feet away on her left, was the dancing ray of a torch. It was not on the same level as she was, but four or five feet above the path, swinging easily in a man’s hand. Through the sound of the wind Gale Brandon’s voice came to her, singing a snatch of a negro spirituaclass="underline"
“Look down, look down that lonesome road
Before you travel on-”
She called with the strength of agony,
“Help, Mr. Brandon-help!”
He stopped, and she heard her name spoken roughly.
She called again, the strength going out of her.
He said, “Rachel!” with a sort of angry shout, and the beam came down and struck her upturned face and open eyes.
He said, “My God!” and then, “Can you hold on?”
“I don’t know. Not very long.”
“You can. I won’t be long.”
And that was all. The light swung back to the path, and she heard his running feet.
She tried to think how far it was to Nanny’s cottage. Not very far, but there was no one there who could help. Ellen wouldn’t be back till seven.
The wind was chilling her, and she was getting stiff. There was only just room for the fore part of her feet on the narrow ledge. From the arch of the instep outwards they had no support. She could not move at all. Her left palm was cut from its desperate clutchings at the rock when she fell. Her head began to fell dizzy. She shut her eyes.
And then a lull, and the sound of running feet again, only this time they were coming nearer, and she heard Gale Brandon shout, “Hold on! I’m coming! It’s all right!”
He was above her now, with the torch cunningly tilted to show him her position without dazzling her. He had a white bundle in his arm and he began paying it out.
“Nanny hadn’t any rope-I had to tear up her sheets. That’s why I’ve been so long.”
The linen fell dangling beside her against the face of the cliff.
“Now, Rachel, can you let go at all with either hand?”
She said, “No.”
Gale Brandon said, “You must!” The light slipped to and fro across her hands. He said in an encouraging voice, “You’ve got quite a good bunch of stuff in that right hand. Does it feel firm?”
She couldn’t really feel anything at all, but she said, “Yes.”
“What sort of foothold have you got?”
“Rock-but I’ve only got my toes on it.”
“That’s fine. Now I’m going to swing the sheet close up to you on your left. It’s knotted into a sling at the end. I’ll try and pull the sling up under your elbow. The minute you feel it there let go the bush with your left hand, push your arm through the loop, and catch the sheet above it. That’ll bring the sling under your armpit. Now do that quick, and then I’ll tell you what to do next.”
Rachel did it, she never quite knew how. She found herself holding to the linen rope and feeling it cut in under her armpit as her weight came on the sling.
Gale Brandon said, “That’s fine.” The light slid over her again. “Now you’ve got to put your head through. It’s quite easy. And then your right arm, so that the sling will be under both armpits.”
Rachel said, “I don’t think I can.”
She heard the sharpest tone of command that had ever been used to her.
“Do what you’re told, and do it at once!”
She did it.
She was holding the linen now with both hands, and the sling was round her body.
He said, “Now we’re all right. I’m going to pull you up, but you must help yourself as much as you can. It’s nothing like sheer-there’s a good bit of slope in our favor. Take advantage of every bit you can. And don’t be frightened I’ll let you go, because I won’t. You’re quite safe now.”
Safe! The next few moments were the most terrifying she had ever known. If she had been less afraid she might have fainted. It was a very poignancy of terror which kept her conscious. It would have been much easier if she could have swooned. No use thinking about what would be easier-she had got to help Gale.
But at first there was nothing she could do. The linen strip tautened and took her off her feet. A pause while she swung there, and then the bush scratching her face, her hands, as she was drawn up through it, a few inches at a time. Now the twigs were rasping against her stockings, and now she got a knee on a projecting tussock and eased the weight. Then on again, but less difficult now. The cliff sloped to the path, and she was dragged up, half leaning, half scrambling, until she reached the edge and Gale took her under the arms and pulled her up beside him.