The Two Admirals Read Online Free PDF Page B

darkest
nights, his thoughts had flashed athwart all the probable circumstances,
and presented a just image of the facts.
    "The boy could not be seen had he absolutely fallen, and were there no
fog; for the cliff tumbles home, Sir Wycherly," he said, eagerly,
unconsciously using a familiar nautical phrase to express his meaning.
"He must be clinging to the side of the precipice, and that, too, above
the swell of the rocks."
    Stimulated by a common feeling, the two men now advanced hastily to the
brow of the hill, and there, indeed, as with Mildred herself, a single
look sufficed to tell them the whole truth. Young Wychecombe, in leaning
forward to pluck a flower, had pressed so hard upon the bit of rock on
which a foot rested, as to cause it to break, thereby losing his
balance. A presence of mind that amounted almost to inspiration, and a
high resolution, alone saved him from being dashed to pieces. Perceiving
the rock to give way, he threw himself forward, and alighted on a narrow
shelf, a few feet beneath the place where he had just stood, and at
least ten feet removed from it, laterally. The shelf on which he
alighted was ragged, and but two or three feet wide. It would have
afforded only a check to his fall, had there not fortunately been some
shrubs among the rocks above it. By these shrubs the young man caught,
actually swinging off in the air, under the impetus of his leap.
Happily, the shrubs were too well rooted to give way; and, swinging
himself round, with the address of a sailor, the youthful lieutenant was
immediately on his feet, in comparative safety. The silence that
succeeded was the consequence of the shock he felt, in finding him so
suddenly thrown into this perilous situation. The summit of the cliff
was now about six fathoms above his head, and the shelf on which he
stood, impended over a portion of the cliff that was absolutely
perpendicular, and which might be said to be out of the line of those
projections along which he had so lately been idly gathering flowers. It
was physically impossible for any human being to extricate himself from
such a situation, without assistance. This Wychecombe understood at a
glance, and he had passed the few minutes that intervened between his
fall and the appearance of the party above him, in devising the means
necessary to his liberation. As it was, few men, unaccustomed to the
giddy elevations of the mast, could have mustered a sufficient command
of nerve to maintain a position on the ledge where he stood. Even he
could not have continued there, without steadying his form by the aid of
the bushes.
    As soon as the baronet and Dutton got a glimpse of the perilous position
of young Wychecombe, each recoiled in horror from the sight, as if
fearful of being precipitated on top of him. Both, then, actually lay
down on the grass, and approached the edge of the cliff again, in that
humble attitude, even trembling as they lay at length, with their chins
projecting over the rocks, staring downwards at the victim. The young
man could see nothing of all this; for, as he stood with his back
against the cliff, he had not room to turn, with safety, or even to look
upwards. Mildred, however, seemed to lose all sense of self and of
danger, in view of the extremity in which the youth beneath was placed.
She stood on the very verge of the precipice, and looked down with
steadiness and impunity that would have been utterly impossible for her
to attain under less exciting circumstances; even allowing the young man
to catch a glimpse of her rich locks, as they hung about her beautiful
face.
    "For God's sake, Mildred," called out the youth, "keep further from the
cliff—I see you, and we can now hear each other without so much risk."
    "What can we do to rescue you, Wychecombe?" eagerly asked the girl.
"Tell me, I entreat you; for Sir Wycherly and my father are both
unnerved!"
    "Blessed creature! and
you
are mindful of my danger! But, be not
uneasy, Mildred; do as I tell you, and all will