152 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



had to disengage himself from the loop in which he 

 was sitting, pull himself up a few feet, and get firm 

 hold of the rope with hands and feet above the block ; 

 and to accomplish this, hanging as he was in mid-air, 

 was no easy matter, as the reader will readily under- 

 stand. In a few seconds, I knew by the strain on the 

 stake-end of the rope, that he was transferring his 

 weight to it alone. 



" Now then," he cried ; " pitch away ; I'm ready." 



There was no tension now on the longer end of the 

 rope. With both hands, therefore, I grasped firmly 

 the stake, and kicked the coil as far as I was able. 

 " All right ! " my brother shouted. " Hold hard now, 

 and I'll slide down slowly." 



We knew the rope was not long enough to reach all 

 the way down to the rocks and boulders, where the sea 

 was grumbling ; but we had good hope that a hundred 

 feet or so down he would find footing. In little more 

 than a minute, I felt the tension suddenly cease, and 

 grew deadly faint from the terrible fear that he had 

 lost his hold. The next instant, to my inexpressible 

 joy, I heard his far-ofi" shout : " Eight now, old fellow. 

 I've got good footing, and will be up directly ; it's all 

 plain sailing now." 



I ran along the brow of the cliff, to a point from 

 which I could see him. I seemed scarcely able to 

 realise that he was safe till I actually did see him. 

 He was nearly half-way down ; and we waved mutual 

 congratulations to one another. After a few minutes' 

 rest, he passed along laterally for some distance, and 



