The Lighthouse | Page 6

one
o' them out of the tail of my eye, creeping round the rocks. They think I
haven't seen them. Darling Minnie--one kiss. Take care of mother if I
don't turn up soon."
"But how will you escape?"
"Hush, dearest girl! I want to have as much of you as I can before I go.
Don't be afraid. They're honest British tars after all, and won't hurt you,
Minnie."
Still seated at the girl's side, as if perfectly at his ease, yet speaking in
quick earnest tones, and drawing her closely to him, Ruby waited until
he heard a stealthy tread behind him. Then he sprang up with the speed
of thought, uttered a laugh of defiance as the sailors rushed towards
him, and leaping wildly off the cliff, fell a height of about fifty feet into
the sea.
Minnie uttered a scream of horror, and fell fainting into the arms of the
bewildered lieutenant.

"Down the cliffs--quick! he can't escape if you look alive. Stay, one of
you, and look after this girl. She'll roll over the edge on recovering,
perhaps."
It was easy to order the men down the cliffs, but not so easy for them to
obey, for the rocks were almost perpendicular at the place, and
descended sheer into the water.
"Surround the spot," shouted the lieutenant. "Scatter yourselves--away!
there's no beach here."
The lieutenant was right. The men extended themselves along the top
of the cliffs so as to prevent Ruby's escape, in the event of his trying to
ascend them, and two sailors stationed themselves in ambush in the
narrow pass at the spot where the cliffs terminate in the direction of the
town.
The leap taken by Ruby was a bold one. Few men could have ventured
it; indeed, the youth himself would have hesitated had he not been
driven almost to desperation. But he was a practised swimmer and
diver, and knew well the risk he ran. He struck the water with
tremendous force and sent up a great mass of foam, but he had entered
it perpendicularly, feet foremost, and in a few seconds returned to the
surface so close to the cliffs that they overhung him, and thus
effectually concealed him from his pursuers.
Swimming cautiously along for a short distance close to the rocks, he
came to the entrance of a cavern which was filled by the sea. The inner
end of this cave opened into a small hollow or hole among the cliffs, up
the sides of which Ruby knew that he could climb, and thus reach the
top unperceived, but, after gaining the summit, there still lay before
him the difficulty of eluding those who watched there. He felt, however,
that nothing could be gained by delay, so he struck at once into the
cave, swam to the inner end, and landed. Wringing the water out of his
clothes, he threw off his jacket and vest in order to be as unencumbered
as possible, and then began to climb cautiously.
Just above the spot where Ruby ascended there chanced to be stationed

a seaman named Dalls. This man had lain down flat on his breast, with
his head close to the edge of the cliff, so as to observe narrowly all that
went on below, but, being a stout, lethargic man, he soon fell fast
asleep! It was just at the spot where this man lay that Ruby reached the
summit. The ascent was very difficult. At each step the hunted youth
had to reach his hand as high above his head as possible, and grasp the
edge of a rock or a mass of turf with great care before venturing on
another step. Had one of these points of rock, or one of these tufts of
grass, given way, he would infallibly have fallen down the precipice
and been killed. Accustomed to this style of climbing from infancy,
however, he advanced without a sensation of fear.
On reaching the top he peeped over, and, seeing that no one was near,
prepared for a rush. There was a mass of brown turf on the bank above
him. He grasped it with all his force, and swung himself over the edge
of the cliff. In doing so he nearly scalped poor Dalls, whose hair was
the "turf" which he had seized, and who, uttering a hideous yell, leaped
upon Ruby and tried to overthrow him. But Dalls had met his match.
He received a blow on the nose that all but felled him, and instantly
after a blow on each eye, that raised a very constellation of stars in his
brain, and laid him prone upon the grass.
His yell, however, and the noise of the scuffle, were heard by those of
the press-gang who were nearest to the scene