stood on the forecastle of the wreck. Minute after minute elapsed, and still the spectators gazed curiously into the darkness, but, as the moments slipped away, hope grew fainter, until at length it ceased altogether. At length one spoke.
"There is not a soul left alive. Nor does there seem to be any one on the stern of the vessel. I fear the sufferer below is the sole survivor. Can nothing be done to rescue her ?"
For several minutes there was no reply ; but each person gazed into his neighbor's face with a sad, hopeless look that told too plainly what was thought. Many shook their heads, and several turned away as if longer delay at the spot was useless. But, when the silence had reigned for some time, the young man who, in the inn, had been the first to hear the signal gun, stepped out and said, "The only hope is in descending to her aid. I will try it with a rope-so help me God !" " It were madness," said one. "You will never live to get half way down," said another. "I cannot die in a holier cause," answered the young man. "Nobly spoken, my son," said the pastor, " and may God be with you in your attempt. He who guided the children of Israel through the desert, and maintained the holy martyrs amid the fires of persecution will not desert us in this extremity." The words of the venerable man had an invigorating effect on the listeners, and infused new hope into their bosoms. The tackle was speedily rigged, the fire was replenished, and then the adventurer stood on the edge of the cliff awaiting a lull in the gale. The attempt now to be made was one of the most perilous nature, and certain death would be sure to overtake the adventurer, if his nerve should fail him, or his path become immersed in darkness during his descent. The side of the precipice was nearly perpendicular, but it shelved in perhaps a few yards in its descent, while its surface was broken every where with fissures and jutting crags, against the latter of which a person descending its side with a rope would run a constant peril of being flung by the violence of the gale, oscillating the rope to and fro. The only possible means by which the foot of the precipice could be reached would be by the aid of a pole, used with a quick eye and steady nerve, to fend off the adventurer from the side of the cliff. Even in the day-time and during a calm the descent would have been an exploit that few persons would have coveted ; but with a violent wind beating against the face of the cliff, and whirling in eddies around the broken surface, the attempt was productive almost certainly of death, and only to be justified by the extreme necessity of the present occasion. Added to all this
peril, however, was that of darkness, for although the fire on the edge of the cliff was vigorously maintained, the light of the flames shot out horizontally, or at least diagonally downward, so that the face of the precipice was only illumined by fitful gleams, and never wholly removed from shadow. How could a person descending the face of the cliff in this comparative darkness, guard himself with any certainty against the numerous jutting fragments of the rock ? -or how could he, even if he should effect his own descent, ascend again to the edge of the cliff above with another person ? At length it was arranged that the young adventurer should descend at once by means of a rope, girt around his body, and made fast above, while another rope should accompany him down. Then if he reached the foot of the precipice in safety, cloaks and blankets would be lowered to him in order that the sufferer might be protected, as much as possible, against the chilling blasts. When morning dawned, or earlier if the gale abated, an attempt was to be made to raise the sufferer to the top of the cliff by means of a chair and whip. Every thing having been arranged, the daring adventurer seized a favorable opportunity during a lull of the gale, and commenced his descent. The light ofthe fire as it shivered on the dark face of the precipice, and the wild whirlpool of foam below gave an omninous character to all around him ; but his heart was a stranger to fear, and skilfully avoiding the jutting angles of the rock, he reached at length the foot of the cliff, and with a light bound springing over an intermediate chasm, stood by the side of the fugitive from the wreck. We shall not attempt to describe her emotions during the dizzy descent of the young man, nor the glad cry of joy with which she saw him landed on the rock to which she clung. She would have thrown herself at his feet, but he would not permit it. Raising her up, he said, "To God alone are our thanks due : let us pray to him that we may escape the peril which yet surrounds us, for I cannot conceal from you that the danger is still imminent, and I scarcely know how we can reach the top of the cliff. But droop not, for I have come to save you or die with you !" The fugitive raised her grateful eyes to the young man, and he then saw, for the first time, that she was a young girl, apparently about seventeen, and of unusual loveliness. Even now, with her dress all drenched with spray, and the salt foam intermingled with the tresses of her dishevelled hair, her beauty was so startling that the young adventurer could scarcely repress an exclamation of rapturous admiration, and he felt that he could dare the same danger a thousand times, to win another such grateful glance from the dark eyes of the lovely stranger. But the exposed situation of the rock on which they stood-for every wave dashed the cold spray over them ―soon recalled him to the necessity of providing a place
