But I must say that I thought my chances of ever getting round to
him were very small. I was not by any means so safe as he seemed to
think, for being once seated on that shelf of the cliff I found
that my next difficulty would be to turn round with my face to the
rock in order to continue the perilous descent.
I had now to get my rope down from the height above me. First then
I tied one end of the line round my body so that the rope might not
fall, and, allowing the other end to hang slack, began to haul
away. Things went well for a few moments, and the rope answered to
every pull I gave. But, alas! there came a check. I had let loose
the wrong end, and the knot by which we had connected the two lines
had caught in some crevice. Try as I might I could not loosen it;
yet I was not certain that its hold was firm enough for me to
venture climbing up again by the portion of the rope that I held in
my grasp.
My thoughts were fearful. Here was I, stranded on this ledge of
rock, midway up the face of a steep precipice, the sea roaring far
beneath me, and with no obvious means of escape either above or
below.
My boat looked small away deep down there as she tugged at her
mooring line and tossed wildly about in the rising tide. O, how I
wished that I was seated at her helm, and in sight of my beloved
Stromness!
Instinctively I felt for my magic stone.
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