Page 513 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

Above this stream a dark spot defied the torchlight, and
John Rex felt his heart leap with one last desperate hope as
he comprehended that close to him was one of those tortu-
ous drives which the worm-like action of the sea bores in
such caverns as that in which he found himself. The drive,
opened first to the light of the day by the natural convul-
sion which had raised the mountain itself above ocean level,
probably extended into the bowels of the cliff. The stream
ceased to let itself out of the crevice; it was then likely that
the rising column of water did not penetrate far into this
wonderful hiding-place.
Endowed with a wisdom, which in one placed in less des-
perate position would have been madness, John Rex shouted
to his pursuers. ‘The rope! the rope!’ The words, projected
against the sides of the enormous funnel, were pitched high
above the blast, and, reduplicated by a thousand echoes,
reached the ears of those above.
‘He’s alive!’ cried McNab, peering into the abyss. ‘I see
him. Look!’
The soldier whipped the end of the bullock-hide lariat
round the tree to which he held, and began to oscillate it,
so that the blazing bush might reach the ledge on which
the daring convict sustained himself. The groan which pre-
ceded the fierce belching forth of the torrent was cast up to
them from below.
‘God be gude to the puir felly!’ said the pious young
Scotchman, catching his breath.
A white spume was visible at the bottom of the gulf, and
the groan changed into a rapidly increasing bellow. John

1 For the Term of His Natural Life