It will be remembered that when Ayesha was standing on the spur, before we crossed to the stone, the wind tore her cloak from her, and whirled it away into the darkness of the gulf, we could not see whither.WellI hardly like to tell the story; it is so strange.As we lay there upon the rocking-stone, this very cloak came floating out of the black space, like a memory from the dead, and fell on Leoso that it covered him nearly from head to foot: We could not at first make out what it was, but soon discovered by its feel, and then poor Leo, for the first time, gave way, and Iheard him sobbing there upon the stone.No doubt the cloak had been caught upon some pinnacle of the cliff, and was thence blown hither by a chance gust; but still, it was a most curious and touching incident.
Shortly after this, suddenly, without the slightest previous warning, the great red knife of light came stabbing the darkness through and throughstruck the swaying stone on which we were, and rested its sharp point upon the spur opposite.
"Now for it," said Leo, "now or never."
We rose and stretched ourselves, and looked at the cloud-wreaths stained the color of blood by that red ray as they tore through the sickening depths beneath;and then at the empty space between the swaying stone and the quivering rock, and, in our hearts, despaired, and prepared for death.Surely we could not clear itdesperate though we were.
"Who is to go first?" said I.
"Do you, old fellow," answered Leo."I will sit upon the other side of the stone to steady it.You must take as much run as you can, and jump high; and God have mercy on us, say I."I acquiesced with a nod, and then I did a thing I had never done since Leo was a little boy.I turned and put my arm round him, and kissed him on the forehead.
It sounds rather French, but as a fact I was taking my last farewell of a man whom I could not have loved more if he had been my own son twice over.
"Good-bye, my boy," I said, "I hope that we shall meet again, wherever it is that we go to."The fact was I did not expect to live another two minutes.
Next I retreated to the far side of the rock, and waited till one of the chopping gusts of wind got behind me, and then, commending my soul to God, I ran the length of the huge stone, some three or four and thirty feet, and sprang wildly out into the dizzy air.
Oh! the sickening terrors that I felt as I launched myself at that little point of rock, and the horrible sense of despair that shot through my brain as Irealized that I had _i_ jumped short _i_.But so it was, my feet never touched the point, they went down into space, only my hands and body came in contact with it.I gripped at it with a yell, but one hand slipped, and I swung right round, holding by the other, so that I faced the stone from which I had sprung.Wildly I stretched up with my left hand, and this time managed to grasp a hob of rock, and there Ihung in the fierce red light, with thousands of feet of empty air beneath me.My hands were holding to either side of the under part of the spur, so that its point was touching my head.Therefore, even if I could have found the strength, I could not pull myself up.
The most that I could do would be to hang for about a minute, and then drop down, down into the bottomless pit.If any man can imagine a more hideous position, let him speak! All I know is that the torture of that half-minute nearly turned my brain.
I heard Leo give a cry, and then suddenly saw him in mid-air springing up and out like a chamois.It was a splendid leap that he took under the influence of his terror and despair, clearing the horrible gulf as though it were nothing, and, landing well on to the rocky point, he threw himself upon his face, to prevent his pitching off into the depths.I felt the spur above me shake beneath the shock of his impact, and as it did so I saw the huge rocking-stone, that had been violently depressed by him as he sprang, fly back when relieved of his weight till, for the first time during all these centuries, it got beyond its balance, and fell with a most awful crash right into the rocky chamber which had once served the philosopher Noot for a hermitage, as I have no doubt forever hermetically sealing the passage that leads to the Place of Life with some hundreds of tons of rock.
All this happened in a second, and curiously enough, notwithstanding my terrible position, I noted it involuntarily, as it were.I even remember thinking that no human being would go down that dread path again.
Next instant I felt Leo seize me by the right wrist with both hands.By lying flat on the point of rock he could just reach me.
"You must let go and swing yourself clear," he said, in a calm and collected voice, "and then I will try and pull you up, or we will both go together.Are you ready?"By way of answer I let go, first with my left hand and then with the right, and swayed out as a consequence clear of the overshadowing rock, my weight hanging upon Leo's arms.It was a dreadful moment.He was a very powerful man, I knew, but would his strength be equal to lifting me up till I could get a hold on the top of the spur, when owing to his position he had so little purchase?
