In novels of school
life, where the scene is laid on the coast, the hero always imperils his
bones in an escapade upon the cliffs. The heroes of our romance knew
what was expected of them. Accordingly, two new boys of a week's
standing start one afternoon for a ramble on Borth Head and are missing
at tea-time. Search parties are organised at once (it was not the first
occasion, for the writer remembers sharing in a wild-goose chase which
lasted four hours of the night, along and under the same cliffs); while
one skirted the marsh to Taliesin, another explored the coast. The
latter party at nine o'clock in the evening discovered the involuntary
tenants perched upon a rock a little way up the cliff. They had climbed
to it to escape the tide which had cut them off, and here they sat,
telling stones in turn, they said, to while away the time till the tide
should retire. Before the waters went, however, darkness came; and
either from fear of breaking bones in the descent or suspicion of some
fresh treachery in the mysterious sea, they clung to their perch,
blessing the mildness of a January night without wind or frost, but
blessing with still more fervency the lanterns of their rescuers.
Pages:
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107