tide, and now drove the tumultuous waves with hoarse and hideous clamor
into the cavern. Every moment increased the violence of the gale that
howled and bellowed as it swept around the echoing roof of that
rock-ribbed prison; while the hoarse dash of the approaching waves, and
the shrill screams of the sea-birds that filled the cavern, formed a
concert of terrible dissonance, well suited for the requiem, of the
hapless wretch who had been enclosed in that living grave! But the love
of life, which makes us cling to it in the most hopeless extremity, was
strong in Frank Costello's breast; his firmness and presence of mind
gradually returned, and he resolved not to perish without a struggle. He
remembered that, at the farther extremity of the cavern, the rock rose
like a flight of rude stairs, sloping from the floor to the roof; he had
often clambered up those rugged steps, and he knew that, by means of
them, he could place himself at an elevation above the reach of the
highest tide. But the hope thus suggested was quickly damped when he
reflected that a deep fissure, which ran perpendicularly through the
rock, formed a chasm ten feet in width, in the floor of the cavern,
between him and his place of refuge. The tide, however, which was now
rising rapidly, compelled him to retire every instant, further into the
cavern, and he felt that the only chance he had left him for life was to
endeavor to cross the chasm. He was young, active, and possessed of
uncommon courage, and he had frequently, by torch-light, leaped across
the abyss, in the presence of his companions, few of whom dared to
follow his example. But now, alone and in utter darkness, how was he to
attempt such a perilous feat? The conviction that death was inevitable
if he remained where he was, decided him. Collecting a handful of loose
pebbles from one of the numerous channels in the floor, he proceeded
cautiously over the slippery rocks, throwing at every step a pebble
before him, to ascertain the security of his footing. At length he heard
the stone, as it fell from his fingers, descend with a hollow,