and held Gard and Bernel pinned and panting against the green bank,
while Nance disappeared over it into the shrieking darkness.

"Good heavens!" gasped Gard, fearful lest she should have been blown
over the cliffs, and wriggled himself up under the ceaseless thrashing
of the gale and was whirled off the top into the field beyond.

There the pressure was less, and, getting on to his hands and knees to
crawl in search of Nance, he found her close beside him crouching in the
lee of the grassy dyke.

He crept into shelter beside her, and presently, in the lull after a
fiercer blast than usual, she set off, bent almost double, and in a
moment they were in comparative quiet. Nance crawled through a gap into
the road and they found Bernel waiting for them.

"Knew you'd come through there. That's what that gap's made for," he
shouted.

"I've been in many a storm but I never felt wind like that before," said
Gard, as soon as his breath came back.

"If you'd stopped with me you'd have been all right," said Bernel.
"There was no need for you to go after Nance. We've been through that
lots of times, haven't we, Nance?"

"Lots."

"I shall know next time," said Gard, and to Nance it was a fresh
experience to think of some one going out of his way to be of possible