coastguards are there, I'll be bound, as prisoners. Now I have to find
them and set them free."

Very cautiously I peered over the cliff-face, examining every knob and
ledge which might conceal (or lead to) an opening in the rock. No. I
could see nothing; the cliff seemed to me to be almost sheer; and
though it was low tide, the rocks at the base of the cliffs seemed to
conceal no opening. I crept cautiously along the cliff-top, as near to
the edge as I dared, till I was some twenty feet from the spot where I
had heard the voice. Then I looked down again carefully, searching
every handbreadth for a firm foothold or path down the rocks, with an
opening at the end, through which a big man could squeeze his
body. No. There was nothing. No living human being could get down that
cliff-face without a rope from up above; and even If he managed to get
down, there seemed to be nothing but the sea for him at the end of his
journey. Again I looked carefully right to the foot of the
crag. No. There was absolutely nothing; I was off the track somehow.

Now, just at this point the cliff fell Inland for a few paces, forming
a tiny bay about six yards across. To get along the cliff towards
Strete I had to turn inland for a few steps, then turn again towards
the sea, in order to reach the cliff. I skirted the little bay in this
manner, and dropped one or two stones into it from where I stood. As I
craned over the edge, watching them fall into the sea, I caught sight
of something far below me, in the water.

I caught my breath and looked again, but the thing, whatever it was,
had disappeared from sight. It was something red, which had gleamed
for a moment from behind a rock at the base of the cliff. I watched
eagerly for a moment or two, hearing the sucking of the sea along the