CHAPTER IX.

_THE ALTERNATIVE._

"Grim warders of the everlasting crags, To whose bleak avenues the eagle steers; Holding an endless conclave of the peers, Where often Time lays down his blade and lags; Ye are of other days when roaming stags Leaped from no human voice with trembling fears; Ere came the red men and the pioneers; Or Glooscap plied his paddle to the flags."

While Winslow and his recent acquaintances were resting on the broad shelf which they had reached with so much difficulty, and were looking out over the waters that lay below them nearly two hundred feet, a boat appeared sailing close to shore.

"My boatman has arrived, ladies. Shall we return and take the boat, or continue up the mountain?"

"We could never get down again," said Miss Forest, going as near the edge as she dared, and looking down with a shudder. "I am sure I do not know how we ever came up."

"It is always easier to go up a steep place than to go down," said Winslow, recalling his own experience of a few weeks previous.

"I also think we had better try the ascent," added Miss Gaston.

"The way has been so difficult, I do not wish to conjecture as to the rest of the ascent. Yet I think we have gone over the worst of it," rejoined Winslow, looking up the face of the mountain, which from where he stood could be seen rising into the woods of the summit. On the right a strip of hardwood ran down the face of the cliff and shut off their view to the north-east, but on their left hand the rough formation extended for several hundred yards, patches of green shrubbery and woods alternating with rough stone broken off the cliff and sloping downward. Everything seemed to be clinging to the steep face of the mountain, and was apparently at any moment likely to lose its hold and go sliding and tumbling down into the sea. The wind often started a rock or slide of sand downward, and the noise of invisible movement often came to their ears. Yet the birds were all about them. Eagle and hawk were interrupted in their warfare on the smaller bird life, and the seagulls floated through the air with graceful motion.

"Let us go, Grace," said Miss Forest, at last becoming impatient.

By this time Winslow had succeeded in attracting the attention of Len, though he could not make him understand in the roar of the waves, but by motioning in the direction he intended to take he kept him going on to the termination of the mountain.

The ladies were climbing up and were able to get along very well without assistance. Their course lay up a long, loose slide of rock and earth not easy to traverse at times because of its tendency to slip from beneath their feet and endanger the limbs of the person who happened to be just below. Large rocks were easily set rolling downward, and their way was marked by a continuous rolling of stones and earth.

Taking a diagonal direction up the face of the mountain, they approached the long line of trees and brush which seemed to extend from the brow of the bluff of Blomidon downward to where they were.

They now stood within a short distance of the wood they were aiming for, but to Winslow's dismay he found that the more solid formation on which they stood and the woods beyond were separated by a long slide, steep and treacherous, of fine red sand. This slide was as level as a roof. The particles of sand moving so freely over each other had made the slide extremely steep, and the whole slope presented no visible break in the smoothness of its surface. Winslow found that when he tried to go across it was necessary to step very quickly, as his feet sank in the soft material, and the whole surface seemed to move downward in a body, bearing him along with it. His strength kept him from sliding down quicker than he could walk, and he was able to make his way across, where he found another difficulty. The rise from the slide was high, the margin of the wood making a steep bank held together by the countless roots of the trees that bordered it. It was higher than his shoulders, and could only be climbed by the aid of the bare roots and overhanging branches. To stand in one place was impossible, and it would exhaust the strongest man in a short while to attempt to walk up the slide.

"Your assistance, Mr. Winslow," said a voice near him, and turning around he found that Miss Gaston had followed him, but without strength enough to enable her to keep in line with him, she had been carried down some distance by the moving sand. He was at her side in an instant, and together they slowly came up the slope until he was able to grasp a projecting root, and with much difficulty he succeeded in helping her up the bank. As a muscular feat it was the most severe he had attempted that day. They had torn so much of the sand down in their passage across that now the whole face of the slide was amove, the particles filling up all the traces of their exertions. Returning quickly for Miss Forest, he led her up the bank some distance, and as she was slight of figure he was able, by half dragging and half lifting her, to get her safe across. And they again stood together, glad to rest for a time.

"Admirably done, Mr. Winslow," said Miss Gaston, laughing. "You surely have repented of this undertaking many times since we left the beach."

"I have regretted what it has caused you, rather. You will have painful reminders in bruised body and stiffened and strained limbs for some weeks. This trip will be one to be remembered."

"And much torn clothing," added Miss Forest, whose spirits had revived somewhat, surveying the disorder of her garments, at the same time exchanging glances with Miss Gaston whose meaning seemed to be mutually understood, for merry laughter followed.

"Are you sufficiently rested, Mr. Winslow?" asked Miss Gaston, smiling.

"Quite so, thank you," replied Winslow, at once making his way up the mountain through the thick growth of trees and underbrush. From this point they were able to make their way with comparative ease and comfort to the top of the bluff and along the summit.

"At last, at last!" cried Miss Forest, as they clambered up the last part of the steep bluff, and found themselves on the level ground, over which they could now proceed to their destination. They did not pause to enjoy the magnificent view presented from the top of Cape Blomidon, but hurried downward, the delight of their escape lending renewed strength to their limbs. The roar of the sea came to their ears from the shore hundreds of feet below them, and the sun was now about to dip into the crimson and gold lights of the west.

Miss Forest had recovered her natural vivacity of manner and speech.

"Our meeting was a fortunate one for us, Mr. Winslow. But for you we would still be prisoners in that dreadful place, and perhaps would not have been able to get away from it till after dark. You certainly saved my peace of mind, and my mother will thank you for thus restoring her daughter to her arms."

"I shall be glad to tell her what a good mountain climber her daughter is," smiled Winslow. "You both did well, and gave a good exhibition of American pluck. If I mistake not, you are Americans? Almost all the tourists who come here are Americans."

"Yes, we are New Yorkers," she replied.

"My home also for several years," said Winslow. "My summers are usually spent away."

"It may seem strange to you that we should have been caught in such a trap, but we had been told to return in an hour, and we did not think it possible that the tide could rise so rapidly as it did. We are collecting mineral specimens,--not as some of you gentlemen fish, you know, with silver hooks, but we find our own specimens, and in our enthusiasm among the agates and amethysts we did not note how far we were away from the point until too late."

"And our lovely specimens!" cried Miss Gaston. "We have left them on the beach; I did not bring a crystal of any kind."

"Grace, you may have to go after them alone to-morrow. Mother objected to letting me go away from her to-day. After this experience I do not think I shall desire to attempt another for some time."

"I shall return to-morrow by way of the shore and may be able to find your collection," said Winslow. "My work will keep me here two or three days longer, and my intention is to go over the beach thoroughly on foot."

"We have already put ourselves under obligation to you beyond our power to repay," said Miss Gaston.

They now were in sight of the little wharf at White Waters, and the red road leading down beside it to the beach which had been followed by the young ladies. On the pier they saw a man and woman walking to and fro, often stopping to look towards the point around which the young ladies were expected to come.

"My poor, dear old mother!" cried Miss Forest, in a burst of excitement, as she caught sight of the two figures. They all set up a cry, and with their handkerchiefs waving soon attracted the attention of their friends.

It was not many minutes before mother and daughter were in each other's arms, as if the younger woman had escaped from some great danger.

"My dear child, how anxious I have been for you, and for you, too, Grace."

"You must thank our escort, Mr. Winslow, mother, for he was a friend indeed, and came along at the right moment."

"I hope you will join us at the hotel this evening, Mr. Winslow," said Mrs. Forest to him as they proceeded up the pier. Miss Gaston was accompanied by the gentleman, whom Winslow observed with interest. Of quiet and easy manner, Mr. Sternly left a doubt in the mind of the young geologist as to what place to assign him in relation to the party whom chance had so suddenly thrown in his way.

It was an eventful day in the life of two of the party at least. The sun went down, and under the cliffs of Blomidon night soon fell, while out across the Basin glided the lights of ships, and far across the waters of the now quickly falling tide gleamed the bright beacon of Horton Bluff, telling the pilots where the Cornwallis, the Avon and the Gaspereau rivers lie, and to the eye familiar with all the loveliness of the south shore that bright gleam told where stretched the verdant dykeland of the Grand-Pré.