It was possible for
the eye to follow the track all the way to it, through rough
stones and brushwood; and though Clon climbed feebly, and with
many groans, two minutes saw us step on to it. It did not prove
to be, in fact, the perilous place it looked at a distance. The
ledge, grassy and terrace-like, sloped slightly downwards and
outwards, and in parts was slippery; but it was as wide as a
highway, and the fall to the water did not exceed thirty feet.
Even in such a dim light as now displayed it to us, and by
increasing the depth and unseen dangers of the gorge gave a kind
of impressiveness to our movements, a nervous woman need not have
feared to tread it, I wondered how often Mademoiselle had passed
along it with her milk-pitcher.
'I think that we have him now,' Captain Larolle muttered,
twisting his moustachios, and looking about to make his last
dispositions. 'Paul and Lebrun, see that your man makes no
noise. Sergeant, come forward with your carbine, but do not fire
without orders. Now, silence all, and close up, Lieutenant.
Forward!'
We advanced about a hundred paces, keeping the cliff on our left,
turned a shoulder, and saw, a few paces in front of us, a slight
hollow, a black blotch in the grey duskiness of the cliff-side.
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