Determined at once to alter this state of affairs, I adopted what, with my sensitiveness to giddiness, was certainly a bold measure. Requesting that the rope might be fastened about my waist, I directed my companions to lower me to the spot in which I asserted that I had seen the minister. Reassured by the confidence implied in this step, the men obeyed; and accordingly, I shortly found myself swinging within that awful chasm, with the rope vibrating to and fro, and a deafening roar coming up from beneath. Presently my feet touched the slanting granite shelf described in the previous chapter, and immediately I felt them slip from under me; then, as the rope paid out with a jerk, I slid downwards through a narrow opening into a minute cave in the rock, and lay there for a few moments stunned by the violence of a blow which my head had received in the fall. Upon recovering consciousness, I found myself resting upon the body of my friend; and moving so as to obtain a view of his face, I soon discovered why there had been no reply to our reiterated calls. The little minister--I saw it with deep thankfulness--was still alive, but his ears had been rendered obtuse by the delirium of a raging fever. His eyes, wide open, were fixed upon the roof of the tiny cavern, and though, upon my addressing him, they wandered during several seconds over my countenance, it was without the slightest sign of recognition. He commenced a rigmarole of rambling disconnected sentences, at all times painful to hear from the lips of the poor sufferer from a perturbed brain, but which, uttered in that weird and awful place, was naturally invested with double horror. My fingers trembling in the attempt, I now hastened to undo the rope from about my own person, in order that I might secure it round that of Mr Morgan. But owing to the opposition offered by the unconscious man, the task proved to be one of no small difficulty. At length, however, it was accomplished; and signing to those above to draw in the rope, I gently guided the body of the little Welshman through the entrance to the cavern, noticing as I did so that his right leg was fractured and terribly swollen. Not caring to witness the perilous ascent, I remained within the cave until a loud 'Hurrah!' proclaimed his safe arrival upon _terra firma_. Then scrambling out, I watched the rope re-descending, once more adjusted it round my waist, and in a few moments afterwards was kneeling by my friend's side upon the grass, and at the request of the excited fishermen, searching his pockets for the huge wash-leather purse of which I had spoken to them. Its absence, as well as that of his watch and chain, appeared to settle beyond question in their minds the fact that there had been foul-play; and a motion emanating from one of their number that we should take the law into our own hands, and proceed to arrest the farmer and his family, was unanimously carried.