At last he reached her, but not without incredible difficulty and great peril, at the very instant when the delicate scarf had nearly parted, and she must have perished miserably on the rocks or in the water below. To make assurance doubly sure, he grasped one part of her dress with his teeth, another with his left hand, winding it at the same time round his arm, and holding her thus, while she clutched his neck, he began his descent to the base, breathless and silent; for to ascend, though the way was shorter, proved impossible, as the rock over which she had fallen was an impending one. The base at last was reached, when Derval could scarcely respire, and was trembling in every fibre with exertion and anxiety; and intent on conveying his half-senseless charge to her friends without delay, as he knew that their grief would be intolerable, he deemed his quickest way would be through the cavern to the sea-shore; but he had not proceeded, far, when he found the flood tide was already coming in so fast, that to pass or repass was impossible, and he could but clamber up into a recess, and place her there on a dry shelf of the coral formation till the tide ebbed again; and in that strange shelter there was a reflected light from the rising water at both ends, that while it produced some very curious and picturesque effects of colour and shadow, enabled them to see distinctly around them. "Thank you, thank you, sir,--oh so much, so very much!" sobbed the child (she did not seem to be yet in her teens), and after the terror and prolonged shock she had undergone, she wept bitterly and hysterically, with her beautiful little head on Derval's shoulder, while his arm yet encircled her; but his voice and manner were so kind, tender, and reassuring, that after a time she became soothed, and "disengaging" herself from him, as the novels have it, so shyly, so prettily, and like a little lady, said: "Oh, what a fright my poor papa will be in, when Miss Sampler tells him of my fall! How will he ever be able to thank you, sir!" "Thank Heaven, thank Heaven--not me--that you are safe," said Derval, earnestly. "Poor child! what a fate you have escaped!" he added with a shudder as he looked at the tender and delicate form, the soft violet eyes, the rich brown hair, and mignonne face, flushed with excitement, and thought of what might have been, had he not been there--had he been too late, or failed in his courageous attempt! He gazed on her with all the interest the great service he had rendered, her great beauty, and her present helplessness all seemed to excite, and he said, half to himself: "Had you fallen to the base, you had been instantly killed; if into the water, the sharks----" and shudderingly he thought of his recent episode near Tristan d'Acunha. "I shall ever bless heaven I was so near you, child!" "I am not a child," said she with a pout on her rosy lip, as her colour came back; "I am twelve years old."