'Yes, it is two hundred feet to the bottom, and barely three feet to the brink!' said the Baronet. 'Death hovers within arm's length of us as we ride.' 'He has been nearer to me than that, and yet I have snapped my fingers at him,' returned the Colonel, laughing. 'Well, I must be on my way again.' 'Let me lead your horse over this dangerous pass,' said Sir Norman, dismounting from his own horse and seizing the Colonel's bridle. 'And then, farewell indeed!' 'Have a care! What are you about?' cried Colonel Banyon, after a moment. 'Farewell!' repeated the other; and with all his strength he forced the Colonel's horse backwards to the edge of the cliff. The rider saw and perhaps comprehended the danger. He had not time to dismount; he drew his pistol, and at the same time drove his spurs into the horse's sides. The horse reared and strove to plunge forward, but it was too late. His hind hoofs trod upon the crumbling verge of the precipice. There was a cry, a flash and a report, and a scent of burnt powder on the night air, which Sir Norman breathed alone. CHAPTER X. A BURIED SECRET. Sir Norman stood on the brink of the cliff, and listened. There was not much to hear--no more remarkable sound than might be caused by the fall of a loose boulder, and the murmur of the surf partly disguised even that. The tide was rising; in another half hour it would be dashing against the base of the precipice. The Baronet took his mare by the head-stall, and began to lead her back down the steep road which he had so lately climbed in company with Colonel Banyon. His mood of mind was much more composed and lucid now than it had been then. While the deed which he was to commit was as yet in the future he had been full of agitation and doubt. Sir Norman had a single plain fact to deal with, not an indefinite number of vague and dangerous possibilities. He saw his proper course in the circumstances as clearly as if he had planned it all out beforehand; and he lost no time in following it. Having arrived at the lowest dip of the road, he secured his horse to the branch of a dead tree, clambered down to the shore, and began to make his way as rapidly as he could towards that spot where he knew the body of Colonel Banyon must be lying. With an active step and a heedful eye he hurried over the broken _débris_ of the beach, and presently came to that part which lies immediately beneath the loftiest altitude of the cliff.