Once, in a moment of weakness, I looked back to see how our men were faring. As I did so, a youth, next after me, a tall, brave youth who had been foremost in all the peril, suddenly staggered and slipped. For a moment he hung by hand and knee to the ledge; the next with a loud groan he fell backwards into the darkness. I heard the crash of his body on the rocks below, and, in my horror, my own grip for an instant relaxed, and I felt myself following. But a strong hand caught me and held me up, and Ludar said: "Humphrey, are you a fool? Lookup, man, or you are lost." After that I had eyes for naught but the cliff before me. And although, before that terrible passage was ended, I heard five more groans and as many more crashes on the rocks below, I managed to keep my own footing, till at last, with my head in a whirl, I stood beside Ludar on a broader, straighter ledge, within a dozen feet of the cliff-top. Ludar was pale, and his breath came and went hard, as he made room for me beside him. He too had heard those terrible crashes. "That path," said he, "is easier passed by a boy than a man. Had I known what it would cost us-- Yet, come on now!" There was indeed no time to tarry, for the men behind--all that were left of them--came up, and we must perforce move forward to make them room. Now, once more we heard the guns above, and a mighty shouting on the far side of the Castle. But, towards us, all frowned black and solitary. The short distance yet to climb compared with what we had passed, was easy. For, steep as it was and often overhanging the sea, the rock here was rough and dry, and our feet held fast. Just as we came to the top, Ludar turned. "Follow close, my men; shout, and discharge your pieces if you can," called he, "and once entered, make for the drawbridge." Almost as he spoke, we heard a shout above us, and the report of a musket discharged into the darkness. A sentinel had heard our voices, and this was his greeting. Next moment I saw Ludar on the top, struggling with a man. It was too dark to discern which was which; but a moment later, one of the two staggered a step backwards to the edge. There was a yell, a shower of loose earth; then, as I stood below clinging to the rock, a dark mass fell betwixt me and the sky, brushing me as it passed, and bounding from the ledge below with a hideous crash out into the deepness. I stood there an instant as cold and pulse-less as the stone against which I leaned. What if this were Ludar who had fallen? A voice from above restored me to life. "Quick there, come up, and the place is ours!"