'I beg you will not go.' He smiled. 'I,' said he, 'am obstinate, as was my father. It is in our blood. When I have undertaken to do a thing, I do it.' 'You will not, when I beseech you to desist.' 'Yes. I shall get the choughs if they are to be had.' She was silent. She saw that it was in vain to use further entreaty, and yet her alarm was great. Her bosom heaved. 'We are not friends,' she said at last. 'We have been enemies. Perhaps for that very reason I do not relish that your death should be due to any fancies of mine.' 'I am not dead yet, nor have I got the choughs.' She stooped; there was at her feet moss that was studded with dewdrops, and with it she wiped her hands. 'I am clear of it. I have entreated you not to venture on this mad expedition. If you go on now, it is due to your own wilfulness. I am guiltless.' 'You will not be held responsible,' said Jack. Then turning to his companions, 'Now, mates, slew the cable about the thorn, and mind that it runs over the roller.' He indicated a piece of beechwood on the cliff-edge. The rope by which he was to be suspended was to cross this, so as not to fret on the edge of the cliff. This also would allow him, when climbing up or descending, to get his fingers under the cord. Without this contrivance they would be torn to the bone. Winefred stood aside panting. She had been heated by climbing, but now she turned cold; all her nerves tingled as though she had been whipped with nettles. 'You must have a rope round your waist, Jack,' said one of the lads. 'No, thank you, it would encumber me. I must be free. It is not so bad. I shall not swing but cling to the rocks and work myself down and along with my hands. I shall sit astride on the pole and have a crook to help me along.' Words of renewed entreaty to desist rose to Winefred's lips, but she could not speak them, and she knew that further remonstrance was profitless. Jack threw a bag across his shoulder, and bound it about his waist. He stepped to the edge, cast himself flat on the turf and looked over. The end of the rope, attached to the middle of a short pole, swung in space. 'All right, lads,' said he, and slipped over the verge. Winefred's heart rose, and her head swam, as she saw him disappear. As he went, he looked at her and smiled. Should the rope give way, should he lose his balance on the crosspole, there was for him a sheer fall of over four hundred feet. Below were broken masses of rock, fallen from above, about which the sea chafed and frothed, and among which it burrowed. The cable was strong; it was passed twice round the trunk of the thorn, and was held fast by two lusty youths, who paid out gradually, as required. One of them, turning his head over his shoulder, said to the girl, 'Go below, missie, and see how he manages.'