United States or Malaysia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
A flagstaff stood in the garden on a grassy platform, half-way down the cliff-side, and the boy at his earnest wish had been given charge of it. On weekdays, as a rule he hoisted two flags an ensign on the gaff, and a single code-flag at the mast-head; but on Sundays he usually ran up three or four, and with the help of the code-book spelt out some message to the harbour.
In the mornings a chair used to be placed on the cliff-side facing the sea, and towards ten o'clock a very old man would walk slowly down the village street and take his seat. A little shelf held his pipe and tobacco-jar, and he would sit and smoke contentedly until the afternoon. The children used to play around him with perfect confidence, although he seldom spoke to them.
Kneeling there in the deep shadows of the cliff-side with the Neosho gurgling darkly below her, and the long shafts of pink radiance from the hidden sunset illumining the sky above her, Marjie prayed for strength to bear her burden, for courage to meet whatever must come to her, and for the assurance of divine Love although now her lover, as well as her father, was lost to her.
But, as beset with famine, they fared on heavily down the narrow track, there came a hoarse cry from Hallblithe's dry throat and it was as if his cry had been answered by another like to his; and the seekers turned and beheld him pointing to the cliff-side, and lo! half-way up the pale sun- litten crag stood two ravens in a cranny of the stone, flapping their wings and croaking, with thrusting forth and twisting of their heads; and presently they came floating on the thin pure air high up over the heads of the wayfarers, croaking for the pleasure of the meeting, as though they laughed thereat.
There came a clatter of loose stones, and I got to my feet to be ready for action not that my hurts would have let me accomplish much. A second later I saw three of Gregor Jhaere's gipsies scurrying along the cliff-side, turning at intervals to fire pistols at some one in pursuit. So I joined in the fray with my Colt repeater, and flattered myself I did not do so badly.
It was a pretty long leap to take, but he went back a sufficient distance, and then out he sprang. Bardun was not the man to fall short of anything. He caught the rope and held it tight. And, oddly enough, it seemed now to run up the cliff-side of its own accord, just as if some one were hoisting it.
Growing more and more restless and impatient, he finally rose a little in his place of concealment and thrust out his head far enough to see not only the expanse of the Plain and the path up the cliff-side, but the entrance to the Cave of Darkness as well.
But he laughed back at them in triumph, and set his foot on the step, and let Sleep-thorn's point go into the throat of a Dusky lord, and thrust amongst them, hewing right and left, and tumbling men over the edge of the stair, which was to them as the narrow path along the cliff-side that hangeth over the unfathomed sea.
Roaring out like stricken bulls, cursing their master in all tongues, they began to storm the cliff-side nimbly and to run for the shelter of the woods; but some fell and rolled backward to the sand, some turned on their own knives and lay dead at the gully's foot; while those who gained the summit stood all together, and wailing their doleful song they yelled defiance at Czerny's ship.
She thanked him sweetly for his constant care of her, and side by side they went down the cliff. But though they were now unseen, they had stood for a moment before the Cave entrance, fully revealed, and in that moment the eyes of an enemy had caught sight of them. Long had Curling Smoke crouched low in his cranny in the cliff-side. His gaze had roved unceasingly over the Plain of Ash.
Word Of The Day