CHAPTER SEVEN.
THE YOUNG ENEMIES.
Eden recovered his presence of mind on the instant, and looking coollyup at Nick Garth, who had shouted at him so insolently, he repliedhaughtily: "What is it to you, sir? Be off!"
Then, entirely ignoring Ralph, who was looking down, breathless withrage and exertion, he carefully withdrew the egg from the nest, in spiteof the pecking of the young ravens, and transferred it to the lining ofhis cap.
After this he took off his kerchief, and began to twist it up tightly tomake an apology for a line with which to tie together the young ravens'legs.
The two men on either side of Ralph looked at him, as if wondering whathe would say.
"Now, then, it's of no use to peck: out you come, my fine fellows.Quiet, or I'll wring your necks."
As Mark spoke, his right hand was in the nest, feeling about so as toget four legs together in his grasp, but this took some little time, anda great deal of fluttering and squealing accompanied the act. But as heworked, Mark thought hard, and of something else beside ravens. How washe to get out of this unpleasant fix, being as he was quite at hisenemy's mercy? But all the same, with assumed nonchalance, he drew outthe fluttering ravens, loosened his hold of the shrub with his lefthand, and trusted to his powers of retaining his balance, in spite ofthe birds' struggles, while in the coolest way possible he transferredthe legs from his right hand to his left, and proceeded to tie themtightly.
"There you are," he said. "I think that's safe."
Then, to Ralph's astonishment, the lad began to hum over his song againabout the ravens as, completely ignoring those above, he took hold ofthe bush again, and leaned forward to gaze down into the dizzy depths asif in search of an easy path, but really to try and make out, in hisdespair, what would be his chance of escape if he suddenly rose to hisfeet and boldly jumped outward. Would he clear all the trees and comedown into the river? And if the last, would it be deep enough to savehim from injury at the bottom?
Where he had crossed was only ankle deep, but there was a broad, stillpatch, close up under the cliff, for he had noticed it as he came; butwhether he could reach it in a bold leap, and whether it would be deepenough to save him from harm, he could not tell; but he was afraid thatif he missed it he would be broken upon the pieces of rock which hadfallen from above.
That way of escape was too desperate, and the more repellent from thefact that the beech-trees below prevented him from seeing what awaitedhim.
He busied himself in pretending to examine the knot he had made aboutthe birds' legs, and then, raising his sword-belt, he passed one youngraven inside, leaving the other out, so that they hung from his back,not in a very comfortable position for them, but where they would not behurt. All the time though the lad was scanning the rocky face, first toright then to left, to seek for a way by which he could climb down,escape upwards being impossible; and he had quickly come to theconclusion that if unmolested he could manage, by taking his time, toget down in safety.
He had just decided this when Ralph, who had remained perfectly silent,exclaimed abruptly, "Now then, come up."
Mark took not the slightest notice, and the order was repeated.
"Hear what the young master says?" growled Nick. "Come up!"
"Are you speaking to me, fellow?" cried Mark angrily. "Be off, I tellyou, before I come up and chastise you."
"Going to stand this, Master Ralph?" growled the man. "Shall I heave abit o' stone down upon him, and knock him off?"
For answer, Ralph drew back out of sight, and the two men followed at asign, leaving Mark alone, seated upon his perilous perch; but directlyafter Ralph's head reappeared, and Nick's close beside it, when Markrealised--rightly--that the other man had been sent on some mission--what, he could not tell, but in all probability to fetch more help, soas to be sure of taking him.
"Now," said Ralph sternly, "are you coming up to surrender?"
"What!" said Mark sharply; "why am I to surrender to you?"
"For trespass and robbery. This is my father's land, and those are ourbirds."
Mark laughed scornfully to hide his annoyance, for conscience prickedhard.
"Your land, indeed!" he cried. "Wild moorland, open to anybody; and asto the birds, are all the crows yours too?"
Ralph did not condescend to reply, but lay there looking down at theyoung representative of his father's rival.
"I wish you good day, Master Owner of the land, and lord of the birds ofthe air," said Mark mockingly. "If you had asked me civilly, I mightperhaps have given you a young raven. As it is, I shall not."
"What are you going to do?" said Ralph sharply. "Wait and see," was themocking reply. "Shan't I heave this stone down on his head, MasterRalph?" said Nick in a low tone; but the words came plainly to Mark'sear, and sent a cold chill of horror thrilling through his nerves; buthe felt better the next moment, and then anger took the place of dread,for Ralph said sharply, "Put the stone down, sirrah! You know I want totake the wolf's cub alive."
"Wolf's cub!" said Mark to himself. "Never mind; I may meet him someday when it is not three to one, and then he shall find that the wolf'scub can bite."
Then, conscious that his every movement was watched, he cautiously roseto his feet, made an effort to ignore the presence of lookers-on, andbegan to climb sideways along the ledge, by the route he had come.Still he had no intention of going up, knowing full well that he wouldonly be giving himself up to insult, and perhaps serious injury, takenat a disadvantage, as he felt that he must be; but calmly, and in themost sure-footed way, sidled along, with the ledge getting more and morenarrow, but the hand-hold better.
In this way he passed the spot where he had lowered himself down, andreached a slight angle, by which he expected, from long experience incliff-climbing, to be able to descend to the next.
He was quite right, and it proved to be easier than he had expected; buta looker-on would have shuddered to see the way in which the lad clungto the rough stones, where the slightest slip would have sent him downheadlong for at least three hundred feet before he touched anywhere, andthen bounded off again, a mere mass of shapeless flesh.
Mark knew of his danger, but it did not trouble him, for his brain wastoo much occupied by the presence of young Darley; and as he descendedhe felt a slight flush of pride in doing what he was certain his youngenemy dare not attempt.
In a moment or two he was standing safely--that is, so long as he heldon tightly with his fingers in the crack above--upon the next ledge, afew inches wide, and his intention had been to go on in the samedirection, so as to be farther from his watchers; but he was not long infinding that this was impossible, and he had to go back till he was wellbeneath Ralph Darley, and saw that he must go farther still before heattempted to descend to the next rest for his feet.
"It will take a long time to get down like this," he thought; "andperhaps he'll send below to meet me at the bottom. Perhaps that is whathe has already done. But never mind; I shall have done as I liked, andnot obeyed his insolent orders. Let him see, too, that I'm quite athome on the rocks, and can do as I like. Wonder whether I shall getMaster Rayburn's egg down safely! Not if they throw a stone down uponmy head.--Now for it."
He had reached another comparatively easy place for descending from thecourse of blocks on which he stood, when he suddenly found himselfembarrassed, not by the egg, but by the young birds, which nearly upsethis equilibrium by beginning all at once to struggle and flap vigorouslywith their half-fledged wings.
The lad's first impulse, as he clung to the ledge, was to tear the birdsfrom his belt and throw them down; but his spirit revolted from thecruelty of the proceeding, and his vanity helped to keep the trophies ofhis daring where they were.
"It would look as if I was afraid," he said to himself; and lowering onefoot, he felt for a safe projection, found one, and his other footjoined the first. A few seconds later his hands were holding the ledgeon which he had just been standing, but his chin was level with t
hem,and his feet were feeling for the next ledge below, but feeling in vain.
He was disappointed, for experience had taught him that this course ofstones would be about the same thickness as the others, and yet he couldfind no crack, not even one big enough to insert his toes.
But he was quite right; the range of stones in that stratum was justabout the same thickness as the others, but the crack between them andthe next in the series, the merest line, over which his feet slippedagain and again, giving him the impression that they were passing oversolid stone; and the birds chose this awkward moment to renew theirstruggling and screaming.
"You miserable little wretches," he muttered; "be quiet! Well, it mightbe worse. I should have been in a sad pickle if the old birds hadchosen this moment to attack me."
He hung in the same position, with his chin resting on the ledge, aswell as his hands, till the birds were quiet again, and then wonderingwhether Ralph Darley was still watching, he slowly let his musclesrelax, and his body subside, till he hung at full stretch, seekingsteadily the while for foot-hold, but finding none, and forced now tolook down between his chest and the rock, to see how far the next ledgemight be.
To his disgust, it was quite two feet lower, and it was forced upon himthat unless he could climb back to the ledge upon which his hands wereclasped, he must let himself drop to the resting-place below.
It was no time for hesitation, and condensing his energies upon what heknew to be a difficult task, he drew himself up by strong muscularcontraction till his chin once more rested between his hands, and thengrasped the bitter fact that to get up and stand upon the ledge wasimpossible; it was too narrow, and he could find no foot-hold to help.
Accepting the position, he let himself sink again to the full length ofhis arms, hung motionless for a few moments, and then, keeping himselfperfectly rigid, allowed his fingers to glide over the stone, anddropped the two feet to the ledge below, perfectly upright and firm. Inall probability he would have found hand-hold the next moment, but,scared anew by the rush through the air, the young ravens began to flaptheir wings violently, and that was sufficient to disturb the lad'sequilibrium. He made a desperate effort to recover it, but one footgave way, and he fell, scraping the edge.
Another desperate effort, and he clung to the ledge for a brief momentor two, and then a yell arose from above, as he went down a few feet andfelt what seemed a violent blow against his side. The next instant hishands had closed upon the tough stem of a stunted yew, and he washanging there, hitched in the little branches, saved from fallingfarther, but unable to move from the fear of tearing the shrub from itsroot-hold in a crack of the cliff, where there was not a trace ofanything else to which he could cling.