HANGING OVER THE SEA.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 29, 16 July 1892, Page 725

HANGING OVER THE SEA.

AN ADVENTURE IN THE SHETLAND ISLES.

BY

DAVID KER.

F you’re afraid, you can go back ; I’m going to try it, anyhow.’ Two English boys stood on the highest point of the rocky islet of Noss, one of the smallest of the Shetland Isles, and also one of the wildest and most picturesque. But its wonders are unseen save by a passing traveller now and then, for it is peopled chiefly by rabbits, which pop up under oue’s very feet at every step, no one being allowed to shoot on the islet, and its only human inhabitant being the old boatman who ferries visitors over the narrow but very dangerous strait separating it from the larger island of Bressa. The two lads were about the same age, but widely different in all other points. Herbert Grant, the one to whom the taunting words were spoken, was a small, sinewy, blackhaired boy of fifteen, with a thoughtful and somewhat dreamy look on his dark face ; but there was something in his firm lips and deep gray eyes which would have told a close observer that in t.fie presence of any real danger he would hold his ground as bravely as anyone. His comrade, Frank Parker, was a tall, ruddy, curly-haired, jolly-faced fellow, so full of overflowing life and spirits that it seemed as if he could not remain still for a moment. Wherever there was any kind of fun or mischief going, there he was sure to be ; and now, having run himself out of breath and shouted himself hoarse, he was about to attempt a frightfully perilous and utterly useless feat, ‘ just for the fun of the thing,’ and was taunting his best friend with cowardice for trying to dissuade him. But hardly had Frank uttered the sneer — to which Herbert made no reply

save a slight deepening of colour on his swarthy features— when the laugh that accompanied it was checked on his lips, and he stopped short iu his buoyant stride, with a rather blank look on his bold reckless face. And. tor this sudden change there was a very good reason. From the western side of Noss—which they had reached in a boat round Bressa Head from Lerwick, the queer little capital of Shetland—the islet slopes steeply upwards to its eastern side, where it ends suddenly in a sheer precipice of more than six hundred feet. The base of this mighty wall has been hollowed into countless caverns by the ceaseless lashing of the waves, which, even in the calmest weather, break with terrific force against the face of the precipice, rolling and booming and thundering through the sunless caves below, till it seems as if the sound would never end. Anyone might well have been startled to find himself so suddenly on the very brink of that awful depth ; but it was not this that had made Frank Parker start and look blank. A little to the left of the spot where he stood, one grim, spear-pointed crag, torn away from the main cliff ages ago by some fearful convulsion, stood gauntly up out of the sea like the spire of a vast cathedral, but higher by far than the loftiest cathedral in Europe. The terrific chasm between it and the cliff itself, fully sixty feet wide, was bridged by two stout ropes running parallel with each other, and between them was slung a strong wooden box (just big enough to hold one man sitting in it with his knees drawn up), which might be pulled across the chasm by

working hand over hand along a third rope that spanned the gulf just above the other two. This was the famous ‘Cradle of Noss,’ and at that time (for the cradle has since been removed) it was a favourite exploit with the wild young fellows who came thither from Scotland and England in the touring season to cross the gulf on this frail support by way of proving their courage, though it was noticed that very few of those who had once made the hazardous passage in safety seemed to care about trying it again. Frank Parker had heard this feat spoken of, and (not having yet learned how wide a difference there is between being brave and being rash) had at once made up his mind to try it himself. But he had not actually seen the place, and had only a very vague idea of what the formidable cradle was like ; and now, when he saw for the first time the hideous peril that lay before him, even his strong nerves were shaken. One word from Grant might have stopped him even then ; but Herbert, either thinking all remonstrance useless, or still sore at Frank’s unjust taunt, made no farther attempt to interfere, and Parker, angry at his own momentary weakness ‘ pulled himself together,’ and stepped resolutely forward to the brink of the precipice. To get into the cradle at all was an undertaking that would have tried most men’s courage very sorely, and even the active and daring boy found it no easy matter, especially as the sea-birds that lay thick as snow-flakes along every ledge of the precipice below, disturbed by his approach, rose flapping and screaming around him by hundreds and by thousands, dizzying his brain with their whirling flight and their shrill unearthly cries. The hollow roar of the sea, too, through the sunless caverns tar below had a very nerve shaking effect ; and, worse still, the wind was growing stronger every moment, and threatening to make his passage unusually dangerous. But Frank, spurred on by the fear of being laughed at in his turn (a feeling that has caused more foolish acts than almost anything else upon earth), clinched his teeth defiantly, and thrust himself boldly out into the empty air. Foot by foot the frail car crept onward, while Herbert Grant stood watching it with a secret terror tightening around his bold heart, such as he had never felt in any peril of his own. Already one-half of the terrible passage had been accomplished, when suddenly Grant saw his comrade’s hands tremble, and then they lost their clutch of the upper rope, and he hung helplessly over the side of the car, while his face, half turned toward Herbert, was seen to be as pale as death. It was plain that the full horror of the tremendous depth below had rushed upon him all at once, and he had lost his nerve altogether. Well was it then for poor Frank that the friend at whom he bad jeered as wanting in courage was one of those cool

steady fellows who only grow calmer and more collected in the presence of sudden danger, instead of being flurried or overwhelmed by it. He saw in a moment that Parker must be saved by him, if at all ; for no one else was witbin sight or hearing, and it was plain that in a few minutes at most the fainting boy would become utterly helpless, and probably topple right over the edge of the car down the fearful abyss below. • I’m coming to help you, old fellow,’ shouted he, in his cheeriest tones. ‘ Hold tight; I'm coming.’ And then, without a moment's hesitation, the brave lad seized the upper rope with both hands, planted a foot on each of the lower ropes, and moved forward on this frail support over the most frightful precipice in all Shetland. His heart beat quicker as he found himself hanging over that awful depth like a spider on its thread, and the shrieks of the restless sea birds as they circled around and above him seemed to warn him of his doom. But he knew that were his nerve to fail now, it would be certain death to them both ; and resolutely keeping himself from turning his eyes downward, on he went, foot by foot. * All right now, old boy !’ he cried, cheerily, as he reached the car and its fainting tenant. But unhappily it was not yet ‘ all right ’ by any means, for the hardest and most dangerous part of Herbert’s formidable task was still to come. It was impossible for him to lind place in the car, which was quite tilled by the helpless form of his fainting comrade, and the only thing that he could do was to plant his feet firmly against the sides of

the cradle, and try to urge it back toward the cliff by pulling with all his might at the upper rope. But the combined weight of the ear and of Frank himself was terribly against him, and the rising wind buffeted him and tore at him like a living enemy. His over taxed strength was beginning to fail, and the edge of the cliff still seemed a fearfully long way off. Would he never reach it 1 In his agony the forlorn lad prayed as he had never prayed before, while straining every muscle to accomplish his terrible task. Nearer—nearer—nearer still and at length, just as he was beginning to feel that he could bear up no longer, the cradle came right up against the edge of the rock. With a long breath of relief and a fervent ‘ Thank t lod !’ the young hero planted his foot upon it once more, and then — how, he never could tell—dragged his helpless friend out of the car, and drew him safely up on to the firm ground. Then he fell down and fainted. When he came to himself again he found his head supported on someone’s knee, and a rough, liearded, weatherbeaten (face looking anxiously down at him. Gne of the two Lerwick boatmen, growing uneasy at their long absence, had gone in search of them, and had come up just in time to witness the success of Herbert Grant's hazardous venture. As the boy opened his eyes, the sailor clapped him approvingly on the shoulder and said to him, with a look and tone of honest admiration, • Laddie, ye’re jist the bravest callant [boy] that ever I’ve seen i’ a’ my days !’ And Frank Parker, when he was so far recovered as to be able to understand what had taken place, said the very same thing.