How nimbly and cautiously the agile fellow must move! He was still in the chasm, yet meanwhile the moon struggled victoriously with the clouds and suddenly her silver disk pierced the heavy black curtain that concealed her from the gaze of men, and her light was reflected like a slender, glittering pillar from the motionless pool of salt-water, enabling the watching Joshua to see what was passing below; but he perceived nothing that resembled a human form.
Had the fugitive encountered any obstacle in the chasm?
Did some precipice or abyss hold him in its gloomy depths?
Had--and at the thought he fancied that his heart had stopped beating--Had some gulf swallowed the lad when he was groping his way through the night?
How he longed for some noise, even the faintest, from the ravine! The silence was terrible.

But now! Oh, would that it had continued! Now the sound of falling stones and the crash of earth sliding after echoed loudly through the still night air.

Again the moonlight burst through the cloud-curtain, and Joshua perceived near the pool a living creature which resembled an animal more than a human being, for it seemed to be crawling on four feet.

Now the water sent up a shower of glittering spray.

The figure below had leaped into the pool.