CHAPTER ELEVEN.
RALPH GETS TIT FOR TAT.
Ralph Darley's first step was to get his right hand beside his left, and his feet once more upon the ledge, but the ivy gave way a little more at this movement, and he paused.

But not for long.

Another danger was at hand.
Moved by the boldness of the lad's efforts to escape, and in dread lest he might be successful, the leader of the four men, after a short consultation with the others, who tried to dissuade him, began to wade cautiously forward till the water grew too deep for him, and then creeping sidewise, he climbed on to the smooth wall, and began to imitate the course taken by Ralph; but before he had gone many yards, one of his companions shouted: "You'll go down, and be swep' away, and sucked in." This checked him and made him hesitate, but rousing his courage again, he once more began to edge along the shelf below the surface, and this spurred the fugitive on to make another effort.
This time he caught at the ivy, which gave way a little more, but still held, and by moving cautiously, Ralph managed to get his feet upon the ledge.

The next minute he had found another prominence below water, raised his foot to it, and caught at a rough bit of the stone above the ivy, stood firm, drew himself a little higher, and by a quick scramble, got a foot now on the ivy stem and his hands in the crack above, just as the growth yielded to his foot, dropped into the stream, and was swept away, leaving the lad hanging by his cramped fingers.
But though the ivy was gone, the crevice in which it had grown remained, and in another few seconds Ralph's toes were in it, and the weight off his hands.
He rested, and looked down-stream, to see that the man was steadily approaching, but the lad felt safe now.

The ivy was gone, and the enemy could not possibly get farther along the ledge than the spot from whence he had slipped.
Cheered by this, Ralph began to climb again, finding the task easier, and the next minute he had hold of the tough stem of the hawthorn; and heedless of the thorns, dragged himself up into it, stood upright, reached another good, strong hand-hold, and then stepped right up on to a broad shelf of grass-grown limestone.