I never thought it a possible thing till I saw his horse
trotting on ahead of us without a rider." Then as Reuther came
ambling up, "Young lady, don't let me scare you, but it looks now
as if the young man had taken a short cut to the station, which,
so far as I know, has never been taken but by one man before. If
you will draw up closer--here! give me hold of your bridle. Now
look back along the edge of the precipice for about half a mile,
and you will see shooting up from the gully a solitary tree whose
topmost branch reaches within a few feet of the road above."
She looked. They were at the lower end of the gully which curved
up and away from this point like an enormous horseshoe. They could
see the face of the precipice for miles.
"Yes," she suddenly replied, as her glance fell on the one red
splash showing against the dull grey of the cliff.
"A leap from the road, if well-timed, would land a man among some
very stalwart branches. It's a risk and it takes nerve; but it
succeeded once, and I dare say has succeeded again."
"But--but--if he didn't reach--didn't catch--"
"Young lady, he's a man in a thousand. If you want the proof, look
over there."
He was pointing again, but in a very different direction now. As
her anxious eye sought the place he indicated, her face flushed
crimson with evanescent joy. Just where the open ground of the
gully melted again into the forest, the figure of a man could be
seen moving very quickly.
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