For a fleeting moment
she was angry. No man had kissed her hand before; but the thought of his
liberty was swept away by another:

'Little enough when he may be going to his death!' It was a sight to see that man and horse, surrounded by an eager crowd of
helpers, scrambling down the rough zigzag, cut and worn in the very face
of the cliff. They stumbled, and slipped; pebbles and broken rock fell
away under their feet. Alone close to the bonfire stood Stephen,
following every movement with racing blood and beating heart. The
bonfire was glowing; a constant stream of men and women were dragging and
hauling all sorts of material for its increase. The head of the swimmer
could be seen, rising and falling amid the waves beyond the Skyres. When about twenty feet from the water-level the path jutted out to one
side left of the little beach whereon the sea now broke fiercely. This
was a place where men watched, and whence at times they fished with rods;
the broad rock overhung the water. The fire above, though it threw
shadows, made light enough for everything. The squire held up his hand. 'Stop! We can take off this rock, if the water is deep enough. How much
is it?' 'Ten fathoms sheer.' 'Good!' He motioned to them all to keep back. Then threw off all his
clothes except shirt and trousers. For an instant he patted Hector and
then sprang upon his back. Holding him by the mane he urged him forward
with a cry. The noble animal did not hesitate an instant. He knew that
grasp of the mane; that cry; that dig of the spurless heels. He sprang
forward with wide dilated nostrils, and from the edge of the jutting rock
jumped far out into the sea. Man and horse disappeared for a few
seconds, but rose safely. The man slid from the horse's back; and,
holding by the girth with one hand, swam beside him out to sea in the
direction the swimmer must come on rounding the sunken rocks. A wild cheer broke from all on the cliff above and those already
scrambling back up the zigzag. Stephen kept encouraging the men to bring
fuel to the bonfire:

'Bring everything you can find; the carts, the palings, the roofs, the
corn, the dried fish; anything and everything that will burn. We must
have light; plenty of light! Two brave men's lives are at stake now!' The whole place was a scene of activity. Stephen stood on the edge of
the cliff with the old whaler and the chief boatman and some of the
women. The rest of the coastguards were by orders of their chief rigging
up a whip which they thought might be necessary to hoist the men up from
the water, if they could ever get close enough. One of the young men who
had ridden with the rocket-cart kept tight hold of Hector's bridle; he
knew it would be wanted if the horse ever had a chance of landing. * * * * *

When Harold turned away from the dazzling blue lights on the pier, and
saw the far white line of the cliffs beyond the bay, his heart sank
within him. Even his great strength and hardihood, won by work and
privation in the far North-West, had been already taxed in the many days
of the battling with the gale when all on board who could lend a hand
were taken into service. Again by the frantic struggle of the last hour
or two, when the ship ran shoreward at the utmost of her speed in the
last hope of beaching in time to save life. Finally in that grim
struggle to draw the life-line shoreward. The cold and then the great
heat, and on top of it the chill of the long swim, seemed to have struck
at him. Alone on the dark sea, for soon the current and his own
exertions were taking him away from the rocks, the light of the burning
ship was ceasing to be effective. It was just enough to hinder his
vision; looking from the patch of light which bathed the light and him he
could just see far off the white water which marked the cliff fronts, and
on the edge of his horizon the grim moving white wall where the waves
broke on the headland. On and on he toiled. His limbs were becoming more cramped with the cold
and the terrible strain of swimming in such waves. But still the brave
heart bore him up; and resolutely, sternly he forced himself afresh to
the effort before him. He reasoned that where there was such a headland
standing out so stark into the sea there ought to be some shelter in its
lee. If he could pass it he might find calmer water and even a landing-
place beyond. Here at least was hope. He would try to round the point at any rate. Now
he drew so close that the great rocks seemed to tower vast above him. He
was not yet close enough to feel as though lapped in their shadow; but
even the overcast sky seemed full of light above the line of the cliff. There was a strange roaring, rushing sound around him. He thought that
it was not merely the waves dashing on the rocks, but that partly it came
from his own ears; that his ebbing strength was feeling the frantic
struggle which he was making. The end was coming, he thought; but still
he kept valiantly on, set and silent, as is the way with brave men. Suddenly from the top of the cliff a bright light flashed. He looked at
it sideways as he fought his way on, and saw the light rise and fall and
flicker as the flames leaped. High over him he saw fantastic figures
which seemed to dance on the edge of the high cliff. They had evidently
noticed him, and were making signals of some sort; but what the motions
were he could not see or understand, for they were but dark silhouettes,
edged with light, against the background of fire. The only thing he
could think was that they meant to encourage him, and so he urged himself
to further effort. It might be that help was at hand! Several times as he turned his head sideways he saw the figures and the
light, but not so clearly; it was as though the light was lessening in
power. When again he looked he saw a new fire leap out on the edge of
the cliff, and some figures to the right of it. They were signalling in
some way. So, pausing in his swimming, he rose a little from the water
and looked at them. A thrill shot through him, and a paralysing thought that he must have
gone mad. With his wet hand he cleared his eyes, though the touching
them pained him terribly, and for an instant saw clearly:

There on the edge of the cliff, standing beside some men and waving her
arms in a wild sweep as though motioning frantically 'Keep out! keep
out!' was a woman. Instinctively he glanced to his left and saw a white
waste of leaping water, through which sharp rocks rose like monstrous
teeth. On the instant he saw the danger, and made out seaward, swimming
frantically to clear the dangerous spot before the current would sweep
him upon the rocks. But the woman! As one remembers the last sight when the lightning has
banished sight, so that vision seemed burned into his brain. A woman
with a scarlet riding-habit and masses of long red hair blowing in the
gale like leaping flame! Could there be two such persons in the world? No! no! It was a vision!