For some minutes he was horrorstruck beyond expression, and made wild attempts to descend the cliff and reach him.

But he soon gave up the attempt in despair.
There was a tradition in the school that the feat had once been accomplished by an adventurous and active boy, but Wright at any rate found it hopeless for himself.

The only other way to reach the glen was by a circuitous route which led to the entrance of the narrow gorge, along the sides of which it was possible to make way with difficulty down the bank of the river to the place where it met the sea.

But this would have taken him an hour and a half, and was far from easy when the river was swollen with high tide.

Nor was there any house within some distance at which assistance could be procured, and Wright, in a tumult of conflicting emotions, determined to wait where he was, on the chance of seeing the boat as it returned from St.Catherine's Head.