The excitement seemed to bring Jack more and more to the front, and
those who followed read in his actions why it was that he had been
successful in freeing them from their pursuers at the time of the
escape.
For, active as a goat, he crept from rock to rock, lowering himself down
here, dropping there, and having from time to time to wait to give the
rest an opportunity for keeping up. And all the while the parts of the
cliff side that were the most wooded, and which offered the best
shelter, were selected, and discovery by the sleeping men avoided.
It was an arduous task; but the guide was equal to the emergency, and
continuously and silently proceeding succeeded at length in dropping
down to the sandy shore about fifty yards from where the men lay
apparently asleep and sheltered by a huge mass of weed-grown stone,
while the cutter swung by its anchor a hundred yards further on beyond
the sailors, and she rose and fell easily as the slight tide ran softly
down.
Jack grasped the situation clearly, and felt how little time there was
to lose. At any moment the heads of the hunting party might appear as
they came down the ravine to the bay, while, supposing these to be
really asleep, the first shout would bring them to their feet, and then
all chance of escape would be gone.
The men had laid down close up under the cliff so as to be sheltered
from the sun and from an instinctive desire to be beyond the reach of
any venturesome wave, so that to reach the cutter the fugitives would
have to pass her guardians between them and the sea.
This brought the escaping party nearer to the cutter, but placed them
full in the view of those who might be coming down the ravine at the
head of the bay, and also shut them off from shelter and concealment
should an emergency arise.
Jack had played so prominent a part hitherto that the eyes of all were
directed to him for further instructions, and for a moment he hesitated
and pointed to Abel.
"No," whispered the latter, "you have done so well; go on."