"Jasper, Jasper, es et you? Thank the Lord!"
A few seconds later I saw a rope descending. The cliff was perhaps thirty feet in height just here. I could not judge exactly, but it was about perpendicular, so I could not climb it. After much struggling, however, I reached a point where ascent was possible, and aided by Eli, who pulled like a madman at the rope I had fastened around my body, I at length reached a place of safety.
"Oa, Maaster Jasper, Maaster Jasper!" sobbed Eli, "how glad I be! How I do love 'ee!" And he fondled my wet, clammy hands tenderly.
"I dunnaw. Never mind 'bout he; be you all right? You'n sure et's you?"
"Sure, Eli, safe and sound. Let us go to him."
By the aid of the bright moonlight we found him lying seemingly stark and dead on the ground. I soon discovered to my joy, however, that he was only stunned, and a few minutes later he sat up and spoke to us.
"No," I said, telling him how I had escaped; "but come, can you walk? Have you any bones broken?"
"No; the fellow tried to stab me, but he failed; I was only stunned."
"Go where?" he said, in a dazed kind of way.
"Yes, yes," he cried eagerly, "how could I forget? Yes, we must go this moment, this very moment. I am quite well and strong. Come at once."
He spoke with a kind of dignity, and I looked at him again to assure myself that he was the madman who had saved me by Trevose Head.
"We ca'ant go to-night, ted'n saafe," said Eli, who continued to fondle my hands and to utter all sorts of endearing terms.
"We must," he cried, "we must. There's not a second to lose. We must go straight to the house where you left her, and find her if she is there; if not we must not rest till she is in a place of safety."
He spoke in a tone of authority, and was so peremptory that I wondered.
"Who are you?" I asked; "what is my love's safety to you?"
"Everything, Jasper Pennington," he replied; "I am Naomi Penryn's father."
"Yes," he repeated, "I am Naomi Penryn's father. Come hither, Jasper Pennington, and let me tell you."
He led me away from Eli, who uttered strange, low sounds, as he always did when he was excited, and then the man whom I had thought mad spoke to me in low, earnest tones.
"You have heard my story, Jasper Pennington," he said--"heard how I struck my wife when she was in a perilous condition. It is true. I thought I had killed her, and since then I have never had an hour's peace. I will not tell you what I have done since or where I have been, except that I have been in hell. You thought me mad--perhaps I have been; I think I have. A little while ago I was drawn to come back to Trevose, but I was afraid to ask any questions. I seemed to be followed by the powers of darkness, who forbade me to speak. And yet I was fascinated to the spot. You can guess why. I need not tell you anything else now, you know what I would say. The thought that I have a daughter alive and that I did not kill my wife has made the world new."