Now, this adventure that Thora proposed was no small one, for the North Gaulton cliffs are amongst the wildest and most rugged in all Pomona, and they are very steep and dangerous to the climber.  Yet Thora was a cool-headed girl, strong of foot and wrist, and very adventurous.  I remember on one occasion, when several of us were bird nesting together on the Black Craigs, she happened to get stranded on a corner of rock, and could not either return or get round the projecting point.  I was watching her, and saw that she had the wrong foot foremost.  Her position was extremely dangerous, for one false move would have sent her headlong to a frightful death.  But, holding on with one hand, she coolly took a piece of oatcake from her pocket, and munched it.  Then with a dexterous movement she changed her position, got safely round the point, and went onward.

“Why, Thora, were you not feared for yoursel?” I asked, when I got near her again.

“If I’d been feared, Halcro, I wouldna be here now,” she quietly replied.

“I daresay that; but what made ye think of eatin’ the bannock when ye were in such danger?”

And, said she, “Weel, I just thought I was needing it.”

But with all Thora’s daring I was too sensible of the dangers of the Gaulton Craigs to allow her to make the descent of an unfamiliar precipice without climbing ropes, and when we had determined to explore the cave, I ran home for my lines and an old piece of tar rope to use as a torch in case we should require a light.

Thora was anxious about my sheep possibly straying in my absence, but I had a certain confidence in my flock, and assured her that as I had never known them to stray, there was little danger of them doing so now, especially as I had no dog to drive them over the banks.  We accordingly left the sheep grazing or sleeping contentedly on the open braes, and proceeded on our adventure.

One end of the rope was firmly secured round a jut of rock, so that the other extremity, when it was thrown over the brink, would fall as near as possible to the mouth of the cavern.  I went down some distance to see that all was right and easy, and then we made the descent together.

Neither of us made much use of the rope, but it was there for Thora to take hold of if she should find that she could not get secure hold on the jags of rock for her feet and hands; and I kept close to her to aid her if need were.  A stranger in Orkney might have marvelled to see us, a lad and lass, climbing with such ease about the face of a precipice of nearly two hundred feet in height above the turbulent sea; but the thing was simple enough to our practised hands and feet, and the regular layers and shelves of the old red sandstone afforded for the most part secure resting places.

As we got further down, the disturbed sea birds fluttered and screamed around our heads, the boldest even offering to peck at our hands, but fearing to do so for all the clatter they made about it.