Alan followed the dog along one of the narrow paths with which the barrens abounded until nearly a mile from Four Winds . Then the animal halted , ran to the edge of the cliff and barked . It was an ugly-looking place where a portion of the soil had evidently broken away recently , and Alan stepped cautiously out to the brink and looked down . He could not repress an exclamation of dismay and alarm . A few feet below him Lynde Oliver was lying on a mass of mossy soil which was apparently on the verge of slipping over a sloping shelf of rock , below which was a sheer drop of thirty feet to the cruel boulders below . The extreme danger of her position was manifest at a glance ; the soil on which she lay was stationary , yet it seemed as if the slightest motion on her part would send it over the brink . Lynde lay movelessly ; her face was white , and both fear and appeal were visible in her large dilated eyes . Yet she was quite calm and a faint smile crossed her pale lips as she saw the man and the dog . `` Good faithful Pat , so you did bring help , '' she said . `` But how can I help you , Miss Oliver ? '' said Alan hoarsely . `` I can not reach you -- and it looks as if the slightest touch or jar would send that broken earth over the brink . '' `` I fear it would . You must go back to Four Winds and get a rope . '' `` And leave you here alone -- in such danger ? '' `` Pat will stay with me . Besides , there is nothing else to do . You will find a rope in that little house where you put the water for Emily . Father and Emily are away . I think I am quite safe here if I do n't move at all . ''
Alan 's own common sense told him that , as she said , there was nothing else to do and , much as he hated XXXXX leave her alone thus , he realized that he must lose no time in doing it .
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