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.”“Alain! I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life! Gerard and Rolf are hurt and Dorothea is going for help.”Dorothea looked up at him, her eyes swimming with tears.He swung down from his mount and took her hand comfortingly, but spoke to Gabrielle.“What can I do? Shall I go with her, or do you need me?”“Please stay.Help her mount, then come with me.If we can plan the rescue before anyone arrives, it will go much faster.”Dorothea cantered down the hill, and they hurried back into the quarry.“Quick!” cried Gerard, as soon as he saw them.“He’s moving, but I don’t think he hears me.”Alain took in the situation at a glance.“I must go up to him,” he said quietly.“If I cannot bring him down, at least I can keep him still.”“No!” Gabrielle foresaw all too clearly another accident, and three injured men on her hands.“It is much too dangerous.We must be able to make him hear!”Alain shook his head, took off his coat, and started up the cliff.Gabrielle sat down and hid her face in her hands.She heard Rolf moaning, the small sounds of Alain’s boots on the chalk, then Gerard’s directions.“There’s a small knob just above you to the right.That’s it.Now there’s a bad bit, where I fell and scraped it smooth.Oh, well done! Now put your left foot a little lower.Nearly there.By Jove, I couldn’t have done it better myself.How is he?”“Very restless, not more than half conscious.His head is bleeding badly and I don’t think I can reach it.”Gabrielle stood up, shaded her eyes and stared upwards.“How badly? Will he bleed to death?”“I don’t know.Wait a bit, maybe if I crawl round here.”“Oh be careful! Don’t let him knock you off!”Alain, on hands and knees, straddled Rolf’s body.With one hand he wrenched off his neckcloth and pressed it to the boy’s head.She could hear him talking soothingly, but could not make out the words.Gingerly, he raised his other hand from the ledge, took a handkerchief from his pocket, and used the red-stained neckcloth to bind it about the wound.“I’ve bandaged it,” he called down.“Now there’s nothing to do but wait.”There was a sound of drumming hooves, and Lord Everett rode into the quarry.“I met Dorothea,” he explained curtly, surveying the situation.He raised his voice.“How do you do, Monsieur de Vignard? I am Dorothea’s father.How is my son?”“Not well, my lord.His head looks bad and I think he may have broken his leg.But I am no doctor.”“No, thank God, or doubtless you’d not be up there taking care of him.Dorrie will send for the sawbones as soon as she has told my harvesters to come up here.Can you manage?”“I shall have to, my lord,” said Alain drily.“Even if you could reach us, there is no room on this ledge.I cannot say that it is precisely adequate for two!”“It’s all my fault, sir,” said Gerard.“It was my idea to climb the cliff.”The baron turned to regard his white-powdered, scratched, bruised face.“I daresay you did not force Rolf to go up with you,” he said gently.“Nor push him down.You look as if you have suffered for your foolhardiness, and you cannot be blamed if Rolf has suffered worse for his.You’ve hurt your leg?”“Yes, or I should have stood up when you came, of course.But I think my ankle is only sprained.”“Let us hope so.Miss Darcy, be so good as to go and see if the men are coming yet.”Only his unwillingness to leave the spot indicated his distress at his son’s accident.Gabrielle hurried to the entrance and looked down the hill.A dozen men trudged up the slope, carrying ropes and ladders and hurdles.Seeing her waving, they quickened their steps, and a few minutes later she led them into the quarry.They were not a moment too soon.Rolf was groaning, twisting and turning in pain, and it was all Alain could do to keep the two of them on the ledge.Standing at the bottom, Lord Everett directed the rescue, his voice calm but his fists clenched, face pale and set.At last Rolf, roped to a hurdle and his leg splinted, reached the ground.His father knelt beside him.The makeshift bandage was soaked through with blood and there was no recognition in the boy’s glazed eyes.Gabrielle stood beside him, one hand on his shoulder.“Concussion,” she said.“It is not necessarily as bad as it seems.But he needs attention quickly.”“Take him home,” ordered Lord Everett harshly, and rose to clasp Alain’s hand with a gratitude beyond words.* * * *After taking care of Rolf at the Great House, the doctor drove down to the Dower House to examine Gerard’s ankle.“How is Rolf?” asked Gabrielle eagerly, as Tombaugh ushered him into her brother’s chamber.He shook his head gravely
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