In vain did my
companions (and your father was one) implore me to abandon
a project so wild and hazardous. I bounded forward, and
they turned shuddering away, that their eyes might not
witness the destruction that awaited me. Meanwhile,
balancing my long gun in my upraised hands, I trod the
dangerous path with a buoyancy and elasticity of limb,
a lightness of heart, and a fearlessness of consequences,
that surprised even myself. Perhaps it was to the latter
circumstance I owed my safety, for a single doubt of my
security might have impelled a movement that would not
have failed to have precipitated me into the yawning gulf
below. I had proceeded in this manner about five hundred
yards, when I came to the termination of the ledge, from
the equally narrow transverse extremity of which branched
out three others; the whole contributing to form a figure
resembling that of a trident. Pausing here for a moment,
I applied the hunting horn, with which I was provided,
to my lips. This signal, announcing my safety, was speedily
returned by my friends below in a cheering and lively
strain, that seemed to express at once surprise and
satisfaction; and inspirited by the sound, I prepared to
follow up my perilous chase.
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