I paused not to consider of
the difficulty of bearing away my prize, even if I
succeeded in overtaking it. At every step my excitement
and determination became stronger, and I felt every fibre
of my frame to dilate, as when, in my more boyish days,
I used to brave, in my gallant skiff, the mingled fury
of the warring elements of sea and storm. Suddenly, while
my mind was intent only on the dangers I used then to
hold in such light estimation, I found my further progress
intercepted by a fissure in the crag. It was not the
width of this opening that disconcerted me, for it exceeded
not ten feet; but I came upon it so unadvisedly, that,
in attempting to check my forward motion, I had nearly
lost my equipoise, and fallen into the abyss that now
yawned before and on either side of me. To pause upon
the danger, would, I felt, be to ensure it. Summoning
all my dexterity into a single bound, I cleared the chasm;
and with one buskined foot (for my hunting costume was
strictly Highland) clung firmly to the ledge, while I
secured my balance with the other. At this point the
rock became gradually broader, so that I now trod the
remainder of the rude path in perfect security, until I
at length found myself close to the vast mass of which
these ledges were merely ramifications or veins: but
still I could discover no outlet by which the wounded
deer could have escaped.
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