CHAP. xi. OVERLOOKING THE PRECIPICE. 221 



way ; then crouching down with my feet towards my 

 shaggy friends, who kept up a constant chattering of 

 their teeth during the whole time, and pushing my- 

 self backwards until I reached the nearest, I gave 

 him a kick with my foot on the hind quarters, which 

 produced the desired effect ; for I had no sooner done 

 so, than I felt first the feet of one and then of the other 

 passing lightly along my back, and before I had time 

 to lift up my head, they had bolted up the precipice 

 and disappeared. 



" I was now master of the place, though not of the 

 situation. On looking over the cliff, I found that 

 there was no way of getting down but by leaping into 

 a crevice of the rocks, more than eight feet beneath 

 me, and in a slanting direction from where I was. 

 This was a doleful discovery, but there was no help 

 now ; so, taking off my coat, shot-belt, and powder- 

 flask, that I might be so much the lighter, and have 

 the free use of my arms, I threw them down to the 

 bottom of the rock. I next bound the gun to my 

 back, having previously emptied it of its contents. I 

 then crawled over the edge of the rock, and hung 

 dangling in the air for a little, like the pendulum of 

 a clock. I would have given all that I ever possessed 

 in the world to have been again in the foxes' den, 

 stinking though it was. For then, and not till then, 

 did I discover, to my sorrow, that a rugged portion of 

 a rock projected over the entrance to the aperture to 

 which I wished to descend, and that, in leaping, I 



