128 THE LOG OF A TIMBER CRUISER 



moment before go crashing down the dizzy slope 

 followed by continually fainter and more prolonged 

 reverberations. 



I felt my knees begin to weaken and realised, as 

 clearly as if I were another person, that I was very 

 much frightened. I dared not look below. Nor 

 could I see much chance to ascend; but it was sui- 

 cide to remain where I was. It seemed an age 

 really it couldn't have been more than a few sec- 

 onds before I moved. Every nerve was tightly 

 strung, every faculty at highest tension, focus sed 

 with straining single mindedness upon the one de- 

 sire to scale the ten or twelve feet of stone that 

 loomed between me and safety. 



I don't know yet just how I reached the top of the 

 ledge. So intent was I upon the task that I was 

 unconscious of anything else. Slowly from cranny 

 to cranny, from crevice to crumbly ledge, I pro- 

 gressed till at length I felt the top with extended 

 hands. One careful pull, one cautious last exertion 

 and I fell forward with a gasp of relief and gave 

 way to those wretched sensations that I had man- 

 aged to ignore until safe. 



It was a long time before I resumed my run. And 

 it was days before I recovered from the effects of 

 this adventure. As a matter of fact I don't be- 

 lieve I ever did quite overcome a tendency to nerv- 

 ousness that often caught me later at unexpected 

 moments. Sometimes when clambering over cliffs 

 that earlier in the season would have been mere 



