242 «' GETTIN DOWN STAIRS. 



riius from the crags above, rendered a foot-hold quite insecure. Yet I 

 progressed without much difficulty, and began to congratulate myself on 

 an anticipated speedy exit from seeming danger, when, coming suddenly to 

 an abrupt precipice, of sixty or seventy feet perpendicular descent, and 

 paved far around its base with sharp rocks presenting their keen edges 

 like so many hatchets set on end, I was thrown all aback at the appalling 

 spectacle. 



In vain I tried to retrace my steps. The sides refused to sustain my 

 weight, and the yielding surface, to which I clung with a death-like tenacity, 

 threatened every moment to plunge me headlong from the frightful steep, 

 to be dashed in pieces among the rocks below. 



That moment was an awful one ! Retreat was impossible, — advance 

 was certain death, — the time for reflection was fast waning, for every in- 

 stant brought me nearer and still nearer to the fatal verge ! 



It was then I bestowed a fleeting thought upon loved and absent friends, 

 — one fleeting thought upon a far distant home and all the cherished endear- 

 ments of childhood, — and, commending my soul to the Great Author of its 

 existence in a brief prayer, I turned to gaze calmly upon the yawning 

 jaws of fate that awaited my speedy destruction. 



But here a ray of hope burst from the thick cloud which till now seemed 

 just ready to merge the sun of existence into the density of its own dark- 

 ness. 



A tall pine grew at the base of the precipice, some fifty yards distant, — 

 two narrow shelves of protruding rock, six or seven feet apart, led towards 

 the tree, affording a sufficient hold for hands and feet to a person standing 

 at full length. 



My decision was instantly formed. Carefully dropping my rifle from the 

 steep, by dint of great exertion I gained the shelves, that seemed as if 

 made expressly for an occasion like the present ; — then, by moving later- 

 ally, inch by inch, along the dizzy side, in a short time I had progressed to 

 the tree, whose topmost branch lay just within my reach. Grasping this 

 firmly in one hand, and disengaging the other to be used as the emergency 

 might require, I threw myself backward among the surrounding boughs, 

 and, lodging in safety, was left to descend at leisure the remaining dis- 

 tance. 



Once more upon a sure footing, the occurrences of the day had proved a 

 sufficient gorge to present ambition ; so, seizing my rifle, (which had luck- 

 ily fallen uninjured.) I bade farewell to the unconscious elk and returned 

 to camp. There, with early night I found myself transported to the land 

 of dreams in the drowsy car of sleep. 



But, instead of wild beasts and prowling savages thirsting for blood, 

 such as the danger of my lonely situation would naturally inspire, my 

 mind was filled with visions of deep chasms, frightful precipices, and yawn- 

 ing steeps, that seemed to meet me at every turn, aflLrding no possible way 

 of escape; and thrice glad was I when wakeful morning chased these 

 horrid phantoms far away, and revealed to me the welcome reality of 

 conscious safety. 



Soon after the adventure above related, another transpired of a somewhat 

 similar nature. 



