CHAPTER THE LAST. 405 



" Altogether about two hundred yards. But then 

 you must not think it was everywhere so narrow as 

 this strip of wood, though often it was not broader ; 

 nor was the rock at our side everywhere quite per- 

 pendicular ; but sometimes it sloped back, now more, 

 now less, which of course made it much easier for us. 

 If it had been the whole way so narrow, nobody in 

 the world could have borne it ; and the rock was not 

 everywhere quite smooth ; but here and there, exactly 

 perhaps where the ledge was narrowest, would be 

 a little roughness or projection, on which we could 

 hold with our fingers ; and that, you know, was quite 

 enough to make the passage possible. For example, 

 at the gap across which we flung the tree ; there, rising 

 up from below, was the point of a rock. We could 

 just lay hold of it, by stooping down as we crossed 

 our narrow bridge. This was a lucky chance, for 

 without such help we could not possibly have passed, 

 there being nothing on either side to steady ourselves 

 by : the cleft in the rock went all the way up, and 

 to walk across that fir-tree like a rope-dancer, three 

 thousand feet high in the air, was no joke. As it was, 

 that chance piece of rock helped us over capitally. 



" But the rock, I suppose, rose some height beside 

 you, did it not ? for, if not, it must have been very 

 difficult to make an aid of it in crossing." 



" No," replied my friend, " the rock only came up 

 just to about the tree. That was the difficulty : we 

 had to stoop down, almost sitting on the ground, and 

 planting one foot firmly on the ledge, to slide the other 



