CHAPTER THE LAST. 427 



"But where? — not on the narrow ledge surely?" 



" Yes, on the ledge, with my feet hanging over. I 

 was obliged to sit down. I sat there for about a quarter 

 of an hour. But then came the getting up, — that was 

 a difficult piece of work ; for as the ledge was narrow, I 

 could not turn, as I should have done anywhere else ; 

 for, if I had, my shoulder or elbow or head might have 

 knocked against the rock behind me, and that, causing 

 me to lose my balance, would have sent me over; so I 

 was obliged to get first one foot up very carefully, and 

 then at last the other, and when that was done, all the 

 rest I managed well enough. Nothing on earth however 

 should ever induce me to go that way again." 



" How long was the way altogether ?" I asked, — " the 

 ledge that projected from the face of the rock?" 



"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 perpendicular; 

 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 pro- 

 jection, 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 our- 

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



