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—hbefore I moved. Every nerve was tightly 
strung, every faculty at highest tension, focussed: 
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 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 
