THE THRESHOLD OF THE GODS. 93 



I felt our pirogue leap and shiver ; I heard 

 awful noises, as of battles and storms and tu- 

 multuous applaudings, as of a million clapping 

 hands, as we rushed down into the rent hill. 

 Sic, sicjuvat ire sub umbras ! All above us the 

 mist and spume boiled and rolled ; all below 

 us the mad waves leaped and fought; all 

 round us the gray, wet fragments of granite 

 offered destruction. Nature's wildest frenzy 

 of passion was bearing us down, down, down ! 

 O, the calm madness that seized me ! It was 

 awe traced in marble — it was terror frozen in 

 ice ! O, the sweet vision, so suddenly mine, 

 so abruptly gone ! A mysterious joy, like the 

 memory of a heavenly dream, lingered in my 

 heart, down deeper than any fear of death 

 could go. 



Deeper and deeper we plunged down be- 

 tween the dank, fantastically grooved jaws of 

 the gorge, till the mist and darkness blended 

 into one, and the thunder of the stream in its 

 agony was appalling. Even this did not 

 drown the metallic laugh of the halcyon as it 

 led on through that horrid tumult. I felt a 

 wet wind rushing over me, I saw the spume 

 sparkle like phosphor, whilst the shark-like 

 teeth of the walls on either hand drew closer 

 upon me. 



How deep the ecstasy below us ! How far- 

 reaching the immitigable storm-mist above us ! 

 How old and worn the stolid stones about us ! 

 O threshold of the gods, what a distance be- 

 hind us ! O sweet, calm, every-day world, 

 how infinitely removed from us ! 



Finally we felt a mighty swell lift us and 

 savagely shake us. A heavy spray dashed 

 over us, and our frail vessel quivered and 



