FATAL EVENT. 
439 
which the waves were dashing far, far below. Collecting, 
therefore, all his strength, with outstretched arms, he sprang 
from the rock, and lived to tell the tale — for the rope was 
caught ! 
The next occurred at St. Kilda, where, amongst other 
modes of catching the sea-fowl, that of setting gins or nooses 
is adopted. They are fixed in various places frequented by 
the birds. In one of these, set upon a ledge, a hundred and 
twenty feet above the sea, a bird-catcher entangled his 
foot, and not being at the moment aware of it, was, on 
moving onwards, tripped up, and precipitated over the rock, 
where he hung suspended. He, too, as in the preceding 
case, had no companion; and, to add to his misfortune, 
darkness was at hand, leaving little prospect of his being 
discovered before morning. In vain he exerted himself to 
bend upwards, so as to reach the noose or grapple the rock. 
After a few fruitless efforts, his strength was exhausted, and 
in this dreadful situation, expecting, moreover, that the noose 
might give way every instant, did he pass a long night. 
At early dawn, by good fortune, his shouts were heard by a 
neighbour, who rescued him from his perilous suspension.^ 
The last we shall relate terminated in a more awful 
manner. A father and two sons were out together, and, 
having firmly attached their rope at the summit of a pre- 
cipice, descended, on their usual occupation. Having collected 
as many birds and eggs as they could carry, they were all 
three ascending by the rope, — the eldest of the sons first,— 
his brother a fathom or two below him ; and the father 
following last. They had made considerable progress, when 
the elder son, looking upwards, perceived the strands of the 
rope grinding against a sharp edge of rock, and gradually 
giving way. He immediately reported the alarming fact. 
“ Will it hold together till we can gain the summit ?” 
asked the father. “ It will not hold another minute,” was 
the reply ; “ our triple weight is loosening it rapidly !” 
“ Will it hold one ?” said the father. “ It is as much as it 
# Buchanan’s Hebrides. 
