PERILOUS SITUATION. 
267 
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 sus- 
pension*. 
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 precipice, descended, on their usual 
occupation. Having collected as many birds and 
eggs as they could carry, they were all three ascend- 
ing 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 pro- 
gress, when the elder son looking upwards, perceived 
the strands of the rope grinding against a sharp 
edge of rock, and gradually giving way. He imme- 
diately reported the alarming fact. “ Will it hold 
together till we can gain the summit V asked the 
father. 66 It will not hold another minute,” was the 
reply ; u our triple weight is loosening it rapidly !” 
“ Will it hold one V said the father. “ It is as much 
as it can do,” replied the son, — u even that is but 
* Buchanan’s Hebrides. 
