A SHOBT CUT. 
235 
ing, our schooner is carried to the northward. The 
noise and confusion, carrying warps out, raising of 
chains, and other severe work on deck, banishes sleep, 
and as soon as we can we land* resolved to join our 
friend, who is about five miles away. We take two 
men with us; they think we are 
right in attempting to make a 
short cut by descending one side 
of a steep ravine, which lies directly 
in our path, and after crossing a 
river which flows in the low ground, 
to ascend the opposite side of the 
ravine and so overtake the party 
we are in pursuit of. The steep 
side of the ravine is about five 
hundred feet in descent, very per¬ 
pendicular, and by no means easy- 
looking. We do not stop to weigh 
the propriety of going out of our 
way to the head of the valley, so 
we commence our journey down¬ 
wards. At first we are compelled 
to return, with difficulty, from some very false starts we* 
have made; but as we have resolved, we go on, taking in 
as we go the charming details of the prospect. Great 
rugged rocks jut out from the sides on either hand ; 
