Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/126

 a period, in absolute security. Had the trunk fallen a moment earlier, I should have been imprisoned on the hill, or thrown headlong: had its fall been delayed another moment, I should have been pursued; for the beast now issued from his den, and testified his surprise and disappointment by tokens, the sight of which made my blood run cold.

He saw me, and hastened to the verge of the chasm: he squatted on his hind legs, and assumed the attitude of one preparing to leap. My consternation was excited afresh by these appearances: it seemed at first as if the rift was too wide for any power of muscles to carry him in safety over; but I knew the unparalleled agility of this animal, and that his experience had made him a better judge of the practicability of this exploit than I was.

Still there was hope that he would relinquish this design as desperate. This hope was quickly at an end: he sprung, and his fore legs touched the verge of the rock on which I stood: in spite of vehement exertions, however, the surface was too smooth and too hard to allow him to make good his hold—he fell, and a piercing cry uttered below, showed that nothing had obstructed his descent to the bottom.

Thus was I again rescued from death. Nothing but the pressure of famine could have prompted this savage to so audacious and hazardous an effort; but by yielding to this impulse, he had made my future visits to this spot exempt from peril. Clithero was, likewise, relieved from a danger that was imminent and unforeseen; prowling over these grounds, the panther could scarcely have failed to meet with this solitary fugitive.

Had the animal lived, my first duty would have been to have sought him out and assailed him with my tomahawk; but no undertaking would have been more hazardous: lurking in the grass, or in the branches of a tree, his eye might have descried my approach, he might leap upon me unperceived, and my weapon would be useless.

With a heart beating with unwonted rapidity, I once more descended the cliff, entered the cavern, and arrived at Huntly Farm, drenched with rain, and exhausted by fatigue.

By night the storm was dispelled; but my exhausted