n
stopped by the rocks, and his situation for viewing the upper portion of
the cliff was anything but an advantageous one.

He scrambled up one of the highest boulders, and took his survey from
its top, but he was still not satisfied with his "point of view." He
saw, however, that it was the best he could obtain; and he remained for
a good while upon his perch--with eyes bent upon the opposing precipice,
now fixed upon a particular spot, and now wandering in one long sweep
from bottom to top, and back again from top to bottom.

During this operation the expression upon his face once more changed to
one of deep gloom, for he had discovered an obstacle to his designs that
appeared insurmountable. One of the spaces between two of the ledges
was too great to be spanned by a ladder, and this, too, was high up the
cliff. It could never be scaled!

He noticed that the first ledge from the bottom was about half as high
from the ground as this one was from that immediately below it.

Hitherto he had been but guessing at the height; but it now occurred to
him that he should throw conjecture aside, and ascertain by actual
measurement the distance from the ground to the first ledge. This might
be easily accomplished--Karl saw that,--and once done, it would give him
a better idea of the distance between the ledges high up.

It has been stated that the measurement could be easily made, and that
Karl knew this; but how? The ledge appeared to be full forty feet from
the ground, and how was it to be reached by a measuring rule? But Karl
had no measuring rule; and it was not in that way he intended to go
about it.

You will be conjecturing that he looked out for a tall sapling, of
sufficient length to reach the ledge, and then afterwards ascertained
the number of feet and inches of the sapling. Certainly this mode would
have done well enough, and Karl would very likely have made use of it,
had not an easier offered itself--or one that at the moment appeared
readier to him. He could have told the height by triangulation, but
that would also have involved the procuring of a sapling--and some
tedious calculation besides, which would have required time, with not
the most certain results either.

Both these plans had occupied his thoughts for a while. The first was
rejected on account of the difficulty of obtaining a rod of sufficient
length,--the second was set aside by Karl just then perceiving that
without much difficulty,