h noise like that of a cataract. On large
fragment of rock, a few yards from the brink, was rudely carved a date,
and below it two letters. They were the initials, so our guide informed
us, of the unfortunate douanier who had there met his death.

We had remained for half a minute or so gazing down into the ravine,
when Ashley, who was on the right of the party, broke silence.

"Pshaw!" said he, stepping back from the edge, "that's no leap. Why,
I'll jump across it myself."

"For heaven's sake!" cried Dora.

"Ashey!" I exclaimed, "don't be a fool!"

But it was too late. What mad impulse possessed him I cannot say; but
certain I am, from my knowledge of his character, that it was no foolish
bravado or schoolboy desire to show off, that seduced him to so wild a
freak. The fact was, but for the depth below, the leap did not look at
all formidable; not above four or five feet, but in reality it was a
deal wider. It was probably this deceitful appearance, and perhaps the
feeling which Englishmen are apt to entertain, that for feats of
strength and agility no men surpass them, that convinced Walter of the
ease With which he could jump across. Before we could stop him, he took
a short run, and jumped.

A scream from Dora was echoed by an exclamation of horror from M'Dermot
and myself. Ashley had cleared the chasm and alighted on the opposite
edge, but it was shelving and slippery, and his feet slid from under
him. For one moment it appeared as if he would instantly be dashed to
pieces, but in falling he managed to catch the edge of the rock, which
at that place formed an angle. There he hung by his hands, his whole
body in the air, without a possibility of raising himself; for below the
edge the rock was smooth and receding, and even could he have reached
it, he would have found no foot-hold. One desperate effort he made to
grasp a stunted and leafless sapling that grew in a crevice at not more
than a foot from the edge, but it failed, and nearly caused his instant
destruction. Desisting from further effort, he hung motionless, his
hands convulsively cramped to the ledge of rock, which afforded so
slippery and difficult a hold, that his sustaining himself by it at all
seemed a miracle, and could only be the result of uncommon muscular
power. It was evident that no human strength could possibly maintain him
for more than a minute or two in that position; below was an abyss, a
hundred or more feet deep--to all appearance h