decide upon the measure you propose? Are we to go again up and
down those precipices that we crossed yesterday, until we reach
the place we started from, and then take a flying leap from the
cliffs to the valley?'

'Faith, I didn't think of that,' said Toby; 'sure enough, both
sides of the valley appeared to be hemmed in by precipices,
didn't they?'

'Yes,' answered I, 'as steep as the sides of a line-of-battle
ship, and about a hundred times as high.' My companion sank his
head upon his breast, and remained for a while in deep thought.
Suddenly he sprang to his feet, while his eyes lighted up with
that gleam of intelligence that marks the presence of some bright
idea.

'Yes, yes,' he exclaimed; 'the streams all run in the same
direction, and must necessarily flow into the valley before they
reach the sea; all we have to do is just to follow this stream,
and sooner or later it will lead us into the vale.'

'You are right, Toby,' I exclaimed, 'you are right; it must
conduct us thither, and quickly too; for, see with what a steep
inclination the water descends.'

'It does, indeed,' burst forth my companion, overjoyed at my
verification of his theory, 'it does indeed; why, it is as plain
as a pike-staff. Let us proceed at once; come, throw away all
those stupid ideas about the Typees, and hurrah for the lovely
valley of the Happars.'