hoped, would tear asunder its remaining bands, and, by cutting off all
communication between the opposite steeps, place me in security.

My hopes, however, were destined to be frustrated. The fibres of the
prostrate tree were obstinately tenacious of their hold, and presently
the animal scrambled down the rock and proceeded to cross it.

Of all kinds of death, that which now menaced me was the most abhorred.
To die by disease, or by the hand of a fellow-creature, was propitious
and lenient in comparison with being rent to pieces by the fangs of this
savage. To perish in this obscure retreat, by means so impervious to the
anxious curiosity of my friends, to lose my portion of existence by so
untoward and ignoble a destiny, was insupportable. I bitterly deplored
my rashness in coming hither unprovided for an encounter like this.

The evil of my present circumstances consisted chiefly in suspense. My
death was unavoidable, but my imagination had leisure to torment itself
by anticipations. One foot of the savage was slowly and cautiously moved
after the other. He struck his claws so deeply into the bark that they
were with difficulty withdrawn. At length he leaped upon the ground. We
were now separated by an interval of scarcely eight feet. To leave the
spot where I crouched was impossible. Behind and beside me, the cliff
rose perpendicularly, and before me was this grim and terrific visage. I
shrunk still closer to the ground and closed my eyes.

From this pause of horror I was aroused by the noise occasioned by a
second spring of the animal. He leaped into the pit, in which I had so
deeply regretted that I had not taken refuge, and disappeared. My rescue
was so sudden, and so much beyond my belief or my hope, that I doubted,
for a moment, whether my senses did not deceive me. This opportunity of