escape was not to be neglected. I left my place, and scrambled over the
trunk with a precipitation which had liked to have proved fatal. The
tree groaned and shook under me, the wind blew with unexampled violence,
and I had scarcely reached the opposite steep when the roots were
severed from the rock and the whole fell thundering to the bottom of the
chasm.

My trepidations were not speedily quieted. I looked back with wonder on
my hairbreadth escape, and on that singular concurrence of events which
had placed me, in so short 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.