{"id":"01KG8AM61Z1WD0TPBT2TCN40K9","cid":"bafkreihhyapagsdo43dynualaog4gs54a4p2bwkibxvhswn74ms3j33xci","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3046,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":2977,"text":"ravine presented their overhanging sides both above and below the fall,\r\naffording no means whatever of avoiding the cataract by taking a circuit\r\nround it.\r\n\r\n‘What’s to be done now, Toby?’ said I.\r\n\r\n‘Why,’ rejoined he, ‘as we cannot retreat, I suppose we must keep\r\nshoving along.’\r\n\r\n‘Very true, my dear Toby; but how do you purpose accomplishing that\r\ndesirable object?’\r\n\r\n‘By jumping from the top of the fall, if there be no other way,’\r\nunhesitatingly replied my companion: ‘it will be much the quickest way\r\nof descent; but as you are not quite as active as I am, we will try some\r\nother way.’\r\n\r\nAnd, so saying, he crept cautiously along and peered over into the\r\nabyss, while I remained wondering by what possible means we could\r\novercome this apparently insuperable obstruction. As soon as my\r\ncompanion had completed his survey, I eagerly inquired the result.\r\n\r\n‘The result of my observations you wish to know, do you?’ began Toby,\r\ndeliberately, with one of his odd looks: ‘well, my lad, the result of my\r\nobservations is very quickly imparted. It is at present uncertain which\r\nof our two necks will have the honour to be broken first; but about a\r\nhundred to one would be a fair bet in favour of the man who takes the\r\nfirst jump.’\r\n\r\n‘Then it is an impossible thing, is it?’ inquired I gloomily.\r\n\r\n‘No, shipmate; on the contrary, it is the easiest thing in life: the\r\nonly awkward point is the sort of usage which our unhappy limbs may\r\nreceive when we arrive at the bottom, and what sort of travelling trim\r\nwe shall be in afterwards. But follow me now, and I will show you the\r\nonly chance we have.’ With this he conducted me to the verge of the\r\ncataract, and pointed along the side of the ravine to a number of\r\ncurious looking roots, some three or four inches in thickness, and\r\nseveral feet long, which, after twisting among the fissures of the rock,\r\nshot perpendicularly from it and ran tapering to a point in the air,\r\nhanging over the gulf like so many dark icicles. They covered nearly\r\nthe entire surface of one side of the gorge, the lowest of them\r\nreaching even to the water. Many were moss grown and decayed, with their\r\nextremities snapped short off, and those in the immediate vicinity of\r\nthe fall were slippery with moisture.\r\n\r\nToby’s scheme, and it was a desperate one, was to entrust ourselves\r\nto these treacherous-looking roots, and by slipping down from one to\r\nanother to gain the bottom.\r\n\r\n‘Are you ready to venture it?’ asked Toby, looking at me earnestly but\r\nwithout saying a word as to the practicability of the plan.\r\n\r\n‘I am,’ was my reply; for I saw it was our only resource if we wished to\r\nadvance, and as for retreating, all thoughts of that sort had been long\r\nabandoned.\r\n\r\nAfter I had signified my assent, Toby, without uttering a a single word,\r\ncrawled along the dripping ledge until he gained a point from whence\r\nhe could just reach one of the largest of the pendant roots; he shook\r\nit--it quivered in his grasp, and when he let it go it twanged in the\r\nair like a strong, wire sharply struck. Satisfied by his scrutiny, my\r\nlight limbed companion swung himself nimbly upon it, and twisting his\r\nlegs round it in sailor fashion, slipped down eight or ten feet, where\r\nhis weight gave it a motion not un-like that of a pendulum. He could not\r\nventure to descend any further; so holding on with one hand, he with the\r\nother shook one by one all the slender roots around him, and at last,\r\nfinding one which he thought trustworthy, shifted him self to it and\r\ncontinued his downward progress.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ78FJSGVW77ZGHK0KC9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM61Z17RPENC55BWBSWKP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM62DSJQY45J2TJT8TD18","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.735Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:35.187Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}