{"id":"01KG8AM61ZA8DAP8VDPVMQE5D8","cid":"bafkreiepxu7fp3gorbsqvw3wgsarjvlmadoyyvnqpqnkyf3fl2dlxxu7am","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2766,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":2712,"text":"than five minutes we should find ourselves at the brink of the stream,\r\nwhich must necessarily flow on the other side of the ridge.\r\n\r\n‘Do not,’ he exclaimed, ‘turn back, now that we have proceeded thus far;\r\nfor I tell you that neither of us will have the courage to repeat the\r\nattempt, if once more we find ourselves looking up to where we now are\r\nfrom the bottom of these rocks!’\r\n\r\nI was not yet so perfectly beside myself as to be heedless of these\r\nrepresentations, and therefore toiled on, ineffectually endeavouring to\r\nappease the thirst which consumed me, by thinking that in a short time I\r\nshould be able to gratify it to my heart’s content.\r\n\r\nAt last we gained the top of the second elevation, the loftiest of\r\nthose I have described as extending in parallel lines between us and the\r\nvalley we desired to reach. It commanded a view of the whole intervening\r\ndistance; and, discouraged as I was by other circumstances, this\r\nprospect plunged me into the very depths of despair. Nothing but dark\r\nand fearful chasms, separated by sharp-crested and perpendicular ridges\r\nas far as the eye could reach. Could we have stepped from summit\r\nto summit of these steep but narrow elevations we could easily have\r\naccomplished the distance; but we must penetrate to the bottom of every\r\nyawning gulf, and scale in succession every one of the eminences before\r\nus. Even Toby, although not suffering as I did, was not proof against\r\nthe disheartening influences of the sight.\r\n\r\nBut we did not long stand to contemplate it, impatient as I was to reach\r\nthe waters of the torrent which flowed beneath us. With an insensibility\r\nto danger which I cannot call to mind without shuddering, we threw\r\nourselves down the depths of the ravine, startling its savage solitudes\r\nwith the echoes produced by the falling fragments of rock we every\r\nmoment dislodged from their places, careless of the insecurity of our\r\nfooting, and reckless whether the slight roots and twigs we clutched at\r\nsustained us for the while, or treacherously yielded to our grasp. For\r\nmy own part, I scarcely knew whether I was helplessly falling from the\r\nheights above, or whether the fearful rapidity with which I descended\r\nwas an act of my own volition.\r\n\r\nIn a few minutes we reached the foot of the gorge, and kneeling upon\r\na small ledge of dripping rocks, I bent over to the stream. What a\r\ndelicious sensation was I now to experience! I paused for a second to\r\nconcentrate all my capabilities of enjoyment, and then immerged my lips\r\nin the clear element before me. Had the apples of Sodom turned to ashes\r\nin my mouth, I could not have felt a more startling revulsion. A single\r\ndrop of the cold fluid seemed to freeze every drop of blood in my body;\r\nthe fever that had been burning in my veins gave place on the instant to\r\ndeath-like chills, which shook me one after another like so many shocks\r\nof electricity, while the perspiration produced by my late violent\r\nexertions congealed in icy beads upon my forehead. My thirst was gone,\r\nand I fairly loathed the water. Starting to my feet, the sight of those\r\ndank rocks, oozing forth moisture at every crevice, and the dark\r\nstream shooting along its dismal channel, sent fresh chills through\r\nmy shivering frame, and I felt as uncontrollable a desire to climb up\r\ntowards the genial sunlight as I before had to descend the ravine.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ783ET02G2BZY5DVXE0","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM61QXEA2PQFW9K40RW74","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM62DYXTQPGRM9Q64RWZQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.735Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:35.132Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}