{"id":"01KG8AM62DM2J6BBRVQAZMC77E","cid":"bafkreibecse5qzoehgv3vfgr6l2f2eb5gtfu7wnfihyjlaoy3abiqke3p4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3167,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":3101,"text":"gradually died on our ears.\r\n\r\n‘Another precipice for us, Toby.’\r\n\r\n‘Very good; we can descend them, you know--come on.’\r\n\r\nNothing indeed appeared to depress or intimidate this intrepid fellow.\r\nTypees or Niagaras, he was as ready to engage one as the other, and I\r\ncould not avoid a thousand times congratulating myself upon having such\r\na companion in an enterprise like the present.\r\n\r\nAfter an hour’s painful progress, we reached the verge of another fall,\r\nstill loftier than the preceding and flanked both above and below with\r\nthe same steep masses of rock, presenting, however, here and there\r\nnarrow irregular ledges, supporting a shallow soil, on which grew a\r\nvariety of bushes and trees, whose bright verdure contrasted beautifully\r\nwith the foamy waters that flowed between them.\r\n\r\nToby, who invariably acted as pioneer, now proceeded to reconnoitre.\r\nOn his return, he reported that the shelves of rock on our right\r\nwould enable us to gain with little risk the bottom of the cataract.\r\nAccordingly, leaving the bed of the stream at the very point where it\r\nthundered down, we began crawling along one of those sloping ledges\r\nuntil it carried us to within a few feet of another that inclined\r\ndownwards at a still sharper angle, and upon which, by assisting each\r\nother we managed to alight in safety. We warily crept along this,\r\nsteadying ourselves by the naked roots of the shrubs that clung to every\r\nfissure. As we proceeded, the narrow path became still more contracted,\r\nrendering it difficult for us to maintain our footing, until suddenly,\r\nas we reached an angle of the wall of rock where we had expected it to\r\nwiden, we perceived to our consternation that a yard or two further on\r\nit abruptly terminated at a place we could not possibly hope to pass.\r\n\r\nToby as usual led the van, and in silence I waited to learn from him how\r\nhe proposed to extricate us from this new difficulty.\r\n\r\n‘Well, my boy,’ I exclaimed, after the expiration of several minutes,\r\nduring which time my companion had not uttered a word, ‘what’s to be\r\ndone now?’\r\n\r\nHe replied in a tranquil tone, that probably the best thing we could do\r\nin our present strait was to get out of it as soon as possible.\r\n\r\n‘Yes, my dear Toby, but tell me how we are to get out of it.’\r\n\r\n‘Something in this sort of style,’ he replied, and at the same moment to\r\nmy horror he slipped sideways off the rocks and, as I then thought, by\r\ngood fortune merely, alighted among the spreading branches of a species\r\nof palm tree, that shooting its hardy roots along a ledge below, curved\r\nits trunk upwards into the air, and presented a thick mass of foliage\r\nabout twenty feet below the spot where we had thus suddenly been brought\r\nto a standstill. I involuntarily held my breath, expecting to see the\r\nform of my companion, after being sustained for a moment by the branches\r\nof the tree, sink through their frail support, and fall headlong to\r\nthe bottom. To my surprise and joy, however, he recovered himself, and\r\ndisentangling his limbs from the fractured branches, he peered out from\r\nhis leafy bed, and shouted lustily, ‘Come on, my hearty there is no\r\nother alternative!’ and with this he ducked beneath the foliage, and\r\nslipping down the trunk, stood in a moment at least fifty feet beneath\r\nme, upon the broad shelf of rock from which sprung the tree he had\r\ndescended.\r\n\r\nWhat would I not have given at that moment to have been by his side. The\r\nfeat he had just accomplished seemed little less than miraculous, and\r\nI could hardly credit the evidence of my senses when I saw the wide\r\ndistance that a single daring act had so suddenly placed between us.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ78FJSGVW77ZGHK0KC9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM62DSJQY45J2TJT8TD18","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM62DP0NX5S891MA5MKCV","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.749Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:35.642Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}