Every new gust, I
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were with difficulty withdrawn.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
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. Thus was I again rescued from death. Nothing but the pressure of famine
could have prompted this savage to so audacious and hazardous an effort;
but, by yielding to this impulse, he had made my future visits to this
spot exempt from peril. Clithero was, likewise, relieved from a danger
that was imminent and unforeseen. Prowling over these grounds, the
panther could scarcely have failed to meet with this solitary fugitive. Had the animal lived, my first duty would have been to have sought him
out and assailed him with my tomahawk; but no undertaking would have
been more hazardous. Lurking in the grass, or in the branches of a tree,
his eye might have descried my approach, he might leap upon me
unperceived, and my weapon would be useless. With a heart beating with unwonted rapidity, I once more descended the
cliff, entered the cavern, and arrived at Huntly farm, drenched with
rain, and exhausted by fatigue. By night the storm was dispelled; but my exhausted strength would not
allow me to return to the mountain. At the customary hour I retired to
my chamber. I incessantly ruminated on the adventures of the last day,
and inquired into the conduct which I was next to pursue. The bridge being destroyed, my customary access was cut off. There was
no possibility of restoring this bridge. My strength would not suffice
to drag a fallen tree from a distance, and there was none whose position
would abridge or supersede that labour. Some other expedient must,
therefore, be discovered to pass this chasm. I reviewed the circumstances of my subterranean journey. The cavern was
imperfectly explored. Its branches might be numerous. That which I had
hitherto pursued terminated in an opening at a considerable distance
from the bottom. Other branches might exist, some of which might lead to
the foot of the precipice, and thence a communication might be found
with the summit of the interior hill. The danger of wandering into dark and untried paths, and the
commodiousness of that road which had at first been taken, were
sufficient reasons for having hitherto suspended my examination of the
different branches of this labyrinth. Now my customary road was no
longer practicable, and another was to be carefully explored. For this
end, on my next journey to the mountain, I determined to take with me a
lamp, and unravel this darksome maze: this project I resolved to execute
the next day. I now recollected what, if it had more seasonably occurred, would have
taught me caution. Some months before this a farmer, living in the
skirts of Norwalk, discovered two marauders in his field, whom he
imagined to be a male and female panther. They had destroyed some sheep,
and had been hunted by the farmer with long and fruitless diligence. Sheep had likewise been destroyed in different quarters; but the owners
had fixed the imputation of the crime upon dogs, many of whom had atoned
for their supposed offences by their death. He who had mentioned his
discovery of panthers received little credit from his neighbours;
because a long time had elapsed since these animals were supposed to
have been exiled from this district, and because no other person had
seen them.