Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1829-05-18

Ct "maS"hauoh, WHICH in general was
suihcientiy active, and refused tSlisten even
ior an instant, t. any of the horrible insinp-
atiohs Dy Eaich fancy augnents actual dan.
ger" ne e~ndeavored manfuily TO reduce all
around nun TO the scale of right reason as
ihe pest support of true courage. "This
iedge OF rock he urged to himself sir
but narrow, yet it has breadth enough 70
support me; these cliffs and c-reyices in the
surface are small and distant. but the On.
anords as secure a resting place to INV fee,
the other as available "a grasp to nv hands
ASH stood on q platform ola cubit broad
ana rested my arm on a balustrade of mar.
Die: MY safety, therefore, depends on nv
sell; ~ move with decision, step FIRMLY.
ana hoid fast, what signifies how near /
am to the mouth of an abyssl"
I, Thus estimating the extent Of his DANCER
by inc measure of sound sense and reality.
ana supported by some degree of practice In
sucn exercise, the brave youth went forward
on ms awful Journey. step by stop, winning
Ills way with 4 caution and fortituda onS
presence OF mind, which. alone could bave
saved HIM from instant destruction A.
length ne gained a point where a proiect;ng
rock formed the angle of the preci6ice. 90
lar as 1t had been visible to him from the
platform. This, therefore, was the critical
point OF ms undertaking; but it was also the,
most perllous part of it. The rock protected
more than SIX feet forward over the torrenf
winch he heard raging at the depth of a
hundred yards beneath, with a noise like
suoterranean thunder.-He examined the
Spot WIN TIC utmost care, and was led bv
inc existence OF shrubs, grass, and even
stpn.ed uees, TO the belief that this rock
imdtsed inc iarthest extent Of the slip or
siide Oh earth, that, could he but round
'ue angie OF which IL was the examinations. he
IhSht nope 10 attain the continuation of the
path which had been SO STRANGELY interrunte5
10y this conVulsion of nature. But the crag
l1utted out so much as 10 afford no possibility
OF passing either under or arouD6 r.. and a.
II rose seventy feet above the position which
Arthur had attained, it was no EASY matter 80
ciimo over lt.-This was, however. the course
which ne chose, as the only mode of spr-
mounting what he hoped might prove the
iast obstacle TO ms voyage of discovery. A
PfoJtectlng tree afforded him the means of
raising and swinging himself up TO the tor
Oh Inc crag. But he had scarcely planted
n"iseIl on II, had scarcely a moment to CON
Sif"tuiate himself, on seeing, amid a wild
cnaos OF ellis and wood, the gloomy ruins
or Geicrst~Hr, v.+A- :,
dicatlng something like a human habitation
beside them, when to his extreme terror, he
felt the huge cliff Oh which he stood. trem-
bic, stoop slowly forward. and gradually sink
from IFS position. Projecting as it was. and
shaken as its equilibrium had been by the.
recent earthquake, il lay now so insecurely
poised, that IFS balance was entirely des.
troycd, even BY the addition of the Young
mans weight.
Aroused by the immincnce of the danger,
! j FfhnF nv On r,rt.n...- -
preservation, drew cautiously back from the
falling crag into the tree by which he ascen-
ded, and turned his head back as if spell.
bound, to watch the descent of the fatal rock
from which be had IuSt retreated. II tot.
tered for two or three seconds. as if UNCERTAIN
which way to fall; and had it taken a side
long direction, must have dashed the adven-
turer from bis place Of refuge. or borne both
the tree and han headlong down into the
river. Alter a moment Of horrible uacer-
taInty, the power of gravitation determined
Il direct and forward descent. Down went
the huge fragment, which must have weighed
at least twenty tons, rending and spllnterinu
IN ITS precIpltate course the trees and bushes
which d 1t encountered, and settling at lenotI
= IN the channel Of the torrent, with a dir
y equal to tho discharge of a hundred piece.
] OF artillery. Tho sound WAS rs-echocd from
' hank TO bank, from prccipice to prectpIce
J with cumulative thunders; nor was the tumult
] silent till IL rose into the region Of eternal
= SHOWS, which, equally iuscnslbIe to terrestia'
. sounds, aud unfdyorabIe to animal life, heard
Il the roar in their majestic solitude, but suf
fered 1t TO die away without a responsive
4 voice.
p What, in the meanwhile, we're lh,
0 thoughts of the distracted father, who saw
D the wondrous rock descend, but could no
mark whether his only son had borne j
company in its dreadful fall His first inn
9 pulse was to rush forward along the face o
u the Procipicc which he had seen Arthur 81
i lately tfaverse-and when the lad AntoniC
S withheld him, by throwing his arms arounc
HIM, he turned on the guide with the fur
S of a bear which has been robbed of her cubs
"Unhand me, base peasant, he exclaimed
cor thou diest on the spot
N ALAS" said the poor boy, dropping on hi