I had never seen that bank before,
and therefore knew that I could not be on the right side of the
forest. But now my only hope was to get completely away from the
trees and then to look for the village, and I began following the
bank in search of a descent. No break occurred, and presently I
was stopped by a dense thicket of bushes. I was about to retrace
my steps when I noticed that a tall slender tree growing at the
foot of the precipice, its green top not more than a couple of
yards below my feet, seemed to offer a means of escape. Nerving
myself with the thought that if I got crushed by the fall I
should probably escape a lingering and far more painful death, I
dropped into the cloud of foliage beneath me and clutched
desperately at the twigs as I fell. For a moment I felt myself
sustained; but branch after branch gave way beneath my weight,
and then I only remember, very dimly, a swift flight through the
air before losing consciousness.
CHAPTER VII
With the return of consciousness, I at first had a vague
impression that I was lying somewhere, injured, and incapable of
motion; that it was night, and necessary for me to keep my eyes
fast shut to prevent them from being blinded by almost continuous
vivid flashes of lightning.
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