When this was almost ready peal after peal of thunder suddenly crashed among the cliffs, which seemed to collapse and fall down upon us, and a flood from the sky descended.

The fire died without a sputter, everything not in rubber was soaked, and all we could do was to stand in the darkness, cold and hungry, and wait for the deluge to cease.

At last we were able to start the fire once more, and had a half-cooked supper before hunting the soft sides of the rocks for beds.

The next day it required hard work till one o'clock to get the boats down two hundred yards farther.

At one place to keep the bow in, I was in one of the boats, being lowered along the wall, while the other men were a hundred feet above my head, holding the end of two hundred feet of rope, as they clambered along a ledge.
The situation all around was rather precarious, but we had no accident.
This brought us to a small alcove where there was a limited talus.