I was in despair.
The fate of Agnew had prepared me for my own, and I was only thankful that my fate, since it was inevitable, would be less appalling.

Death seemed certain, and my chief thought now was as to the moment when it would come.

I was prepared.

I felt that I could meet it calmly, sternly, even thankfully; far better was a death here amid the roar of waters than at the hands of those abhorrent beings by whose treachery my friend had fallen.
As I went on, the precipices rose higher and seemed to overhang, the channel grew narrower, the light grew fainter, until at last all around me grew dark.

I was floating at the bottom of a vast chasm, where the sides seemed to rise precipitously for thousands of feet, where neither watery flood nor rocky wall was visible, and where, far above, I could see the line of sky between the summits of the cliffs, and watch the glowing stars.