The means which had been used for this end, the reason why one only was broken, and that one the uppermost, how a pair of horns could be so managed as to effect that which the hands of man would have found difficult, supplied a theme of meditation.
Some accident recalled me from this reverie, and reminded me how much time had thus been consumed.

I was terrified at the consequences of my delay, and sought with eagerness how they might be obviated.

I asked myself if there were not a way back shorter than that by which I had come.

The beaten road was rendered circuitous by a precipice that projected into a neighbouring stream, and closed up a passage by which the length of the way would have been diminished one half: at the foot of the cliff the water was of considerable depth, and agitated by an eddy.

I could not estimate the danger which I should incur by plunging into it, but I was resolved to make the attempt.