It resembles the fissures in the mountains of ice which I have read that the Arctic explorers sometimes find." However, since the youths were on one side of the canyon, naturally they were seized with the belief that it was necessary immediately to place themselves on the other side.

Why it was so they would have found hard to explain, but they were unanimous on the point; and, since there was but the single method of crossing the chasm, they set out to find it.
"It looks narrower over there to the left," said Jack, turning in that direction.
He did not have to go far when he paused, where the width was barely six feet--not enough to afford much of a leap for sturdy lads of their years.
"That's easy," added Jack, measuring it with his eye.
"You must remember one thing, Jack.

There's something in the air of this part of the world which makes a mile look no more than a few hundred yards.

Suppose that that other bank is fifty feet off!" It was an alarming thought, and Jack recoiled as if again on the edge of the brink.

But he was quick to see the absurdity of the idea.
"If that is so, then the canyon must be several miles deep.