There were scores of heart-beats before it splashed in the water below.
"Not so much as a twig between here and eternity," he said to himself, with a shudder.

Then aloud: "Can't we stay here, some place, and not go along there to-night ?" The roar of the water drowned his voice before it reached Fortner's ears, and Harry, obeying the instinct to accept leadership, followed the mountaineer tremblingly.
In a little while he felt--more than saw--Fortner stop, adjust his feet, and make a long stride forward with one of them.

Glen collected himself for the same effort.

He had need of all of his resolution, for the many narrow escapes which he had made from slipping into the hungry torrent, had shaken every nerve.
"I'm over," called out Fortner.

"Ye try hit now." Harry balanced his gun so as to embarrass him the least, and carefully felt with his left foot for the edge of the chasm.