Ere I could pray, the torrent lay beneath my very feet.
With frightful whirl, more swift than thought, I passed the dizzy edge,
Bound after bound, with hideous bruise, I dashed from ledge to ledge,
From crag to crag,—in speechless pain,—from midnight deep to deep;
I did not die,—but anguish stunned my senses into sleep.
How long entranced, or whither dived, no clue I have to find
At last the gradual light of life came dawning o’er my mind;
And through my brain there thrilled a cry,—a cry as shrill as birds’
Of vulture or of eagle kind, but this was set to words:—
“It’s Edgar Huntley in his cap and nightgown, I declares!