On entering this horrid pass, Helen would have shuddered, had she not placed implicit confidence in her conductor.
As they advanced, the vale gradually narrowed, and at last shut them within an immense chasm, which seemed to have been cleft at its towering summit, to admit a few beams of light to the desert below.

A dark river flowed along, amid which the bases of the mountains showed their union by the mingling of many a rugged cliff, projecting upward in a variety of strange and hideous forms.

The men who carried Helen, with some difficulty found a safe footing.

However, after frequent rests, and unremitted caution, they at last extricated themselves from the most intricate path, and more lightly followed their chief into a less gloomy part of this chaos of nature.

The knight stopped, and approaching the bier, told Helen they had arrived at the end of their journey.
"In the heart of that cliff," said he, "is the hermit's cell; a desolate shelter, but a safe one.