16 Left Behind
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John Gardner once wrote, in deference to the human condition and its limitations (as well as its delusions), “But they rush across chasms on spiderwebs, and sometimes they make it, and that, they think, settles that!”
Well, that’s essentially what Quint did when he swung across that ravine—having lept for one of the gnarled vines and somehow made it (even as I skidded to a halt at the edge of the cliff and teetered). He’d dashed across the chasm on a spiderweb. He’d done precisely what Quint Holloway always did: which was to seize an opportunity before anyone even knew it by acting without a care or forethought (nor the slightest concern for his safety) and with the gravest of intent. To the point that I felt feckless and impotent as he casually dropped the vine
