Under and around the raft the waters surged and poured, as if they were
testing the strength of the frail structure before lifting it up and
hurling it away to destruction.
With his feet well apart to balance himself, and the long pole ready in
his strong hands, Sam stood pale but resolute.
They had only a few minutes to wait.
Ike and Wah Shin sent up a cry of horror as, with the roar of an angry
monster, the current swept the raft into the stream.
With the grim stoicism of his race, Ulna looked about him without
seeming to be at all disturbed by the awful situation.
Sam's object was to get across to the other side of the canyon and effect
a landing with his party, for he never for an instant lost sight of the
fact that his father's freedom if not his life depended on his reaching
Hurley's Gulch at once with the papers in the Edwards case.
But alas for all the schemes planned by love and executed by courage!
What was man's strength and daring to the weight of the piled-up, flying
waters?
The instant the raft swung away from the plateau Sam saw that his pole
was of no use, for the river bottom was fully one hundred feet below the
surface.
He tried to use the pole as a paddle, but his efforts had no effect on
the course of the raft.
It was hurled like a plaything by some mighty, unseen power, into the
center of the flood; then, with the speed of a racer urged on by whip
and spur, the frail ark went flying down the canyon.
For the life of him Sam could not utter a word. His face was blanched,
but it was not with fear, though death seemed now inevitable.
"What will become of poor father!" This is what poor Sam would have
cried out if he could have given expression to the one thought that
filled his brain and the one feeling that stirred his heart.
But neither Ike nor Wah Shin attempted to restrain their cries, though
their voices were nearly drowned out by the never-ceasing roar of the
torrent.
Wah Shin was terror-stricken, and in his fright he forgot his little
store of defective English and shouted for help in his native tongue.
The effect on Ike was to change the color of his face to a dark grey,
and to make the whites of his eyes very conspicuous. He was devoutly on
his knees, though he clung to the logs with both hands, and prayed with
an earnestness that there was no mistaking.
In much less time than it takes to describe the feelings of the
passengers they were whirled out of sight of the caves and were rushing
down between the towering canyon walls with a velocity that was truly
appalling.
It was Sam's belief, as well as the belief of the others, after they saw
that crossing was impossible, that they would be crushed by the great
jagged rocks that beset their course, but they soon discovered that they
were in the middle of the current, and that they were passing in safety
the obstructions that threatened ruin every instant.
The bravest men tremble on the eve of their first battle, and their
hearts sink when they hear the first rattle of the skirmishers' rifles.
But as the time passes without their being shot down, they become
indifferent to the dangers that at first alarmed and unnerved them, and
fight with the coolness and confidence of veterans.
A sailor will laugh at a storm that is full of terrors to the landsman,
for it is certain that familiarity with danger does breed contempt.
After the raft had dashed on for an hour or more, our friends began to
feel confident and to look at the situation without fear in their eyes.
Ike was the first to speak; perhaps because Wah Shin had not yet
regained his knowledge of English. After winking very fast for fully a
half minute, he said:
"It don't seem like's if we was goin' to sink--at least not yet a bit."
He had to shout this out to make himself heard, and Sam, in response,
had to speak in the same tones.
"If we can find a place where we can make a landing, I don't care how
soon she sinks after that."
"Dar don't appeah to be much show foh a land in dese ar parts," said
Ike, as he looked up at the walls that not only formed the sides of the
canyon, but which seemed to block their advance, for the course of the
river was tortuous in the extreme, so much so, indeed, that they could
but rarely see more than a few hundred yards in advance.
At length, and after they must have floated more than twenty miles, the
canyon of Gold Cave Creek entered the much greater and more sublime canyon
of Grand River.
Here the bed of the river was so much wider, that though there was more
water in it, it flowed with a current that was calmness itself when
compared with the fierce mountain torrent that had recently made the
raft its plaything.
With a great sigh of relief, Wah Shin now proceeded to show that his
knowledge of English had come back to him.
"Dees place no so belly bad likee dat place we way back alle come flom."
"This is Grand River," said Ulna, speaking for the first time, and
seemingly as calm as if he were in a place of safety, as he added: "And
further down all the canyons of the Green and Grand rivers unite to form
the mighty Colorado."
"I hope we may be able to land before we reach there," said Sam Willett,
who had now discovered that by means of the pole he could steer the raft
in the calmer water.
Even the dog regained confidence. Maj had been crouching down on the
blankets, and wincing and trembling with fear, but he sat up when the
smoother current was reached, and licked his lips and moved his tail in
a way that left no doubt as to his approval of the changed condition of
affairs.
But though the current of Grand River was slow as compared with that of
Gold Cave Creek, it would be a mistake to imagine that it was at all
stagnant.
The beds of all its tributaries were swollen at this time, so that the
waters of Grand River were thirty feet above the average level and
moving with a speed of four or five miles an hour.
Although continually watching for some place in which he could make a
landing, it was not till near sunset that Sam found such a spot as he
wanted.
The river soon widened out into a bowl-shaped valley, on the margin of
which there were benches of dry ground, covered with stunted little
cedars that gave a grave-yard appearance to the place.
By means of their poles Sam and Ulna succeeded in forcing the raft to
the shore, where it was securely fastened, and Wah Shin and Ike sent up
prayers of thanks, each after his fashion.
This arrangement had been made none too soon, for they had not finished
removing the cargo from the raft when the black shadows of night seemed
to rise up from the water, for the glow on the top of the canyon walls
showed that it was still comparatively light in the upper world.
"Wa'al," said Ike when the last of the cargo was safely stored under the
cedars, "w'at am de nex' t'ing on de programmy?"
"De nex' t'ing," replied Wah Shin as he began getting out his pots, pans
and supplies, "is dat we makee file, den we has to gettee hot someting
mebbe fol to eat."
This admirable suggestion met with general approval.
That there had been higher floods than this the drift-wood lodged in the
crevices of the neighboring rocks abundantly attested.
As it had not only stopped raining by this time, but the clouds had
exhausted themselves and vanished from the strip of sky visible above
their heads, they had no difficulty in starting a fire.
In the ruddy glow the yellow current, roaring and sweeping near by, took
on the hue of blood, but our friends were too hungry, weary and anxious
to be impressed by this.
Wah Shin had plenty of food cooked, but he very wisely thought that it
would be more palatable if warmed over and a cup of good coffee added to
the meal.
Despite the dangers that surrounded them and the woful anxiety about his
father, that was never absent from Sam Willett's heart, he could not
help being impressed by the wild weirdness of the situation.
He kept his feelings bravely to himself and expressed pleasure at the
appetites shown by his friends, while trying to comfort them with a
half-felt hope that they might be able to escape from the canyon on the
morrow.