The second series of rapids, though much more dreaded by Sam than the
first, proved to be neither very long, nor, by comparison, very
dangerous.
Within ten minutes from the time of entering them they were passed in
safety, and the raft was floating down the broadest, smoothest current
they had experienced since starting on their perilous journey.
Ike and Wah Shin cautiously released their hold on the logs and looked
about them.
Sam again stood up with the steering pole in his hands.
Straight as an arrow, and for fully three miles, the river could be seen
flowing down between its towering banks.
This sight brought to Sam a sense of great relief, and its effect on Ike
was decidedly exhilarating.
Standing up in the front of the raft he waved his arms like a windmill
and shouted out:
"Bress de Lor! we'z safe! we'z safe!"
Escape from the awful dangers they had just come through so miraculously
made Ike forget, for the moment, his hunger and the fact that there
could be no safety to people floating on a shaky raft, down a river
whose course seemed through the very heart of sterile, towering
mountains.
Ah, well, this only goes to show that, no matter how desperate the
situation we always have something to be thankful for; and that no
matter how bad things are, so long as life, health and hope remain, they
might be worse.
Another thing very unusual in this experience was the fact that the
canyon walls, instead of rising straight up from the water, stood back,
leaving on either side a strip on which, amid great masses of detached
sandstone there grew a number of stunted mezquite and cedar trees.
They were all as wet as they well could be, but they had grown so
accustomed to this that Sam made up his mind not to go ashore to dry
their clothes, but to keep right on, when a shout from Ike caused him to
change his purpose.
"I see a wolf or a deer; way dar to de right!" and Ike pointed down to
where the bushes hid the rocks.
"Lat no deel," said Wah Shin, as he bent forward and shaded his eyes.
"Mebbe yeh ken tell us wat it is," said Ike, with a touch of sarcasm,
for having discovered the animal he felt that he had a right to say what
it was.
"Lat's yalla doggee," said Wah Shin.
And Wah Shin was right, for at that instant the animal sprang into view
and began a vigorous barking, and a frisking back and forth.
"It's Maj! It's Maj!" cried Ike.
Maj it certainly was, and the joy of the faithful creature at seeing his
friends was touching.
Sam at once guided the raft to the shore, but while it was yet many
yards away, the dog swam out, was pulled on board and at once jumped on
Sam, who if he had not been wet before certainly would have been now.
"Dat ar dog looks to me ez if he had been habin' a big feed some place,"
said Ike, when they got on shore, and he could examine Maj's rounded
form, which his dripping coat made more conspicuous.
"Mebbe him full of watel," suggested Wah Shin.
"No," said Ike, as he pressed the dog's sides, "it's grub; good solid
grub." Then, addressing Maj, he said, in tones intended to be very
seductive: "See har, ole feller, don't go foh to tell me dat yer hungry,
like we is. You'se been eatin' meat, don't say 'no' foh I won't stan'
it; but, like a good dorg, show me de place whar yeh found it, an' if
ebber I gits out ob dis yeh fix, I'll buy yeh a brass collar, wif yeh
name on de outside in great big letters."
As if he understood this and was anxious to earn the reward so
generously offered him, Maj started off with a short, sharp bark, but
before he had gone very far he turned and came slowly back again, as if
he had changed his mind.
Meanwhile, Wah Shin got together a pile of dry wood, and, as the matches
in Sam's water-proof case escaped the water, they soon had a roaring
fire, before which their cargo and their clothes--the latter well
tattered--were placed to dry.
At first Sam, who was now very hungry, was inclined to think that it was
a whim of Ike's that led him to see anything suggestive of food in the
dog's appearance, but when he came to look carefully at the animal and
study his contented manner, he was satisfied that he had found something
to eat since being washed from the raft.
With nearly all his clothes drying before the fire, Sam, followed by
Ike, started off to examine the shore further down.
He had not gone far when he noticed great clefts in the walls of the
canyon, as if the mighty mass had been cracked by some tremendous power.
These fissures ran up and back for thousands of feet, but the largest
one visible was not of sufficient width to admit of their getting up in
that way, neither were these openings on the side of the canyon which
they must ascend in order to reach Hurley's Gulch.
An examination of the point where one of the fissures came down to the
shore convinced Sam that some creatures had used this passage-way
recently as an avenue for ascending to the upper world, or coming down
to this profound and silent valley.
He had just communicated this opinion to Ike, and was about to turn away
when his attention was attracted to the dog, now standing with his right
paw raised, his tail extended and his whole form as rigid as if it had
been cut in marble.
"See!" shouted Ike, "Maj is on de p'int! Whar, whar's de game?"
The words had scarcely passed his lips when there was a squeak and a
rushing noise, and a score, or more, long-eared rabbits dashed by within
twenty feet of the party.
"Hooraw! Rabbits! rabbits!" cried Ike. "Let us git our guns! Rabbits
makes bully grub!"
Sam had not his gun with him, but he at once started back to the fire
and examined his rifle, which had come through without being damaged.
The water had not affected the metallic cartridges, of which he had a
good supply left. Filling his belt with these he started off, Ike
keeping by his side with his remarkable old shot-gun on his shoulder,
though its utter uselessness had been emphasized by its recent heavy
rusting.
Ike was useful, however, in holding back the dog, who had evidently been
feeding on rabbit since his landing at this place.
Sam was an excellent rifleman, having had much practice, and being
possessed of nerves as true and steady as steel, without which the
weapon can never be mastered.
He crept ahead, and about three hundred yards below the camp he came
within sight of a little cove, or pocket, in the canyon wall that seemed
literally to swarm with long-eared rabbits.
He fired with judgment, and kept firing while the creatures remained in
sight and he was sure of his shots.
The result was that within five minutes he had killed thirteen rabbits.
Everyone that was struck was taken, and to the true hunter, who never
inflicts an unnecessary wound on the animals he hunts, this is always a
great satisfaction.
Ike was disappointed that he had not been permitted to try "her," as he
called his old shot-gun, on the game; but, as he picked up the goodly
load of rabbits and carried it back to camp, it would be difficult to
imagine a more delighted fellow.
It is said that "it never rains but it pours," and this seemed to be the
case with the sudden turn in the tide of good luck that had set in
toward our unfortunate friends.
When they got back to camp, they found that Wah Shin had been testing
the fish lines and flies, which they had scarcely thought of up to this
time, and with such unexpectedly good luck that he had landed two fine
trout and was in the act of pulling in the third when Ike came to sight
laden down with game.
The least ray of light is cheering to those who have been long in
darkness; and the briefest cessation from pain is like Heaven to those
groaning in agony! so the prospect of food--a prospect made all the more
delightful by the gnawing hunger each felt so keenly--made them forget
for the time all the trials they had passed and the uncertain future
that lay before them.
Even the fire blazed up cheerily as if in sympathy with their feelings,
and Maj lay down like a faithful scout, who has guided the famished into
a land--of rabbits.
In almost as short a time as it takes to tell it, the rabbits and the
fish were cooking.
We shall not attempt to describe that feast, for there are some things
impossible to even our expressive English tongue.
Suffice it to say, each ate all he could, with a result that "made away"
with one half the supply on hand.
They had just finished their most enjoyable meal, when Wah Shin, who
chanced to be looking toward the river, uttered a cry of alarm.
The others quickly turned in that direction, and, to their amazement,
they saw the spectral figure of a dark man rising from the water.