A week's arduous journey over a sterile stretch of country, where water
was very scarce and where game was hard to approach, brought them at
last in reach of what looked to be a curiously formed mountain far away
in the middle of an apparently boundless plain. Then it struck Bart
that it could not be a mountain, for its sides were perpendicular, and
its top at a distance seemed to be perfectly flat, and long discussions
arose between him and the Doctor as to the peculiarity of the strange
eminence standing up so prominently right in the middle of the plain.
While they were discussing the subject, the Beaver and his
English-speaking follower came to their side, and pointing to the
mountain, gave them to understand that this was their destination.
"But is there silver there?" said the Doctor eagerly, when the Indian
smiled and said quietly, "Wait and see."
The mountain on being first seen appeared to be at quite a short
distance, but at the end of their first day's journey they seemed to
have got no nearer, while after another day, though it had assumed more
prominent proportions, they were still at some distance, and it was not
until the third morning that the little party stood on the reedy shores
of a long narrow winding lake, one end of which they had to skirt before
they could ride up to the foot of the flat-topped mountain which looked
as if it had been suddenly thrust by some wondrous volcanic action right
from the plain to form what appeared to be a huge castle, some seven or
eight hundred feet high, and with no ravine or rift in the wall by which
it could be approached.
All Bart's questions were met by the one sole answer from the Indian,
"Wait and see;" and in this spirit the savages guided them along beneath
the towering ramparts of the mountain, whose scarped sides even a
mountain sheep could not have climbed, till towards evening rein was
drawn close under the mighty rocks, fragments of which had fallen here
and there, loosened by time or cut loose by the shafts of storms to lie
crumbling about its feet.
There seemed to be no reason for halting there, save that there was a
little spring of water trickling down from the rocks, while a short
distance in front what seemed to be a wide crack appeared in the plain,
zigzagging here and there, one end going off into the distance, the
other appearing to pass round close by the mountain; and as soon as they
were dismounted and the horses tethered, the Beaver signed to Bart and
the Doctor to accompany him, while the interpreter followed close
behind.
It was a glorious evening, and after the heat of the day, the soft, cool
breeze that swept over the plain was refreshing in the extreme; but all
the same Bart felt very hungry, and his thoughts were more upon some
carefully picked sage grouse that Joses and Maude were roasting than
upon the search for silver; but the Doctor was excited, for he felt that
most likely this would prove to be the goal of their long journey. His
great fear was that the Indians in their ignorance might have taken some
white shining stone or mica for the precious metal.
The crack in the plain seemed to grow wider as they approached, but the
Indians suddenly led them off to the right, close under the towering
flank of the mountain, and between it and a mass of rock that might have
been split from it at some early stage in the world's life.
This mass was some forty or fifty feet high, and between it and the
parent mountain there was a narrow rift, so narrow in fact that they had
to proceed in single file for about a hundred yards, winding in and out
till, reaching the end, the Indians stood upon a broad kind of shelf of
rock in silence as the Doctor and Bart involuntarily uttered a cry of
surprise.
For there was the crack in the plain below their feet, and they were
standing upon its very verge where it came in close to the mountain,
whose top was some seven hundred feet above their heads, while here its
perpendicular side went down for fully another thousand to where, in the
solemn dark depths of the vast canyon or crack in the rocky crust of the
earth, a great rushing river ran, its roar rising to where they stood in
a strangely weird monotone, like low echoing thunder.
The reflections in the evening sky lighted up the vast rift for a while,
and Bart forgot his hunger in the contemplation of this strange freak of
nature, of a river running below in a channel whose walls were perfectly
perpendicular and against which in places the rapid stream seemed to
beat and eddy and swirl, while in other parts there were long stretches
of pebbly and rocky shore. For as far as Bart could judge, the walls
seemed to be about four hundred feet apart, though in the fading evening
light it was hard to tell anything for certain.
A more stupendous work of nature had never met Bart's eye, and his first
thoughts were natural enough--How should he manage to get to the top of
that flat mountain?--How should he be able to lower himself down into
the mysterious shades of that vast canyon, and wander amongst the
wonders that must for certain be hidden there?
Just then the Beaver spoke. He had evidently been taking lessons from
the interpreter, as, smiling loftily and half in pity at the eagerness
of men who could care for such a trifle as white ore when they had
horses and rifles, he pointed up at the perpendicular face of the
mountain and then downward at the wall of the canyon, and said:--
"Silver--silver. Beaver give his brother. Medicine-man."
"He means there is silver here, sir, and he gives it to you," said Bart
eagerly.
"Yes. Give. Silver," said the chief, nodding his head, and holding out
his hand, which the Doctor grasped, Bart doing the same by the other.
"I am very grateful," said the Doctor at last, while his eyes kept
wandering about, "but I see none."
"Silver--silver," said the chief again, as he looked up and then down,
ending by addressing some words in the Indian dialect to the
interpreter, who pointed in the direction of the camp.
"The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says, let us eat," he said.
This brought back Bart's hunger so vividly to his recollection that he
laughed merrily and turned to go.
"Yes," he said, "let us eat by all means. Shall we come in the morning
and examine this place, sir?"
"Yes, Bart, we will," said the Doctor, as they turned back; "but I'm
afraid we shall be disappointed. What was that?"
"An Indian," said Bart. "I saw him glide amongst the rocks. Was it an
enemy?"
"No; impossible, I should say," replied the Doctor. "One of our own
party. Our friends here would have seen him if he had been an enemy,
long before we should."
"And so you think there is no silver here, sir?" said Bart.
"I can't tell yet, my boy. There may be, but these men know so little
about such things that I cannot help feeling doubtful. However, we
shall see, and if I am disappointed I shall know what to do."
"Try again, sir?" said Bart.
"Try again, my boy, for there is ample store in the mountains if we can
find it."
"Yes," he said, as they walked back, "this is going to be a
disappointment." He picked up a piece of rock as he went along between
the rocks; "this stone does not look like silver-bearing stratum. But
we'll wait till the morning, Bart, and see."