THE EXPEDITION BEGINS
"After all, there is a place still untouched by humanity, where skies
are unmarred and the way leads through uncharted beauty. When I have
earned the right, I shall go there again."--_Enoch's Diary_.
Before dawn the camp fires were lighted and the various breakfasts were
in preparation. When these had been eaten there was light from the
pale sky above by which to complete the packing of the boats.
These were strongly built, wooden skiffs with three water tight
compartments in each; one amidships, one fore and one aft, with decks
flush with the gunwales. There was room between the middle and end
compartments for the oarsmen to sit. The man who worked the
steersman's oar sat on the rear compartment. In these compartments
were packed all the dunnage, clothing, food, tools, surveying and
geological instruments and cameras. Each man was allowed about fifty
pounds of personal luggage. Everything that water could hurt was
packed in rubber bags.
Milton was troubled when he found that Enoch had no change of shoes.
"You'll reach camp each night," said he, "soaked to the skin. You must
have warm, dry clothing to change to. Shoes are especially important.
Jonas must have them, too."
"How about Indian moccasins, Mr. Milton?" asked Jonas. "I bought three
pairs while I was with Miss Diana."
"Well, they're better than nothing," grumbled Milton. "Are you ready,
Harden?"
"Aye! Aye! sir!" said Harden, pulling his belt in tightly. "Are you
all set, Ag and Jonas?"
"All set, Harden," Agnew picked up his oar. "Are you ready, Matey?" to
Jonas, who was saying good-by in a whisper to Na-che.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, Mr. Agnew," groaned Jonas. "Good-by,
everybody!" stepping gingerly into the boat.
"All aboard then, Judge and Forr," cried Milton. "I'll shove off."
"Good-by, Diana! Good-by, Curly and Mack!" Enoch waved his hand and
took his place, and the racing water seized the boats. Hardly had
Enoch turned to look once more at the four watching on the beach, when
the boats shot round the curving western wall. For the first half
hour, the water was smooth and swift, sweeping between walls that were
abrupt and verdureless and offered not so much as a finger hold for a
landing place.
Enoch, following instruction did not try to row at first. He sat
quietly watching the swift changing scenery, feeling awkward and a
little helpless in his life preserver.
"We're due, sometime this morning, to strike some pretty stiff
cataracts," said Milton, "but the records show that we can shoot most
of them. Keep in to the left wall, Forr, I want to squint at that bend
in the strata."
They swung across the stream, and as they did so they caught a glimpse
of Jonas. He was crouched in the bottom of the boat, his eyes rolling
above his life preserver.
"Didn't Na-che give you that Navaho charm, Jonas?" called Forrester.
"It'll take more than a charm to help poor old Jonas," said Enoch. "I
really think he'll like it in a day or so. He's got good pluck."
"He's only showing what all of us felt on our maiden trip," chuckled
Milton. Then he added, quickly, "Listen, Forr!"
Above the splash of the oars and the swift rush of the river rose a
sound like the far roar of street traffic.
"Our little vacation is over," commented Forrester.
"Easy now, Forr! We'll land for observation before we tackle a racket
like that. Let the current carry us. Be ready to back water when I
shout." He raised his voice. "Harden, don't follow too closely! You
know your failing!"
They rounded a curving wall, the current carrying them, Milton said, at
least ten miles an hour. A short distance now, and they saw spray
breaking high in the middle of the stream.
"We'll land here," said Milton, steering to a great pile of bowlders
against the right wall.
Enoch watched with keen interest the preparation for the descent.
First sticks were thrown into the water, to catch the trend of the main
current. Milton pointed out to Enoch that if the stick were deflected
against one wall or another, great care had to be exercised to prevent
the boats being dashed against the walls in like manner. But, he said,
if the current seemed to run a fairly unobstructed course, it was
hopeful that the boats would go through. There were a number of rocks
protruding from the water, but the current appeared to round these
cleanly and Milton gave the order to proceed. They worked back
upstream a short distance so as to catch the current straight prow on,
and in a moment they were dashing through a sea of roaring waves that
drenched them to the skin.
Forrester and Milton steered a zigzag course about the menacing rocks,
grazing and bumping them now and again, but emerging finally, without
accident, in quieter waters. Here they hugged the shore and waited for
Harden's boat, the Mary, to come down. And come it did, balancing
uncannily on the top of the waves, with Jonas' yells sounding even
above the uproar of the waters.
"More of it below, Harden," said Milton as the Mary shot alongside.
More indeed! It seemed to Enoch that the first rapid was child's play
to the one that followed. The jutting rocks were more frequent. The
fall greater. The waves more menacing. But they shot it safely until
they reached its foot and there an eddy caught them and carried them
back upstream in spite of all that could be done. Enoch seized the
oars that were in readiness beside him and pulled with all his might
but to no avail. And suddenly the Mary rushed out of the mist striking
them fairly amidship. The Ida half turned over, but righted herself
and the Mary darted off. Milton shouted hoarsely, Forrester and Enoch
obeyed blindly and after what seemed to Enoch an endless struggle,
spray and waves suddenly ceased and they found themselves in quieter
waters where the Mary awaited them.
Harden and Agnew were laughing. "Thought you knew an eddy when you saw
one, Milt!" cried Agnew.
"I don't know anything!" grinned Milton, "except that Jonas is going to
be too scared to cook."
"If ever I get to land," retorted Jonas, "I'll cook something for a
thanksgiving to the Lord that you all will never forget."
They examined the next fall and passed through it successfully. The
Canyon was widening now and an occasional cedar tree could be seen.
Enoch was vaguely conscious, too, that the colors of the walls were
more brilliant. But the ardors of the rapids gave small opportunity
for aesthetic observations.
Curiously enough, after the passage of this last fall the waters did
not subside in speed, though the waves disappeared. The spray of
another fall was to be seen beyond.
"We mustn't risk shooting her without observation," cried Milton.
"Make for that spit of sand with the cedars on it, fellows."
Enoch and Forrester put their backs into their strokes in their
endeavor to guide the Ida to the place indicated, which appeared to be
the one available landing spot. But the current carried them at such
velocity that when within half a dozen feet of the shore it seemed
impossible to stop and make the landing.
"Overboard!" shouted Milton.
All three plunged into the water, clinging to the gunwale. The water
was waist deep. For a few feet boat and men were dragged onward. Then
they found secure foothold on the rocky river bottom and, with huge
effort, beached the Ida. Scarcely was this done, when the Mary hove in
view and with Milton shouting directions, they rushed once more into
the current to help with the landing.
"The cook and the bacon both are in your boat, Harden!" chuckled
Milton, "or you'd be getting no such delicate attentions from the Ida."
Jonas crawled stiffly out of his compartment. Enoch began preparation
for a fire, white the others busied themselves with notes and
observations. It was 90 degrees on the little sandy beach and the wet
clothing was not chilling. They ate enormously of Jonas's dinner, then
the Survey men scattered to their work for an hour or so, while Enoch
explored the region. There was no getting to the top of the walls, so
he contented himself with crawling gingerly over the rocks to a point
where a little spring bubbled out of a narrow cave opening. Peering
through this, Enoch saw that it was dimly lighted, and he crawled
through the water.
To his astonishment, he was in a great circular amphitheater, a hundred
feet in diameter, domed to an enormous height, with the blue sky
showing through a rift at the top. The little spring trickled down the
wall, now dropping sheer in spray, now trickling in a delicate,
glistening sheet. But the greatest wonder of the cave was in the
texture of its walls, which appeared to Enoch to be of purest marble of
a deep shell pink and translucent creamy white. Moisture had collected
on the walls and each tiny globule of water seemed to hold a miniature
rainbow in its heart. There was a holy sort of loveliness about the
spot, and before he returned to the rugged adventure outside, Enoch
pulled off his hat and christened the place Diana's Chapel. Nor did
he, on his arrival at the camp, tell of his find.
Shortly after two o'clock Milton ordered all hands aboard. But before
this he had shown them all the map, adding a rough sketch of his own.
The next rapid appeared to be no more dangerous than the previous one.
But below it the river widened out into a circular bay, a great tureen
within which the waters moved with an oil-like smoothness. But when
Milton threw a stick into this strange basin, it was whirled the entire
circumference of the bay with a velocity that all the men agreed boded
ill for any boat that did not cling to the wall. The west end of the
bay, where it was all but blocked by the closing in of the Canyon
sides, could not be seen from the rocks where the men stood. But the
old maps reported a steep fall which must be portaged.
"Cling to the right-hand wall," ordered Milton. "If you steer out,
Harden, for the sake of the short cut, you may be lost. The reports
show that two other boats were lost here. Cling to the wall! When we
reach the mouth we must go ashore again and examine the falls. Be sure
your life preservers are strapped securely."
"Mr. Milton," said Jonas, "you better let me get my hands on a oar. If
I got to die, I'm going to die fighting."
"Good stuff, Jonas!" exclaimed Harden. "Can you row?"
"Brought up on the Potomac," replied Jonas.
"All right, folks," cried Milton. "We're off."
The Ida would have shot the rapid successfully, but for one important
point. It was necessary, in order to land on the right side of the
whirlpool, to steer to the right of a tall, finger-like rock, that
protruded from the water at the bottom of the rapids. About a boat's
length from this rock, however, a sudden wave shot six feet into the
air, throwing the Ida off its course, and drenching the crew, so that
they entered the churning tureen at a speed of twenty miles an hour and
almost at the middle of the stream.
"Pull to the right wall! To the right!" roared Milton. But he might
as well have roared to the wind. Enoch and Forrester rose from their
seats and threw the whole weight of their bodies on their oars. But
the noiseless power of the whirlpool thrust the Ida mercilessly toward
the center.
"Harder!" panted Milton, straining with all his might at the steering
oar. "Put your back into her, Judge! Bend to it, Forr!"
Enoch's breath came in gasps. His palms, the cords of his wrists felt
powerless. His toe muscles cramped in agony. As in a mist he saw the
right wall recede, felt the boat twist under his knees like a
disobedient horse. Suddenly there was a crack as of a pistol shot
behind him. One of Forrester's oars had snapped. Forrester drew in
the other and crawled back to add his weight to the steering oar.
"It's up to you, Judge!" cried Milton.
They were in the center of the bay now and the boat began to spin. For
one terrible moment it seemed as if an overturn were imminent. Out of
the tail of his eyes, Enoch saw the Mary hugging the right wall.
"Judge!" shouted Milton. "If you can back water into that rough spot
six feet to your right, I think we can stop the spin."
Enoch was too spent to reply but he gathered every resource in his body
to make one more effort. The boat slowly edged into the rough spot and
for a moment the spin ceased.
"Now shoot her downstream! We'll have to trust to the Mary to keep us
from entering the falls," Milton shouted.
With Enoch giving all that was left in him to the oars, and Forrester
and Milton steering with their united strength and skill, the Ida
slowly worked toward the narrow opening which marked the head of the
falls. The crew of the Mary had landed and Harden stood on the
outermost rock at the opening, swinging a coil of rope, while Agnew
crawled up behind him with another. Jonas hung onto the Mary's rope.
Perhaps a half dozen boat lengths from the falls the whirling motion of
the water ceased, and it leaped ferociously toward the narrow opening.
When the Ida felt this straight pull, Milton roared:
"Back her, Judge, back her! Now the rope, Harden! You too, Ag!"
Her prow was beyond the opening before the speed of the Ida was stopped
by the ropes. A moment later her crew had dropped flat on the rocks,
panting and exhausted.
"Well, Milt, of all the darn fools!" exclaimed Harden. "After telling
us to keep to the right, what did you try to do yourself? If you'd
gone inside that big finger rock at the end of the rapid you'd have had
no trouble."
"I never had a chance to go inside that rock," panted Milton. "A
pot-hole spouted a boat's length ahead and threw me clear to the left."
"Say," said Agnew, "we got some crew in our boat now. Jonas, you are
some little oarsman!"
"Scared as ever, Jonas?" asked Enoch.
"I wasn't never so much scared, you know, boss, as I was nervous. But
this charm is sure a good one. If we can live through this here day,
we can live through anything. I want you to wear it, to-morrow, boss.
Seems like the head boat needs it more'n us folks."
Jonas' liquid black eyes twinkled. Enoch laughed. "If I hadn't known
you were a good sport, Jonas, I'd never have let you come with us.
Keep your charm, old man. I don't expect ever to gather together
enough strength to get into the boat again!"
"Nobody's going to try to get in to-night," said Milton, without
lifting his head from the rocks on which he lay. "We camp right here.
It's four o'clock anyhow."
"Then I've something still left to be thankful for!" Enoch closed his
eyes with a deep sigh of relief.
When he next opened them it was dusk. Above him, on the narrow canyon
top, gleamed the wonder of the desert stars. There was a glow of
firelight on the rocks about him. Enoch sat up. It was an
inhospitable spot for a camp. The roar of the falls was harsh and
menacing. The canyon walls shot two thousand feet into the air on
either side of the sliding waters. Enoch was suddenly oppressed by a
vague sense of suffocation. He realized, fully, for the first time
that the menace of the Canyon was very real; that should a sudden rise
of the waters come at this point, there was no climbing out, no going
back; that should the boats be lost---- He shook himself, rose stiffly
and joined the group around the fire.
"Ship ahoy, Judge!" cried Harden. "Are you still traveling in circles?"
"Humph!" grunted Milton. "The Judge may be a tenderfoot in the Canyon,
but he's no tenderfoot in a boat. Ever on a college crew, Judge?"
"Yes, Columbia," replied Enoch.
"I thought you'd raced! Jove, how you did heave the old tub round!
Jonas, how about grub for the Judge?"
"How come you to think you have to tell me to look out for my boss, Mr.
Milton?" grumbled Jonas, coming up with a pie tin loaded with beans and
bacon.
"Hello, Jonas, old man! What do you think of this parlor, bedroom and
bath?" asked Enoch.
"I feel like Joseph in the pit, boss! Folks back home wouldn't never
believe me if Mr. Agnew hadn't promised to take some pictures of me and
my boat. That's an awful good boat, the Mary, boss. She is some boat!
Did you see me jerk her round?"
"No, I missed that, Jonas. I was a little preoccupied at the time. Is
to-day a fair sample of every day, you fellows?"
"Lately, yes," replied Forrester. "To-morrow'll be a bell ringer too,
from the looks of that portage. Need any help on those dishes, Jonas,
before I go to bed?"
"All done, thanks," answered Jonas. "Say, Mr. Milton, you know what I
was thinking? Mary's no name for a sassy, gritty boat like ours. Let
me give her a good name."
"What name, for instance?" demanded Harden.
Jonas cleared his throat. "I was thinking of the Na-che."
"My word!" exclaimed Harden. "Say, Ag, would you want our boat renamed
the Na-che?"
"Who'd repaint the name?" asked Agnew carefully. "That's the point
with me."
"The trouble with you, Ag," said Harden, "is that you haven't any soul."
"I'd do the painting," Jonas went on eagerly. "I was thinking of
getting her all fixed up with that can of paint I see to-day. Red
paint, it was."
"Do you think that Na-che would mind our making free with her name?"
Milton's tone was serious.
"Mind!" cried Jonas. "Well, if you knew women like I do you'd never
ask a question like that! A woman would rather have a boat or a race
horse named after her any time than have a baby named for her. I know
women!"
"In that case, let's rename the Mary," said Milton. "Everybody ready
to turn in?"
"I am, sir," replied Harden. "Jonas, you turn off the lights and put
the cat down cellar. Good night, everybody!"
Jonas chuckled and hobbled off to his blankets. It was not seven
o'clock when the rude camp was silent and every soul in it in profound
slumber.
Enoch was stiff and muscle-sore in the morning but he ate breakfast
with a ravenous appetite and with a keen interest in the day's program.
In response to his questions Milton said:
"We unload the boats and make the dunnage up into fifty pound loads.
Then we look over the trail. Sometimes we have merely to get up on our
two legs and walk it. Other times we have to make trail even for
ourselves, let alone for the boats. Sometimes we can portage the
freight and lower the boats through the water by tow ropes. But for
this falls, there's nothing to do but to make trail and drag the boats
over it."
"It's no trip for babes!" exclaimed Enoch. "That's certain! Do you
like the work, Milton?"
"It's a work no one would do voluntarily without liking it," replied
the young man. "I like it. I wouldn't want to give my life to it,
but--" he paused to look over toward the others busily unloading the
Na-che,--"but nothing will ever do again for me what this experience
has."
"And may I ask what that is?" Enoch's voice was eager.
Milton searched Enoch's face carefully, then answered slowly.
"Sometime when we are having a rest, I'll tell you, if you really want
to know."
"Thanks! And now set me to work, Captain," said Enoch.
The way beside the falls was nothing more than a narrow ledge
completely covered with giant bowlders. Beyond the falls, the river
hurled itself for a quarter of a mile against broken rocks that made
the passage of a boat impossible. It was a long portage. After the
bowlder-strewn ledge was passed, however, it was not necessary to make
trail, for although the shore was strewn with broken rock and
driftwood, the way was fairly open.
After the contents of the boats had been made up into rough packs, both
crews attacked the trail-making. It was mid-morning before pick-ax,
shovel and crowbar had opened up a way which Jonas claimed was fit only
for kangaroos or elephants. Rough as it was, when Milton declared it
fit for their purposes, the rest without protest heaved the packs to
their shoulders.
It was hot at midday in the Canyon. The thermometer registered 98
degrees in the shade. Enoch, following Milton, dropped his third pack
at the end of the quarter mile portage and sat down beside it.
"Old man!" he groaned, "you've got to give me a ten minutes' rest."
Milton grinned and nodded sympathetically. "Take all the time you
want, Judge!"
"I'm ashamed," said Enoch, "but don't forget you fellows have had ten
months of this, as against my two days."
"I don't forget for a minute, Judge. And just let me tell you that if
ever I were on trial for a serious offense of any kind I'd be perfectly
satisfied to be tried before a real he-man, like you." And Milton
disappeared over the trail, leaving Enoch with a warm glow in his
heart, such as he had scarcely felt since his first public speech won
the praise of the newspapers.
For a quarter of an hour he sat with his back against a half buried
mesquite log smoking, and now eying the magnificent sheer crimson wall
which lay across the river, now wondering where Diana was and now
contemplating curiously the sense of his own unimportance which the
Canyon was thrusting into his consciousness more persistently every
hour. Jonas joined him for the last part of his rest, but when Milton
announced that they had finished the packing and must now portage the
boats, Jonas was on the alert.
"That name isn't dry yet!" he exclaimed. "I got to watch the prow of
my boat myself," and he started hurriedly back over the trail, Enoch
following him more slowly.
Sometimes lifting, sometimes skidding on drift logs, sometimes dragging
by main strength, the six men finally landed the Ida and the Na-che in
quiet waters. Jonas and Agnew prepared a simple dinner and immediately
after they embarked. For two hours the river flowed swiftly and
quietly between sheer walls of stratified granite, white and pale
yellow, shot with rose. Now and again a cedar, dwarfed and distorted,
found toe hold between the strata and etched its deep green against the
white and yellow.
About four o'clock the river widened and the walls were broken by
lateral canyons that led back darkly and mysteriously into the bowels
of the desert. For half an hour more Milton guided the Ida onward.
Then Enoch cried, "Milton, see that brook!" and he pointed to a
tumbling little stream that issued from one of the side canyons.
Milton at once called for a landing on the grassy shore beside the
brook. Never was there a sweeter spot than this. Willows bent over
the brook and long grass mirrored itself within its pebbly depths for a
moment before the crystal water joined the muddy Colorado. The Canyon
no longer overhung the river suffocatingly, but opened widely, showing
behind the fissured white granite peaks, crimson and snow capped and
appalling in their bigness.
"Here's where we put in a day, boys!" exclaimed Milton. "I'm sure we
can scramble to the top here, somehow, and get a general idea of the
country."
His crew cheered this statement enthusiastically. The landing was
easily made and the boats were beached and unloaded.
"Never thought I could unload a boat again without bursting into
tears," said Enoch, grunting under three bed rolls he was carrying up
to the willows, "but here I am, full of enthusiasm!"
"You need a lot of it down here, I can tell you," growled Forrester,
who had skinned his chin badly in a fall that morning.
"You look like a goat, Forr," said Harden, sympathetically, as he set a
folding table close to the spot where Jonas was kindling a fire.
"I'd rather look like a goat than a jack-ass," returned Forrester with
an edge to his voice.
"Forr," said Milton, "don't you want to try your luck at some fish for
supper? The salmon ought to be interested in a spot like this."
Forrester's voice cleared at once. "Sure! I'd be glad to," he said,
and went off to unload his fishing tackle. When he was out of hearing,
Milton said sharply to Harden:
"Why can't you let him alone, Hard! You know how touchy he is when
anything's the matter with him."
"I'm sorry," replied Harden shortly.
Enoch glanced with interest from one man to the other, but said
nothing, not even when, Milton's back being turned, Harden winked at
him. And when Forrester returned with a four-pound river salmon, there
was no sign of irritation in his face or manner.
This night, for the first time, they sat around the fire, luxuriating
in the thought that for the next twenty-four hours they were free of
the terrible demands of the river. Forrester possessed a good tenor
voice and sang, Jonas joining with his mellow baritone. Harden, lying
close to the flames, read a chapter from "David Harum," the one book of
the expedition. Agnew, on request, told a long and involved story of a
Chinese laundryman and a San Francisco broker which evoked much
laughter. Then Milton, as master of ceremonies, turned to Enoch:
"Now then, Judge, do your duty!"
"I haven't a parlor trick to my name," protested Enoch.
"I like what you call our efforts!" cried Harden. "Hit him for me, Ag!
He's closest to you."
"Not after the way he wallops the Ida," grunted Agnew. "Let Milt do
it."
"Boss," said Jonas suddenly, "tell 'em that poem about mercy I heard
you give at--at that banquet at our house."
Enoch smiled, took his pipe from his lips, and began:
"'The quality of mercy is not strained,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,
Upon the place beneath--'"
Enoch paused a moment. The words held a new and soul-shattering
significance for him. Then as the others waited breathlessly, he went
on. His beautiful, mellow voice, his remarkable enunciation, the
magnetism of his personality stirred his little audience, just as
thousands of greater audiences had been stirred by these same qualities.
When he had finished, there was a profound silence until Milton said:
"That's the only thing I have heard said in the Canyon that didn't
sound paltry."
"If any of the rest of us had repeated it, though, it might have
sounded so." Harden's tone was dry.
"Shakespeare couldn't sound paltry anywhere!" exclaimed Enoch.
"Hum!" sniffed Agnew. "Depends on what and when you're quoting. Give
us another, Judge."
Enoch gazed thoughtfully at the fire for a moment, then slowly and
quietly he gave them the prayer of Habakkuk. The liquid phrases rolled
from his lips, echoed in the Canyon, then dropped into silence. Enoch
sat with his great head bowed, his sensitive mouth compressed as if
with pain. His friends stared from him to one another, then one by one
slipped away to their blankets. When Enoch looked up, only Milton was
left.
"And so," said Enoch, "the Canyon has been a great experience for you,
Milton!"
"Yes, Judge. I became engaged to a girl who is a Catholic. I am a
Protestant, one of the easy going kind that never goes to church. Yet,
do you know, when she insisted that I turn Catholic, I wouldn't do it?
We had a fearful time! I didn't have any idea there was so much creed
in me as I discovered I had. In the midst of it the opportunity came
for this Canyon work, and this trip has changed the whole outlook of
life for me. Judge, creeds don't matter any more than bridges do to a
stream. They are just a way of getting across, that's all. Creeds may
come and creeds may go, but God goes on forever. Nothing changes true
religion. Christ promulgated the greatest system of ethics the world
has known. The ethics of God. He put them into practical working form
for human beings. Whatever creed helps you to live the teachings of
Christ most truly, that's the true creed for you. That's what the
Canyon's done for me. And when I get out, I'm going back to Alice and
let her make of me whatever will help her most. I'm safe. I've got
the creed of the Colorado Canyon!"
Enoch looked at the freckled, ruddy face and smiled. "Thank you,
Milton. You've given me something to think about."
"I doubt if you lack subjects," replied Milton drily. "But--well, I
have an idea you came out here looking for something. There are lines
around your eyes that say that. So I just thought I'd hand on to you
what I got."
Enoch nodded and the two smoked for a while in silence. Then Enoch
said in a low voice:
"Do you have trouble with Forrester and Harden?"
"Yes, constant friction. They're both fine fellows, but naturally
antagonistic to each other."
"A fellow may be ever so fine," said Enoch, "yet lack the sense of team
play that is absolutely essential in a job like this."
"Exactly," replied Milton. "The great difficulty is that you can't
judge men until they're undergoing the trial. Then it's too late. In
Powell's first expedition, soon after the Civil War, there was constant
friction between Powell and three of his men. At last, although they
had signed a contract to stick by him, they deserted him."
"How was that?" asked Enoch with interest.
"They simply insisted on being put ashore and they climbed out of the
Canyon with the idea of getting to some of the Mormon settlements. But
the Indians killed them almost at once, poor devils! Powell got the
story of it on his second expedition. The history of those two
expeditions, I think, are as glorious as any chapter in our American
annals."
"Was it so much harder than the work you are doing?"
"There is no comparison! We're simply following the trail that Powell
blazed. Think of his superb courage! These terrible waters were
enshrouded in mystery and fear. He did not know even what kind of
boats could live in them. Hostile Indians marauded on either hand.
And as near as I recall the only settlements he could call on, if he
succeeded in clambering out of the Canyon, were Ft. Defiance in New
Mexico, and Mormon settlements, miles across the desert in Utah."
"Hum!" said Enoch slowly, "it doesn't seem to me that things are so
much better now, that we need to boast about them. There are no
Indians, to be sure, but the river is about all human endurance and
ingenuity can cope with, just as it was in Powell's day."
"She's a bird, all right!" sighed Milton. "Well, Judge, I'm going to
turn in. To-morrow's another day! Good night."
"Good night, Captain!" replied Enoch. He threw another stick of
driftwood on the fire and after a moment's thought fetched the black
diary from his rubber dunnage bag. When the fire was clear and bright,
he began to write.
"Diana, you were wrong. No matter how strenuous the work is, you are
never out of the background of my thoughts. But at least I am having
surcease from grieving for you. I have had no time to dwell on the
fact that you cannot belong to me. I am afraid to come out of the
Canyon. Afraid that when these wonderful days of adventure are over,
the knowledge that I must not ask you to marry me will descend on me
like a stifling fog. As for Brown! Diana, why not let me kill him!
I'd be willing to stand before any jury in the world with his blood on
my hands. What he has done to me is typical of Brown and all his
works. He is unclean and clever, a frightful combination. Consider
the class of readers he has! The majority of the people who read
Brown, read only Brown. His readers are the great commonalty of
America, the source, once, of all that was best in our life. Brown
tells them nasty stories, not about people alone, but about systems;
systems of money, systems of work, systems of government. And because
nasty stories are always luscious reading, and because it is easier to
believe evil than good about anything, twice every day, as he produces
his morning and evening editions, Brown is polluting the head waters of
our national existence. I say, why not let me kill him? What more
useful and direct thing could I do than rid the nation of him? And O
Diana, when I think of the smut to which he coupled your loveliness, I
feel that I am less than a man to have hesitated this long."
Enoch closed the book, replaced it in the bag, and sat for a long hour
staring into the fire. Then he went to bed.