Engineers -- Fiction; United States -- Fiction; Western stories; Young men -- Fiction
It was nearing evening of the fourth day after Charlie's disappearance
that Jim suddenly saw the canyon walls widen. He struggled at last up
onto a sandy beach and looked about him. The canyon walls here, though
very rough, gave promise of access to the top. Jim examined the beach
carefully for trace of Charlie and, finding none, he prepared to spend
the night in resting before the stiff climb of the next day. He built a
fire and ate his last bit of grub, a small can of beans, and fell asleep
immediately.
At dawn the next morning he began his climb up the bristling walls of
the canyon. Eleven days before he would have said that to scale these
sickening heights was impossible. But Jim would never be a tenderfoot
again. He had been on short rations for three days and was weak from
overwork. But he had a canteen of water and rested frequently and he
went about the climb with the care and skill of an old mountaineer. He
had learned in a cruel school.
Late in the afternoon he crawled wearily over one last knife-edged ledge
and hoisted himself up onto the canyon's top. He was greeted by a faint
shout.
Three men on horseback were picking their way carefully toward him. Jim
waved his hand and dropped, panting, to await their arrival. When they
were within speaking distance, he rose weakly and called:
"Where's Charlie Tuck?"
The three men did not answer until they had dropped from their horses
beside Jim; then the rancher who had packed the expedition to the
crevice said:
"They picked his body up near Chaseville this morning. We come up as
quick as we could for trace of you. You look all in. Here, Dick, get
busy! We brought some underclothes; didn't know what shape you'd be in.
Here is the suit you left at my place. God! I thought you'd never need
it. Billy, start a fire and cook the coffee and bacon. You've had an
awful experience, Mr. Manning, I guess. You don't look the tenderfoot
kid that went into the canyon!"
"We found the dam site," said Jim hoarsely.
"Don't try to talk till you get some grub," said the man called Billy.
Clothed and fed, Jim told his story, a little brokenly. The group of men
who listened were used to hardy deeds. They had seen Nature demand her
toll of death again and again in the wilderness. And yet as they sat
looking at the young fellow with his gray eyes shocked and
grief-stricken and perceived his boyish idolatry of Charlie Tuck,
something like moisture shone in their eyes. They shook hands with Jim
when he had finished, silently for the most part, though the rancher
said:
"You're the only man ever came through there alive. They had to bury
Tuck right off. They'd ought to build a monument for him. Where is his
folks?"
"He had none," said Jim. "I want to put up his headstone for him, and I
know just what lines are going to be put on the stone."
"They ought to be blamed good," said Dick.
"What are they?" asked the ranchman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account