Arizona -- Fiction; Grand Canyon (Ariz.) -- Fiction; Western stories
She paused and Enoch went on eagerly: "It's a seamy, rough world,
Diana, all higgledy-piggledy. The beautiful souls are misplaced in
ugly carcasses and the ugly souls in beautiful. Those who might be
friends and lovers too often meet only to grieve that it is too late
for their joy. In such a world, when one beholds a body that nature
has chiseled and molded and polished to loveliness like yours and
discovers that that loveliness is a true index of the intelligence and
fineness of the character dwelling in the body--well, Diana, it gives
one a new thought about God. It does, indeed!"
"Enoch, I don't deserve it! I truly don't!" looking at him with that
curious mingling of tenderness and courtesy and understanding in her
wide eyes that made Diana unique.
Enoch only smiled and again silence fell between them. Finally, Enoch
said,
"I would like to go down the river with Milton and his crowd."
Diana's voice was startled. "O no, Enoch! It's a frightfully
dangerous trip! You risk your life every moment."
"I want to risk my life," returned Enoch. "I want a real man's
adventure. I've got a battle inside of me to fight that will rend me
unless I have one of equal proportions to fight, externally."
A loud halloo sounded from above. "There's Na-che!" exclaimed Diana.
"We'll talk this over later, Enoch."
But Enoch shook his head. "No, Diana, please! I've dreamed all my
life of this canyon trip. You mustn't dissuade me. Milton will be
starting to-morrow and I'm going to crowd in, somehow."
Na-che called again. Diana turned silently and in silence they
returned to the end of the broken trail. Here they explained to Na-che
the conditions of the trail beyond and that they had determined to give
up the expedition for that day.
"I doubt if I try to investigate it at all, on this trip," said Diana,
when they had made the difficult ascent to the plateau. "I really
ought to get into the Hopi country. My conscience is troubling me."
Na-che looked disappointed. "That is a good camp, by the river," she
said. "But maybe," eagerly, "the Judge and Jonas will come with us."
"You like Jonas, don't you, Na-che?" asked Enoch.
The Indian woman laughed and tossed her head, but did not answer.
It was only four o'clock when they reached camp, but already dusk was
settling in the Canyon. A good fire was going in front of the cave and
Jonas was guarding his stew which simmered over a smaller blaze near
Diana's tent. Na-che lifted the lid of the kettle, sniffed and turned
away with a shrug of her shoulders.
"What's troubling you, woman?" demanded Jonas.
"I thought you was making stew," replied Na-che.
"Oh, you did! Well, what do you think now?"
"Oh, I guess you're just boiling the mud out of the river water. You
give me the kettle and I'll show you how to make rabbit stew."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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