Arizona -- Fiction; Grand Canyon (Ariz.) -- Fiction; Western stories
"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?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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