Arizona -- Fiction; Grand Canyon (Ariz.) -- Fiction; Western stories
At last they embarked and proceeded along a smooth, swift-flowing river
for a short time. Then, however, the familiar roar of falls was heard,
the current increased rapidly in velocity and Milton made a landing for
observation.
They were at the head of the wildest falls that Enoch had yet seen.
The Canyon walls were smooth and perpendicular. There was no
possibility of a portage. The river was full of rocks against which
dashed waves ten to twelve feet high.
"We'll have to run it!" shouted Milton above the din of the waters.
"Powell did it and so can we. Give the Ida five minutes' start, Hard.
Then profit by the mistakes you see us make. All ready, Judge and
Forr!"
Under Milton's directions, they rowed back upstream far enough to gain
complete control of the boat before entering the falls. Then they shot
forward. Instantly the oars became useless. They were carried upward
on the crest of a wave that seemed about to drop them down an
unbelievable depth to a jagged rock. But at this point, another wave
seized them and hurled them sidewise, half rolled them over, then
uptilted them until the Ida's nose was deep in the water.
They bailed like mad but to little avail for the waves broke over the
sides constantly. They could see little for the air was full of
blinding spray. Suddenly, after what had seemed an eternity but was
really five minutes of time, there was a rending crash and the Ida slid
into quieter water, turning completely over as she did so.
Enoch, as the sucking current seized him, was convinced that his hour
had come, and a quick relief was his first sensation. Then Diana's
wistful eyes flashed before him and he began to fight the Colorado. As
his head emerged from the water, he saw the Na-che land on all fours
from the top of a wave upon the overturned Ida, then whirl away. He
began to swim with all his strength. The mud forever suspended in the
Colorado weighed down his clothing. But little by little he drew near
the Ida, to which he could see two dark bodies clinging. The Na-che,
struggling to cross a whirlpool toward him, made slow progress. He
had, indeed, dizzily grasped the Ida, before the other boat came up.
"We can hang on, Hard!" gasped Milton. "Give us a tow to that sand
spit yonder."
They reached the sand spit and staggered to land, while Harden and his
crew turned the Ida over and beached her. She had a six-inch gap in
her side.
"Well," panted Enoch, "I'm glad we managed to keep dry during the
rainstorm!"
"My Lord, Judge!" exclaimed Milton, "your own mother wouldn't own you
now! I don't see how one human being could carry so much mud on his
face!"
"I'll bet it's not as bad as yours at that," returned Enoch. "Jonas,
as long as it's not the Na-che that's hurt--"
"Coming, boss, coming!" cried Jonas. "Here's your moccasins and here's
your suit. Sure you aren't hurt any?"
"Jonas," replied Enoch in a low voice that the others might not hear,
"Jonas, I'm having the greatest time of my life!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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