Arizona -- Fiction; Grand Canyon (Ariz.) -- Fiction; Western stories
Jonas, standing on a rock that projected over the water, did not
respond. He was watching eagerly as his new fishline of ravelled rope
pulled taut in the stream. Suddenly he gave a roar and jerked the line
so violently that the fish landed on Milton's blanket.
"Must weigh two pounds!" cried Agnew.
"You start her broiling, Mr. Agnew!" shouted Jonas, "while I keep on
a-fishing."
"What changed your luck, Jonas?" asked Enoch. "You're using beans and
bent wire, just as you did yesterday."
"Aha! not just as I did yesterday, boss! This time I tied Na-che's
charm just above the hook. No fish could stand that, once they got an
eye on it."
But evidently no second fish cast an eye on the irresistible charm, and
Enoch was unwilling to wait for further luck longer than was necessary
to cook the fish and eat it. But during the day Jonas trolled whenever
the water made trolling possible, hopefully spitting on the hook each
time he cast it over, casting always from the right hand and muttering
Fish! Fish! Fish! three times for each venture. Yet no other fish
responded to Na-che's charm that day.
But the river treated them kindly. If their strength had been equal to
hard and steady rowing they might have made up for the lost miles. As
it was they knocked off at night with just the number of miles for the
day that Milton had planned on in the beginning, and were still a day
behind their schedule. Milton grew no worse, though he was weaker and
obviously a very sick man. A light snow fell during the night but the
next morning was clear and invigorating.
They encountered two difficult rapids on the fourth day. The first one
they portaged. The trail was not difficult but in their weakened
condition the boat and poor Milton were heavy burdens and it took them
three times as long to accomplish the portage as it would have taken
had they been in normal condition. The second rapids, they shot easily
in the afternoon. The waves were high and every one was saturated with
the icy water. Enoch dared not risk Milton's remaining wet and as soon
as they found a likely place for the camp they went ashore. The huge
pile of drift wood had helped them to decide on this rather
unhospitable ledge for what they hoped would be their last night out.
They kindled a big fire and sat about it, steaming and silent, but with
the feeling that the worst was behind them.
They rose in a cold driving rain the next morning, ate the last of the
beans, drank the last of the coffee, covered Milton as well as could be
with blankets and launched the boat. It was a day of unspeakable
misery. They made one portage, and one let down, and dragged the boat
with almost impossible labor over a long series of shallows. By
mid-afternoon they had made up their minds to another night of
wretchedness and Agnew was beginning to watch for a camping place, when
suddenly he exclaimed,
"Fellows, there's the Ferry!"
"How do you know?" demanded Enoch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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