The Enchanted Canyon

kies are unmarred and the way leads through uncharted beauty. Whe

were in preparation. When these had been eaten there was light fr

he middle and end compartments for the oarsmen to sit. The man who worked the steersman's oar sat on the rear compartment. In these compartments were packed all the dunnage, clothing,

en he found that Enoch

skin. You must have warm, dry clothing to change to. Sho

lton?" asked Jonas. "I bought three

han nothing," grumbled

rd

pulling his belt in tightly. "

w picked up his oar. "A

ying good-by in a

new," groaned Jonas. "Good-by, everyb

e and Forr," cried Mil

rned to look once more at the four watching on the beach, when the boats shot round the curving western wall. For the first half hour, the wat

. He sat quietly watching the swift changing scenery, fe

" said Milton, "but the records show that we can shoot most of them. Keep

aught a glimpse of Jonas. He was crouched in the bottom

u that Navaho charm, J

ld Jonas," said Enoch. "I really think he'll

t all of us felt on ou

added, quickly

swift rush of the river rose a soun

ion is over," com

that. Let the current carry us. Be ready to back water when I shout." He

on said, at least ten miles an hour. A short distance now, a

, steering to a great pile of

rcised to prevent the boats being dashed against the walls in like manner. But, he said, if the current seemed to run a fairly unobstructed course, it was hopeful that the boats would go through. There were a number of rocks protruding from the water, but the c

inally, without accident, in quieter waters. Here they hugged the shore and waited for Harden's boat, the Mary, to come down.

den," said Milton as t

arried them back upstream in spite of all that could be done. Enoch seized the oars that were in readiness beside him and pulled with all his might but to no avail. And suddenly the Mary rushed out of the mist striking them fairly amidship. The Ida half turned ove

"Thought you knew an eddy when

d Milton, "except that Jonas is

"I'll cook something for a thanksgiving t

occasional cedar tree could be seen. Enoch was vaguely conscious, too, that the colors of the walls

e waters did not subside in speed, though the waves disa

ting her without obse

of sand with the ced

indicated, which appeared to be the one available landing spot. But the current carried them at such ve

d!" shout

ward. Then they found secure foothold on the rocky river bottom and, with huge effort, beached the Ida. Scarcely was this done,

on both are in your b

tting no such delicate

was not chilling. They ate enormously of Jonas's dinner, then the Survey men scattered to their work for an hour or so, while Enoch explored the region. There was no getting to the top of the walls, so he conten

te, glistening sheet. But the greatest wonder of the cave was in the texture of its walls, which appeared to Enoch to be of purest marble of a deep shell pink and translucent creamy white. Moisture had collected on the walls and each tiny globule of water seemed to ho

a circular bay, a great tureen within which the waters moved with an oil-like smoothness. But when Milton threw a stick into this strange basin, it was whirled the entire circumference of the bay with a velocity that all the men agreed boded ill for

you may be lost. The reports show that two other boats were lost here. Cling to the wall! When we reach th

s, "you better let me g

I'm going to

s!" exclaimed Har

the Potomac,"

ks," cried Milt

a tall, finger-like rock, that protruded from the water at the bottom of the rapids. About a boat's length from this rock, however, a sudden wave shot six feet into the air,

wind. Enoch and Forrester rose from their seats and threw the whole weight of their bodies on t

ll his might at the steering oar. "Put yo

w the right wall recede, felt the boat twist under his knees like a disobedient horse. Suddenly there was a crack as of a pistol shot

you, Judge!"

or one terrible moment it seemed as if an overturn were imminent. Ou

water into that rough spot six feet to y

ce in his body to make one more effort. The boat slowly e

to trust to the Mary to keep us from

a slowly worked toward the narrow opening which marked the head of the falls. The crew of the Mary had landed and Harden stood on the

ion of the water ceased, and it leaped ferociously toward the nar

k her! Now the rope,

e Ida was stopped by the ropes. A moment later her cre

to keep to the right, what did you try to do yourself? If you'd gone insi

" panted Milton. "A pot-hole spouted a boat's

e crew in our boat now. Jonas,

ver, Jonas?"

re a good one. If we can live through this here day, we can live through anything. I w

ood sport, Jonas, I'd never have let you come with us. Keep your charm, old man.

on, without lifting his head from the rocks on which

be thankful for!" Enoch closed hi

he 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 me

ed Harden. "Are you sti

tenderfoot in the Canyon, but he's no tenderf

mbia," rep

! Jove, how you did he

bout grub fo

out for my boss, Mr. Milton?" grumbled Jonas, com

do you think of this parlor,

if Mr. Agnew hadn't promised to take some pictures of me and my boat. That's an

le preoccupied at the time. Is to-day a

bell ringer too, from the looks of that portage. Need

you know what I was thinking? Mary's no name for a sas

r instance?" d

hroat. "I was think

. "Say, Ag, would you want

asked Agnew carefully. "

g," said Harden, "is tha

was thinking of getting her all fixed up with t

che would mind our mak

tone wa

a question like that! A woman would rather have a boat or a race horse

the Mary," said Milton. "E

you turn off the lights and put the c

It was not seven o'clock when the rude camp was

eakfast with a ravenous appetite and with a keen interest in

two legs and walk it. Other times we have to make trail even for ourselves, let alone for the boats. Sometimes we can portage the freight

aimed Enoch. "That's certain!

it. I wouldn't want to give my life to it, but-" he paused to look over toward the others bu

t that is?" Enoch'

swered slowly. "Sometime when we are having a r

et me to work, Cap

for a quarter of a mile against broken rocks that made the passage of a boat impossible. It was a long portage. After the bowlder-strewn ledge w

g before pick-ax, shovel and crowbar had opened up a way which Jonas claimed was fit only for kangaroos or elephants. Roug

degrees in the shade. Enoch, following Milton, dropped his third p

"you've got to give m

sympathetically. "Take all

t forget you fellows have had ten mo

I'd be perfectly satisfied to be tried before a real he-man, like you." And Milton disappeared over the trail, leaving Enoc

wondering where Diana was and now contemplating curiously the sense of his own unimportance which the Canyon was thrusting into his consciousness more persistently every

ch the prow of my boat myself," and he started hurried

Agnew prepared a simple dinner and immediately after they embarked. For two hours the river flowed swiftly and quietly between sheer walls of stratified granite, white

teriously into the bowels of the desert. For half an hour more Milton guided the Ida onward. Then Enoch cried,

long grass mirrored itself within its pebbly depths for a moment before the crystal water joined the muddy Colorado. The Canyon no longer overhung

ilton. "I'm sure we can scramble to the top here,

astically. The landing was easily made

to tears," said Enoch, grunting under three bed rolls he was c

ll you," growled Forrester, who had skinn

mpathetically, as he set a folding table clos

han a jack-ass," returned Forr

your luck at some fish for supper? The salmo

," he said, and went off to unload his fishing tackle. W

d! You know how touchy he is when

replied Har

en, Milton's back being turned, Harden winked at him. And when Forrester returned wi

r possessed a good tenor voice and sang, Jonas joining with his mellow baritone. Harden, lying close to the flames, read a chapter from "David Harum," the one book of the expedition.

Judge, do

r trick to my name

ur efforts!" cried Hard

osest t

llops the Ida," grunted

m that poem about mercy I heard you g

k his pipe from h

of mercy is

the gentle ra

place b

breathlessly, he went on. His beautiful, mellow voice, his remarkable enunciation, the magnetism of his personal

here was a profound sil

ve heard said in the Canyon

eated it, though, it might have s

t sound paltry anywh

s on what and when you're quo

om his lips, echoed in the Canyon, then dropped into silence. Enoch sat with his great head bowed, his sensitive mouth compressed as if with

the Canyon has been a g

lt

Canyon work, and this trip has changed the whole outlook of life for me. Judge, creeds don't matter any more than bridges do to a stream. They are just a way of getting across, that's all. Creeds may come and creeds may go, but God goes on forever. Nothing changes true religion. Christ promulgated the greatest system of ethics the world has known. The et

reckled, ruddy face a

iven me somethin

an idea you came out here looking for something. There are lines around

ed for a while in silence. Th

uble with Forres

e both fine fellows, but natura

, "yet lack the sense of team play that is

. Then it's too late. In Powell's first expedition, soon after the Civil War, there was constant friction betwe

" asked Enoch

Mormon settlements. But the Indians killed them almost at once, poor devils! Powell got the story of it on his seco

arder than the wo

and fear. He did not know even what kind of boats could live in them. Hostile Indians marauded on either hand. And as near as I recall the only settlements

that we need to boast about them. There are no Indians, to be sure, but the river is

on. "Well, Judge, I'm going to turn in

on the fire and after a moment's thought fetched the black diary from his

d before any jury in the world with his blood on my hands. What he has done to me is typical of Brown and all his works. He is unclean and clever, a frightful combination. Consider the class of readers he has! The majority of the people who read Brown, read only Brown. His readers are the great commonalty of America, the source, once, of all that was best in our life. Brown tells them nasty stories, not about people alone, but about systems; systems of money, systems of work, systems of govern

the bag, and sat for a long hour stari