CHAPTER XV
THE COLORADO
"Well, boys," Harry Wade began after they had smoked for some time insilence, "we have got to look at this matter squarely. So far we havegot out of a mighty tight place better than we expected. Yesterday itseemed to us that there weren't much chance of our carrying our hairaway, but now we are out of that scrape. But we are in another prettynigh as bad, though there ain't much chance of the red-skins getting atus."
"That air so, Harry. We are in a pretty tight hole, you bet. They ain'tlikely to get our scalps for some time, but there ain't no denying thatour chance of carrying them off is dog-goned small."
"You bet there ain't, Jerry," Sam Hicks said. "Them pizon varmint willcamp outside here; for they know they have got us in a trap. They mayn'tattack us at present, but we have got to watch night and day. Any darknight they may take it into their heads to come up, and there won't benothing to prevent them, for the rustling of the stream among the rockswould cover any little noise they might make. The first we should knowof it would be the yell of the varmint at the foot of this barrier, andafore we could get to the top the two on guard would be tomahawked, andthey would be down on us like a pack of wolves. I would a'most as soonput down my rifle and walk straight out now and let them shoot me, if Iknew they would do it without any of their devilish tortures, as go onnight after night, expecting to be woke up with their war-yell in myears.
"Of course they will be always keeping a watch there at the mouth of thecanyon,--a couple of boys are enough for that,--for they will know thatif we ride out on our horses we must go right up the valley, and it is anasty place to gallop through in the dark; besides, some of them will nodoubt be placed higher up to cut us off, and if we got through, whichain't likely, they could ride us down in a few hours. If we crept out onfoot and got fairly among the trees we should be no better off, for theywould take up our trail in the morning and hunt us down. I tell youfairly, boys, I don't see any way out of it. I reckon it will come toour having to ride out together, and to wipe out as many of the Utes aspossible afore we go down. What do you say, chief?"
"Leaping Horse agrees with his white brother, Straight Harry, whose mindhe knows."
"Waal, go on then, Harry," Sam said. "I thought that you had made an endof it or I wouldn't have opened out. I don't see no way out of it atpresent, but if you do I am ready to fall in with it whatever it is."
"I see but one way out of it, boys. It is a mighty risky thing, but itcan't be more risky than stopping here, and there is just a chance. Ispoke to the chief last night, and he owned that it didn't seem to himthere was a chance in that or any other way. However, he said that if Iwent he would go with me. My proposal is this, that we take to the riverand try and get through the canyons."
There was a deep silence among the men. The proposal took them bysurprise. No man had ever accomplished the journey. Though two partiessimilarly attacked by Indians had attempted to raft down some of thecanyons higher up; one party perished to a man, one survivor of the otherparty escaped to tell the tale; but as to the canyons below, throughwhich they would have to pass, no man had ever explored them. TheIndians regarded the river with deep awe, and believed the canyons to bepeopled with demons. The enterprise was so stupendous and the dangers tobe met with so terrible, that ready as the western hunters were toencounter dangers, no one had ever attempted to investigate the windingsand turnings of the river that for two thousand miles made its waythrough terrific precipices, and ran its course some three thousand feetbelow the surrounding country, until it emerged on to the plains ofMexico.
"That was why I was so anxious to reach the river," Harry went on aftera pause. "I wanted to see whether there were some trees, by which wecould construct a raft, near its bank. Had there not been, I should haveproposed to follow it up or down, as far as we could make our way, inhopes of lighting on some trees. However, as it is they are just handyfor us. I don't say as we shall get through, boys, but there is just achance of it. I don't see any other plan that would give us a show."
Jerry was the first to speak.
"Waal, Harry, you can count me in. One might as well be drowned in arapid or carried over a fall as killed, or, wuss, taken and tortured bythe red-skins."
"That is so, Jerry," Sam Hicks agreed. While Ben said: "Waal, if we gitthrough it will be something to talk about all our lives. In coursethere ain't no taking the horses?"
"That is out of the question, Ben. We shall not have much time to spare,for the Utes may take it into their heads to attack us any night; and,besides, we have no means of making a big raft. We might tie two orthree trunks together with the lariats and spike a few cross-pieces onthem, we might even make two such rafts; that is the outside. They willcarry us and our stores, but as for the horses, we must either leavethem down in the hollow for the Indians to find, or put a bullet throughtheir heads. I expect the latter will be the best thing for them, poorbeasts."
"No want trees," the chief said. "Got horses' skins; make canoes."
"You are right, chief," Harry exclaimed; "I never thought of that. Thatwould be the very thing. Canoes will go down the rapids where thestrongest rafts would be dashed to pieces, and if we come to a bad fallwe can make a shift to carry them round."
The others were no less pleased with the suggestion, and the doubtfulexpression of their faces as they assented to the scheme now changed toone of hopefulness, and they discussed the plan eagerly. It was agreedthat not a moment should be lost in setting to work to carry it out, andthat they should forthwith retreat to the mouth of the lower canyon; forall entertained a secret misgiving that the Utes might make their attackthat night, and felt that if that attack were made in earnest it wouldsucceed. It was certain they would be able to find some point at whichthe lower gorge could be held; and at any rate a day would be gained,for at whatever hour of the night the Indians came up they would notventure farther until daybreak, and there would probably be a longpalaver before they would enter the lower canyon.
Tom had not spoken. He recognized the justice of Harry's reasoning, buthad difficulty in keeping his tears back at the thought of his horsebeing killed. For well-nigh a year it had carried him well; he hadtended and cared for it; it would come to his call and rub its muzzleagainst his cheek. He thought that had he been alone he would haverisked anything rather than part with it.
"Don't you like the plan, Tom?" Harry said to him, as, having packed andsaddled the horses, they rode together down the canyon. "I don't supposethe passage is so terrible after all."
"I am not thinking of the passage at all, uncle," Tom said almostindignantly; "it will be a grand piece of adventure; but I don't like--Ihate--the thought of my horse being killed. It is like killing a dearfriend to save one's self."
"It is a wrench, lad," Harry said kindly; "I can quite understand yourfeelings, and don't like the thought myself. But I see that it has gotto be done, and after all it will be better to kill the poor brutes thanto let them fall into the hands of the Indians, who don't know whatmercy to their beasts means, and will ride them till they drop deadwithout the least compunction."
"I know it is better, uncle, ever so much better--but it is horrible allthe same. Anyhow, don't ask me to do it, for I could not."
"I will see to that, Tom. You shall be one of the guards of the canyon.You would not be of much use in making the canoes, and you won't have toknow anything about it till you go down and get on board."
Tom nodded his thanks; his heart was too full for him to speak, and hefelt that if he said a word he should break down altogether. They roderapidly along, passed through the little valley where the bear had beenkilled, without stopping, and went down the lower canyon, carefullyexamining it to fix upon the most suitable point for defence. There hadbeen no recent fall, and though at some points great boulders laythickly, there was no one place that offered special facilities fordefence.
"Look here, boys," Harry said, reining up his horse at a point withintwo hundred yards of the lower end, "we can't do b
etter than fixourselves here. An hour's work will get up a wall that will puzzle thered-skins to get over, and there is the advantage that a shot fired hereby the guard will bring our whole force up in a couple of minutes. Ivote we ride the horses down to the river and let them pick up what theycan, and then come back here and build the wall. It will be getting darkin an hour's time, and we may as well finish that job at once. Ben andSam, you may as well pick out a couple of young fir-trees and bringthem down at once, then there will be no time lost. Five of us will beenough for the wall. Keep your eyes open. Likely enough there is a bearor two about, and it would be a great thing for us to lay in a stock ofmeat before we start."
As soon as they issued from the gorge the horses were unsaddled and thestores taken off the pack-animals. As they were doing this Harry said afew words in a low tone to Sam. He then carefully examined the trees,and picked out two young firs. Sam and Ben took their axes, and theother five went up the gorge again, and were soon hard at workcollecting boulders and piling them in a wall.
"There is a gun, uncle," Tom exclaimed presently.
"Well, I hope they have got sight of a bear, we shall want a stock ofmeat badly."
A dozen shots were fired, but Tom thought no more of it as he proceededwith his work. The bottom of the canyon was but fifteen feet wide, and bythe time it was dark they had a solid wall across it nearly six feethigh, with places for them to stand on to fire over.
"Now then, Tom, you may as well take post here at once. I will send Samor Ben up to watch with you. I don't think there is a shadow of chanceof their coming to-night, but there is never any answering forred-skins. I would leave Hunting Dog with you, but we shall want him tohelp make the framework for the canoes; the Indians are a deal handierthan we are in making lashings. I will send your supper up here, lad,and your buffalo robes. Then you can take it by turns to watch andsleep. I reckon we shall be at work all night; we have got to get thejob finished as quick as we can."
A quarter of an hour later Sam Hicks came up.
"Have you got the trees down, Sam?"
"Lor' bless you, it didn't take a minute to do that. We got them downand split them up, then lit a fire and got the meat over it and thekettle, and mixed the dough."
"Did you kill another bear? We heard you firing."
"No; the critter was too high up, and I ain't much good at shooting.Perhaps they will get sight of him tomorrow, and Harry and the chiefwill bring him down if he is within range of their shooting-irons. It is'tarnal dark up here."
In twenty minutes two lights were seen approaching, and Harry andHunting Dog came up carrying pine-wood torches. Each had a great faggotof wood fastened on his back, and Harry also carried the frying-pan, onwhich were a pile of meat and two great hunks of bread, while HuntingDog brought two tin pannikins of hot tea.
"That will make it more cheerful for you," Harry said, as he unfastenedthe rope that tied the faggot to his shoulders. "Now, Hunting Dog, get agood fire as soon as you can, and then come down again to us."
The fire was soon blazing merrily, and Tom and Sam sat down to enjoytheir meal.
"Don't you think one of us ought to keep watch, Sam?"
"Not a bit of it," Sam said. "The red-skins will never dare to enterthat canyon until after dark, and if they started now and made their waystraight on, they would not be here for another three or four hours. Iwould bet my boots they don't come at all tonight; even if they were notscared at us, they would be scared at coming near the river in the dark.No, we will just take our meal comfortable and smoke a pipe, and then Iwill take first watch and you shall take a sleep. We ain't closed an eyesince the night before last."
Tom, indeed, was nearly asleep before he had finished his pipe, and feltthat he really must get a nap. So saying to Sam, "Be sure and wake me intwo hours," he rolled himself in his robe and instantly fell asleep.
It seemed to him that he had only just gone off when Sam roused him. Heleapt to his feet, however, rifle in hand. "Anything the matter, Sam?"
"Everything quiet," the miner replied.
"What did you wake me for then? I have not been asleep five minutes."
"According to my reckoning, mate, you have been asleep better'n fivehours. It was about half-past eight when you went off, and I reckon itis two now, and will begin to get light in another hour. I would nothave waked you till daybreak, but I found myself dropping off."
"I am awfully sorry," Tom began.
"Don't you trouble, young un. By the time you have been as long in theWest as I have you won't think anything of two nights' watch. Now youkeep a sharp lookout. I don't think there is much chance of theircoming, but I don't want to be woke up with a red-skin coming right downon the top of me."
"I see you have let the fire out, Sam," Tom said, with a little shiver.
"I put it out hours ago," Sam said, as he prepared to lie down. "Itwould never have done to keep it all night, for a red-skin would see myhead over the top of the wall, while I should not get a sight of himtill he was within arm's-length."
Tom took up his post, and gazed earnestly into the darkness beyond thewall. He felt that his sense of vision would be of no use whatever, andtherefore threw all his faculties into that of listening. Slight as wasthe chance of the Indians coming, he yet felt somewhat nervous, and itwas a satisfaction to him to see beyond the mouth of the canyon the glowof the fire, by which, as he knew, the others were hard at work.
In an hour the morning began to break, and as soon as he could see wellup the canyon he relighted the fire, jumping up to take a look over thewall every minute or so. It was not long before he saw his uncleapproaching with a kettle.
"I saw your smoke, Tom, and guessed that you would be glad of a mug ofhot tea. You have seen no signs of Indians, I suppose?"
"We have heard nothing, uncle. As to seeing, up to half an hour agothere was no possibility of making out anything. But I have not evenbeen listening; Sam went on guard directly we had finished supper, and Iasked him to call me in two hours, but he did not wake me until twoo'clock."
"He is a good fellow," Harry said. "Well, don't wake him now. I can'tleave you the kettle, for we have to keep boiling water going, but youcan put his tin into the ashes and warm it up when he wakes. Here are acouple of pieces of bread."
"Why do you have to keep the kettle boiling, uncle?"
"To bend the wood with. The piece we are working on is kept damp withboiling water. We hold it for a time over the fire, pouring a littlewater on as fast as it evaporates; that softens the wood, and we canbend it much more evenly than we could if we did it by force. Besides,when it is fastened into its position it remains, when it is dry, inthat shape, and throws no strain on to anything."
"Are you getting on well?"
"Capitally. We should have done both the frames by now, but we wereobliged to make them very strong so as to resist the bumps they are sureto get against rocks. When they are finished you might almost let themdrop off the top of a house, they will be so strong and elastic. If theIndians will but give us time we shall make a first-rate job of them."
Three hours later Harry came up again with the kettle and some cookedmeat. Sam had just woke up, and was quite angry with Tom for not rousinghim before. "The others have been working all night," he said, "and herehave I been asleep for five hours; a nice sort of mate they will thinkme."
"Well, but you were watching five hours, Sam; and I would a deal ratherwork all night than stand here for two hours in the dark, wondering allthe time whether the Indians are crawling up, and expecting at anymoment to hear a rush against the wall."
"I am going to take your place, Sam, when you have finished yourbreakfast," Harry said, as he came up. "If the Utes found out last nightthat we had gone, their scouts may be coming down before long. My rifleshoots a bit straighter than yours does."
"It ain't the rifle, Harry," Sam said good-temperedly; "it is the eyethat is wrong, not the shooting-iron. I never had much practice withthese long guns, but when it comes to a six-shooter, I
reckon I can domy share as well as most. But they won't give me a chance with it."
"I hope they won't, Sam. I am sure they won't as long as there is light,and I hope that before it gets dark they will conclude to leave usalone."
A vigilant watch was kept now.
"I think I saw a head look out from that corner," Tom exclaimedsuddenly, two hours after Sam had left them.
"I am quite sure I did, Tom. We must wait until he shows himself a bitmore. I reckon it is a good three hundred yards off, and a man's head isa precious small mark at that distance. Stand a bit higher and lay yourrifle on the wall. Don't fire if he only puts his head out. They know wecan shoot, so there is not any occasion to give them another lesson. Idon't hold to killing, unless you have got to do it. Let him have a goodlook at us.
"When he goes back and tells the tribe that there is a three hundredyards' straight passage without shelter, and a strong wall across theend of it, and two white men with rifles ready to shoot, I reckon theywill know a good deal better than to try to come up it, as long as thereis light. Besides, they won't think there is any occasion to hurry, forthey won't count on our taking to the river, and will know that we shallbe keeping watch at night. So it may very well be that they will reckonon wearing us out, and that we may not hear of them for a week. There isthe fellow's head again!"
The head remained visible round the corner of the rock for two or threeminutes.
"He knows all about it now, Tom. You won't see any more of him to-day. Iwill go down and lend them a hand below."
Tom asked no questions about the horses; he had thought of them a scoreof times as he stood on guard, and the thought had occurred to him thatit was possible the shots he had heard while they were building the wallon the previous afternoon, had been the death shots of the horses. Itdid not occur to him when Sam was telling the story about the bear, thatthis was a got-up tale, but when he came to think it over, he thought itprobable that it was so. Sam himself was not much of a shot, but Ben,although inferior to Harry or either of the two Indians, shot as well asJerry, and would hardly have missed a bear three or four times running.Each time the thought of the horses occurred to him he resolutely put itaside, and concentrated his mind upon the probable perils of the passagedown the canyons and the wonderful gorges they would traverse, and theadventures and excitement they were sure to pass through. He thought howfortunate it was they had taken the precaution of sending theirspecimens of quartz back to the fort; for were they in the canoes, thefruits of the journey would be irrevocably lost were these to upset; fornow the Indians had twice discovered the presence of whites in thevalley they would be sure to watch it closely, and it would not bepossible to go up to the mine again unless in strong force.
The day passed quietly. Harry brought up Tom's meals, and late in theafternoon all hands came up, and the wall of stones was raised fourfeet, making it almost impregnable against a sudden attack. The twoIndians took post there with Tom, and watched alternately all night. TheUtes, however, remained perfectly quiet. They probably felt sure thatthe fugitives must sooner or later be forced to surrender, and weredisinclined to face the loss that must occur before so strong aposition, defended by seven men armed with rifles and revolvers, couldbe carried.
At three o'clock on the following afternoon Hunting Dog came up. "Tom godown and get dinner," he said, "Hunting Dog will watch."
Tom took his rifle and started down the canyon.
"Come on, lad," his uncle shouted. "We are pretty near ready for astart, and have all had our dinner; so be quick about it. We want to getwell away from here before night."
Tom went to the fire and ate his meal. As he sat down he saw that thestores, blankets, and robes had all been carried away. When he finished,his uncle led him down to the river. Two canoes were floating in thewater, and the other men were standing beside them.
"There, Tom, what do you think of them?"
"They are splendid, uncle; it seems impossible that you can have builtthem in two days."
"Five hands can do a lot of canoe-building in forty-eight hours' work,Tom."
The canoes were indeed models of strength if not of beauty. They wereeach about twenty feet long and five feet wide. Two strong pieces ofpine two inches square ran along the top of each side, and one of thesame width but an inch deeper formed the keel. The ribs, an inch wideand three-quarters of an inch thick, were placed at intervals ofeighteen inches apart. The canoes were almost flat-bottomed. The ribslay across the keel, which was cut away to allow them to lie flush init, a strong nail being driven in at the point of junction--these beingthe only nails used in the boat's construction. The ribs ran straightout to almost the full width of the canoe, and were then turned sharpup, the ends being lashed with thongs of hide to the upper stringers.
Outside the ribs were lashed longitudinal wattles of tough wood about aninch wide. They were placed an inch apart, extending over the bottom andhalfway up the side. Over all was stretched the skin, five horses' hideshaving been used for each boat. They were very strongly sewed togetherby a double row of thongs, the overlaps having, before being sewed, beensmeared with melted fat. Cross-pieces of wood at the top kept the upperframework in its place. The hair of the skin was outward, the innerglistened with the fat that had been rubbed into it.
"They are strong indeed," Tom said. "They ought to stand anything,uncle."
"Yes, I think they would stand a blow against any rock if it hadn't acutting edge. They would just bound off as a basket would. Of coursethey are very heavy for canoes; but as they won't have to carry morethan the weight of four men each, they will draw little over a couple ofinches or so of water.
"That is why we made them so wide. We could not get strength withoutweight; and as there is no saying what shallows there may be, and howclose in some places rocks may come up to the surface, we were obligedto build them wide to get light draught. You see we have made tenpaddles, so as to have a spare one or two in case of breakage. We havetwo spare hides, so that we shall have the means of repairing damages."
Tom said nothing about the horses. Manufactured into a boat, as theskins were, there was not much to remind him of them; but he pressed hisuncle's hand and said, "Thank you very much, uncle; I don't mind so muchnow, but I should not like to have seen them before."
"That is all right, Tom; it was a case of necessity. Sam and Ben shotthem directly we got here."
The stores were all laid by the boats, being divided between them sothat the cargoes were in all respects duplicates of each other. BeforeTom came down some had already been placed in each boat, with a blanketthrown over them.
"You have got the gold, I suppose, uncle?"
"You may bet that we did not leave that behind. There is half in eachboat, and the bags are lashed to the timbers, so that if there is anupset they cannot get lost."
"How are we going?"
"We have settled that you and I and the two Indians shall go together,and the rest in the other boat. The Indians know nothing of canoeing,and won't be of very much use. I know you were accustomed to boats, andI did some rowing when I was a young man. I wish we had a couple ofCanadian Indians with us, or of half-breeds; they are up to this sort ofwork, and with one in the stern of each canoe it would be a much lessrisky business going down the rapids. However, no doubt we shall gethandy with the paddles before long."
When everything was ready Harry fired his rifle, and in a couple ofminutes Hunting Dog came running down. The others had already takentheir seats. He stepped into Harry's boat, and they at once pushed off.
The river was running smoothly here, and Harry said, "Directly we getdown a little way we will turn the boat's head up stream and practisefor a bit. It would never do to get down into rough water before we canuse the paddles fairly."
Tom sat in the bow of his boat, Hunting Dog was next to him, then camethe chief, and Harry sat in the stern. A paddle is a much easierimplement to manage for a beginner than is an oar, and it was not longbefore they found that they could propel the b
oats at a fair rate. In ashort time they had passed the end of the shelf at the mouth of thecanyon, and the cliffs on that side rose as abruptly as they did on theother. The river was some eighty yards wide.
"We will turn here," Harry said, "and paddle up. We sha'n't do more thankeep abreast of these rocks now, for the stream runs fast though it isso smooth."
They found, indeed, that they had to work hard to hold their position.
"Now, Tom," Harry sang out, "it is you and I do the steering, you know.When you want the head to go to the right you must work your paddle outfrom the boat, when you want to go to the left you must dip it in thewater rather farther out and draw it towards the boat. Of course whenyou have got the paddle the other side you must do just the contrary.You must sing out right or left according as you see rocks ahead, and Ishall steer with my paddle behind. I have a good deal more power overthe boat than you have, and you must depend upon me for the steering,unless there is occasion for a smart swerve."
At first the two boats shot backwards and forwards across the stream ina very erratic way, but after an hour's practice the steersmen found theamount of force required. An hour later Harry thought that they werecompetent to make a start, and turning they shot rapidly past thecliffs. In a couple of miles there was a break in the rocks to the left.
"We will land there," Harry said. "There are trees near the water andbushes farther up. We will make a camp there. There is no saying how farwe may have to go before we get another opportunity. We have done withthe Utes for good, and can get a sound night's sleep. If you, chief,will start with Hunting Dog as soon as we land, we will get the thingsashore and light the fire. Maybe you will be able to get a bear for us."
They did not trouble to haul up the canoes, but fastened them by thehead-ropes, which were made from lariats, to trees on the shore.Daylight was beginning to fade as they lighted the fire. No time waslost before mixing the dough, and it was in readiness by the time thatthere were sufficient glowing embers to stand the pot in. The kettle wasfilled and hung on a tripod over the fire. In a short time the Indiansreturned empty-handed.
"No find bear," the chief said, "getting too dark to hunt. To-morrowmorning try."
Harry got up and went to the boats, and returned directly with a jointof meat. Tom looked up in surprise.
"It is not from yours, Tom," Jerry said as he saw him looking at it. "Wetook the hind-quarters of the four pack-ponies, but left the othersalone. It was no use bringing more, for it would not keep."
"So it is horseflesh!" Tom rather shrank from the idea of eating it, andnothing would have induced him to touch it had he thought that it camefrom his own favourite. Some steaks were cut and placed in thefrying-pan, while strips were hung over the fire for those who preferredthe meat in that way. Tom felt strongly inclined to refuse altogether,but when he saw that the others took their meat as a matter of course,and proceeded to eat with a good appetite, he did not like to do so. Hehesitated, however, before tasting it; but Harry said with a laugh,"Fire away, Tom. You can hardly tell it from beef, and they say that inParis lots of horseflesh is sold as beef."
Thus encouraged, Tom took a mouthful, and found it by no means bad, forfrom their long stay in the valley the animals were all in excellentcondition, and he acknowledged to himself that he would not have knownthe flesh from beef.
"I call it mighty good for a change." Terry said. "Out on the plains,where one can get buffalo, one would not take horse for choice, but aswe have been eating deer and bear meat for about a year, horse-meatain't bad by no means. What! You won't take another bit, Tom?"
"Not to-night, Jerry; next time I shall be all right. But it is my firsttrial, you know, and though I can't say it is not good, it gives me aqueer feeling, so I will stick to the bread."
"Well, boys," Harry said presently, "we have made a first-rate start,and have got out of a big scrape, easier than I ever looked for. Wecould not have got two better canoes for our work if we had had thembrought special from Canada, and it seems to me that they ought to godown pretty near anywhere without much damage. We shall get real handywith our paddles in two or three days, and I hope we sha'n't meet withany big rapids until we have got into the way of managing them well."
"You bet, Harry, we have got out well," said Jerry. "I tell you itlooked downright ugly, and I wouldn't have given a continental for ourchances. As for the rapids, I guess we shall generally find rocks oneside or the other where we can make our way along, and we can let downthe canoes by the ropes. Anyhow, we need not get skeery over them. Aftergetting out of that valley with our hair on, the thought of them doesnot trouble me a cent."