CHAPTER VIII
THE COLORADO
"We had a particularly vile place to raid to-day, and as I listenedwith sick heart to the report of it, suddenly I saw the Canyon and F.'sbroad back on his mule and the glorious line of the rim lifting fromopalescent mists."--_Enoch's Diary_.
They had been a week on the trail when they made camp one night at aspring surrounded by dwarf junipers. Mack, who had taken the tripbefore, greeted the spring with a shout of satisfaction.
"Ten miles from the river, boys! To-morrow afternoon should see uspanning gold."
And to-morrow did, indeed, bring the river. There was a wide view ofthe Colorado as they approached it. The level which had graduallylifted during the entire week, making each day cooler, rarer, as itcame, now sloped downward, while mesa and headland grew higher, the wayunderfoot more broken, the trail fainter and fainter, and thethermometer rose steadily.
By now deep fissures appeared in the desert floor, and to the northlifted great mountains that were banded in multi-colored strata, acrosswhich drifted veils of mist, lavender, blue and gauzy white. Enoch'sheart began to beat heavily. It was the Canyon country, indeed! Thecountry of enchantment to which his spirit had returned for so manyyears.
They ate lunch in a little canyon opening north and south.
"At the north end of this," said Mack, "we make our first sharp drop athousand feet straight down. She's a devil of a trail, made by Indiansnobody knows when. Then we cross a plateau, about a mile wide, as Iremember, then it's an easy grade to the river. We've got to go overthe girths careful. If anything slips now it's farewell!"
The trail was a nasty one, zig-zagging down the over-hanging face ofthe wall. Enoch, to his deep-seated satisfaction, felt no sense ofpanic, although in common with Mack and Curly, he was apprehensive andat times a little giddy. It required an hour to compass the drop. Atthe bottom was a tiny spring where men and beasts drank deeply, thenstarted on.
The plateau was rough, deep covered with broken rock, but the trail,though faint, held to the edge. At this edge the men paused. TheColorado lay before them.
Fifty feet below them was a wide stretch of sand. Next, the river,smooth brown, slipping rapidly westward. Beyond the water, on theopposite side, a chaos of rocks greater than any Enoch had yet seen, apile huge as if a mountain had fallen to pieces at the river's edge.Behind the broken rock rose the canyon wall, sheer black, forbidding,two thousand feet into the air. Its top cut straight and sharp acrossthe sky line, the sky line unbroken save where rising behind the wall amountain peak, snow capped, flecked with scarlet and gold, towered inthe sunlight.
"There you are, Curly!" exclaimed Mack. "There's a spring in the cavebeneath us. There's drift wood, enough to run a factory with. Have Idelivered the goods, or not?"
"Everything is as per advertisement except the gold," replied Curly.
"Oh, well, I don't vouch for the gold!" said Mack. "I just said theIndians claim they get it here. There's some grazing for the crittersup here on the plateau, you see, and not a bit below. So we'll drive'em back up here and leave 'em. With a little feed of oats once in awhile, they'll do. Come ahead! It'll be dark in the Canyon inside oftwo hours."
The cave proved to be a hollow overhang of the plateau ten or fifteenfeet deep, and twice as wide. The floor was covered with sand.
"All ready to go to housekeeping!" exclaimed Curly. "Judge, youwrangle firewood while Mack and I just give this placer idea a tenminutes' trial, will you?"
"Go ahead!" said Enoch, "all the gold in the Colorado couldn't tempt melike something to eat. If you aren't ready by the time the fire'sgoing, Mack, I shall start supper."
"Go to it! I can stand it if you can!" returned Mack, who had alreadyunpacked his pan.
From that moment Enoch became the commissary and steward for theexpedition. Curly and Mack, whom he had known as mild and jovialcompanions of many interests and leisurely manners, changed in atwinkling to monomaniacs who during every daylight hour except for theshort interim which they snatched for eating, sought for gold. Atfirst Enoch laughed at them and tried to get them to take an occasionalhalf day off in which to explore with him. But they curtly refused todo this, so he fell back on his own resources. And he discovered thatthe days were all too short. Curly had a gun. There was plenty ofammunition. Quail and cottontails were to be found on the plateauwhere the stock was grazing. Sometimes on Pablo, sometimes afoot,Enoch with the gun, and sometimes with the black diary rolled in hiscoat, scoured the surrounding country.
One golden afternoon he edged his way around the shoulder of a gnarledand broken peak, in search of rabbits for supper. Just at theoutermost point of the shoulder he came upon a cedar twisting itselfabout a broad, flat bowlder. Enoch instantly stopped the search forgame and dropped upon the rock, his back against the cedar. Lightinghis pipe, he gave himself up to contemplation of the view. Below himyawned blue space, flecked with rose colored mists. Beyond this mightyblue chasm lay a mountain of purest gold, banded with white andsilhouetted against a sky of palest azure. An eagle dipped lazilyacross the heavens.
When he had gazed his fill, Enoch put his pipe in his pocket, unrolledthe diary and, balancing it oh his knee, began to write:
"Oh, Diana, no wonder you are lovely! No wonder you are serene andpure and reverent!
'And her's shall be the breathing balm And her's the silence and the calm'--
"You remember how it goes, Diana.
"I heard Curly curse yesterday. A thousand echoes sent his words backto him and he looked at the glory of the canyon walls and was ashamed.I saw shame in his eyes.
"It was not cowardice that drove me away for this interval, Diana.Never believe that of me! I was afraid, yes, but of myself, not of thenewspapers. If I had stayed on the train, I would have returned atonce to Washington and have shot the reporter who wrote the stuff.Perhaps I shall do it yet. But if I do, it will be after the Canyonand I have come to agreement on the subject. I am very sure I shallshoot Brown. Some one should have done it, long ago.
"I wonder what you are doing this afternoon. Somewhere between ahundred and a hundred and fifty miles we are from Bright Angel, Macksays, via the river. And only a handful of explorers, you told me,ever have completed the trip down the Colorado. I would like to try it.
"Diana, you look at me with your gentle, faithful eyes, the corners ofyour lips a little uncertain as if you want to tell me that I amdisappointing you and yet, because you are so gentle, you did not wantto hurt me. Diana, don't be troubled about me. I shall go back, longenough at least to discharge my pressing duties. After that, who knowsor cares! Oh, Diana! Diana! What is the use? There is nothing leftin my life. I am empty--empty!
"Even all this is make believe, for, as soon as you saw that I wasbeginning to care for you,--beginning is a good word here!--you wentaway.
"Good-by, Diana."
Enoch's gun made no contribution to the larder that night. Curlyuttered loud and bitter comment on the fact.
"You're getting spoiled by high living," said Enoch severely. "Whatwould you have done if I hadn't come along and taken pity on you? Why,you and Mack would have starved to death here in the Canyon, for it'smorally certain neither of you would have stopped panning gold longenough to prepare your food."
"Right you are, Judge," replied Curly meekly. "I'm going to try to getMack to rebate two bits a day on your board, as a token of ourappreciation."
"Not when his biscuits have to be broken open with a stone," objectedMack, as he sopped in his coffee one of the gray objects Enoch hadserved as rolls.
"They say when a woman that's done her own cooking first gets a hiredgirl, she becomes right picky about her food," rejoined Curly.
"I'd give notice if I had any place to go," said Enoch. "What was theluck to-day, boys?"
"Well, I've about come to the conclusion," replied Mack, "that byworking eight hours a day you can just about wash wages out of thissand, and that's all."
r /> "You aren't going to give it up now, are you, Mack?" asked Curly, inalarm.
"No, I'll stay this week out, if you want to, and then move on up toDevil's Canyon."
They were silently smoking around the fire, a little later, when Curlysaid:
"I have a hunch that you and I're not going to get independent wealthout of this expedition, Mack."
"What would you do with it, if you had it, Curly?" asked Enoch.
"A lot of things!" Curly ruminated darkly for a few moments, then helooked at Enoch long and keenly. "Smith, you're a lawyer, but Ibelieve you're straight. There's something about you a man can't helptrusting, and I think you've been successful. You have that way withyou. Do you know what I'd do if I was taken suddenly rich? Well, I'dhire you, at your own price, to give all your time to breaking two men,Fowler and Brown."
"Easy now, Curly!" Mack spoke soothingly. "Don't get het up. What'sthe use?"
"I'm not het up. I want to get the Judge's opinion of the matter."
"Go ahead. I'm much interested," said Enoch.
"By Brown, I mean the fellow that owns the newspapers. When my brotherand Fowler were in law together--"
"You should make an explanation right there," interrupted Mack. "Yousaid all lawyers was crooks."
"My brother Harry was straight and I've just given my opinion of Smithhere. I never liked Fowler, but he had great personal charm and Harrynever would take any of my warnings about him. Brown was ashort-legged Eastern college boy who worked on the local paper for hishealth. How he and Fowler ever met up, I don't know, but they did, andthe law office was Brown's chief hang-out. Now all three of 'em wereas poor as this desert. Nobody was paying much for law in Arizona inthose days. Our guns was our lawyers. But by some fluke, Harry wasmade trustee of a big estate--a smelting plant that had been left to akid. After a few years, the courts called for an accounting, and itturned out that my brother was short about a hundred thousand dollars.He seemed totally bewildered when this was discovered, swore he knewnothing about it and was terribly upset. And this devil of a Fowlerturns round and says Harry made way with it and produces Brown as awitness. And, by the lord, the court believed them! My brother killedhimself." Curly cleared his throat. "It wasn't six months after thatthat Fowler and Brown, who left the state right after the tragedy,bought a couple of newspapers. They claimed they got the money fromsome oil wells they'd struck in Mexico."
"How is it the country at large doesn't know of Fowler's associationwith Brown?" asked Enoch.
"Oh, they didn't stay pardners as far as the public knows, but a fewyears. They were too clever! They gave out that they'd had a splitand they say nobody ever sees them together. All the same, even whenthey were seeming to ignore him, the Brown papers have been makingFowler."
"And you want to clear your brother's name," said Enoch thoughtfully."That ought not to be difficult. You could probably do it yourself, ifyou could give the time, and were clever at sleuthing. The papers inthe case should be accessible to you."
"Shucks!" exclaimed Curly. "I wouldn't go at it that way at all. Igot something real on Fowler and Brown and I want to use it to makethem confess."
"Sounds like blackmail," said Enoch.
"Sure! That's where I need a lawyer! Now, I happen to know a personalweakness of Fowler's--"
"Don't go after him on that!" Enoch's voice was peremptory. "If he'sdone evil to some one else, throw the light of day on his crime, but ifby his weakness you mean only some sin he commits against himself, keepoff. A man, even a crook, has a right to that much privacy."
"Did Brown ever have decency toward a man's seclusion?" demanded Curly.
"No!" half shouted Enoch. "But to punish him don't turn yourself intothe same kind of a skunk he is. Kill him if you have to. Don't be afilthy scandal monger like Brown!"
"You speak as if you knew the gentleman," grunted Mack.
"I don't know him," retorted Enoch, "except as the world knows him."
"Then you don't know him, or Fowler either," said Curly. "But I happento have discovered something that both those gentlemen have been mixedup in, in Mexico, something--oh, by Jove, but it's racy!"
"You've managed to keep it to yourself, so far," said Mack.
"Meaning I'd better continue to do so! Only so long as it serves mypurpose, Mack. When I get ready to raise hell about Fowler's andBrown's ears, no consideration for decency will stop me. I'll be justas merciful to them as they were to Harry. No more! I'll string theirdirty linen from the Atlantic to the Pacific. His and Brown's! But Iwant money enough to do it right. No little piker splurge they can buyup! I'll have those two birds weeping blood!"
Enoch moistened his lips. "What's the story, Curly?" he asked evenly.
Curly filled and lighted his pipe. But before he could answer Enoch,Mack said;
"Sleep on it, Curly. Mud slinging's bad business. Sleep on it!"
"I've a great contempt for Brown," said Enoch. "I'm a good dealtempted to help you out, that is, if it is to the interest of thepublic that the story be told."
"It will interest the public. You can bet on that!" Curly laughedsardonically. Then he rose, with a yawn. "But it's late and we'llfinish the story to-morrow night. Judge, I have a hunch you're my man!I sabez there's heap devil in you, if we could once get you mad."
Enoch shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps!" he said, and he unrolled hisblankets for bed.
But it was long before he slept. The hand of fate was on him, he toldhimself. How else could he have been led in all the wide desert tofind this man who held Brown's future in his hands? Suddenly Enoch sawhimself returning to Washington with power to punish as he had beenpunished. His feeble protests to Curly were swept away. He felt theblood rush to his temples. And anger that had so far been submerged bypain and shame suddenly claimed its hour. His rage was not only atBrown. Luigi, his mother, most of all this woman who had been hismother, claimed his fury. The bitterness and humiliation of a lifetimeburst through the gates of his self-control. He stole from the cave tothe sandy shore and there he strode up and down like a madman. He wasphysically exhausted long before the tempest subsided. But graduallyhe regained his self-control and slipped back into his blankets.There, with the thought of vengeance sweet on his lips, he fell asleep.
Curly was, of course, entirely engrossed the next day by his miningoperations. Enoch had not expected or wished him to be otherwise. Hefelt that he needed the day alone to get a grip on himself.
That afternoon he climbed up the plateau to the entering trail, up thetrail to the desert. He was full of energy. He was conscious of apurposefulness and a keen interest in life to which he had long been astranger. As he filled the gunny sack which he carried for a game bagwith quail and rabbits, he occasionally laughed aloud. He was thinkingof the expression that would appear on Curly's face if he learned intowhose hands he was putting his dynamite?
The sun was setting when he reached the head of the trail on his waycampward. All the world to the west, sky, peaks, mesas, sand and rockhad turned to a burning rose color. The plateau edge, near his feet,was green. These were the only two colors in all the world. Enochstood absorbed by beauty when a sound of voices came faintly frombehind him.
His first thought was that Mack and Curly had stolen a march on him.His next was that strangers, who might recognize him, were near athand. He started down the trail as rapidly as he dared. It was duskwhen he reached the foot. For the last half of the trip voices hadbeen floating down to him, as the newcomers threaded their way slowlybut steadily. Enoch stood panting at the foot of the trail, listeningacutely. A voice called. Another voice answered. Enoch suddenly lostall power to move. The full moon sailed silently over the plateauwall. Enoch, grasping his gun and his game bag, stood waiting.
A mule came swiftly down the last turn of the trail and headed for thespring. The man who was riding him pulled him back on his hauncheswith a "Whoa, you mule!" that echoed like a cannon shot.
Then he flunghimself off with another cry.
"Oh, boss! Oh, boss! Here he is, Miss Diana! O dear Lord, here heis! Boss! Boss! How come you to treat me so!"
And Jonas threw his arms around Enoch with a sob that could not berepressed.
Enoch put a shaking hand on Jonas' shoulder. "So you found your badcharge, old man, didn't you?"
"Me find you? No, boss, Miss Diana, she found you. Here she is!"
Diana dropped from her horse, slender and tall in her riding clothes.
"So Jonas' pain is relieved, eh, Mr. Huntingdon! Are you having a goodholiday?"
"Great!" replied Enoch huskily.
"I told Jonas it was the most sensible thing a man could do, who was astired as you are, but he would have it you'd die without him. If youdon't want him, I'll take him away."
"You'd have to take me feet first, Miss Diana," said Jonas, with agrin. "Where's that Na-che?"
"Here she comes!" laughed Diana. "Poor Na-che! She hates to hurry!She's got a real grievance against you, Jonas."
Two pack mules lunged down the trail, followed by a squat figure on anIndian pony.
"This is Na-che, Mr. Huntingdon," said Diana.
Enoch shook hands with the Indian woman, whose face was as dark asJonas' in the moonlight. "Where's your camp, Mr. Huntingdon?" Dianawent on.
"Just a moment!" Enoch had recovered his composure. "I am with twominers, Mackay and Field. To them, I am a lawyer named Smith. I wouldlike very much to remain unknown to them during the remaining two weeksof my vacation."
Jonas heaved a great sigh that sounded curiously like an expression ofvast and many sided relief. Then he chuckled. "Easy enough for me.You can't never be nothing but Boss to me."
But Diana was troubled. "I thought we'd camp with your outfitto-night. But we'd better not. I'd be sure to make a break. Are youpositive that these men don't know you?"
"Positive!" exclaimed Enoch. "Why, just look at me, Miss Allen!"
Diana glanced at boots, overalls and flannel shirt, coming to pause atthe fine lion-like head. "Of course, your disguise is veryimpressive," she laughed. "But I would say that it was impressive inthat it accents your own peculiarities."
"That outfit is something fierce, boss. I brung you some ridingbreeches," exclaimed Jonas.
"I don't want 'em," said Enoch. "Miss Allen, Field calls me Judge.How would that do?"
"Well, I'll try it," agreed Diana reluctantly. "I know both the men,by the way. Mack, especially, is well known among the Indians. Whatexplanation shall we make them?"
"Why not the truth?" asked Enoch. "I mean, tell them that I slippedaway from my friends and that Jonas tagged."
"Very well!" Diana and Jonas both nodded.
"And now," Enoch lifted his game bag, "let's get on. My partners aregoing to be worried. And I'm the cook for the outfit, too."
"Boss," Jonas took the game bag, "you take my mule and go on with MissDiana and Na-che and I'll come along with the rest of the cattle."
Enoch obediently mounted, Diana fell in beside him, and lookedanxiously into his face. "Please, Judge, are you very cross with mefor breaking in on you? But poor Jonas was consumed with fear for you."
Enoch put his hand on Diana's as it rested on her knee. "You mustknow!" he said, and was silent.
"Then it's all right," sighed Diana, after a moment.
"Yes, it's quite all right! How did Jonas find you?"
"It seems that he and Charley concluded that you must have headedtoward Bright Angel. Charley went on to Washington to keep things inorder there. Jonas went up to El Tovar. I had just outfitted for atrip into the Hopi country when Jonas came to me. He had talked to noone. He is wonderfully circumspect, but he was frantic beneath hiscalm. He begged me to find you for him and--well, I was a littleanxious myself--so I didn't need much urging. We had only been out aweek when we met John Red Sun. The rest was easy. If a person sticksto the trails in Arizona it's difficult not to trace them. Look,Judge, your friends have lighted a signal fire."
"Poor chaps! They're starved and worried!" Enoch quickened his mule'space and Diana fell in behind him.
Mack and Curly were standing beside the blaze at the edge of theplateau. Enoch jumped from the saddle.
"I'm awfully sorry, fellows! But you see, I was detained by a lady!"
"For heaven's sake, Diana!" cried Mack. "Where did you come from?"
"Hello, Mack! Hello, Curly!" Diana dismounted and shook hands. "Well,the Judge gave his friends the slip. Everybody was satisfied but hiscolored man, Jonas. He was absolutely certain the Judge wouldn't keephis face clean or his feet dry and he so worked on my feelings that Itrailed you people. I was going into the Hopi country anyhow."
Curly gave Enoch a knowing glance. "We thought he was puttingsomething over on us. What is he, Diana, a member of the SupremeBench?"
"Huh! Hardly!"
Everybody laughed at Diana's derisive tone and Curly added, "Anyhow,he's a rotten cook. I was thinking of putting Mack back on his oldjob."
"Don't intrude, Curly," said Enoch. "I've been out and brought in anassistant who's an expert."
"That's you, I suppose, Diana!" Mack chuckled.
"No, it's Jonas, the colored man. He'll be along with Na-che in amoment. This isn't your camp?"
"Come along, Miss Allen!" exclaimed Enoch. "I'll show you a campthat's run by an expert."
Mack and Curly groaned and followed Enoch and Diana down to the cave,Jonas and Na-che appearing shortly. Jonas, hobbling to the caveopening stood for a moment, gazing at the group around the fire insilent despair. Finally he said:
"When I get back to Washington, if I live to get there, they'll put meout of the Baptist Church as a liar, if I try to tell 'em what I beenthrough. Boss, what you trying to do?"
"Dress these quail," grunted Enoch.
Jonas gave Curly and Mack a withering glance, started to speak,swallowed something and said, "How come you to think you was a butcher,boss? Leave me get my hands on those birds. I should think you doneenough, killing 'em."
"No," said Enoch, "I'm the cook for to-night. But, Jonas, old man, ifyou aren't too knocked up, you might make some biscuit."
"Jonas looks to me," suggested Mack, "like a cup of coffee and a seatby the fire was about his limit to-night. I'll get the rest of thegrub, if you'll tend to the quail, Judge. Curly, you go out and unpackfor Diana. We'll turn the cave over to you and Na-che to-night, Diana."
Diana, who was sitting on a rock by the fire, long, slender legscrossed, hands clasping one knee, an amused spectator of the scene,looked up at Mack with a smile.
"Indeed you won't, Mack. Na-che and I have our tent. We'll put it upin the sand, as usual. And tomorrow, having delivered our prizepackage, we'll be on our way."
Enoch looked up quickly. "Don't be selfish, Miss Allen!" he exclaimed.
"That's the idea!" Mack joined in vehemently. Then he added, with agrin, "The Judge has plumb ruined our quiet little expedition anyhow.And after two weeks of him and Curly, I'm darn glad to see you, Diana.How's your Dad?"
"Very well, indeed! If he had had any idea that I was going on thissort of trip, though, I think he'd have insisted on coming with me.Judge, let me finish those birds. You're ruining them."
"Whose quail are these, I'd like to know?" demanded Enoch.
"Yours," replied Diana meekly, "but I had thought that some edibleportion besides the pope's nose and the neck ought to be left on them."
Jonas, who had been crouching uneasily on a rock, a disapprovingspectator of the scene, groaned audibly. Na-che now came into the glowof the fire. She was a comely-faced woman, of perhaps forty-five,neatly dressed in a denim suit. Her black eyes twinkled as she took inthe situation.
"Na-che, you come over here and sit down by me," said Jonas. "If Ican't help, neither can you."
Na-che smiled, showing strong white teeth. "You feel sick from thesaddle, eh, Jonas?"
"Don't you worry about that,
woman! I'll show you I'm as good as anyIndian buck that ever lived!"
Na-che grunted incredulously, but sat down beside Jonas nevertheless.
In spite of the gibes, supper was ready eventually and was devouredwith approval. When the meal was finished, Na-che and Jonas clearedup, then Jonas took his blanket and retired to a corner of the cave,whence emerged almost immediately the sound of regular snoring. Theothers sat around the fire only a short time.
"You'll stick around for a little while, won't you, Diana?" said Curly,as he filled his first pipe.
"I really ought to pull out in the morning," replied Diana. "There aresome very special pictures I want to get at Oraibai about now."
"There is a cliff dwelling down the river about three miles," saidEnoch. "I haven't found the trail into it yet, but I saw the dwellingdistinctly from a curve on the top of the Canyon wall. It's a hugeconstruction."
"Is that so?" exclaimed Diana eagerly. "Why, those must be the Grayruins. I didn't realize we were so close to them. Well, you'vetempted me and I've fallen. I really must give a day to those remains.Only one or two whites have ever gone through them."
Enoch smiled complacently.
"How long have you and the Judge known each other, Diana?" asked Curlysuddenly.
Diana hesitated but Enoch spoke quickly. "The first time I saw MissAllen she was a baby of five or six on Bright Angel trail."
Curly whistled. "Then you've got it on the rest of us. I first sawher when she was a sassy miss in school at Tucson."
"Nothing on me!" said Mack. "I held her in my arms when she was tendays old, and my wife was with her mother and Na-che when she was born.You were a red-faced, squalling brat, Diana."
"She was a beautiful baby! She never cried," contradicted Na-cheflatly.
Diana laughed and rose. "This is getting too personal. I'm going tobed," she said. The men looked at her, admiration in every face.
"Anything any of us can do for your comfort, Diana?" asked Curly."Na-che seemed satisfied with the place I put your tent in."
"Everything is fine, thank you," Diana held out her hand, "Good night,Curly. I really think you're handsomer than ever."
"Lots of good that'll do me," retorted Curly.
Diana made a little grimace at him and turned to Mack. "Good night,Mack. I'll bet you're homesick for Mrs. Mack this minute."
"She's a pretty darned fine old woman!" Mack nodded soberly.
"Old!" said Diana scornfully. "You ought to have your ears boxed!Good night, Judge!"
"Good night, Miss Allen!"
The three men watched the tall figure swing out into the moonlight.
"There goes the most beautiful human being I ever hope to see," saidCurly, turning to unroll his blankets.
"If I was a painter and wanted to tell what this here country wasreally like, at its best, I'd paint Diana." Mack's voice was veryearnest.
"Shucks!" sniffed Curly, "that isn't saying anything, is it, Judge?"
"It's hard to put her into words," replied Enoch carefully. "Curly,are you too tired to continue our last night's talk?"
"Oh, let's put it over till to-morrow! We've lots of time!" Curlygave a great yawn.
Enoch said nothing more but rolled himself in his blankets, with thefull intention of formulating his line of conduct toward Diana beforegoing to sleep. He stretched himself luxuriously in the sand and thenext thing he heard was Diana's laugh outside. He opened his eyes inbewilderment. It was dawn without the cave. Jonas was hobbling downtoward the river.
"Oh, Jonas, you poor thing! Do let Na-che give you a good rubdownbefore you try to do anything!"
"No, Miss Diana. If the boss can stand these goings on, I can. Howcome he ever thought this was sport, I don't know. I'll never live toget him back home!"
"Where are you going, Jonas?" called Curly.
Jonas paused. "I ain't going to turn myself round, unless I have to.What's wanted?"
"I just wanted to warn you that the Colorado's no place for a morningswim," Curly said.
"I'm just going to get the boss's shaving water."
"There's a hint for you, Judge," Curly turned to Enoch. "I hope youplan to give more attention to your toilet after this."
"You go to blazes, Curly," said Enoch amiably. "I haven't got thereputation for pulchritude to live up to that you have."
"Diana's imagination was in working order last night," volunteeredMack. "To my positive knowledge Curly ain't washed or shaved for threedays."
"You've drunk of the Hassayampa too, Mack!" Curly ran the comb throughhis black locks vindictively.
"What's the effect of that draught?" asked Enoch.
"You never tell the truth again," said Curly.
Na-che's voice floated in. "Jonas, you tell the men I got breakfastalready for 'em. Tell 'em to bring their own cups and plates."
"Sounds rotten, huh?" Curly sauntered out of the cave.
It was a very pleasant meal. To Enoch it was all a dream. It seemedimpossible for him to absorb the fact that he and Diana were togetherin the Colorado Canyon. When the last of the coffee was gone, Curlylooked at his watch, then turned severely to Enoch.
"We're an hour earlier than we've ever been, and all because of women!Aren't you ashamed?"
"Run along and wash dirt," returned Enoch. "For two cents I'd tell howlong it took me to get you up yesterday morning."
"What's your program, Diana?" asked Mack.
"Na-che and I are going over to the cliff dwelling. We'll be gone allday."
"I'll act as guide," said Enoch with alacrity.
"It's not necessary!" exclaimed Diana. "I don't want to interrupt yourcamp routine at all. You just give us directions, Judge. Na-che and Iare old hands at this, you know."
"Oh, take him along, Diana! He'll be crying in a minute," sniffedCurly. "Jonas, you'll stay and give us a feed, won't you?"
"I got to look out for the boss," Jonas spoke anxiously.
A shout went up. "Jonas, old boy," said Enoch, "you stay in campto-day and er--look over my clothes."
"I will, boss," with intense relief, "and I'll make you a stew out ofthose rabbits nobody'll forget in a hurry."
Mack and Curly hurried off to the river's edge. Na-che and Jonas wentinto the cave. Enoch looked at Diana. She was standing by thebreakfast fire slender and straight in her brown corduroy riding suit,her wide, intelligent eyes studying Enoch's face. There was a glow ofcrimson in the cream of her cheeks, for the morning air held frost inits touch.
"May I go with you?" repeated Enoch. "I'll be very good!"
Diana did not reply at first. Moonlight and firelight had notpermitted her before to read clearly the story of suffering that was inEnoch's face. During breakfast he had been laughing and chattingconstantly. But now, as he stood before her, she was appalled by whatshe saw in the rugged face. There were two straight, deep linesbetween his brows. The lines from nostril to lip corner were doublypronounced. The thin, sensitive lips were compressed. The clear,kindly blue eyes were contracted as if Enoch were enduring actualphysical pain. Tall and powerful, his dark red hair tossed back fromhis forehead, his look of trouble did not detract from the peculiarforcefulness of his personality.
"If you hesitate so long," he said, "I shall--"
Diana laughed. "Begin to cry, as Curly said? Oh, don't do that! Ishall be very happy to have you with me, but before we start, I think Ishall develop some of the films I exposed on the way over. A teno'clock start will be early enough, won't it? I have a developingmachine with me. It may not take me even until ten."
Enoch nodded. "How does the work go?" he asked eagerly. "Did youattend the ceremony Na-che sent word to you about?"
"Yes! Out of a hundred exposures I made there, I think I got onefairly satisfactory picture." Diana sighed. "After all, the cameratells the story no better than words, and words are futile. Look!What medium could one use to tell the world of that?"
She swept her arm to embrace the v
iew before them. The tiny sandybeach was on a curve of the river so sharp that above and below themthe rushing waters seemed to drive into blind canyon walls. To theright, the Canyon on both sides was so sheer, the river bed so narrowthat nothing but sky was to be seen above and beyond. But to the left,the south canyon wall terraced back at perhaps a thousand feet in aseries of magnificent strata, yellow, purple and crimson. Still southof this, lifted great weathered buttes and mesas, fortifications of thegods against time itself. The morning sun had not yet reached thecamp, but it shone warm and vivid on the peaks to the south, burningthrough the drifting mists from the river, in colors that thrilled theheart like music.
Enoch's eyes followed Diana's gesture. "I know," he said, softly."It's impossible to express it. I've thought of you and your work sooften, down here. Somehow, though, you do suggest the unattainable inyour pictures. It's what makes them great."
Diana shook her head and turned toward her tent, while Enoch lightedhis pipe and began his never-ending task of bringing in drift wood. Hepaused, a log on his shoulder, before Curly, who was squatting besidehis muddy pan.
"Curly," he said, "is that stuff you have on Fowler and Brown,political, financial, or a matter of personal morals?"
"Personal morals and worse!" grunted Curly. "It's some story!"
Enoch turned away without comment. But the lines between his eyesdeepened.