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12 - Last of the Plainsmen by Zane Grey · Last of the Plainsmen

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Speaker 1: Last Plainsman by Zane Gray, Chapter eleven, On to the Seawash.
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Speaker 1: Who all was doin the talkin' last night? Asked Frank
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Speaker 1: next morning, when we were having a late breakfast, Cause
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Speaker 1: I've a joke on somebody. Jim. He talks in his
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Speaker 1: sleep often an last night. After you did finally get
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Speaker 1: settled down, Jim, he up in his sleep and says,
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Speaker 1: sure he's wendy as hell. Sure he's Wendy as hell.
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Speaker 1: At this cruel exposure of his subjective wanderings, Jim showed
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Speaker 1: extreme humiliation, but Frank's eyes fairly snapped with the fun
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Speaker 1: he got out of telling it. The genial Foreman loved
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Speaker 1: a joke. Week stat Oak, in which we all became
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Speaker 1: thoroughly acquainted, had presented Jim as always the same quiet character, easy, slow, silent,
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Speaker 1: lovable in his brother Cowboy. However, we had discovered an
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Speaker 1: addition to his fine, frank friendly spirit, an overwhelming fondness
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Speaker 1: for playing tricks. This boy's mischievousness distinctly Arizonan, reached to
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Speaker 1: attack me whenever it tended in the direction of our
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Speaker 1: serious leader. Lawson had been despatched on some mysterious errand
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Speaker 1: about which my curiosity was all in vain. The order
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Speaker 1: of the day was leisurely to get in readiness and
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Speaker 1: packed for our journey to the sea wash. On the morrow,
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Speaker 1: a watered mohorse played with the hounds, knocked about the cliffs,
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Speaker 1: returned to the cabin and lay down on a bed.
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Speaker 1: Jim's hands were white with flour. He was kneading dough
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Speaker 1: and had several low flat pans on the table. Wallace
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Speaker 1: and Jones strolled in, and later Frank, and they all
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Speaker 1: took various positions before the fire. I saw Frank, with
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Speaker 1: the quickness of a sleight of hand performer, slipped one
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Speaker 1: of the pans of dough on the chair Jones had
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Speaker 1: placed by the table. Jim did not see the action.
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Speaker 1: Jones and Wallace's bags were turned to Frank, and he
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Speaker 1: did not know I was in the cabin. The conversation
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Speaker 1: continued on the subject of Jones's big bay horse, which
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Speaker 1: hobbles and all had gotten ten miles from camp the
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Speaker 1: night before. Better County's ribs than his tracks, said Frank,
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Speaker 1: and went on talking as easily and naturally as if
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Speaker 1: he had not been expecting a very entertaining situation. But
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Speaker 1: no one could ever foretell Colonel Jones's actions. He showed
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Speaker 1: every intention of seating himself in the chair, then walked
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Speaker 1: over to his pack to begin searching for something or other. Wallace, however,
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Speaker 1: promptly took the seat, and what began to be funnier
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Speaker 1: than strange, he did not get up. Not unlikely. This
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Speaker 1: circumstance was owing to the fact that several of the
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Speaker 1: roof chairs had soft layers of old blankets tacked on them.
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Speaker 1: Whatever were Frank's internal emotions, he presented a remarkably placid
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Speaker 1: and commonplace exterior. But when Jim began to search for
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Speaker 1: the missing pan of dough, the joker slowly sagged in
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Speaker 1: his chair. Sure that beats hell, said Jim, and three
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Speaker 1: pounds a dough could the pup have taken one? Wallace
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Speaker 1: rose to his feet, and the bread pan clattered to
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Speaker 1: the floor with a quiging the clank, evidently protesting against
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Speaker 1: the indignity it had suffered. But the dough stayed with
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Speaker 1: Wallace a great white, conspicuous spot on his corduroys. Jim,
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Speaker 1: Frank and Jones all saw it at once. Why, mister Wallace,
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Speaker 1: you said in the doe, exclaimed Frank in a queer,
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Speaker 1: strangled voice. Then he exploded while Jim fell over the table.
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Speaker 1: It seemed that these two Arizona rangers, but your men,
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Speaker 1: though they were, would die of convulsions. I laughed with him,
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Speaker 1: and so did Wallace while he brought his bone handled
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Speaker 1: bowie knife into novel use. Buffalo Jones never cracked a smile,
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Speaker 1: though he did remark about the waste of good flower.
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Speaker 1: Frank's face was a study for of a psychologist. When
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Speaker 1: Jim actually apologized to Wallace for being so careless with
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Speaker 1: his pants, I did not betray Frank, but I resolved
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Speaker 1: to keep a still closer watch on him. It was
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Speaker 1: partially because of this uneasy sense of his trickiness in
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Speaker 1: the fringe of my mind that I made a discovery.
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Speaker 1: My sleeping bag rested on a raised platform in one
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Speaker 1: corner at a favorable moment. I examined the bag. They
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Speaker 1: had not been tampered with, but I noticed a string
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Speaker 1: running out through a chink between the logs. I found
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Speaker 1: it came from a thick layer of straw under my
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Speaker 1: bed and had been tied to the end of a
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Speaker 1: flatly coiled blass. Up leaving the thing as it was,
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Speaker 1: I went outside and carelessly chased the hounds round the cabin.
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Speaker 1: The string stretched along the logs to another chink, where
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Speaker 1: it returned into the cabin at a point near where
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Speaker 1: Frank's left. No great power of deduction was necessary to
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Speaker 1: acquaint me with full details of the plot to spoil
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Speaker 1: my slumbers, so I patiently awaited to develops. Lawson rode
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Speaker 1: in near sundown with the carcasses of two beasts of
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Speaker 1: some species hanging over his saddle. It turned out that
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Speaker 1: Jones had planned a surprise for Wallace and me, and
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Speaker 1: it could hardly have been a more enjoyable one considering
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Speaker 1: the time and place. We knew he had a flock
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Speaker 1: of Persian sheep on the south side of Buckskin, but
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Speaker 1: had no idea it was within striking distance of Oak.
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Speaker 1: Lawson had that day hunted up the shepherd any sheep
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Speaker 1: to return to us with two sixty pound Persian lambs.
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Speaker 1: We feasted at supper time on meat which was sweet, juicy,
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Speaker 1: and very tender, and of as rare a flavor as
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Speaker 1: that of the Rocky Mountain sheep. My state after supper
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Speaker 1: was one of huge enjoyment, and with intense interest, I
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Speaker 1: waited Frank's first farm for an opening. It came presently,
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Speaker 1: in a lull of the conversation, saw big rattler run
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Speaker 1: under the cabin to day, he said, as if speaking
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Speaker 1: of one of old baldy shoes. I tried to get
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Speaker 1: a whack at him, but he used a way too quick.
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Speaker 1: Sure I've seen him often, put in Jim, good, old
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Speaker 1: honest Jim led the way by his trickster comrade. It
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Speaker 1: was very plain, so I was to be frightened by snakes.
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Speaker 1: These old canyon beds are ideal dens for Rattlesnakes chimed
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Speaker 1: in my scientific California friend. I have found several dens,
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Speaker 1: but did not molest him, as this is a particularly
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Speaker 1: dangerous time of the year to meddle with reptiles. Quite
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Speaker 1: likely there's a den under the cabin. While he made
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Speaker 1: his remarkable statement, he had the grace to hide his
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Speaker 1: face in a huge puff of smoke. He too was
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Speaker 1: in the plot. I waited for Jones to come out
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Speaker 1: with some ridiculous theory or fact concerning the particular species
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Speaker 1: of snake, But as he did not speak, I concluded
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Speaker 1: they had wisely left him out of the secret. After
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Speaker 1: mentally debating a moment I decided, as it was a
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Speaker 1: very harmless joke to help Frank to the fulfillment of
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Speaker 1: his enjoyment ratlsnakes, I exclaimed, Heavens, I'd die if I
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Speaker 1: heard one, let alone seeing it. A big rattler jumped
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Speaker 1: at me one day, and I've never recovered from the shock. Plainly,
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Speaker 1: Frank was delighted to hear of my antipathy and my
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Speaker 1: unfortunate experience, and he proceeded to expatererate on the viciousness
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Speaker 1: of rattlesnake's, particularly those of Arizona. If I had believed
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Speaker 1: the seceding stories emanating from the fertile brains of those
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Speaker 1: three fellows, I should have made certain that Arizona canyons
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Speaker 1: were Brazilian jungles. Frank's parting shot, sent in a mellow,
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Speaker 1: kind voice, was the best point in the whole trick. Now,
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Speaker 1: I'd be nervous if I had a sleep in bag
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Speaker 1: like ears, because it's just the place for a rattler
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Speaker 1: to ooze into. In the confusion and dim light of bedtime,
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Speaker 1: I contrived to throw the end of my lasso over
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Speaker 1: the horn of a saddle hanging on the wall, with
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Speaker 1: the intention of augmenting the noise I soon expected to create.
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Speaker 1: And I placed my automatic rifle in a thirty eighth
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Speaker 1: s and w special within easy reach in my hand.
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Speaker 1: Then I crawled into my bag and composed myself to listen.
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Speaker 1: Frank soon began to snore so bracingly, so fictitiously, that
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Speaker 1: I wondered at the man's absorbed intensity in his joke,
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Speaker 1: and I was at great pains to smother in my
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Speaker 1: breast a violent burst of riotous merriment. Jones's stores, however,
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Speaker 1: were real enough, and this made me enjoy the situation
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Speaker 1: all the more, because if he did not show a
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Speaker 1: mild surprise when the catastrophe fell, I would greatly miss
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Speaker 1: my guests. I knew the three wily conspirators were wide awake.
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Speaker 1: Suddenly I felt a movement in a straw under me,
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Speaker 1: and a faint rustling, so soft, so sinuous, that if
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Speaker 1: I had not known it was the lasso, I would
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Speaker 1: assuredly have been frightened. I gave a little jump, such
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Speaker 1: as one will make quickly in bed. Then the coil
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Speaker 1: ran out from under the straw. How subtly suggestive of
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Speaker 1: a snake. I made a slight outcry, a big jump
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Speaker 1: paused a moment for affectiveness, in which time Frank forgot
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Speaker 1: to snore, and then let out a tremendous shell, grabbed
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Speaker 1: my guns and sent twelve thundering shots through the roof,
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Speaker 1: and pulled my lasso crash. The saddle came down to
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Speaker 1: be followed by sounds not on Frank's program, and certainly
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Speaker 1: not calculated upon by me, but they were all the
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Speaker 1: more effective. I gathered at Lawson, who was not in
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Speaker 1: the secret, and who was a nightmare sort of sleeper anyway,
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Speaker 1: had knocked over Jim's table with its array of pots
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Speaker 1: and pans, and then, unfortunately for Jones, had kicked that
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Speaker 1: innocent person in the stomach. As I lay there in
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Speaker 1: my bag, the very happiest fellow in the wide world,
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Speaker 1: the sound of my mirth was as the buzz of
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Speaker 1: the wings of a fly. To the mighty storm. Roar
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Speaker 1: on roar filled the cabin. When the three hypocrites recovered
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Speaker 1: sufficiently from the startling climax to calm Lawson, who swore
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Speaker 1: the cabin had been attacked by Indians, when Jones stopped
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Speaker 1: roaring long enough to hear it was only a harmless
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Speaker 1: snake that had caused the trouble. We hushed to repose
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Speaker 1: once agnar not, however, without hearing some trenchant remarks from
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Speaker 1: the boiling Colonel anent fun and fools, and the indisputable
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Speaker 1: fact that there was not a rattlesnake on Buckskin Mountain.
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Speaker 1: Long after this explosion had died away, I heard, or
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Speaker 1: rather fell to the mysterious shudder or tremor of the cabin,
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Speaker 1: and I knew that Frank and Jim were shaking with
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Speaker 1: silent laughter. I'm an own score. I determined to find
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Speaker 1: if Jones, in his strange make up, had any sense
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Speaker 1: of humor, or interest in life, or feeling of love
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Speaker 1: that did not center and hinge on four footed beasts
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Speaker 1: in view of the rude away from what, no doubt
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Speaker 1: were pleasant dreams of wonderful white and green animals, combining
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Speaker 1: intelligence of man and strength of brutes, a new species
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Speaker 1: creditable to his genius. I was perhaps unjust in my
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Speaker 1: conviction as to his lack of humor, and as to
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Speaker 1: the other question whether or not he had any real
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Speaker 1: human feeling for the creatures built in his own image.
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Speaker 1: That was decided very soon and unexpectedly the following morning.
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Speaker 1: As soon as Lawson got in with the horses, we
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Speaker 1: packed and started. Rather sorry was I to bid goodbye
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Speaker 1: to Oak Spring. Taking the back trail of the Stuarts,
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Speaker 1: we walked the horses all day up a slowly narrowing,
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Speaker 1: ascending canyon. The hounds crossed coyotes and deer trails continually,
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Speaker 1: but made no break. Sounder looked up as if to
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Speaker 1: say he associated painful reminiscences with certain kinds of tracks.
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Speaker 1: At the head of the canyon, we reached Timber at
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Speaker 1: about the time dusk gathered, and we located for the night.
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Speaker 1: Being once again nearly nine thousand feet high, we found
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Speaker 1: the air bitterly cold, making a blazing fire most acceptable.
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Speaker 1: In the haste to get supper, we all took a
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Speaker 1: hand and some one threw upon our topperlain tablecloth a
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Speaker 1: tin cup of butter mixed with carbolic acid, the concoction
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Speaker 1: Jones used to bathe the sore feet of the dogs.
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Speaker 1: Of course, I got hold of this, spread a generous
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Speaker 1: portion on my hot biscuit, placed some red hot beans
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Speaker 1: on that, and began to eat like a hungry hunter.
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Speaker 1: At first I thought I was only burned. Then I
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Speaker 1: recognized the taste and burned of the acid and knew
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Speaker 1: something was wrong. Picking up the tin, I examined it,
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Speaker 1: smelled the pungent odor, and felt a queer, numb sense
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Speaker 1: of fear. This lasted only for a moment, as I
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Speaker 1: well knew the use and power of the acid and
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Speaker 1: not swallowed enough to hurt me. I was about to
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Speaker 1: make known my mistake in a matter of fact way
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Speaker 1: when it flashed over me. The accident could be made
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Speaker 1: to serve a turn Jones. I cried, hoarsely, what'sn't this
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Speaker 1: butter Lord, you haven't eaten any of that? Well, I
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Speaker 1: put carbolic acid in it. Oh, oh, I'm poisoned. I
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Speaker 1: ain't nearly all of it. I'm burning on dying with that,
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Speaker 1: I continued to moan and rock to and fro and
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Speaker 1: hold my stomach. Consternation proceeded shock, But in the excitement
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Speaker 1: of the moment, Wallace, who though badly scared, retained his wits,
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Speaker 1: made for me with a can of condensed milk. He
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Speaker 1: threw me back with no gentle hand, and was squeezing
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Speaker 1: the life out of me to make me open my mouth.
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Speaker 1: When I gave him a jab in his side. I
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Speaker 1: imagined his surprise as This peculiar reception of the first
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Speaker 1: aid to the injured made him hold off to take
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Speaker 1: a look at me. And in this interval I contriumph
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Speaker 1: to whisper to him, Jo, joke, you idiot, shaming. Want
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Speaker 1: to see if I can scare Jones? Get even with Frank,
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Speaker 1: help me out cry get tragic. From that moment, I
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Speaker 1: shall always believe that the stage lost a great tragutan
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Speaker 1: in Wallace. With a magnificent gesture, he threw the can
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Speaker 1: of condensed milk at Jones, who was so stunned he
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Speaker 1: did not try to dodge. Thoughtless man, murderer. It's too late,
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Speaker 1: cried Wallace, laying me back across his knees. It's too late.
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Speaker 1: His teeth are locked. He's far gone. Poor boy, Poor boy,
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Speaker 1: Who's to tell his mother? I could see from under
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Speaker 1: my hat brim that the solemn, hollow voice had penetrated
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Speaker 1: the cold exterior of the planesman. He could not speak.
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Speaker 1: He clasped and unclasped his big hands in helpless fashion.
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Speaker 1: Frank was white as a sheet. This was simply delightful
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Speaker 1: to me, but the expression of miserable, impotent distress on
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Speaker 1: old Jim's sun brown face was more than I could stand,
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Speaker 1: and I could no longer keep up the deception. Just
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Speaker 1: as Wallis cried out to Jones to pray, I wish
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Speaker 1: then I had not weakened so soon I got up
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Speaker 1: and walked to the fire. Jim, I'll have another biscuit, please.
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Speaker 1: His underjaw dropped, then he nervously shoveled biscuits at me.
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Speaker 1: Jones grabbed my hand and cried out, with a voice
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Speaker 1: that was new to me. You can eat, You're better,
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Speaker 1: You'll get over it. Sure why carbolic acid never faces me?
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Speaker 1: I've often used it for rattlesnake bites. I did not
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Speaker 1: tell you, but that rattler at the cabin last night
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Speaker 1: actually bit me, and I used car pollock to cure
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Speaker 1: the poison. Rank mumbled something about horses and faded into
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Speaker 1: the gloom. As for Jones, he looked at me rather incredulously,
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Speaker 1: and the absolute, almost childish gladness he manifested because I
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Speaker 1: had been snatched from the grave made me regret my
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Speaker 1: deceit and satisfied me forever on one score. On awakening
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Speaker 1: in the morning, I found frost half an inch thick,
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Speaker 1: covered by sleeping bag, whitened the ground and made the
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Speaker 1: beautiful silver spruce trees silver in hue as well as
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Speaker 1: in name. We were getting ready for an early start
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Speaker 1: when two riders with pack horses jogging after them, came
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Speaker 1: down the trail from the direction of Oak Spring. They
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Speaker 1: proved to be Jeff Clark, the wild horse wrangler mentioned
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Speaker 1: by the Stewarts, and his helper. They were on the
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Speaker 1: way into the Brakes for a string of pintos. Clark
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Speaker 1: was a short, heavily bearded man of jovial aspect. He
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Speaker 1: said he had met the Stewarts going into Fredonia, and
16:32
Speaker 1: being advised of our destination, had hurry to come up
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Speaker 1: with us, as we did not know except in a
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Speaker 1: general way, where we were making for The meeting was
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Speaker 1: a fortunate event. Our camping side had been close to
16:45
Speaker 1: the divide made by one of the long wooded ridges
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Speaker 1: sent off by a Buckskin mountain, and soon we were
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Speaker 1: descending again. We rode half a mile down a timbered
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Speaker 1: slope and then into a beautiful flat forest of gigantic
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Speaker 1: pots panes. Clark informed us it was a level bench
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Speaker 1: some ten miles long, running out over the slopes of
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Speaker 1: Buckskin to face the Grand Canyon on the south and
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Speaker 1: the breaks of the seawash on the west. For two hours.
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Speaker 1: We rode between the stately lines of trees, and the
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Speaker 1: hoofs of the horses gave forth no sound. A long,
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Speaker 1: silverly grass sprinkled with smiling bluebells covered the ground, except
17:26
Speaker 1: close under the pines, where soft red mats invited lounging
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Speaker 1: and rest. We saw numerous deer, great gray mule deer
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Speaker 1: almost as large as elk. Jones said they had been
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Speaker 1: crossed with elk once, which accounted for their size. I
17:41
Speaker 1: did not see a stump, or a burnt tree, or
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Speaker 1: a windfall during the ride. Clark led us to the
17:47
Speaker 1: rim of the canyon, without any preparation. For the giant
17:50
Speaker 1: trees hid the open sky. We rode right out to
17:53
Speaker 1: the edge of the tremendous chasm. At first, it did
17:57
Speaker 1: not seem to think my faculties were benumbed. Only the
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Speaker 1: purest sensorial instinct of the savage who sees but does
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Speaker 1: not feel, made me take note of the abyss. Not
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Speaker 1: one of our party had ever seen the canyon from
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Speaker 1: this side, and not one of us said a word.
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Speaker 1: But Clark kept talking wild place. This is hare, he said,
18:19
Speaker 1: Seldom any one but horse wranglers gets over this far.
18:23
Speaker 1: I've had a bunch of wild pindows down in a
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Speaker 1: canyon below for two years. I reckon, you can't find
18:28
Speaker 1: no better place for camp than right here. Listen, do
18:33
Speaker 1: you hear that rumble? That's thunderfalls? You can only see
18:37
Speaker 1: it from one place and that far off. But there's
18:40
Speaker 1: brooks you can get to water the horses. For that matter,
18:44
Speaker 1: you can ride up the slopes and get snow. If
18:47
Speaker 1: you can get snow close, it'd be better. For that's
18:50
Speaker 1: an all fired bad trail down for water. Is this
18:54
Speaker 1: the cougar country the Stuart's talked about, asked Jones. Reckon,
18:58
Speaker 1: it is cougar's this as thick in here as rabbits
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Speaker 1: in a spring whole canyon. I'm on the way now
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Speaker 1: to bring them a pentose. Cougars have cost me hundreds,
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Speaker 1: I might say thousands of dollars. I lose horses all
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Speaker 1: the time, and damn me, gentlemen, I've never raised a colt.
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Speaker 1: This is the greatest cougar country in the West. Look
19:20
Speaker 1: at those yellow crags. There's where cougars stay. No one
19:25
Speaker 1: ever hunted them. Seems to me they can't be hunted
19:29
Speaker 1: deer and wild horses by the thousand brows. Here in
19:33
Speaker 1: the mountain and summer, and down in the breaks in winter,
19:36
Speaker 1: coolers lived fat. You'll find deer and wild Horseclocker says,
19:40
Speaker 1: all over this country you'll find lions, dens full of bones.
19:45
Speaker 1: You'll find warm deer left for the coyotes. But whether
19:49
Speaker 1: you'll find the cougars, I can't say. I fetched dogs
19:53
Speaker 1: in here and try to catch Old Tom. I've put
19:56
Speaker 1: them on his trail and never saw a hide or
19:58
Speaker 1: hear of them again. Jones, it's no easy hunt here. Well,
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Speaker 1: I can see that, replied our leader. I never hunted
20:08
Speaker 1: lions in such a country, and never knew any one
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Speaker 1: who had. We'll have to learn how. We've the time
20:15
Speaker 1: and the dogs. All we need is the stuff in us.
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Speaker 1: Hope you fellow gets some cougars, and I believe you will.
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Speaker 1: Whatever you do, kill old Tom, we'll catch him alive.
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Speaker 1: We're not on a hunt to kill cougars, said Jones,
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Speaker 1: What exclaimed Clark, Looking from Jones to us, his rugged
20:34
Speaker 1: face wore a half smile. Jones ropes cougars an ties
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Speaker 1: em up, replied Frank. I'm he'll never rope Old Tom
20:45
Speaker 1: burst out Clark, ejecting a huge quiddu tobacco. Why man alive?
20:51
Speaker 1: It'd be the death of you to get near that
20:54
Speaker 1: old villain. I never seen him, but i've seen his
20:57
Speaker 1: trash for five years. They're larger than any hoss tracks
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Speaker 1: you ever seen. He'll weigh over three hundred, that old cougar. Here.
21:07
Speaker 1: Take a look at my man's hoss. Look at it back?
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Speaker 1: See him marks? Well, Old Tom made them, and he
21:13
Speaker 1: made them right in camp last fall when we were
21:16
Speaker 1: down in the canyon. The mustang to which Clark called
21:20
Speaker 1: our attention, was a sleek, cream and white pinto. Upon
21:24
Speaker 1: his side and back were long regular scars, some an
21:27
Speaker 1: inch wide and bare of hair. How on earth did
21:30
Speaker 1: he get rid of the cougar, asked Jones. I don't know.
21:33
Speaker 1: Perhaps got scared of the dogs. It took that pino
21:36
Speaker 1: a year to get well. Old Tom is a real lion.
21:40
Speaker 1: You'll kill full grown hawks when he wants, But your
21:43
Speaker 1: own colt is his special likin. You're sure to run
21:47
Speaker 1: across his trail. You'll never miss it. Well, if I
21:51
Speaker 1: find any cougar sign down in the canyon, I'll build
21:53
Speaker 1: two fires so to let you know, though no hunter,
21:58
Speaker 1: I'm tolerably acquainted with the varmits. The deer and hosses
22:01
Speaker 1: are ranging the forest slopes now, and I think the
22:04
Speaker 1: cougars come up over the rim rock at night and
22:07
Speaker 1: go back in the mountain. Anyway, if your dogs can
22:11
Speaker 1: follow the trails, you've got sport and more in sport
22:14
Speaker 1: comin to you. But take it from me, don't try
22:18
Speaker 1: to rope old Tom. After all our disappointments in the
22:23
Speaker 1: beginning of the expedition, our hardship on the desert, our
22:27
Speaker 1: trials with the dogs and horses, it was real pleasure
22:31
Speaker 1: to make permanent camp with wood, water and feet at hand,
22:34
Speaker 1: a soul stirring, ever changing picture before us, and a
22:38
Speaker 1: certainty that we were in the wild lairs of the lions,
22:42
Speaker 1: among the lords of the crags. While we were unpacking,
22:47
Speaker 1: every now and then I would straighten up and gaze
22:50
Speaker 1: out beyond. I knew the outlook was magnificent and sublimely
22:54
Speaker 1: yond words, but as yet I had not begun to
22:57
Speaker 1: understand it. The great pine trees growing to the very
23:01
Speaker 1: edge of the rim received their full quota of appreciation
23:04
Speaker 1: from me, as did the smooth flower deck dials leading
23:08
Speaker 1: back into the forest. The location we selected for camp
23:13
Speaker 1: was a large glade fifty paces or more from the precipice,
23:16
Speaker 1: far enough the cowboys of virtue to keep our traps
23:20
Speaker 1: from being sucked down by some of the whirlpool winds
23:23
Speaker 1: native to the spot. In a center of this glade
23:25
Speaker 1: stood a huge, gnarled and blasted old pine, but certainly,
23:29
Speaker 1: by virtue of hoary locks and Bent's shoulders, had earned
23:32
Speaker 1: the right to stand aloof from his younger companions. Under
23:36
Speaker 1: this tree we placed all our belongings, and then, as
23:39
Speaker 1: Frank so feliciously expressed it, we were free to ooze
23:42
Speaker 1: around and see things. I believe I had a sort
23:46
Speaker 1: of subconscious selfish idea that someone would steal the canyon
23:50
Speaker 1: away from me if I did not hurry to make
23:52
Speaker 1: it mine forever. So I sneaked off and sat under
23:56
Speaker 1: a pine growing on the very rim. At first glance,
23:59
Speaker 1: I saw below me, seemingly miles away, a wide chaos
24:03
Speaker 1: of red and bluff maces rising out of dark purple clefts.
24:08
Speaker 1: Beyond these reared a long, irregular table land running south
24:11
Speaker 1: almost to the extent of my vision, which I remembered
24:15
Speaker 1: Clark had called Powell's plateau. I remembered also that he
24:20
Speaker 1: had said it was twenty miles distant. Was almost that
24:24
Speaker 1: many miles long, was connected to the mainland of Buckskin
24:28
Speaker 1: Mountain by a very narrow wooded dip of land called saddle,
24:32
Speaker 1: and that had practically shut us out of a view
24:35
Speaker 1: of the Grand Canyon proper. If that was true, what
24:38
Speaker 1: then could be the name of the canyon at my feet? Suddenly,
24:43
Speaker 1: as my gaze wandered from point to point, it was
24:45
Speaker 1: arrested by a dark, conical mountain, white tipped, which rose
24:50
Speaker 1: in the notch of the saddle. What could it mean?
24:54
Speaker 1: Were there such things as canyon mirages? Then the dim
24:58
Speaker 1: purple of its color told of its great distance from me,
25:02
Speaker 1: and then its familiar shape told I had come into
25:05
Speaker 1: my own again. I had found my old friend once more.
25:10
Speaker 1: For in all that plateau there was only one snow
25:13
Speaker 1: capped mountain, the San Francisco Peak, and there a hundred
25:17
Speaker 1: and fifty, perhaps two hundred miles away, far beyond the
25:20
Speaker 1: Grand Canyon. It smiled brightly at me, as it had
25:24
Speaker 1: for days and days across the desert. Hearing Jones yelling
25:29
Speaker 1: for somebody or everybody, I jumped up to find a
25:32
Speaker 1: procession heading for a point further down the rim wall,
25:35
Speaker 1: where our leader stood waving his arms. The excitement proved
25:39
Speaker 1: to have been caused by cougar signs at the head
25:41
Speaker 1: of the trail where Clark had started down. They're here, boys,
25:46
Speaker 1: they're here, Jones kept repeating as he showed us different tracks.
25:51
Speaker 1: The sign's not that, old boys. Till morrow, We'll get
25:54
Speaker 1: up a lion, sure as you're born. And if we
25:57
Speaker 1: do and Sounder seize him, then we've got a lion dog.
26:02
Speaker 1: I'm afraid of Dawn. He has a fine nose. He
26:05
Speaker 1: can run and fight, but he's been trained to deer,
26:08
Speaker 1: and maybe I can't break him. Mose is still uncertain.
26:12
Speaker 1: If old Jude only hadn't been lame, she would be
26:14
Speaker 1: the best of the lot. But Sounder, it's our hope.
26:18
Speaker 1: I'm almost ready to swear by him. All this was
26:21
Speaker 1: too much for me, so I slipped off again to
26:24
Speaker 1: be alone, and this time hinted for the forest. Warm
26:27
Speaker 1: patches of sunlight like gold, brightened the ground. Dark patches
26:31
Speaker 1: of sky like ocean blue gleamed between the tree tops.
26:35
Speaker 1: Hardly a rustle wind, and the fine toothed green branches
26:38
Speaker 1: disturbed the quiet. When I got fully out of side
26:41
Speaker 1: of the camp, I started to run, as if I
26:43
Speaker 1: were a wild Indian. My running had no aim, just sheer,
26:47
Speaker 1: mad joy of the grand old forest, the smell of pine,
26:50
Speaker 1: the wild silence and beauty loose to spirit in me.
26:53
Speaker 1: So it had to run, and I ran with it
26:56
Speaker 1: till the physical being failed. While resting on a fragrant
27:00
Speaker 1: bed of pine needles, endeavoring to gain control over a
27:03
Speaker 1: truant mind, trying to subdue the encroaching of the natural
27:07
Speaker 1: man on civilized man, I saw gray objects moving under
27:11
Speaker 1: the trees. I lost them, then saw them, and presently,
27:15
Speaker 1: so plainly that with delight on delight, I counted seventeen
27:19
Speaker 1: deer pass through an open arch of dark green. Rising
27:23
Speaker 1: to my feet, I ran to get round a low mound.
27:26
Speaker 1: They saw me and bounded away with prodigiously long leaps,
27:30
Speaker 1: bringing their fore feet together, stiff legged under them, they
27:33
Speaker 1: bounced high like rubber balls, yet they were graceful. The
27:37
Speaker 1: forest was so open that I could watch them for
27:39
Speaker 1: a long way, And as I circled my gaze, a
27:42
Speaker 1: glimpse of something white arrested my attention. A light grayish
27:46
Speaker 1: animal appeared to be tearing at an old stump. Upon
27:49
Speaker 1: nearer view, I recognized a wolf, and he scented or
27:53
Speaker 1: sighted me at the same moment, and loped off into
27:56
Speaker 1: the shadows of the trees. Approaching the spot where I
27:59
Speaker 1: had marked him, and found he had been feeding from
28:02
Speaker 1: the carcass of a horse. The remains had only been
28:05
Speaker 1: partially eaten, and were of an animal over the mustang
28:09
Speaker 1: build that had evidently been recently killed. Frightful lacerations under
28:14
Speaker 1: the throat showed where a lion had taken fatal hold.
28:17
Speaker 1: Deep furrows in the ground proved how the mustang had
28:20
Speaker 1: sunk his hoofs reared and shaken himself. I traced roughly
28:24
Speaker 1: to find tracks fifty paces to the lee of the
28:26
Speaker 1: little bank, from which I concluded the lion had sprung.
28:31
Speaker 1: I gave free rein to my imagination and saw the
28:33
Speaker 1: forest dark, silent, peopled by none but its savage densians.
28:39
Speaker 1: The lion crept like a shadow, crouched noiselessly down, then
28:43
Speaker 1: licked on a sleeping or browsing prey. The lonely night
28:47
Speaker 1: stillness split to a frantic snort and scream of terror,
28:50
Speaker 1: and a stricken mustang with his mortal enemy upon his back,
28:54
Speaker 1: dashed off with fierce, wild love of life. As he
28:58
Speaker 1: went he felt his full crawl all towards his neck
29:01
Speaker 1: on claws of fire. He saw the tawny body and
29:04
Speaker 1: the gleaming eyes. Then the cruel teeth snapped with sudden bite,
29:08
Speaker 1: and the woodland tragedy ended. On the spot, I conceived
29:13
Speaker 1: an antipathy towards Lyons. It was born of the frightful
29:17
Speaker 1: spectacle of what had once been a glossy, prancing mustang,
29:21
Speaker 1: of the mute, sickening proof of the survival of the fittest,
29:25
Speaker 1: of the law that levels life. Upon telling my camp
29:29
Speaker 1: followers about my discovery, Jones and Wallace walked out to
29:32
Speaker 1: see it, while Jim told me the wolf I had
29:36
Speaker 1: seen was a loafer, one of the giant buffalo wolves
29:40
Speaker 1: of Buckskin, and if I would watch the carcass in
29:43
Speaker 1: mornings and evenings, I would sure as hell get a
29:46
Speaker 1: plug ad him. White pine burned in a beautiful, clear
29:51
Speaker 1: blue flame with no smoke, and in the center of
29:54
Speaker 1: the campfire left a golden heart, but Jones would not
29:57
Speaker 1: have any sitting up and hustle us off to bed.
30:01
Speaker 1: Saying we would be blame glad of it. In fifteen hours,
30:05
Speaker 1: I crawled into my sleeping bag, made a hood of
30:07
Speaker 1: my Navajo blanket, and peeping from under it, watched the
30:11
Speaker 1: fire and flickering shadows. The blaze burned down rapidly. Then
30:15
Speaker 1: the stars blinked. Arizona stars would be moons in any
30:19
Speaker 1: other state. How serene, peaceful, August, infinite and wonderfully bright.
30:25
Speaker 1: No breeze stirred the pines. The clear tinkle of the
30:28
Speaker 1: cow bells on the hobbled horses rang from nearer and
30:31
Speaker 1: distant parts of the forest. The proassic bell of the
30:34
Speaker 1: meadow and the pasture brook here in this environment jingled
30:39
Speaker 1: out different notes, as clear, sweet, musical as silver bells.
30:44
Speaker 1: End of Chapter eleven,