Latest / The Boy Scout Book of Campfire Stories / Chapter 2: Wild Horse Hunter, part 2 by Zane Grey

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Chapter 2: Wild Horse Hunter, part 2 by Zane Grey · The Boy Scout Book of Campfire Stories

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  Speaker 1: Chapter two of The Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stories.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Myra Parker, The Boy
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  Speaker 1: Scouts Book of Campfire Stories, Chapter two, The Wild Horse Hunters,
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  Speaker 1: Part two by Zane Gray. In the early morning, when
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  Speaker 1: all was gray and the big dark pines were shadowy specters,
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  Speaker 1: Sloane was awakened by the cold. His hands were so
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  Speaker 1: numb that he had difficulties starting a fire. He stood
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  Speaker 1: over the blaze, warming them. The air was nipping, clear
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  Speaker 1: and thin and sweet with frosty fragrance. Daylight came while
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  Speaker 1: he was in the midst of his morning meal. A
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  Speaker 1: white frost covered the ground and crackled under his feet.
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  Speaker 1: As he went out to bring in the horses, he
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  Speaker 1: saw fresh deer tracks. Then he went back to camp
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  Speaker 1: for his rifle. Keeping a sharp lookout for game, he
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  Speaker 1: continued his search for the horses. The forest was open
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  Speaker 1: and park like. There were no fallen trees or evidences
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  Speaker 1: of fire. Presently, he came to a wide glade in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of which Nagger and the pack mustang were
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  Speaker 1: grazing with a herd of deer. The size of the
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  Speaker 1: latter amazed Sloane. The deer he had hunted back on
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  Speaker 1: the Sevier Range were much smaller than these. Evidently these
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  Speaker 1: were mule deer closely allied to the elk. They were
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  Speaker 1: so tame they stood facing him curiously, with long ears erect.
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  Speaker 1: It was sheer murder to kill a deer standing and
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  Speaker 1: watching like that. But Sloane was out of meat and hungry,
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  Speaker 1: and facing a long, hard trip. He shot a buck,
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  Speaker 1: which leaped spasmodically away trying to follow the herd, and
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  Speaker 1: fell at the edge of the glade. Sloane cut out
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  Speaker 1: a haunch, and then catching the horses, he returned to camp,
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  Speaker 1: where he packed and saddled, and at once rode out
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  Speaker 1: on the dim trail. The wilderness of the country he
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  Speaker 1: was entering was evident in the fact that as he
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  Speaker 1: passed the glade where he had shot the deer a
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  Speaker 1: few minutes before, there were coyotes quarreling over the carcass.
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  Speaker 1: Sloane could see ahead and on each side several yards,
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  Speaker 1: and presently he ascertained that the forest floor was not
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  Speaker 1: so level as he had supposed he had entered a
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  Speaker 1: valley or was traversing a wide, gently sloping pass. He
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  Speaker 1: went through thickets of juniper and had to go around
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  Speaker 1: clumps of quaking asp. The pines grew larger and farther apart.
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  Speaker 1: Cedars and pinions had been left behind, and he had
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  Speaker 1: met with no silver spruces after leaving camp. Probably that
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  Speaker 1: point was the height of a divide. There were banks
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  Speaker 1: of snow in some of the hollows on the north side.
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  Speaker 1: Evidently the snow had very recently melted, and it was
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  Speaker 1: evident also that the depth of snow through here had
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  Speaker 1: been fully ten feet, judging from the mutilation of the
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  Speaker 1: juniper trees, where the deer standing on the hard frozen
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  Speaker 1: crust had browsed upon the branches. The quiet of the
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  Speaker 1: forest thrilled Sloane, and the only movement was the occasional
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  Speaker 1: gray flash of a deer or coyote across a glade.
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  Speaker 1: No birds of any species crossed Sloane's site. He came
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  Speaker 1: presently upon a lion track in the trail, made probably
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  Speaker 1: a day before. Sloane grew curious about it, seeing how
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  Speaker 1: it held as he was holding to Wildfire's track. After
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  Speaker 1: a mile or so, he made sure the lion had
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  Speaker 1: been trailing the stallion, and for a second he felt
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  Speaker 1: a cold contraction of his heart. Already he loved wildfire,
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  Speaker 1: and by virtue of all this toil of travel, considered
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  Speaker 1: the wild horse his property. No lion could ever get
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  Speaker 1: close to wildfire, he soliloquised, with a short laugh of
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  Speaker 1: that he was absolutely certain. The sun rose melting the frost,
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  Speaker 1: and a breath of warm air, laden with the scent
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  Speaker 1: of pine, moved heavily under the huge yellow trees. Sloane
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  Speaker 1: passed a point where the remains of an old campfire
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  Speaker 1: and a pile of deer antlers were further proof that
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  Speaker 1: indians visited this plateau to hunt. From this camp, broader,
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  Speaker 1: more deeply defined trails led away to the south and east.
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  Speaker 1: Sloane kept to the east, trail, in which Wildfire's track
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  Speaker 1: and those of the lion showed clearly. It was about
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the forenoon when the tracks of the
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  Speaker 1: stallion and lion left the trail to lead up a
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  Speaker 1: little draw where grass grew thick. Sloane followed, reading the
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  Speaker 1: signs of Wildfire's progress and the action of his pursuer
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  Speaker 1: as well as if he had seen them. Here the
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  Speaker 1: stallion had plowed into a snow bank, eating a hole
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  Speaker 1: two feet deep. Then he grazed around a little, then
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  Speaker 1: on and on. There his splendid tracks were deep in
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  Speaker 1: the soft earth. Slow knew what to expect when the
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  Speaker 1: track of the lion veered from those of the horse,
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  Speaker 1: and he followed the lion tracks. The ground was soft
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  Speaker 1: from the late melting of snow, and nagger sunk deep.
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  Speaker 1: The lion left a plane track here he stole steadily along.
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  Speaker 1: There he left many tracks at a point where he
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  Speaker 1: might have halted to make sure of his scent. He
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  Speaker 1: was circling on the trail of the stallion with cunning
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  Speaker 1: intent of ambush. The end of this slow, careful stalk
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  Speaker 1: of the lion, as told in his tracks, came upon
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  Speaker 1: the edge of a knoll, where he had crouched to
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  Speaker 1: watch and wait. From this perch he had made a
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  Speaker 1: magnificent spring sloane, estimating it to be forty feet, but
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  Speaker 1: he had missed the stallion. There were Wildfire's tracks, again,
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  Speaker 1: slow and short, and then deep and sharp, where in
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  Speaker 1: the impetus of fright he had sprung out of reach.
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  Speaker 1: A second leap of the lion, and then lessening bounds,
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  Speaker 1: and finally an abrupt turn from Wildfire's trail told the
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  Speaker 1: futility of that stalk. Sloane made certain that Wildfire was
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  Speaker 1: so keen that as he grazed along he had kept
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  Speaker 1: to open ground. Wildfire had run for a mile, then
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  Speaker 1: slowed down to a trot, and he had circled to
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  Speaker 1: get back to the train he had left. Sloane believed
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  Speaker 1: the horse was just so intelligent. At any rate, whild
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  Speaker 1: Fire struck the trail again and turned at right angles
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  Speaker 1: to follow it. Here the forest appeared perfectly level. Patches
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  Speaker 1: of snow became frequent and larger. As Sloane went on
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  Speaker 1: at length, the patches closed up and soon extended as
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  Speaker 1: far as he could see. It was soft, affording difficult travel.
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  Speaker 1: Sloane crossed hundreds of deer tracks, and the trail he
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  Speaker 1: was on evidently became a deer runway. Presently, far down
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  Speaker 1: one of the aisles between the Great Pines, Sloane saw
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  Speaker 1: what appeared to be a yellow cliff far away. It
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  Speaker 1: puzzled him, and as he went on he received the
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  Speaker 1: impression that the forest dropped out of sight ahead. Then
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  Speaker 1: the trees grew thicker, obstructing his view. Presently, the trail
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  Speaker 1: became soggy, and he had to help his horse. The
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  Speaker 1: mustang floundered in the soft snow and earth. Cedars and
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  Speaker 1: pinions appeared again, making travels still more laborious. All at
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  Speaker 1: once there came to Sloane a strange consciousness of light
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  Speaker 1: and wind and space and void. On the instant his
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  Speaker 1: horse halted with a snort. Sloane quickly looked up. Had
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  Speaker 1: he come to the end of the world. An abyss
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  Speaker 1: a canyon yawned beneath him, beyond all comparison in its greatness.
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  Speaker 1: His keen eye, educated to desert, distance and dimension, swept
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  Speaker 1: down and across, taking in the tremendous truth before it
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  Speaker 1: staggered his comprehension. But a second sweeping glance, slower, becoming
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  Speaker 1: intoxicated with what it beheld, saw gigantic cliff steps and
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  Speaker 1: yellow slopes dotted with cedars, leading down to clefts filled
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  Speaker 1: with purple smoke. And these led on and on to
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  Speaker 1: a ragged red world of rock, bear shining, bold uplifted
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  Speaker 1: in mesa dome, peak and crag, clear and strange in
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  Speaker 1: the morning light, still and sleeping like death. This, then,
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  Speaker 1: was the Great Canyon, which had seemed like a hunter's
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  Speaker 1: bable rather than truth. Sloane sight dimmed, blurring the spectacle,
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  Speaker 1: and he found that his eyes had filled with tears.
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  Speaker 1: He wiped them away and looked again and again, until
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  Speaker 1: he was confounded by the vastness and grandeur, and the
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  Speaker 1: vague sadness of the scene. Nothing he had ever looked
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  Speaker 1: at had affected him like this canyon. Although the stewarts
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  Speaker 1: had tried to prepare him for it, it was the
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  Speaker 1: horse hunter's passion that were reminded him of his pursuit.
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  Speaker 1: The deer trail led down through a break in the wall.
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  Speaker 1: Only a few rods of it could be seen. This
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  Speaker 1: trail was passable, even though choked with snow, but the
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  Speaker 1: depth beyond this wall seemed to fascinate Sloane and hold
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  Speaker 1: him back, used as he was to desert trails. Then
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  Speaker 1: the clean mark of Wildfire's hoof brought back the old thrill.
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  Speaker 1: This place fits you, Wildfire, muttered Sloane. Dismounting, he started
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  Speaker 1: down leading Nagger. The mustang followed. Sloane kept to the
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  Speaker 1: wall side of the trail, bearing the horses might slip.
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  Speaker 1: The snow held firmly at first, and Sloane had no trouble.
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  Speaker 1: The gap in the rim rock widened to a slope
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  Speaker 1: thickly grown over with cedars and pinions and mansanita. This
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  Speaker 1: growth made the descent more laborious, yet afore means at
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  Speaker 1: least for Sloane to go down with less danger. There
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  Speaker 1: was no stopping. Once started, the horses had to keep on.
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  Speaker 1: Sloane saw the impossibility of ever climbing out while that
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  Speaker 1: snow was there. The trail zigzagged down and down. Very
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  Speaker 1: soon the yellow wall hung tremendously over him. Straight up,
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  Speaker 1: the snow became thinner and softer, The horses began to slip.
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  Speaker 1: They slid on their haunches. Fortunately, the slope grew less steep,
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  Speaker 1: and Sloane could see below where it reached out to
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  Speaker 1: comparatively level ground. Still a mishap might yet occur. Sloane
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  Speaker 1: kept as close to Nagger as possible, helping him whenever
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  Speaker 1: he could do it. The mustang slipped, rolled over, and
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  Speaker 1: then slipped past. Sloan went down the slope to bring
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  Speaker 1: up in a cedar. Sloane worked down to him and
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  Speaker 1: extricated him. Then the huge Nagger began to slide. Snow
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  Speaker 1: and loose rocks slid with him, and so did Sloane.
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  Speaker 1: The little avalanche stopped of its own accord, and then
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  Speaker 1: Sloane drag Nagger on down and down, presently to come
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  Speaker 1: to the end of this steep descent. Sloane looked up
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  Speaker 1: to see that he had made short work of a
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  Speaker 1: thousand foot slope. Here, cedars and pinions grew thickly enough
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  Speaker 1: to make a forest. The snow thinned out to patches
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  Speaker 1: and then failed, but the going remained bad for a
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  Speaker 1: while as the horses sank deep in the soft red earth.
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  Speaker 1: This eventually grew more solid and finally dry. Sloane worked
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  Speaker 1: out of the cedars to what appeared a grassy plateau
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  Speaker 1: inclosed by the great green and white slope, with its
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  Speaker 1: yellow wall, overhanging and distant maces and cliffs. Here his
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  Speaker 1: view was restricted. He was down on the first bench
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  Speaker 1: of the great canyon, and there was the deer trail,
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  Speaker 1: a well worn path keeping to the edge of the slope.
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  Speaker 1: Sloane came to a deep cut in the earth, and
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  Speaker 1: the trail headed it where it began at the last
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  Speaker 1: descent of the slope. It was the source of a canyon.
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  Speaker 1: He could look down to see the bare worn rock,
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  Speaker 1: and a hundred yards from where he stood, the earth
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  Speaker 1: was washed from its rims, and it began to show
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  Speaker 1: depth and something of that ragged outline which told a
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  Speaker 1: violence of flood. The trail headed many canyons like this,
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  Speaker 1: all running down across this bench, disappearing dropping invisibly. The
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  Speaker 1: trail swung to the left under the great slope, and
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  Speaker 1: then presently it climbed to a higher bench. Here were
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  Speaker 1: brush and grass and huge patches of sage, so pungent
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  Speaker 1: that it stung Sloane's nostrils. Then he went down again,
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  Speaker 1: this time to come to a clear brook lined by willows.
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  Speaker 1: Here the horses drank long, and Sloane refreshed himself. The
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  Speaker 1: sun had grown hot. There was fragrance of flowers he
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  Speaker 1: could not see, and a low murmur of a waterfall
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  Speaker 1: that was likewise invisible. For most of the time his
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  Speaker 1: view was shut off, but occasionally he reached a point where,
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  Speaker 1: through some break he saw towers gleaming red in the sun,
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  Speaker 1: a strange place, a place of silence and smoky veils
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  Speaker 1: in the distance. Time passed swiftly toward the waning of
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  Speaker 1: the afternoon, he began to climb what appeared to be
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  Speaker 1: a saddle of land, connecting the canyon wall to the
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  Speaker 1: left with a great plateau, gold rimmed and pine fringed,
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  Speaker 1: rising more and more in his way as he he advanced.
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  Speaker 1: At sunset, Sloane was more shut in than for several hours.
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  Speaker 1: He could tell the time with sunset by the golden
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  Speaker 1: light on the cliff wall, again overhanging him. The slope
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  Speaker 1: was gradual up to this path to the saddle, and
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  Speaker 1: upon coming to his spring and the first pine trees,
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  Speaker 1: he decided to halt for camp. The mustang was almost exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: Thereupon he hobbled the horses in the luxuriant grass round
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  Speaker 1: the spring, and then unrolled his pack. Once as dusk
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  Speaker 1: came stealing down. While he was eating his meal, Nagger
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  Speaker 1: whistled in fright. Sloane saw a gray pantherish form gliding
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  Speaker 1: away into the shadows. He took a quick shot at it,
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  Speaker 1: but missed. It's a lion country, all right, he said,
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  Speaker 1: And then he set about building a big fire on
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  Speaker 1: the other side of the grassy plot, so as to
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  Speaker 1: have the horses between fires. He cut all the venison
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  Speaker 1: into strips and spent an hour roasting them. Then he
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  Speaker 1: lay down to rest, and he said, wonder where wild
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  Speaker 1: fire is? To night? Am I closer to him? Where's
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  Speaker 1: he headed for? The night was warm and still. It
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  Speaker 1: was black near the huge cliff, and overhead velvety blue
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  Speaker 1: with stars of white fire. It seemed to him that
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  Speaker 1: he had become more thoughtful and observing of the aspects
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  Speaker 1: of his wild environment, and he felt a welcome consciousness
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  Speaker 1: of loneliness. Then sleep came to him, and the night
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  Speaker 1: seemed short. In the gray dawn, he arose, refreshed, The
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  Speaker 1: horses were restive. Nagger snorted a welcome Evidently they had
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  Speaker 1: passed an uneasy night. Sloane found lion tracks at the
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  Speaker 1: spring and in sandy places. Presently he was on his
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  Speaker 1: way up to the notch between the great wall and
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  Speaker 1: the plateau. A growth of thick scrub oak made travel difficult.
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  Speaker 1: It had not appeared far up to that saddle, but
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  Speaker 1: it was far. There were straggling pine trees and huge
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  Speaker 1: rocks that obstructed his gaze. But once up he saw
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  Speaker 1: that the saddle was only a narrow ridge, curved to
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  Speaker 1: slope up on both sides straight before Sloane, and under
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  Speaker 1: him opened the canyon, blazing and glorious along the peaks
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  Speaker 1: and ramparts, where the rising sun struck misty and smoky
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  Speaker 1: and shadowy down in those mysterious steps. It took an
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  Speaker 1: effort not to keep on gazing, but Sloane turned to
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  Speaker 1: the grim business of his pursuit. The trail he saw
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  Speaker 1: leading down had been made by Indians. It was used
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  Speaker 1: probably once a year by them, and also by wild animals,
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  Speaker 1: and it was exceedingly steep and rough. Wildfire had paced
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  Speaker 1: to and fro along the narrow ridge of that saddle,
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  Speaker 1: making many tracks before he had headed down again. Sloane
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  Speaker 1: imagined that the Great Stallion had been daunted by the
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  Speaker 1: tremendous chasm, but had finally faced it, meaning to put
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  Speaker 1: this obstacle between him and his pursuers. It never occurred
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  Speaker 1: to Sloane to attribute less intelligence to wildfire than that,
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  Speaker 1: So dismounting, Sloane took Nagger's bridle and started down. The
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Mustang with the pack was reluctant. He snorted and whistled
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  Speaker 1: and pawed the earth, but he would not be left alone,
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  Speaker 1: so he followed the trail led down under the cedars
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  Speaker 1: that fringed a precipice. Sloane was aware of this. Without looking,
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  Speaker 1: he attended only to the trail and to his horse.
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  Speaker 1: Only an Indian could have picked out that course, and
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: it was cruel to put a horse to it. But
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  Speaker 1: Nagger was powerful, surefooted, and he would go anywhere that
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  Speaker 1: Sloane led him. Gradually, Sloane worked down and away from
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  Speaker 1: the bulging rim wall. It was hard, rough work and
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: risky because it could not be accomplished slowly. Brush and rocks,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: loose shale and weathered slope, long, dusty inclines of yellow earth,
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  Speaker 1: and jumbles of stone. These made bad going for miles
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: of slow zigzag trail down out of the cedars. Then
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the trail entered what appeared to be a ravine. That
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: ravine became a canyon. At its head it was a
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: dry wash full of gravel and rocks. It began to
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  Speaker 1: cut deep into the bowels of the earth. It shut
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: out sight of the surrounding walls and peaks. Water appeared
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: from under a cliff, and, augmented by other springs, became
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: a brook, hot, dry and barren. At its beginning, this
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  Speaker 1: cleft became cool and shady and luxuriant with grass and
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: flowers and amber moss with silver blossoms. The rocks had
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: changed color from yellow to deep red. Four hours of
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: turning and twisting endlessly, down and down over boulders and
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  Speaker 1: banks and every conceivable roughness of earth and rock finished
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  Speaker 1: the pack Mustang and Sloane mercifully left him in a
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  Speaker 1: long reach of canyon where grass and water never failed.
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  Speaker 1: In this place, Sloane halted for the noon hour, letting
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  Speaker 1: Nagger have his fill of the rich grazing. Nagger's three
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  Speaker 1: days in grassy upland, despite the continuous travel, by day
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  Speaker 1: had improved him. He looked fat, and Sloane had not
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  Speaker 1: yet caught the horse. Nagger was iron to endure. Here,
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  Speaker 1: Sloane left all the outfit except what was on his
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  Speaker 1: saddle and the sack containing the few pounds of meat
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  Speaker 1: and supplies and the two utensils. This sack he tied
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  Speaker 1: to the back of his saddle and resumed his journey.
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  Speaker 1: Presently he came to a place where wildfire had doubled
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  Speaker 1: on his trail and had turned up a side canyon.
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  Speaker 1: The climb out was hard on Sloane, if not on Naggar.
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  Speaker 1: Once up Sloane found himself upon a wide, barren plateau
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  Speaker 1: of glaring red rock and clumps of greasewood and cactus.
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  Speaker 1: The plateau was miles wide, shut in by great walls
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  Speaker 1: and maces of colored rock. The afternoon sun beat down fiercely.
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  Speaker 1: A blast of wind, as if from a furnace, swept
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  Speaker 1: across the plateau, and it was laden with red dust.
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  Speaker 1: Walked here where he could have ridden, and he made
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  Speaker 1: several miles of up and down progress over this rough plateau.
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  Speaker 1: The great walls of the opposite side of the canyon
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  Speaker 1: loomed appreciably closer. What Sloane wondered was at the bottom
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  Speaker 1: of this rent in the earth. The great Desert River
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  Speaker 1: was down there, of course, but he knew nothing of it.
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  Speaker 1: Would that turn back wildfire? Sloane thought grimly, how he
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: had always claimed Nagger to be part fish and part bird.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Wildfire was not going to escape by and by only
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: isolated mescal Plants with long, yellow plumed spears broke the
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: bare monotony of the plateau, and Sloane passed from red
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: sand and gravel to a red soft shale, and from
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: that to hard red rock. Here wildfire's tracks were lost
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: the first in seven weeks, but Sloane had his direction
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: down that plateau, with the cleavage lines of canyons to
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: right and left. At times Sloane found a vestige of
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: the old Indian trail, and this made him doubly sure
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: of being right. He did not need to have Wildfire's tracks.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: He let Nagger pick the way, and the horse made
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: no mistake in finding the line of least resistance. But
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: that grew harder and harder. This bare rock, like a file,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: would soon wear. Wildfire's hoofs thin, and Sloane rejoiced perhaps
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: somewhere down in this awful chasm he and Nagger would
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: have it out with the stallion. Sloane began to look
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: far ahead, beginning to believe that he might see wildfire.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Twice he had seen wildfire, but only at a distance.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Then he had resembled a running streak of fire, whence
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: his name, which Sloane had given him. This bear region
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: of rock began to be cut up into gullies. It
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: was necessary to head them, or to climb in and out.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Miles of travel really meant little progress straight ahead, but
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Sloane kept on. He was hot and Nagger was hot.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: And that made hard work easier. Sometimes on the wind
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: came a low thunder. Was it a storm or an avalanche,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: slipping or falling water, he could not tell. The sound
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: was significant and haunting of one thing. He was sure
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: that he could not have found his back trail, but
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: he divined he was never to retrace his steps on
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: this journey. The stretch of broken plateau before him grew
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: wilder and bolder of outline, darker in color, weirder in aspect,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and progress across it grew slower, more dangerous. There were
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: many places Nagger should not have been put to, where
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: a slip meant a broken leg. But Sloane could not
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: turned back, and something besides an indomitable spirit kept him going.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Kept him going again. The sound, resembling thunder assailed his ears,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: louder this time. The plateau appeared to be ending in
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: a series of great capes or promontories. Sloane feared he
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: would soon come out upon a promontory from which he
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: might see the impossibility of further travel. He felt relieved
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: down in the gullies, where he could not see far.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: He climbed out of one presently, from which there extended
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: a narrow ledge with a slant too perilous for any horse.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: He stepped out upon that with far less confidence than Nagger.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: To the right was a bulge of low wall, and
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: a few feet to the left a dark precipice. The
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: trail here was faintly outlined, and it was six inches
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: wide and slanting as well. It seemed endless to Sloane
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: that ledge. He looked only down at his feet and
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: listened to Nagger's steps. The big horse trod carefully, but naturally,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: and he did not slip. That ledge extended in a
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: long curve, turning slowly away from the precipice and descending
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: a little at the further end. Sloane drew a deep
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: breath of relief when he led Nagger up on level rock. Suddenly,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: a strange yet familiar sound halted Sloane as if he
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: had been struck. The wild shrill, high pitched piercing whistle
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: of a stallion. Nagger neighed a blasting reply, and pounded
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: the rock with his iron shod hoofs with a thrill.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Sloan looked ahead. There, some few hundred yards distant, on
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: a promontory, stood a red horse, Its wildfire breathed Sloane tensely.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: He could not believe his sight. He imagined he was dreaming.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: But as Naggar stamped and snorted defiance, Sloane looked with
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: fixed and keen gaze and knew that beautiful picture was
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: no lie. Wildfire was as red as fire. His long
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: mane wild in the wind was like a whipping, black
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: streaked flame. Silhouetted there against that canyon background, he seemed gigantic,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: a demon horse ready to plunge into fiery depths. He
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: was looking back over his shoulder, his head very high,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: and every line of him was instinct with wildness. Again,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: he sent out that shrill, air splitting whistle. Sloane understood
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: it to be a clarion called to Nagar. If Naggar
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: had been alone, wildfire would have killed him. The red
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: stallion was a killer of horse all over the Utah Ranges.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: He had left the trail of a murderer. Nagger understood
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: this too, for he whistled back in rage and terror.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: It took an iron arm to hold him. Then Wildfire plunged,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: apparently down, and vanished from Sloane's sight. Sloane hurried onward
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: to be blocked by a huge crack in the rocky plateau.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: This he had to head, and then another, and like
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: obstacle checked his haste. To reach that promontory, he was
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: forced to go more slowly. Wildfire had been close only
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: as to sight, and this was the great canyon that
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: dwarfed distance and magnified proximity. Climbing down and up, toiling on,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: he at last learned patience. He had seen wildfire at
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: close range. That was enough, so he plodded on once more,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: turning to careful regard of nagger. It took an hour
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: of work to reach the point where wildfire had disappeared
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: a promontory. Indeed, it was overhanging a valley a thousand
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: feet below. A white torrent of a stream wound through it.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: There were lines of green cottonwoods following the winding course.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Then Sloane saw wildfire slowly crossing the flat toward the stream.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: He had gone down that cliff, which to Sloane looked perpendicular.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Wildfire appeared to be walking lame. Sloane, making sure of this,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: suffered a pang. Then, when the significance of such lameness
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: dawned upon him, he whooped his wild joy and waved
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: his hat. The red stallion must have heard, for he
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: looked up. Then he went on again and waded into
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: the stream, where he drank long. When he started to cross,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: the swift current drove him back. In several places. The
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: water wreathed white around him, but evidently it was not deep,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: and finally he crossed from the other side. He looked
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: up again at Nagger and Sloane, and going on. He
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: soon was out of sight in the cottonwoods. How to
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: get down, muttered Sloane. There was a break in the
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: cliff wall, a bare stone slant, where horses had gone
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: down and come up. That was enough for Sloane to know.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: He would have attempted the descent if he were sure.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: No other horse but Wildfire had ever gone down there.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: But Sloane's hair began to rise stiff on his head.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: A horse like Wildfire, and mountain sheep and Indian ponies
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: were all very different from Nagger. The chances were against Nagger.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Come on, old boy, if I can do it, you can,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: he said. Sloane had never seen a trail as perilous
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: as this. He was afraid for his horse. A slip
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: there meant death. The way. Nagger trembled in every muscle,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: showed his feelings, but he never flinched. He would follow
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Sloane anywhere, providing Sloane rode him or led him. And
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: here as riding was impossible, Sloane went before. If the
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: horse slipped, there would be a double tragedy, for Nagger
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: would knock his master off the cliff. Sloane set his
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: teeth and stepped down. He did not let Nagger see
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: his fear. He was taking the greatest risk he had
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: ever run. The break in the wall led to a ledge,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: and the ledge dropped from step to step, and these
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: had bare, slippery slants between them. Nagger was splendid on
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: a bad trail. He had methods peculiar to his huge
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: build and great weight. He crashed down over the stone steps,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: both front hoofs at once the slants. He slid down
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: on his haunches, with his forelegs stiff and the iron
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: shoes scraping. He snorted and heaved and grew wet with sweat.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: He tossed his head at some of the places, but
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: he never hesitated, and it was impossible for him to
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: go slowly. Whenever Sloane came to corrugated stretches in the trail.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: He felt grateful, but these were few. The rock was
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: like smooth red iron. Sloane had never seen such hard rock.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: It took him long to realize that it was marble.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: His heart seemed a tense, painful knot in his breast,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: as if it could not beat, holding back in the
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: strained suspense. But Nagger never jerked on the bridle. He
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: never faltered. Many times he slipped, often with both front feet,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: but never with all four feet, so he did not fall,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and the red wall began to loom above Sloane. Then
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: suddenly he seemed brought to a point where it was
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: impossible to descend. It was a round bulge, slanting fearfully,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: with only a few rough surfaces to hold a foot.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Wildfire had left a broad, clear swept mark at that place,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: and red hairs on some of the sharp points. He
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: had slid down. Below was an offset that fortunately prevented
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: further sliding. Sloane started to walk down this place, but
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: when Nagger began to slide, Sloane had to let go
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: the bridle and jump. Both he and the horse landed safely.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Luck was with them, and they went on down and
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: down to reach the base of the great wall, scraped
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: and exhausted, wet with sweat, but unhurt. As Sloane gazed upward,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: he felt the impossibility of believing what he knew to
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: be true. He hugged and petted the horse. Then he
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: led on to the roaring stream. It was green water,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: white with foam. Sloane waded in and found the water
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: cool and shallow and very swift. He had to hold
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: to Naggar to keep from being swept down stream. They
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: crossed in safety. There in the sand showed Wildfire's tracks,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: and here were signs of another Indian camp half a
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: year old. The shade of the cottonwoods was pleasant. Sloane
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: found this valley oppressively hot. There was no wind, and
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: the sand blistered his feet through his boots. Wildfire held
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: to the Indian trail that had guided him down into
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: this wilderness of worn rock, and that trail crossed the
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: stream at every turn of the twisting, narrow valley. Sloane
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: enjoyed getting into the water. He hung his gun over
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: the pommel and let the water roll him a dozen times.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: He and Nagger forded the rushing torrent. Then they came
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: to a box like closing of the valley to canyon walls,
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: and here the trail evidently followed the stream bed. There
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: was no other way. Sloane waded in and stumbled, rolled
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: and floated ahead of the sturdy horse. Nagger was wet
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: to his breast, but he did not fall. This gulch
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: seemed full of a hollow, rushing roar. It opened out
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: into a wide valley, and Wildfire's tracks took to the
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: left side and began to climb the slope. Here the
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: traveling was good, considering what had been passed. Once up
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: out of the valley floor, Sloane saw Wildfire far ahead,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: high on the slope. He did not appeared to be limping,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: but he was not going fast. Sloane watched as he
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: climbed what and where would be the end of this chase.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Sometimes wildfire was plain in his sight for a moment,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: but usually he was hidden by rocks. The slope was
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: one great talus, a jumble of weathered rock fallen from
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: what appeared a mountain of red and yellow wall. Here
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: the heat of the sun fell upon him like fire.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: The rocks were so hot Sloane could not touch them
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: with bare hand. The close of the afternoon was approaching,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: and this slope was interminably long. Still it was not steep,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: and the trail was good. At last, from the height
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: of slope, wildfire appeared, looking back and down. Then he
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: was gone. Sloane plodded upward. Long before he reached that summit,
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: he heard the dull of the river. It grew to
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: be a roar, yet it seemed distant. Would the Great
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Desert River stop wildfire in his flight? Sloaned out at it.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: He surmounted the ridge to find the canyon opening in
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: a tremendous gap, and to see down far down a
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: glittering sun blasted slope, merging into a deep black gulch
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: where a red river swept and chafed and roared. Somehow,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the river was what he had expected to see, a
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: force that had cut and ground this canyon could have
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: been nothing but a river like that. The trail led down,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: and Sloane had no doubt that it crossed the river
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: and led up out of the canyon. He wanted to
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: stay there and gaze endlessly and listen. At length, he
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: began the descent. As he proceeded, it seemed that the
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: roar of the river lessened. He could not understand why
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: this was so. It took half an hour to reach
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: the last level, a ghastly black and iron ribbed canyon
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: bed with the river splitting it. He had not had
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: a glimpse of wildfire on this side of the divide,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: but he found his tracks, and they led down off
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: the last level through a notch in the black bank
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: of marble to a sandbar and the river. Wildfire had
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: walked straight off the sand into the water. Sloane studied
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: the river and the shore. The water ran slow, heavy
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: and sluggish eddies. From far up the canyon came the
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: roar of a rapid and from below the roar of
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: another heavier and closer. The river appeared tremendous in ways
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: Sloane felt rather than realized, yet it was not swift.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: Studying the black rough wall of rock above him, he
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: saw marks where the river had been sixty feet higher
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: than where he stood on the sand. It was low, then,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: how lucky for him that he had gotten there before
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: flood season. He believed wildfire had crossed easily, and he
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: knew Nagger could make it. Then he piled and tied
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: his supplies and weapons, high on the saddle to keep
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: them dry, and looked for a place to take to
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: the water. Wildfire had sunk deep before reaching the edge.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Manifestly he had lunged the last few feet. Sloane found
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: a better place and waded in, urging Nagger. The big
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: horse plunged, almost going under, and began to swim. Sloane
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: kept up stream behind him. He found presently that the
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: water was thick and made him tired, so it was
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: necessary to grasp a stirrup and be towed. The river
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: appeared only a few hundred feet wide. Probably it was
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: wider than it looked. Nagger labored heavily near the opposite shore.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Still he landed safely upon a rocky bank. There were
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: patches of sand in which Wildfire's tracks showed, so fresh
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: that the water had not yet dried out of them.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Sloane rested his horse before attempting the climb out of
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: that split in the rock. However, Wildfire had found an
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: easy ascent on this side of the canyon. The bare
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: rock did not predominate. A clear trail led up a dusty,
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: gravelly slope upon which scant greasewood and cactus appeared half
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: an hour's climbing brought Sloane to where he could see
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: that he was entering a vast valley, sloping up and
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: narrowing to a notch in the dark cliffs, above which
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: towered the great red Wall, and about that the slopes
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: of cedar and the yellow rim rock, and scarcely a
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: mile distant right in the westering sunlight shone the red Stallion.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: Moving slowly, Sloane pressed on steadily. Just before dark, he
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: came to an ideal spot to camp. The valley had
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: closed up, so that the lofty walls cast shadows that
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: met a clump of cottonwoods surrounding a spring abundance of
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: rich grass, willows and flowers lining the banks formed an
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: oasis in the Bear Valley. Sloane was tired out from
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: the day of ceaseless toil up and down, and he
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: could scarcely keep his eyes open, but he tried to
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: stay awake the dead silence of the valley, the dry fragrance,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: the dreaming walls, the advent of night low down, when
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: up on the ramparts, the last red rays of the
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: sun lingered the strange loneliness. These were sweet and comforting
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: to him, and that night's sleep was as a moment
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: he opened his eyes to see the crags and towers,
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: and peaks and domes, and the lofty walls of that vast,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: broken chaos of canyons across the river. They were now
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: emerging from the misty gray of dawn, growing pink and
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: lilac and purple under the rising sun. He arose and
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: set about his few tasks, which, being soon finished, allowed
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: him an early start. Wildfire had grazed along no more
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: than a mile in the lead. Sloane looked eagerly up
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: the narrowing canyon, but he was not rewarded by the
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: sight of the stallion. As he progressed up a gradually
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: ascending trail, he became aware of the fact that the
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: notch he had long looked up to was where the
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: great red walls closed in and almost met, and the
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: trail zigzagged up this narrow vent, so steep that only
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: a few steps could be taken without rest. Sloane toiled
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: up for an hour an age till he was wet, burning, choked,
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: with the great weight on his chest. Yet still he
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: was only half way up that awful break between the walls.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: Sometimes he could have tossed a stone down upon a
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: part of the trail only a few rods below, yet
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: many many weary steps of actual toil. As he got
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: farther up, the notch widened. What had been scarcely visible
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: from the valley below was now colossal in actual dimensions.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: The trail was like a twisted mile of thread between
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: two bulging mountain walls, leaning their ledges and fronts over
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: this tilted pass. Sloane rested often. Nagger appreciated this, and
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: heaved gratefully at every halt. In this monotonous toil, forgot
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: the zest of his pursuit, and when Nagger suddenly snorted
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: in fright, Sloane was not prepared for what he saw.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: Above him ran a low red wall, around which evidently
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: the trail led at the curve, which was a promontory
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: scarcely a hundred feet in an airline. Above him, he
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: saw something red, moving, bobbing, coming out into view. It
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: was a horse wildfire, no farther away than the length
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: of three lassos. There he stood, looking down. He fulfilled
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: all of Sloane's dreams. Only he was bigger, But he
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: was so magnificently proportioned that He did not seem heavy.
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: His coat was shaggy and red. It was not glossy.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: The color was what made him shine. His mane was
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: like a crest, mounting then falling low. Sloane had ever
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: seen so much muscle on a horse. Yet his outline
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: was graceful, beautiful. The head was indeed that of the
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: wildest of all wild creatures, a stallion born wild, and
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: it was beautiful, savage, splendid everything. But noble Sloane thought
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: that if a horse could express hate, surely Wildfire did.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: Then it was certain that he did express curiosity and fury.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: Sloane shook a gantleted fist at the stallion, as if
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: the horse were human. That was a natural action for
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: a rider of his kind. Wildfire turned away, showed bright
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: against the dark background, and then disappeared. End of Chapter two,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: Part two recording by Myra Parkers