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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve Old tom At daybreak, our leader rotted us out.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The frost mantled the ground so heavily that it looked
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: like snow in the rare atmosphere, bit like the breath
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of winter. The forest stood solemn and gray. The canyon
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: lay wrapped in vapory slumber. Hot biscuits and coffee with
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a chop or two of the delicious Persian lamb meat
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  Speaker 1: put a less spartan tinge on the morning and gave
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Wallace and me more strength. We needed nut incentive to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: leave the fire, hustle our saddles on the horses, and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: get in line with our impatient leader. The hounds scampered
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  Speaker 1: over the frost, shoving their noses at the tufts of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: grass and bluebells. Loss and a gym remained in camp.
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  Speaker 1: The rest of us trooped southwest. A mile or so
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  Speaker 1: in that direction, the forest of pine ended abruptly, and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a wide belt of low, scuby oak trees breast high
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  Speaker 1: to a horse, fringed the rim of the canyon and
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: appeared to broaden out and grow wavy southward. The edge
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of the forest was as dark and regular as if
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a band of wood choppers had trimmed it. We threaded
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: our way through this thicket, all peering into the bisecting
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  Speaker 1: deer trails for cougar tracks in the dust. Bring dogs, hurry.
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  Speaker 1: Suddenly called Jones from a thicket. We lost no time complying,
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  Speaker 1: and found him standing in a trail with his eyes
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  Speaker 1: on the sand. Take a look, boys, A good sized
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: male cougar passed here last night. Here sounder dawn, Moe's
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: come on. It was a nervous, excited pack of hounds.
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  Speaker 1: Old Jude got to Jones first and she sang out.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Then Saunder opened his big ringing bay, and before Jones
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  Speaker 1: could mount, a string of yelping dogs sailed straight for
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  Speaker 1: the forest. Oohs long, boys, yelled Frank, wheeling spot with
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  Speaker 1: the cowboy leading, we strung into the pines and I
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: found myself behind. Presently, even one wall disappeared. I almost
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: threw the reins at Satan and yelled for him to go.
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  Speaker 1: The result enlightened me like an arrow from a bow.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: The black shot forward. Frank had told me of his speed,
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  Speaker 1: that when he found his stride it was like riding
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  Speaker 1: a flying feather. To be on him Jones's fearing he
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: would kill me had cautioned me always to hold him
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: in which I had done. Satan stretched out with long,
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  Speaker 1: graceful motions. He did not turn aside for logs, but
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  Speaker 1: cleared them with easy and powerful spring, and he swerved
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  Speaker 1: only slightly for the trees. This latter I saw at
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  Speaker 1: once made the danger for me. It became a matter
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: of saving my legs and dodging branches. The imperative need
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: of this came to me with convincing force. I dodged
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: a branch on one tree, only to be caught square
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: in the middle by a snag on another crack. If
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the snag had not broken, Satan would have gone on riderless,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: and I would have been left hanging a pathetic and
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: drooping monoton to the risks of the hunt. I kept
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: ducking my head now and then falling flat over the
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  Speaker 1: pommel to avoid a limb that would have brushed me off,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and hugging the flanks of my horse with my knees.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Soon I was at Wallace's heels and had Jones in sight.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Now and then glimpses of Frank's white horse gleamed through
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the trees. We began to circle towards the south to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: go up and down shallow hollows to find the pines
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: thinning out. Then we shot out of the forest into
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: the scrubby oak. Riding through this brush was the cruelest
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: kind of work, but Satan kept on close to the sorrel.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: The hollows began to get deeper, and the ridges between
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: them narrower. No longer could we keep a street course.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: On the crest of one of these ridges, we found
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  Speaker 1: Jones awaiting us. Judge Tig and Don lay panting on
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: his feet plainly. The colonel appeared vexed. Listen, he said
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  Speaker 1: when he reined in. We complied, but did not hear
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: a sound. Rights beyond there some place, continued Jones. But
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  Speaker 1: I can't see nor hear the hounds any more. Don
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: and Tiggs put again on deer trails. Old Jude on
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: on the lion track, but A stopped her here there's
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: something I can't figure. Mose held a bee line southwest,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and he yelled seldom sounder gradually stopped being. Maybe Frank
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  Speaker 1: can tell us something. Jones's long drawn out signal was
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: answered from the direction he expected, and after a little
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  Speaker 1: time Frank's white horse shone out of the gray green
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  Speaker 1: of a ridge a mile away. This drew my attention
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  Speaker 1: to our position. We were on a high ridge, out
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  Speaker 1: in the open, and I could see fifty miles of
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  Speaker 1: the shaggy slopes of Buckskin. Southward. The gray, ragged lion
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: seemed to stop suddenly, and beyond it, purple haze hung
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  Speaker 1: over a void I knew to be the canyon, and
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: facing west, I came to at last to understand perfectly
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  Speaker 1: the meaning of the breaks in the seash. They were
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: nothing more than ravines that headed up on the slopes
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  Speaker 1: and ran down, getting deeper and steeper, though scarcely wider
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  Speaker 1: to break into the canyon. Knife crested ridges rolled westward,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: wave on wave, like the billows of a sea. I
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: appreciated that these brakes were, at their sources little washes,
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  Speaker 1: easy to jump across, and after mouths a mile deep
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  Speaker 1: and impassable. Huge pine trees shaded these gullies to give
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: way to the gray growth of stunned oak, which in
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: turn merged into the dark green of pinion. A wonderful
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: country for deer and lions, it seemed to me, but impassable,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: all but impossible for a hunter. Frank soon appeared, brushing
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: through the bending oaks, and Saunder trotted along behind him.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Word Mo's inquired Jones. Last I heard of Mos he
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: was out on the brush, going across the pinion flat
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  Speaker 1: right for the canyon. He had a hot trail. Well,
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  Speaker 1: we're certain for one thing, if it was a deer,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: he won't come back soon, and if it was a lie,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: he'll treat it, lose the sad and come back. We've
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: got to show the hounds a lion in a tree.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: They'd run a hot trail, bump into a tree and
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: then be at fault. What was wrong with Sounder, I
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: don't know, came back to me. We can't trust him
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: or any of them yet. Still, maybe they're doing better
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: than we know. The outcome of the chase so favorably
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: started was a disappointment, which we all felt keenly. After
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  Speaker 1: some discussion, we turned south, intending to ride down to
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: the rim wall and follow it back to the camp.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: I happened to turn once, perhaps to look again at
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: the far distant pink cliffs of Utah or the wavelike
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: dome of Treumble Mountain. When I saw Mose trailing close
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: behind me. My yell halted the colonel, we'll all be
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: darned ejaculated. He as Mos hove insight, come ry, old rascal.
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  Speaker 1: He was a tired dog, but had no sheepy share
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  Speaker 1: about him, such as he had worn when lagging in
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  Speaker 1: from deer chases. He wagged his tail and flopped down
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  Speaker 1: to pant and pant as if to say, strong you guys. Boys.
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  Speaker 1: For two cents, I'd go back and put Jude on
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  Speaker 1: that trail. It's just possible that Moe's treat a lion.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Oh well, I expect there is more likelihood of has Chasen,
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  Speaker 1: the lion of the rim, so we may as well
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: keep on. The strange thing is that Sounder wasn't with Mos.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: There may have been two lions. You see, we are
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: up a tree ourselves. I've known lions to run in pairs,
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  Speaker 1: and also a mother to keep four two year olds
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  Speaker 1: with her, but such cases are rare here in this country,
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  Speaker 1: though maybe they run round and have parties. As we
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: left the brakes behind, we got out upon a level,
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  Speaker 1: pinion flat. Few cedars grew within opinions. Deer runways and
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: trails were thick. Oh look at that, said Jones. This
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: is great lion country. The best I ever saw, pointed
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  Speaker 1: to the sunken, red, shapeless remains of two horses, and
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  Speaker 1: near them a ghastly scotattering of bleached bones. A lion
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  Speaker 1: layer right here on the flat. Those two horses were
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  Speaker 1: killed her this morning, and see no signs of the
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: carcasses having been covered with brush and dirt. I've got
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  Speaker 1: to learn lion lore over again, that's certain. As we
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  Speaker 1: paused at the head of the depression, which appeared to
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: be a gap in the rim wall filled with massed
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: pinions and splintered piles of yellow stone, I caught Sounder
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  Speaker 1: going through some interesting moves. He stopped to smell of
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  Speaker 1: buoysh Then he lifted his head and electrified me with
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  Speaker 1: a great, deep sounding bay. Hi there, listen to that,
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  Speaker 1: yelled Jones. What Saunder got, Give him room, don't run
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  Speaker 1: him down. He'synow dog, He's easy. Saunder suddenly broke down
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  Speaker 1: a trail moshow Don barked, and Tigue let out his
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  Speaker 1: staccato yelp. They ran through the buoysh here there everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: Then all at once Old Jude chimed in with her
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  Speaker 1: mellow voice, and Jones tumbled off his horse. By the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Harry, there's something here here, Colonel, here's the brush.
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  Speaker 1: Sounder smelt, and there's a sandy trail under I called there.
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  Speaker 1: Rodeawn and Tea down into the break, cried Frank. They've
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  Speaker 1: got a hot scent. Jones stooped over the place they
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  Speaker 1: designated to jerk up with a reddening face as he
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: flung himself onto the saddle, roared out after Saunder, Old Tom,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Old Tom, Old Tom. We all heard Sounder, and at
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  Speaker 1: the moment of Jone's discovery, Mos got the scent and
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  Speaker 1: plunged ahead of us. Aye aye, Aye Aye, yelled the
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Frank sent spought forward like a white streak. Sounder
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  Speaker 1: called to us in irresistible bays, which Mose answered and
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  Speaker 1: then crippled. Jude bade in baffled, impotent distress. The atmosphere
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  Speaker 1: was charged with that lion, as if by magic. The
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  Speaker 1: excitation communicated itself to all, and men, horses and dogs
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  Speaker 1: reacted in a chord. The ride through the forest had
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  Speaker 1: been a jaunt. This was a steeplechase, a mad, heed, perilous,
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  Speaker 1: glorious race. And we had for a pacemaker a cowboy
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  Speaker 1: mounted on a tireless Mustang. Always it seemed to me
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  Speaker 1: while the wind rushed, the brush whipped. I saw Frank
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  Speaker 1: far ahead, sitting his saddle as if glued there, holding
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  Speaker 1: his reins loosely forward. To see him ride was a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful sight. Jones let out his commanche yell at every
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  Speaker 1: dozen jumps, and Wallace sent back a thrilling wahoo. In
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the excitement, I again checked my horse, and when I remembered,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I loosed the bridle. How the noble animal responded the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: pace he settled into daze me. I could hardly distinguish
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  Speaker 1: the deer trail down which he was thundering. I lost
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  Speaker 1: my comrades ahead. The pinion blurred in my sight. I
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  Speaker 1: only faintingly heard the hounds. It occurred to me we
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: were making for the brakes, but I did not think
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  Speaker 1: of checking Satan. I thought only of flying on faster
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  Speaker 1: and faster. Ah ah, old fellow, stretch out, never lose
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  Speaker 1: this race. We've got to be there at the finish.
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  Speaker 1: I called to Satan, and he seemed to understand, and
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: stretched lower further quicker. The brush pounded my legs and
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  Speaker 1: clutched and tore my clothes. The wind whistled, the pinion
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  Speaker 1: branches cut and whip my face once I dodged to
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  Speaker 1: the left as Satan swerved to the right, with the
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: result that I flew out of the saddle and crashed
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  Speaker 1: into a pinion tree, which marvelously brushed me back into
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  Speaker 1: the saddle. The wild yells and deep bays sounded nearer.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Satan tripped and plunged down, throwing me as gracefully as
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: an aerial tumbler wings his flight. I alighted in a
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  Speaker 1: bush without feeling a scratch or pain. As Satan recovered
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and ran past, I did not seek to make him stop,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: but getting a good grip on the pommel, I vaulted
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  Speaker 1: up again. Once more, he raced like a wild mustang,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: and from nearer and nearer in front peeled the alluring
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: sounds of the chase. Satan was creeping close to Wallace
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: and Jones, with frank looming white through the occasional pinions.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Then all dropped out of sight to appear again. Suddenly
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: they had reached the first break. Soon I was upon
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: it two ran out of the ravine, almost brushing my
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: horse in the haste. Satan went down and up in
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  Speaker 1: a few giant strides. Only the narrow bridge separated us
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: from another break. It was up and down then for Satan,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: a work to which he manfully set himself. Occasionally I
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: saw Wallace and Jones, but heard them oftener all the time.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: The brakes grew deeper, till finally Satan had to zigzag
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: his way down and up. Discouragement fastened on me when
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: from the summit of the next ridge I saw Frank
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: far down the brig, with Jones and Wallace not a
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: quarter of a mile away from him. I sent out
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: a long, exultant yell. As Satan crashed into the hard,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: dry wash at the bottom of the brake. I knew
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: from the way he quickened under me that he intended
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: to overhault somebody. Perhaps because of the clear going, or
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: because my frenzy had cooled to a thrilling excitement which
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: permitted detail. I saw clearly and distinctly the speeding horseman
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: down the ravine. I picked out the smooth pieces of
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: ground ahead, and with the slightest touch of the rain
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: on his neck, guided Satan into them. How he ran,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: the light quick beats of his hoofs were regular pounding.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Seeing Jones and Wallace sail high in the air, I
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: knew they had jumped a ditch. Thus prepared, I managed
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: to stick on when it yawned before me, and Satan,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: never slacking, lipped up and up, giving me a new swing.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Dusk began to settle in little clouds before me. Frank,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: far ahead, had turned his mustang up the side of
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the brake. Wallace, withinhaling distance, now turned to wave me
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: a hand. The rushing wind fairly sang in my ears.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: The walls of the brake were confused blurs of yellow
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: and green. At every stride. Satan seemed to swallow rod
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: of the white trail. Jones began to scale a ravine,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: heading up obliquely far on the side of where Frank
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: had vanished, and as Wallace followed, Suit I turned Satan.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: I caught Wallace at the summit, and we raced together
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: out upon another flat of pinion. We heard Frank and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Jones yelling in a way that caused us to spur
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: our horses frantically. Spot gleaming white near a clump of
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: green pinions was our guiding star. That last quarter of
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: a mile was a ringing run, a riot to remember.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: As our mouths crashed back with stiff fore legs and haunches,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Wallace and I leapt off and darted into the clump
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: of pinions. Whence issued a hair raising melody of yells
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: and barks. I saw Jones then Frank, both waving their
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: arms when Mows and Sounder running wildly and amlessly about.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Look there, rang in my ear, and Jones smashed me
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: on the back with a blow which at any ordinary
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: time would have laid me flat in the low, stubby
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: pinion trees. Scarce. Twenty feet from us was a tawny form,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: an enormous mountain lion, as large as an African lioness,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: stood planted with huge round legs on two branches, and
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: he faced us gloomily, either frightened nor fierce. He watched
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the running dogs with pale yellow eyes, waved his massive
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: head and switching a long black tough tail. It's old Tom,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: sure as you're born. It's old Tom, yelled Jones. Or
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: no two lions like that in one country. Hold still,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Now Jude is here, and she'll see him. She'll show
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: him to the other hounds. Hole still. We heard Jude
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: coming at a fast pace for a lame dog, and
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: we saw her presently running with her nose down. For
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a moment, thin up. She entered the clump of trees
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and bumped her nose against the pinion Old Tom was
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: in and looked up like a dog that knew her business.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: The series of wild howls she broke into quickly brought
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Sounder and Moe's to her side. They too saw the
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: big lion not fifteen feet over their heads. We were
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: all yelling and trying to talk at once in some
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: such state as the dog's here, Mos come down out
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: of that horsey shot at Jones. Mose had begun to
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: climb the thick, many branched low pinion tree. He paid
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: not the slightest attention to Jones, who screamed and raged
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: at him. Cover the lion cried, He to me, don't
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: shoot unless he crouches to jump on me. The little
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: beaded front sight wavered slightly as I held my rifle
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: leveled at the grim, snarling face, and out of the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: corner of my eye, as it were, I saw Jones
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: dash in under the lion and grasp Mos by the
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: hind leg and hauling down. He broke from Jones and
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: leaped again to the first low branch. His master then
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: grasped the collar and carried him to where he stood
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and held him choking. Boys, we can't keep Tom up there.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: When he jumps, keep out of his way. Maybe we
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: can chase him up a better tree. Old Tom suddenly
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: left the branches, swinging violently and hitting the ground like
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: a huge cat on springs. He bounded off, tail up
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: in a most ludicrous manner. His running, however, did not
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: lack speed, for he quickly outdistanced the bursting hounds. A
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: stampede for horses succeeded this move. I had difficulty in
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: closing my camera, which I had forgotten until the last moment,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: and got behind the others. Satan sent the dust flying
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: and the pinion branches crashing hardly. I had my time
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: to bewail my ill luck in being left when I
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: dashed out of a quick growth of trees to come
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: upon my companions, all dismounted on the rim of the
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Grand canyon. He's gone down. He's gone down. Raged ones
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: stomping ground. What luck? What miserable luck? But don't quit.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Spread along the rim boys and looked for him. Cougars
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: can't fly. There's a break in the rim somewhere. The
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: rock wall on which we dizzley stood dropped straight down
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: for a thousand feet to meet a long pinion covered
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: slope which grated a mile to cut off into what
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: must have been the Second Wall. We were far west
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: of Clark's trail now and faced a point above where
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Canon Canyon, a red gorge a mild deep met the
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Great Canyon. As I ran along the rim looking for
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: a fissure or break, my gaze seemed impellably drawn by
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: the immensity of this thing I could not name, and
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: for which I had no intelligible emotion. Who's in the rear?
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Turned me back in double quick time, and hastening by
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: the horses, I found the three men grouped at the
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: head of a narrow brake. He went down there, Wallace
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: saw on him around the base of that tottering crag.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: The brake was wedge shaped, with a sharp end toward
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: the rim, and it descended so rapidly as to appear
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: almost perpendicular. It was a long, steep slide of small,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: weathered shale, and a place that no man in his
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: right senses would have ever considered going down. But Jones,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: designating Frank and me, said in his cool, quick voice,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: you fellows, go down. Take Juden's saunder and leash. If
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: you find his trail below along the wall, yell to us. Meanwhile,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Wallace and I were hang over the rim and watch
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: for him. Going down, in one sense was much easier
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: than it had appeared, for the reason that once started
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: we moved on sliding beds of weathered stone. Each of
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: us now had an avalanche for a steed rank forged
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: they had with a roar, and then, seeing danger below,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: tried to get out of the mass. The stones were
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: like quicksand every step he took sunk him in deeper.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: He grasped the smooth cliff to find holding impossible. The
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: slide poured over a fall like so much water. He
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: reached and caught a branch of opinion, and, lifting his
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: feet up, hung on till the treacherous area of moving
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: stones had passed. While I had been absorbed in his predicament,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: my avalanche augmented itself by slide on slide, perhaps loosened
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: by his, and before I knew it, I was sailing
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: down with ever increasing momentum. The sensation was distinctly pleasant,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and a certain spirit before restrained in me. At last
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: ran riot. The slide narrowed at the drop where Frank
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: had jumped, and the stones poured over in the stream.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I jumped also, but having a rifle in one hand,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: failed to hold and plunged down into the slide again.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: My feet were held, this time as in a vice.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I kept myself upright and waited. Fortunately, the jumble of
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: loose stones slowed and stopped, enabled me to crawl over
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: to one side, where there was comparatively good footing. Below us,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: for fifty yards was a sheet of rough stone as
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: bare as wash granite well could be. We slid down
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: this in regular schoolboy fashion and had reached another restricted
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: neck in the fissure when a sliding crash above warned
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: us that the avalanches had decided to move of their
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: own free will. Only a fraction of a moment had
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: we to find footing along the yellow cliff, when with
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: a crackling roar, the mass struck the slippery granite. If
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: we had been on that slope, our lives would not
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: have been worth a grain of dust. Flying in clouds
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: above us, huge stones that had formed the bottom of
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the slides were shot ahead and rolling leaping whizzed by
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: us with frightful velocity, and the remainder groaned and growled
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: its way down to thunder over the second fall, and
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: die out in a distant rumble. The hounds had hung
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: back and were not easily coaxed down to us. From
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: there on, down to the base of the gigantic cliff
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: we descended with a little difficulty. We might meet the
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: old gray cat anywheres along here, said Frank. The wall
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: of yellow limestone had shelves, ledges, fissures and cracks, any
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: one of which might have concealed the lion. On these
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: places I turned dark, uneasy glances. It seemed to me
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: events succeeded one another so rapidly that I had no
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: time to think, to examine, to prepare. We were rushed
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: from one sensation to another. Hey, look here, said Frank.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Here's his tracks. Did you ever see the like of that?
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Certainly I had never fixed my eyes on such enormous
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: cat tracks as appeared in the yellow dust at the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: base of the rim wall. The mere sight of them
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: was sufficient to make a man tremble. Hold in the dogs.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Frank called listen, I think I heard a yell from
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: far above. Came a yell, which, though thinned out by distance,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: was easily recognized as Jones's. We returned to the opening
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: of the brake, and, throwing our heads back, looked up
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: the slide to see him coming down. Wait for me,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Wait for me. I saw the lion go in a cave,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: wait for me. With the same roaring crack of slight
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: of rocks as had attended our descent, Jolones bore down
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: on us. For an old man, it was a marvelous performance.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: He walked on the avalanche as though he wore seven
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: league boots, and presently, as we began to dodge whizzing boulders,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: he stepped down to us, whirling his cordalasso. His jaw
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: bulged out a flash made fire in his cold eyes. Boys,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: we got old Tom in a corner. I worked along
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the rim north and looked over every place I could. Now,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: maybe you won't believe it, but I heard him pant. Yes, sir,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: he panted like the tired lion he is. Well. Presently
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: I saw him lying along the base of the rim wall.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: His tongue was hanging out. You see, he's a heavy
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: lion and not used to running long distances. Come on, now,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: it's not far. Hold in the dogs. You there with
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the rifle lead off and keep your eyes peeled. Single file,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: we passed along the shadow of the great cliff. A
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: wide trail had been worn in the dust a lion runway,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: said Jones, don't you smell the cat? Indeed, the strong
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: lid of cat was very pronounced, and that without the
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: big fresh tracks made the skin of my face tightened
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: and chill. As we turned a jutting point in the wall,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: a number of animals, which I did not recognize, plunged
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: helter skelter down the canyon's slope. Rocky Mountain sheep, exclaimed Jones. Look, well,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: this is a discovery. I never heard of a big
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: horn in the canyon. It was indicative of the strong
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: grip Old Tom had on us that we at once
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: forgot the remarkable fact of coming upon these rare sheep
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: in such a place. Jones halted us presently before a
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: deep curve described by the rim wall, the extreme end
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: of which terminated across the slope in an able projecting corner.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Did it across their boys? See that black hole? Old
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Tom's in there, much plan queried the cowboy. Sharply, wait,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: we'll slip up to get better light of the land.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: We worked our way noiselessly along the rim wall curve
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: for several hundred yards and came to a halt again,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: this time with a splendid command of this situation. The
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: trail ended abruptly at the dark cave, so menacely staring
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: at us, and the corner of the cliff had curled
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: back upon itself. It was a box trap with a
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: drop at the end too great for any beast, a
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: narrow slide of weathered stone running down, and the rim
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: wall trail. Old Tom would plainly be compelled to choose
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: one of these directions. If he left his cave right,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: You and I will keep to the wall and stop
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: near the scrub pinion the side of the hole. If
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I rope him, I can use that tree. Then he
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: turned to me. Are you to be dependent on here? Why?
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: What do you want me to do? I demanded, and
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: my whole breast seemed to sink in. You cut across
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the head of this slope and take up your position
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: in the slide below the cave, say just by that
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: big stone. From there you can command the cave, our
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: position and your own. Now, if it is necessary to
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: kill this line to save me or frank, or of
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: course yourself. Can you be depended upon to kill him?
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Felt a queer sensation about my heart and the strange
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: tightening of the skin upon my face. What a position
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: for me to be placed in. For one instant I
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: shook like a quavering aspen leaf. Then, because of the
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: pride of a man, or perhaps inherited instincts cropping out
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: of this perilous moment, I looked up and answered quietly, Yes,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: I will kill him. Old Tom is cornered and he'll
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: come out. He can run only two ways along this
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: trail or down that slide. I'll take my stand by
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the scrub pinion there so I can get a hitch
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: if I rope him. When I give your word, let
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the dogs go gray. You block the slide. If he
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: makes at us. Even if I do get my rope
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: on him, kill him. Most likely he'll jump down hill.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Then you'll have to kill him. Be quick, now loose
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: the hounds. Hi Hi Hi. I jumped into the narrow
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: slide of weathered stones and looked up. Jones centorion yell
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: rose high above the clamber of the hounds. He whirled
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: his lass u A huge yellow form shot over the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: trail and hit the top of the slide with a crash.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: The last oo streaked out with arrowy swiftness, circled and
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: snapped viciously close to Old Tom's head, kill him. Killing
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: brought Jones. Then the lion leaped seemingly into the air
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: above me. Instinctively, I raised my little automatic rifle. I
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: seemed to hear a million bellowing reports. The tawny body
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: with its grim, snarling face bird in my sight. I
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: heard a roar of sliding stones at my feet. I
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: felt a rush of wind. I caught a confused glimpse
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: of a whirling wheel of fur rolling down his light.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Then Jones and Franks were pounding on me and yelling,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I know not what. From far above came floating down
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: along Wahoo. I saw Wallace silhouetted against the blue sky,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: felt the hot barrel of my rifle, and shuddered at
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the bloody stones below me. Then and only then that
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: I realized, with weakening legs, that Old Tom had just
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: jumped at me and had jumped to his death. End
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: of chapter twelve.