The Frontier Boys in the Grand Canyon Part 36

This showed that Tom had been doing some valuable thinking and he could, too, if he was really interested in anything.

"You're right, Tom," said Jim. "That's what we will need and we had better take a couple of big spikes."

"What for?" I asked.

"To drill with," Jim said, "if we find a place that looks likely we will have to investigate, that's the only way to find it. You don't suppose that it will be out in the open."

"Then if we are going into the mining business, better take some blasting powder."

"Good," replied Jim.

"Then a rope and pick may be of great benefit," said Juarez.

"Sure, Mike," replied Jim with a grin.

So each one of us contributed to the material we took along. We divided up the tools between ourselves and had them fastened on so that our climbing would not be impeded.

"Do you think it safe to leave the boat; we may be gone a day or two?" I asked.

"Certainly," replied Jim. "It won't need anything to eat in our absence, and it has plenty of water. Besides, I don't imagine that there are many people back of us coming down the river."

I could not help but smile myself at the idea of anyone making the terrible trip down the river.

"That's so," I replied. "You can't find three such fools as we are every year. There are other easier ways of committing suicide than gliding down the Colorado."

"But some Indians might find a trail over the wall and steal the boat,"

said Tom.

"How many trails do you suppose there are to the Colorado River within nine hundred miles?" asked Jim severely.

"I don't know," replied Tom.

"Just three," said Jim, "and this isn't one of them. At least not on the west bank."

So that was settled and we started out with a great deal of enthusiasm and energy. It was like being let out from the hard school of the river for a holiday.

We needed this breathing spell of pleasure too, for there was something depressing to the spirits in going through the deep and gloomy canyons, exposed to constant danger and shut off from the rays of the sun nearly all the time.

There was an exhilaration likewise in the search for this hidden treasure. Nor were we on a wild goose chase. We had a definite end in view and a definite guide, though there was enough vagueness to give us plenty of trouble.

We went whistling along, singing and joking each other, in high spirits.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, with that wonderful quality in the air known only to the highest alt.i.tudes.

Our way lay first through glen, with flowering bushes, willow brush and the pleasant cottonwood trees that do so much to enliven the desert places of the West, so that one grows to look on them with a real affection that one would not give to the most beautiful tree of the overburdened tropics.

We came to a low, red wall that blocked our way. It was low, however, only by comparison, with the giant wall of other canyons.

Juarez regarded it carefully and then shook his head.

"Ah, no!" he determined. "This is not it. We must climb up."

This we did, and after a rather easy climb, going up a narrow transverse ravine, then after a steep pull we came out upon the top of the first wall.

We saw the greater outer wall of h.o.m.ogeneous sandstone rising about a half mile distant. Between us and it was a comparatively level stretch of rock, with a layer of thin soil upon it, from from which grew dwarf bushes, and everywhere were scattered boulders, some of them huge, others smaller.

"There is the place," said Juarez, nodding at the walls in front of us.

They rose up to a height of over a thousand feet. "There we find it."

We walked with our long gliding stride, something as the Indians do, scarcely raising the foot. (I may as well have a word with you right here about walking, if you don't mind; it will be of use to you in long tramps. There is considerable nonsense in certain popular ideas about walking. Don't strut along with the shoulders thrown back. You will never see an Indian plainsman, nor any natural walker do that. Let the shoulders droop naturally, but keep the chest out. As you start, break the motion at the hips and use the feet as though they were paddles.

Leave the backbone out of your walk. Anything that saves a jar to that makes for tireless endurance.

In using this simple method the weight falls on the front part of the foot. Move easily, even loosely, at the joints of ankle and knee. That breaks up stiffness, relieves strain and makes for endurance. Paddle out with the feet, and as you start, break the motion at the hip by a slight bend. By this method you acquire springiness. It is something the same effect you get as you stand on the end of a springing board ready to make a dive into water. If you are persistent in using this method, you will find it worth while.)

"What is that curious formation under the cliff?" asked Tom as we approached the outer wall.

"That," said Juarez, "is what remains of the houses and caches of the cliff dwellers."

It was in a great sheltering cave or open cavern in the beautifully smooth sandstone cliff, several hundred feet from the base of it.

There stood, almost as a natural granite from the rock, the square, symmetrical ruins of a tiny cliff dwellers' village. There was something extraordinarily quaint and curious about it as it nestled close under the protecting breast of the great rock.

At the base of the cliff were the ruins of a lower village. We found several complete specimens of pottery and many broken shards.

We could see that the construction of the thick walls of the close set houses was of flat stones held together by dried clay or with nothing but the rocks themselves pieced together. The windows and doors had sides and slabs of smooth, red stone.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE FACE IN THE ROCK

"Will we find the treasure up there?" asked Tom. Juarez shook his head.

"No, but those people could have told."

We did not stop to cut steps up the precipitous sandstone to the village in the cliff, because we had no time to stop for antiquities.

"Let's divide here in two parties," said Juarez.

"All right," said Jim. "I imagine that this slit may be a very narrow lateral canyon."

"Maybe," Juarez replied. "I take Tom, you and Jo go together. The one finding it first will fire as a signal to the other party."

This was agreed on and we separated. Jim and I took the wall to the north and Tom and Juarez went south. Jim had his rifle and Juarez a pistol.

We made our way carefully, but saw nothing but the blank wall of red sandstone.