CHAPTER VI.
THE POOL OF DEATH.
The blow that had been dealt the boy came from one of the timbersof the raft, which had been torn to pieces as it was swept over thefalls. How long Jack remained insensible he did not know; but when herecovered his senses he found himself struggling in a seething pool ofwater at the foot of the falls. Luckily he was able to catch hold ofone of the logs of the raft as it was swept by him, and clinging tothis he began to strike out with his legs, hoping to make his way tothe edge of the pool.
Many times during that desperate struggle for existence Jack feltcertain that death would intervene before he could accomplish hispurpose. Once another log, that was being swept round like a straw inthat boiling vortex of foaming waters, was dashed against the one towhich he clung. The shock almost forced the lad to relinquish his hold.But he hung on like grim death.
Blinded by foam and half choked, the boy, with bull–dog grit, stuck tohis purpose, and at last was rewarded by feeling ground under his feet.A moment later, bruised, breathless and drenched to the skin, he flunghimself panting on the sandy shore of the pool, too exhausted to movefurther.
He lay there, actually feeling more dead than alive, for a long timebefore he felt capable of moving. But at last he found strength to draghimself further up the bank. Fumbling in his pocket, he found that hiswater–tight match box was in its proper place, and in the darkness heset about making preparations to build a fire. Luckily, on the brink ofthe pool there was any quantity of dry wood cast up by the maelstromof waters, and the boy soon had a roaring blaze kindled. Stripping tohis underclothing he hung his other garments on sticks in front of theblaze while he basked in its cheery rays.
By the glow he could see a part of the pool, and as he gazed at itstroublous surface and foaming fury he marveled that he had been able toescape with his life. The firelight also showed him that he was in asort of rock–walled bowl, with steeply sloping sides scantily clad inplaces with stunted bushes. He was still sitting by this fire, tryingto think of some way out of his dilemma, when exhausted nature assertedherself and he sank into a deep slumber beside the warm blaze.
When he awoke the sun was shining down on his face. The daylight showedhim that he had blundered into an astonishing place indeed. As he hadguessed, by what he could see of the place by firelight, he was at thebottom of a rocky bowl into which the falls over which he had tumbledroared and thundered unceasingly as they had been doing for uncountedcenturies.
Jack estimated the height of the falls as being fully sixty feet. Theboiling pool appeared to be about an acre or so in extent, and wasfuriously agitated by the constant pouring of the mighty falls. And nowJack became aware of a curious thing.
All about the edges of the pool, where the circular motion of the waterhad evidently cast them up, were myriads of bones. They appeared tobe the remains of cattle and various kinds of game; but some of themcaused Jack to shudder as he had a distinct notion that they were ofhuman origin.
All at once, while he was still exploring the strange place into whichhe had fallen, he came across a bleached skull lying amid a pile ofbones and débris. The ghastly relic gave him a rude shock as he gazedat it.
“Gracious!” the boy exclaimed, with a shudder, “this place might wellbe called a Pool of Death. How fortunate I am to be alive; althoughhow I am going to get out of this scrape I don’t know. One thing iscertain, I cannot remount by the falls. I must see what lies in theother direction.”
Up to that moment, so agitated had the castaway boy been that he hadalmost entirely forgotten the Mexican with whom he had had the battleon the raft. The thought of the man now suddenly recurred to him.Jack sighed as he realized that the Mexican could hardly have been sofortunate as he had been. In all probability he had forfeited his lifeto the Pool of Death.
With such melancholy thoughts in his mind Jack set about exploring therocky basin for some means of exit. Although he was determined not togive way to despair, the boy could not but own that his situation waswell–nigh desperate. He was many miles from his friends, and probablyin an uninhabited part of the country. He had no food; nor even ifthere had been any game had he the means of shooting it.
His hunger was now beginning to make itself painfully manifest. Onsome bushes that clung to the walls of the Pool of Death were somebright–colored berries, but Jack dreaded to try them. For all he knewthey might be deadly poison.
Searching for an exit, Jack was not long in finding one. The pool wasdrained by a narrow crevice in the rocky walls, forming a passage. Onthe brink of the water was a strip of beach, not much wider than aman’s hand. Beside this pathway the water roared and screamed in itsnarrow bounds, but Jack knew that if he was to get out of this place atall he must dare the rocky passage.
Stifling his fears as well as he could, the famished, bedraggled ladstruck pluckily out. Sometimes the passage grew so narrow that hecould have bestridden the stream. At other points it widened out and,looking up, Jack could see the blue sky far overhead. In reality thepassage was not more than half a mile in length but, so carefully didJack have to proceed, it appeared to be four times that length at least.
The passage ended with almost startling abruptness. Jack could hardlyrepress an exclamation of amazement as he saw upon what a strange sceneit opened. Beyond its mouth lay a broad valley, carpeted with vividgreen grass and dotted here and there, like a park, with groups oftrees. Viewed in the sparkling sunlight it was indeed a scene of rarebeauty and Jack’s heart gave a throb of delight as he beheld it.
“Surely,” he thought, “some rancher must live hereabouts who will giveme food and lend me a horse to ride back to San Mercedes.”
For the first few minutes following his discovery of the valley theboy did not doubt but that he should find an easy and speedy means ofescaping from his difficulties. But it gradually began to dawn upon himthat the place upon which he had so oddly blundered was not inhabitedat all. At least, he could see no sign of a human habitation.
Then, too, somewhat to his dismay, he noticed another feature of thevalley which had at first escaped his attention altogether.
The place was completely enclosed by steep, lofty cliffs, and appearedas if, at some early period of the world’s growth, it had been droppedbelow the level of the surrounding country by some mighty convulsion ofnature.
For the rest the valley appeared to be about a mile in length andhalf a mile wide at its broadest part. Through the center of it thestream that issued from the passage beyond the Pool of Death meanderedleisurely along.
“Well,” exclaimed Jack, to himself, gazing somewhat disconsolatelyabout him, “this is a beautiful spot into which I have wandered; butsomehow it doesn’t appear to solve my difficulties. In the first place,I don’t believe it is frequented by human beings, and in the second, sofar as I can see, there is no way out of it. I wonder where on earth Ican be? Certainly not on the Rio Grande itself. I begin to suspect thatthat current hurled the raft off into some side stream which terminatedin the falls.”
It may be said here that Jack’s theory was correct. The valley in whichhe found himself had been caused by a convulsion of nature similar tothat which effected the wonderful Yosemite Valley in California. Itwas, in fact, a miniature reproduction of that famous scenic marvel.As the boy likewise suspected, the raft had indeed been hurried by thestream from the main current of the Rio Grande and drawn into a sidefork of the river.
Although Jack did not know it at the time, he was on Mexican soil andfar removed from his friends, as he paced the strange secret valley.
“I guess my best plan is to follow that stream,” mused Jack, after aperiod of thought; “if I’m not mistaken there must be some way out ofthe valley at the spot where it emerges. At any rate I’ll try it.”
He had walked some distance from the bank of the stream in hisexplorations, and he now began to re–thread his footsteps. He directedhis course toward a big rock that towered up by the bank of the stream,apparently dislodged at some remote time from
the summit of the loftycliffs that hedged the place all about.
When Jack was within a few feet of the rock he was brought to a suddenhalt by a startling occurrence.
From behind the monster boulder a human figure emerged, and the nextinstant Jack was being hailed by the sudden apparition.