CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
THE SILVER CANYON.
A week's arduous journey over a sterile stretch of country, where waterwas very scarce and where game was hard to approach, brought them atlast in reach of what looked to be a curiously formed mountain far awayin the middle of an apparently boundless plain. Then it struck Bartthat it could not be a mountain, for its sides were perpendicular, andits top at a distance seemed to be perfectly flat, and long discussionsarose between him and the Doctor as to the peculiarity of the strangeeminence standing up so prominently right in the middle of the plain.
While they were discussing the subject, the Beaver and hisEnglish-speaking follower came to their side, and pointing to themountain, gave them to understand that this was their destination.
"But is there silver there?" said the Doctor eagerly, when the Indiansmiled and said quietly, "Wait and see."
The mountain on being first seen appeared to be at quite a shortdistance, but at the end of their first day's journey they seemed tohave got no nearer, while after another day, though it had assumed moreprominent proportions, they were still at some distance, and it was notuntil the third morning that the little party stood on the reedy shoresof a long narrow winding lake, one end of which they had to skirt beforethey could ride up to the foot of the flat-topped mountain which lookedas if it had been suddenly thrust by some wondrous volcanic action rightfrom the plain to form what appeared to be a huge castle, some seven oreight hundred feet high, and with no ravine or rift in the wall by whichit could be approached.
All Bart's questions were met by the one sole answer from the Indian,"Wait and see;" and in this spirit the savages guided them along beneaththe towering ramparts of the mountain, whose scarped sides even amountain sheep could not have climbed, till towards evening rein wasdrawn close under the mighty rocks, fragments of which had fallen hereand there, loosened by time or cut loose by the shafts of storms to liecrumbling about its feet.
There seemed to be no reason for halting there, save that there was alittle spring of water trickling down from the rocks, while a shortdistance in front what seemed to be a wide crack appeared in the plain,zigzagging here and there, one end going off into the distance, theother appearing to pass round close by the mountain; and as soon as theywere dismounted and the horses tethered, the Beaver signed to Bart andthe Doctor to accompany him, while the interpreter followed closebehind.
It was a glorious evening, and after the heat of the day, the soft, coolbreeze that swept over the plain was refreshing in the extreme; but allthe same Bart felt very hungry, and his thoughts were more upon somecarefully picked sage grouse that Joses and Maude were roasting thanupon the search for silver; but the Doctor was excited, for he felt thatmost likely this would prove to be the goal of their long journey. Hisgreat fear was that the Indians in their ignorance might have taken somewhite shining stone or mica for the precious metal.
The crack in the plain seemed to grow wider as they approached, but theIndians suddenly led them off to the right, close under the toweringflank of the mountain, and between it and a mass of rock that might havebeen split from it at some early stage in the world's life.
This mass was some forty or fifty feet high, and between it and theparent mountain there was a narrow rift, so narrow in fact that they hadto proceed in single file for about a hundred yards, winding in and outtill, reaching the end, the Indians stood upon a broad kind of shelf ofrock in silence as the Doctor and Bart involuntarily uttered a cry ofsurprise.
For there was the crack in the plain below their feet, and they werestanding upon its very verge where it came in close to the mountain,whose top was some seven hundred feet above their heads, while here itsperpendicular side went down for fully another thousand to where, in thesolemn dark depths of the vast canyon or crack in the rocky crust of theearth, a great rushing river ran, its roar rising to where they stood ina strangely weird monotone, like low echoing thunder.
The reflections in the evening sky lighted up the vast rift for a while,and Bart forgot his hunger in the contemplation of this strange freak ofnature, of a river running below in a channel whose walls were perfectlyperpendicular and against which in places the rapid stream seemed tobeat and eddy and swirl, while in other parts there were long stretchesof pebbly and rocky shore. For as far as Bart could judge, the wallsseemed to be about four hundred feet apart, though in the fading eveninglight it was hard to tell anything for certain.
A more stupendous work of nature had never met Bart's eye, and his firstthoughts were natural enough--How should he manage to get to the top ofthat flat mountain?--How should he be able to lower himself down intothe mysterious shades of that vast canyon, and wander amongst thewonders that must for certain be hidden there?
Just then the Beaver spoke. He had evidently been taking lessons fromthe interpreter, as, smiling loftily and half in pity at the eagernessof men who could care for such a trifle as white ore when they hadhorses and rifles, he pointed up at the perpendicular face of themountain and then downward at the wall of the canyon, and said:--
"Silver--silver. Beaver give his brother. Medicine-man."
"He means there is silver here, sir, and he gives it to you," said Barteagerly.
"Yes. Give. Silver," said the chief, nodding his head, and holding outhis hand, which the Doctor grasped, Bart doing the same by the other.
"I am very grateful," said the Doctor at last, while his eyes keptwandering about, "but I see none."
"Silver--silver," said the chief again, as he looked up and then down,ending by addressing some words in the Indian dialect to theinterpreter, who pointed in the direction of the camp.
"The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says, let us eat," he said.
This brought back Bart's hunger so vividly to his recollection that helaughed merrily and turned to go.
"Yes," he said, "let us eat by all means. Shall we come in the morningand examine this place, sir?"
"Yes, Bart, we will," said the Doctor, as they turned back; "but I'mafraid we shall be disappointed. What was that?"
"An Indian," said Bart. "I saw him glide amongst the rocks. Was it anenemy?"
"No; impossible, I should say," replied the Doctor. "One of our ownparty. Our friends here would have seen him if he had been an enemy,long before we should."
"And so you think there is no silver here, sir?" said Bart.
"I can't tell yet, my boy. There may be, but these men know so littleabout such things that I cannot help feeling doubtful. However, weshall see, and if I am disappointed I shall know what to do."
"Try again, sir?" said Bart.
"Try again, my boy, for there is ample store in the mountains if we canfind it."
"Yes," he said, as they walked back, "this is going to be adisappointment." He picked up a piece of rock as he went along betweenthe rocks; "this stone does not look like silver-bearing stratum. Butwe'll wait till the morning, Bart, and see."