The Young Lion Hunter | Page 9

more that evening, yet when I was sleepy and ready to turn in he still sat up, alert, watchful, intent on the strangeness and wildness of the forest. It was a treat to see him when Navvy rolled in a blanket with feet to the fire.
"Sleepie--me," said the Indian.
That was his good-night to us.
Ken shared my blankets and tarpaulin that night and slept without turning once. When the gray dawn came I was up lighting a fire. Jim yawned out of his bed, and both boys slept on. The morning was cold. A white frost silvered the scant grass. Presently I heard bells far off; they grew louder and quickened. Soon the horses appeared with the Navajo riding one, and they trooped into camp with thudding hoofs and jangling bells. That woke the boys.
"Rustle, now, Kid," said Jim to Hal. "You'll miss somethin' if you ain't lively."
"Oh, I'm all stove up!" exclaimed Ken. "Whew! but that's cold air! How about you, Hal?"
"I feel great," rejoined his brother. We all saw that Hal could hardly get out of bed, that when he did get out it was a desperate task for him to draw on his boots.
"Where's some water to wash in?" he asked. "Tackle the snow-drift there."
I meant for Hal to get a pan of snow and melt it at the fire, but he misunderstood me. He tackled the snow barehanded. It had a frozen crust which he could not break through, so he kicked a hole in it, and then digging out a double handful he proceeded to wash. That operation was one which required fortitude. Hal never murmured, but he hurried to the fire in a way to make Jim wink slyly at me.
When the sun rose we were on the trail. We passed the zone of silver spruces, rode through a long aspen hollow, and then out among the brown aisles of great pines of Buckskin Forest.
"Oh! Ken, I never saw a woods before!" was Hal's tribute.
"Boys, keep your eyes peeled for deer and coyotes," I said.
It was my intention to lead Ken and Hal to the rim of the Grand Ca–on without warning. I wanted the great spectacle to burst upon them unexpectedly as it had upon me. So I said nothing about it. Ken was in a dream, perhaps living over again his adventures in Penetier. Hal was suffering from his raw legs and sore joints, but he was in an ecstasy over the huge gnarled pines and the wild glades. Both boys had forgotten the Ca–on. So I rode on, pleased at the thought of what it all was to them. The sun thawed the frost, letting the bluebells peep out of the grass.
"There's a black squirrel with a white tail," shouted Hal.
"Kid, don't ever yell in the forest unless it's a yelling matter," said Ken.
We flushed blue grouse in some of the hollows, but saw no sign of deer. It was easy going and we made fast time. About noon I called into requisition a little ruse I had planned to attract the attention of the boys from the trail ahead. I told them to look sharp for deer on both sides. In this way, leaving the trail and keeping behind the thicker clumps of pines, I approached the Ca–on without their suspecting its nearness. Then, rounding a thicket of juniper, within twenty yards of the rim I called out:
"Boys! Look!"

CHAPTER IV
- THROUGH BUCKSKIN FOREST
Strong men, when suddenly confronted with the spectacle of the Grand Ca–on, have been known to cry out in joy or fear, to weep, to fall upon their knees, or to be petrified into silence. Serious-minded men have been known to laugh immoderately. Sight of the Ca–on affects no two persons alike, but there are none whom it does not affect powerfully. I paid my own moment's tribute of solemn awe, and then I glanced at the boys.
Ken looked stunned and white, his throat swelling with emotion. Hal's face shone with a radiant glow of wild joy, and for a moment he stuttered, then as Ken burst into an exclamation, he lapsed into stony silence.
"Wonderful! Beautiful! It's--it's--" That was all Ken could say.
"It shore is," replied Jim.
Then I told the boys that the Grand Ca–on of Arizona was over two hundred miles long, twelve to twenty wide, and a mile and a half deep. It was a Titanic gorge in which mountains, table-lands, chasms and cliffs lay buried in purple haze, a thing of wonder and mystery, beyond any other a place to grip the heart of a man. It had the strange power to make him at once meek and then to unleash his daring spirit.
"The world's split!" exclaimed Hal. "What made this--this awful hole?"
"We'll talk of that and study it after you have seen something of its