The Silver Canyon: A Tale of the Western Plains

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

  IN NATURE'S STOREHOUSE.

  All this seemed to add terribly to the sense of insecurity felt by theDoctor, and Joses was not slow to speak out.

  "We may have a mob of horse-Injun down upon us at any moment," hegrowled. "I don't think we're very safe."

  "Joses is right," said the Doctor; "we must see if there is a richdeposit of silver here, and then, if all seems well, we must return, andget together a force of recruits so as to be strong enough to resist theIndians, should they be so ill advised as to attack us, and ready towork the mines."

  "'Aven't seen no mines yet," growled Joses.

  The Doctor coughed with a look of vexation upon his countenance, and,beckoning to the chief, he took his rifle. Bart rose, and leaving Josesin charge of the camp, they started for the edge of the canyon.

  There was no likelihood of enemies being about the place after the eventof the morning; but to the little party every shrub and bush, everystone, seemed to suggest a lurking-place for a treacherous enemy. Stillthey pressed on, the chief taking them, for some unknown reason, in theopposite route along beneath the perpendicular walls of the mountain,which here ran straight up from the plain.

  They went by a rugged patch of broken rock, and by what seemed to be agreat post stuck up there by human hands, but which proved, on a nearerapproach, to be the remains of a moderate-sized tree that had beenstruck by lightning, the whole of the upper portion having been charredaway, leaving only some ten feet standing up out of the ground.

  A short distance farther on, as they were close in by the steep wall ofrock, they came to a slight projection, as if a huge piece had slippeddown from above, and turning sharply round this, the Beaver pointed to anarrow rift just wide enough to allow of the passage of one man at atime.

  He signed to the Doctor to enter, and climbing over a few rough stones,the latter passed in and out of sight.

  "Bart! quick, my boy! quick!" he said directly after, and the lad sprangin to help him, as he thought, in some perilous adventure, but only tostop short and stare at the long sloping narrow passage fringed withprickly cactus plants, which slope ran evidently up the side of themountain.

  "Why, it's the way up to the top," cried Bart. "I wonder who made it."

  "Dame Nature, I should say, my boy," said the Doctor. "We must explorethis. Why, what a natural fortification! One man could hold thispassage against hundreds."

  Just then the chief appeared below them, for they had climbed up a fewyards, and signed to them to come down.

  The Doctor hesitated, and then descended.

  "Let's see what he has to show, Bart. I have seen no silver yet."

  They followed the Beaver down, and he led them straight back, past thecamp, through the narrow ravine, once more to the shelf of rockoverlooking the canyon, and now, in the full glow of the sunnyafternoon, they were able to realise the grandeur of the scene where theriver ran swiftly down below, fully a thousand feet, in a bed of itsown, shut out from the upper world by the perpendicular walls of rock.

  At the first glance it seemed that it would be impossible to descend,but on farther examination there seemed in places to be rifts andcrevices and shelves, dotted with trees and plants of the richestgrowth, where it might be likely that skilful climbers could make a waydown.

  From where they stood the river looked enchanting, for while all up inthe plain was arid and grey, and the trees and shrubs that grew thereseemed parched and dry, and of a sickly green, all below was of therichest verdant hues, and lovely groves of woodland were interspersedwith soft patches of waving grass that flourished where stormy windsnever reached, and moisture and heat were abundant.

  Still this paradise-like river was not without signs of trouble visitingit at times, and these remained in huge up-torn trees, dead branches,and jagged rocks, splintered and riven, that dotted the patches of plainfrom the shores of the river to the perpendicular walls of the canyon.

  Bart needed no telling that these were the traces of floods, when,instead of the bright silver rushing river, the waters came down fromthe mountains hundreds of miles to the north, and the great canyon wasfilled to its walls with a huge seething yellow flow, and in imaginationhe thought of what the smiling emerald valley would be after such avisitation.

  But he had little time for thought, the chief making signs to the Doctorto follow him, first laying down his rifle and signing to the Doctor todo the same.

  Dr Lascelles hesitated for a moment, and then did as the chief wished,when the Beaver went on for a few yards to where the shelf of rockseemed to end, and there was nothing but a sheer fall of a thousand feetdown to the stones and herbage at the bottom of the canyon, while abovetowered up the mountain which seemed like a Titanic bastion round whichthe river curved.

  Without a moment's hesitation the chief turned his face to them, loweredhimself over the edge of the shelf down and down till only his handsremained visible. Then he drew himself up till his face was above therock, and made a sign to the Doctor to come on.

  "I dare not go, Bart," said the Doctor, whose face was covered with dew."Would you be afraid to follow him, my boy?"

  "I should be afraid, sir," replied Bart laying down his rifle, "but I'llgo."

  "No, no, I will not be such a coward," cried the Doctor; and goingboldly to the edge, he refrained from looking over, but turned andlowered himself down, passing out of Bart's sight; and when the lattercrept to the edge and looked down, he could see a narrow ledge belowwith climbing plants and luxuriant shrubs, but no sight of the Doctor orhis guide.

  Bart remained motionless--horror-stricken as the thought came upon himthat they might have slipped and gone headlong into the chasm below; buton glancing back he saw one of the Indians who was of the party smiling,and evidently quite satisfied that nothing was wrong.

  This being so, Bart remained gazing down into the canyon, listeningintently, and wondering whither the pair could have gone.

  It was a most wonderful sight to look down at that lovely silver riverthat flashed and sparkled and danced in the sunshine. In places wherethere were deep, calm pools it looked intensely blue, as it reflectedthe pure sky, while other portions seemed one gorgeous, dazzlingdamascene of molten metal, upon which Bart could hardly gaze.

  Then there was the wonderful variety of the tints that adorned theshrubs and creepers that were growing luxuriantly wherever they couldobtain a hold.

  There were moments when Bart fancied that he could see the salmon plashin the river, but he could make out the birds in the depths below asthey floated and skimmed about from shore to shore, and over the tops ofthe trees that looked like shrubs from where he crouched.

  Just then, as he was forgetting the absence of the Doctor in an intensedesire to explore the wonders of the canyon, to shoot in the patches offorest, to fish in the river, and find he knew not what in thosewondrous solitudes where man had probably never yet trod, he heard acall, and, brought back to himself from his visionary expedition, heshouted a reply.

  "The Beaver's coming to you, Bart. Lower yourself down, my boy, andcome."

  These--the Doctor's words--sounded close at hand, but the speaker wasinvisible.

  "All right; I'll come," cried Bart; and as he spoke a feeling ofshrinking came over him, and he felt ready to draw back. But callingupon himself, he went closer to the edge, trying to look under, and thenext moment there was the head of the Beaver just below, gazing up athim with a half-mocking smile upon his face.

  "You think I'm afraid," said Bart, looking down at him, "but I can'thelp that. I'll come all the same;" and swiftly turning, he loweredhimself down till his body was hanging as it were in space, and only hischest and elbows were on the shelf.

  Then for a moment he seemed to hesitate, but he mastered the shrinkingdirectly after, and lowered himself more and more till he hung at theextremity of his hands, vainly seeking for a foothold.

  "Are you there, Beaver?" he shouted, and he felt his waist seized andhis sides pinioned by tw
o strong hands, his own parted company from theshelf, and he seemed to fall a terrible distance, but it was only acouple of feet, and he found himself standing upon the solid rock, withthe shelf jutting out above his head, and plenty of room to peer aboutamongst the clustering bushes that had here made themselves a home.

  The chief smiled at his startled look, and pointing to the left, Bartglanced sidewise at where the precipice went down, and then walkedonward cautiously along a rugged shelf not much unlike the one fromwhich he had descended, save that it was densely covered with shrubbygrowth.

  This shelf suddenly ended in a rift like a huge crevice in the face ofthe mountain, but there was a broad crack before it, and this it wasnecessary to leap before entering the rift.

  Bart stopped short, gazing down into what seemed an awful abyss, but theBeaver passed him lightly, as if there were no danger whatever, andlightly leaped across to some rough pieces of rock.

  The distance was nothing, but the depths below made it seem an awfulleap, till Bart felt that the Doctor must have gone over it before him,and without further hesitation he bounded across and stood beside thechief, who led the way farther into the rift to where, some fifty feetfrom the entrance, the Doctor was standing, hammer in hand, gazingintently at the newly chipped rock and the fragments that lay around.

  "At last, Bart!" he cried joyously.

  "What! Is it a vein?" said Bart, eagerly.

  "A vein, boy? It is a mountain of silver--a valley of silver. Here aregreat threads of the precious metal, and masses of ore as well. Itseems as if it ran right down the sides of the canyon, and from what theIndian appears to know, it does, Bart, I never expected to make such afind as this."

  As he spoke, he handed pieces of the rock to Bart, who found that insome there were angular pieces of what seemed to be native silver, whileothers were full of threads and veins, or appeared as pieces of dullmetalliferous stone.

  "It is a huge fortune--wealth untold, Bart," said the Doctor.

  "Is it, sir?" said Bart coolly, for he could not feel the same raptureas the Doctor.

  "Is it, boy? Yes! enormous wealth."

  "But how are we to carry it away, sir?" asked Bart dryly.

  "Carry it away! Why, do you not understand that this mine will wantworking, and that we must have a large number of men here? But no; youcannot conceive the greatness of this find."

  As he spoke, the Doctor hurried to the mouth of the rift, and thencautiously lowered himself into the chasm, over which Bart had leaped,clinging to the stout stems of the various shrubs.

  For a few moments Bart hesitated. Then he followed till they were bothquite a hundred feet below the shelf, and the part of the rift they hadfirst entered, and were able to creep right out till they were levelwith the side of the canyon, and able to look down to the river.

  But the Doctor did not care to look down upon the river, for tearingaway some of the thick growth from the rock, he cast it behind him, sothat it fell far out into the canyon. Then two or three pieces of rockfollowed, and somehow Bart felt more interested in their fall than inthe search for silver, listening in the hope of hearing them crash downdeep in the great stream.

  "Yes; as I thought," cried the Doctor, excitedly, "the vein or mass runsright down the side of this vast canyon, Bart--the Silver Canyon, wemust call it. But come, let's get back. I must tell my child. Such adiscovery was never made before. Discovery, do I say! Why, these poorignorant Indians must have known of it for years, perhaps forgenerations, and beyond working up a few pieces to make themselves ringsfor their horses' lariats, or to secure their saddles, they have left isas it is."

  As he spoke, he was already climbing up towards the shelf, hisexcitement in his tremendous find making him forget the risks he keptrunning, for to one in cool blood, the face of the rock, the insecurityof the shrubs to which he clung, and the many times that silver-veinedstones gave way beneath his feet, were very terrible, and Bart drew hisbreath hard, climbing slowly after his companion till at last they stoodonce more upon the shelf.

  And all this time the Beaver was looking calmly on, following eachmovement, helping his white friends to climb where it was necessary, andseeming half amused at the Doctor's intense eagerness. In fact, Bartfancied that at times he looked rather contemptuously on at the Doctor'sdelight with what he found, for it was so much whitey-grey metallicstone to him, and as nothing beside the possession of a fine swift pony,or an ample supply of powder and lead.