by Zane Grey
Lake and Withers were sweating freely when this job was finished.
“Say, is that a usual morning’s task with the pack-animals?” asked Shefford.
“They’re all pretty decent today, except Dynamite,” replied Withers. “She’s got to be worked out.”
Shefford felt both amusement and consternation. The sun was just rising over the ramparts of the canyon, and he had already seen more difficult and dangerous work accomplished than half a dozen men of his type could do in a whole day. He liked the outlook of his new duty as Withers’s assistant, but he felt helplessly inefficient. Still, all he needed was experience. He passed over what he anticipated would be pain and peril—the cost was of no moment.
Soon the pack-train was on the move, with the Indian leading. This morning Nack-yal began his strange swinging off to the left, precisely as he had done the day before. It got to be annoying to Shefford, and he lost patience with the mustang and jerked him sharply round. This, however, had no great effect upon Nack-yal.
As the train headed straight up the canyon Joe Lake dropped back to ride beside Shefford. The Mormon had been amiable and friendly.
“Flock of deer up that draw,” he said, pointing up a narrow side canyon.
Shefford gazed to see a half-dozen small, brown, long-eared objects, very like burros, watching the pack-train pass.
“Are they deer?” he asked, delightedly.
“Sure are,” replied Joe, sincerely. “Get down and shoot one. There’s a rifle in your saddle-sheath.”
Shefford had already discovered that he had been armed this morning, a matter which had caused him reflection. These animals certainly looked like deer; he had seen a few deer, though not in their native wild haunts; and he experienced the thrill of the hunter. Dismounting, he drew the rifle out of the sheath and started toward the little canyon.
“Hyar! Where you going with that gun?” yelled Withers. “That’s a bunch of burros.… Joe’s up to his old tricks. Shefford, look out for Joe!”
Rather sheepishly Shefford returned to his mustang and sheathed the rifle, and then took a long look at the animals up the draw. They, resembled deer, but upon second glance they surely were burros.
“Durn me! Now if I didn’t think they sure were deer!” exclaimed Joe. He appeared absolutely sincere and innocent. Shefford hardly knew how to take this likable Mormon, but vowed he would be on his guard in the future.
Nas Ta Bega soon led the pack-train toward the left wall of the canyon, and evidently intended to scale it. Shefford could not see any trail, and the wall appeared steep and insurmountable. But upon nearing the cliff he saw a narrow broken trail leading zigzag up over smooth rock, weathered slope, and through cracks.
“Spread out, and careful now!” yelled Withers.
The need of both advices soon became manifest to Shefford. The burros started stones rolling, making danger for those below. Shefford dismounted and led Nack-yal and turned aside many a rolling rock. The Indian and the burros, with the red mule leading, climbed steadily. But the mustangs had trouble. Joe’s spirited bay had to be coaxed to face the ascent; Nack-yal balked at every difficult step; and Dynamite slipped on a flat slant of rock and slid down forty feet. Withers and Lake with ropes hauled the mare out of the dangerous position. Shefford, who brought up the rear, saw all the action, and it was exciting, but his pleasure in the climb was spoiled by sight of blood and hair on the stones. The ascent was crooked, steep, and long, and when Shefford reached the top of the wall he was glad to rest. It made him gasp to look down and see what he had surmounted. The canyon floor, green and level, lay a thousand feet below; and the wild burros which had followed on the trail looked like rabbits.
Shefford mounted presently, and rode out upon a wide, smooth trail leading into a cedar forest. There were bunches of gray sage in the open places. The air was cool and crisp, laden with a sweet fragrance. He saw Lake and Withers bobbing along, now on one side of the trail, now on the other, and they kept to a steady trot. Occasionally the Indian and his bright-red saddle-blanket showed in an opening of the cedars.
It was level country, and there was nothing for Shefford to see except cedar and sage, an outcropping of red rock in places, and the winding trail. Mocking-birds made melody everywhere. Shefford seemed full of a strange pleasure, and the hours flew by. Nack-yal still wanted to be everlastingly turning off the trail, and, moreover, now he wanted to go faster. He was eager, restless, dissatisfied.
At noon the pack-train descended into a deep draw, well covered with cedar and sage. There was plenty of grass and shade, but no water. Shefford was surprised to see that every pack was removed; however, the roll of blankets was left on Dynamite.
The men made a fire and began to cook a noonday meal. Shefford, tired and warm, sat in a shady spot and watched. He had become all eyes. He had almost forgotten Fay Larkin; he had forgotten his trouble; and the present seemed sweet and full. Presently his ears were filled by a pattering roar and, looking up the draw, he saw two streams of sheep and goats coming down. Soon an Indian shepherd appeared, riding a fine mustang. A cream-colored colt bounded along behind, and presently a shaggy dog came in sight. The Indian dismounted at the camp, and his flock spread by in two white and black streams. The dog went with them. Withers and Joe shook hands with the Indian, whom Joe called “Navvy,” and Shefford lost no time in doing likewise. Then Nas Ta Bega came in, and he and the Navajo talked. When the meal was ready all of them sat down round the canvas. The shepherd did not tie his horse.
Presently Shefford noticed that Nack-yal had returned to camp and was acting strangely. Evidently he was attracted by the Indian’s mustang or the cream-colored colt. At any rate, Nack-yal hung around, tossed his head, whinnied in a low, nervous manner, and looked strangely eager and wild. Shefford was at first amused, then curious. Nack-yal approached too close to the mother of the colt, and she gave him a sounding kick in the ribs. Nack-yal uttered a plaintive snort and backed away, to stand, crestfallen, with all his eagerness and fire vanished.
Nas Ta Bega pointed to the mustang and said something in his own tongue. Then Withers addressed the visiting Indian, and they exchanged some words, whereupon the trader turned to Shefford:
“I bought Nack-yal from this Indian three years ago. This mare is Nack-yal’s mother. He was born over here to the south. That’s why he always swung left off the trail. He wanted to go home. Just now he recognized his mother and she whaled away and gave him a whack for his pains. She’s got a colt now and probably didn’t recognize Nack-yal. But he’s broken-hearted.”
The trader laughed, and Joe said, “You can’t tell what these durn mustangs will do.” Shefford felt sorry for Nack-yal, and when it came time to saddle him again found him easier to handle than ever before. Nack-yal stood with head down, broken-spirited.
Shefford was the first to ride up out of the draw, and once upon the top of the ridge he halted to gaze, wide-eyed and entranced. A rolling, endless plain sloped down beneath him, and led him on to a distant round-topped mountain. To the right a red canyon opened its jagged jaws, and away to the north rose a whorled and strange sea of curved ridges, crags, and domes.
Nas Ta Bega rode up then, leading the pack-train.
“Bi Nai, that is Na-tsis-an,” he said, pointing to the mountain. “Navajo Mountain. And there in the north are the canyon.”
Shefford followed the Indian down the trail and soon lost sight of that wide green-and-red wilderness. Nas Ta Bega turned at an intersecting trail, rode down into the canyon, and climbed out on the other side. Shefford got a glimpse now and then of the black dome of the mountain, but for the most part the distant points of the country were hidden. They crossed many trails, and went up and down the sides of many shallow canyon. Troops of wild mustangs whistled at them, stood on ridge-tops to watch, and then dashed away with manes and tails flying.
Wit
hers rode forward presently and halted the pack-train. He had some conversation with Nas Ta Bega, whereupon the Indian turned his horse and trotted back, to disappear in the cedars.
“I’m some worried,” explained Withers. “Joe thinks he saw a bunch of horsemen trailing us. My eyes are bad and I can’t see far. The Indian will find out. I took a roundabout way to reach the village because I’m always dodging Shadd.”
This communication lent an added zest to the journey. Shefford could hardly believe the truth that his eyes and his ears brought to his consciousness. He turned in behind Withers and rode down the rough trail, helping the mustang all in his power. It occurred to him that Nack-yal had been entirely different since that meeting with his mother in the draw. He turned no more off the trail; he answered readily to the rein; he did not look afar from every ridge. Shefford conceived a liking for the mustang.
Withers turned sidewise in his saddle and let his mustang pick the way.
“Another time we’ll go up round the base of the mountain, where you can look down on the grandest scene in the world,” said he. “Two hundred miles of wind-worn rock, all smooth and bare, without a single straight line—canyon, caves, bridges—the most wonderful country in the world! Even the Indians haven’t explored it. It’s haunted, for them, and they have strange gods. The Navajos will hunt on this side of the mountain, but not on the other. That north side is consecrated ground. My wife has long been trying to get the Navajos to tell her the secret of Nonnezoshe. Nonnezoshe means Rainbow Bridge. The Indians worship it, but as far as she can find out only a few have ever seen it. I imagine it’d be worth some trouble.”
“Maybe that’s the bridge Venters talked about—the one overarching the entrance to Surprise Valley,” Said Shefford.
“It might be,” replied the trader. “You’ve got a good chance of finding out. Nas Ta Bega is the man. You stick to that Indian.… Well, we start down here into this canyon, and we go down some, I reckon. In half an hour you’ll see sago-lilies and Indian paint-brush and vermilion cactus.”
* * * *
About the middle of the afternoon the pack-train and its drivers arrived at the hidden Mormon village. Nas Ta Bega had not returned from his scout back along the trail.
Shefford’s sensibilities had all been overstrained, but he had left in him enthusiasm and appreciation that made the situation of this village a fairyland. It was a valley, a canyon floor, so long that he could not see the end, and perhaps a quarter of a mile wide. The air was hot, still, and sweetly odorous of unfamiliar flowers. Pinon and cedar trees surrounded the little log and stone houses, and along the walls of the canyon stood sharp-pointed, dark-green spruce-trees. These walls were singular of shape and color. They were not imposing in height, but they waved like the long, undulating swell of a sea. Every foot of surface was perfectly smooth, and the long curved lines of darker tinge that streaked the red followed the rounded line of the slope at the top. Far above, yet overhanging, were great yellow crags and peaks, and between these, still higher, showed the pine-fringed slope of Navajo Mountain with snow in the sheltered places, and glistening streams, like silver threads, running down.
All this Shefford noticed as he entered the valley from round a corner of wall. Upon nearer view he saw and heard a host of children, who, looking up to see the intruders, scattered like frightened quail. Long gray grass covered the ground, and here and there wide, smooth paths had been worn. A swift and murmuring brook ran through the middle of the valley, and its banks were bordered with flowers.
Withers led the way to one side near the wall, where a clump of cedar-trees and a dark, swift spring boiling out of the rocks and banks of amber moss with purple blossoms made a beautiful camp site. Here the mustangs were unsaddled and turned loose without hobbles. It was certainly unlikely that they would leave such a spot. Some of the burros were unpacked, and the others Withers drove off into the village.
“Sure’s pretty nice,” said Joe, wiping his sweaty face. “I’ll never want to leave. It suits me to lie on this moss.… Take a drink of that spring.”
Shefford complied with alacrity and found the water cool and sweet, and he seemed to feel it all through him. Then he returned to the mossy bank. He did not reply to Joe. In fact, all his faculties were absorbed in watching and feeling, and he lay there long after Joe went off to the village. The murmur of water, the hum of bees, the songs of strange birds, the sweet, warm air, the dreamy summer somnolence of the valley—all these added drowsiness to Shefford’s weary lassitude, and he fell asleep. When he awoke Nas Ta Bega was sitting near him and Joe was busy near a camp-fire.
“Hello, Nas Ta Bega!” said Shefford. “Was there anyone trailing us?”
The Navajo nodded.
Joe raised his head and with forceful brevity said, “Shadd.”
“Shadd!” echoed Shefford, remembering the dark, sinister face of his visitor that night in the Sagi. “Joe, is it serious—his trailing us?”
“Well, I don’t know how durn serious it is, but I’m scared to death,” replied Lake. “He and his gang will hold us up somewhere on the way home.”
Shefford regarded Joe with both concern and doubt. Joe’s words were at variance with his looks.
“Say, pard, can you shoot a rifle?” queried Joe.
“Yes. I’m a fair shot at targets.”
The Mormon nodded his head as if pleased. “That’s good. These outlaws are all poor shots with a rifle. So ’m I. But I can handle a six-shooter. I reckon we’ll make Shadd sweat if he pushes us.”
Withers returned, driving the burros, all of which had been unpacked down to the saddles. Two gray-bearded men accompanied him. One of them appeared to be very old and venerable, and walked with a stick. The other had a sad-lined face and kind, mild blue eyes. Shefford observed that Lake seemed unusually respectful. Withers introduced these Mormons merely as Smith and Henninger. They were very cordial and pleasant in their greetings to Shefford. Presently another, somewhat younger, man joined the group, a stalwart, jovial fellow with ruddy face. There was certainly no mistaking his kindly welcome as he shook Shefford’s hand. His name was Beal. The three stood round the camp-fire for a while, evidently glad of the presence of fellow-men and to hear news from the outside. Finally they went away, taking Joe with them. Withers took up the task of getting supper where Joe had been made to leave it.
“Shefford, listen,” he said, presently, as he knelt before the fire. “I told them right out that you’d been a Gentile clergyman—that you’d gone back on your religion. It impressed them and you’ve been well received. I’ll tell the same thing over at Stonebridge. You’ll get in right. Of course I don’t expect they’ll make a Mormon of you. But they’ll try to. Meanwhile you can be square and friendly all the time you’re trying to find your Fay Larkin. Tomorrow you’ll meet some of the women. They’re good souls, but, like any women, crazy for news. Think what it is to be shut up in here between these walls!”
“Withers, I’m intensely interested,” replied Shefford, “and excited, too. Shall we stay here long?”
“I’ll stay a couple of days, then go to Stonebridge with Joe. He’ll come back here, and when you both feel like leaving, and if Nas Ta Bega thinks it safe, you’ll take a trail over to some Indian hogans and pack me out a load of skins and blankets.… My boy, you’ve all the time there is, and I wish you luck. This isn’t a bad place to loaf. I always get sentimental over here. Maybe it’s the women. Some of them are pretty, and one of them—Shefford, they call her the Sago Lily. Her first name is Mary, I’m told. Don’t know her last name. She’s lovely. And I’ll bet you forget Fay Larkin in a flash. Only—be careful. You drop in here with rather peculiar credentials, so to speak—as my helper and as a man with no religion! You’ll not only be fully trusted, but you’ll be welcome to these lonely women. So be careful. Remember it’s my secret belief they are sealed wives and are visited occasio
nally at night by their husbands. I don’t know this, but I believe it. And you’re not supposed to dream of that.”
“How many men in the village?” asked Shefford.
“Three. You met them.”
“Have they wives?” asked Shefford, curiously.
“Wives! Well, I guess. But only one each that I know of. Joe Lake is the only unmarried Mormon I’ve met.”
“And no men—strangers, cowboys, outlaws—ever come to this village?”
“Except to Indians, it seems to be a secret so far,” replied the trader, earnestly. “But it can’t be kept secret. I’ve said that time after time over in Stonebridge. With Mormons it’s ‘sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.’”
“What’ll happen when outsiders do learn and ride in here?”
