Part 36 (1/2)

This showed that Tom had been doing some valuable thinking and he could, too, if he was really interested in anything.

”You're right, Tom,” said Jim. ”That's what we will need and we had better take a couple of big spikes.”

”What for?” I asked.

”To drill with,” Jim said, ”if we find a place that looks likely we will have to investigate, that's the only way to find it. You don't suppose that it will be out in the open.”

”Then if we are going into the mining business, better take some blasting powder.”

”Good,” replied Jim.

”Then a rope and pick may be of great benefit,” said Juarez.

”Sure, Mike,” replied Jim with a grin.

So each one of us contributed to the material we took along. We divided up the tools between ourselves and had them fastened on so that our climbing would not be impeded.

”Do you think it safe to leave the boat; we may be gone a day or two?” I asked.

”Certainly,” replied Jim. ”It won't need anything to eat in our absence, and it has plenty of water. Besides, I don't imagine that there are many people back of us coming down the river.”

I could not help but smile myself at the idea of anyone making the terrible trip down the river.

”That's so,” I replied. ”You can't find three such fools as we are every year. There are other easier ways of committing suicide than gliding down the Colorado.”

”But some Indians might find a trail over the wall and steal the boat,”

said Tom.

”How many trails do you suppose there are to the Colorado River within nine hundred miles?” asked Jim severely.

”I don't know,” replied Tom.

”Just three,” said Jim, ”and this isn't one of them. At least not on the west bank.”

So that was settled and we started out with a great deal of enthusiasm and energy. It was like being let out from the hard school of the river for a holiday.

We needed this breathing spell of pleasure too, for there was something depressing to the spirits in going through the deep and gloomy canyons, exposed to constant danger and shut off from the rays of the sun nearly all the time.

There was an exhilaration likewise in the search for this hidden treasure. Nor were we on a wild goose chase. We had a definite end in view and a definite guide, though there was enough vagueness to give us plenty of trouble.

We went whistling along, singing and joking each other, in high spirits.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, with that wonderful quality in the air known only to the highest alt.i.tudes.

Our way lay first through glen, with flowering bushes, willow brush and the pleasant cottonwood trees that do so much to enliven the desert places of the West, so that one grows to look on them with a real affection that one would not give to the most beautiful tree of the overburdened tropics.

We came to a low, red wall that blocked our way. It was low, however, only by comparison, with the giant wall of other canyons.

Juarez regarded it carefully and then shook his head.