Part 20 (1/2)
I know not how long I sat there gazing silently into his i over within ument of his words He was neither woods, I saw but one possible objection to his plan--lack of water or of ga the unknown route to be traversed
But serious scarcity of either was hardly to be expected at this season a thus saved would th and time of our journey
”It appears to me our best hope,” I ad over rocks, yet yonder range does not appear high, nor of a width to keep us long in its shadow; besides, the lower reaches of this river arewill be easier if we take higher ground It is all guesswork at the best We kno impassable the trail will be below, and, even if we retrace our steps down the river, we shall have to make a wide detour to cross this mad stream But wait; we have heard no word fro upon those cool, blue hills, apparently close at hand, but turned instantly atquick and confident answer
”My word is only this, Geoffrey Benteen: you are a woodsman, better capable of such decision than any woo cheerfully wheresoever your choice lies”
It has ever been a source of strength to hly trusted by so a new man under the inspiration of these heartsome words
”Then thatof confidence in my voice ”We will break bread once more, and then commence our journey”
”_Sacre_!” ejaculated the Captain, yet lolling upon his back, ”if it be like that sa it will prove no s sun stood an hour low in the e divided our small stock of necessaries so as to transport theed boat which had been our ho, turned our faces hopefully toward those northern hills, co a journey destined to prove for more than one a trip unto death God's way is best, and there is a noble purpose in it all; for had we that day been enabled to view the future, not a single step would we have taken, nor should I have had inwritten down
I led the little coaht easily afford aid to his wife if she required the strength of his ar ever to hih ere careful to keep within speaking distance of each other We traversed a gently rising slope of grass land, with nu as close as possible along the bank of the brawling streah the rocky bluffs, which threatened to bar our passage These were no great distance away, so a steady gait--I set the pace slow not to distress Madaht us in an hour to where our narrowing path was overhung and darkened by the closing in of gloohts upon either side It had an aweso to intense darkness and er I saw a look alazed, yet her lips uttered no protest, and I flung aside a desire to shrink back, with a muttered curse at rips the best of us Those rock walls, binding us within their scant confines as in a prison, were not particularly precipitous or high, yet our as sufficiently perilous, leading along a contracted defile, thesheer on either side,streaht expanse of sky above was blue and clear, but it was soh down in that black hollohere we ress amid loose bowlders
Where this snake-like ravine widened out slightly we made choice for our first cah the sun itself had utterly vanished fro before, and weOn the spot selected the towering wall of rock on our side of the little river overhung sufficiently to foroodly supply of fresh pine boughs strewn so as to forether aht of which caused the deep chaslooht clouds closed us in as if i was not devoted totraloom of the rock cavern in which we lay Even De Noyan yielded to this spirit of brooding and, after a faint effort at forced gayety, crept silently to his sleeping-place The other tere not long in following hiht Four lonelier,at the call of duty The round h the black sky, until its soft, silvery bealowing radiance along the surface of the s wall opposite, yetht wind arose, causing the shadows of clinging pines to sway back and forth like spectral figures, while a solemn silence, awesome in its intensity, brooded over all, broken only by the noise of tuainst the face of the cliff The fire died away into a few red embers, occasionally fanned into uncertain flauard ended I was so thoroughly unstrung that each flitting glimpse of deeper shadow teht, or as close to that hour as I was capable of judging, when I aroused De Noyan and crawled into his place on the bed of boughs I lay there watching hied his face into the cool water The last I recall previous to dropping off into deep sluht e black bowlder directly in my front
I know not the hour, yet I noted, even in awakening, that the moon had already passed fro in silver beauty the sharp summit of the crest, when a quick, nervous pressure upon th, his head uplifted, was De Noyan
”Keep still, Benteen,” he whispered, his voice vibrant with excitement, ”and look yonder In the name of all the fiends, what is that?”
CHAPTER XIX
DEMON, OR WHAT?
I have been free from superstitious terror as most men, yet there were few in those days who did not yield to the sway of the supernatural
Occasionally, aher education, there hostly chains of the dark ages, seeking a mysteries in huer should rise altogether above the popular spell which still made of the Devil a very potent personality
Consequently, as my anxious eyes uplifted toward the spot where De Noyan pointed, it need be no occasion for wonder that my blood turned to ice in my veins, and I felt convinced I looked upon His Satanic Majesty The vast wall of rock, arising a sheer hundred feet directly opposite to where we lay, appeared densely black now in the shadow, but as e, jagged fro stones, stood clearly revealed in the full silver sheen of thedistinctly forth in delicate tracery against the background of the night sky
Appearing to ed into one, there uprose on that suri it could be other than the Evil One It was unclothed frohastly white beneath the h above the head, causing the latter to appear hideously deforhtly judge It re directly upward, ever waving back and forth to the breath of the night wind
Nor did this horrid figure ree of the precipice, it would leap high into the air, flinging aloft long gaunt ar to float bodily forth into the space above us, to disappear instantly, like soloos, along the crest; noing directly in our front, looestures; then dancing far to right or left, a vague shade in the sheen, a , the sa upon the air, leering down upon our speechless misery
My eyes, wide-opened by terror, followed these hastly shape I listened vainly for the slightest sound to connect it with aught huht's solemn silence, the dread stillness of wilderness solitudes, rested everywhere I heard thethe swaying branches of the cedars; the dull roar of the little river, even the stentorian breathing of the Puritan lying asleep behind us, but that was all That hideous apparition dancing sothe cliff su, foreboding evil, gesticulating inthe ly upon De Noyan's upturned face, and saw it ghost-like in lack of color, drawn and haggard Mine no doubt was the same, for never have I felt such uncontrollable horror as that which, for the moment, fairly paralyzed me in brain and limb It is the ht hope to struggle against the very fiends of the air?
”_Mon Dieu_!” whispered ue fit ”Is it not Old Nick himself?”