DEAD MAN'S CANYON.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8593, 21 September 1893, Page 2

DEAD MAN'S CANYON.

By M. Quad. When the alarm was given at one o'dack in the afternoon the deserter tru toiea miles away, and riding at full speed. 8a not exactly a dessrter. It was Corpantj Swift, and for some time he acted « queerly that we believed he was lo&!» his mind. He had been moody taciturn all day, speaking to no one answering no questions. At hiilum twelve he walked out to his pickled horse, mounted him without saddle «* bridle, and wich never a look behind rod* away to the north. We must captam him to save his life. We began to gmm him almost from the start, bat ie wasfaa o'clock before the sound of our aoaet feet reached his ears. Straiv;hG up the valley, level at a floor mile after mile and hour after hoar, ul he had not turned bis head. We wen now in the shadow of Fremont's 2uk, that great, grim mountain, whose flr-cka apex is lost in the clouds when one sttafo ac its base. It is the end of the t&Uct to which we have come. The end of U» valley is the beginning of a migbty mbos, which penetrates the great nioaataia tat two miles. The Corporal turns and teat us and rides straight for the rift. A mils more of level ground and we should ban had him. He urges his horse with &hoata aad blows over the bashes and bouldeo where we dare not follow. We wait loia. mount, and bis horse comes back to s*. The man thinks to escape us by peaelft. tins the canon on foot. In ten lnisatet we are ready to move forward. It is a summer's day, and a hot ooe. Our borses are reeking wet, aad emr - man presses eagerly forward in search el water and shade Here is water ia t&i bedrof tho cauon—a tiny rivulet, flrwisg from the darkness beyond. We touca t&a water with our parched lips and cry oat, It seems to blister with its coldness. Wβ are hardly in the mouth of the caitos before everyone shivers. It is like tiesping into an icehouse. At the end of ttteen steps twilight has come ; at tkinjii is night; at forty we have the black mM cf a black midnight before us. We etopta listen. The canon is thirty feet wide, *ai the six of us are spread across it. "Corporal 6wiftl Hullo! Corporal 1 ,, shouts che Sergeant, as we stand eUriaj into the darkness, bat there is bo mresponse. *' Wβ must return for torche*," h* finally said, and tc* we retreated backfea the darkness we looked over our ehouiden as if expecting to be struck ia tee btdc by assassins rushing out. It was after 5 o'clock when we fcs£ armed ourselves with blazing torches a£ were ready to advance again. The na> Ing knots could thin the darknew, fcst i noc dispel it. Along the bottom of Us* ,1 rift were scattered stones and bouidKi 1 I fallen from above, and under and atonal/*■ these the rivulet sometimes made its *W If sometimes disappeared altoaeiiier. W« B advanced foot by foot, searching the grss* S fissures iv the walls and every epos wbtsm W a man could draw himself up a few feet, g but we found only dampness, grim ness, fi darkness. The silence made as e&%lx m Mo wild beast made its lair atnoag tls §§ Ilisuree. No serpent lurked among & B dead and rotting trees and bashes IsEe& S from above< , m Ie did not seem as .if wolf or p&fl&« ■ could have made ite way over that rosgi jj road ia that horrible darkness, tat m Corporal Swift must be beyond as. Iμ W fires of insanity matt have blazed opit I his eyes to light hU way. WewerefcM* g f ul, but we slowly pressed forward, isst H the gorge contracted to twenty tut- m there it broadened to fifty. Here tig S black walls were as plumb a» f X laid by the hands of m«n—tie* m they were broken and raggftd aw m formed arches and caves. \¥* wates If upward, but could see not the watm m glimmer of daylight, althoagh in the gias m glad world outside the son was stiii sal* || ing. Upward—ahead—behind us wmIW S wall of midnight. It crowded apoa w » g if it would press us to earth ov torn «* m against the sides of the cafion. fas* m was a curve to the right, a curm to tm m left, on ascent, and a descent. Wbm *» m had penetrated for half a mile iato» I bowels of the mountain the B **. I horror became so great thnt we stspm I and looked at each other with pale Bβ* I and quivering chins. The sergeastig 9 I moredj but he ottered no sound. ST* m - gesture he appealed to us to aavtuw * fi few more steps. He was on the rfcat. ** 1 had noc advanced five yards wheft » m thruMt his torch forward and cried o*" || "We have found him ! There I* »! | Corporal Swtf c, we are jour friend*; e»* 1 run away!" B The loan sat on a boalder, hi* feewj* m the wall, and ids face towards H.»| made no move. We crept cleaer m m closer, fearfnl that he would spring ®9 Jg 11 dash away. The sergeant finally «**2 i out and seized him, and the b °ay. lar r!S i forward. Corporal Swift was de»a—«» & dead. Like some wild animal whid»»* g that death ie not far away, he bad «g g into that horrible blacknea* to yie»d«S» f§ last breath. We left him there-!e& » B there with his whit* cold feeeto*S » after us as we hurried away, we «*» m not dii a grave in the valley, »*a» 1 command was thirty miles awaT. if has disturbed him. The ceaseless g water from the roctes is bis funsm | the darkness his shroud and conic. ««| m will flud him at the last great day ia »*» m Man's canon as swiftly as in a «?»« •*" I the sunny hillside, g