AUNT JANE'S NIECES AND UNCLE JOHN
Continued....
CHAPTER IX
NATURE'S MASTERPIECE
From the reservation to the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado was not far,
but there was no "crosscut" and so they were obliged
to make a wide
detour nearly to Williams before striking the road
that wound upward
to the world's greatest wonder.
Slowly and tediously the big car climbed the
miserable trail to the
rim of the Grand Canyon. It was night when they
arrived, for they had
timed it that way, having been told of the marvelous
beauty of the
canyon by moonlight. But unfortunately the sky
filled with clouds
toward evening, and they came to Bright Angel, their
destination, in a
drizzling rain and total darkness. The Major was
fearful Wampus might
run them into the canyon, but the machine's powerful
searchlights
showed the way clearly and by sticking to the road
they finally drew
up before an imposing hotel such as you might wonder
to find in so
remote a spot.
Eagerly enough they escaped from the automobile
where they had been
shut in and entered the spacious lobby of the hotel,
where a merry
throng of tourists had gathered.
"Dinner and bed," said Patsy, decidedly. "I'm all
tired out, and poor
Myrtle is worn to a frazzle. There's no chance of
seeing the canyon
to-night, and as for the dancing, card playing and
promiscuous gaiety,
it doesn't appeal much to a weary traveler."
The girls were shown to a big room at the front of
the hotel, having
two beds in it. A smaller connecting-room was given
to Myrtle, while
Patsy and Beth shared the larger apartment. It seems
the hotel, big
as it was, was fairly filled with guests, the
railway running three
trains a day to the wonderful canyon; but Uncle
John's nieces did
not mind occupying the same room, which was
comfortably and even
luxuriously furnished.
A noise of footsteps along the corridor disturbed
Patsy at an early
hour. She opened her eyes to find the room dimly
lighted, as by the
first streaks of dawn, and sleepily arose to raise
the window shade
and see if day was breaking. Her hand still upraised
to guide the
shade the girl stood as motionless as if turned to
stone. With a long
drawn, gasping breath she cried: "Oh, Beth!" and
then stood staring at
what is undoubtedly the most entrancing, the most
awe inspiring and at
the same time the most magnificent spectacle that
mortal eye has ever
beheld--sunrise above the Grand Canyon of Arizona.
The master painters of the world have gathered in
this spot in a vain
attempt to transfer the wondrous coloring of the
canyon to canvas.
Authors famed for their eloquent command of language
have striven as
vainly to tell to others what their own eyes have
seen; how their
senses have been thrilled and their souls uplifted
by the marvel that
God's hand has wrought. It can never be pictured. It
can never be
described. Only those who have stood as Patricia
Doyle stood that
morning and viewed the sublime masterpiece of Nature
can realize what
those homely words, "The Grand Canyon" mean. Grand?
It is well named.
Since no other adjective can better describe it,
that much abused one
may well be accepted to incompletely serve its
purpose.
Beth joined her cousin at the window and was
instantly as awed
and absorbed as Patsy. Neither remembered Myrtle
just then, but
fortunately their friend had left the connecting
door of their
rooms ajar and hearing them stirring came in to see
if anything had
happened. She found the two cousins staring intently
from the window
and went to the second window herself, thus
witnessing the spectacle
in all its glory.
Even after the magnificent coloring of sunrise had
faded the sight was
one to rivet the attention. The hotel seemed built
at the very edge of
the canyon, and at their feet the ground appeared to
fall away and a
great gulf yawned that was tinted on all its diverse
sides with hues
that rivaled those of the rainbow. Across the chasm
they could clearly
see the trees and hills; yet these were fully
thirteen miles distant,
for here is one of the widest portions of the great
abyss.
"I'm going to dress," said Beth, breaking the
silence at last. "It
seems a sin to stay cooped up in here when such a
glorious panorama is
at one's feet."
The others did not reply in words, but they all
began to dress
together with nervous haste, and then made their way
down to the
canyon's brink. Others were before them, standing
upon the ample
porches in interested groups; but such idleness
would not content our
girls, who trooped away for a more intimate
acquaintance with the
wonderful gorge.
"Oh, how small--how terribly small--I am!" cried
Patsy, lost in
the immensity of the canyon's extent; but this is a
common cry of
travelers visiting Bright Angel. You might place a
baker's dozen of
the huge Falls of Niagara in the Grand Canyon and
scarcely notice they
were there. All the vast cathedrals of Europe set
upon its plateau
would seem like pebbles when viewed from the brink.
The thing is
simply incomprehensible to those who have not seen
it.
Presently Uncle John and the Major came out to join
them and they all
wandered along the edge until they came to a huge
rock that jutted
out far over the monster gulf. On the furthermost
point of this rock,
standing with his feet at the very brink, was a
tall, thin man, his
back toward them. It seemed a fearful thing to
do--to stand where the
slightest slip would send him reeling into the
abyss.
"It's like tempting fate," whispered Patsy, a safe
distance away. "I
wish he would step back a little."
As if he had overheard her the man half turned and
calmly examined the
group. His eyes were an almost colorless blue, his
features destitute
of any expression. By his dress he seemed
well-to-do, if not
prosperous, yet there was a hint of melancholy in
his poise and about
him a definite atmosphere of loneliness.
After that one deliberate look he turned again and
faced the canyon,
paying no attention to the interested little party
that hovered far
enough from the edge to avoid any possible danger.
"Oh, dear!" whispered Myrtle, clinging to Beth's arm
with trembling
fingers, "I'm afraid he's going to--to commit
suicide!"
"Nonsense!" answered Beth, turning pale
nevertheless.
The figure was motionless as before. Uncle John and
the Major started
along the path but as Beth attempted to follow them
Myrtle broke away
from her and hobbled eagerly on her crutches toward
the stranger. She
did not go quite to the end of the jutting rock, but
stopped some feet
away and called in a low, intense voice:
"Don't!"
The man turned again, with no more expression in his
eyes or face than
before. He looked at Myrtle steadily a moment, then
turned and slowly
left the edge, walking to firm ground and back
toward the hotel
without another glance at the girl.
"I'm so ashamed," said Myrtle, tears of vexation in
her eyes as she
rejoined her friends. "But somehow I felt I must
warn him--it was an
impulse I just couldn't resist."
"Why, no harm resulted, in any event, my dear,"
returned Beth. "I
wouldn't think of it again."
They took so long a walk that all were nearly
famished when they
returned to the hotel for breakfast.
Of course Patsy and Beth wanted to go down Bright
Angel Trail into the
depths of the canyon, for that is the thing all
adventurous spirits
love to do.
"I'm too fat for such foolishness," said Uncle John,
"so I'll stay up
here and amuse Myrtle."
The Major decided to go, to "look after our Patsy;"
so the three
joined the long line of daring tourists and being
mounted on docile,
sure-footed burros, followed the guide down the
trail.
Myrtle and Uncle John spent the morning on the porch
of the hotel. At
breakfast the girl had noticed the tall man they had
encountered at
the canyon's edge quietly engaged in eating at a
small table in a far
corner of the great dining room. During the forenoon
he came from the
hotel to the porch and for a time stood looking far
away over the
canyon.
Aroused to sympathy by the loneliness of this silent
person, Uncle
John left his chair and stood beside him at the
railing.
"It's a wonderful sight, sir," he remarked in his
brisk, sociable way;
"wonderful indeed!"
For a moment there was no reply.
"It seems to call one," said the man at length, as
if to himself. "It
calls one."
"It's a wonder to me it doesn't call more people to
see it," observed
Mr. Merrick, cheerfully. "Think of this magnificent
thing--greater and
grander than anything the Old World can show, being
here right in the
heart of America, almost--and so few rush to see it!
Why, in time to
come, sir," he added enthusiastically, "not to have
seen the Grand
Canyon of Arizona will be an admission of
inferiority. It's--it's the
biggest thing in all the world!"
The stranger made no reply. He had not even glanced
at Uncle John. Now
he slowly turned and stared fixedly at Myrtle for a
moment, till she
cast down her eyes, blushing. Then he re-entered the
hotel; nor was he
again seen by them.
The little man was indignant at the snub. Rejoining
Myrtle he said to
her:
"That fellow wasn't worth saving--if you really
saved him, my dear. He
says the canyon calls one, and for all I care he may
go to the bottom
by any route he pleases."
Which speech showed that gentle, kindly Mr. Merrick
was really
annoyed. But a moment later he was all smiles again
and Myrtle found
him a delightful companion because he knew so well
how to read
people's thoughts, and if they were sad had a
tactful way of cheering
them.
The girls and the Major returned from their trip to
the plateau full
of rapture at their unique experiences.
"I wouldn't have missed it for a million dollars!"
cried the Major;
but he added: "and you couldn't hire me to go again
for two million!"
"It was great," said Patsy; "but I'm tuckered out."
"I had nineteen narrow escapes from sudden death,"
began Beth, but her
cousin interrupted her by saying: "So had everyone
in the party;
and if the canyon had caved in we'd all be dead long
ago. Stop your
chattering now and get ready for dinner. I'm nearly
starved."
Next morning they took a farewell view of the
beautiful scene and then
climbed into their automobile to continue their
journey. Many of the
tourists had wondered at their temerity in making
such a long trip
through a poorly settled country in a motor car and
had plied them
with questions and warnings. But they were
thoroughly enjoying this
outing and nothing very disagreeable had happened to
them so far. I am
sure that on this bright, glorious morning you could
not have hired
any one of the party to abandon the automobile and
finish the trip by
train.
AUNT JANE'S NIECES AND UNCLE JOHN
Continued....
 
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