nly fifteen miles
from Death River. We found the bones of Garth's horse on the way--picked
clean; and the note he left every place he camped. You ought to have
heard Jim Plaskett crack up Garth's pluck--and Jim knows!

"We reached the canyon about half-past six in the morning. I'd heard of
that place from the Indians. Say, it was a fearsome spot! a kind of
crooked, gaping split in the prairie like the pictures in Dante's
Inferno. The walls were as bare and hard and cold as black ice; and way
down in the bottom there was a horrible jelly-like water swirling around
without making any noise. Seems if you couldn't breathe good when you
got into the place! Minded me of the receiving vault in the cemetery.

"There was a risky little path going down, and we kept right on. Across
the river, there was a break in the wall where a creek came down a
steep, wild-looking ravine. At the bottom of it we could see a tepee and
a tent; but no people. Some said they saw a body in the ravine, but you
couldn't rightly make out."

Charley paused and shuddered. "Say, it was horrible!" he whispered.
"Glad I don't have dreams! When we got down near the water suddenly we
saw old Mary Co-que-wasa come climbing over a heap of stones that was
piled on the flat; and she was bent almost double, half lifting, half
dragging a man by a rope under his arms. It was Nick Grylls. He looked
dead.

"We shouted at her; and she looked up just once. I saw her face plain.
It wasn't surprised or glad or anything--just stupid like a breed. She
never stopped walking. She stepped right off the flat rock into the deep
water with the man on her back; and they went out of sight; and some
bubbles came up."

He stopped, staring into the fire. His mother caught him to her breast.
"Oh, my son! what sights were these!" she murmured.

"Mary was a deep one!" Charley said slowly. "You couldn't tell about
her! I never heard her open her mouth!

"We hustled down to the edge of the water," he resumed presently. "Jim
Plaskett threw off his coat; and went in after them. But it was no use;
the current carried them down; and it was too cold to stay in more than
a minute or two. We never saw them again.

"Jim landed on the other side; and brought us back the raft that was
there; and we all crossed. There was nobody in the tents--blankets in a
heap, as if they'd sprung out of bed suddenly. We started to climb the
ravine. It _was_ a body lying there on the rocks; it was Mabyn. Ri