In a few hours a hole,
ten or fifteen feet in depth and ten feet in diameter, would be
excavated. Then the tube was raised, the float was moved, and the work
started again. The coarse sand and gravel, carried by a stream of
water, was returned to the river, after passing over the riffles; the
screenings which remained passed over square metal plates--looking
like sheets of tin--covered with quicksilver. These plates were
cleaned with a rubber window-cleaner, and the entire residue was saved
in a heavy metal pot, ready for the chemist.
One day only was needed for our work, and by evening we were ready for
the next plunge. We might have enjoyed a longer stay with these men,
but stronger than this desire was our anxiety to reach our home,
separated from us by a hundred miles of river, no extended part of the
distance being entirely free from rapids. We had written to the Grand
Canyon, bidding them look for our signal fire in Bright Angel Creek
Canyon, in from seven to ten days, and planned to leave on the
following morning. Nothing held us now except the hope that the mail,
which was due that evening, might bring us a letter, although that was
doubtful, for we were nearly a week ahead of our schedule as laid out
at Green River, Utah.
As we had anticipated, there was no mail for us, so we turned to
inspect the mail carrier. He was a splendid specimen of the Navajo
Indian,--a wrestler of note amoung his people, we were told,--large
and muscular, and with a peculiar springy, slouchy walk that gave one
the impression of great reserve strength.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182