Show TALES OF YANKEE ENCHANTMENT MORLEY BACONS MAMMOTH MAROTH SWING The of a Wild Western Lad LadBY LadBY LadBY BY CHARLES S BATTELL LOOMIS Copyright 1969 by 31 C B 13 I We call it Bronson Bronso canyon because that Jant its name and the people who live Ue in the vicinity do not like to be talked about When I said satel I was going to write up the immense swing they begged m ma to a 8 fictitious ne and I promised that I would although I The Tile boys feared grown up interference interference 1 ence and nothing had been said about the to anyone Myone not engaged in the work But little Esther Merriweather M had overheard the boys talking about it and she told her f father big Sheriff Merriweather and just about the time that they were ere ready for the swing he was on his way to the canon from Max Maxon on City mounted on his broncho There were ten fellows interested in inthe inthe inthe the scheme and not one of them but was crazy to have hae first swing but as Morley had planned it he Insisted upon being the first to try it itHe itHe He Hp put a piece of stout clothes line Une linein linein in his outside pocket drew on a pair of gloves so that he skin his hands bands and then he slid down that thatto pe peto to the seat as coolly as if he had been J BE HUNG FOR POR A TO TOBE BE SURE SUBS THE HOPES BOPES wERE EVEN why they should lIstS hate publicity I am sure I dont understand as 88 they did nothing mean or underhand Morley Bacon was the one who planned the swing and Morley is a ay aboy boy y of 12 11 years I guess a hand handsome handsome handsome some little fellow with the head of or an inventor When I say he has the head of an inventor I mean that he has in invented invented Invented vented a number of ot things and there therefore therefore therefore fore he is an Inventor and as he has a ahead ahead ahead head it must be the head of an in inventor inventor venter i Morley had read about the Ferris wheel an enormous mechanical contri contrivance contrivance contrivance vance for giving people rides in the air and he had actually seen the Eiffel tower for he be had accompanied his father to France on one of the I business trips and it became his ambi ambition ambition ambition tion upon his return to devise some something something thing equally big that should be engineered en engineered entirely by boys Bronson canyon was about three miles from Maxon on City and it is 2000 feet feel deep or 2000 1000 feet high according to your position in relation to it It Itis ItIs is Js just fifty lifty feet across and one mile utile long and at its bottom runs the Little Littlefork Littlefork Littlefork fork river One day Morley and his bosom com corn companion companion panion pardon Ardsley a boy of about the same age were standing on the edge of ot the canyon looking across that be a great pole jump said Ardsley Ard looking across the great mighty chasm said Morley but suppose the pole broke or you quite clear it Z Both boys stood on the edge of the canyon with their toes over the brink and looked down the sheer 2000 feet nIt It would be easier to fall faU down there than to comeback come back said Ardsley with without without out a shudder If his mother had known what w at he was wag doing she would have ba ve fainted just ju t as promptly as she could but fortunately she did not see him and as 8 as clear headed as he he did not Dot faint or think of such sucha a thing He gazed into the gloomy abyss and thought a minute running his 63 eye e up and down the canyon with a swinging motion Then Howd you like to swing in the chasm How do you mean as aC asked k ad Ardsley Why I mean how wi wu ld ild you like to put a great beam across to the theother theother other side and then have a rope about 2000 feet fet long and make a swing out of it Woof it i make a fellow tingle to go sweeping through the air ar You bet bt it would What Wat if jon JOU ou dropped I I Oh O Id Id tie myself to the seat set Id Id IdI risk I k it i If there was wa a s King ing there Soy Say Sn we make one be b the biggest bl e thing of o its It kind in I the United States State How can c we Why Wy set st a beam be across the te top tp and then ten tie te a rope to it Its Is only a question ot length le t A twelve inch in h beam bm wUl w stand std the strain stin all al right i in his h sisters eight foot swing in i the te back yard ss Daring as a the boys were they all al held their breaths as a he made his way down for they the knew kew he had not one chance in a million if he lost his hold But Morley had muscles muscle muscle of iron irn and tind nd he lose either his grip gip or his grit git but made his way to the seat and then lashed himself to it i But will wf you believe e it i Those These clever boys bys had fashioned the biggest swing since the creation creaton of man but they had forgotten to contrive contrive a way to start it When Morley was wa wa securely lashed he hest sat st still a a moment and then he burst out laughing laughin How Ho hollow that laugh sounded soune coming up out of the depths depts Say fellows how am I going to start it i 1 It I struck all al the boys a being very ver funny and they slapped their knees and each eh others others back as they thought of it Then Merriweather her said Youl have to come back and walk walk way up the te edge edg and ad then ten jump off of oAd And be dashed to pieces on the theother theother theother other side of the chasm cha I guess not came ce up Morley voice from below Then Mortimer West Wet said sid If you stretch a rope rop across the canon about a thousand thou nd feet fet up you r u can can go out to toI I the middle of it i and then make your start and youl swing sing off of all al right it 11 said sid Morley orley oGo Go ahead I and and Ill ru Il come up Mortimer went want wet un u to where the chasm cham is i 1 only eight feet leet across and he helas lassoed las a tree on the other side and drew the te rove rODe taut taut In the meantime Morley had made the discovery that tb t he know how to get up again It I wa out of the Wa agn question queston for him to nome come up a thousand feet hand band over hand it i was wa equally out of the cu on for a boy to stand on the beam bem and pull pul him up It I began beg n nto to look lok as a if it he h would have to stay down dow there tere for the rest ret of his life and have his meals meal lowered to him himI It I was wa Ardsley Arley who ho made that sug suggestion su suggestion geston and it i led to another nother immedi immediately immediately The bogs bors bys had ha about three times as much rope rop as a they thy needed for Ardsley had ha had the buying of it and he was one of those boys bys who never get merely enough for a thin thing If I hed been going to a picnic with wit another another fellow he would have taken along five dozen eggs in instead Instead stead of two dozen He had a large western way wy of doing things and so he had ha bought 30 feet of rope at Maxon Maon City They hung the roan rone over the beam beamand beamand beamand I and and let down doW the two ends to Morley and ad he pulled himself and the swing up to the beam bm and an made his way to solid soUd ground goud Then he walked back bk to the taut tut rope and ad got gt the te swing ropes clear cleal of kinks With Wih the swing sing still sti bound to him he went out to the middle of the rope hung for fr a minute to be sure that the i i jJ EB CALLED ALD TO THE T BOYS TO FOLLOW OLLOW TO WHERE WRE MORLEY MOBLEY WAS A RIDING BIDING G AT AP Boys BY if you think tink ru rm carpenter enough to t tell tel you yu just jut how ow those fel tel fellows fellows lows laws did that job youre yure mistaken Morley Korley has b told d m me a half hf dozen Azen times since J l derided decided dede to write this up but I must mist confess to a certain cr tain tin tam stupidity about abut such sch things thing and andI I dont know how they did it i but when i 11 t I I saw Raw it after the affair it was wa across a the chasm chas all al right and in no danger nt of slipping and the of Maxon n ad y Maon City had done the th whoM whole job jb without help from rom their thir elders elde The thing thin that interested me most was ya the fact vouched vouch d for by all al the boys bys that Morley fastened the ropes in place after the beam bem was wa secured in instead instead stead of tying them on before they put putI the beam bam across ar Yes sir he walked over to the middle of the canon con on that I 12 inch beam and he got down on his hiskes knees kes and calmly tied ted first frt one end and ad then the other end of that rope rope with nothing but 2900 2000 20 feet fet between him and the LIttlefork river below The seat t had h a hole bole in either Ith r end I through which the rope had been passed before it was tied t d to the beam beamand beamand beamand I and when hen Morley had iad finished his job they played playe out the rope slowly with wih I the seat Beat at the end of f It I until it i swung in the breeze one t test feet below I ropes rop were ert even and nd then he swung s ung off of with a cry c of ot triumph ung A cry cr of triumph that tat changed in a moment to one of horror arid and then be became became came Inaudible as 8 he swung in a mighty are arc ar ot of eav 80 feet fet His hands dropped drooped from the te ropes jopes and If he had ha not been fo the seat st he would have dropped drop d to the river liver below blow Hes fainted said two or three thre of f the boys And he had Such a tre tremendous tremendous rush through tT ugh the air was wag more than tha he could stand plucky as he hewa was wa and and he lIe 11 knew nothing after the te l I first few frt hundred feet foet foet I Back and ad forth to rth he swung involuntarily letting the te old cat t die I And such a larg cat Just before he be to a ston sto Mr i Merriweather on his broncho appeared a j among the boys It It did not take lon lonto long to explain matters matter to him Whose idea ide was It i My Iy boys boys No sir it was wa I Well Wel hes been punished enough e I dont see how hes going to get back i He Dulled himself up before before j I Well Wel he wont have strength enough i when he comes to And now came care the strangest part o of j I the affair and the only part pare pat of I 1 I i was wa an eye ee witness wie Id Id been out ut riding and an as 8 I passed came in iJ sight I j of the group gup just after the sheriff sherif reached theta them ter so 50 J I saw the conclusion of the episode epi de and and an do not nt have to trust to others e ee ees es Bronson Canon is sometimes called caled the Canon Caon of or the Big Wind Vind because be of ofa ofa a curious breeze that visits it about abut as a often ofen as once or twice a week It I may be as a calm as s a aday day in June in inthe Inthe inthe the country countr surrounding the canyon but IP in I the deep gulch this wind blows with wt almost cyclone fury fur and always from north to south But There is no one who is very ver scientific in Maxon Maon City Cit and ands so s no one has ever been able to explain elain the phenomenon But that wind was the salvation of Morley Morle r rA As A Mr Merriweather stood there won wondering wondering dering how he was wa jn to rescue the boy b y from fm his perl pers us situation stuat n the wini began to blow at first but steadily increasing in volume with a a giant gant and musical roar like the deepest boss base bas tones in a big organ The swing bearing bering the tha Morley swayed a little with the ad advance advance vance vac guard ga of the te hurricane then ten it began to lift lit slowly and at last the theop ropes op stood out as a stiff as a if they had been made of iron and when the wind windi mae o i reached its It height Morley Morey was wa even eveni i with wih the top of the canyon Sheriff Sherif Merriweather Meriwether was wa a 0 Quick buIck I witted wite man arid aiM an he saw that tat there was wasa wa a chance hance for the boy if the thc wind did not suddenly die dl dI down He called caled to j the boys to follow him and they all aU ran ranI to where Morley was sas wa riding at anchor I on the buoyant breeze He snatched up a piece of rope as a he ran and an l as soon I as he came opposite to the flying hu Im human human man man kite he it and with a I quick jerk he landed the boy and the swing sing I The wind had ha no force outside of the gulch and it did not take Merriweather ther very long to cut the cords while I ran I for water to dash dah into the face fee Of the unconscious boy bov who had ha just taken I the te longest swing swin on record I But incredible as it i may seem Ards Ardsley Ardsley Ardsley ley took tok it i quite quie hard har because his fath father fathe er e let him bim try tr the swing and if he had bad ha not not in his ca as a sheriff forbidden any boy to have have anything more to do with the swing I believe beleve every ever boy by In Maxon City would have bave tried tied for himself the sensation of moving moving ing through the air at the end of half halfa f a 8 mile mIe of rope j i ji |