Show tal U B 01 E K n sa rp by zone zane grey copyrighted feature CHAPTER XII continued but many changes as the hours brought that flood did not rise above the bank jim saw the sheet of water fall and the black space of gorge again he heard the avalanches and the great single bo bowl ders come down and the furious backlash of the torrent below and the lessening roar of the waterfall the time came to jim as if he be dreamed when all sounds changed lessened faded away except the peculiar thrashing of the stream below and he got to listening for that sound which occurred only occasionally for a while the sliding rush of heavy water swept on suddenly to I 1 change into a furious splashing at length jim calculated it was a strong current laden with sand which at times caused billows to rise and lash their twisting tips back upon themselves long he heard beard these slowly diminishing gradually separating sounds the streams ceased flowing the slid slides es ceased slipping the rocks ceased rolling and the waterfall failed from a thundering to a hollow roar and from that to a softening splash jim imagined he saw dim stars out in a void that seemed to change from black to gray was dawn at hand had they been spared the gurgle of the stream below merged into the distant low rumble of the dirty devil jim rested there staring out at the spectral forms on the opposite wall thinking thoughts never before inhabitants of his confused brain but the sky was graying the gorge taking shape in the gloom and this place which had heard beard a din of hideous sounds was silent as a grave at last jim had to accept a m marvelous ar phenomenon dawn was at hand gently he slipped helen into the hollow of the saddle she was still asleep his cramped limbs buckled under him and excruciating cruc crucia lating ting pains shot through his bones and muscles in the gray light objects were discernible he could not see to the head of the gorge where the waterfall had plunged out from the wall but silence meant that it had been surface water a product of the storm and it was gone beneath the bank ran a channel of fine ribbed sand where not even a puddle showed on the bank banki the horses stood patiently except bay and he was nosing around for a blade of grass that did not exist on the sodden earth the great slope appeared the same and yet not the same A mute acceptance of ultimate destruction hovered over it sunrise found jim wall topping a rise of rocky ground miles beyond the scene of his night vigil ag again ain lie he followed lits lils sure footed lead pack horse the sky was blue the sun bright and warm and at the moment it crowned wl with h gold the top of the i purple butte jim had seen twice before it appeared close now rearing a corrugated peak above yellow and b brown n hills jim was carrying helen in front of him conscious but too spent to speak or move she lay back on his arm land and watched him I 1 there had been a trail along here once as was waa proved by a depressed lin line e on the gravelly earth when jim surmounted this barren divide lie he suddenly was confronted by an amazing and marvelous spectacle blue valley he ejaculated blue valley helen were out of the brakes safe men live here she heard him for she smiled up into his face glad for his sake but in her exhaustion beyond caring for her own there was no sign of habitation nor any smoke but jim knew this was vas blue valley it was long perhaps fifteen miles and probably a the fa farms anis were located at the head where irrigation had been possible how could even pioneers utilize that ferocious river jim followed the lead pack horse down into gumbo mud the floor of the valley supported a mass of foliage besides the stately cottonwoods cotton woods and at every step a horses hoof sank deep to come forth with a huge cake of mud at midday jim passed deserted cabins some on one side of the river some on the other the they y did not appear so old yet they were not new had blue valley been abandoned jim was convinced it could not be so but when he espied a deserted church with vacant eyelike eye like windows then his heart sank helen must have rest care food he was at the end of his resources an hour later he toiled past a shack built of logs and stones and adjoining a dugout set into the hill people had lived there once but long ago jims last hope fled he was still far from the head of the valley but apparently he had left the zone of habitation behind the afternoon waned the horses plodded on slower and slower wearing to exhaustion helen was a dead weight despair had seized upon him when he be turned a yellow corner between the slope and the cottonwoods cotton woods to be confronted by a wide pasture at the end of which a log cabin nestled among cottonwoods cotton woods A column of blue smoke rose lazily against the foliage the horses labored out of the mud to higher ground jim rode up to the cabin never in all his life had he been so glad to smell smoke to see a garden to hear a dog bark his ever quick eye caught sight of a man who had evidently been watching for he stepped out on the porch rifle in hand jim kept on to the barred gate there were flowers in the yard and vines on the cabin proof of feminine hands and he be saw a bed on the porch hello he shouted as he got off carefully needing both hands to handle helen hullo yourself called the man who was apparently curious but not unfriendly then as jim let down a bar of the gate with his foot this resident of blue valley leaned his rifle against ag the wall and called to someone within to be continued |