The sun., 1897-08-22

block, indeed. who could not experience the
thrill Of such a situation. Fear was not part
my lie teTent2d w"s six times stronger than
needed. had put those sp!lces in myself, and
Put them @ ~ IN to STAY ! knew tho roe had not
that In my companions below l had a set
or serious and steady sheet anchors endowed
felt sure would be applied Instantly and prop.
erly, With nerves steady at least with the solid
etne With sncb can no @ iot OF
for nearly three minutes. had found out that
the speaking trumpet was wholly useless
sent my words down below with perfect clear
ness. and no effort was necessary on my part to
AT last the edge OF the cifr was reached. 1
found that X had picked out the landing place
could not have chosen better one than that
across which the shot had carried The first cord
A gently nrched surface along which the rope
curved. thus distributed the strain over a larger
area and prevented its being concen rated on A
single cross section or the rope on sharp edge
was the first item l noted, and this in
creased my confidence in the strength Of the
After dlsengnglng my camera and the rest Of
my Appliances and placing them on the rock
my leg over the main rope, scrambled up beside
them, to bo greeted by series OF characteristic
back, and in the meantime had startcI on an
lnScstsatiQn OF the top OF the rock, for was not
sure that had succeeded even then in reaching
the maiA summit. A chasm which seemed to
cut The rock for some distance down from the
tpp had been a disturbing element In my
thoughts. After some scranblins over the very
broken surface of the rock. | found to my dis.
may that the great amplitheatre on tho west
S!de had approached the eastern cif line close.
ly mat mere knife edge was all that was LETT in
some places and that directly below the edge
upon which stood was n chasm clear through
the rock from ono sido to the other. OF depth OF
some 80 or 30 feet. on either edo of which Tor
ooO Feet downward the view was uninterrupted
tion. Fortunately, below my position, at a depth
OF ION or Twelve feet there was narrow pro.
lection OF the rock six or seven inches wide and
nearly twice as long. directly opposite to which
was knob OF rock about two feet square. II
this could be reached the question was solved.
i9uickly determined that II could be done II q
ladder could be obtained from Acoma, and 90
informed my companions below. Mr.. Pearce
,hs VIZ shen th hoisted Up to my airy position and
had amDl time to explore TO our complete salts.
faction the portion o. the rock OF which we now
ravens. He assured me that hls sensations on
the way up had been many and various. but in
havs missed the unique experience for the world.
by O'Clock tho ladder arrived and was
h. hauled up to us. Securing It In place by means
scended It.. and, balancing myself, Jumped
a[S; across tho four feet intervening and landed
bit OF gymnastics l found was much moro OF a
nerve test for my companion than coming up
the rope, so ! M had to pursue my investigatlons
walked over the surface OF the rock, which Ia
mHgh my larger than tho portion first visited, COW
u
site for a pueblo If some means OF access could
be deyised, but It could not have boon freer
been thoroughly swept up the day before. ore
Only once was 1t that a doubt crossed
my mind, when came across cairnlike monll-
been constructed by human hands. But The
possibility of its being the result of erosion is
OF pottery no broken household uten sils OF
any sort. no traces of onslruction OF any sort
were visible. not even the deepening OF the ma.
n nf ha nplE nnxlti "a f,,.
purpose OF rain wafer storage for drinking use
betrayed even the slightest Indication thai the
top OF tho Mesa had ever been the prehistoric
homo OF the Acomas. Sadly, MS tho sun was sot-
ting, retracel my steps to the chasm. jumped
across to the ladder. and was soon busy tcllina
the story To the uptnrned faces below mo.
We retreated in good order to camp, and the
next morning. In two hours time, all trace of
except tho lit @ ladder which was left in piace
for some one else to take down when the neyt
MOnteZuma.'