The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-08-26

circling, as though not yet certain Of the
course they would take or of the light to
guide them.
As the shadow deepened others would
Join these first few adventurers, and the
gorge would become all alive with the silent
things that swept around and never seemed
to alight. Then, as darkness came. the
great army of bats would begin their swift
flight out from the depths in which they
had hidden themselves.
In great clouds they would appear. Thou
sands on thousands would emerge from ev-
cry opening in the canyon. Thicker and
thicker hey would grow in the air above,
untfi 1t seemed to the watchers below that
q great cloud had settled over the canyon.
1t could be seen that they were leaving for
the plains above, to take a long fight In
search OF food, but the number in the gorgo
would not seem to grow less.
Minute after minute the black things
would continue to come out Of the dark
opening In the cliffs, not checkins, but all
the while wheeling upward. until one might
doubt whether all this life was real and be-
heve the furry things were passing and re-
passing through some subterranean way,
like the soldiers in a stage army.
For more than half IN hour each night
Doctor Van Vleet and his party saw this
army OF little things pass out, and, being
scientific men, they tried to compute what
the number must be. They stopped when
they came to the millions, for they agreed
that the number could be nothing less.
When the sky began to show light again
the winged things would come back. First
there would be the few scouts. The ones
that dreaded the light most, and tha. delved
into the ave depths to find security. Then
would come the vanguard, and tfer tho
great body, a cloud again, fastening as the
first rays of the sun shot across the plain
to find their places before they were blinded
by the orb that furnishes life and light
to other things.
| When daylight came in full the gorge
would be still again. and the vision of he
bat army seemed to those who had observed
1t as more like a visit to fairyland than .
real sight in the days of the material life.
There were other wonders. too, to be
found in the canyon Of Salt Creek. From
out of the lodges on the side would squirt
clear springs of water that had found q
course through the rocks and the gypsum
until they could gain freedom In the creek
bed, The water was clear and inviting to
those who were thirsty and could find Meth
ing but the salt waters of the creek. But
those who drink it regret. for 1t Is the
"gyp' water, which brings woe.
From other lodges of sandstone come
other springs of water, pure and sparkling.
The suffering traveller who essays to quench
his thirst in these finds only more thirst,
for from somewhere they bring the brine
that flows through the creek.
Where Salt Creek leaves the hills and
bluffs rise almost 800 feet above the creek
bed, and at the top the two massive lodges
of gypsum are scarcely a quarter Of a mile
apart. Some person has stretched a stout
wire from ledge to ledge, on which a frame
work running on Il pulley supports a swing.
Starting from one bank, the swing. with
its occupant, is whitfield downward across
the canyon almost q quarter of a mile, and
then as far upward toward the opposite
ledge as it's momentum will carry T.; then
back toward the starting point, and back
and forth. back and forth. each trip short
er. until it comes to rest, suspended above
the middle Of the canyon, fifteen feet from
the ground.