Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1900-01-18
posse, and the desperate was compelled

sheep-herder. and a rude rowboat on
the banks of the swollen stream.
Ferry rae over.' said the stranger.
as the shepherd came yawning from
his hut.
Not for Your fleece. my buck-sheep,"
said the boatman; lyon rivers danger
GUS"
SOS this" said the man, flourshing
his firearms. Ferry me over p. D.
O."
When the boat had reached the mid
die of the wild river the desperate
brought his gun out again and. ordered
the boatman to head her downstream,
pointing out the way with his loaded
revolver. The terrified sheepman tried
to tell the fugitive that the river was
impassable, even at low water-that a
little way down the Grand Joined the
Green, and the two, forming the Col
orado. went leaping. plunging. boiling
and churning through the Cataract
canyon, through which (the Indians
said) no white man had passed and
lived. The hunted man only smiled
and twirled his pistol.
The two men would dash through
wild cataracts, over white-foaming falls,
and the next hour their fragile boat
would be drifting silently between the
soft shaded walls that gave back, in
echo, the faintest ripple of water, or
the almost whispered words, few
though they were, that passed between
the two voyagers.
Suddenly they found themselves in
the canyon. driving down the raging
stream. Going over falls the boat was
driven against a bowlder near the
shore. So violent had been the shock
that both men were cast upon shelf
in the curve of the river unhurt.
The walls here rose thousands of feet
almost perpendicularly AS the river
touched the wall above and below there
was no escape. The little restin.-place
on which the two men found themselves
was filled with driftwood. Hanging to
the rock that had wrecked them was
a long rope that, had been in the boat;
this the desperate fshed out.
we'll build a raft" said the outlaw.
| He made the sheepman carry cedar logs,
limbless and Scared, crcss-ties and
| pieces of bridge timber that had Grifted
| for hundreds of miles down the mad
river, and We're gnawed like the hitch
ing post in front of a country church.
When he had dashed Il lot OF these
together he told the sheepman to get
aboard, and the shcepman said he'd
die first.
"All right" said the smiling villain,
and the wild report of his revolver
! filled the canyon and went on and out
through the canyons, laundering its
echoes back to the two men there in
the awful gorge. The bullet whilred
past the Shepherds ear.
| Once more on the breast of the boil
ing stream the men, now on the rude
raft. We're tempting fate. They lay
flat down. hanging to the ropes, some
times beneath, sometimes far above
| the mad torrent: leaping from the
crest of high falls. shooting rapids
and creeping over awful cataracts. At
the end of an hour they emerged from
the narrow canyon and entered a long
stretch of deep green water, slowly
moving, sun-kissed and quiet. So still
seemed the beautiful river that they
were Obliged to take markers on the
shore to see if they really moved. Far
away. at the end of the stretch of
peaceful water. the river seemed to
end. Across its path a wall rose, rec
and high. The water. running over
and flowing down the face of the cliff,
had strealled and striped the red sand
stone until it looked in the sunlight
like a beautiful piece of tapestry. and
the desperate called it Tapestry wall.
and so it has been called ever since.
The river. however, did not end here.
Swinging in a long. graceful curve.
growing swifter and swiftcr. it sucked
into d narrow pass and became II
raging, frothing cataract.
For some moments they saw moth
ing and heard only the awful tumult
of the boiling river, and then with a
slam the raft hung upon a big rock
that split the current near the middle
of the stream. ......
When the shepherd had wiped tine
spray from his, eyes he saw that he
was alone. The force of the shock
had thrown his companion into the
water. He had landed and now came
limping along the bank of the river.
The desperate smiled out over the
foam at the helpless shepherd. who be-
gan to hope that the fellow would
shoot him and end the awful suspense,
but the fearless outlaw did nothing of
the sort. To the shepherds amaze
ment the man on shore-safe and free
from the mad river-bcgan TO an
dress. When he had stacked his wet
garments on Il rock he walked few
rods along the bank and plunged in
Midway between the rock and tn
shore there was Il whirlpool-a sucl'
hole. as the shepherd suid-and it wa
to avoid this that the man had gor
so far upstream. He was an eXpel
swimmer. but he was weakened fro,
overworll and the long fast. and s
the current proved too strong for hin
1t carried him past the shepherd. an
suddenly his feet pointed to the sucl.
Round and round. faster and faster,
he came at each turn nearer the necl