Daily camera., 1901-05-28
On Lost Mountain.
ny ENFIELD JOINER


Copyright. 1901. by Daily Story Pub. Coz
Lost Mountain Is the most treacher-
GUS hill in the West. | have never
seen elsewhere on a single mountain
peak SO many ravines, so many
gulches, so many boulders OF almost
the same shape and size, as there are
there; and besides all these, there is
the great Canon of Lost Souls, six
hundred feet deep. winding its sinu-
Gus way on the southern side Of the
mountain. AS to the trail. 1t never
knows itself where 1t means to go
In summer it hides under rauls, grasses
and tangling vines, and, in winter 1t
disappears in the first snow, like foam
In the wake OF the vessel.
The boys at camp-we were three
had plead with me not to go to Cam
den. But how could | settle down for
ths long months, shut away from the
world and letters by the great white
hills, without the one letter had been
so eagerly awaiting? | went to Cam
den and | waited until the letter came
and the very morning on which | set
out for our camp the SHOWS, which
had held off so long, were upon me.
In spite of the indistinctness OF the
trail and the snares which Nature has
set for the unwary on Lost Mountain,
| don't see how II happened. The boys
said that was asleep. Heaven knows!
only know that | was dreaming of
what the letter said which lay close
TO my heart when
kalitan sprang back so violently
that he almost threw me from the sad
die and my heart stood still within
me. for We were hanging on the very
brink of the great Canon Of Lost Souls.
For one moment We looked into the
dizzying whiteness, then some instinct
told me TO dismount. My hand was
out to catch the rein, when kaiitan,
mad with terror, began to rear. Sud
denly In frantic backward plunge, he
slipped and
| shudder to think OF 1t. The
thought OF even a horse-a horse OF
the camp for whom one cares nothing.
going down into that abyss, is sick
ening: and, the Indians say that the
bottom OF the canon is strewn with
the bones OF men who have perished so
and that the manifold-toned winds
which sweep through the canon are the
death-cries OF the lost.
| shivered with dread as ! stood
there and realized that l was lost on
the mountain. without horse, food or
drink and night coming on.
But my heart grew lighter as | saw,
some three hundred yards away in the
blurred landscape, the great rock
huge boulder, which by some strange
caprice OF Nature, has been left for
ages to hang over the wall OF the
canon. II appears to be almost cubical
In shape but wind and rain and frost
have been at work there and on the
side next to the canon have followed
out a small semi-circular cavern, ex-
tending to the very heart OF the
boulder. The upper part OF the rock
has defied this undermining process
which has been going on at its base.
and great ledge hangs above the lit
tie cavern, as II it would protect the
space which 1t once held. So insidious
has been the work OF wind and rain
and frost, that on one side there is
no entrance to the cavern, but on the
other a small round hole has been
worn in the rock shell about three feet
above the ground, so that man may
easily climb through. On one side was
the awful canon. everywhere else save
where the round peep-hole looked out
on the s!oping mountain-side, was the
unyielding, solid rock, but l climbed
into the nest-like cavern and laid
myself down with an at-home kind
OF feeling. l did not mean to fall
asleep, but l was worn with my seven
hours struggle in the storm and before
l knew it, l was drifting into dreams
The wind came from the northeast,
the exposure from the canon side was
from the south. the exposure from the
large peep-hole was from the west,
therefore l was well protected. My