The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23
THE RED FACE OF FEERISH ALB James Francis Dwyer

danced mad s~arabands across the
plains.
1 thought then that the woman had
a purpose in singing me the Song or
the Red Face. Every time my nerves
got shaky as / looked around at the
stripped horror of the place I thought
Of the great chant and my muscles
stiffened. Only for that song the
devils that seemed to inhabit that
place would rave made me turn tail
and rush for the coast at full speed.
The ocean is a mighty clean 4
when you compare It with bare hills
that made you feel that something
terrible would crawl over them at n
minute.
We slept that night high up on the
mountains, at least We tried to sleep.
l lay awake all through the night lis
tening to the peculiar noises made by
the puffs Of wind that hummed across
the hills and the howling of the
jackals and the rustling Of lizards
and crawling things. Besides I was
mighty hungry. We had nothing but
bitter berries and brackish water
from the time we mad landed on the
mainland, and berries are not satisfy
ing to a man who is very hungry.
We started on across the stony
slopes the moment it was daylight.
and about midday we came to the
great chasm in the hills. That was
the deepest abyss ! have ever seen.
l suppose it is the deepest that any
one has eve seen.
1t looked as II the heat of the place
had baked the crystalline rocks till
they parted. and across the landscape
there was a trenc that was over a
mile deep. My, what a cleft that was!
The rays of the sun were like white
lances as they Owed into the depths
thousands of feet below. The Grand
Canyon of the Colorado, the quebrada
Of the Apurimac in the Andes, and the
big assures in the Himalayas near the
khaiber Pass are small affairs COM
pared to that cleft in the crystalline
rocks of SomaIland. =
1t was a terrible chasm. 1t looked
as If some giant had sliced the thing
with a sword blade ten miles long
when the earth was cooling. That's
so. 1t took my breath. ! painted like
"a winded buffalo when l stood IND
stared at the thing. n the dizzy
depths loosened the muscles Of my
knees till I fell on the ground with
terror.
What is wrong?' asked the woman.
"I'm afraid" | gasped I'm afraid
Of that"
I pointed at the Internal trough and
she laughed at my fear. She picked
up a o and jerked it down into the
thing. and gave a yell as l watched
the stone dropping through space for
a mile. Gee. it was awful!
There were no shelves or lodges like
you see in the Grand Canyon. The
sides of that devilish crevice were
perpendicular, and ! clutched at the
tufts of desert grass and clawed my
self back from the rim.
why" said the woman. 81 thought
O were willing to attempt anything
TO get the Red Face?"
80 I am" I stammered, but that
thing took my breath"
She looked at me curiously. and I
got to my feet and followed her as
she coasted the edge Of the thing. 1t
vas weird. terrible. awe inspiring.
The sunbeams, striking down into it,
whitened the walls Inc made them
that snaky and slippery that you felt
inclined TO scream out with terror
every time you looked anthem.
We walked for about half a mile
along the edge. then the woman
pushed her way through a clump Of
stunted thorn and mex minute we
came out in front of a spidery bridge
Of coarse hemp that swung above the
depths at a point where the huge cash
was not more than thirty feet from