Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-05-24
CHAPTER XIX
The Secret of ForIorn River.

The Secret of ForIorn River.
In the early morning Gale, seeking
solitude where he could brood over
his trouble, wandered alone. 1t was
not easy for him to elude the Iaqui,
and just at the moment when lie had
cast himself down in secluded shady
corner the Indian appeared, noiseless,
shadoWy, mysterious as always.
The Indian had been told of the
loses sustained by Bedding and his
rangers.
GO mel" and Yaqui, with an inn
pressive gesture toward the lofty lilac
colored steps of No Name mountains.
He seemed the same as usual, but a
glance on Gales part, moments at
tention, made him conscious of the old
strange force in the Yaqui.
'Why does my brother want me to
climb the nameless mountains with
hfm?" asked Gale.
"LluVia d'oro," replied Yaqui, and he
made motions that Gale found diff
cult Of Interpretation.
Shower of Cold translated Gale.
That was the Yaqui's name for Nell.
What did he mean by using it in con-
nectiOn with a climb into the noun
tainS? Were his motions intended to
convey an idea Of a shower of golden
blossoms from that rare and beautiful
tree, or a golden rain? Gales listIess-
ness vanished in a flash of thought.
The Yaqui meant gold Gold He
meant he could retrieve the fallen for
tunes of the white brother who had
saved his life that evil day at the Pa
pago well. Gale thrilled as he gazed
piercingly into the wonderful eyes of
this Indian, Would Yaqui never con-
slider his debt paid?
"Go-me?" repeated the Indian,
pointing with the singular directness
that always made this action remark
able in him.
yes. Yaqui."
Gale ran to his rom, put on hobnailed
boots, filed a canteen and hurried back
/ to the corral. Yaqui awaited him. The
Indian carried a coiled lasso and
short stout stick. Without a word he
led the way down the lane, turned up
the river toward the mountains None
of Belongs household saw their de-
parture.
What had once been only narrow
mesquite-bordered trail was now a
well-trodden road. A deep irrigation
ditch, full Of flowing muddy water, ran
parallel with the road. Gale had been
curious about the operations Of the
Chases, but bitterness he could not
help had kept him from going out to
see the work. He was not surprised
to find that the engineers who had con-
structed the bitches and dam had an
ticipated him in every particular. The
dammed-up gulch made a magnificent
reservoir, and Gale could not look Up
on the long narrow lake without
feeling of gladness. The dreaded ano
seco of the Mexicans might come again
and would come, but never to the in
habftants Of Forlorn River. That
stone-walled, stone-foored gulch would
never leak, and already it contained
water enough to irrigate the whole of
Altar valley for two dry seasons.
Yaqui led swiftly along the lake to
| the upper end, where the stream
.roared down over unscalable walls.
This point was the farthest Gale had
ever penetrated into the rough foot
hills, and he had Belongs word for it
that no white man had ever climbed
No Name mountains from the west.
The Indian left the gulch and clam
bered up over tumble Of weathered
slides and traced a slow course along
the base Of the giant wall. He looked
up and seemed to select a point for
ascent 1t was the last place in that
mountain side where Gale would have
thought climbing possible. Before him
the wall rose, leaning over him, shut
ting out the light, dark mighty noun
tain mass. Innumerable cracks and
crevices and caves roughened the
bullying sides of dark rock.
YaQui tied one end of his lasso to the
short, stout stick and, carefully olsen
tangling the coils, he whirled the stick
round and round and threw it almost
over the first rim Of the shelf, per-
haps thirty feet up. The stick did not
lodge. Yaqui tried again. This time
it caught in a crack. He pulled hard.
Then, holding to the lasso, he walked
up the steep slant, hand over hand on
the rope. When he reached the shelf
he motioned for Gale to follow. Gale
found that method of scaling wall
both quick and easy. Yaqui pulled up
the lasso, and threw the stick aloft in
to another crack. He climbed to an
other shelf, and Gale followed him. The
third effort brought them to a more
rugged bench hundred feet above the
slides. The Yaqui worked round to
the left and turned into dark assure.
Gale kept close at his heels. They
came out presently into lighter space,
yet one that restricted any extended
view. Broken sections of cliff were on
all sides