Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1923-01-26
HAPTER XII
The Crater of He'll.

Tresently Gale, upon turning a sharp
Gunner. was utterly amazed to see that
t. split in the lava sloped out and
y TENED into an arroyo. 1t was so
green and soft and beautiful in all
the angry. contorted red surrounding
t'at Gale could scarcely credit his
SIGHT. Elanco Sol whistled his well
come to the scent of water. Then
Gale saw a great hole, a pit in the
shiny lava, a dark, cool, shady we'll.
There was evidence of the fact that
ut flood seasons water had an outlet
into the arroyo. The soil appeared to
he a fine sand, in which a reddish
tinge p~redominated and it was abund-
antIy covered with a long grass, still
partly green. Mosquitoes and palo
verdes dotted the arroyo and gradu-
ally closed in thickets that INSTRUCTED
the view.
ashore it all beats me- exclaimed
Ladd. "What a place to hole-up in
We could have hid here for a long
time. Beldin' was shore right about
the Indian. An / can see RojaS'
finish somewhere up along that awful
hell-hole."
Camp was made on a level spot.
YaQui took the horses to water, and
then turned them loose in the arroyo.
1t was a tired and somber group that
sat down to eat. Mercedes was calm,
but her great dark eyes burned in her
white face. Yaqui watched her. The
others looked at her with unspoken
pride. Presently Thorne wrapped her
In bis blankets, and she seemed to 1ell
asleep at once.
Little of Yaqui's purpose or piap
could be elected from him. The
rangers and Thorne. however. talked
in low tones. 1t was absolutely i'm.
possible for Rojas and his men to
reach the w%aterhole before noon of
the next day. And long before that
time the fugitives would have decided
on a plan of defense.
"What stuns me is that Roias stuck
to our TRAIL" said Thorne, his lined
and haggard face expressive of dark
passion. "He has followed us into
this fearful desert. He'll lose men,
horses, perhaps his life. He's only n
DdHull, anu lie SldIuS " VIII lO Solu-
All for a poor little helpless woman
just a woman l can't understand it,"
"Shore-just a woman" replied
Ladd, solemnly nodding his head.
Then there was a long silence, dur
ing which the men gazed into the fire.
Those were cold, hard, grim faces
upon which the light fickered.
HCIoop >, co;6 Vouu;
Thorne rolled in his blanket close
beside Mercedes. Then one by one
the rangers stretched out, feet to the
fire. Gale found that he could not
sleep. His eyes were weary, but they
would not stay shut his body ached
for rest, yet he could not lie still.
The Yaqui sat like an image carved
out of lava. The others lay prone and
quiet. Would another night see any
of them lie that way, quiet forever?
Gale sat up after a while and again
watched the fire. Nell's sweet face
f1oated like a wrath in the pale
smoke glowed and flushed and
smiled in the embers. Other faces
shone there-his sister's-that of his
mother. Gale shook off the tender
memories. This desolate wilderness
with its f%orbidding silence and its
dark promise of hell on the morrow
this was not the place to unnerve one
self with thoughts of love and home.
Toward dawn Gale managed to get
some sleep. Then the morning broke
with the sun hidden back of the uplift
Of the plateau. The horses trooped
up the arroyo and snorted for water.
After a hurried breakfast the packs
were hidden. in holes in the lava. The
saddles were left where they were,
and the horses allowed to Craze and
wander at will. Canteens were filed,
a small bag of food was packed, and
blankets made into a bundle. Then
Yaqui faced the steep ascent of the
lava slope.
The trail he followed led up on the
right side Of the assure, opposite to
the one he had come down. 1t was a
steep climb, and encountered as the
men were they made but slow prog
ress. At length the rims widened out
and the red, smoky crater yawned be-
meath. Yaqui left the trail and began
clambering down over the rough and
twisted convolutions of lava which
formed the rim. 1t was with extreme
difficulty that the party followed him.
The choya was there to hinder pas
sage. Finally the Indian halted upon
a narrow bench of fiat, smooth lava,
and his followers worked with exceed
ing care and effort down to his posi-
ton.
At the back of this bench, between
punches Of choya. was a niche. a shall