when his boat got caught
in the currents or whirlpools, whether there might be ahead o' him some
great underground passage where the river had cut its way and the boat
might be carried in there and never get out. Then too when they started on
a swift current no one could tell when the water got rougher and swifter
whether they were goin' head on for some great, roarin' cataract. Yes,
sir, it was a very ticklish trip that Major Powell took, and what made it
still worse for him was the fact that he had only one arm."

"What did he do with the other one?" inquired Fred.

"Had it shot away in the Civil War. I tell you he had more nerve than any
man that ever came out to these parts. Unless p'raps it was Bill Williams,
whose grave is away over yonder more than fifty miles beyond the Grand
Canyon."

"Did the men who were with Major Powell come through all right?" asked
Fred.

"All those that stayed with him did. There were four that got discouraged,
and cleared out and left the very day when Major Powell floated clear of
the Grand Canyon. It's strange about that. The exploring party came out
all right, but not one of the four men that deserted was ever afterwards
heard of. Probably they tried to make their way up some o' these cliffs
and tumbled and fell."

"Did you say that the Indians knew all about the Grand Canyon?" asked
Grant.

"No, I didn't say no sech thing," said Zeke sharply. "What I said was that
the Indians were afraid of the place. They had any number of stories about
the region."

"What were they?" asked Fred eagerly.

"Oh, I don't know," answered Zeke, "There was one, I understand, about
the Indians believin' or at least reportin' that the Grand Canyon was the
road to heaven. They had a story that one time one of their big chiefs
lost his wife. He was very fond of her and when she died it seemed to take
the heart right out o' him. He spent most o' his time mournin' for her and
pretty soon the life o' the tribe was beginnin' to suffer.

"At last, at least so the Indians say, the god, Tavwoats, offered to prove
to the big chief that his wife was happier than she had been even when she
was livin' 'long with him. The chief took him at his word and Tavwoats
started right away to take the chief where he could look on the happiness
of his wife. It seems the trail he made to the Happy Land was what we now
call the Grand Canyon. They say that there were more bright colors and
pretty places to be seen there th