along all right, I
reckon."

In a short time we reached the entrance to the _canon_, which was
indeed a narrow pass. Huge rocks, hundreds of feet high, towered above
and upon each side of us, their dark, moss-grown surface rendering the
narrow passage so gloomy, that, in spite of myself, I felt a cold shiver
run over me, that gave me an involuntary sensation of danger, which I
could not throw off.

Turning to Jerry, I said, "Isn't there any danger here?"

"Danger!" repeated Jerry, "of course there's danger, everywhere in this
country. We ain't out of danger a minute. Ha! ha! ha!" and he laughed so
loudly, that the rocks above us caught the sound and hurled it against
the opposite side of the _canon_, where it seemed to be detained for
a moment by some overhanging cliff, and then sent back, reverberating and
re-echoing, now faint and indistinct, then clear and well-defined, to
again die away in the distance, to once more approach nearer and nearer,
louder and louder, until finally catching upon the sharp edge of some
far-jutting crag, it shivered into a dozen, startlingly distinct peals of
laughter, that seemed to my terrified senses like the shouts of demons,
exulting at our temerity in venturing within their own well-chosen
realms.

So terrifying was the effect upon me, that, for a few moments, I could
not persuade myself that it was but an echo I heard. The blood surged to
my heart and receeded so suddenly, that I was hardly able to sit erect
upon my horse. As soon as I could speak, I said,--

"Come, let us go back, Jerry. I want to get out of this, as soon as I
can."

"We've got ter git ter camp, an' this's the nearest way; but, ef you're
afraid, we'll turn back. That warn't nothin' ter hurt, though, it did
sound kind er skeery. Ther shortest way's always ther best in this
country, so let's go ahead," said Jerry.

"I don't know that we are any more likely to meet danger in this
_canon_ than we are out of it," said I; "but it's one of the most
dismal and sunless places I ever was in."

"Well, 'twon't be many minutes afore we're out on the plains agin, so
we'll ride along kind er midlin fast;" and, putting spurs to our horses,
we soon emerged from the gloomy defile, out into the bright sunshine
again.

Once clear of the shadows, I seemed to overcome the forebodings of
danger, that had so oppressed me in the _canon_; and, in a few
moments, the unpleasant sensations produced by the echo, entirely
disappeare