.

"This expedition of mine, considered strictly _as_ an expedition, is a
failure," he grimly muttered, thankful for his own escape, and still
convinced that it was not as bad as it might have been with his friend.
"It won't do to try it again, and it remains for me to get out of the
canyon altogether."

He had landed upon the extreme upper end of the most immense rock of all
that had been used to help in the ascent. He remembered it well. The
upper portion was depressed and sloping, being three or four feet above
the current. Thus it happened that the point to which he was clinging
allowed him to be deluged with spray, and he strove to climb to the
higher part.

He was thus engaged, conscious of a number of severe bruises, when an
object whisked past his shoulder, taking a direction up the gorge. He
felt it graze his face, and detected something that can only be
described as a deepening of the dense gloom as it shot over his head. It
came and vanished like the flitting of a bird's wing.

The youth for the moment was amazed beyond expression, and was at a loss
to explain what it could be. Then the truth flashed upon him. Some one
else was also going up the canyon, and had leaped from the rock to which
Jack was clinging, on his way to the next one. He strove to pierce the
darkness, but the effort was useless.

"I would give a good deal to know who he was; I couldn't make out
whether it was a white man or an Indian. It may have been Motoza, Tozer,
Hank, or a stranger; but whoever he was, he has no use for me."

Half suspecting a third party might put in an appearance, Jack waited on
the rock for some minutes, but nothing of the kind occurred, and he
prepared to continue his retreat.

The water was almost icy cold, the temperature being perceptibly lower
between the walls of the canyon and the clear air outside. With his
saturated garments, the youth was chilled and anxious to reach a point
where he could start a fire and obtain warmth for his body. He had given
over the expectation of seeing any more persons in the gorge and wished
to look after his own comfort.

To this haste was to be attributed the second accident that overtook the
young man. He had no difficulty in locating the place to land, but he
put too much vigor in the effort, so that when he struck the slippery
rock his momentum carried him forward, and despite his resistance he
took another plunge into the raging current before he could check
himself