"Yer see thet little mountain right ahead of us, don't yer? Wall, I r'member thet place. There's a narrer pass through thet hill, thet we've got ter go through. I've been in it once afore, and it's a mighty pokerish place, I tell yer: however, we'll git along all right, I reckon."
In a short time we reached the entrance to the _cañon_, 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 _cañon_, 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 _cañon_ than we are out of it," said I; "but it's one of the most dismal and sunless places I ever was in."