Adventure, August 1917 — page 32: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

30 his own shoulders and Madison at his heels, he started on ahead. Up over a ridge went the trail and then down on the other side to the river. It was a warm afternoon. The black flies gathered in swarms beneath the canoe. But Wallace hardly noticed these things as he hurried on with his burden. Down the last slope he almost ran, and on the rocky shore he set down the canoe, his back to the stream, and saw that Madison was just behind him. But the look he had expected to see on Madison’s face was not there. Instead there was amazement, growing anger. Suddenly Wallace realized that, in his excitement, he had not heard the deep roar of the falls only half a mile up the stream. He turned quickly to the river. Here and there were small, shallow pools of water. Rocks covered with drying marine growth were scattered from shore to shore. In the rapids just above there was a little trickle of water. Otherwise the river bed was dry. Wallace, failing to comprehend, believing he surely must have taken the wrong trail, that the river was just beyond, stood looking at the place where the great stream had been. He could not move, could not think, even when Madison asked angrily: “Ts this your inexhaustible river?” “It was here,” protested Wallace. “Only five days ago I paddled across it at this place.” ‘“‘And you have brought me all this way, through all these flies and mosquitoes and these swamps and that cramped canoe to show me the dry bed of a river!”’ exclaimed Madison. “But the falls must be there. With that big lake behind them they could not go dry. Come. I'll show you.” He led the way across the deep bed of the river, climbing over great boulders and leaping across the shallow pools of water. On the opposite side he turned north along the bank, climbing the ridge impatiently, in a bewilderment of fear and anxiety and despair. “Wait a minute,” called Madison from behind. ‘I’m not a goat that can climb mountains, even if you have made the other kind of me. Give me a hand here.” Wallace helped the older man up the rough places and then led the way along the top of the ridge toward the falls. As he Adventure approached, his courage became less and less. The roar that had always filled the gorge and crowded out and spread over the surrounding country was absent. It seemed like another place without that sullen, ceaseless impact of the water on the rocks so far below. Now there was only the noise of their own progress through the brush. At last they emerged upon the flat rock. Wallace rushed forward, Madison, puffing, angry, following more slowly. Straight to the gorge the engineer ran, only to stop at the edge and stare in amazement. Before him stretched the lake, the surface of which was six or seven feet lower than when he had last seen it. Between the Jake and the gorge was a wide, even-topped ridge of rock holding back the water. Where the cataract had been there was not even a trickle of water. The falls were no more. CHAPTER IX THE RIVALS Wiese walked to Wallace’s side, took one look and then turned back to the rock on which the young engineer had found Joan. He was out of breath because of the unaccustomed exertion, but his anger alone would not have permitted him to speak. Wallace, however, was oblivious of this, even of his presence. Coming so quickly upon the heels of what he had believed was assured success, the catastrophe was greater than he could comprehend. He could not even bring his practical mind to bear on the phenomenon and try to deduce its cause. He only knew that the falls were gone, that his hopes were wrecked, that his father’s vision was nothing more than a chimera, that he had nothing to offer Joan. At last Madison recovered his breath and controlled his temper sufficiently to speak. ‘“‘What was your game, young man?” he asked coldly. ‘“‘You got me up here on false pretenses. Now what do you want?” Wallace did not need to reply. The face he turned toward Madison was sufficiently convincing. The utter dejection and be- wilderment were unmistakable. The older man looked at him steadily a moment and then said quietly: CoOMmiclsoo (© 5}