The Call Of The Canyon, Zane Grey [good non fiction books to read txt] 📗

How Green

The Cedared Foreground--How Gray And Barren The Downward Slope--How

Wonderful The Painted Steppes! The Vision That Had Lived In Her Memory

Shrank To Nothingness. The Reality Was Immense,  More Than Beautiful,

Appalling In Its Isolation,  Beyond Comprehension With Its Lure And Strength

To Uplift.

 

But The Superintendent Drew Her Attention To The Business At Hand.

 

Carley Had Planned An L-Shaped House Of One Story. Some Of Her Ideas

Appeared To Be Impractical,  And These She Abandoned. The Framework Was Up

And Half A Dozen Carpenters Were Lustily At Work With Saw And Hammer.

 

"We'd Made Better Progress If This House Was In An Ordinary Place,"

Explained Hoyle. "But You See The Wind Blows Here,  So The Framework Had To

Be Made As Solid And Strong As Possible. In Fact,  It's Bolted To The

Sills."

 

Both Living Room And Sleeping Room Were Arranged So That The Painted Desert

Could Be Seen From One Window,  And On The Other Side The Whole Of The San

Francisco Mountains. Both Rooms Were To Have Open Fireplaces. Carley's Idea

Was For Service And Durability. She Thought Of Comfort In The Severe

Winters Of That High Latitude,  But Elegance And Luxury Had No More

Significance In Her Life.

 

Hoyle Made His Suggestions As To Changes And Adaptations,  And,  Receiving

Her Approval,  He Went On To Show Her What Had Been Already Accomplished.

Back On Higher Ground A Reservoir Of Concrete Was Being Constructed Near An

Ever-Flowing Spring Of Snow Water From The Peaks. This Water Was Being

Piped By Gravity To The House,  And Was A Matter Of Greatest Satisfaction To

Hoyle,  For He Claimed That It Would Never Freeze In Winter,  And Would Be

Cold And Abundant During The Hottest And Driest Of Summers. This Assurance

Solved The Most Difficult And Serious Problem Of Ranch Life In The Desert.

 

Next Hoyle Led Carley Down Off The Knoll To The Wide Cedar Valley Adjacent

Chapter 11 Pg 181

To The Lake. He Was Enthusiastic Over Its Possibilities. Two Small Corrals

And A Large One Had Been Erected,  The Latter Having A Low Flat Barn

Connected With It. Ground Was Already Being Cleared Along The Lake Where

Alfalfa And Hay Were To Be Raised. Carley Saw The Blue And Yellow Smoke

From Burning Brush,  And The Fragrant Odor Thrilled Her. Mexicans Were

Chopping The Cleared Cedars Into Firewood For Winter Use.

 

The Day Was Spent Before She Realized It. At Sunset The Carpenters And

Mechanics Left In Two Old Ford Cars For Town. The Mexicans Had A Camp In

The Cedars,  And The Hoyles Had Theirs At The Spring Under The Knoll Where

Carley Had Camped With Glenn And The Hutters. Carley Watched The Golden

Rosy Sunset,  And As The Day Ended She Breathed Deeply As If In Unutterable

Relief. Supper Found Her With Appetite She Had Long Since Lost. Twilight

Brought Cold Wind,  The Staccato Bark Of Coyotes,  The Flicker Of Camp Fires

Through The Cedars. She Tried To Embrace All Her Sensations,  But They Were

So Rapid And Many That She Failed.

 

The Cold,  Clear,  Silent Night Brought Back The Charm Of The Desert. How

Flaming White The Stars! The Great Spire-Pointed Peaks Lifted Cold

Pale-Gray Outlines Up Into The Deep Star-Studded Sky. Carley Walked A

Little To And Fro,  Loath To Go To Her Tent,  Though Tired. She Wanted Calm.

But Instead Of Achieving Calmness She Grew More And More Towards A Strange

State Of Exultation.

 

Westward,  Only A Matter Of Twenty Or Thirty Miles,  Lay The Deep Rent In The

Level Desert--Oak Creek Canyon. If Glenn Had Been There This Night Would

Have Been Perfect,  Yet Almost Unendurable. She Was Again Grateful For His

Absence. What A Surprise She Had In Store For Him! And She Imagined His

Face In Its Change Of Expression When She Met Him. If Only He Never Learned

Of Her Presence In Arizona Until She Made It Known In Person! That She Most

Longed For. Chances Were Against It,  But Then Her Luck Had Changed. She

Looked To The Eastward Where A Pale Luminosity Of Afterglow Shone In The

Heavens. Far Distant Seemed The Home Of Her Childhood,  The Friends She Had

Scorned And Forsaken,  The City Of Complaining And Striving Millions. If

Only Some Miracle Might Illumine The Minds Of Her Friends,  As She Felt That

Hers Was To Be Illumined Here In The Solitude. But She Well Realized That

Not All Problems Could Be Solved By A Call Out Of The West. Any Open And

Lonely Land That Might Have Saved Glenn Kilbourne Would Have Sufficed For

Her. It Was The Spirit Of The Thing And Not The Letter. It Was Work Of Any

Kind And Not Only That Of Ranch Life. Not Only The Raising Of Hogs!

Chapter 11 Pg 182

 

Carley Directed Stumbling Steps Toward The Light Of Her Tent. Her Eyes Had

Not Been Used To Such Black Shadow Along The Ground. She Had,  Too,

Squeamish Feminine Fears Of Hydrophobia Skunks,  And Nameless Animals Or

Reptiles That Were Imagined Denizens Of The Darkness. She Gained Her Tent

And Entered. The Mexican,  Gino,  As He Called Himself,  Had Lighted Her Lamp

And Fire. Carley Was Chilled Through,  And The Tent Felt So Warm And Cozy

That She Could Scarcely Believe It. She Fastened The Screen Door,  Laced The

Flaps Across It,  Except At The Top,  And Then Gave Herself Up To The Lulling

And Comforting Heat.

 

There Were Plans To Perfect; Innumerable Things To Remember; A Car And

Accessories,  Horses,  Saddles,  Outfits To Buy. Carley Knew She Should Sit

Down At Her Table And Write And Figure,  But She Could Not Do It Then.

 

For A Long Time She Sat Over The Little Stove,  Toasting Her Knees And

Hands,  Adding Some Chips Now And Then To The Red Coals. And Her Mind Seemed

A Kaleidoscope Of Changing Visions,  Thoughts,  Feelings. At Last She

Undressed And Blew Out The Lamp And Went To Bed.

 

Instantly A Thick Blackness Seemed To Enfold Her And Silence As Of A Dead

World Settled Down Upon Her. Drowsy As She Was,  She Could Not Close Her

Eyes Nor Refrain From Listening. Darkness And Silence Were Tangible Things.

She Felt Them. And They Seemed Suddenly Potent With Magic Charm To Still

The Tumult Of Her,  To Soothe And Rest,  To Create Thoughts She Had Never

Thought Before. Rest Was More Than Selfish Indulgence. Loneliness Was

Necessary To Gain Consciousness Of The Soul. Already Far Back In The Past

Seemed Carley's Other Life.

 

By And By The Dead Stillness Awoke To Faint Sounds Not Before Perceptible

To Her--A Low,  Mournful Sough Of The Wind In The Cedars,  Then The Faint

Far-Distant Note Of A Coyote,  Sad As The Night And Infinitely Wild.

 

 

 

 

 

Days Passed. Carley Worked In The Mornings With Her Hands And Her Brains.

In The Afternoons She Rode And Walked And Climbed With A Double Object,  To

Work Herself Into Fit Physical Condition And To Explore Every Nook And

Corner Of Her Six Hundred And Forty Acres.

 

Then What She Had Expected And Deliberately Induced By Her Efforts Quickly

Came To Pass. Just As The Year Before She Had Suffered Excruciating Pain

Chapter 11 Pg 183

From Aching Muscles,  And Saddle Blisters,  And Walking Blisters,  And A Very

Rending Of Her Bones,  So Now She Fell Victim To Them Again. In Sunshine And

Rain She Faced The Desert. Sunburn And Sting Of Sleet Were Equally To Be

Endured. And That Abomination,  The Hateful Blinding Sandstorm,  Did Not

Daunt Her. But The Weary Hours Of Abnegation To This Physical Torture At

Least Held One Consoling Recompense As Compared With Her Experience Of Last

Year,  And It Was That There Was No One Interested To Watch For Her

Weaknesses And Failures And Blunders. She Could Fight It Out Alone.

 

Three Weeks Of This Self-Imposed Strenuous Training Wore By Before Carley

Was Free Enough From Weariness And Pain To Experience Other Sensations. Her

General Health,  Evidently,  Had Not Been So Good As When She Had First

Visited Arizona. She Caught Cold And Suffered Other Ills Attendant Upon An

Abrupt Change Of Climate And Condition. But Doggedly She Kept At Her Task.

She Rode When She Should Have Been In Bed; She Walked When She Should Have

Ridden; She Climbed When She Should Have Kept To Level Ground. And Finally

By Degrees So Gradual As Not To Be Noticed Except In The Sum Of Them She

Began To Mend.

 

Meanwhile The Construction Of Her House Went On With Uninterrupted

Rapidity. When The Low,  Slanting,  Wide-Eaved Roof Was Completed Carley Lost

Further Concern About Rainstorms. Let Them Come. When The Plumbing Was All

In And Carley Saw Verification Of Hoyle's Assurance That It Would Mean A

Gravity Supply Of Water Ample And Continual,  She Lost Her Last Concern As

To The Practicability Of The Work. That,  And The Earning Of Her Endurance,

Seemed To Bring Closer A Wonderful Reward,  Still Nameless And Spiritual,

That Had Been Unattainable,  But Now Breathed To Her On The Fragrant Desert

Wind And In The Brooding Silence.

 

 

 

 

 

The Time Came When Each Afternoon's Ride Or Climb Called To Carley With

Increasing Delight. But The Fact That She Must Soon Reveal To Glenn Her

Presence And Transformation Did Not Seem To Be All The Cause. She Could

Ride Without Pain,  Walk Without Losing Her Breath,  Work Without Blistering

Her Hands; And In This There Was Compensation. The Building Of The House

That Was To Become A Home,  The Development Of Water Resources And Land That

Chapter 11 Pg 184

Meant The Making Of A Ranch--These Did Not Altogether Constitute The

Anticipation Of Content. To Be Active,  To Accomplish Things,  To Recall To

Mind Her Knowledge Of Manual Training,  Of Domestic Science,  Of Designing

And Painting,  To Learn To Cook--These Were Indeed Measures Full Of Reward,

But They