"Hello! down there, air ye all safe?" came a hail; and looking up the
two boys on the shelf saw the grizzled head of the old cowman thrust
into view.
CHAPTER XXII
ONCE MORE AT CIRCLE RANCH--CONCLUSION
After all, it was not a very great task, getting the two saddle boys up
from the friendly shelf. Old Hank lowered his lariat; and after Bob
had slipped the loop under his arms, he was pulled to safety. Then
Frank followed.
They found that Hank had half a dozen cowboys with him, some of the
most daring connected with Circle Ranch. Overtaken by the storm while
at the base of the mountain, they had waited for daylight, and then
started afoot to make the ascent. The presence of the new river in the
bed of the long empty _barranca_ astonished these cowmen exceedingly.
And when they heard all that the boys had to tell they were almost of
the opinion that they must have been dreaming.
But there was the evidence before their very eyes, and nobody could
deny that the old-time river, that had been bottled up underground for
so long, had finally found a way to break forth once more, aided by the
geyser that for a century had beaten that tremendous tattoo every
little while against the inner walls of the rocky mountain.
"Then there won't be no more racket, will there?" old Hank asked, as he
lay there, looking down at the rushing current of the new stream that
would no doubt readily follow its long abandoned course, until it
reached the distant Colorado, somewhere along the Grand Canyon.
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