From my Writer’s Class MONTEZUMA’S CASTLE. “No said the curiosity giver, the mummy is not for sale, I had to big a job to get it.” “Tell me about it.” I asked. The curiosity giver carefully closed and locked the case then he meditatively rolled a cigarette. “Well, it was this way. You see I was out after snakes and other natural history specimens. I had a special order from a chap in New York for three hundred snakes. He wanted some big rattlers so I sent some that pleased him, anyhow he paid for them. I had a customer who wanted a rattler with a very big rattle and I fixed up the snakes on this trip and sent them to him. It had one hundred and eighteen rattles. I glued all the rattles together and by taking off the buttons it was pretty hard to see where they were joined. This rattle was more than a foot long. There was another eastern chap who wanted an ibex which he said could be found in these mountains. It had light colored horns curved over at the tip and front legs and eyes like an antelope. He had heard about the ibex and wanted a pair. I told him I they are hard to get. There thousands who say there are such animals. If he wants to have an ibex I may as well get him one as anyone else even if I had to make one. But to get back to my story I had a big out fit on this trip and I expected to get a lot of curios one way or another. What with the snakes and other animals of various kinds besides all the things I might pick up in the line of baskets and Indian relics which might prove salable. My outfit consisted of two wagons, five horses and I had a Mexican team along to look after the cooking. After being out two weeks we found ourselves near what is called Montezuma’s Castle up by La Verde. There are a lot of trees scattered about up there. I was mighty interested to examine the big cave and often went there. I tell you the old ruin they call Montezuma’s Castle is a dandy and don’t you forget it. The castle’s built on a ledge high upon the side of a mountain with chains upon its top. The only way to get up there is by ladders or rope so it’s might hard to get there even then. Right there near the face of a cliff there is a lot of fine old crystalines and some of them are more than one hundred feet from the base. These cliffs are straight up and down and sometimes very smooth. One particular cave of interest was about one hundred and fifty feet up. We looked the place over thinking it was sufficiently wide to hold a ladder and I came to the conclusion that if I was to explore one of these caves I’d better climb this one in question. In my outfit I had two large tents 9x14, and the pole could be stinted and it would answer very well for ladders if I connected them by pieces of rope. It was not necessary to make the steps very near together and by cutting the ends of the poles and tying pieces of rope across I succeeded in making two very good ladders. One was fourteen feet long with two top poles, one from each tent, and two small ladders, each about seven feet. I made the last two from the four upright tent poles there being two in each tent. The foot of the cliff is rough and the first fifteen feet or so we could climb easily to a broad ledge. We finally reached the day’s goal. My Mexican, Antonio, held the ladder and by careful work I succeeded in reaching the mouth of the cave we crawled in. I had no sooner entered than I felt sure no one had ever visited there before the original inhabitants had left it. The first thing I did was to take a stout piece of twine from my pocket and fastened the ladder to a piece of rock then I felt more at ease. There were numerous bits of pottery scattered about and one nearly perfect specimen. Besides these there were interesting bits of stone carvings. I placed these in a heap beside the entrance. I took a small hatchet to dig in the floor and pretty soon found a child mummy. By the time I had taken in out I was hot and thirsty. As you would imagine I was careful and didn’t hurry matters any. The cave was like an oven. Wrapping the mummy carefully on a cloth which I tied around my neck, I untied the twine from the ladder and lowered the bundle slowly down to Antonio who was waiting. It reached him safely but while he was untying it I curiously dropped it into the stream. I went back however and gathered the other relics. I took a few down and then returned to get some more. While I was looking them over I heard a crash the sound of tumbling stones. In looking out I saw the ladder had fallen and commence to curse Antonio for his carelessness. Imagine my horror when I saw him throw down the bottom of the ladder and run as fast as he could towards the camp. My first and only thought was to can Antonio for his treachery. It was evidently his intention to leave me housed in a place from which I could never escape alive and to start out in the two wagons, five horses and various valuables which he believed my boxes to contain. My revolver was still in my belt and I hastily commenced shooting at the running figure now fifty or sixty yards distant. The first four kicked up a cloud of dust three feet to his right and a little ahead. The second was still worse. But on the third he turned sideways, staggered on for several paces and fell on some loose rock in a way that must have been unpleasant. He tried to get up again but by now I had his range pretty well and I hit him again with the sixth shot. After that he laid pretty quiet although I thought I saw him move his arm once or twice. I reloaded having plenty of cartridges in my belt and began shooting at him again. This time I hit him three times out of six shots. As he had not moved for some minutes I concluded he was dead. Then I began to think over how I was going to get down. I was very thirsty and saw the water down in the valley sparkling in the sunlight, it was clear and refreshing. I thought and thought and the more I thought the more hopeless it seemed for me to plan a way to get down alive. There was one ladder standing and second one but there was a thirty foot fissure before I could reach it. I had absolutely nothing, not even a string to aid me in getting down. There was no use in getting help for anyone for the place was rarely visited. It might be weeks before anyone discovered my plight. I was getting thirstier all the time and at last I hastened to the mouth of the cave as hot as it was inside. The sight of the water was driving me mad. I amused myself by taking a shot at Antonio. I had his range down pretty fine by now and rarely missed him. Above the mountain there was one tall peak that stood out in the sunlight bright and shiny even after the canyon became dark. I crept gradually up. For a few minutes it shone firey and then the light was gone. Then the night noises came, the croaking of frogs and now and then the screeching of an owl. Did you ever hear the frogs in Arizona? Well then, you know something of what they sound like.” “Well,” said the curiosity giver, “I know nothing can be done until morning,” so I lay down and tried to sleep. I was nervous and couldn’t help feeling that in the night I might walk in my sleep and roll to the mouth of the cave and tumble out. I don’t really think I slept at all but lay in a half dazed condition until it was light enough for me to see things in the canyon below. As strange as it seems I was not hungry although I’d not eaten anything since the previous morning. My whole thoughts were concentrated on the one desire, something to drink. I thought and pondered trying to think of some possible way to get down. At one time I seriously thought of jumping to the ledge below but knew it was impossible for me to stay on it even if my legs were not broken by the fall and that jump would be to commit suicide. At last the thought occurred to me I could possibly make a rope out of my clothes. I had a large pocket knife and the hatchet. And no sooner had the thought suggested itself I commenced to undress. My canvas coat, shirt and trousers and some thin underclothes constituted my entire wardrobe. I succeeded in making some kind of rope with which I hoped I could reach the second ladder without getting broken bones. I couldn’t work steadily and it was impossible for me not to get up now and then and walk about the cave. I suffered so with the heat and thirst that the hope of escaping kept me from going mad. At last the rope was done. It had a creepy sort of stretchy feeling when I pulled on it but I had no alternative than to trust it. It was that or nothing but death from thirst in a very short time. I succeeded in fixing the hatchet firmly into and across the cleft in the rock and something to tie to which would hold my weight. I tied the end of the rope to the end of the hatchet handle and threw the other end down and saw that it had reached within four or five feet of the middle ledge. I was stark naked except for my shoes and I tell you it was no easy task letting oneself down over the sharp edges of the cliff. Every moment I expected to see one of the knots give away and I should never forget the feeling that came over me as I pulled myself clear of the ledge and hung swaying on the improvised rope which seemed to stretch and rotate in a way that sent cold shivers up my spine. It seemed a year before I reached the ledge. I went down pretty slow sparing the rope as much as I could by supporting part of my weight by digging my toes into every crack and crevice I could find. I got there at last and when I did I sat down on the ledge and cried like a baby. Well, that’s the story. Of course I got down the rest of the way alright or I wouldn’t be here. I don’t if I could have done anything if Tony had pulled down the second ladder instead of the bottom one. Evidently he was in too much of a hurry to do the job right. After reaching the second ladder it was no kind of trick to slide down and use it over again. The first thing I did when I got down was to run to the river and drink as much water as I dared to. Then I lay down in the water and enjoyed it. Talk about your paradise cocktail, it is not to be compared with the water of the Verde River water which I tasted that day. Antonio? Yes he is very dead I believe although I’ve never been back to see and I hope I never will. My first experience among the cliff dwellers was all sufficient.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 20:23:35 +0000
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