OCR Text |
Show 262 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. " The thrill of that last hymn touched many hearts as they never had been touched before. Nor will that picture ever pass out of my mind. As I recall the scene I can even now see the pure-faced wife of the preacher, holding the same hymn-book, and joining in a tremulous soprano at the feet of the dead, in company with the handsome madame in whose house of shame the poor girl died." CHAPTER LIV. THE ROYAL GORGE. It was with a sigh of regret that I left Gunnison and the many delightful people I met there. We returned via the Rio Grande Railway, and soon the little engine was panting and groaning in its toilsome ascent of the Marshall Pass. We were now approaching perilous heights; indeed, we seemed to be suspended, like Mohamet's coffin, midway between heaven and earth. Yet we had ceased to hold our breath to assist the locomotive, for one becomes accustomed to swinging on the ragged edge of the mountains in the course of a tour through them. It was very cold when we reached the summit, and a tremulous inspection of the situation increased our chilly sensations. The scenery along the Arkansas in its passage through the Rocky Mountains is varied and beautiful. At times the river glides smoothly through a wide valley, between vine - covered banks, and again rushes impetuously through a narrow defile, roaring and foaming over its |