Then his eyes fastened wonderingly on Enoch's face. He came slowly across the porch and down the steps. Enoch did not speak, and for a long moment the two men stared at each other while time turned back its hands for a quarter of a century. Suddenly Frank's hand shot out.
"My God! It's Enoch Huntingdon!"
"Yes, Frank, it's he," replied Enoch.
"Where on earth did you come from? Come in, Mr. Secretary! Come in! Or do you want to go up to the hotel?"
"Hotel! Frank, don't try to put on dog with me or snub me either!" exclaimed Enoch, dismounting. "And I am Enoch to you, just as that cowardly kid was, twenty-two years ago!"
"Cowardly!" roared Frank. "Well, come in! Come in before I get started on that."
"This is Jonas," said Na-che gravely.
"I know who Jonas is," said Frank, shaking hands. "Come in! Come in! Before I burst with curiosity! Diana girl, I've been worried sick about you. I swear once more this is the last trip you shall take without me."
The living-room was huge and beautiful. A fire roared in the great fireplace. Indian blankets and rugs covered the floor. There were some fine paintings on the walls and books and photographs everywhere. After Enoch and Diana had removed their snowy coats, Frank impatiently forced them into the arm-chairs before the fire, while he stood on the bearskin before them.
"For the love of heaven, Diana, where did you folks meet?"
"You begin, Enoch," said Diana quietly.
At the use of the Secretary's name, Frank glanced at Diana quickly, then turned back to Enoch.
"Well, Frank, I was on a speaking trip, and the pressure of things got so bad that I decided to slip away from everybody and give myself a trip to the Canyon. That was about a month ago. I outfitted at a little village on the railroad, and shortly after that I joined some miners who were going up to the Canyon to placer prospect. We had been at the Canyon several days when Jonas and Diana and Na-che found us. Diana stayed a day or so, then Jonas and I went with a Geological Survey crew for a boating trip down the river. We had sundry adventures, finally landing at Grant's Ferry, our leader, Milton, with a broken leg. Here we found Diana and Na-che. Jonas and I left the others and came on here because I want to go down the trail with you. That, in brief, is my story."
"Devilish brief!" snorted Frank. "Thank you for nothing! Diana, suppose you pad the skeleton a little."
"Yes, I will, Dad, if you'll let Enoch go to his room and get into some dry clothes. I told Na-che to help herself for him from your supply."
"Surely! Surely! What a rough bronco, I am! Let me show you to the guest room, Mr. Secretary--Enoch, I should say," and Frank led the way to a comfortable room whose windows gave a distant view of the Canyon rim.
When Enoch returned to the living-room after a bath and some strenuous grooming at Jonas' hands, Diana had disappeared and Frank was standing before the fire, smoking a cigarette. He tossed it into the flames at Enoch's approach.
"Enoch, my boy!" he said, then his voice broke, and the two men stood silently grasping each other's hands.
Enoch was the first to find his voice. "Except for the white hair, Frank, the years have forgotten you."
"Not quite, Enoch! Not quite! I don't take those trails as easily as I did once. You, yourself are changed, but one would expect that! Fourteen to thirty-six, isn't it?"
Enoch nodded. "Will the snow make Bright Angel too difficult for you, Frank?"
"Me? My Lord, no! Do I look a tenderfoot? We'll start to-morrow morning and take two days to it. Sit down, do! I've a thousand questions to ask you."
"Before I begin to answer them, Frank, tell me if there is any way in which I can send a telegram. I must let my office know where I am, much as I regret the necessity."
"You can telephone a message to the hotel," replied Frank. "They'll take care of it. But you realize that your traveling incog. will be all out if you do that?"
"Not necessarily!" Enoch chuckled.
Frank called the hotel on the telephone and handed the instrument to Enoch, who smiled as he gave the message.
"Mr. Charles Abbott, 8946 Blank Street, Washington, D. C. The boss can be reached now at El Tovar, Jonas."
"But won't Abbott wire you?" asked Frank.
"No, he'll wire Jonas. See if he doesn't," replied Enoch. "And now for the questions. Oh, Diana!" rising as Diana, in a brown silk house frock, came into the room. "How lovely you look! Doesn't she, Frank?"
"She looks like her mother," said Frank. "Only she'll never be quite as beautiful as Helen was."
"'Whose beauty launched a thousand ships'!" Enoch exclaimed, smiling at Diana. "My boyish memoir of Mrs. Allen is that she was dark."
"She was darker than Diana, and not so tall. Just as high as my breast; a fine mind in a lovely body!" Frank sighed deeply and stared at the fire.
Enoch, lying back in the great arm-chair, watched Diana with thoughtful, wistful eyes, until Frank roused himself, saying abruptly, "And now once more for the questions. Enoch, what started you in politics?"
"Well," replied Enoch, "that's a large order, but I'll try to tell the story." He began the tale, but was so constantly interrupted by Frank's questions that luncheon was announced by Na-che, just as he finished.
After luncheon they returned again to the fire, and Frank, urged on by Enoch, told the story of his early days at the Canyon. Perhaps Frank guessed that Enoch and Diana were in no mood for speech themselves, for he talked on and on, interrupted only by Enoch's laughter, or quick word of sympathy. Diana, her hands clasped loosely in her lap, watched the fire or stared at the snow drifts that the wind was piling against the window. It seemed to Enoch that the shadows about her great eyes were deepening as the hours went on.
Suddenly Frank looked at his watch. "Four o'clock! I must go out to the corral. Want to come along, Enoch?"
"I think not, Frank. I'll sit here with Diana, if you don't mind."
"I can stand it, if Diana can," chuckled Frank, and a moment later a door slammed after him.
Enoch turned at once to Diana. "Are you happy, dear?"
"Happy and unhappy; unbearably so!" replied Diana.
"Don't forget for a moment," said Enoch quickly, "that we have two whole days after to-day."
"I don't," Diana smiled a little uncertainly. "Enoch, I wonder if you know how well you look! You are so tanned and so clear-eyed! I'm going to be jealous of the women at every dinner party I imagine you attending!"
Enoch laughed. "Diana, my reputation as a woman hater is going to be increased every year. See if it's not!"
The telephone rang and Diana answered the call.
"Yes! Yes, Jonas is here, Fred Jonas--I'll take the message." There was a pause, then Diana said steadily, "See if I repeat correctly. Tell the Boss the President wishes him to take first train East, making all possible speed. Wire at once date of arrival. Signed Abbott."
Diana hung up the receiver and turned to Enoch, who had risen and was standing beside her.
"Orders, eh, Enoch?" she said, trying to smile with white lips.
Enoch did not answer. He stood staring at the girl's quivering mouth, while his own lips stiffened. Then he said quietly: "Will you tell me where I can find Jonas, Diana?"
"He's in the kitchen with Na-che. I'll go bring him in."
"No, stay here, Diana, sweetheart. Your face tells too much. I'll be back in a moment."
Jonas looked up from the potatoes he was peeling, as Enoch came into the kitchen. "Jonas, I've just had a reply from the wire I sent Abbott this morning. The President wants me at once. Will you go up to the hotel and arrange for transportation out of here tonight? Remember, I don't want it known who I am."
"Yes, Mr. Secretary!" exclaimed Jonas. Hastily wiping his hands, he murmured to Na-che, as Enoch turned away: "No trip down Bright Angel, Na-che. Ain't it a shame to think that love ring--" But Enoch heard no more.
Diana stood before the fire in the gathering twilight. "Is there anything Dad or I can do to facilitate your start, Enoch?"
"Nothing, Diana. Jonas is a past master in this sort of thing, and he prefers to do it all himself. You and I have only to think of each other until I have to leave."
He took Diana's face between his hands and gazed at it hungrily. "How beautiful, how beautiful you are!" he said, his rich voice dying in a sigh.
"Don't sigh, Enoch!" exclaimed Diana. "We must not make this last moment sad. You are going back into the arena, fit for the fight. That makes me very, very glad. And while you have told me nothing as to your intentions concerning Brown, I know that your decision, when it comes, will be right."
"I don't know what that decision will be, Diana. I have given my whole mind to you for many days. But I shall do nothing rash, nor without long thought. My dearest, I wish I could make you understand what you mean to me. I had thought when we were in the Canyon to-morrow I could tell you something of my boyhood, so that you would understand me, and what you mean to me. But all that must remain unsaid. Perhaps it's just as well."
Enoch sighed again and, turning to the table, picked up the flat package he had laid there on entering the room.
"This is my diary, Diana," placing it in her hands. "Be as gentle as you can in judging me, as you read it. If we were to be married, I think I would not have let you see it, but as it is, I am giving to you the most intimate thing in my possession, and I feel somehow as if in so doing I am tying myself to you forever."
Diana clasped the book to her heart, and laid her burning cheek against Enoch's. But she did not speak. Enoch held her slender body against his and the firelight flickered on the two motionless forms.
"Diana," said Enoch huskily, "you are going on with your work, as earnestly as ever, are you not?"
"Not quite so earnestly because, after I reach the East again, Minetta Lane will be my job."
"Oh, Diana, I beg of you, don't soil your hands with that!" groaned Enoch.
"I must! I must, Enoch!" Then Diana's voice broke and again the room was silent. They stood clinging to each other until Frank's voice was heard in the rear of the house.
"It's an infernal shame, I say. President or no President!"
"I'm going to my room for a little while," whispered Diana. And when Frank stamped into the room, Enoch was standing alone, his great head bowed in the firelight.
"Can't you stall 'em off a little while?" demanded Frank.
Enoch shook his head with a smile. "I've played truant too long to dictate now. Jonas and I must pull out to-night. Perhaps it's best, after all, Frank, and yet, it seemed for a moment as if it were physically impossible for me to give up that trip down Bright Angel. I've dreamed of it for twenty-two years. And to go down with Diana and you--"
"It's life!" said Frank briefly. He sank into an armchair and neither man spoke until Na-che announced supper.
Diana appeared then, her cheeks and eyes bright and her voice steady. Enoch never had seen her in a more whimsical mood and the meal, which he had dreaded, passed off quickly and pleasantly.
Not long after dinner, Frank announced the buck-board ready for the drive to the station. He slammed the door after this announcement, and Enoch took Diana in his arms and kissed her passionately.
"Good-by, Diana."
"Good-by, Enoch!" and the last golden moment was gone.
Enoch had no very clear recollection of his farewells to Na-che and Frank. Outwardly calm and collected, within he was a tempest. He obeyed Jonas automatically, went to his berth at once, and toward dawn fell asleep to the rumble of the train. The trip across the continent was accomplished without untoward incident. Enoch was, of course, recognized by the trainmen, but he kept to the stateroom that Jonas had procured and refused to see the reporters who boarded the train at Kansas City and again at Chicago. After the first twenty-four hours of grief over the parting with Diana, Enoch began to recover his mental poise. He was able to crowd back some of his sorrow and to begin to contemplate his whole adventure. Nor could he contemplate it without beginning to exult, and little by little his spirits lifted and even the tragedy of giving up Diana became a sacred and a beautiful thing. His grief became a righteous part of his life, a thing he would not give up any more than he would have given up a joy.
Undoubtedly Jonas enjoyed this trip more than any railway journey of his experience. Certainly he was a marked man. He wore the broadest brimmed hat in Frank Allen's collection, and John Red Sun's high laced boots. Strapped to his suitcase were the Ida's broken paddle and the battered board with "a-che" on it. These stood conspicuously in his seat in the Pullman, where he held a daily reception to all the porters on the train. True to his orders, he never mentioned Enoch's name in connection with his tale of the Canyon, but his own adventures lost nothing by that.
Enoch did not wire the exact time of his arrival in Washington, as he wished no one to meet the train. It was not quite three o'clock of a cold December day when Charley Abbott, arranging the papers in Enoch's private office, looked up as the inner door opened. Enoch, tanned and vigorous, came in, followed by Jonas, in all his western glory.
Charley sprang forward to meet Enoch's extended hand. "Mr. Huntingdon! Thank the Lord!"
"All set, Abbott!" exclaimed Enoch, "and ready to steam ahead. Let me introduce old Canyon Bill, formerly known as Jonas!"
Charley clasped Jonas' hand, burst out laughing, and slapped him on the back. "Some story goes with that outfit, eh, Jonas, old boy! Say! if you let the rest of the doormen and messengers see you, there won't be a stroke of work done for the rest of the day."
"I'm going to look Harry up, right now, if you don't need me, boss!" exclaimed Jonas.
"Take the rest of the day, Jonas!"
"No, I'll be back prompt at six, boss!" and Jonas, with his luggage, disappeared.
Enoch pulled off his overcoat and seated himself at the desk, then looked up at Charley with a smile.
"I had a great trip, Abbott. I went with a mining outfit up to the Canyon country. With Miss Allen's help, Jonas located me at the placer mine, and after several adventures, we came back with her to El Tovar, where I wired you."
Abbott looked at Enoch keenly. "You're a new man, Mr. Secretary."
Enoch nodded. "I'm in good trim. What happens first, Abbott?"
"I didn't know what time you'd be in to-day, so your appointments don't begin until to-morrow. But the President wants you to call him at your earliest convenience. Shall I get in touch with the White House?"
"If you please. In the meantime, I may as well begin to go through these letters."
"I kept them down pretty well, I think," said Abbott, with justifiable pride, as he picked up the telephone. After several moments he reported that the President would see Enoch at five o'clock.
"Very well," Enoch nodded. "Then you'd better tell me the things I need to know."
Abbott went into the outer office for his note book and, returning with it, for an hour he reported to Enoch on the business of the Department. Enoch, puffing on a cigar, asked questions and made notes himself. When Charley had finished, he said:
"Thank you, Abbott! I don't see but what I could have remained away indefinitely. Matters seem in excellent shape."
"Not everything, Mr. Secretary. Your oil bill has been unaccountably blocked in the Senate. The intervention in Mexico talk has begun again. The Geological Survey is in a mix-up and it looks as if a scandal were about to burst on poor old Cheney's head. I'm afraid he's outlived his usefulness anyhow. The newspapers in California are starting a new states-rights campaign for water power control and, every day since I've returned, Secretary Fowler's office has called and asked for the date of your return."
"Interested in me, aren't they!" smiled Enoch. "Why is the President in such a hurry to see me, Abbott?"
"I don't know, sir. I promised his secretary that the moment I heard from you I'd send such a message as I did send you."
"All right, Abbott, I'll start along. Don't wait or let Jonas wait after six. I'll go directly home if I'm detained after that."
"Wherever you've been, Huntingdon, it has done you good."
"I took a trip through the Canyon country, Mr. President. I've always wanted it."
The President waited as if he expected Enoch to say more, but the younger man stood silently contemplating the open fire.
"How about this tale of Brown's?" the Chief Executive asked finally. "I dislike mentioning it to you, Huntingdon, but you are the most trusted member of my Cabinet, and you have issued no denial to a very nasty scandal about yourself."
Enoch turned grave eyes toward the President. "I shall issue no denial, Mr. President. But there is one man in the world I wish to know the whole truth. If you have the time, sir, will you permit me to go over the whole miserable story?"
The President studied the Secretary's face. "It will be a painful thing for both of us, Huntingdon," he said after a moment, "but for the sake of our future confidential relationship, I think I shall have to ask you to go over it with me. Sit down, won't you?"
Enoch shook his head and, standing with his back to the fire, his burning eyes never leaving the President's face, he told the story of Minetta Lane. He ceased only at the moment when he dropped off the train into the desert. He did not spare himself. And yet when the quiet, eloquent voice stopped, there were tears in the President's eyes. He made no comment until Enoch turned to the fire, then he said, with a curious smile:
"A public man cannot afford private vices."
"I know that now," replied Enoch. "You may have my resignation whenever you wish it. I think it probable that I'll never touch a card again. But I dare not promise."
"I'm told," said the Chief Executive drily, "that you were not without good company in Blank Street; that a certain famous person from the British Legation, a certain Admiral of our own navy and an Italian prince contributed their share to the entertainment."
Enoch flushed slightly, but did not speak.
"I don't want your resignation, Huntingdon. It's a most unfortunate affair, but we cannot afford to lose you. Brown is a whelp, also he's a power that must be reckoned with. That article turned Washington over for a while. The talk has quieted now. It was the gambling that the populace rolled under its tongue. Only he and the scandal mongers like Brown gave any but a pitying glance at the other story. The fears that I have about the affair are first as to its reaction on you and second as to the sort of capital the opposite party will make of it. I think you let it hit you too hard, Huntingdon."
The Enchanted Canyon Page 28