Ghosts of the Wild West: Enlarged Edition Including Five Never-Before-Published Stories

The Enchanted Mesa

THE ENCHANTED MESA or many years the two professors shared an interest in the supernatural. Now Cardoza stole a glance at Montana, who was driving, and for the first time he became uneasy. There was a fanatic look about his face, and all of Dr. Cardoza's efforts to joke about why they were driving out here in the middle of the night were meeting with no response. Joseph Montana drove on through the barren country among towering, grotesque mountain formations that appeared eerie indeed in the light of the full moon. This was the road to the Enchanted Mesa, southwest of Albuquerque. Montana had written asking him to leave his work in Tucson, fly to Albuquerque, and drive out here with him tonight. They had come here many times as boys, and he knew the tragic story of the mesa had held a strong fascination for Montana even when GHOSTS OF THE WILD WEST they were young, but that was years ago. What could he possibly be up to tonight?They drove in silence, as Montana did not seem inclined to talk. In the past year his letters had a strange quality about them, almost of madness, and Cardoza had been tempted to suggest he take a vacation. His research into the ancient lore of primitive tribes, once so stimulating, of late had appeared to have the opposite effect. Montana broke the silence at last. "Rick, I have made a discovery you may not believe, but at least you must see and hear for yourself. If I am mad, then you are the only person I trust to help me. If I am not, then heaven help us both!" Dr. Richard Cardoza stared at him in amazement. That first premonition he had experienced when a haggard Montana met him at the airport returned, and for an instant he wished that he were back in his laboratory in Tucson. Apprehension swept over him as he realized that even if he had wanted to go back, it was too late, for there in the distance stood the mesa looming dark and enigmatic against an immense, storm-streaked sky. The place was unsettling enough in the daytime, but at night it became haunted and eerie. Before them the Enchanted Mesa rose almost five hundred feet from the flat plain. The mesa top had been the home, centuries ago, of New Mexico's Acoma Indians before a tragic fate befell them. To ensure safety from Apache attacks, villages were often built upon the top of mesas. They were, after all, natural fortresses. Fifteen hundred people had lived on top of the Mesa Encantada. Three hundred feet above THE ENCHANTED MESA the plain was a great opening like a cathedral arch, the entrance to a stair leading through a crevice in the rock and upward to the summit. From the plain to the arch was an outer stair of stone spiraling up the sides of a great column that leaned against the mesa. Every day the young men came down from the mesa to the plain to work in the maize fields and to hunt. One afternoon the sky grew black. There were crashes of thunder, brilliant flashes of lightning, and heavy rain, so the men took shelter at the base of the mesa to wait until it passed over. As they sheltered themselves beneath the rock, there came a deafening crash of thunder and lightning, and stones began to fall all around them. In a few minutes the storm was over, and the men saw that the outer steps leading up the mesa had been struck and shattered off by the lightning. They scrambled up as far as they could, then slid back in frustration. The people left on top began trying to descend, but their efforts were equally futile. As they realized that the only way that led down from the mesa was gone and there was no escape, they began to scream and weep. The best archers at the foot of the rocks could not send game far enough on their arrows to reach the top. The next day one woman, crazed by thirst, leaped down to her death, and on each succeeding day there were fewer faces staring down at the men below. Finally there were none, and those who were left at the base went to a mesa two miles away and built another home. They called...