Chapter 27 Summary

Jim Chee reflects on the first time he came to the Grand Canyon floor. He had viewed the Colorado River drainage system as a mirror image of the human vascular system. The Colorado was the artery, and all of the little canyons were capillaries feeding into it. He predicts that the runoff from the lava mesas above, magnified by the force of gravity, would be spectacular. He huddles in a niche by the entrance to the slot canyon, barely protected from the pounding rain that now inundates the canyon. His prediction proves accurate as the water pours into the canyon and rushes in torrents out of the slot canyon.

Chee watches debris flush out of the slot canyon, filled with foreboding about the fate of his fiancé. First, a wooden bucket comes out; then a hat and some clothing. Behind that, tossed...