"That's the only thing I have heard said in the Canyon that didn't sound paltry."
"If any of the rest of us had repeated it, though, it might have sounded so." Harden's tone was dry.
"Shakespeare couldn't sound paltry anywhere!" exclaimed Enoch.
"Hum!" sniffed Agnew. "Depends on what and when you're quoting. Give us another, Judge."
Enoch gazed thoughtfully at the fire for a moment, then slowly and quietly he gave them the prayer of Habakkuk. The liquid phrases rolled from his lips, echoed in the Canyon, then dropped into silence. Enoch sat with his great head bowed, his sensitive mouth compressed as if with pain. His friends stared from him to one another, then one by one slipped away to their blankets. When Enoch looked up, only Milton was left.
"And so," said Enoch, "the Canyon has been a great experience for you,
Milton!"
"Yes, Judge. I became engaged to a girl who is a Catholic. I am a Protestant, one of the easy going kind that never goes to church. Yet, do you know, when she insisted that I turn Catholic, I wouldn't do it? We had a fearful time! I didn't have any idea there was so much creed in me as I discovered I had. In the midst of it the opportunity came for this Canyon work, and this trip has changed the whole outlook of life for me. Judge, creeds don't matter any more than bridges do to a stream. They are just a way of getting across, that's all. Creeds may come and creeds may go, but God goes on forever. Nothing changes true religion. Christ promulgated the greatest system of ethics the world has known. The ethics of God. He put them into practical working form for human beings. Whatever creed helps you to live the teachings of Christ most truly, that's the true creed for you. That's what the Canyon's done for me. And when I get out, I'm going back to Alice and let her make of me whatever will help her most. I'm safe. I've got the creed of the Colorado Canyon!"
Enoch looked at the freckled, ruddy face and smiled. "Thank you,
Milton. You've given me something to think about."
"I doubt if you lack subjects," replied Milton drily. "But—well, I have an idea you came out here looking for something. There are lines around your eyes that say that. So I just thought I'd hand on to you what I got."
Enoch nodded and the two smoked for a while in silence. Then Enoch said in a low voice: