"And I prayed that I might never see another redwood," muttered Adan,
crossing himself.

The tunnel stopped abruptly. They stood before a mass of brushwood,
piled thickly to keep out wild beasts and delude the searching eye of
hostile Indians. Beyond, seen in patches, was a dazzle of white.

"Snow, of course," said Adan, with a groan.

The boys pulled the branches apart without much difficulty: the priests
had studied facility of egress and had raised the barrier from within.
In a few moments the boys stood in the sunlight; and the mountains
hemmed them in.

Adan stamped his foot savagely on the hard snow. "We are where we
started a week ago," he said. "No more, no less."

"No," said Roldan, who also had felt demoralised for a moment. "The
priests were too clever for that. They would want to get into the
shelter of the mountains, no more. I believe that from the top of that
point above the tunnel we can see the valley."

"Well, we can at least look," said Rafael, who was bitterly weary and
hungry, but determined not to be outdone by these hardened adventurers.

The boys made their way up the declivity as best they could through the
heavy snowdrifts, pulling themselves up by clutching at young trees and
scrub. They were thinly clad and very cold, and hunger was loud of
speech. When after a half-hour's weary climb, they reached the summit,