mesa on the right and the wall of stone on the left could not be seen;
but he pushed on with what was either singular confidence or rash
impulse. And he did not know whether that slope was long or short.
Once at the summit he saw with surprise that it broke abruptly and the
descent was very steep and short on that side. Through the trees he
once more saw the black mesa, rising to the dignity of a mountain;
and he had glimpses of another flat, narrow valley, this time with
a red wall running parallel with the mesa. He could not help but
hurry down to get an unobstructed view. His eagerness was rewarded
by a splendid scene, yet to his regret he could not force himself to
believe it had any relation to the pictured scenes in his mind. The
valley was half a mile wide, perhaps several miles long, and it
extended in a curve between the cedar-sloped mesa and a looming wall
of red stone. There was not a bird or a beast in sight. He found a
well-defined trail, but it had not been recently used. He passed a
low structure made of peeled logs and mud, with a dark opening like a
door. It did not take him many minutes to learn that the valley was
longer than he had calculated. He walked swiftly and steadily, in
spite of the fact that the pack had become burdensome. What lay beyond
the jutting corner of the mesa had increasing fascination for him and
acted as a spur. At last he turned the corner, only to be disappointed
at sight of another cedar slope. He had a glimpse of a single black
shaft of rock rising far in the distance, and it disappeared as his
striding forward made the crest of the slope rise toward the sky.

Again his view became restricted, and he lost the sense of a slow and
gradual uplift of rock and an increase in the scale of proportion.
Half-way up this ascent he was compelled to rest; and again the sun
was slanting low when he entered the cedar forest. Soon he was
descending, and he suddenly came into the open to face a scene that