Page:Lost with Lieutenant Pike (1919).djvu/178

 "There's no good your going much further up this side," answered Sergeant Meek. "The trail ends, and you'll get nowhere."

"Why?"

"You see where those flat-tops lie? The river comes out the mountains there, and comes a-whooping. We followed it up, till the valley got narrower and narrower; and right soon the river was nothing but a brook in width, boiling out something tremendous from betwixt cliffs half a mile high, leaving no space for man or beast. Nothing gets through there, except the water. We're thinking the trail must cross the river this side the gap, and turn off north'ard to round it."

"Yes, it doesn't tackle that gap, anyhow," the men all declared.

"Suppose we might as well ford at a good spot, an' scout about a bit," proffered John Sparks.

So ford they all did, wading and splashing through, and slipping on the rounded stones of the bottom. The trail was found indeed, farther up, on the north side, where it left the river and bore northwestward through a dry valley or bottom, as if seeking a pass.