up the gorge of the Rito and along its northern limit, the
woman soon reached the upper part, where the cliffs crowd the water's
edge, where the southern slopes become more rugged and the valley
terminates. There a series of gigantic steps, formed by high and
beetling rocks, closes the Rito to the west. Down that mass of ledges
the brook trickles from its source, and a trail, formerly much used by
the Navajos on their raids, creeps up, meandering over and between
crags, ledges, and shelves of bare rock. This trail was seldom trodden
at that time, and then only by armed men, for it was regarded as
dangerous. Notwithstanding the proximity of the settlement at the Rito,
the Navajos--Dinne, or Moshome--lurked here quite often, and many an
unfortunate had lost his life while ascending the trail alone.

Shotaye was therefore travelling an exceedingly hazardous road, but she
did not think of danger. Many a time before had she clambered up and
down this rocky labyrinth, and while the Dinne fairly swarmed, nothing
had ever happened to her. It is true that she was exceedingly wary, and
had in her innumerable excursions gathered quite as much knowledge of
the tricks of war as the most experienced scout, so that she felt almost
intuitively the approach of danger. She had gradually become imbued with
the idea that she was invulnerable. To-day, therefore, she moved along
this dangerous trail with the greatest apparent _nonchalance_.
Furthermore her thoughts so completely absorbed her that while ascending
from the level of the Rito she unconsciously went on thinking of nothing
else but of what Say Koitza had told her in the cave, and of the plans
for relief which she had begun to devise, or at least to revolve in her
mind.

The trail is not only rough and long, it is very steep in places; and
the woman stopped for rest, sitting on a ledge of rocks. Below her the
vale was no longer visible; a dark chasm yawned at her feet; out of it
the cliffs of the Tyuonyi rose like the heads of giants.

One more difficult stretch had to be overcome before Shotaye could reach
the timber crowning the plateau on the northern cliffs of the Rito.
Massive benches or ledges, abrupt and high, seemed to render farther
ascent impracticable. But Shotaye kept on after a short stop without the
slightest hesitation. The trail wound its way upward. It crept from
rocky step to rocky step, led her from crags to narrow bands skirting
dizzy cliffs, until she came t