ver see anything like that?" said Jim. "If that had been built
by men it could not be more like a castle. Every detail is as sharp and
distinct as though it had been carved."

"It doesn't look so much like a castle to me," I said, "but it is more
like a big cathedral with those two square towers."

"What coloring!" said Tom. "It's perfectly rich. I never imagined a red
like that."

"It will be a good place to camp down there," said Jim.

"How about water?" I asked. "We've got to find some, it's been a throat
drying day."

"It looks to me that there is a stream running along the base of those
cliffs," remarked Jim.

It was a correct guess. It was true the stream was not very large, but
it was much appreciated.

"This is the first creek we have seen running in this direction," said
Jim. "It means that we will soon be at the Colorado River."

After we had made our camp, we started over towards the great vermilion
cliffs and found the formation just as interesting at close quarters as
in the distance. We had never seen anything as sharp-cut and
symmetrically carved as the buttes and pinnacles that rose around us.

"I wish we had time to stop here," said Jim, "I would like to take a
pick and make an exploration of these cliffs, but I said before that we
would have no more picnics and I meant it."

CHAPTER XVI

THE RIVER

We now traveled for a week in a northwest direction, going through a
country very much like what we had been passing through, except the last
three days.

During this time we went into the mountains again, following a northward
trending valley. The mountains were a much lower range than the Rocky
Mountains of Colorado and New Mexico.

One day, about noon, as we were riding along this valley, Jim
disappeared around a turn in the trail and we heard him give a yell.

I was frightened, thinking that he had been hurt, and putting the spurs
into Coyote, I dashed after him. Rounding the corner I saw what had
drawn the yell.

Below us in a transverse valley we caught sight of a glittering section
of the river. At last! We took off our hats in a silent salute. Then
pressed on to cover the intervening miles as fast as we could.

"That isn't the Colorado yet, Jim?" questioned Tom.

"No, that is the Green River," he replied. "We will come to the Colorado
after the Grand and Green meet, that form it."

After a while we reached the level mouth of the valley, where it joined
the valley of t