of water. Besides, I don't imagine that there are many
people back of us coming down the river."

I could not help but smile myself at the idea of anyone making the
terrible trip down the river.

"That's so," I replied. "You can't find three such fools as we are every
year. There are other easier ways of committing suicide than gliding
down the Colorado."

"But some Indians might find a trail over the wall and steal the boat,"
said Tom.

"How many trails do you suppose there are to the Colorado River within
nine hundred miles?" asked Jim severely.

"I don't know," replied Tom.

"Just three," said Jim, "and this isn't one of them. At least not on the
west bank."

So that was settled and we started out with a great deal of enthusiasm
and energy. It was like being let out from the hard school of the river
for a holiday.

We needed this breathing spell of pleasure too, for there was something
depressing to the spirits in going through the deep and gloomy canyons,
exposed to constant danger and shut off from the rays of the sun nearly
all the time.

There was an exhilaration likewise in the search for this hidden
treasure. Nor were we on a wild goose chase. We had a definite end in
view and a definite guide, though there was enough vagueness to give us
plenty of trouble.

We went whistling along, singing and joking each other, in high spirits.
It was a beautiful, sunny day, with that wonderful quality in the air
known only to the highest altitudes.

Our way lay first through glen, with flowering bushes, willow brush and
the pleasant cottonwood trees that do so much to enliven the desert
places of the West, so that one grows to look on them with a real
affection that one would not give to the most beautiful tree of the
overburdened tropics.

We came to a low, red wall that blocked our way. It was low, however,
only by comparison, with the giant wall of other canyons.

Juarez regarded it carefully and then shook his head.

"Ah, no!" he determined. "This is not it. We must climb up."

This we did, and after a rather easy climb, going up a narrow transverse
ravine, then after a steep pull we came out upon the top of the first
wall.

We saw the greater outer wall of homogeneous sandstone rising about a
half mile distant. Between us and it was a comparatively level stretch
of rock, with a layer of thin soil upon it, from from which grew dwarf
bushes, and everywhere were scattered boulders, some of them huge,