friends," retorted Zeke. "I'm
thinkin' the prairie dog does most of the work any way you fix it. He's
the one that digs the hole, then along comes the snake and makes his home
in it, and then the owl creeps in and there you have it."

"I should think they would eat one another," laughed George.

"Maybe they do for all I know," said Zeke. "Now if you've had enough to
satisfy you with this rattler we'll start ahead again."

"But I don't see," persisted Grant, "why he didn't bite you."

"Huh!" snapped Zeke. "He didn't get a chance to coil himself. They are
just like a hair-spring. They have to get a little purchase before they
can do anything, then they do a good deal too, if they try real hard. I
don't like them, but I never do what a good many guides out here do."

"What's that?" asked Grant.

"Why, they're so afraid of rattlesnake bites that they keep loaded up with
whisky all the time. That's the best antidote for the snake bite and these
fellows must have been bitten about three times a day, most of them."

Zeke said no more and in a brief time all three were moving steadily
across the table-land.

Late in the afternoon Zeke stopped and pointed to a place far in the
distance, "Yonder is right near Thorn's Gulch," he explained. "We ought to
get there in about three hours."

"Three hours!" exclaimed George. "Why how far is it from here?"

"About eleven miles."

It was almost impossible for either of the boys to believe that the spot
to which Zeke had pointed was so far distant. The air was so clear that
the place appeared to be much nearer than it really was and if they had
been asked each boy would have stated his opinion that the intervening
distance could be covered within an hour.

"There are two ways now which we can take," explained Zeke.

"You mean we can take them both, or either of them?" laughed George.

Ignoring the question which the guide gruffly referred to as "smart," Zeke
explained that they could go down into the canyon a short distance in
advance of them and follow the course until they came to the entrance to
Thorn's Gulch.

"That will be about where John and Fred will come in, won't it?" inquired
Grant.

"I guess that's so," admitted Zeke. "Perhaps it will be better for us to
go down the slope and strike Thorn's Gulch from that side."

Accordingly the direction was changed and advancing toward a slope that
led to the valley below, the boys prepared to follow the lower course and