outhern vernacular.

"Up here on the hill. I'm going a piece farther to look at a big rock.
I'll be down in ten or twenty minutes."

And so having cheered and re-assured them, Pike pushed on again. A few
minutes' sharp climbing brought him to the base of the ledge which
proved to be far bigger and higher than he had supposed, and all the
better for his purpose. Clambering to the top he could hardly repress a
shout of exultation. Not only had he now a commanding view of all the
plateau over to the ridge through which wound Jarvis Pass, but he could
even see over beyond towards Snow Lake, while northward for several
miles the western foothills of the range were open to his view. It was
by long odds the best lookout he could have found and he only regretted
that his view southward was still shut off. Adjusting his binocular he
again gazed long and carefully over all the plain and especially along
the western edge of the range to the north, but the search was fruitless
as before. Not a living, moving object was in sight.

Finding an easy descent on the side farthest from camp and opposite that
on which he had clambered to the top Pike half slid, half swung himself
to the base again, and there he came upon a sight that filled his soul
with joy. From base to summit the ledge was probably fifty feet in
height and was so far tilted over on the western side as to have an
overhang of at least fifteen. More than this, there was a great cleft
near the base and an excavation or hollow running inwards and downwards,
perhaps fifteen feet more. Pike went in to explore, and, to his farther
satisfaction, found a "tank" where the water had gathered from the
melting snows and in the rainy season. He tasted it and found it cool
and fresh, and then, sprawling at full length, he drank eagerly.

"What a find!" he almost shouted, with glee. "We can store Kate and the
children back in there, throw up a little barrier of rock at the front
with loopholes for our rifles. Not a bullet or arrow can reach us from
any direction except the tops of those trees yonder, and God help the
Tonto that tries to climb 'em. And, even if the captain don't come, by
Jinks! we can stand off all the Apaches in Arizona. It won't be more
than three days before Al Sieber will be galloping out with a swarm of
the old boys at his back, and if Jim and I, in such a fort as this,
can't lick Es-Kirninzin and his whole gang, call me a 'dough boy!'"

The more he explored, th