tl, or the White Woman, 16,000 feet, and the famous
Popocatapetl, known as "Smoking Mountain," which lifts its fire-scarred
head 17,800 feet above the level of the ocean.

It seemed to the boys that the distance between the summit where they
stood and the plain below might, even at the slow pace at which the
outlaws were moving, be made by nightfall. The eastern slope was not
so rough and broken as that on the west. In fact, the outlaws were now
traveling down a declivity so clear of cliffs and breaks that the boys
did not dare follow them. To be observed by the renegade at that time
might prove fatal to the hope of the immediate rescue of Fremont, as
the outlaws would then be on their guard.

"We've either got to wait until night, or wind down through the wild
places off to the south," Nestor said, after looking over the locality
for a time.

"We just can't wait until night," Jimmie said. "There's no knowing
what treatment Fremont will receive at their hands before that time."

"We may actually gain time by waiting," Nestor advised. "We may be
obliged to travel scores of miles around precipices and canons if we
take to the rocks."

"Suppose we wait, then," Frank said. "We can go over into the bumps to
the south and get out of the sunlight, then. I'm about roasted. There
may be a cave over in that direction, or a ruined temple."

"Or a Turkish bath, or a lobster palace," grinned Jimmie. "We might
find a pie-counter over there, too," he added, with a poke at Frank.

"There are no ruined temples in the State of Chihuahua," declared Peter
Fenton, glad of an opportunity of unloading his knowledge of the
country, "at least, I have never heard of any being here. The
teocalli, or temples, are farther south, down in the State of Chiapas,
and in Yucatan."

"But we might find some underground temple up here," insisted Jimmie.
"The natives worshiped in this region, didn't they?"

"They built their temples on top of pyramids," continued Fenton, "and
not underground. There is one at Palenque said to be built on the
lines of Solomon's temple. It has sanctuaries, sepulchers, cloisters,
courts, subterraneous galleries, and dismal cells where the priests
lived. No one knows how old the ruins are. No one knows how many
distinct civilizations have held sway there, one, literally, on top of
the other."

"It is too hot up here to talk ancient history," said Frank, "and I'm
hungry, too, but I'd like to know where you