ng for our deliverance; but sleep
had too strong a hold upon me, and my body slowly fell hack upon the
blankets and my eyes slowly closed, carrying into my slumber the sight
on which they last had rested: the monk kneeling upon the grass beside a
great gray rock, with clasped hands and face turned upward, pouring his
soul out in grateful prayer.

It was well on in the afternoon when we all woke again; and Young's
first remark was that it must be about supper-time. Rayburn fell in with
this notion promptly, and so did I myself--rather to my astonishment,
for it seemed unreasonable that after such a stuffing I should desire to
eat so soon again. But we did make a supper almost as hearty as our
breakfast had been, and in a little while wrapped ourselves in our
blankets, with our feet towards the heaped-up fire, and went off once
more to sleep, and slept through until sunrise of the following day. In
truth, the mental strain, bred of our gloomy surroundings and of the
dread of starvation that had possessed us, had taxed our physical
strength more severely than our mountain climbing and our lack of
nourishment. The great amount of strong food that we ate, and our long
slumber, showed nature's demand upon us that our waste of tissue should
be made good.

When we woke again on the second morning, we all were fresh and strong
and eager to press onward. There was little left of the sheep to carry
with us; but Rayburn shot half a dozen birds, some species of duck, as
we skirted the lake in our passage across the valley, so there was no
fear that we should lack for food. At its western end the valley
narrowed into a canon. There was no choice of paths, for this was the
sole outlet, and we were assured that we were on the right path by
finding the King's symbol and the pointing arrow carved upon the rook.
The canon descended very rapidly, and by noon we were so far below the
level of the Mexican plateau that the air had a tropical warmth in it;
and so warm was the night--for all the afternoon we continued to
descend--that we had no need for blankets when we settled ourselves for
sleep.

Rayburn was of the opinion that we were close upon the Tierra Caliente,
the hot lands of the coast; and when we resumed our march in the morning
he went on in advance of the rest of us, that he might maintain a
cautious outlook. If he were right in his conjecture as to our
whereabouts, we might at any moment come upon hostile Indians. It was
tow