The men were to go around upon the opposite rim, and
block the trail leading down to the waterhole.
Gale marked the nature of this eyrie. It was the wildest and most
rugged place he had ever stepped upon. Only a sheep could have
climbed up the wall above or along the slanting shelf of lava
beyond. Below glistened a whole bank of choya, frosty in the
sunlight, and it overhung an apparently bottomless abyss.
Ladd chose the smallest gun in the party and gave it to Mercedes.
"Shore it's best to go the limit on bein' ready," he said, simply.
"The chances are you'll never need it. But if you do--"
He left off there, and his break was significant. Mercedes answered
him with a fearless and indomitable flash of eyes. Thorne was the
only one who showed any shaken nerve. His leave-taking of his wife
was affecting and hurried. Then he and the rangers carefully
stepped in the tracks of the Yaqui.
They climbed up to the level of the rim and went along the edge.
When they reached the fissure and came upon its narrowest point,
Yaqui showed in his actions that he meant to leap it. Ladd
restrained the Indian. They then continued along the rim till they
reached several bridges of lava which crossed it. The fissures
was deep in some parts, choked in others. Evidently the crater had
no direct outlet into the arroyo below. Its bottom, however, must
have been far beneath the level of the waterhole.
After the fissure was crossed the trail was soon found.
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