"Yes, and a good deal more than we now dream of, I anticipate."
"Did you have a good look to the south and north when you were up that tree?" asked Brown.
"No, I didn't. My attention was at once taken up by the strange-looking rock ahead of us."
"So was mine. I think we might go up another at sundown; we might see something."
When the sun nearly touched the horizon they ascended the tallest tree in the neighbourhood, but nothing was discernible southward. To the north, however, a low range was visible a long distance away.
A quiet undisturbed night succeeded, and an early start was made the next morning.
CHAPTER V.
Hot Springs—A Lifeless Swamp—More Marks of the Natives.
The first six miles being over the country traversed by Morton was naturally uninteresting. Then the plain grew narrower and narrower. The chain of lagoons where they had camped developed into a large water-course, and the flat limestone rock began to alter its character and soon merged into a basaltic ridge coming from the westward. At mid-day the plain was a thing of the past, and they were now travelling along a broad water-course, with open forest on one side and a rude line of basalt boulders, piled like a wall, on the other.