"Bully for Ham!" shouted Bud enthusiastically. "I vote with Ham," and he sprang to Ham's side.
"So do I," and Thure followed him.
"Me, too," and, with a laugh, Mrs. Dickson took her stand by the side of the boys.
And, with a cheer, all the others joined her.
"Reckon that means, straight for Lot's Canyon. Lead on," and Mr. Conroyal turned to Dickson.
Until about noon the trail wound around great hills of rocks, and in and out of deep gulches and rocky defiles, and over high ridges of rock; and then, just as the sun was nearing the meridian, it entered a broad mountain-enclosed valley, some six or seven miles long by about two miles wide. Near the upper end of the valley a tall pinnacle of rocks shot up into the sky, like a church steeple, at the head of what looked like an almost precipitous mass of rocks that rose many hundreds of feet above the level of the valley.
"See that rock?" and Dickson pointed triumphantly to the steeple-like rock at the head of the valley.
"Shore, not bein' blind," Ham answered. "What might it be doin' thar?" and he grinned.
"That rock," and Dickson paused to glance around the circle of faces that now surrounded him, "stands within half a mile of the Devil's Slide, which is the only way down into Lot's Canyon. Boys, we should be in Lot's Canyon in two hours!"
"Hurrah!" yelled Thure.