"Hurry along," Cummings shouted impatiently. "We must be well up on the range before sunset."
These words spoken in an imperative tone caused Jake to spring to his feet very nimbly, and as he neared the entrance Poyor pushed one of the packages toward him as he said:
"We carried all last night, and it would be only right to give you a double load."
"I'd have to take it if you did," Jake replied; but as if to prevent any different distribution of the burdens, he tied this one on quickly, saying when it was fastened firmly to his back, "Now I'm ready to tramp as long as you do; but it would have suited me better if I'd had time for a nap."
"It will serve you right if you don't get a chance to sleep for a week," Cummings replied sharply. "Go on, Poyor leads the way as before, and see to it that you keep close at his heels."
The fugitives soon learned that however difficult it might be to travel through the tangled underbrush of the forest, it was as nothing compared to clambering over the ledges of green or white rock which formed the base of the range.
Here there was nothing to shield them from the fervent rays of the sun, and so intense was the heat that it seemed as if they were walking over the top of a furnace.
The only relief from the excessive warmth was when they came upon a deep fissure in the rocks where was a pool of water, with the most gorgeous flowers around the margin. Everywhere else the soil was sandy, covered in places with pebbles and burning gravel. In front of them were the mountains, bare and sterile, on which the least experienced of the party knew no drop of water could be found.
As a matter of course both Cummings and Poyor kept strict watch over the surrounding country lest the enemy should be creeping upon them unawares; but when, late in the afternoon, a short halt was called, nothing suspicious had been seen.
"I don't understand how you could have wandered around twenty-four hours without being discovered by some of the sentinels," Cummings said to Jake, when they were reclining on the side of the mountain in the shadow cast by an overhanging rock, where a full view of the valley beneath could be had.