“Not that I ever heard,” laughed Connie. “Blakeman’s hobbies aren’t so very cultural, I fear.”
“He was probably over this way lookin’ for a stray cow,” Lefty contributed.
The trail wound down into the valley and then ascended at a steep angle. A little farther on, Connie halted her horse so that Jim Barrows might view the cliff dwellings from this particular point.
“Of course you know the cliff people were widely distributed throughout the Southwest in prehistoric times,” she remarked. “The most noted of their ruins are at Mesa Verde, the national park, but I think ours are just as interesting if they’re not so large.”
“What was the idea of building their homes up under the lip of the cliff?” the cowboy asked.
“Oh, that was for protection against their enemies,” Connie explained. “Then too, it gave them shelter from the cold. As we go farther you’ll find that the cliff dwellers used many devices to guard the entrances of their homes.”
“It takes an acrobat to get to the place,” Lefty added. “On the other trail you have to go through a narrow tunnel.”
“This route is much easier,” Connie said, “but we’ll do a little fancy climbing.”
She urged her horse on again and for a time they rode single file, circling the cliffs as they ascended higher. Presently, tying their steeds to a tree, they continued afoot.
By means of a knotted rope, Connie swung herself down to the lower level of the cliff.