"Some snake is right," Bob agreed.
"I'll bet he's a twin brother of that one Slim saw going into his hole," Jack declared.
"Not quite," Sue laughed. "But he is a pretty good sized one."
"Do they come any larger?" Bob asked.
"Well, I don't know's I ever saw but one larger. One of the boys killed one last year that only lacked an inch of being six feet and I've heard tell of seven and eight-footers, but I take them with a grain of salt."
"It would sure take some grain to digest that one of Slim's," Jack laughed.
With the aid of a stick Bob drew the snake out of the path and they remounted and started on again. Up and still up the trail led until Jack declared that they would be in the clouds if they did not get to the top before long.
"It's only about two miles farther," Sue laughed.
"It must be the top of the world, then," Bob declared.
It was just noon when finally they arrived at the summit. For the last hundred yards there had been no trees, nothing but rock, and the view was one never to be forgotten. Not far away, perhaps ten miles from where they stood, ran the Rio Grande, separating the United States from Mexico, and beyond stretched wooded hills as far as the eye could see.