The floor of the pass was of smooth rock as level as a floor.
Beyond, now the treacherous valley was revealed as plain as could be.
It looked like an ordinary sandy desert plain.
That was all.
The uninitiated would never have suspected its treacherous character.
“Golly!” cried Pomp, in surprise. “It don’ look no diffrunt from any oder valley, Marse Frank.”
“That’s so,” agreed Frank. “Neither do I see any signs of human life hereabouts.”
The young inventor was thinking of Mason and his gang.
But Barney had begun to sniff the air, and said:
“Bejabers, it’s a divil av a funny smell loike in the air.”