“Not so bad as that, colonel, though I have been on a long trail, and a strange one, sir.”
“I do not doubt it—you show it in your face, and I was sorry that I allowed you to go on the search.”
“And I am glad that I went, sir, for I found the secret valley, and I discovered enough to know that the inhabitants need looking after. But I have a new plan to submit to you, sir. I’ve found a mystery that must be uncovered.”
“Well, tell me about your trip.”
“I went on the trail, after leaving Fort Aspen, which a Mexican who died there told me to take, and it led me into a country seldom traveled, down in the land of an old deserted fort, Rosal.
“I struck the Rosal range and found there a large lake in a most beautiful valley, situated by itself, for all approaches to it are desert lands, beyond which no one would suspect to find a garden spot of beauty.”
“Yes, I have heard only indirectly of such a country there, but not that it was settled.”
“Well, it is settled, as you shall hear:
“The valley is beautiful, fertile, the surroundings well timbered, grass abundant, and there is a large, deep lake of clear and icy water.
“I was surprised, I can tell you, sir, when I saw it, and yet my suspicions were only beginning with the first view from the range summit.