There they halted for a rest and before they resumed their journey Zeke said, "It's so warm here in the middle of the day that I feel as if I was suffocated. I guess we'd better stay here where we be 'till we've cooked our dinner."
The descent had required so much effort on the part of every one of the Go Ahead Boys that they were all willing to accede to the guide's suggestion.
"Zeke, how far do you think we'll have to go before we begin our search?" inquired Fred.
"We'll have to go until we come to the claim," replied the guide dryly.
"But when shall we begin to look?"
"Keep lookin' all the while. I'm thinkin', though," Zeke added, "that we shan't have to go more than three or four miles from the rim."
"You don't suppose he has staked his claim right on the top of the ground, do you?" inquired George.
"What put that notion into your head?" laughed the guide.
"Why it looks so on Simon's map."
"That's all right," acknowledged Zeke. "That map doesn't show many gulches, does it? But I'm not lookin' for a claim right on the flat part of the rim."