Fine dust was a foot deep on the hard-packed floor, where no moisture had ever reached it. But they were not interested in prehistoric dwellings just now; so they followed the sandstone trail to the west, where it forked, and then they followed the left-hand trail, which led up over a stretch of broken sandstone to another higher tier of dwellings.
Up here the dwellings were not as well preserved, owing to the fact that no ledge projected over their tops. They could not see the canyon, except by climbing to the tops of the dwellings, and neither of them felt like climbing any more that day.
They worked back to the east, following the old pathways, which were almost obliterated, but wondering where they led. It was getting late now, and they were both growing hungry. Jane was so stiff she could hardly walk, and when they came to the last of the dwellings she decided that her feet were too sore to carry her farther that day.
“I was shore hopin’ that there might be a way down from this end,” said Cultus, “but there don’t seem to be. Anyway, it’s too late to look any further. We’ll just have to make a dry camp, tighten our belts and wait till mornin’.”
“I’m just ready to drop,” confessed Jane, sitting down on a boulder of sandstone. “I’m hungry and thirsty, but I’m tired the most.”
Cultus nodded seriously. He was tired too.
“I reckon this place is as good as any other,” he said. “There ain’t a darn thing to bed down on, Jane. Use the ground for a mattress and the sky for a blanket. We’ll get in beside that sandstone wall, where the wind can’t hit us, and we’ll be all right.”
They talked of many things as the Arizona night closed down upon them, and the stars seemed to dangle against the tops of the higher cliffs. And then the moon came up to flood the world with a blue light. As far as warmth was concerned they were comfortable, but sandstone makes a poor bed, and they were hungry.
Finally Jane fell asleep. Cultus rolled another cigarette and walked out along the sandstone parapet. The world seemed unreal up there in the moonlight, which made the place almost as bright as daylight. Cultus was at a loss to know who had attacked them. He had been suspicious of that note, and now he swore at himself for being fool enough ever to have entered the canyon. The losing of the note was an accident.
His big problem now was to get down. He felt sure that Jane would never be able to negotiate a descent where they came up. Cultus was doubtful of his own ability to go safely down that funnel. At least, he was assured that nobody could or would follow them up that ladder, and that they had given up trying to find them by this time.