The scenery was wild and impressive. Lofty peaks and gigantic crags loomed up on every hand. Fallen tree trunks and other obstructions seemed to challenge their efforts to advance. But the cowboys always found a way to master all difficulties, and by noon the bronchos clattered upon a slope which rose to a dizzy height above them.
Here they halted for lunch.
“It’s ’bout three hours more o’ tough work for the ponies, Bob,” remarked Jed Warren.
“They are certainly chuck full of courage,” said Bob.
He looked toward the little animals, whose nostrils and shaggy sides were sending up clouds of steam.
“Circle T Ranch has got the pick o’ the plains,” grunted Pete. “Fall to, younkers.”
The boys promptly obeyed his instructions, and when the march was resumed, a short time later, both they and the horses were considerably refreshed.
It was, as Jed Warren had said, hard on the ponies; at times, it seemed as if the obstacles which confronted them would prove insurmountable; but men, boys or animals never wavered. Stones were sent rattling down steep descents; ledges, with only a few yards between them and a plunge of hundreds of feet, crossed.
Scarcely exchanging a word, they climbed higher and higher. The snow on old Eagles’ Peak, in the full glare of the afternoon sun, fairly dazzled their eyes with its brilliancy. Halts were made with increasing frequency, and in the shadows of the pine forests they managed to find some relief from the oppressive heat.
But gradually the torrid zone fell behind them, and when, an hour later, Pete reined up, the atmosphere was cool and refreshing.