But Shalah expounded it.

The tribes, he said, dwelt only in the lower glens of the range, and never ventured to the summits, believing them to be holy land where a great _manitou_ dwelt.

The Cherokees especially shunned the peaks.

If we could find a way clear to the top we might stay there in some security, till we learned the issue of the war, and could get word to our friends.
"Moreover," he said, "we have yet to penetrate the secret of the hills.
That was the object of our quest, brother." Shalah was right, and I had forgotten all about it.

I could not suffer my care for Elspeth to prevent a work whose issue might mean the salvation of Virginia.