By and by the horses rested from their grazing; the insects ceased to hum; and the continuous roar of water dominated the solitude.
If wild animals passed Wade's camp they gave it a wide berth.
* * * * * Sunrise found Wade on the trail, climbing high up above the lake, making for the pass over the range.

He walked, leading his horses up a zigzag trail that bore the tracks of recent travelers.

Although this country was sparsely settled, yet there were men always riding from camp to camp or from one valley town to another.

Wade never tarried on a well-trodden trail.
As he climbed higher the spruce-trees grew smaller, no longer forming a green aisle before him, and at length they became dwarfed and stunted, and at last failed altogether.

Soon he was above timber-line and out upon a flat-topped mountain range, where in both directions the land rolled and dipped, free of tree or shrub, colorful with grass and flowers.