"How tame! I thought snakes always ran." "No.

Even the rabbits didn't run here till the dogs chased them." On and on they wandered to the wild jumble of massed and broken fragments of cliff at the west end of the valley.

The roar of the disappearing stream dinned in their ears.

Into this maze of rocks they threaded a tortuous way, climbing, descending, halting to gather wild plums and great lavender lilies, and going on at the will of fancy.

Idle and keen perceptions guided them equally.
"Oh, let us climb there!" cried Bess, pointing upward to a small space of terrace left green and shady between huge abutments of broken cliff.
And they climbed to the nook and rested and looked out across the valley to the curling column of blue smoke from their campfire.