Far across that wide waste began the slow lift of uplands through which Deception Pass cut its tortuous many-canyoned way.
Venters raised the bridle of his horse and followed the broad cattle trail.

The crushed sage resembled the path of a monster snake.

In a few miles of travel he passed several cows and calves that had escaped the drive.

Then he stood on the last high bench of the slope with the floor of the valley beneath.

The opening of the canyon showed in a break of the sage, and the cattle trail paralleled it as far as he could see.
That trail led to an undiscovered point where Oldring drove cattle into the pass, and many a rider who had followed it had never returned.
Venters satisfied himself that the rustlers had not deviated from their usual course, and then he turned at right angles off the cattle trail and made for the head of the pass.
The sun lost its heat and wore down to the western horizon, where it changed from white to gold and rested like a huge ball about to roll on its golden shadows down the slope.