The ridge commanded a far view, and was said to be a metropolis among the snakes that populated the region.

Mary V had, very casually, mentioned to the boys that some day she meant to get a good picture of a snake den.

She said "the girls" did not believe that snakes went in bunches and writhed amicably together in their dens.

She was going to prove it to them.
A perfectly logical quest it was therefore that led her toward that ridge.

You could not blame Mary V if the view from the top of it extended to Sinkhole Camp and beyond.