Shotaye strolled on regardless of things above or below.

People were of as little interest to her as the clouds.

The latter could do her errand no harm, and that errand everybody might know if they chose to follow her.
Wandering up the gorge of the Rito and along its northern limit, the woman soon reached the upper part, where the cliffs crowd the water's edge, where the southern slopes become more rugged and the valley terminates.

There a series of gigantic steps, formed by high and beetling rocks, closes the Rito to the west.

Down that mass of ledges the brook trickles from its source, and a trail, formerly much used by the Navajos on their raids, creeps up, meandering over and between crags, ledges, and shelves of bare rock.