From there she essayed the ascent on foot.

It took labor.

But at last she gained the summit, burning, sweating, panting.
The cinder hill was an extinct crater of a volcano.

In the center of it lay a deep bowl, wondrously symmetrical, and of a dark lusterless hue.
Not a blade of grass was there, nor a plant.

Carley conceived a desire to go to the bottom of this pit.