So he had been able to use his faculty of observation to some purpose.
Could he follow the course by night, with the mountains a constant guide by day, all but blotted out in the starlight?
He believed he could; and now the test of his confidence was at hand.
His keen eyes watched the ground as it ruffled into low foothills.
Although he laid a zigzag course as his searchlight brought cactus clumps and thorn bushes into view, in the main he succeeded in dodging obstacles, and yet held to a fairly direct route.

A mound of rocks, stark and almost shapeless in the gloom, guided him like a fingerboard; or a flat-topped hill, or a peculiar-shaped valley between two uplifts, set him on the right track.

Mile by mile the black mountains came closer, and then Clancy himself began to pick up a landmark or two which he recognized.
"Chip," he cried, "you're a wonder! Unless I'm badly mistaken, we just passed the valley where we left the car when Porter led you, and Ballard, and I into the gap that cuts through the mountain wall to Happenchance." "That was the valley, Clan," replied Merriwell, "and there's nothing very wonderful about getting back to it, either.

It's just a matter of minding your P's and Q's, and remembering a thing or two.

We couldn't take the car through the gap, but I believe we can make it with these machines.