As carefully as a couple of Indians they picked their way up the slope, and just before reaching the crest sank upon their knees, and, crawling a little further, peeped over the top as if they expected to discover a hostile camp within a hundred yards.
The prospect caused an involuntary exclamation of pleasure from both.
The valley was two or three hundred yards in width, and, after winding past, curved out of sight behind the mountain range already referred to.
It was one emerald mass of rich grass, in which ten thousand cattle could have found abundant pasturage.

No trees appeared anywhere except at the furthest bend in the valley, where a small grove stood near the middle, and seemed to surround a spring of water, which, flowing in the other direction, was not within sight of the young hunters.
What lent additional beauty to this landscape was the singular uniformity of the valley.

The slope was gentle on each side, without any abrupt declivities, and there was hardly any variation in its width.

The dark-green color of the incline and bottom of the valley gave the whole scene a softness that would have charmed an artist.
The young men admired the picturesque prospect, the like of which they had never before viewed, and yet it must be confessed that one feature of the landscape appealed more strongly to them than all the rest.
Perhaps a half-mile away six or eight antelope were cropping the grass, unconscious of the approach of danger.

They were near the small clump of trees alluded to, and may have lately drank from the water flowing therefrom.