They made very slow progress, while the shadow of the peaks grew blacker and longer across the hills.

At length, when they had almost reached the corner, Kinnaird stopped to consider, and the girls sat down with evident alacrity.

This time he looked at Weston, and his manner implied that he was willing to consider any views that he or the others might express.
"I'm afraid that I have been a little at fault," he admitted.

"In fact, I quite expected that we would be down again by this time.

It is now well on in the afternoon, and, as we have probably covered about two-thirds of the distance, it would not be advisable to go back as we came up." "That," said Arabella Kinnaird decisively, "is unthinkable." She turned to Weston, who nodded.
"Anyway, the canoes have gone on, which means that there would be nothing to eat until we came up with them," he said.