ce on the ridge, they could
pick a course along the crest.

A little further on, the trail narrowed till they could see a tiny lake
on either side, and a stone's throw below, pools as clear as mirrors
reflecting the twisted growth about their brims. Then Ace gave a shout,
for down a hollow between two ridges to the north lay a patch of snow.

Sliding,--on their feet if they could manage it,--and snow-balling, the
boys were surprised to find how short of breath they were at this
elevation, a trifle over ten thousand feet, Norris estimated,--for on
their steady upward plod they had not particularly noticed it, or had not
attributed their slightly unusual heaviness to altitude.

They were therefore willing enough to rest on top, though even at noon
the wind blew cold upon them. Stretching almost north and south before
them rose the main crest of the Sierras,--peak after peak that they could
name from the map. They could see for at least a hundred miles. First the
wild green gorges that made the peaks seem higher, then snow-capped and
glacier-streaked altitudes rising one above another till they faded into
purple nothingness.

They did their climbing single file, with arms free, having disposed of
their lunch at timberline. But where Norris had led the way up, Pedro was
the first to start back. "Come on, why not take a short cut?" he shouted
in competition with the wind.

"All right." Norris stepped on a rock at that moment that turned with
him, barely escaping a wrenched ankle. He kept his eyes on his footing
for some moments after that. It was therefore not surprising that he did
not notice where Pedro was leading, till the latter called:

"Why, there's our lake, isn't it?"

The way began to be all bowlders, larger and larger ones. "Here, that
isn't the way we came," cautioned Norris.

"I know it," Pedro assured him, "but see, Mr. Norris, we're just going
around this middle peak instead of over it."

"Better not try any stunts," warned the Geological Survey man. Had he
been by himself, he would have gone straight back till he came to the way
they had gone up. But the boys were tired, and he hated to ask them to
retrace their steps. Besides, he did not want to discourage initiative in
the Spanish boy.

But soon they found themselves scrambling over slabs so high that they
had to take them on all fours, clambering over one as high as their
heads, then letting themselves down into the cranny between that and the