Stub's legs trembled; he had nothing upon which to lean; but he stared, wide-eyed, his heart thumping.
It was the top. On the other side the mountain fell away, in a long, long snowy timbered slope, down into a deep, broad valley of dark pines; and at the farther edge of the valley there arose a mountain again—a snow-capped, much higher mountain: the Grand Peak itself![1]
"And all our climb's for nothin', you say, sir?" wheezed John Brown. "We're not on the Grand Peak at all?"
"No. But our climb had not been for naught. We've done our best, as soldiers." The lieutenant's tone was dull and disappointed.
"I don't see how we made the mistake," the doctor proffered. "We thought that we were at the true base."
"We had no means of telling otherwise, doctor. This mountain looked to be a part of that other; but that other is separate, and twice as high. I judge it's fully fifteen miles distant, now."
"Shall we try for it, sir?" Terry Miller asked. "The day's young, sir."
The lieutenant shook his head decisively.
"Not this trip, Miller. 'Twould take a whole
- ↑ They had climbed Cheyenne Mountain, height 9,407 feet, south of Pike's Peak, which is 14,109 feet in height.
