All of them had grown weary of so much mountain climbing, and Jimmy really voiced the united sentiment of the party when he declared that he was yearning for a chance to see the open plain, with grass instead of the eternal blistering sand, and mottes of trees dotting the picture with pleasing bunches of green that would be a relief to their tortured eyes. So they sat there and talked of the past, as well as tried to lift the veil that hid the immediate future, as though anxious to know what awaited them in the new life to which they were hastening. Finally Ned Nestor arose and stretched himself, as he remarked: "I think we'd better be on our way, fellows, if we hope to get down there to the level before night comes along. The sun's headed for the west, you notice, and as this ridge will shut him out from us early, we haven't any too much time." "I guess you're about right there, Ned," commented Jack; "and for one I want to say I'd be right glad to make camp at the foot of the mountains. We can't say good-bye to these rocky backbones of the region any too soon to please me." The four burros had rested after their arduous climb, and there was not the least difficulty about getting them started moving. In fact they seemed to already scent the grass of the plains below, so different from anything that had been encountered thus far on the trip, and were showing signs of a mad desire to reach the lowlands. Several times Ned had to caution one of the others about undue haste. "Hold your burro in more, Jimmy," he would say; "there are too many precipices on our trail to take chances of his slipping, and dragging you over with him. To be sure mules and donkeys are clever about keeping their footing and almost equal Rocky Mountain sheep, or the chamois of the Alps that way; but they can stumble, we know, and it might come at a bad time. They're wild to get down out of this; but for one I don't care to take a short cut by plunging over a three hundred foot precipice. Easy now, Teddy; behave yourself, old boy. That's an ugly hole we're passing right now, and we want to go slow." Jimmy himself was apt to be a reckless sort of a chap; and many a time did Ned have to check his impatience in days gone by. Jack, too, often did things without sufficient consideration, though he could hold himself in on occasion; while Harry seldom if ever had to be cautioned, for he was inclined to be slow. They often found themselves put to it to make progress, for while they followed what seemed to be a trail over the ridge, it had been seldom used, and many obstructions often blocked the way. Once they had to get wooden crowbars and pry a huge boulder loose that had fallen so as to completely block progress. Fortunately it had been easy to move it a few inches at a time, until they sent it into a gulf that yawned alongside the trail, to hear it crash downward for hundreds of feet, and make the face of the mountain quiver under the shock.