Next morning, before they started, Joe showed Jack the exact spot where the fight had taken place between the miner and the bear; and then they put Captain into the buckboard, and began the last stage of the ascent. It was a wonderfully clear day, and as they looked down, the country lay spread out below them like a gigantic map. The ranches, creeks and villages all looked so tiny and scattered to them, gazing as they did over hundreds of miles of prairie land. Above them the sharp peaks seemed to pierce the keen blue sky, and the snow still lying on the mountain-sides was so dazzling from the sun's rays, that Champion Joe put on a pair of dark blue 'goggles,' and tied a piece of black veiling over Jack's face, to protect their eyes from getting snow-blind. Higher and higher they went slowly on, and Joe remarked: 'Well, Jack, I guess we're about as near heaven on earth to-day, in one way of speaking, as you've ever been in your life afore, eh? Don't it look close? But, I say, young un, what's up?' 'I don't know,' said Jack very faintly. 'I've gone to feel so queer. I can hardly breathe, and my head aches as if it were going to burst.' 'Lie down, Jack, for a bit,' said the hunter kindly. 'It's the great height as we're up. This air affects some folks terribly. I've seen strong men helpless and hardly able to move, lower down than we are. We're close to the top now, so we'll wait till you feel a bit better.' Jack did feel better after a short rest, and, with Joe's help, managed to creep slowly on, although he felt very ill and confused. At the top they found it bitterly cold, as some clouds had rolled rapidly up and obscured the bright sun. Jack shivered in spite of the blanket Joe wrapped him in. The descent on the other side of the Range was even harder on the mule than the terrible uphill drag, and Joe had to tie the wheels of the buckboard to prevent it running on to Captain. The road was so steep and stony, he could hardly keep his footing at times, and in one place there was nothing but a broad ledge cut out of the side of a rock, with a natural wall on one side and a terrible precipice sloping away on the other. It made Jack feel so giddy looking down such an awful depth, that Joe, seeing how white he was, advised him to hold on to the back of the buckboard and keep his eyes fixed on the mule. 'Trust yourself to Captain,' he said, 'and I promise you he ain't likely to go over that, if caution is of any account. He ain't the one to lose _his_ head on roads like this, as he knows 'em so well.' Jack followed the advice given him, and got on much better, and when they had gone down a mile or two his head felt less heavy, and he was soon all right again.