The trail to Maverick Basin led north up Turkey Creek; and on both sides of the canyon, in caverns and beneath huge crags, the white houses of the cliff-dwellers caught the eye. The mountains rose up in jumbled and shattered terraces, split here and there by dark and jagged chasms which revealed the far heights beyond. These were covered with black pines and Douglas spruce, clinging close to the shelving slopes; and below them the oaks and junipers crept in, while at the bottom there was cactus and mesquite. It was a rough and thorny trail, winding in and out and up over brushy benches, then down again to the creek. Startled deer rose up timorously from their beds along the hillside, wild turkeys ran flapping across the path; and along the bluffs the tracks of mountain lion and bear told of others who prowled by night. But the scarcest track of all was that of man, the conqueror, who claims dominion over the birds and beasts. Like the lions and bears, men traveled by night or kept off the beaten trails. Meshackatee rode ahead on a buckskin Indian pony which seemed to totter beneath his great weight, and, across the saddle in front of him, he balanced a repeating rifle with a bore like a buffalo gun. Behind followed Hall, still mounted on the blue roan which had so taken Red Scarborough's eye; and, scouting on before them, went Meshackatee's spotted dog, always seeking yet silent as a specter. The canyon opened out into wide, oak-clad flats with sycamores along the banks of the creek; and then the hills fell away to the east, giving a view of lone pinnacles beyond. They rode further and the flats opened out into parks where deer and wild cattle grazed; and the high cliffs to the west came down nearer and nearer, as if to cut off their way. Then the trail left the creek and swung over towards the cliff and at Jump-off Point it climbed the western rim and led north across Juniper Flats. They set off at a gallop, heading for a distant divide, and as the sun was sinking low they topped the last ridge and the Basin lay smiling before them. It was a wide and grassy valley, circled about with oak-crowned hills; and beyond it like a line the great Rim of the Mogollons stood out blue against the reddening sky. Tall pines, like half-stript sticks, marked the edge of the unseen forest which covered the sloping plains beyond; and under the Rim all the caved-off, lesser rims were smothered in a dense growth of trees. All else seemed shut in, overwhelmed and obscured; but Maverick Basin lay set like a jewel within the curve of the golden-brown hills. It was a cowman's paradise, well watered with meandering streams and sheltered from north winds by the Rim; its grass was all aripple, a wooded river-bottom flanked the east and live-oaks made shade along its slopes. Yet here was where the Scarboroughs had settled down to make a little hell of their own.