“Now not a few folks have made this side o’ Dewlap Mountain, but mighty few ever got on th’ other side. I done it, and so has Reed. That’s th’ forest ranger that first saw th’ undiscovered valley. Gettin’ ’round on th’ other side o’ the mountain is where th’ rub comes in--that is, th’ rubbin’est rub. The top o’ th’ peak’s above th’ line of perpetual snow, an’ up there, besides, it’s all rocks an’ steep places till ye can’t rest. It’s skeery gettin’ ’round to th’ other side; an’ many a time ye wisht ye hadn’t come, when ye look down on what’s below ye--or what ain’t below ye. But I made her an’ Reed he made her, an’ ye gotta do it to see the undiscovered valley. But gettin’ to the toes o’ Dewlap Mountain ain’t no fun neither.” Shirttail Henry came to a thoughtful pause. The firelight played on his kindly, rugged features as he sat tailor-fashion and gazed with his dreamy blue eyes into the blaze. His was almost a poetic face, Charmian thought, as she studied what was revealed of it above the flaring torch of whiskers. “Seems to me,” the mountaineer went on softly, “that, when all’s said an’ done, this time o’ year’d be about th’ best to tackle th’ trip. Ye see, th’ snow’s been meltin’ all summer, more or less, an’ so fur this season they ain’t any fell yet. So right now th’ snow’s at her shallowest depth up on that there mountain there. An’ ye might get in an’ out before snow begins to fly, if luck was with ye. “And I thought of another thing: They was a big fire up in thataway this summer, an’ maybe it took out a part o’ th’ big bresh stretches that lies between th’ head o’ the cañon an’ th’ toes o’ Dewlap. If it done that th’ trip’ll be lots easier. But we’ll know more time we tried her.” “Is it necessary to go over Dewlap Mountain to reach the Valley of Arcana?” asked Charmian. “Well, no, ’tain’t,” replied the weather man. “Contrary to that, ma’am, she’d be a fool way to go about it. Ye go up there to see th’ valley; but to get to her ye’d oughta go round th’ mountain. That’s th’ way Reed went. He tried both sides. But he never made th’ riffle. It can’t be done.” “Why?” “Chaparral that ye can’t get through an’ walls o’ rock that can’t be climbed.” “And how about Lost River?” “That’s another proposition, ma’am. Lost River’s forty mile to th’ north o’ Dewlap Mountain, an’ about th’ same distance from yer Valley of Arcana. Over toward th’ Alondra Country, where they’s an Indian reservation that’s got gold on it. Leach an’ Morley they got run out for pannin’ gold on that reservation, an’ gov’ment agents was after ’em for a spell. That’s how come it they know about Lost River, ma’am. But if Lost River runs through yer valley, that ain’t no help to ye.” “I thought that perhaps we might build a canoe and drift down the river underground to the Valley of Arcana,” Charmian stated simply. “Holy sufferin’ cats!” bellowed Shirttail Henry. Even Andy and Dr. Shonto laughed at the girl’s naïve assurance.