It was cold work, even wearing their thick garments; but, after
laboring until their fingers were stiff from the frost, Ned hit on
the idea of building a big fire of some evergreen trees near where
the ship lay.
"Say, that's all right!" declared Tom, as the warmth of the blaze
made itself felt. "We can work better, now!"
The RED CLOUD was tilted on some rough and uneven ground, in among
some little hills. On either side arose big peaks, the one in
particular that they had hit towering nearly fifteen thousand feet.
Everything was covered with snow and ice, and, in fact, the ice was
so thick on the top of the mountains that the crags resembled
icebergs rather than stony peaks. The crash of the airship had
brought down a great section of this solid rock-ice.
"Do you think we are anywhere near the valley of gold?" asked Mr.
Damon that afternoon, when the work was nearly finished.
"It's somewhere in this vicinity." declared Abe. "Me an' my partner
passed through jest such a place as this on our way there. I
wouldn't wonder but what it wasn't more than a few hundred miles
away, now."
"Then we'll soon be there," said Tom. "I'll start in the morning. I
could go to-night, but there are a few adjustments I want to make to
the motor, and, besides, I think it will be safer, now that we are
among these peaks, to navigate in daylight, or at least with the
searchlight going.
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