About three o'clock
There was a fascination about the thing that was irresistible . However high the peak we had ascended , another could be seen still higher , and that , too , must be scaled . The infinite variety of the trail , its surprises , its new dangers , its apparent vanishings into thin air , only to be found , after an all but impossible curve , up the side of another cliff , coaxed us on and on ; and when or where we would have been able to say , `` thus far and no farther '' is an undecided problem to this day . About three o'clock one afternoon we camped in a small clearing at the end of a narrow valley . Our arriero , halting us at that early hour , had explained that there was no other camping ground within six hours ' march , and no hacienda or pueblo within fifty miles . We received his explanation with the indifference of those to whom one day is like every other day , and amused ourselves by inspecting our surroundings while he prepared the evening meal and arranged the camp beds . Back of us lay the trail by which we had approached -- a narrow , sinuous ribbon clinging to the side of the huge cliffs like a snake fastened to a rock .