Re: Chapter 22: Prickly Pears and Four O'Clocks
In reply to Earnest Nicholas Samuel Ringgenberg (msg # 701):
The professor finds a suitable spot to settle in and survey the area of Echo Canyon. He runs out of daylight before long, but not before his diligence pays off. Perhaps not the way he had envisioned, but certainly in regard to information he gleaned as a result.
Scanning the canyon area and the mountains to the west of it, including the Great White Throne, reveals little of interest. Earnest had looked at similar terrain in each of the last few days while circumnavigating Zion under Red Shirt's guidance. Canyons, rock formations, mountains, valleys, mesas, gaps, switchbacks ... all of that lay before him now, as seen from his perch to the east of Echo Canyon. Ringgenberg spies nothing about the landscape that might aid the heroes.
Just as Earnest had thought to return to camp, he sees a rising plume of smoke through the lens of his field glasses. He cannot determine its source, but it appears to be coming from a valley near Echo Canyon. Lowering the binoculars for a moment, the professor sees a pair of riders heading east, southeast along what he believes is the same route where Red Shirt had found the tracks. They quickly disappear behind the rocks as they descend -- and it is too dark to pick them up again.