As they progressed the ground rose and tended to meet the clouds until they were soon flying along with barely any space between the planes and the timber-covered mountain sides. The railroad tracks followed the course of the stream, which flowed down the valley. The valley became narrower and the tracks climbed higher up on the mountain sides. At one point they passed a train standing on a siding waiting to pass another coming from the opposite direction. The passengers were standing in the vestibules or looking out of the windows at the planes as they passed. The pilots passed so close that they could see the minutest details of the people on the ground. It seemed to Bill that he could almost have touched the train as he passed.
The valley was gradually getting narrower—the trees were higher and the planes had less room for maneuvering. Bill turned around to see how the other members of his Flight were getting along. He was following the middle of the valley and had plenty of space for maneuvering, but the flank planes were too close to the trees for comfort. The Flight was limited in its movements by the clouds above and the V-shaped cut through the mountains below.
As they gained altitudes the valley twisted and turned. Each twist and turn had to be followed with great care by the pilots. The Flight began to string out on account of the confined space in which they were flying, the danger of hitting a mountain side or of running into one of the other planes. The curves of the railroad and the stream became more abrupt until Bill found it difficult to anticipate the next turn he would have to make with his plane.
It was getting harder and harder to follow the railroad. Bill thought that they should soon reach the crest of the mountains and start to go down the other side, as the railroad by this time was almost in the low clouds.
All of a sudden Bill saw that the tracks made a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn ahead of him. The tracks had been steadily climbing to gain altitude, and now in order to gain more they turned back on themselves. Bill knew that he had led his Flight into a blind valley. He must turn around and follow the tracks, but where did they lead?