Question

Which description of the setting signals the climax of the story?

A. "Druse withdrew his eyes from the valley and fixed them again upon the group of man and horse in the sky, and again it was through the sights of his rifle."

B. "At a distance of a quarter-mile before him, but apparently at a stone's throw, rose from its fringe of pines the gigantic face of rock, towering to so great a height above him that it made him giddy to look up to where its edge cut a sharp, rugged line against the sky."

C. "At some distance away to his right it presented a clean, vertical profile against a background of blue sky to a point half the way down, and of distant hills, hardly less blue, thence to the tops of the trees at its base."

D. "Lifting his eyes to the dizzy altitude of its summit the officer saw an astonishing sight-a man on horseback riding down into the valley through the air!"

Answer 1

The climax of the story in this setting should be option D.) Lifting his eyes to dizzy altitude of its summit officer  saw an astonishing sight a man on horseback riding down into the valley through the air.

EXPLANATION:  

• The climax of any story or play is literary element.
• It is taken from ancient Greek tragedy in which the actions of the play or the story starts developing or building up as the play or story progresses and then it reaches its highest point from where the actions of the story or play starts falling down.
• The building up of action is called as Rising Action and the degenerative action is called as Falling Action.
• In the given setting it is clear that someone is present at the top of hill with his rifle and from there he is observing the valley below.
• In the valley he sees distant hills, tree top etc. This is the Rising Action which reaches its climax or highest point when the person sees a man on a horseback riding down the valley through the air, and this is climax of the given setting.