Polly had been urging Jeb to give a favorable opinion on their ability to stand a prolonged ride to the Flat Tops, but he was careful and practical and persisted in making them try a greater distance daily to finally harden them to a rough trail.
Then Jeb said he reckoned the girls could start for a real outing.
Immediately, they planned where to go and what to see.
Polly outlined a trip that might take a whole day, so they would have to take food and kit2 for cooking purposes. Each girl would ride her favorite horse or burro and the extra burro, Choko, could carry the outfit3.
Of course, Polly decided4 to ride Noddy, as the burro was well acquainted with her mistress's ways and the mountains. Eleanor preferred a burro also, because, as she said comically, "if one falls from a burro's back it is not far to Mother Earth." The two other girls selected horses, sure-footed and trained for climbing.
On the morning chosen for the trip, Mrs. Brewster and Sary were up at day-break preparing the kit and packing the panniers. At breakfast, four eager girls, with wide sombreros on their heads, heavy mountain-shoes and leather puttees covering feet and limbs, talked of the great adventures they were about to meet with.
Sam Brewster laughed at their wild imaginings and said: "Ah shouldn't wonder but what you-all will find a second 'Aladdin's Lamp' hiding place. Just think of the fun to be had by rubbing the Lamp and wishing for things!"
Then Jeb brought the mounts from the barn and Sary helped him strap5 the panniers and kit to Choko. Just as they were ready to start, Sary flew out with a paper package carefully held.
"Polly, Ah made a s'prise fer you-all, but don't let Choko roll in it er run away, er my work will go fer nuthin'."
"Don't worry about Choko, Sary, he's too trustworthy to serve us such a trick," bragged6 Polly, petting the burro on the head.
"Wall, then, see thet it hain't shooken up too much er gittin' mashed7 under the ax," were the parting words from Sary, as she shifted the short ax, which is an important item in every outfit.
It was a wonderful summer day—the kind that makes one feel happy in mere8 living, and the anticipation9 of wonders to come added a zest10 to the outing for the girls.
They left the trail leading from Pebbly11 Pit and picked up the rough mountain trail at the Forks, Barbara and Eleanor exclaiming constantly at the gorgeous wild flowers growing wherever the roots could find lodgment.
"I never saw such columbines! Four times the size of ours in the East," cried Eleanor.
"And those marvelous orange-colored blossoms! They look like a rare exotic, with their huge clusters and flaunting12 colors!" exclaimed Barbara.
"If you girls think these are so beautiful, just wait till we reach the 'bottoms'—there you will see size and color enough to make you wonder if you accidentally struck Paradise," said Anne.
"And our ferns and mosses13, girls! You never saw such specimen14, elsewhere," added Polly, churking to Choko to hurry on.
"Polly, why did Jeb over-load that poor little burro?" now asked
Barbara, having lost her momentary15 interest in flora16.
"Choko isn't over-loaded at all. Of course it looks as if he had a great load to carry, but pans and woolen17 blankets look more than they weigh, you see. The heaviest thing he carries is my ax, I reckon."
"Ax! What do you want of an ax?" wondered Barbara.
"Can't tell how cold it may be up on the mountain-top, so I brought the sheath-knife, ax, rifle, and other things in case we get the tail-end of a blizzard18."
"And the blankets in case we get lost and need to camp out all night," added Anne, teasingly, seeing the city girls' fears.
"You can't really mean it, Anne! Surely we won't lose our way, and as for a blizzard! Well, it is July," laughed Barbara.
"It wouldn't be the first time we ran into a blizzard in July," commented Polly.
"But how is it possible, girl alive!" cried Barbara.
"Possible enough on the Flat Tops. The merest rag of a cloud finds an excuse to carry snow from the peaks. The wonder will be if we come away without seeing snow fall."
"Oh, Polly, how thrilling!" exclaimed Eleanor.
"Once when father and I rode over this same trail to find a trapper who had pelts19 for sale, we got caught in a blizzard. We got the pelts but we also got the storm, and lucky for us that we had the pelts first.
"I never had experienced a real mountain storm, but father had, so he showed me what to do. I think I would know now just what to do in case of another surprise."
"Bu-r-r-r! Let's hope you won't have to practice on us," laughed
Eleanor, pretending to shiver.
"Stop your nonsense, Nolla! I don't want to think of such dreadful things," cried Barbara.
"And I want to hear about how the pelts saved her life," added Anne.
"It's real interesting, Bob, so let me tell them," asked Polly, and receiving no unfavorable word or look, she proceeded:
"It was the Fourth of July, and of course no one would start on a ride wearing a fur-lined coat, so father and I had on our summer clothes.
"After riding along Top Notch21 Trail for a time, we met the trapper and bargained for the furs, then started back by a new trail he told us of. It led past Pagoda22 Peak, and just as we got to the base of the peak and discovered the down-trail, the blizzard came swooping23 upon us without warning.
"Father and I tried to keep going, but the gale24 traveled too fast and blew in whirling eddies25, so we got the pelts out of the bundle, and wrapped ourselves in the largest ones. The smaller ones we used for our feet. Father found two great bear-skins and covered the horse—that acted as a shield on one side from the storm—the other horses stood in front and back of us, making three sides protected.
"Father then made me creep with him to the refuge made by the three horses and there we remained. The horses stood perfectly26 still throughout the blizzard, which lasted only an hour at most, and the steam they exuded27 from their bodies kept us quite warm as we crouched28 under them.
"When the storm blew over, we dug a way out and removed the horse blankets and fur pelts from the horses. Then we rolled our own coverings into the bundle and started on down-trail. But the floods of melting snow caused wash-outs and it was risky29 going. When we reached the first Park never a sign of snow was there, and the only result of that mountain blizzard was an added flood of water pouring down the gulleys to the bottoms and valley."
"Oh, Polly, what an interesting book your adventures would make!" exclaimed Eleanor.
"I'd like to write it down as you tell it, Polly, and we can surely find a publisher for it," added Anne, eagerly.
"Really! Oh, how I'd love to tell such a story!" said Polly, all enthusiasm.
"We'll try it as soon as we get back to-night!" promised Anne.
The going was easy, so Polly told of other adventures: of the trip to Buffalo30 Park when a bear chased them; of her meeting with Old Montresor, the gold-seeker of Grizzly31 Slide and his pitiful story; of the nights spent out on the mountains, watching beside a dying camp-fire, or listening to the call of the moose to his mate on a moonlit night; of the wonderful sport fishing in trout-filled streams, or seeking gorgeous flora and strange fauna32 on the peaks, and again photographing wild beasts and birds that never showed a fear of her as she traversed their domains33. The three girls were spell-bound at her vivid descriptions and Anne sighed with desire to put it all down on paper for future publication.
"Montresor's Mine is in this mountain that I want to show you to-day.
He was a dear old man who lived a solitary34 life in a cabin near Buffalo
Park. Patsy, his dog, was his only companion. But he died and left me
his mine—that we never found again," sighed Polly.
"Oh, Polly! Tell us the story!" chorused the girls.
Polly laughed: "It isn't a story, 'cause there never was a climax35 as real stories have to have, you know. But I'll tell you how I met Mr. Montresor. I was out with Noddy, one day, and we traveled farther than usual.
"In leaving a bad trail to take a good one, I met the gray-haired man slowly riding up. An Irish terrier ran back of his horse, sniffing36, sniffing, and whining37 as if distracted. I was so surprised at the dog's actions that I stopped to ask the man what ailed38 him.
"'Ah, my child, Patsy is seeking for my lost mine!'
"'Your lost mine!' I gasped39, for I had never heard of him or his mine, although folks said there was a rich vein40 of gold somewhere in the mountain.[Footnote: This is a true incident.] "'Yes, child, I am the unfortunate Montresor. Haven't you heard of my great loss?'
"I thought the poor man was foolish, so I humored him by saying, 'No, sir, I never did, Won't you tell me about it?'
"Then he told me the story. He had been an old prospector41 in the Klondike, but not a successful one, as he was too honest. On his return, from Alaska, he had to stop in Denver and work for his fare back to the East where he came from. Being a splendid engineer as well as a mineralogist, he found a place with a crew of mining engineers about to inspect Pagoda Peak section and Lost Lake district. He came with them.
"After he had been in these mountains for a time, he was so certain of finding gold that he remained when the rest of the crew went back to Denver. After two years of patient digging and prospecting42 he took a new trail that was later found to be Red Man's Trail, seldom traveled, as it was such dangerous and hard going.
"He was climbing along an awful place where the ledge43 hung over a chasm44, when he spied a small yellow nugget on the ground. He examined it and found it to be fine red-gold. Upon looking about, he found a few more, but there seemed to be no sign of gold in the ledge or in the rocks about him. Still he staked out a claim on the spot in hopes of later finding gold hidden in the ground.
"He hobbled his horse and made a good circuit of the place and then discovered that the opposite ledge of the abyss towered up hundreds of feet higher than the one he was on. That gave him an idea.
"He rode the horse carefully along his ledge until he reached a slope where both ledges45 met an up-grade of mountain-side. Leaving the lower ledge and back-trailing on the higher one, he stopped opposite the place where he had found the nuggets. He dismounted, sought carefully about, and to his joy found more nuggets exactly like the ones picked up on the opposite lower side.
"He took the pick from the saddle and worked at the wall facing him, and discovered a rich lode46 running straight in through the solid rock. He was so excited that he started off without staking a claim or otherwise marking the place. But he soon remembered and went back. He made out a correct claim and fastened it to a tree, then piled up the necessary heaps of stone with his stakes in the middle. Doing all he could think of to legally hold the right to mine the ore, he started back along the dangerous ledge. It was so dark by this time, that he could not find the way he came, and knowing it was almost impassable, he permitted the horse to choose a way out by going up the mountain-side, and so he finally reached the summit. Here he camped for the night and early in the morning he kept on till he struck Top Notch Trail, but so circuitous47 had been the route that he never could describe the pathway his horse took.
"Unfortunately, he had left Patsy home that day to guard supplies in the cabin, and he did not return there at once, thinking it wiser to first file his claims in Oak Creek48. The clerk asked for section-corners or distances from the nearest surveyor's blaze, but Montresor had not found any.
"It was a question whether the claim would be legal, but the worried old man refused to give full details of the spot, as he feared the claim would be jumped, and he purposed going back again to make a survey for himself.
"On his way to the cabin for Patsy, a dreadful storm came over the mountains and lasted for three days. Snow, hail and wind blew down the sides until it seemed as if winter had come in full blast. Of course, no one would attempt climbing in that storm and Montresor had to remain in his cabin for the blizzard to pass.
"When he was able to travel again, he took Patsy to help find the place, but the rain had washed away all
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CHAPTER XII THE BLIZZARD ON GRIZZLY SLIDE
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