"Polly, I don't see how we can go much farther!" said Anne, who had never before been as high as this.
"Oh, we are only one-third of the way up, Anne," smiled Polly, swinging Noddy suddenly to one side to avoid a bowlder of rock that had rolled upon the trail.
After more arduous1 climbing, the horses unexpectedly came out into a vast clearing, called a "park" by the natives. It was acres in extent, fringed about by the heavy close growth of pines. The girls exclaimed at the beauty of the spot, for wild-mountain flowers grew profusely2 among the thick buffalo3 grass.
"Now, then, every one of you start at this point and hunt for the trail. I haven't been here since last summer when we went for that trapper and his pelts4. I didn't look for the blaze then, but it was here, so we must find it to help us find the way out!" called Polly, as she guided Noddy slowly past the fringe of forest trees, looking carefully at each tree.
"Goodness, Polly! Do you ever expect to find an opening in this tangle5 of trees?" asked Barbara.
"We can if Polly says there's one!" declared Anne, riding her horse carefully in the opposite direction from Polly.
Eleanor permitted her burro to follow after Polly, as she hadn't the slightest idea of what the blaze or trail would look like. Consequently, she was directly behind Polly when she shouted, "I've found it!"
The other girls wheeled their horses and galloped6 over to the place where Polly was swinging the ax about her head.
With several good whacks7, she chopped down enough young aspens to clear a way through the brush, thus exposing to view an old tree bearing a blaze over twenty years old.
"I'll show you how to count the age," said Polly, beginning at the outer bark and counting the rings plainly lined from the new bark into the tree until she reached the place where the blaze had been made.
"How interesting! Then that means this trail was made twenty years ago!" said Barbara.
"Maybe twenty times twenty years ago, for all we know. Nobody really knows how old this trail is, for it was used by the Indians as far back as the oldest trappers and hunters know and have heard tell from their fathers and grandfathers!" replied Polly, swinging into the saddle and telling Noddy to proceed.
The little burro obediently went into the seemingly impassable thicket8, the other horses following. After they had traveled for ten or fifteen yards, the undergrowth thinned until they were going on pine-needle-covered ground as soft as moss9. The silent forest with its sentinel pines, spreading a canopy10 overhead, seemed like another world from the bright glare of the one left behind that morning.
The trees were so tall and majestic11, with great fragrant12 green tops that scarcely allowed a sunbeam to penetrate13 to the pale green twilight14 underneath15, that a solemn peace pervaded16 the minds of the young adventurers. The singing of birds, or the crackling of dry twigs17, as wild creatures sprang over them, were the only sounds heard.
No shrubs18 or vegetation obstructed19 this impressive place, so the girls rode on in silence, until the trail ascended20 again. Near the confines of this forest, Polly suddenly reined22 in Noddy and held out a warning hand. Right across their pathway sped a young deer. It paused by the side of a sheltering pine-trunk, with head erect23 and fore-foot poised24 gracefully25, gazing steadily26 at the strange creatures who dared intrude27 upon those sacred precincts!
It as suddenly vanished again, and the girls breathed deeply.
"Oh, for our camera!" cried Eleanor.
"How stupid of us to leave it home," added Barbara.
"It's always the way. Who remembers a kodak until it is needed," laughed Anne.
"John promised to bring me a fine camera this summer, but he never came home from college, so I didn't get it," said Polly, wistfully.
"Haven't you one, Poll?" wondered Eleanor.
"Not yet."
"It's a shame—and you with such wonderful ways to use it. The moment we get home, I shall give you my new one, and you can give me some prints from it in exchange," said Eleanor, generously.
"Why, Eleanor Maynard! Yours is brand new and cost forty dollars!" cried shocked Barbara.
"Of course it's new! Would I give my best friend a second-hand28 thing?" retorted Eleanor.
"Oh, Nolla, it's awfully29 good of you but I wouldn't think of taking it!" exclaimed Polly, gratefully.
"If you don't I'll give it to Sary, and then you can look for trouble! She'll snap pictures of Jeb at dinner, of Jeb at the pump, and Jeb here, there, and everywhere!"
The girls laughed merrily at the pictures outlined, and the camera was forgotten.
After climbing for two hours more, Noddy wrinkled his nose and twitched30 his sensitive ears.
"Noddy scents31 water. See, Choko is acting33 the same way," called Polly; and sure enough both burros were making faces at the sky-line.
In a short time the riders reached another Park but this one was not half the size of the first. Instead of encircling forest trees, the girls saw giant up-thrusts of rock that deft34 the blue sky. On each side of the widened trail stood lodge-pole pine that ran up to the summit and down the other side of the peak.
"At last—Top Notch35 Trail!" exclaimed Polly.
"You seem relieved?" ventured Anne.
"I am, because I half-doubted whether I would remember the right route without an older guide."
"When in doubt don't do anything," suggested Eleanor.
"If we didn't do anything we wouldn't have been up here," argued Anne.
"This trail runs straight to Grizzly36 Slide, a glacial peak I've always wanted to see. Father never had time to take me and mother wouldn't allow me to find it alone. Explorers say it is a permanent glacier37 that seldom changes its form as most of our other snow-capped peaks do in summertime."
"How I'd love to see it!" sighed Eleanor.
"It sounds as if we were in Switzerland about to visit the Alps," added
Barbara.
"Have you any plans for to-day, Polly?" asked Anne.
"Nothing particular. I thought we would try for this trail and have dinner up here, then do whatever you liked before starting for home."
"How long might it take to ride along the top and hunt for Grizzly
Slide?" asked Eleanor eagerly.
"I'm not sure of the distance, although I hear it is four miles from Four Mile Blaze. From here to the blaze may be one or ten miles, but the going is fine on this trail," replied Polly, eagerly showing her inclinations38.
"I simply won't consider going back home yet!" declared Eleanor.
"We might go on a bit further before eating, and then we can see what
the trail is like. If we decided39 to try for the Grizzly
Something-or-other Poll mentioned, I'll agree, all right!" ventured
Anne, the gleam of adventure shining in her eyes.
"I'm the only molly-coddle in the crowd and I'd like to see more of this mountain, myself," laughed Barbara.
"'Nuff said,' when Barbara talks like that!" laughed Eleanor.
So they continued along the crest40 of the mountain from which grand views of distant peaks and vast forest-sides could be seen. The brilliant hues41 of wild flowers, everywhere, mottled the ground; the dark-green of towering pines, or again the shorter aspens like pickets42 on guard in the foreground; the bleached43 skeletons of lodge-pole pine burnt clean in forest fires; and just before the riders, the plunging44 water falling from a cliff that shut out any glimpse of the trail ahead, combined to produce a master-piece of Nature's work.
"Why not camp at those Falls for dinner?" asked Eleanor.
"Good idea—I'm half-starved," admitted Anne.
"And maybe the horses can rest, too," from Barbara.
"Bob's going to join the S.P.C.A. soon," laughed Eleanor.
"No, I'm not, but horses will last longer if you feed and rest them, and I do not care to walk home!" retorted Barbara.
"I brought my fishing tackle, girls, and while you are unpacking46 dinner
I may as well cast for a few trout47 in that stream," suggested Polly.
"Can you fish trout?" exclaimed Barbara, wonderingly.
"Can a bird fly?" laughed Anne.
"The idea! A westerner and not know how to fish!" scorned Eleanor.
But Barbara was not sensitive to-day so did not feel offended at these remarks; neither did she take pains to disguise her real sentiments when it would have been kinder to keep silence on a subject.
Having reached the base of the cliff, the girls found a delightful48 spot for the luncheon49. The packs were slipped from Choko and he, with the other mounts, were hobbled and left to graze on the buffalo grass in the clearing.
The girls unpacked50 a pannier while Polly arranged her tackle and started for the top of the cliff whence fell the water.
"Let me go with you, Poll, and watch?" asked Eleanor.
"If you won't speak, and mind you don't slip and fall!"
"I won't," promised Eleanor, crawling up after the sure-footed Polly until both reached the top. To their surprise, the girls found a cleft51 between two great rocks with a quiet pool resting at the base. The current passed, rushing onward52 to the Falls, but the water circulating in the nook scarcely rippled53. Even as the two girls watched, a flash of a speckled back flounced up in play and splashed their shoes.
"What a spot for trout!" whispered Polly, crawling out to the rim54 of a rock while Eleanor watched breathlessly.
"Not too far out, Poll!" whispered Eleanor, anxiously, as Polly leaned over the edge to gaze into the clear depths.
Without a word, Polly carefully cast her fly far out upon the smooth surface of the sparkling water. Then flashes deep down, and in incredibly short time a large speckled trout rose to the bait, and Polly felt her nerves tauten55 with the excitement of the sportsman. Eleanor held her breath for fear the trout would disappear.
Polly landed that one, weighing at least three pounds, then caught two more, weighing about two pounds each.
"Guess these will be enough for this noon. No use catching56 more than we need!" remarked Polly, coming back to Eleanor's side.
The girls hastened down the rocks and brought the fish over to the place where Polly expected to find a good fire burning.
"Why, I don't see any fire—didn't you build one for the fish?" cried
Polly.
"You didn't tell us to! Anyway, what would we make it with—no matches and no kindlings!" replied Barbara.
"Can't you girls start fire with flint—or some sticks?" asked Polly, curiously57.
"The only fire I can light is with a safety match and the valve of a gas-stove!" replied Barbara, quaintly58.
The others considered her remark very funny and Polly promised to teach them how to make a fire with two sticks only!
"Do it now, and fry the fish for us!" said Eleanor.
"No, it will be too late for us to begin all that now. We had better wait until supper-time. We really ought to be on the trail by this time," said Polly.
"Child alive! You don't intend being out in the woods at supper-time, do you?" gasped59 Barbara, fearfully.
Polly laughed. "Is that so fearful? Why, I think it is piles of fun to camp out on a fine night!"
"Maybe you do, but remember the rattle-snake! We may be sleeping on the ground when one comes along-Oh, OH!" cried Barbara, shivering.
"Oh, come now, Bob! No use conjuring60 up such gruesome pictures to tickle61 your nerves!" exclaimed Eleanor, impatiently.
"If you don't want to go on to Grizzly Slide, now's the time to say so! When we get there it will be too late to complain about the lateness of the hour in getting home!" said sensible Polly. "Oh, we all want to go to Grizzly Slide!" asserted Anne, hastily.
"And we will take everything that comes with it!" declared Eleanor, eagerly.
"Well, all right, but for the love of goodness, don't let's camp in the wilderness62 all night!" cried Barbara.
They sat down after that discussion and ate the sandwiches and fruit, but Polly wanted a piece of the chocolate cake she thought Sary had packed for them.
"I couldn't find any! We looked through and found only sandwiches in the papers," said Anne.
"Oh, pshaw! I was sure there was cake!" grumbled63 Polly.
"It may possibly be in the bottom of the other pannier, as we didn't unpack45 everything, you know," suggested Barbara.
"If it is, we'll eat it to-night for supper. At least we know Sary packed something good for us," added Anne.
Once more on the trail, the adventurers rode through forests where the notes of unseen birds blending with the murmur64 of pines sounded like weird65 music to the city girls.
"Just like the sea's roar in a conch-shell, isn't it?" whispered Anne, as she listened rapturously.
They passed tumbling, hurrying mountain streams where the burnished66 trout flashed swiftly back and forth67 in the clear water. They came to an upland park where the soft whistle of quail68 caused Polly to lift her rifle, but the whir of wings told of a flight. From jagged rents in the cliffs, through which the horses passed, their hoofs69 ringing echoes from the iron-veined rock, they came to sleepy hollows where the Quaker Aspens stood ghostlike as sentinels on guard before their beautiful Eden.
Having climbed one peak and
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