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diff --git a/37485.txt b/37485.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b470d76 --- /dev/null +++ b/37485.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9736 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Boy Scouts in Glacier Park, by Walter Prichard Eaton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Boy Scouts in Glacier Park + The Adventures of Two Young Easterners in the Heart of the High Rockies + +Author: Walter Prichard Eaton + +Illustrator: Fred H. Kiser + +Release Date: September 20, 2011 [EBook #37485] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS IN GLACIER PARK *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from images made available by the HathiTrust +Digital Library.) + + + + + + + + + +BOY SCOUTS IN GLACIER PARK + + + Books by + WALTER P. EATON + + The Boy Scouts of Berkshire--A story + of how the Chipmunk Patrol was started, + what they did and how they did it. + _Colored frontispiece._ 313 _pages_. + + Boy Scouts in the Dismal Swamp--A + story of Boy Scouting in the Dismal Swamp. + _Colored frontispiece._ 304 _pages_. + + Boy Scouts in the White Mountains--A + story of a hike over the Franconia and + Presidential Ranges. + _Colored frontispiece._ 308 _pages_. + + Boy Scouts of the Wildcat Patrol.--A + Story of Boy Scouting. + _Colored frontispiece._ 315 _pages_. + + Peanut--Cub Reporter--A Boy Scout's + life and adventures on a newspaper. + _Colored frontispiece._ 320 _pages_. + + Boy Scouts in Glacier Park. 336 _pages_. + + _Cloth bound. Price_, $1.75 _net each_ + + + + +[Illustration: The Great Continental Divide and the Game Trail Along +the Top] + + + + + Boy Scouts in Glacier Park + + The Adventures of Two Young Easterners + in the Heart of the High Rockies + + By + WALTER PRICHARD EATON + + Illustrated with Photographs by + FRED H. KISER + + W. A. WILDE COMPANY + BOSTON CHICAGO + + + + + Copyrighted, 1918, + BY W. A. WILDE COMPANY + All rights reserved + + BOY SCOUTS IN GLACIER PARK + + + + + To + FRED H. KISER + + who photographs mountains so well + because he loves them so much + Best of companions on the high trails + and around the evening camp-fire + + + + + FOREWORD + +Glacier Park is one of the newest, as well as one of the most beautiful, +of our National Parks. It is peculiarly fitted to be a summer +playground, both for men and women who prefer to travel on horseback and +"rough it" by putting up at a hotel at night, and for the true mountain +lovers, who delight to use their own legs in climbing, and to sleep +under the stars. This book has been written primarily to show Young +America just how interesting, exciting, full of outdoor adventure, and +full, too, of real education, life in this National park can be. We can +promise our boy readers, and their parents, too, that there isn't any +"faking" in this story. The trips we tell about are all real trips, and +if you go to Glacier Park you can take them all--all, that is, except, +perhaps, the climb up the head wall of Iceberg Lake. You have to have a +real mountaineer as a guide, with a real Alpine rope, in order to make +that trip. It was fortunate for Tom that one came along. Then, too, +unless you stay in the Park over the winter, you haven't much chance of +riding down a mountain on a snowslide. Possibly you wouldn't want to. I +never knew anybody who took that trip intentionally! Tom and Joe and the +Ranger were unlucky enough to take it, and lucky enough to live to tell +the tale. + +This book isn't written just to use the Rocky Mountains as a background +for adventures which never really could happen to ordinary boys. It is +written, on the contrary, to show what fine adventures can happen to +ordinary boys, in one of the finest and most healthful and beautiful +spots in this great country of ours, if only the boys have pluck, and +have been good Scouts enough to learn how to take care of themselves in +the open. + +And it is written, too, in order to tell about Glacier Park, to make you +want to go there and see it for yourself, to make you glad and proud +that the United States has set aside for the use of all the public such +a splendid playground, and to make you, if possible, more determined +than ever to protect this, and all our other parks and State and +National forests, from the attacks of the men who are always trying to +get laws passed to let them spoil the meadows and the wildflowers with +their sheep, or cut the forests for timber, putting their selfish gain +above the welfare of the whole people. + + W. P. E. + + Twin Fires + Sheffield, Massachusetts + 1918 + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Joe Gets Bad News About His Lungs--His "Pipes," as Spider + Called Them 13 + + II. Joe Learns How Many Friends He Has, and Achieves a Tent + to Sleep In 21 + + III. Spider Finds a Way to Get to the Rocky Mountains, + to "Pump Joe's Pipes Full of Ozone" 32 + + IV. Tom and Joe Cross the Continent with Their Faces Glued + to the Car Window and Reach the Rocky Mountains 43 + + V. The Scouts Learn Why the Rocky Mountains Have No Foot-Hills + and Arrive at Many Glacier 54 + + VI. Tom Becomes Boss of the Tepee Camp, and the Scouts + Pitch Their Tents in the Evergreens 63 + + VII. Joe Gets Acquainted with Porcupines, the Diamond Hitch, + and Switchback Trails 73 + + VIII. Joe Gets a Chance at Last to Go out on a Trip As Camp + Cook 93 + + IX. Over Piegan Pass to St. Mary Lake, Underneath the + Precipices 100 + + X. The Ranger Tells a Grizzly Bear Story Before the + Camp-Fire 123 + + XI. To Gunsight Lake, and Joe Falls Into a Crevasse on + Blackfeet Glacier 129 + + XII. Over Gunsight to Lake McDonald, and Joe and Bob See + a Grizzly at Close Range 144 + + XIII. In Avalanche Basin, Where Bob Learns That the Story + of the Englishman's Walk Before Breakfast Was No Joke 168 + + XIV. Up the Divide in a Rain, with a Lost Horse on the + Way, and a Howling Snow-Storm at the Top 177 + + XV. Tom's Chance for Adventure Comes Unexpectedly, Wearing + Hobnail Shoes and Carrying a Rope 189 + + XVI. Tom Goes up a Two Thousand Foot Wall, with an Alpine + Rope, and Learns the Proper Way to Climb 203 + + XVII. Tom Sees Both Mountain Sheep and Goats Do Their Wild + Leaps Down Dizzy Ledges 218 + + XVIII. Joe Gets Good News from the Doctor, and the Scouts + Name Their Camp, "Camp Kent" 232 + + XIX. The Indian Pow-Wow--Tom and Joe Get Into the Squaw + Dance 240 + + XX. The Scouts Start on a Trip Together at Last, to Climb + Chief Mountain 250 + + XXI. The Climb up the Tower of Chief Mountain, the Indian + Relic on the Summit and an Eagle's Nest 257 + + XXII. A Blizzard on Flat Top--The Camp is Christened "Valley + Forge" 268 + + XXIII. Up to Chaney Glacier and the Discovery of a Three + Thousand Foot Precipice 276 + + XXIV. The Boys Prepare for Winter in the Park, and Learn + Why the Timber-Line Trees Are Only Three Feet Tall 283 + + XXV. Protecting the Deer Yards--the Scouts Wait in the + Moonlight and Bag a Mountain Lion 291 + + XXVI. A Hundred Miles in Four Days, Over the Snow, Which + Is a Long Trip to Get Your Mail 302 + + XXVII. The Ranger and the Boys Get a Ride Down the Mountain + on a Snow Avalanche, and Don't Look for Another 312 + + XXVIII. Tom Starts on a Long Hike in the Deep Snow, over the + Divide, Risking Snow-Slides, to Save the Ranger's Life 318 + + XXIX. Tom Tramps Down McDonald Creek in a Chinook Wind, + and Reaches Shelter Almost Exhausted 322 + + XXX. Tom Gets Back with the Doctor, and Mills Pulls + Through--then the Scouts Have to Leave for Home 327 + + XXXI. Home Again--Joe's Christmas Present to His Mother Is + Sound Health Again, and Tom Rejoices 334 + + + + +CHAPTER I--Joe Gets Bad News About His Lungs--His "Pipes," as Spider +Called Them + + +"What's the matter, Joe, lost all your pep?" asked Tom Seymour, as he +slowed his pace down so that his tired companion could keep up with him. +It was a Saturday morning in May, and the two boys, in their scout +suits, with heavy shoes on, were tramping through the woods, where the +spring flowers were beginning to appear and the little leaf buds were +bursting out on the trees. Both Tom Seymour and his chum, Joe Clark, +loved the woods, and especially in early spring they got into them +whenever they could, to see how the birds and animals had come through +the winter, and then a little later to watch for the flowers and see the +foliage come. + +But this day Joe seemed to be getting tired. They were tramping up a +hillside, through mould softened by a recent rain, that made the footing +difficult, and though Joe was trying to keep up, Tom realized that +something was the matter. + +"Say, Joe, old scout, what ails you, anyhow?" he asked again. + +"Oh, it's nothing," Joe answered. "I've had a cold for a month, you +know, and it's pulled me down, that's all. Ma's giving me some tonic. +I'll be all right. But I do get awful tired lately." + +He stopped just then and began to cough. + +"I wish you'd shake that old cold," Tom said. "I'm getting sick of +hearing you bark in school--you always tune up just as Pap Forbes is +calling on me to translate Caesar. And if you don't shake it, you'll be +no good for the team, and how's the Southmead High School going to trim +Mercerville without you on second bag?" + +Joe stopped coughing as soon as he could, and demanded, "Well, you don't +think I keep the old thing around because I like it, do you? I'll give +it to anybody who'll cart it off. Come on--let's forget it!" + +They started up the hill again, which grew steeper as they advanced, and +presently Tom realized once more that Joe couldn't keep up. As he had to +breathe harder with the increased steepness, too, he began to cough +again. + +"Say, have you been to see a doctor?" Tom demanded. + +"Oh, sure," said Joe, sitting down on a rock to rest "Ma had old Doc +Jones in first week I was sick, and he gave me some stuff--tasted like a +mixture of kerosene and skunk cabbage, too." + +"Doc Jones is no good," Tom declared. "My father says he wouldn't have +him for a sick cat. He doesn't even know there are germs. Mr. Rogers +told me the Doc thought it was foolish to make us scouts boil the water +from strange brooks before we drank it. Haven't you been to anybody else +since, when you didn't get better?" + +"Say, what do you think I am, a millionaire?" said Joe. "I can't be +spending money on fancy doctors, and get through high school, too. Ma's +got all she can handle now, with food and everything costing so much." + +"I know all that, old scout," Tom answered, putting his hand on Joe's +shoulder. "But I guess it would cost your mother more if you were laid +up, wouldn't it? Now, I've got a hunch you need some good doc to give +you the once over. Are you tired all the time like this?" + +"Oh, no," Joe replied. "Or only at night, mostly," he added. "I get kind +of hot and tired at night, and I can't do much work. That's why I've +been flunking Caesar. Old Pap thinks I'm lying down on the job, but I +really ain't. I try every evening, but the words get all mixed together +on the page." + +Tom sprang to his feet with the quick, almost catlike agility which, in +combination with his thin, rather tall and very wiry frame, had earned +for him the nickname of Spider. + +"You come along with me," he said. + +"Depends on where you're going," Joe laughed. + +"Say, I'm patrol leader, ain't I?" + +"You are, but this isn't the patrol. We aren't under scout discipline +to-day." + +"_You_ are," laughed Tom. "You're going to do just what I tell you. Come +on, now!" + +He grabbed Joe by the wrist and brought him to his feet. Joe didn't +resist, either, though Tom expected a scrap. He came along meekly down +the hill, through the wet, fragrant woods. Once on the village street, +Spider led the way directly to Mr. Rogers' house, and 'round the house +to the studio, and knocked on the door. + +The scout master opened it. He was wearing his long artist's apron, and +had his big palette, covered with all the colors of the rainbow, thrust +over the thumb of his left hand. + +"Hello, Spider; hello, Joe," he said. "What's the trouble? Has the +tenderfoot patrol mutinied?" + +The boys came in. + +"No, sir, but Joe's windpipes have," said Tom. He quickly told about his +chum's cold, and how he got tired now all the time. + +"Now, cough for the gentleman, Joe," he added with a laugh. + +Joe laughed, too, which actually did set him to coughing. + +But Mr. Rogers didn't laugh. He looked very grave, and began to take off +his apron. He washed his hands, put on his coat, and with a short, +"Come, boys," started down the path. + +There was a famous doctor in Southmead who didn't practice in the town +at all. His patients came from various parts of the country, to be +treated for special diseases, and they lived while there in a sort of +hotel-sanitorium. It was said that this doctor, whose name was Meyer, +charged twenty dollars a visit. The boys soon realized that Mr. Rogers +was headed for his house. + +"Say, who does he think I am, John D. Rockefeller?" Joe whispered to +Tom. + +"Don't you worry," Tom whispered back. "He's a friend of old Doc +Meyer's, all right. He'll fix it. You trot along." + +They had to wait in the doctor's anteroom some time, as he had a patient +in the office. Finally he came out and greeted Mr. Rogers warmly. He was +not a native of Southmead, but had come there only two or three years +ago from New York, to have his sanitorium in the country, and he had +always been so busy that most of the townspeople scarcely knew him. Tom +and Joe, while they had seen him, had never spoken with him before. He +was a middle-aged Jew, with gold spectacles on his big nose, and large, +kindly brown eyes, which grew very keen as he looked at the boys, and +seemed to pierce right through them. + +The scout master spoke to him a moment, in a low voice, and then he led +all three into his office. It wasn't like any doctor's office the scouts +had ever been in. It looked more like some sort of a mysterious +laboratory, except for the flat-top office desk in the middle, and the +strange chair, with wheels and joints, which could evidently be tipped +at any angle, or made into a flat surface like an elevated sofa. There +was a great X-ray machine, and many other strange devices, and rows of +test tubes on a white enameled table, and sinks and sterilizers. + +The doctor patted Joe on the head as if he'd been a little boy instead +of a first class scout sixteen years old, going on seventeen, and large +for his age. He sat Joe down in a chair and asked him a lot of questions +first, making some notes on a card which he took out of a small filing +cabinet that was like a library catalogue case. Then he told him to +undress. + +Joe stripped to the waist, and stood up while the doctor tapped his +shoulders, his chest, his back, and then listened with his ear down both +on his chest and back, and finally he took a stethoscope and went over +every square inch of surface, front and back, covering his lungs, while +he made the patient cough, say "Ah," draw in a deep breath, and expel it +slowly. Finally he took his temperature, and a sample of sputum. + +Meanwhile Tom looked on with a rapidly increasing alarm. He knew a +little something about tuberculosis, and realized it was for that he was +examining his chum. He knew what a deadly disease it is, too, if it is +not caught in time, and he began to feel sick in the pit of his stomach. +He wanted to cry out to the doctor and demand that he tell him at once +that old Joe did not have this terrible disease--that he was all right, +that it was nothing but a cold. But, of course, he said not a word. + +The doctor was putting Joe on the scales now, and weighing him. + +"A hundred and fifteen," he said. "How's that? About your regular +weight?" + +"Guess there's something wrong with your scales," Joe answered, looking +at the marker. "I ought to be a hundred and thirty. 'Course, I had more +clothes on in the winter, last time I was weighed." + +"Yes, and you ought to have grown some since," said the doctor. "Well, +you will yet. You go home and rest now--sit in the sun this afternoon, +and go to bed early, with your window open. Come back here to-morrow +morning at ten o'clock, and I'll know more about you." + +"But I can't sit in the sun to-day," Joe cried. "Why, we've got a game +this after', and I _got_ to play second." + +The doctor looked at him with his kindly, fatherly smile, but his voice +was like a general's giving a command. "No more baseball for you for the +present, my boy," he said. "You've got to keep quiet and rest, if you +want to get well quickly." + +"How soon can he play?" Tom put in, excitedly. After he had said it, he +thought it sounded as if he were more interested in the team than in +Joe, and he was going to explain, but the doctor replied before he had a +chance. + +"That will all depend on how quiet you make him keep," said he. "You can +come back with him to-morrow if you want, and I'll tell you some more." + +The doctor spoke softly to Mr. Rogers while Joe was dressing, and then +the three went out. + +"Say, he doesn't leave much of you unexplored, does he?" said Joe. +"What's the damage, Mr. Rogers? Gee, I never thought I'd be swell enough +to go to Doc Meyer!" + +"I guess he doesn't charge for scouts, when they really need him," Mr. +Rogers answered. "Now, Joe, you go home and do what he told you. I'll be +over to see your mother later, and tell her to keep an eye on you." + +Tom went with the scout master in the opposite direction, his face very +grave. + +"Is--is--has old Joey got consumption?" he managed to ask, his lips dry +and a lump coming up in his chest. + +The scout master looked at his young patrol leader, and then put a hand +over his shoulder. + +"The doctor won't say for certain till he's examined the sputum," Mr. +Rogers replied, "but I'm afraid he's got the beginnings of it. Now, +don't take it hard, and don't say a word to Joe or his mother or anybody +else. He's young, and it's just beginning, and we'll pull him through in +good shape, and make a well man of him again. But you must make him do +just what the doctor says, and stand by him." + +"Stand by him!" cried Tom, two tears coming into his eyes in spite of +himself. "Say, he's my best friend, isn't he? What do you take me for?" + +"I take you for a good scout," said Mr. Rogers. + + + + +CHAPTER II--Joe Learns How Many Friends He Has, and Achieves +a Tent to Sleep In + + +Tom could hardly sleep that night, for thinking about his friend. The +doctor would probably tell him he'd got to go to the Adirondacks to +live, or maybe to Colorado or New Mexico; Tom knew that people with bad +lungs were sent to those places. But how was Joe going to get there, and +how was he going to live when he got there? Joe's mother was a widow, +with two other, younger children, and it was hard enough for her to send +Joe through high school, in spite of what he earned in summer driving a +mowing machine on the golf links. If he had consumption, the doctor +wouldn't let him work--he would make him keep quiet. How was it going to +be managed? Tom kept turning over this problem in his head, till he +finally fell asleep for very weariness. + +The next day he and Mr. Rogers again went with Joe to Dr. Meyer's. On +the road Tom was silent and serious. + +"Say, what's the matter with you, Spider? You look as if you were going +to my funeral," said Joe. + +"Yes, what's the matter with you?" Mr. Rogers added, giving him a sharp +look which Joe didn't see. "Scouts are supposed to be cheerful, aren't +they?" + +"Yes, sir," Tom answered, trying to grin. But he made rather a poor job +of it, he was so worried and anxious. + +Dr. Meyer sat them all down in his office. + +"Well," he said, turning to Joe, "how do you feel this morning? Did you +keep still as I told you to?" + +"You bet he did!" Tom put in. + +"We'll see, we'll see," the doctor smiled, putting a thermometer into +Joe's mouth, and picking up his left wrist to feel his pulse. + +"Now, that's better than yesterday," he added, after examining the +thermometer. "You see what resting does. I guess you'll have to do some +more of it." + +"You mean I can't play second next week, either?" Joe cried. + +"I mean you can't play second for a long time," said the doctor, +gravely. + +"Is--is there something the matter with me?" Joe cried, growing a little +pale. + +"There isn't much yet, but there will be, if you don't do what I tell +you," the doctor answered. "You have a case of incipient tuberculosis, +that hasn't developed enough yet so we can't cure it, and make you weigh +a hundred and eighty pounds by the time you are twenty, or even +nineteen. You ought to be a big man, you know. But it will all depend on +you." + +Tom was leaning half out of his chair to listen. + +"What must he do, doctor?" he asked, unable to keep silent. + +"Are you going to make him do it?" the doctor smiled. + +"I am, or--or bust his old head," Tom replied, with such heartfelt +affection that both the men laughed. + +"Do you sleep with your windows wide open at night?" the doctor asked +Joe. + +"Why--I--I can't in winter, 'cause ma won't let me; it makes the room +too cold for the kid, she says." + +"What!" Dr. Meyer exclaimed. "Do you sleep with a small brother?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, the first thing you do is to stop that! You must sleep in a room +by yourself. It's not safe for your brother. You must sleep with the +windows wide open." + +"Couldn't he have my tent, and sleep outdoors?" Tom put in. + +"Better still," the doctor replied. "Now, I'm going to make up a list of +what you are to eat and drink, and a schedule of how you are to rest, +and how much you can walk around." + +"Walk around?" Joe said, bewildered. "I _have_ to walk to school, and +back." + +"No you don't. No more school for you this term," the doctor answered. + +Joe's jaw dropped. "Why--I--I--I'll not get promoted into the senior +class, then!" he gasped. "Oh, please, I _must_ go to school!" + +"Good gracious, here's a boy that _wants_ to go to school!" laughed Dr. +Meyer. "It does you credit, my son, but it can't be." + +"But it's been so hard for mother----" + +"It would be harder for her if you couldn't go to school at all--ever, +wouldn't it?" said the doctor, leaning forward and laying a kindly hand +on Joe's knee. + +"Yes--yes, sir," said Joe, who was now pretty white and scared. + +"Dr. Meyer," Tom put in, "oughtn't Joe to go away somewhere to the +mountains--the Adirondacks, or Colorado, or--or some place?" + +"Well, he'd undoubtedly mend quicker in the Rockies, if he could be +looked after," the doctor replied. "I wouldn't say it's absolutely +necessary in his case, but if he knows somebody out there to look after +him, and can afford it----" + +"'Course I can't afford it, Spider," Joe put in. "Quit pipe dreamin'." + +"I'm not pipe dreaming," Tom replied. "If you'll get well quicker in the +Rockies, you're going to the Rockies, and I'm going along to take care +of you." + +"How are you going to manage it, Tom?" said Mr. Rogers. + +"I--I dunno, but I'm _going_ to, somehow. Old Joe's got to get well and +finish high school, and room with me in college, and then we're going to +be civil engineers or foresters, and----" + +"But the first thing is to get well," the doctor interrupted. "You can +plan for the Rockies later. Right now we must see about Joe's diet and +daily schedule." + +After he had drawn these up--and it seemed to Joe he'd got to live on +raw eggs and milk and cod liver oil, and spend most of his life in a +chair on the porch--the two boys and the scout master departed. + +It was now Joe who was depressed and glum, and Tom who needed no +prompting to be cheerful. The minute he saw his chum in the dumps, he +set about restoring his spirits. + +"Buck up, old scout," he cried. "The doc told you it would be all right. +Gee, what's just sitting on the porch for a few weeks? You won't have to +translate any old Caesar, and I'll come every day to see you swallowing +cod liver oil, and then as soon as I can get it doped out, we'll hit the +trail for the Rocky Mountains. Don't you want to see the Rocky +Mountains?" + +"Oh, quit your kidding," poor Joe answered. "The only way I'll ever see +the Rocky Mountains is in the movies." + +"Don't you fool yourself. Mr. Rogers and I'll dope out something yet, +won't we, Mr. Rogers?" + +"We'll put our heads together hard, anyhow," the scout master answered. +"But first, Tom, we must get the scouts together and find a way in which +we can all help Joe's mother, now Joe can't haul wood and do heavy +work." + +"That's easy, sir. And we must teach all the scouts to stop sleeping +with their windows shut, too, mustn't we?" + +"Alas!" said Mr. Rogers. "I thought I had. I guess we've got to teach +the mothers and fathers to let them open the windows. And that's not +easy, Tom." + +"I s'pose not. Funny how afraid some folks are of fresh air. Well, old +Joe's going to get plenty. I'm going to set up my tent in his yard this +afternoon." + +"Not your new tent, Spider, it might spoil it," said Joe. + +"Spoil your grandmother," Tom retorted. "I guess it's my tent and I can +do what I please with it, can't I? You go home and drink a tumbler of +cod liver oil." + +"I'm going with him, and have a talk with his mother," said Mr. Rogers. +"You can bring the tent after dinner, and if you need a cot bed for it, +stop at my house and get my folding camp cot. That'll be my +contribution." + +"Sure, we'll fix him up so he'll never want to move into the house +again," cried Tom, hurrying off toward his house. + +His tent, a Christmas present from his father and mother, was Tom's +proudest possession. It was made of balloon silk, very thin and light, +but water-proof. It could "sleep" two occupants comfortably, and had +mosquito netting screens for the flaps, and a little screen curtain for +the rear window. It could be erected either on poles or on a rope strung +between two trees. Yet the whole tent could be rolled up into a bundle +which you could tuck under your arm, and it weighed but fifteen pounds. +It cost a considerable sum of money, for Tom's parents, while not rich, +wanted to make Tom a good present that last Christmas as a reward for +his improvement in his school work. We might as well tell the truth +about it, for a story that doesn't tell the truth is sure to get found +out. Tom, in his sophomore year in the high school, had been a pretty +poor student. He was "bright enough," as his teachers said, but he would +not study. He had got interested in so many things that seemed more +worth while to him than books--trapping, building a cabin in the woods, +football and baseball, and especially the scouts. But after his +sophomore year was over, and the summer vacation, too, was nearly done, +Mr. Rogers called him into the studio one day and had a long talk with +him. The result of that talk was that he came out pretty well ashamed of +himself. Here he was a patrol leader in the scouts, Mr. Rogers pointed +out, and right end on the high school team, with the prospect of being +captain his senior year--in other words, one of the leaders among the +boys. It was up to him, then, to set the rest a good example. Besides, +he wanted to go to college, did he not, or to a forestry school? Did he +not know that there were examinations to be passed? And what good was a +surveyor or an engineer or a forester who did not know his business? Did +Tom think you could know your business without studying? And that did +not mean beginning to study some time in the future--it meant beginning +now! Mr. Rogers ended up by telling him he was a bad scout, a bit of a +slacker, which got to him more than anything else that was said. + +He went out of the studio very sober, and he began to work that fall +term as he had never worked in school before. Of course, he soon found +out that if he got his lessons every day, it was really very much easier +to keep along than it had been when he used to let them slide for two or +three days at a time, and then try to catch up. In fact, it was really +no trouble at all, and from almost the tail end of the class, he +suddenly moved up to number four. His father and mother were so +delighted that they gave him the balloon silk tent for Christmas. + +As soon as dinner was over, he got this tent out of his closet, wrapped +in its canvas bag, took his scout axe and some sticks from the wood-shed +to make pegs with, and started for Joe's house. On the way he stopped +for Mr. Rogers' folding cot bed. He found Joe sitting on the back porch, +in the sun, and he made him stay there, though poor Joe wanted to come +down and help set the tent up. + +There were two trees in the back yard, and between them Tom strung a +double strand of clothesline, through the rings on the top of the tent. +Then he carefully raked the ground below, and with a shovel filled in a +little hollow so that the rain water would drain away and not come in +under. Then he stretched the tent, cut his pieces of wood into pegs, and +pegged it down. After that, he unfolded and set up the cot bed, and with +the help of Joe's mother made up the bed with blankets, put an old rug +on the ground beside it, brought out an old chair, a small table, a +candlestick and candle, and a washbowl and pitcher. + +"There!" he cried. "That's good enough for anybody. Now, old Cod Liver, +you can sleep outdoors, rain or shine." + +Joe insisted on coming down to see his "new room," and while they were +inspecting it three of the Moose Patrol came into the yard. They had +heard the news about Joe--"by wireless, I guess," Tom said, for he had +not told anybody except his own father and mother--and had come to see +what they could do to help. + +"Say, that's some swell bedroom, Joe," said Bob Sawtelle. "Wish I had +one like it. Ma wouldn't always be callin' me down for spillin' water on +the wall paper." + +"What do you mean, spillin' water on the wall paper?" Joe demanded. +"What do you do, throw it around the room?" + +"Aw, no, but a feller splashes around washin' his face, and dumpin' the +bowl into the slop basin, don't he?" + +"I guess you do," Tom laughed. "Do you fellows really want to help old +Joey?" + +"That's what we're here for," said all three. + +"All right, we'll get the kindlings split for the next week, and the +coal brought up for Mrs. Clark. Where's the axe, Joe?" + +Joe showed them, and the four boys went at the wood-pile and the coal +bin. They split enough kindlings to last at least a week, filled up the +wood-box by the kitchen stove and piled more wood behind it and carried +up three hods of coal besides a big basket full. + +"You're awful good to do this for Joe and me," said Mrs. Clark. + +"Oh, that's what scouts are for," Tom declared. "Some of us are going to +come around every day and 'tend to things, so old Joey can mind the +doctor, aren't we, fellows?" + +"Sure thing." + +"Ra-_ther_." + +"You bet." + +"Say, Spider," Walter Howard suggested, "you ought to call a scout +meeting and get everybody in on this--divide it up so one scout comes +every day for a week on his way home from school. Why, old Joe'll be +well again before we've all had a turn!" + +"That's what I'm going to do, Walt, Tuesday night. Pass the word along." + +"I know what my old man's goin' to say," Bob remarked. + +"Well, what's he goin' to say? Spring it." + +"He's goin' to say, 'If you boys were asked to split kindlings for your +own mothers every day, you'd put up an awful holler.'" + +"Oh, sure, mine too," laughed Walt. "They always say that. Seems as if +they thought we were splitting kindlings because we liked to split +kindlings, instead of because we like old Joey." + +"That's the dope," said Tom. "Funny how folks don't see things +sometimes." + +"Ain't it?" said Bob. "Well, so long, Joe, old scout. Hope you sleep +well in the tent." + +"So long, Bob." + +"So long"--from the others. + +"So long, fellows--much obliged." + +Only Tom was left. + +"It's pretty nice to have so many friends," said Joe, "even if you have +to get sick to find it out." + +"Now you've found out, you get well again," Spider laughed. "I'll stop +on my way to school in the morning and see you, and find out what books +you want brought home. So long, old top." + +"So long, Spider." + +Tom went out of the gate, or, rather, over it, vaulting it with one +hand. Joe's mother came out on the porch and put one arm around the +boy's neck, and with the other hand felt his forehead. + +"I don't think you've got so much fever to-night," she said. + +"It's 'cause the fellers have cut all the wood and hauled the coal, that +used to make me so tired. Gee, they're good scouts, aren't they, +ma--'specially old Spider." + +"Yes, Joe," said she, "there are a lot of good people in the world." + +"You bet," said Joe. + + + + +CHAPTER III--Spider Finds a Way to Get to the Rocky Mountains, +to "Pump Joe's Pipes Full of Ozone" + + +There are no doubt a lot of good people in the world, as Mrs. Clark +said, but there is no doubt that a great many of them are forgetful. Tom +Seymour found this out in the next few weeks. The scouts meant well, but +every two or three days the one whose turn it was to look after the +Clark wood and coal and do whatever heavy work there was to be +done,--work too heavy for Joe's little brother and sister--would forget +the duty. Tom, however, never forgot, for he went there every day, to +study his lessons with Joe so Joe could keep up in his school work, and +when the kindlings had not been split or the coal brought up, he did it. + +"I don't know what I should do without you, Tom," said Mrs. Clark. "I +feel guilty, too, because I feel as if you ought to be at home doing it +for your own mother." + +Tom laughed. "It's a funny thing," he said, "but having this on my mind +has stopped my forgetting at home. I used to forget all the time, but +now, when I go home, ma's wood-box is the first thing I think of. I kind +of got the habit, I guess!" + +Meanwhile Tom was turning over and over in his mind plans for getting +Joe out into the high, dry air of the Rocky Mountains as soon as school +was over. The first thing to think about was how to raise the money to +get there. In his own case, it would be easy, because he had over a +hundred dollars in the savings bank, which he had earned in the past +five years, or which had been given to him at Christmas, and which he +had saved up. But Joe had never been able to save his earnings--he had +needed them all for his clothes and to help his mother out. It was Bob +Sawtelle who solved that problem. + +"Let's us scouts give a dance and a strawberry festival for old Joey," +he said. "We can all of us pick some strawberries, enough for the feed, +an' get our mothers to make cake, an' Bill Andrus's father'll give us +the cream from his dairy, an' the girls'll help us serve, an' +everybody'll come when they know it's for old Joey, an' there'll be two +hundred people there, an' we'll soak 'em fifty cents, and that'll clear +'most a hundred bones, an'----" + +"And you'd better take in some breath," laughed Tom, "while I tell you +that's a fine idea. It's as good as settled now." + +Tom was so sure of the success of the strawberry festival, in fact, that +he began at once to consider what they were going to do when they got +out West. Here he had to have Mr. Rogers' help. The scout master wrote +some letters, and a week later called Tom into the studio. + +"I think I've got it," he said, "that is, if you are willing to work, +and don't care what you do." + +"That's me, when it's for old Joey," Spider declared. + +"Well, here's the proposition. Ever hear of Glacier National Park?" + +"I've seen some pictures of it in a magazine," said Tom. "Looked good to +me, too!" + +"I guess it's a pretty fine place, though I was never there. It is up in +the northwestern part of Montana, on the Great Northern Railroad, and +there are two big hotels in the Park, right under the mountains, and +some smaller hotels they call chalets, because they are built like Swiss +chalets. A friend of mine who is connected with the railroad tells me +these hotels, which open late in June, always need bell-boys. They are +so far from any cities, or even any towns of any sort, that it's hard to +get labor out there. Now, I guess you could get a job as bellhop all +right, though I don't know whether Joe's strong enough to work yet. We'd +have to ask the doctor first. If he isn't, my plan would be for you to +take your tent along, and two folding cot beds, and get permission to +pitch it out in the woods near the hotel. You wouldn't have any other +use for your money out there, so you could probably support Joe all +right, and he could do the cooking. He's a good cook, isn't he?" + +"Sure--the best in the patrol. He's got a merit badge for cooking, you +know." + +"Of course, they might object to having a tuberculous person in the +hotel, but if he kept out in the woods, there wouldn't be any trouble, +my friend says. Besides, Joe isn't a bad case. He's plainly getting +better all the time. I think we can fix it, if you are willing to take +the job, and look after him. Being a bellhop isn't just the job I'd pick +out for you, or any boy, if I had the choosing. You have to be a bit of +a bootlick, and people will give you tips, which is against all scout +rules." + +"But the tips won't be for me, they'll be for old Joey," said Tom. + +"Exactly. And they will be given to you for work you do. They will +really be your pay, for you won't get much other pay. It all depends on +how you take them. If you serve people who don't give you tips as well +and as cheerfully as you serve the others, it will be all right. We've +got to get Joe well, and we can't pick and choose. So I'll put it up to +you. I guess I can trust you not to become a tip hog. And if you find +any better way to earn Joe's keep out there, where you won't have to +take tips to get your living, you take it, won't you?" + +"You bet I will!" cried Tom. "Maybe I can become a--a cowboy, or +something." + +Mr. Rogers smiled. "You'll have to learn to ride a horse first." + +"Oh, I can ride a horse." + +"You may think you can, but after you've seen a real cowboy ride, you'll +know you're only in the kindergarten class," the scout master laughed. + +Now that it seemed reasonably sure that he could get Joe to the Rockies, +and find a way to live after they got there, Tom went at the task of +arranging the strawberry festival. Of course, he made Bob Sawtelle +chairman of the "festival committee," because it was Bob's idea to start +with. All the scouts whose fathers or mothers had strawberry beds were +"rounded up," and a list made of how many baskets could be expected. +Little Tim Sawyer, who was clever with a pencil or brush, made several +posters to hang in the post-office and the stores. Spider himself wrote +some notices for the weekly paper. Mr. Martin, who owned Martin's block, +where the festival was to be held, promised them the hall rent free, and +as the cream was promised to them, also, and the cakes were made by the +mothers, about all they had to buy was the sugar. + +"Oh, we're forgetting the drinks!" Bob suddenly cried, "and the music! +We can't have a dance without music." + +Some of the high school girls, Joe's classmates, promised to furnish the +fruit punch, and serve it, too, so that was easily settled. The music--a +pianist and two violins--the boys hired from a near-by town, at a cost +of fifteen dollars. With the sugar and a few other little expenses, +their total outlay was about twenty dollars. The affair was so well +advertised, however, and all the scouts went around selling tickets for +so many days in advance, that when the evening came (it was a fine +night, too, in June), there were two hundred and fifty people in the +hall, and the scouts who took tickets at the door were kept busy till +their fingers ached. The strawberries were all used up, and Bob and Tom +had to rush out to the drug store to buy ice-cream for some of the late +comers. That cut into part of their profits, but of course they could +not refuse to give something to eat to the people who had paid for it. +When the hard work of serving all these people was over, and the dancing +had begun, Bob and Tom took all the money into a back room, and counted +it up. With the musicians and the sugar paid for, and the ice-cream from +the druggist's, there was left a little over ninety dollars clear +profit. + +"Hooray!" cried Tom, "that'll get old Joey to Glacier Park easy! Now, if +I could only hear from my application for a job, we'd start next Monday. +School is over. Gosh, there's no sense hanging 'round here." + +"Bet you hear to-morrow," said Bob. "I wish I was going, too, Spider." + +"Come along," cried Tom. "It's going to be great. I'm going to get a job +as a guide, or something, when I get out there and learn the ropes, and +climb all over the mountains and maybe see a goat or a grizzly bear!" + +"Well, you bring me a bearskin for a rug, and we'll call it quits," Bob +answered. "I guess next year I'll get up a strawberry festival for +myself. Maybe I can get sick, or something, this winter." + +"A lot you can, you old fatty," Tom laughed. "You look about as sick +as--as a pig before killing." + +Bob nearly upset the pile of money, trying to reach for Tom's head, to +punch it. + +Sure enough, the very next day Tom did hear from his application. He +rushed over to Mr. Rogers' studio. + +"Look," he cried. "I get a job all right, but I don't know just what it +means. It says I'm to be in charge of the Many Glacier tepee camp, if I +turn out to be big enough, and suit the boss. Otherwise, I'll be a +bellhop in the Many Glacier Hotel. I'll get forty dollars a month and +board at the camp. What's a tepee camp?" + +"You know as much about it as I do," the scout master said. "I suppose +it's a camp composed of Indian tepees, which the hotel rents to people +who'd rather camp out than stay inside. Anyhow, I hope you get that job, +for I don't like to think of one of my scouts taking tips all the time, +the way a bellhop gets to do. It's un-American. Probably Joe could help +you 'round the tepee camp, anyway with the cooking. And speaking of Joe, +the first thing we must do is to take him 'round to Dr. Meyer's again, +and find out just what he can and can't do, and what you've got to feed +him, and so forth. Suppose we go right now." + +The doctor gave Joe another thorough examination, from head to foot, and +then put him on the scales. He smiled as the weight had to be pushed +twelve pounds beyond where it hung in May. + +"You see what rest, food and minding the doctor does," said he. "Well, +my boy, you're on the mend. As a matter of fact, there isn't very much +the matter with you now except a weakened condition and, of course, a +tendency to relapse without proper care. A year in the Rocky Mountains +ought to make a well man of you." + +"A year!" Joe exclaimed. "We're only going for the summer." + +"Well, the summer will help," said the doctor. "Keep on eating your milk +and eggs, if you can get 'em, but probably after you've been in the +woods a while you won't worry much about your food--you'll gobble what +you can get, and so long as you feel right, go ahead. I'll give your +friend a clinical thermometer to take your temperature, and you must get +weighed once in so often. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a doctor +look you over now and then, too, if one comes into the Park. The things +you must look out for are over-exertion and exposure. I wouldn't do +anything but light work for a month yet, at least, and no climbing or +long walks. If you must go somewhere, go on horseback, at a slow pace. +And keep warm and dry." + +"Well, Joe, that's a fine, encouraging report!" the scout master +declared as they left. "You keep on minding the doc, and you'll be a +well man." + +"He'll keep on minding him, all right, all right," said Tom, putting his +arm around Joe's shoulder, and then tightening it around his neck till +Joe's head was forced over where he could give it a friendly punch. + +Joe started to duck and punch back, but Spider cried, "Here--cut that +out! No over-exertion!"--and then the three laughed and hurried on, to +make arrangements for the departure of the boys. + +Clothing, of course, was the most important thing, and the boys got out +their trunks and selected what they would need, with the aid of a folder +describing conditions in the Park. They took their scout suits, of +course, with leggins, and their heaviest high boots. Tom also added a +box of steel spikes and a key to screw them in with. They also took +their sweaters, and mackinaws, though it seemed foolish to be taking +mackinaws for a summer trip. Then they packed two suits of winter +underwear, several pairs of heavy wool socks for tramping, two flannel +outing shirts, and rubber ponchos, which both boys had bought the year +before when the scouts took a five day hike. Then, of course, they took +their knapsacks, and both boys sent for dunnage bags of stout canvas. +They took their scout axes and cooking kits, knives, Tom's camera, +compasses, and notebooks to keep diaries in. Tom had a folding camp +lantern for which they got a box of candles. For bedding, each packed +two pairs of heavy double blankets, and Joe's mother insisted on making +a separate bundle of a winter bed puff, which, as it turned out later, +he was glad enough to have. They also put in their winter pajamas, their +scout hats, and some old leather gloves. Finally, they got some packages +of dehydrated vegetables, soup sticks, powdered egg, army rations, and +tabloid tea, to use on walking trips if Joe got strong enough to tramp. +Such condensed and light weight rations, Mr. Rogers thought, probably +could not be purchased in the Park. + +It was a lovely day, almost at the end of June, when the two boys +finally started. There had been a scout meeting the night before, at +which Bob Sawtelle, who was to act as patrol leader in Spider's absence, +had made a speech for the rest and presented Joe with a pocket camera, +the gift of the entire troop. It was a short speech, but to the point. + +"Old Joey's pipes have gone on the blink," he said, "and he's got to +beat it out West to pump 'em full of ozone. We other fellers thought +we'd like to see what he's seen, when he gets back, so we all chipped in +and got a camera. Here it is, Joe, and don't try to snap Spider with it, +or you'll bust the lens." + +Joe tried to make a speech in reply, but he couldn't do it. He just took +the camera, and said, "Gee, fellows, you're--you're all to the good." + +"And don't you worry about your mother's coal, either," Bob added. +"We're going to keep right on fillin' the hods, and if anybody forgets +when it's his turn, I'm goin' to beat him on the bean." + +"That's a good one," cried little Sam Cowan. "You forgot yourself +yesterday!" + +"Well, I ain't goin' to forget any more, or let you, either," Bob +answered. + +Bob and several more scouts, as well as Mr. Rogers, Joe's mother and +little brother and sister, and Tom's family, were all down at the depot +to see the boys off in the morning. There were kisses and some tears +from the women, and a scout cheer from the boys, and cries of "Have you +got your axe, Spider?" and "Joe, dear, are you sure you put in your comb +and brush?" and "Tom, dear, now don't forget to send mother a postcard +just as soon as you get there," and "Say, Joey, bring home a Rocky +Mountain sheep's head for the clubroom," and "Hi, Spider, don't forget a +grizzly bear rug for me, so my little tootsies won't be cold when I hop +out of bed." + +The train came, the boys got aboard, it pulled out, and looking back +they saw their friends and parents on the platform, waving good-bye, and +the church spires and housetops of their village vanishing into the June +green of the tree tops. + +"Well," said Tom, "we're off for the Rocky Mountains!" + +Joe rubbed his eyes. "Sure we are!" he answered. "I kind of hate to +leave ma, though, and the kids." + +Tom slapped him on the shoulder. + +"Sure you do," he said. "But it's so you can come back a husky, well +man, to look out for 'em better than ever. Don't you forget that, old +scout!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV--Tom and Joe Cross the Continent With Their Faces Glued +to the Car Window and Reach the Rocky Mountains + + +Neither Tom nor Joe had ever been West before, even as far as Chicago. +As soon as they had changed cars to the through train, not far from +their home town, each armed with a ticket about a yard and a half long, +and got settled in their seats in the sleeping car, they glued +themselves to the windows, and watched the country. There was something +new to see every minute--the Berkshire Hills, the Hudson River at +Albany, the great factories at Schenectady, the Mohawk River and the +Erie Canal, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo. They slept soundly that +night, and woke up as they were passing along the southern shore of Lake +Michigan. In Chicago they had to change cars again, to another station, +and they had time, after seeing that their baggage was transferred, to +walk around a little, among the high buildings, and out to the lake +front. + +"It's an awful dirty place, strikes me," said Joe. "All the buildings +look as if somebody had spilled soot over 'em." + +"I guess somebody has," Tom answered. "I guess they burn soft coal here. +The air's full of it. Wait till we get to the Rockies, though; there's +the air!" + +The trip from Chicago to St. Paul was even more interesting than the +first stage, because after a while the train followed the bank of the +Mississippi River (the scouts had a railroad folder with a map spread +out in their seat, to see where they were every minute), and there was +something thrilling to both of them about the first sight of the great +river, which they had heard about all their lives. + +"Say, it's yellow, all right," Joe exclaimed. "I'd rather go swimming in +our old hole back home, I guess. It ain't so awful big, either." + +"Not way up here. We're a thousand miles from the mouth. But you'd +better not try to jump it, even here--not till you get well," Tom +laughed. + +At St. Paul they changed once more, for the final train, the +trans-continental limited which would take them right through to the +Park. + +"Golly, we won't see any of Minnesota," Tom complained. "It'll be dark +while we go through that. And look at all those lakes we pass." He +pointed to the map. + +"Well, there has to be night as well as day out here, just like home. I +guess we can't do anything about it," said Joe. "I'm kind o' glad to +sleep, at that." + +"Poor old Joe, I forget you get tired," Tom cried, penitently. "Seems to +me I _never_ want to go to sleep, with so much to see!" + +"Oh, I'm not tired any more,--just sleepy," Joe said, bravely. But Tom +saw he was tired, and called the porter to make up the berths. + +They woke up in the prairie country of North Dakota--or, rather, Spider +did. He was sleeping in the upper berth, of course, so Joe could have +all the air possible, and he climbed down as quietly as he could and +went into the observation car to see where they were. It was bright +sunlight, almost as it would be at home at eight o'clock, yet his watch +told him it was only a little after four. He looked out of the window on +a strange land--on the prairies about which he had read all his life and +never seen before. He had been disappointed in the Mississippi River, +but there was no disappointment here. They were more wonderful than he +had ever dreamed--just one endless green sea of growing wheat stretching +to the horizon, without a hill or a valley, as flat as the floor of the +ocean. Indeed, they looked like a green ocean, with the small houses, +the big red barns and silos, the little groves of trees behind the barns +for a windbreak, rising like islands every mile or so. The whole world +here seemed to be grain. Everything was under cultivation, there were no +trees at all except the groves planted beside the farmhouses, mile after +mile as far as the eye could see to the far horizon rolled the sea of +young wheat, or else the golden stubble where the winter crop had been +harvested. + +For the first time, Tom understood what men mean when they speak of "the +great wheat fields of the West," for the first time he realized the +bigness of America. He wanted to go wake Joe at once, and if Joe hadn't +been sick, he certainly would have done so. As it was, he let him sleep +till six, and then he couldn't stand it any longer, and shook him awake. + +"Joe! we're on the prairie!" he cried. + +All that day, mile after mile, they traveled through the wheat, with +never a break in the vast monotony of the level land, the endless +procession of houses and barns far off, like islands in the green sea. +The sun did not set till late, and even at nine o'clock they could read +on the back platform of the observation car, as the prairie turned +dusky, and in the west the lingering sunset was like a sunset over the +sea. + +"My, it's been a wonderful day!" Joe sighed, as they went to bed. "I +feel as if I'd just been soaked in _bigness_. I guess the Rockies aren't +any bigger than these prairies. But what gets me, though, is how the +kids here go sliding in winter." + +A man on the platform beside them laughed. + +"Say, I never saw a toboggan till I went East after I was twenty-one +years old," he said. "But I've seen some drifts that were twenty feet +high, and that's quite a hill for us." + +The next morning Tom again was the first awake, and he hurried out to +see the prairie once more--but there was no prairie. The world looked +exactly as if there had come a great wind or earthquake in the night and +kicked the calm prairie sea up into waves. There were still no trees, +only a great expanse of grayish grass and wild flowers, but you couldn't +see far from the train in any direction, because the land was so cut up +with the billows, little rounded hills and earth waves maybe fifty feet +high. This was the cattle country now, and every little while a rough +log cabin and log stables, half dug out of the side of a bank, would +appear beside the track, and there would be cattle and horses grazing +over the slopes. Again Spider waked Joe, and they watched for a cowboy, +but none appeared. + +As they were eating an early breakfast, the train seemed to be running +into more level prairie country again, though it never settled back into +the really flat prairies. Presently they stopped at a little town, with +a single street of low wooden and brick stores and houses, and no trees, +and the two scouts got out to stretch their legs. The first thing they +saw as they alighted was a cowboy! Clad in a flannel shirt, with big +black fur chaps down his legs and a wide-brimmed felt hat mysteriously +sticking on his head, he came dashing up about a mile a minute, kicking +up a tremendous dust, and pulling his horse down with a quick sweep that +stopped him exactly against the platform. The boys were so interested in +him that it was not till they were getting aboard again, at the +conductor's shout, that Joe looked to the west, and cried, "Spider, +quick! Look there!" + +Tom followed his finger, and, lo! there they were, the Rocky Mountains! +As far to the north, as far to the south, as the eye could see stretched +the great, blue procession of towering peaks, dazzling white with great +patches of snow on summits and shoulders, and seemingly only a few miles +away. + +"And we could have seen 'em _hours_ ago, if we'd only been looking +ahead," Joe complained, as they took their seats on the observation +platform. "They can't be more'n ten miles off now." + +A big, heavy man who was sitting there laughed loudly. + +"Guess you ain't never been out here before, have you?" he asked. + +"No, we never have." + +"Well, this train's making thirty miles an hour, and we got three hours +to go yet before we get to them hills," he went on. "You chaps remind me +of a story, about a friend o' mine who was prospectin' up here before +the government made a park out o' Glacier. An Englishman came along one +day, and he started out to walk to the base o' one o' them mountains +before breakfast, so my friend, bein' just naturally curious, allowed +he'd go along too. Fust, though, he sneaked out and got a bite o' grub. +Well, they walked and walked till along about ten o'clock, and the +mountain not gettin' any nearer. By'mby they come to a brook a baby +could have jumped, and the Englishman started to peel off his clothes. + +"'What in blazes be you goin' to do?' asked my friend. + +"'Well,' said the bally Britisher, 'that _looks_ like a brook, but I +ain't taking no chances.'" + +Tom and Joe laughed. + +"I've always heard you could see awfully plain out here," said Tom. "It +must bother you at first sighting a gun." + +"I reckon it does bother a stranger. I seen fellers sight for a goat at +four hundred yards, when he was a clean eight hundred, and kick up the +dust on the rocks twenty feet below him." + +"Have you hunted goats?" the boys demanded. + +"What I've not hunted, _ain't_," said the man. "I don't know what folks +want goats for, though. They're the hardest work to get, and no good +when you get 'em. A bighorn, now!" + +"What's a bighorn?" asked Joe. + +The man looked at him in profound surprise. "By glory, don't you know +what a bighorn is?" he demanded. "Where do you come from, anyhow? A +bighorn's a Rocky Mountain sheep, the old ram of the flock, with horns +fifty inches long that curl around in a circle, and he's the handsomest, +finest, proudest lookin' critter God Almighty ever made. Wait till you +see one!" + +"Do you think we can see one in the Park this summer?" the boys asked. + +"If you climb up a cliff about seven thousand feet and make a noise like +a bunch o' grass, I reckon maybe you can," said the stranger. + +The next three hours were about the longest the boys had ever spent. +They went back into the sleeper as soon as the berths were moved out of +the way and they could sit at the window, and with their faces glued to +the pane strained their eyes ahead to see the mountains. Whenever the +road made a curve, they could see them plainly, a vast, sawtooth range +of blue peaks, some of them sharp like pyramids, some of them rounded +into domes, marching down out of the north and stretching away to the +south as far as the eye could see. Not only were they bigger mountains +than the scouts had ever seen, even on a trip the year before to the +White Mountains in New Hampshire, but all over them, on their summits, +in great patches on their sides, sometimes quite covering an entire +peak, were great fields of snow. Here it was about the 4th of July, with +flowers blooming in the grass beside the track and a blazing hot sun in +the heavens--and the mountains just out there covered with vast fields +of snow! + +"Gee, I wish the old engineer'd put on some steam!" sighed Joe. + +"I wish he would," Tom answered. "But I guess that snow ain't all going +to melt before we get there. Say, Joe, why do you suppose that range +goes right up out of the prairie without any foot-hills? Remember, when +we went to the White Mountains we got into smaller mountains long before +we reached Washington? They went up like steps. But here the Rockies +just jump right up out of the plain." + +"I don't know--wish I'd studied geology. Maybe the guy who had the +friend who walked with the Englishman can tell us." + +Tom shook his head. "I have a hunch he knows more about goats than +geology," said he. "Maybe we can get a book at the Park." + +The mountains were now getting perceptibly nearer. They were becoming +less blue, the snow showed more plainly on their sharp peaks and great +shoulders, and the boys began to pack up their handbags and get ready to +disembark. + +Their rear-platform friend, coming through the car, stopped and laughed. + +"Don't go trying to jump no brooks, now," he said. + +"Sure--we'll throw a stone first," Spider answered. "Can you tell us why +the Rocky Mountains haven't any foot-hills?" + +The stranger seemed to take this very seriously. "They did have once," +said he, "but they was all dug away for the gold and copper." + +Then he passed on, still laughing. + +"He's a good scout," laughed Joe. + +"But I'd hate to have him for a geology teacher," Tom answered. + +The mountains didn't seem much nearer than they had looked for half an +hour when the train finally rolled up to the Glacier Park station and +stopped. The boys, together with several tourists, got off, and the +minute they stepped on the platform they felt how much cooler it was +than back in St. Paul, and how much purer the air. + +"Take a big lungful, Joey," Tom cried. "This is the real old ozone!" + +The station is at the gate of the mountains, where the railroad enters +the pass which takes it through the range. The mountains here do not +look very high, for you are so close under that you do not see much of +them. The boys looked up at a ragged wall to the north, covered first +with fir timber and then with snow patches on the reddish rocks. Behind +them to the east, they looked out over the rolling plains. Close by the +station was a big hotel, several stories high, but built entirely of +huge fir logs. Even the tall columns in front were single logs. + +"I suppose I go up there and report," said Tom. "Let's see if our +baggage is all here, first" + +They found the baggage on the platform, and set out for the hotel, +passing on the way an Indian tepee, with pictures painted on the +outside, and smoke ascending from the peak. This was the home of old +Chief Three Bears, the boys learned, a Blackfeet Indian who lives here +by the hotel in summer, and welcomes arriving guests. He was coming down +the path, in fact, as the boys walked up, a tall Indian, over six feet, +and looking taller still because of his great feathered head-dress. He +was very old, but still erect, though his face was covered all over with +tiny wrinkles. + +The two scouts stopped and saluted him. + +Old Three Bears smiled at them, and grunted, "Okeea" (with the accent on +the first syllable, and the _ee_ and _a_ sounds slid together). Then he +held his blanket around him with his left hand, and putting out his +right, solemnly shook both boys by their hands. + +"Say, the old Chief's got a big fist, all right," said Joe, as they went +on. "I'll bet he was strong once." + +"He must 'a' been good looking, too," said Tom. "I didn't know Indians +were so big and--and sort of noble looking." + +They now entered the great lobby of the hotel, which, like the outside, +was all made of fir logs, with tremendous trunks, bark and all, used as +the columns clear to the fourth story. Hunting out the manager, they +learned that they were to take the motor bus for Many Glacier Hotel in +fifteen minutes, and they just had time to go to the news stand and +secure a government map of the Park and a government report about its +geology, before turning in their baggage checks and climbing aboard the +bus, a four-seated motor something like a "Seeing New York" automobile. +This bus was full, three on a seat, and a moment later the driver +cranked his engine, gave a toot on his horn, and they were off. + + + + +CHAPTER V--The Scouts Learn Why the Rocky Mountains Have No Foot-Hills +and Arrive at Many Glacier + + +They had about fifty miles to go, northward, straight away from the +railroad. It was a clear, lovely day, the air so transparent that you +could apparently walk to the top of one of those mountains in an hour or +two. + +"Gee, I know now how that Englishman felt," Joe laughed. + +The road was not what would be called a good road, or even a decent +road, in the East, as it was only a track in the grass, full of sand and +sharp little stones; it did not lead into the mountains at all; it ran +along just to the east of the great range, over the bare, rolling hills +of the prairie, so that from the motor bus you could see the entire +mountain wall, mile after mile. What a wonderful wall it was, too! It +sprang right up out of this rolling green prairie, a great procession of +peaks, and now they were so near the boys could see they were not blue +at all, but every color of the rainbow, with red predominating. Up their +sides for a way stretched timber--all evergreen, and not very big--and +then came the rocks--red rocks, yellow rocks, gray rocks, white rocks, +in long horizontal strata, and in the ravines and hollows on the slopes +great patches of snow stretching down from the snow caps on the summits +like vast white fingers. + +As they sped along, every eye in the motor fixed on the mountains, a man +in the front seat pointed ahead to a huge red mountain which stood out +eastward from the range, a noble mountain shaped like a tremendous dome. + +"That's old Rising Wolf," he said. + +"Rising Wolf!" said Tom. "That's a good name. It's Indian, I suppose?" + +"It's Indian, but it was the name of a white man," the first speaker +replied. "It was the name the Indians gave to Hugh Monroe. He's buried +almost under the shadow of that mountain. Pretty good monument, eh?" + +"I don't believe anybody'll move it," Joe laughed. "Who was Hugh +Monroe?" + +"Hugh Monroe," said the man on the front seat, who evidently knew a lot +about the Park, "was probably the first white man who ever saw those +mountains. He was born in Montreal in 1798. He entered the Hudson Bay +Company when he was only seventeen, about as old as you boys, I guess, +and was sent way out into the Blackfeet Indian country on the +Saskatchewan River. Monroe was assigned to live with the Indians, and +learn their language, and the next winter--1816--he went southward with +them, following along near the base of the range, crossed what's now the +boundary line, and came here. He even went on farther, to the +Yellowstone. Monroe stayed with the Blackfeet all the rest of his life. +He married a squaw, and got an Indian name--Makwiipowaksin--or Rising +Wolf----" + +"I guess I'll always say it in English," Spider laughed. + +"After a while," the man went on, laughing too, "the Blackfeet came down +here to live. We are going through part of their reservation now, and +the whole Park was bought from them by the government. This was all +their hunting ground, and right here, in Two Medicine Valley that you +see leading in beside Rising Wolf Mountain, and in the Cut Bank and St. +Mary's Valley we'll soon come to, Hugh Monroe hunted moose and elk and +buffalo and silver tips, and he killed sheep and goats up on the slopes. +He used to tell me how he had a cabin by St. Mary Lake (we get there in +an hour) once, and had to stand off a raid of hostile Indians for two +days--he and his wife and children. He's often told me, too, how he and +the Blackfeet used to drive the buffalo over the Cut Bank River cliffs. +The buffalo would stampede, and not seeing the cliffs ahead, would all +go crashing over." + +"_He_ told you?" cried Joe, incredulous. "Say, how old are you, anyhow? +I thought you said he came here in 1816--that's a hundred years ago." + +Again the man laughed. "Rising Wolf was buried in 1896," he answered. +"He was ninety-eight years old. We folks out in the Montana mountains" +[he pronounced Montana with the first _a_ short, as in _cat_] "live a +good while, son. It's the air. I can remember him well, and a fine old +figure he was, a real pioneer, like Daniel Boone and the chaps you've +read about in school. Yes sir, he's got a good monument." + +And the man looked up again at the great red dome of Rising Wolf +Mountain, towering over them. + +"Ask him about there being no foot-hills," Joe whispered, nudging Tom. + +"Can you tell us why there aren't any foot-hills to this range?" Tom +asked. "Of course, all this prairie here is rolling and high, but it's +not really little mountains. The main range just jumps right up without +any warning." + +"Yes, I've been wondering about that, too," put in a man on the seat +behind the boys. "I wish you would explain it." + +The man on the front seat laughed. "I seem to be the Park encyclopaedia," +said he. "Well, I hunted in these mountains before the government ever +thought of making a park of 'em, and I'm glad to tell you all I can. +I'll tell you just as it was told to me by one of the government chaps +that came out here--a scientist. He was looking for prehistoric animal +fossils up in the Belly River Canon, and he sure knew a lot. It was this +way--all the prairies, he said, and all the land west of here, was once +the bottom of the sea, or a lake, or something, and finally it pushed up +and became land, and then, as the earth crust went on contracting, it +cracked." + +The man now put his hands together, spread flat side by side, and pushed +them one against the other. + +"The crack formed from north to south," he said, "and as the contraction +went on something had to give, just as something has to give if I push +my hands hard enough. See----" + +He pushed harder yet, and his left hand slid up over the back of his +right. + +"That's what happened here. One edge of the earth crust, thousands of +feet thick, rose right up and slid east a dozen miles or more, and then +stopped. I believe the scientific fellers call that a fault. They call +the eastern edge of this range the Lewis overthrust, because that's +where the overlapping stopped. Look--you can see all along here the +precipices where the crust stuck out over the prairie, and all those +parallel lines of different colored rocks are the different layers in +the old crust. They find the skeletons and fossils exposed in 'em, which +would be buried two or three thousand feet if you had to dig down." + +"But what I don't see," Joe said, "is why the top isn't just level? Why +are there any peaks and valleys?" + +"It happened a few million years ago, son," the man laughed. "I suppose +things were some broken up at the first crack, and since then glaciers +have come grinding down, and rains have fallen, and snows melted, and +frosts cracked, and the ice and water have washed out canyons and carved +the peaks. The high point was right where the undercrust stopped, back a +dozen miles or more from the edge of the overthrust, so that became the +Divide. That's pretty near level in places even to-day. But east and +west the running water has carved out long valleys and left harder rock +sticking up as peaks. Up farther north old Chief Mountain sticks right +out into the prairie, a tower of limestone, with everything else around +it carved right away." + +"I get you," said Joe. "I bet I'd have studied geography harder if I'd +had these mountains to look at while I was doing it!" + +The man in the seat behind laughed. "There must have been some shake up +when the crack formed, and these six thousand feet of crust came up +over." + +"I'd rather been some place else than standin' right on 'em," said the +man in front. + +The motor presently rolled through rather thick pine timber, up over a +high ridge, and down into a valley. + +"That's Divide Mountain to the left," said their guide. "Behind it is +Triple Divide Peak. From the peak, the water flows to three oceans--west +to the Pacific, east to the Missouri River, the Mississippi and the Gulf +of Mexico, northeast to Canada and Hudson Bay. From here on all the +brooks we cross are bound for Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean." + +In a short time they came to the foot of a lovely lake, and stopped at a +group of buildings, built like Swiss chalets, on the shore. + +"St. Mary Lake," their impromptu guide said. "A lot of people think it's +the most beautiful lake in the world, but you have to get to the upper +end to see its full beauty. It runs twelve miles, right up to the foot +of the Great Divide. That's Going-to-the-Sun Mountain you can just see +the peak of on the right." + +The scouts looked far up the dancing, wonderfully green-blue waters of +the lake, to the tip of a vast pyramid of rock, blue with distance. + +"Is that an Indian name? It's pretty," said Joe. + +"No," the man answered. "A French missionary priest, who came here with +Hugh Monroe back in the 1830's named the lake St. Mary Lake, and then he +went on up it, and over the pass to the west, into the setting sun. So +Monroe named the mountain Going-to-the-Sun Mountain. But, of course, it +was really Indian in a way, because if Monroe hadn't lived with the +Indians he wouldn't have thought of such a poetic name." + +The boys were still only half-way to their destination, and the bus soon +started off again, still keeping on the prairie, along the eastern edge +of the range, and passing along the shore of Lower St. Mary Lake for +many miles. At last the road turned sharp west, and began to climb. It +climbed into a deep, narrow valley which led right up into the tumbled +mass of red and gray and green peaks and rock precipices. + +"This is the last stage," said the man. "We are going up the Swift +Current Valley." + +The road was very narrow, and it swung around ledges where there was a +massive wall above them on one side and a sheer drop, without +protection, on the other. The bus had a siren horn, which the driver set +going three hundred yards before he reached one of these curves. As they +climbed, the great mountainsides seemed to come nearer and nearer, and +at last they towered over their heads, some of them almost +perpendicular, and composed of layers of jagged red rock. It was not +long before they crossed the tumbling green water of Swift Current River +on a bridge close to a foaming waterfall, and brought up in front of a +large hotel on the shore of a small green lake. + +This was the end of their journey. The scouts got out, and went around +to the lake in front of the hotel. Here the full view was spread before +them, and Tom whistled, while Joe gasped. + +Right in front of them lay Lake McDermott, perhaps a mile long and half +a mile wide, the water a beautiful green, for all the lakes in the Park +are fed from glaciers, and glacier water is green in color. This lake +was surrounded by a fringe of pines. Out of the farther side sprung up a +cone-shaped mountain, almost out of the water. To the left and right of +this peak, called Sharp's Peak, and only two or three miles behind it, +rose the abrupt head wall of the Continental Divide itself, a vast gray +precipice, with great peaks thrusting up from it, and gleaming white +snow-fields lying like gigantic sheets spread out to dry wherever there +was a place for them to cling. Behind the hotel, on both sides, nearer +mountains went up precipitously. + +"It's some big!" Joe exclaimed. "Say--it--it kind of scares me! Think of +climbing one of those cliffs!" + +"We'll get used to it," Tom declared. "And we're going to climb 'em! +We're going to get photographs of a goat, and see this old Park, top and +bottom." + +"Gosh, it looks all top to me," poor Joe replied. + +"Come on--we'll find our boss, and get our tent pitched, and some grub +into us--and we'll feel better," Tom cried cheerfully. + + + + +CHAPTER VI--Tom Becomes Boss of the Tepee Camp, and the Scouts Pitch +Their Tent in the Evergreens + + +Just around the lower end of the lake from the great Many Glacier Hotel, +perched up on a little slope, were two or three chalets, like those at +St. Mary Lake, where tourists could stay at less expense than at the +hotel. A little farther along, directly on the shore of the lake, the +boys saw a group of tall white tepees. + +"There's our home, I guess--if I get the job," said Tom. "We won't have +far to haul the water, anyhow." + +Tom led Joe into the big lobby of the hotel, which was supported to the +roof by huge tree trunks for pillars, and found that he ought to report +to the manager of the chalet camp, so he and Joe walked back over the +bridge by the falls, and climbed to the office of the chalets. + +"So you are Seymour, eh?" the manager said. He was a big, merry looking +man, with a high, squeaky voice, and was always bustling about. But the +boys liked him at once. "I don't know whether you're old enough to +manage the tepee camp or not. Can you cut wood?" + +"Yes, sir," said Tom. + +"Can you make a bed?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Can you count change?" + +"When I've got any." + +The man laughed, his large shoulders shaking up and down. + +"Well, I'll try you a week--I've got nobody else. What's your friend +going to do?" + +"I brought a tent of my own," Tom explained, "and I thought I could +pitch it just into the woods somewhere, out of sight, and we'd live in +that, and Joe's going to get our meals, so's I can give all my time to +looking after the tepees--couldn't we do that?" + +The man turned to Joe. "Are you a good cook?" he asked. + +"I can cook camp stuff all right, and make bread, and things like that," +said Joe. + +"Can you throw a diamond hitch?" + +"I don't know--I never tried," Joe replied. + +The man tipped back his head and squeaked with mirth again. "That's like +the man who said he didn't know whether he could play the violin or +not--he'd never tried," said he. "My boy, it takes years and years of +patient practice to learn to throw a diamond hitch. But if you only +could throw one, you could probably help us out this summer as a camp +cook on lots of expeditions. We are going to be hard up for cooks this +year." + +"I bet I can learn!" cried Joe. "I can tie all kinds of knots,--the +Becket hitch, and the bowline, and the false reef and the fisherman's +bend, and the sheep-shank and the timber hitch----" + +"Whoa!" the man laughed. "Well, we'll see. Come on now, and get your +tent and stuff, and we'll go over and look at the camp. I suppose, +though, you'd like some grub first, wouldn't you?" + +"I could eat a couple of prunes," said Tom. + +"I got space for an olive and an oyster cracker, myself," said Joe. + +"Well, pile in there and get a bite," the man said, pointing to a small +room where the few helpers he needed in the chalets were eating. The +scouts needed no second invitation, after their fifty mile motor ride, +and they fell on the food hungrily. + +"Say, Big Bertha's all to the good," Joe whispered to Tom, "if he does +talk like a lady." + +"Sure he is--he can't help havin' a squeaky voice," Tom answered. "He's +treating us white, all right." + +As soon as they were partially filled up--(they ate until they dared not +ask for more)--the scouts went back to the hotel, with two borrowed +wheelbarrows, and got their trunks and luggage. Then Big Bertha joined +them, and they all three continued to the tepee camp, which was pitched +between the trail and the shore of the lake. There were six or eight +tepees, of stout white canvas stretched on a frame of lodge pole pines. +Each tepee had a wooden floor and one of them contained a few cooking +implements and a small cook-stove. The rest were for sleeping, and +contained a couple of cots apiece. + +"Now, this camp is used mostly by tourists who are going through the +Park on foot," Big Bertha explained. "You are to charge them fifty cents +a night per bed. They get the use of the range and cooking utensils +free, and they're supposed to wash 'em, but they probably won't. Your +job is to keep the camp clean, have wood always cut up for fires, make +the beds, change the linen (you get that from me), collect the fees, +attend to the latrine carefully, and--oh, just run the place as if it +was the Waldorf-Astoria! The store where they buy grub, and you get +yours, is up at the chalets." + +"I get you," said Tom. "Doesn't look as if it had been used much this +year." + +"It hasn't. There's still so much snow on the passes that not many +hikers have been over. But they'll be along in a week or so, though. You +go ahead and pitch your own tent now, for Joe--somewhere out there in +the woods. I guess if you boys are scouts you know how to do it right." + +"Is the lake good to swim in?" Joe asked. + +Big Bertha looked at him with a funny expression. "Sure," he said. "Try +it, after you've got your tent up! Oh, and say, look out for porcupines +at night, boys." + +Only a few feet beyond the tepees the heavy woods began, not high woods, +but a thick stand of fir about thirty or forty feet tall. The scouts +took the tent and baggage in far enough to be out of sight of the camp, +and screened from the view of the hotel across the lake, but still close +to the shore. They found a dry, well-drained, level spot, threw a rope +over it from tree to tree, and slung the tent. Then they cut pegs, +fastened it down, set up their cots inside, and while Joe was making the +beds, Spider hauled a lot of rocks up from the edge of the lake and +built a fire pit. + +"I s'pose it's going to rain sometimes," he said. "We ought to have a +shelter over the kitchen." + +"Don't look now as if it ever rained here," Joe answered, from the tent. +"I'll build a lean-to over the kitchen while you're running the camp. +Gosh, I'm goin' to feel like an awful grafter, just doing nothing, while +you're working all the time." + +"Aw, cut it out," Tom answered. "You'll be cooking for me, won't you? +You're my housekeeper. I'm going to call you wifey." + +"If you do, I'll put chestnut burrs in your bed," Joe laughed. + +"Where are you going to get the chestnuts?" asked Tom. "I don't see +anything around here but evergreen. Come to think of it, I've not seen a +single hardwood all day." + +"Golly, that's so," Joe answered. "I don't believe I have. It's going to +be hard cooking with nothing but pine. How's a feller going to get a bed +of coals?" + +"I guess he isn't. But I'll see what can be done." + +Tom went into the woods with one of the axes, while Joe busied himself +about camp, making a shelf on a tree for the provisions, getting the +trunks stowed away under the cots, rigging up a rough table out of two +pieces of board he went back to the tepee camp and hunted up, and +planning for a lean-to to be built later as a shelter while cooking. + +Tom came back presently, his arms loaded with dry wood. + +"All soft," he said, stacking it near the fire-pot. "There's not a +hardwood in the forest anywhere. Come on, now, we've got to get a supply +cut for the camp, in case anybody comes. If they don't come, we can cook +on the stove there, I guess. It'll be easier than here." + +"And not so much fun," said Joe. + +The two boys worked industriously for the next hour, Tom doing the heavy +chopping, and got a good pile of wood stacked up beside the stove in the +camp. It was nearly five o'clock now, and still no one had appeared, so +they went back to their tent, being hot and tired, put on a set of +summer underclothes for bathing suits, and ran down to the lake. The +bottom dropped away rather gradually, over rough stones, so they could +not dive. Tom was the first in. He went in up to his knees, and emitted +a yell that echoed from the wall of pines across the water. + +"Wow!" he cried, "sufferin' snakes!" + +"Is it cold?" said Joe, still standing on the shore. + +"Oh, no, it ain't cold! Oh, no, it's warm as a hot potato!" + +Spider took another step forward and slipped into a hole nearly up to +his waist, lost his balance, and went under. He came up spitting water, +and made a wild leap for the shore. + +"You keep out o' this, Joe," he spluttered. "It's too cold for you to go +in. Talk about glacier water--not for me!" + +"I want to try it," pleaded Joe. + +"No, you don't!"--and Spider grabbed him by the arm and dragged him +back. + +As Tom peeled off his suit and reached for a towel, Joe ran for their +little camp mirror. + +"Look at yourself," he said. + +Tom looked. He was as red as a boiled lobster from head to foot. + +"It's a wonder there ain't icicles on my elbows," he laughed. "You heat +yourself some water on the fire, Joe, if you want a bath!" + +Which was exactly what Joe did. + +They were hardly dressed again, and beginning to prepare supper, when +they heard a great clatter of hoofs and shouting coming down the trail. +They ran through their fringe of woods, coming out on the trail a little +way above the camp, and galloping toward them they saw a procession on +horseback, shouting, laughing, screaming. At the head rode a cowboy, +well in the lead, and holding his horse back. It was a big, bay horse, +with a white star in its forehead, and full of ginger. The cowboy wore +white fur chaps on his legs, and spurs, and a broad-brimmed felt hat. +Behind him came another guide, also in cowboy costume, and then almost a +dozen men and women, evidently tourists. Some of them knew how to ride, +but more of them evidently did not. The women were bouncing around in +their saddles and screaming, but nobody stopped. The race for home had +begun, and the horses intended to finish at a gallop. As the leader +thundered past the two boys, they saw with admiration how firmly he sat +in his saddle, like a part of the horse, and looked calmly back over his +shoulder with a laugh. Then they saw him touch the horse with his spurs, +and it sprang forward with a bound, while the rest came tearing on +behind. As one woman passed the scouts, her last hairpin flew out, and +her hair came tumbling down in a braid, which began bobbing up and down +on her back. + +"Gee, that's the life!" Tom cried. "We simply _got_ to learn to ride +horseback, Joe. I bet they've been over a pass, or something, to-day." + +"I bet some of 'em are going to eat off the mantelpiece to-morrow," Joe +replied. + +They went back by way of the camp, to see if any hikers had arrived, and +then got their supper, a rather smoky job, with only soft wood to cook +by. But they were too hungry to mind the smoke. After supper they walked +around to the great hotel, which was not yet lighted up, for though it +was now seven o'clock, it was still broad daylight, and bought souvenir +postcards to send home to their parents and the other scouts. As yet +the hotel had few guests, for the season had hardly begun, the snow had +lain so late on the passes that year, but there was music and bustle +about the place, just the same, and another party on horseback was just +galloping in, so the boys could watch the tired riders dismount, and the +cowboy guides drive the horses away, down the road to their night +feeding on the lower meadows. Joe longed to ask one of those cowboys to +show him what that mysterious thing, a diamond hitch, was, but he did +not have the nerve. + +It was still quite light enough to read a newspaper when they returned +to camp. Nobody had come, and as it had been a hard day, and Tom saw Joe +was tired, he gave orders to turn in, though the lights in the great +hotel across the lake, under the vast wall of Allen Mountain, were just +twinkling on. + +"Seems foolish to go to bed by daylight," he said, "but it's nine +o'clock, and you're a sick little wifey." + +"You'll be a sick little hubby, in about a minute and a quarter," Joe +retorted, swinging at him. "Still, I feel as if I could sleep, daylight +or not." + +"Come here," Tom went on, "and let's see how your old temperature is. If +you've got a fever to-night it means you got to stay still for the next +week, and rest up." + +He shook down the little clinical thermometer Dr. Meyer had given him, +and put it under Joe's tongue. "Smoke that a while," he laughed. + +After a couple of minutes he took it out again and inspected it. + +"Ninety-eight," said he. "That's normal, ain't it? Hooray, old Joey, no +temperature even after this day! I guess you're getting better, all +right." + +"Sure I am," Joe laughed. "I'm going to climb to the top of the Great +Divide to-morrow!" + +The night came on as they were getting ready to bunk, and with it came a +sudden coolness. + +"I guess we're going to be glad of these blankets, after all," Tom said, +"and you won't be sorry your mother put in that puff." + +"You bet I won't," Joe answered, climbing into his cot, and pulling the +puff up about him. + +Tom took a last look at the fire, at the still woods, at the lake +glimmering down through the trees, picked up his sweater, which he had +dropped on the ground, and hung it idly over a log by the fire, pulled +the tent flap together, blew out the candle in the camp lantern, and +also crawled in. + +"Well, Joe," he said, "we've begun our life five thousand feet up, at +the feet of the glaciers." + +Joe's answer was a snore. + + + + +CHAPTER VII--Joe Gets Acquainted with Porcupines, the Diamond Hitch, +and Switchback Trails + + +Some hours later the boys were awakened by a tremendous clatter just +outside the tent. They both sprang up and rushed out. It was pitch dark, +the last ember of the fire had died, and they could see nothing. But +they could hear something scampering away in the underbrush. + +"Is it a bear?" Joe whispered. "Gee, I wish they'd let you have a gun in +the Park!" + +Tom jumped into the tent and lit the lantern. By its dim rays, they saw +what had made the clatter. Half their little stock of canned goods and +other provisions had been knocked down off the shelf Joe had built. + +"I know--porcupines!" Spider cried. "Remember, Big Bertha told us to +look out for 'em." + +They carried their provisions back into the tent, and went to sleep +again. + +Tom was the first up. Joe heard him muttering and exclaiming outside the +tent, and crawled out to see what was the matter. + +"Matter? Matter?" Spider shouted. "Look at this--and this!" + +He held up his sweater in one hand, and one of the scout axes in the +other. One entire sleeve of the sweater was gone, and the handle of the +axe was so chewed up that it was practically useless. + +"Holy smoke, what did that?" + +Before Tom could answer, there was a movement in the undergrowth, and +both boys sprang toward it. There, sure enough, was the culprit--a fat +porcupine, surprised by their quick descent, and backing away from them +with every quill rigid and ready for business. Tom grabbed a heavy +stick, and was about to hit it, when Joe stopped him. + +"Wait a minute--I want to see it work," he said. "I want to see if they +really throw their quills. You keep him here." + +Joe quickly hunted up a rotten stick, and gingerly poked it at the +porcupine, which bit at the end viciously, and filled it full of quills, +but he certainly didn't "shoot" them. The stick had to touch them first +before they came out. + +"There, now you see the story's a fake," Tom cried, "so good-night, +Pork,--you'll pay for my sweater, you beast, you!" + +He brought his club down on the poor animal's head, and laid it out. + +"I kind of hate to see him killed," said Joe. + +"I hate to kill animals myself, but we got to keep our sweaters and +axes," Tom answered. "We'll make an Indian belt, or something, of the +quills, and send it home to the kids." + +They were still talking about the porcupine as they got breakfast. + +"Don't seem as though a woollen sweater sleeve and a wooden axe handle +were exactly what you'd call nourishing," said Joe. + +"I'd rather have bacon," Tom laughed. "He looks fat, too." + +As they were speaking, they heard steps in the woods, and a second later +a tall, thin, tanned man in a khaki-colored uniform, with leather riding +gaiters and a wide-brimmed felt hat, appeared in their little clearing. +The two scouts rose quickly, in surprise. + +"Hello, boys," the man said, as his blue eyes took in them and every +detail of the camp at a single piercing glance, "goin' to have porcupine +for breakfast?" + +"He'll never have my sweater for breakfast again!" Tom replied. + +The man laughed--or, rather, he smiled. It was really a kind of inside +laugh, noiseless. Even his voice was low, so you had to listen sharply +to hear what he was saying. + +"They'll eat the clothes off your back if you let 'em," said he. + +"But why do they eat such--such dry stuff? It's worse than patent +breakfast food without cream," said Joe. + +"Salt," the man replied. "They'll eat anything a man or a horse has +touched, to get it salty with perspiration--an axe handle, for instance. +I knew a lumber jack once who had a grudge against a feller, so he put +salt on his cabin roof, and the porcs came in the night and ate the roof +most off. There come a rain the next day, too." + +The boys laughed. They wanted to ask their visitor who he was, but +didn't see quite how to bring it about. Finally Tom said, "Won't--won't +you have some breakfast?" + +"Had mine," the man answered. "Might take a cup of coffee, though. Yours +smells good." + +He sat down on the log which was serving the boys as a chair, first +easing his belt holster, which held a 38-calibre automatic. + +"He must be a Park Ranger," Tom whispered to Joe. "Nobody else can carry +arms in the Park, they say." + +Joe brought him a cup of coffee, and as he took it, he said, "Well, +boys, I hear you're goin' to look after the tepee camp. Thought I'd come +down to inspect you. I'm the Ranger for this district. Mills is my name. +My cabin's just up the trail a piece toward Swift Current. Let me know +if I can do anything for you." + +"Thank you, sir," said Joe. "Some time, if you--you'd----" + +He hesitated, turning red at the boldness of his demand. + +The Ranger waited in silence, only keeping a pale blue eye on his face, +but a kindly eye. + +"----if you'd show me how to throw a diamond hitch." + +"Is that all?" said the Ranger, with one of his silent laughs. "I +thought you were goin' to ask me for a thousand dollars. I can show you +the diamond hitch 'most any time. I'm packing off to-day, about ten. +Come around and get a lesson. Ride a horse, either of you?" + +"Well, we ride just a little--farm horses out to plowing, and things +like that," Spider replied. + +"I have an extra horse. Maybe one of you'll come along with me some day +when you both ain't needed in the camp. If you can always make coffee +like this I'd like you along." + +"Joe's the cook," Tom said. "He can go any time. It's I who am running +the camp. He's just loafing and getting well. He's been sick." + +"Well, Joe, you come out to my cabin at ten, and you can see me throw a +hitch," the Ranger said, getting up, "and ride up the trail with me a +spell, if you want." + +Joe's eyes grew big with excitement. "I'll be there!" he cried. + +The Ranger went back again, and the two scouts looked at each other. + +"Say, he's some prince!" Joe exclaimed. "But I don't like to be getting +the first ride ahead of you. I wouldn't do it, only if I learn to ride, +and tie a pack on, maybe I can get a job as cook." + +"Go to it, old scout," Tom answered. "That's what we came here for." + +After breakfast Tom went over to the chalets to report and to do some +work around the camp, and before ten o'clock Joe was at the Ranger's log +cabin. + +Mills, the Ranger, had three horses out of the little stable behind, and +was putting a saddle on the largest horse. + +"Go get the other saddle from the stable, and let's see you put it on +your horse," he said. + +Joe brought the saddle, a regular western saddle, with the high back and +the horn in front, and did his best to get it on. The Ranger watched him +a minute, and then showed him how to cinch it properly and tight. + +"Don't be afraid to pull it hard," he said. "The old nag'll lose some of +his belly before he gets home, and if you've not cinched it tight your +saddle will slip." + +Mills now put a saddle blanket on the third horse, and then a pack +saddle, which is a framework of wood, arranged like a saddle underneath +with a cinch belt under the belly and a broad canvas belt extending +around the back and under the tail. After this is put on the horse the +wooden frame of the saddle makes a kind of platform on each side to rest +the pack upon. The Ranger now brought out his stuff--dunnage bags, an +axe, blankets, a canvas covering, and a long rope. + +"You hold his head," said he to Joe, "and talk to him real kind, while I +hang the bags on." + +One bag was hung on one side, one on the other, to balance the pack, and +then, while the horse tried to do a one-step on Joe's toes with his +front legs, and kick Mills in the stomach with his hind legs, the Ranger +threw the blankets on top, done up in a flat roll, over the whole +saddle, and covered them with the tarpaulin. Finally, he took the long +rope, which Joe saw had a canvas band and strap on one end, and fastened +this strap, like a cinch, around the horse's belly. + +"Now," said he, "we are ready to throw a hitch. Come here and help. +We'll throw a double one, because that's stronger." + +Joe soon saw that the process consists of weaving the rope back and +forth under the sides of the saddle and then crossways over the top, in +such a way that when it is done the strands of rope, from above, would +be seen to make a diamond. Each time the rope was passed over to Mills, +he took the end, braced one foot against the horse, and pulled it taut. +Joe did the same on his side. + +"Won't I hurt the horse?" he asked. + +The Ranger laughed. "I give you leave, if you can," he said. + +When the rope was all used, Mills fastened the end, went over the whole +thing with his hand, testing it to see if it was tight, and then +finished by giving the horse a resounding slap. + +"That's the way you have to finish," he said, "or the horse wouldn't +think you were through." + +"I wouldn't think the horse would like to be packed much," Joe +suggested. + +"Never knew one that did," Mills replied. "Lots o' times, while you're +throwing the hitch, that canvas band under the tail works up and sort o' +tickles the horse, and then, Oh, Boy, look out! Your plug'll buck, and a +packhorse don't reckon he's done a real good job o' buckin' till he's +covered about three square acres of ground, and deposited canned beef, +tea, syrup, blankets, axes, coffee-pots and a few other things entirely +over said area. Then, when you cinch him tight before you start, too, +he's likely to feel that's goin' to interfere with his digestion, and +start buckin'. A packhorse is an ornery critter." + +But this horse, now he was packed, was quiet as a kitten, waiting for +the party to start. The Ranger called to Joe's horse, which had wandered +away. + +"Now mount," said Mills. + +Joe, on the right side of his horse, started to put his right foot into +the stirrup, and the horse shied away from him, almost spilling him on +the ground. + +"First lesson," said the Ranger. "Never get on a horse from the right. +Some of 'em don't mind, but most of 'em do. No use tempting Providence." + +Joe came around to the left side, and grasping the horse by the mane and +the saddle horn, swung himself up. + +"Now, just stand up as straight-legged as you can, and see how many +fingers you can put between your saddle and the crotch of your legs." + +"Two," said Joe. "Oughtn't my stirrups to be shorter?" + +"If you want to ride like a bally British monkey, or a jockey, yes," +Mills answered. "If you want to ride like a regular human bein', they're +just right. Let's see you trot." + +Joe tightened the reins and gave his horse a jab with his heels, and the +animal started off with abrupt suddenness, at a sharp trot. Poor Joe +began to bob up and down, and bang the base of his spine against the +saddle. He tried to rise on his toes with the motion of the horse, but +that, he felt, only made him the more awkward. The Ranger came up +alongside, and passed him. + +"Watch me," he said. "Just barely stand in your stirrups, comfortable +like, bend forward from your hips, and let your body, not your legs, +keep the gait." + +He trotted ahead, and Joe saw with admiration that his shoulders hardly +bobbed up and down at all. He did his best to imitate him, and after a +while felt as if he were getting on to the hang of it. But they couldn't +trot far, because the packhorse was following them, all by himself, and +if he trotted it shook up his pack too much. So they pulled down to a +walk, and climbed the trail, first the Ranger, then Joe, then the +patient packhorse, through woods at first, and across a roaring, racing +little green river, which foamed up against the horses' legs and made +Joe hold up his feet under him to keep them dry. + +"I'm going over Swift Current Pass," the Ranger said, "and on up the +Mineral Creek Canon on the other side, and then down into the Little +Kootenai River country, to open the trail a bit. You can come with me to +the top of the pass, and pick up some party to bring you back." + +"I wish I could come all the way!" Joe exclaimed. + +Mills laughed another of his silent laughs. "You're ambitious for a sick +boy and a tenderfoot," he said. "You'll be sore enough, with fourteen +miles, to-night." + +They were getting out of high timber now, into stunted limber pines, +which were covered all over with bright reddish-pink cone buds, like +flowers, and everywhere in the grass and trees around them Joe saw more +beautiful wild flowers, and more kinds of wild flowers, than he had ever +seen in his life before. It was like riding through a garden, with +tremendous red mountain precipices for walls. Beside the trail was the +Swift Current River, every now and then widening out into a lovely +little green lake, and directly ahead of them, at the head of the canyon, +rose an almost perpendicular wall of rock for two thousand feet, to a +lofty shelf, on which Swift Current Glacier, snow-covered now, hung like +a gigantic white napkin. To the right was the Egyptian pyramid of Mount +Wilbur. From the glacier, down over the precipice, were falling half a +dozen white streams of waterfalls, like great silver ribbons. As they +got nearer and nearer to this head wall, and it seemed to rise higher +and higher over them, while the walls on each side of them, the one +across the canyon bright red, also grew higher and higher, Joe began to +get nervous. + +"Say," he finally asked, "are we going to _climb_ that?" + +Mills looked back at him with a grin. + +"Sure," he said. + +"Well, I don't see how," Joe answered. "I'm no goat." + +[Illustration: Switchback Trail up Swift Current Pass] + +Mills laughed again, but said no more. Instead, he plodded steadily on, +till the great cliff wall seemed about to hit them in the face, and Joe +could hear the thunder of the white waterfalls as they leaped and +plunged down from the melting glacier two thousand feet over his head. + +Just as he had decided the Ranger was playing a joke on him, for surely +nobody could get up those walls, the trail turned sharp to the right, +and began to go up. + +Then Joe learned what a Rocky Mountain switchback is. + +A switchback trail can be put up almost any slope that is not actually +perpendicular, and the slope they were climbing now was not quite that, +though to Joe it seemed pretty near it. The trail was about four or five +feet wide, and was dug right out of the side of the hill. It went up at +an angle of about twenty degrees, for perhaps two hundred feet to the +right, then it swung sharp left on a steep hairpin turn and ran another +two hundred or three hundred feet, took another sharp hairpin turn, and +so on up, and up. When Joe had made one of these turns, he could look +right down on the top of the blankets on the packhorse below him. + +"Say," he called up to the Ranger, "what happens to you if your horse +falls off here?" + +"Your horse never falls off," Mills answered. "If he did, you'd probably +take to harp playing. But he won't." + +They climbed up these switchbacks for two thousand feet or so, and then +worked around a shoulder of the mountain so that they couldn't see the +glacier any more, but looking back down the canon Joe could see a great, +narrow hole, with the green lakes like a string of jewels at the bottom, +and at the far end, as blue and level as the ocean, the vast prairie. + +"The prairie looks just like the ocean," he said. + +"Does it?" said the Ranger. "I never saw the ocean. Must be fine." + +In a minute or two they reached the first snow-field. Joe did not want +to appear too green and excited, but he was almost trembling with +excitement, just the same. He had reached the level of summer snow! He +was above timber-line, or almost above, and here in a great northern +hollow was a vast drift, four hundred feet wide and thirty feet deep in +the middle, which Mills said would not melt all summer! Little streams +of water were gushing out from the lower side, and the snow was very +soft and coarse, like rock salt. The trail went right across it, the +horses picking their way carefully over the treacherous footing. They +climbed but a little way more, and they were on the top of the pass. + +When you think of a mountain pass, probably, you think of a deep valley +or canyon between the hills, but a pass is not like that at all in the +high Rockies. In order to get over the Continental Divide (which the +Indians called "the backbone of the world"), you have to climb, and the +pass is simply a point on this spine which is not quite so high as other +points, and can be reached, moreover, from the base. Joe found himself +in a little meadow which was full of stunted pine trees, the last of the +timber, with snowdrifts, and with bright gold dog-tooth violets, some of +them coming right up and blossoming through two inches of snow. On +either side of him, the Divide rose up perhaps another five hundred or a +thousand feet, in pyramids of naked rock. Ahead, to the west, he could +see a great hole, where the Divide dropped down on the other side, and +ten miles away across this hole a wonderful sharp-peaked mountain all +covered with snow, and looking like the pictures of the Alps in his old +geography. + +"What's that mountain?" he asked. + +"Heaven's Peak," said the Ranger. "Good name for it, eh?" + +"It sure is!" said Joe. + +Mills stopped the horses in a little grassy glade, sheltered from the +wind by a group of stunted pines, and unslung the packs. + +"You're going to make me some more of that coffee," he laughed, opening +one of his dunnage bags. + +While Joe was building the fire, Mills pointed up the great slope of +naked, tumbled rocks to the south. "Climb up there some day," said he, +"and down the other side, and you'll get on top of the Divide above +Swift Current Glacier. It's narrow--just a knife blade, and all along +the centre of it you'll see a game trail." + +While they were eating lunch, Joe was amused to see the ground +squirrels--hundreds of them, it seemed--come up out of their holes in +the grass and look at the intruders. They sat up on their hind legs, +pressed their front paws against their stomachs, and made a _cheeping_ +noise, almost like birds. + +"Looks as if they were mechanical toys," Joe laughed, "and had to +squeeze their middles to get a sound." + +He put a piece of bread down side of him, to fill his cup again, and +when he went to pick it up, it wasn't there--it was vanishing into a +hole! + +"Mechanical toy, eh?" the Ranger grinned. "Pretty smart mechanism!" + +Before they were through lunch, another party appeared from the west, +coming up into the pass, and dismounting. This was a regular tourist +party of men and women, with two cowboy guides. + +"I thought they'd be along," said Mills. "I'm going to send you back +with them. And now here's what I really brought you for--I'll be gone +three or four days, and somebody's got to look after Popgun (that's the +horse you're riding). How'd you like to feed him every day, and give him +some water, and a bit o' exercise, just around the lake, mind you. I +don't want you riding off alone on the trails." + +Joe gasped with surprise and delight. "You--you mean it?" he asked. + +"Sure I mean it. Don't take me long to size folks up. I like you boys, +and maybe we can help each other. Pretty lonely in my cabin, you know." + +Mills gave him directions about the feed, and then went over and spoke +to one of the guides. When he came back, he said to Joe, "Now, let's see +you throw a diamond hitch." + +Joe did his best, but he had to have help. + +"I could get it with two or three more tries, I bet!" he cried. "Then I +could get a job as cook with a party, maybe." + +"There's a rope in the barn. You can be practicing," the Ranger laughed. +"So long." + +"Good-bye, sir," Joe answered, as the lean Ranger swung into his saddle, +called to his packhorse as if it were a dog, and disappeared down the +trail to the west, the faithful packhorse plodding on behind. + +The other party were a long time about their meal, and Joe climbed part +way up the peak to the south, getting above the last timber, which +consisted of tiny, twisted trees not over two feet high, and some of +them growing along the very ground. Up here he found beautiful, tiny +Alpine flowers in the rock crannies, he started up what looked like a +big black and gray woodchuck, and which he later learned was a whistling +marmot, and he came upon a bird, something like a partridge, but the +same gray color as the rocks. This bird was followed by six little +fluffy chicks, which went scuttering away with shrill little peeps into +the maze of stones, and ten feet away couldn't be seen, so like the +stones were they. + +"That's protective coloring," Joe thought. "Wonder why they are colored +that way?" + +He was later to learn that this was a ptarmigan hen and her chicks, the +largest bird which lives above timber in these mountains. No doubt it is +colored like the rocks to protect it from the eye of foxes, eagles, and +other foes. + +Joe didn't dare climb any higher, though he longed to get to the top, +which now rose steep above him. He felt perfectly well, too, and the +climbing didn't make him cough. But he saw the party was packing up +again, so he hurried down and cinched up another notch in his saddle to +make sure it did not slip on the descent. He mounted and fell in behind +the procession, which immediately began winding its way down the steep +switchbacks. Joe, from the rear, could look almost directly down on the +head of the leader, a hundred feet below him. One or two of the women +were screaming, and now and then a stone, loosened by a house's hoof, +would go bounding down the slope with a terrifying rattle. But the +horses, carefully putting one foot ahead of the other, were as calm and +sure as if they were on level going, and nothing at all happened, of +course. + +Once on the comparatively level trail below, the leading guide broke +into a trot, and the whole cavalcade came bouncing on behind. Joe +bounced at first as much as anybody, but by dint of much trial, he got +into the swing a little, and began to ride more comfortably. When they +were on the level trail in the woods at last, a mile from the lake, the +leader gave a yell, touched his spurs, and leaped out at a gallop. All +the other horses, without waiting for any command, started in to gallop +also, including Popgun. Joe yelled with the rest, jammed his cap on +hard, hung to the horn of his saddle to keep aboard, and felt the wind +rush against his face. Still galloping and shouting, the cavalcade +dashed past the Ranger's cabin, and on toward the tepee camp. + +Joe hoped Spider would be around to see. He wanted to stop his horse at +the tepees, but whether he could or not was another question. Popgun +didn't appear to have any intention of stopping till the rest did. + +As they dashed in sight of the camp, he saw Spider standing by the +trail. Joe yelled, "Hi--Tom!" and began to tug at the reins. Popgun came +down to a trot obediently--and also suddenly, very nearly sending Joe +out over his head. Another tug, and a "Whoa!" brought him up short, +though his ears were pricked up, and his eyes were following the +galloping cavalcade now disappearing toward the hotel. + +"Well--_what_ are you doing?" exclaimed the astonished Tom. + +"I'm a regular cowboy now, eh, what? Allow me to introduce Popgun, my +gallant broncho. We've been on top of the Great Divide, we have, and +seen the water going toward the Pacific, and, gee I know where there's a +game trail we can climb to, and I'm goin' to have this horse to ride for +three or four days, and feed him, and--and all." + +"I bet you're sore to-night," said Tom. + +"I bet I am, too. You try him. Gee, he's a fine old horse. You ought to +see him come down a trail--just as careful. Wow! and some trail, too!" + +Joe dismounted, stiffly, with an "Ouch!" and Tom climbed into the +saddle. Popgun looked mildly around, to see what the change meant, and +then trotted obediently off. + +Joe watched, laughing. There was no doubt that Tom bounced. He bounced +as much as the women. The harder he tried not to, the more he bounced. + +"See, you got to do it this way," said Joe, as the other scout came +back. He started to mount again, with a leap, but his legs were so stiff +they'd hardly work. + +"Very graceful, _very_ graceful indeed!" Tom taunted. "Why don't you get +a job in the movies, you're so graceful?" + +"Maybe I will," Joe answered, finally getting into his saddle. "Now +look--here's the way." + +He hit Popgun with his heels, and started up the trail, but before he +was out of sight a second cavalcade, with a cowboy at the head, came +thundering past. Popgun turned, and in spite of Joe's cries and tugs at +the rein, insisted on galloping with it. Hanging helpless to his saddle +horn, Tom saw Joe tearing past, in the middle of the crowd, and +disappearing toward the hotel. + +Five minutes later he returned, looking very sheepish. + +"I see just how to do it," Tom taunted. "Joe, you've got speed, but no +control!" + +"You wait! I'll have old Popgun eating out of my hand yet," Joe +answered. "Guess I'll put him up now, and feed him." + +"Yes, and then you come back and rest. You've been doing too much +to-day," said Tom. + +When Joe got back, he found Tom busy at the camp. The first party of +hikers had arrived--ten of them, men about thirty-five years old from +Chicago, who were taking their vacation tramping through the Park. They +all wore high, heavy boots with hobnails, flannel shirts, khaki +trousers, and carried knapsacks on their backs. Tom was hustling around +buying provisions for them at the chalet store, fixing their bunks, +getting fresh water, making a fire in the stove, and so on, while two of +the men, who acted as cooks, were getting ready to cook the supper. + +"Can I help?" Joe asked. + +"No, you go back to our tent and rest," said Tom. "You can get our +supper, after you've thought a while about how graceful you are." + +Joe went limping off, and was only too glad to lie down in the tent. He +lay on his side presently. He began to realize acutely, and locally, +that he had been riding horseback, fourteen miles, for the first time. + +But he had supper ready when Tom came at six-thirty. + +"How do you feel?" Tom demanded. "I bet you've been doing too much. +Tired? Got a fever?" + +He got out the thermometer. + +"I'm sore, all right, but I'm not very tired, not half as tired as I +used to get at home, just walking back from school." + +Tom answered by putting the thermometer in his mouth. + +"No fever at all--and you're all sweaty," he said a minute later. "You +really feeling better, old Joey?" + +"Sure I am." + +But Tom wouldn't let him help after supper in getting more wood for the +camp. Tom did it all, while Joe sat at first outside the tepees and +tried to hear the talk of the hikers about their trip, and later, when +Tom was through, moved closer to the "council fire," built in a ring of +stones, at the invitation of the men, and heard them tell of their +twenty-two mile hike that day over Piegan Pass from Upper St. Mary Lake. +It was fine to sit there, by the warm fire, as the darkness gathered +over the great, solemn wall of the Divide, as the lights in the hotel +across the lake twinkled on, as the night wind whispered in the pines, +and hear the talk of glaciers, and snow-fields, and ten-thousand-foot +climbs. It made Joe and Tom long for the day when they could get out, +with blanket and knapsack, over the high trails. They went back to their +tent at last reluctantly, while the hikers bade them a cheerful +good-night. + +"Seems as if everybody in the Park was good-natured," Joe remarked, as +he crawled into bed. "Guess it's the air." + +"I like everybody but the porcupines," Tom answered, carefully folding +what was left of his sweater under his pillow! "I wrote home for a new +one to-day, but I'll hang on to what I've got." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII--Joe Gets a Chance at Last to Go Out on a Trip as Camp Cook + + +The next few days were busy ones for both boys. Tom had hikers to take +care of now every day, sometimes only two or three at a time, sometimes +much larger parties, so that he had to wheel down more cots from the +chalets. There was much to do, cutting wood, hauling water, making beds, +raking and burning the litter after each party, for Tom had learned as a +scout that one of the worst things a camper can do is to leave any +litter behind him, and one of the best ways to collect flies around a +camp is to leave scraps and garbage unburned or unburied. He even went +over to the hotel and begged a can of stove polish from the kitchen, and +each day, after the crowd had gone, polished up the camp stove. + +Big Bertha, coming down to look things over, found him busy at this job. + +"Well, well," said he, in his funny, high voice, "I'd know you came from +New England. Must have a clean kitchen! The camp looks well, Tom, and +nobody's made a kick yet. I guess we can keep you another week." + +Then he laughed in such a way that Tom knew his job was safe. + +Meanwhile Joe divided his day between cooking the meals for Tom and +himself, building a lean-to kitchen and dining-room for rainy weather, +rigging up a porcupine-proof pantry with some old chicken wire he found +behind the hotel chicken yards, and feeding and riding the Ranger's +horse. Twice a day he took Popgun out for a spin, going down below the +hotel to the level meadows where the packhorses and saddle-horses rented +to the tourists were pastured at night, and there he galloped, trotted, +and jumped logs till he felt sure of himself, and all his saddle +soreness wore off. Sometimes, after the guests at the camp were gone, +and no new party had yet arrived, Tom took a try in the saddle, too, and +both of them, with packs made of their blankets and an old mattress, +practiced throwing a diamond hitch, while Popgun, who was being used for +the experiment, stood still, but looked around at them with a comical, +grieved expression, as much as to say, "What do you think I am, just an +old packhorse?" + +The Ranger did not return for five days, and Joe was sorely tempted to +ride Popgun up one of the trails again, to the high places which lured +him--to Iceberg Lake, for instance, only six miles away, which everybody +talked about as being so beautiful. But he remembered what the Ranger +had said, and he never went more than a mile or two from camp. It was +certainly hard, with a good horse under you, and a bright sky overhead, +and the great towering red mountains all around, not to ride on and on, +higher and higher, into those wonderful upland meadows, and then on some +more to the sky-flung bridge of the Great Divide! + +On the sixth morning, as Joe drew near the Ranger's cabin to feed and +water Popgun, he saw smoke coming out of the chimney. The door was open, +and inside he saw Mills just getting breakfast. + +"Hello," he called. + +"Oh, it's you," Mills answered, looking out. "Come make me some coffee, +will you?" + +Joe entered, and Mills shook hands. "Glad to see you," he said. "I'd be +glad to see _anybody_, so don't get flattered. I've been five days alone +in the woods, cuttin' out fallen trees from the trail. Last winter was a +bad one." + +"I s'pose there's a lot of snow here in winter," said Joe, as he set +about making the coffee. + +"Last winter there was ten feet on the level in the woods, and the drift +piled up against Many Glacier Hotel out there till all you could see was +the peak of the roof." + +"What!" Joe cried. "Why, that's five stories high!" + +"So was the drift," said Mills + +"What a chance for skiing!" Joe sighed. "Say, I'd like to spend a winter +here." + +"Don't let's talk about it," Mills suddenly said. "Makes me blue. The +winters are too darn lonely. I see Popgun looks fat, and you've been +groomin' him, too. Where'd you get the curry comb? _I_ don't own one." + +"Made it," Joe answered, "by punching holes with a nail through a tin +box cover." + +"Can you ride yet?" + +"Well, I can get around, without having to eat off the mantelpiece at +night." + +"Want a job?" + +"Sure, if it's something I can do. You know, I'm a regular grafter now, +just living off Spider. What is it?" + +"Cooking mostly. Tastes to me as if you could do that," the Ranger said, +as he took a sip of Joe's coffee, and a bite of the fried eggs and bacon +Joe had also cooked for him, as they talked. + +"I can cook all right--I learned that in the Boy Scouts," Joe answered, +eagerly. "Is it for a party?" + +"Yes, it's a special party--a couple o' congressmen and their wives and +families. The Park superintendent wants me to show 'em around the +circuit a bit--have to be nice to congressmen, because Congress +appropriates what little money we get to build trails with. All the camp +cooks are out on trips now, and I'm up against it unless you'll go +along." + +"I'm your man!" Joe cried, eagerly. + +"Well, you're as good as a man when it comes to coffee," Mills grinned. +"I'll get a guide to help out with the packing and the heavy work. We +start to-morrow morning, early. Be up here at seven." + +"O.K.," cried Joe, with a salute, and hurried back to tell Tom the news. + +Spider looked grave. "I dunno about it," said he. "You know what the doc +said about overworking. I dunno whether I'll let you go." + +"But it won't be overworking," Joe cried. "Gee, I feel great now, +anyhow, and it's just cooking, and the Ranger's going to get a guide to +do the heavy packing, and I'll be on horseback all the time, and out in +the air, and, gosh, but it's a great chance to see the Park, and earn +some money to pay you back----" + +"Oh, forget that!" said Tom. "What's your pay going to be?" + +"Don't know--didn't stop to ask," Joe laughed. + +"You're a great little business man, you are," Tom said. "Well, you can +try it this trip, if you'll come over now to the hotel and get weighed, +and have your temperature taken." + +The hikers had gone for the day, and the camp was vacant, so the two +scouts went around to the hotel at once, and Joe climbed on the scales. +Tom set them at a hundred and thirty, but the weight did not drop. He +moved the indicator weight pound by pound till he reached a hundred and +thirty-nine, before he reached a balance. + +"Gosh," cried Joe, "that's almost ten pounds I've put on since I left +little old Southmead!" + +"Yes, and you haven't coughed for a week," Tom added. "You're on the +mend, all right, all right. But you got to stay so, and I dunno about +letting you go on this trip--it'll be hard work cooking for a whole lot +o' people." + +"Aw, please!" Joe pleaded. "I feel great now, honest I do. Besides, it's +all out in the open air." + +"Well, you can try it this once," Tom finally said. "But if you have any +fever, or have lost any weight, or are fagged, when you get back, or +have any signs of a cold, or cough, no more trips for you!" + +"Yes, doctor," Joe answered, meekly. + +They went back to the camp, and Joe spent the afternoon studying the +government topographical survey map of the Park he had bought at the +hotel, overhauling his personal equipment, and then, at the supply depot +of the Glacier Park Saddle Company, which furnishes the horses, tents, +guides, blankets, etc., for camping and horseback parties in the Park, +selecting what he wanted in the way of cooking utensils and provisions +for his party. + +Mills said they would be out five days, and there were to be two men, +two women, two girls and a boy in the party, besides Mills, Joe and two +guides, for Mills had decided they'd need two. That made eleven people +in all, or a hundred and sixty-five individual meals. Joe began to +think, when he came to figure it out, that it was more of a job than it +looked at first, especially when all the stuff had to be packed on +horseback. He planned for canned soups, for coffee, tea and cocoa, +served with condensed milk, of course; for plenty of bacon; for two or +three meals of eggs, packed in a small crate; for two meals of beef +(which, of course, would not keep, and would have to be served the first +two days out); for pancakes and "saddle blankets" (a kind of pan-fried +cake served with syrup, the syrup coming in cans); for bread, of course, +if he had time to make any; and, finally, beans, sardines, crackers, +some canned vegetables, and jam, marmalade and canned peaches. All these +things could be carried easily, as they came in tins or jars. All that +was needed were the horses. He got everything ready to be packed in the +morning, and hurried back to camp to get Tom's supper. Tom was busy with +a big crowd of hikers, who had just arrived over Piegan Pass, and it was +late before the two boys sat down to their meal. + +"I sort of hate to go now," Joe said. "I'll be seeing all the Park, and +you having to stick around here and make beds for the hikers. When I get +back, I'm going to ask Big Bertha to let me run the camp, while you have +a trip." + +"_Yes_ you are!" Spider laughed. "You're going to rest a whole week +after you get back. You look tired already. Guess I won't let you go, +after all." + +"I'd like to see you stop me!" Joe answered, as he took a third helping +of pancakes. + +"Well, you eat like a well man, I must admit," said Spider, reaching for +what was left. + + + + +CHAPTER IX--Over Piegan Pass to St. Mary Lake, Underneath the Precipices + + +Promptly at seven, Joe was at the Ranger's cabin. He had already cooked +Tom's breakfast, and Tom was over at the camp, helping the hikers to get +theirs. The sun had long been up, and the day was clear and perfect. In +fact, there hadn't yet been a rainy day since the scouts reached the +Park. But Mills had told Joe to bring his rubber poncho, so he had it +with him. He was to ride Popgun, of course, and the Ranger and he put +their personal equipment of blankets, tent, extra clothing, ponchos, +axes, and the like, on the Ranger's packhorse, and started for the big +hotel. + +"I've got hold of a good extra man," Mills said. "With so many skirts in +the party, we'll have a big pack-train, for they insist on sleeping out +instead of going to the chalets. I was over last night to see 'em." + +"Where are we going to-day?" Joe asked. + +"Piegan Pass," Mills answered, "and make camp to-night by the lake. +That's twenty-two miles. To-morrow we'll go to Gunsight Lake--that's +only seven, and it'll be all they'll want after to-day--and rest up, and +let 'em climb Blackfeet Glacier if they want to." + +At the hotel the two cowboy guides, one of them not very much older than +Joe, were already on hand with the horses and Joe's equipment of stores, +and the cooking kit, and three tents, and innumerable blankets. It made +such a pile of stuff that you'd have thought it would need a regiment of +horses to carry it, but Mills and the two guides went about the task of +packing it on to the backs of five horses, and so well did they stow it +away, properly balanced on either side and made fast with ropes in +diamond hitches, that the horses didn't seem to mind it in the least, +though they looked more like camels than horses. It was eight o'clock +before this work was done, and by that time the tourists appeared, with +their dunnage bags, which had to be packed on two more horses. + +Joe had never seen a congressman before, except once when he went to a +political rally and he could not help staring at the two men as they +approached, and wanting to laugh. Beside Mills and the two cowboys, they +looked so unfitted for this job of riding a horse over the high trails! +They looked about as unfit as the cowboys would have looked in Congress. +Both of them still wore long trousers and ordinary boots, though they +had bought themselves flannel shirts and soft hats at the hotel store, +and sweaters. Their wives were not very much better equipped, though +both of them had bought khaki divided riding skirts (for nobody is +allowed to ride a side saddle in the Park). Beside the two congressmen +and their wives, there were two girls about twenty, and a boy about +Joe's age. One of the girls was the daughter of Congressman Elkins of +New Jersey, the other two of Congressman Jones of Pennsylvania. All +three of the young people, Joe noted, were better equipped. The girls +had regular riding breeches and leather leggins, like a man's, and the +boy had khaki riding breeches and high boots. + +As soon as their dunnage bags had been packed on two more horses, the +job of getting the women into their saddles began, and then getting the +stirrups adjusted right. The girls and young Jones were up and ready +long before their mothers were, and making uncomplimentary remarks. + +"Say, ma," called young Jones, "if your horse bucks, grab his tail. That +always stops 'em." + +"Father looks as scared as when he made his first speech in the House," +laughed Miss Elkins. + +"Nonsense!" said that statesman. "I rode a horse many a time when I was +a boy." + +"That was a long time ago, papa dear," his daughter said. + +"And pray when did you learn to ride?" her father asked, trying to get +comfortable in his saddle. + +"Oh, it's just going to come natural to me," she answered, with one of +her rippling laughs that Joe liked to hear. + +Mills walked through the little group of mounted riders, gave a testing +pull to all the saddle girths, looked at the stirrups, and vaulted into +his own saddle. + +"You keep the two horses with the dunnage bags, and our own packhorse, +in front of you, just behind the last rider," he said to Joe. Then he +touched his horse with his heel, and the animal jumped up the trail. The +rest followed--first the party of tourists, behind Mills, then one of +the guides to keep an eye on them, then three packhorses, then Joe to +keep an eye on these three, then the five other packhorses, and finally +the second guide to watch them. In all, then, there were nineteen horses +strung out along the trail in single file, which made a considerable +procession, as Joe looked forward and then back upon it. + +The trail they were on did not go past the tepee camp, so Joe had no +chance to call good-bye to Tom. It went along the other shore of Lake +McDermott, sometimes on the little rocky beach, sometimes almost in the +water, heading directly up the valley toward the great gray fortress of +Gould Mountain and Grinnell Glacier, which Joe could see glistening like +a huge white and green silk mantle flung along a high ledge just under +the spine of the Continental Divide. Mills broke into a trot as soon as +the party was well started, and ahead Joe could see the two congressmen +and their wives bounding up and down, and noticed that Congressman +Elkins, who said he rode when he was a boy, bounded quite as much as any +one. Of course, the packhorses wanted to trot, too, and Joe saw the +guide in front turning back and gesticulating to him. He gave Popgun a +jab in the ribs, and rode past his three charges, getting in front of +them, and then pulled Popgun down to a walk. If he had not, of course, +the packs might soon have been shaken off. The tourists were soon out of +sight up the trail, in the woods, and Joe and Val, the young cowboy, +were left alone, with the eight pack animals. + +It looked like an easy job they had, too, but Joe soon found it was not +so easy as it looked. Some one of the eight was always wanting to fall +out of line and eat a particularly tempting bunch of grass, or else took +it into his silly head to make a detour into the woods, and then he had +to be yelled at, or chased and driven into line again. Joe found himself +fairly busy most of the first four miles of the trail, till they reached +Grinnell Meadow, where the rest of the party had halted and were waiting +for them. + +Grinnell Meadow, Joe thought, was the most beautiful place he had ever +been in. It was a grassy glade of twenty acres, at the foot of Grinnell +Lake, and was studded with little fir trees and carpeted with great +white chalice cups, which are a kind of big anemone. The lake itself was +green in color, and maybe half a mile across. The far side lay right +under a two thousand foot precipice which sprang up to the glacier, and +down this precipice, from under the lip of the glacier, were pouring +half a dozen very slender waterfalls, like long white ribbons let down +the rocks. Just to the left the vast cliff wall of Mount Gould shot +straight up to the almost ten thousand foot summit. (Of course, the +meadow being five or six thousand feet above sea level, this wall of +Gould wasn't ten thousand feet high, but only about four thousand.) + +As soon as Mills saw the packhorses appear, however, he gave the signal +to proceed, so Joe did not have time to look about much. The trail +crossed the meadow, the ground squirrels peeking out of their holes and +chattering angrily at the disturbance, and then turned left, and began +at once to climb, alongside of the great cliff of Gould Mountain. They +climbed beside a roaring brook, and Joe soon realized that they weren't +going up Gould at all, but up the side canyon to the east. They hadn't +gone a mile before this brook was far below them, and they looked across +the deep hole it had made to the towering cliffs of Gould. Gould is a +part of the Great Divide, and Joe could now see more plainly than ever +before the strata of the earth crust--layer on layer of different +colored stone, like the layers in a gigantic cake. All down the +precipices were coming waterfalls, from the snow-fields above, and Joe +and Val reckoned that one fall took a clean jump of twenty-five hundred +feet. They could hear the thunder of it, across the canyon, though it was +not nearly so loud as you might think, because most of the water turned +to mist before it reached the bottom. + +Now the trail began to get into the region of switchbacks, and Joe could +see the horses of all the party strung out far ahead, and then suddenly +doubling on their tracks so Mills would pass almost over his head, and +speak to him as he went by. Before long, he saw Mills halt, where the +trail went close to a beautiful waterfall, and as he came up, he heard +the Ranger telling the party that it was Morning Eagle Falls. + +"What a pretty name--it must be Indian, of course?" Miss Elkins said. + +"Named for some Blackfeet chief, I suppose," Mills answered. + +"Say, dad, what's the matter with you?" laughed the Jones boy. "Why +don't you christen it Congressman Peter W. Jones Falls? What's the use +of being in the House of Representatives if you can't name a dinky +little waterfall after yourself?" + +"My boy, he's waiting till he reaches the biggest mountain in the Park, +to name that after himself," the other congressman said, while every one +laughed, and the procession started up again. + +They were climbing an ever steeper trail, now, and the trees began to +grow smaller and smaller, while, looking back, Joe could see Grinnell +Meadow far below him and the great cliff of Gould shooting up out of it. +Ahead, they began to get into snow-fields, and then they crossed +timber-line, where the trees were twisted and bent and even laid over +flat by the wind, and sometimes an evergreen a foot thick would be only +eighteen inches tall, and then, for twenty feet, bend over and lie along +the ground like a vine, sheared by the wind. Beyond timber-line they +came into a wild, naked, desolate region of broken shale stone, with +tiny Alpine flowers growing in the crannies, snow-fields lying all +about, and to their right, quite near, the southern end of Gould +Mountain where it dropped down a little to the Continental Divide level, +to their left the bare stone pile summit of Mount Siyeh, which is over +ten thousand feet high. A few more steps, and they stood on top of the +pass, and looked over the rim, on the tumbled mountains to the south, +with the great blue and white pyramid of Jackson (ten thousand feet) +rising a dozen miles away or more, over what looked like a vast hole in +the earth. + +"This is Piegan Pass," said Mills. + +"Why Piegan--and why a pass?" one of the congressmen asked. "I thought a +pass was a place where you went between things, not up over their +backs." + +The Ranger laughed. "You're only seven thousand feet up here," he said. +"That mountain to the east, Siyeh, is ten thousand." + +"Why, it looks as if I could just walk across these stones and get to +the top of it in twenty minutes!" cried Bob Jones. + +"Try it," said Mills, laconically. "We'll be having lunch down in the +pines below." + +Joe thought of the story of the Englishman, and hoped Bob would try it. + +"You haven't explained the Piegan," Miss Elkins said. + +"Why, the Indians that owned this reservation were the Piegan tribe of +the Blackfeet," said Mills. + +"Dear, dear, another lost opportunity for dad!" sighed the irrepressible +Bob. + +The cavalcade now began the descent on the south side of the pass, with +the Divide on their right, across a canyon, and the trail itself dug out +of the vast shale slide which was the south wall of Siyeh. It was a +steep, narrow trail, nothing but loose shale, and the horses had to pick +their way slowly and carefully, while the riders had to lean well back +and brace in their stirrups to keep from sliding forward on the horse. + +"Say, Mr. Mills," Joe heard Bob call, "has this horse of mine got strong +ears?" + +"Why?" asked Mills. + +"Nothing, only if he hasn't, I'm going to take a toboggan slide down his +nose." + +"Try walking," Mills called back. + +Joe saw Bob dismount, and as he was feeling saddle stiff, he got off his +horse, too, and led him down by the bridle. The poor packhorses had to +tread on the very outside edge of the trail, because if they didn't, +their packs would knock the wall on the inner side, and what kept them +from slipping off was hard to see. + +The trail down seemed endless. Far below, Joe saw a party coming up, +looking about a quarter of a mile away. + +"I suppose we'll meet 'em day after to-morrow," Bob said. + +[Illustration: Trail up Piegan Pass Showing Continental Divide and Mt. +Gould] + +As a matter of fact, it was half an hour before the two parties met. +They had to pass on this narrow path, and Mills, the two guides, and Joe +held the horses of their party while the ascending riders squeezed past, +and then led the packhorses, one by one, to a spot where they could make +room for another horse to get by. It seemed ticklish work to Joe, but +the horses were as calm about it as if they had been on level ground. + +It was long after one o'clock when the nineteen horses of the procession +finally stepped off the last of the shale upon the green grass of a +little meadow, and then into a level strip of woods. With a yell, Mills +hit his horse, and went forward at a smart trot, everybody following, +even the weary packhorses. Out of the woods on the other side they +trotted into the most beautiful spot Joe had ever seen in all his life, +and when Miss Elkins cried, "Oh, is this Heaven?" he felt like saying, +"Me too!"--but remembered that, after all, he was only the cook, and +kept silent. + +"This is Piegan Pines," said the Ranger. "All off for lunch." + +He sprang from his saddle, and he and the forward guide helped the two +older women to dismount--and they certainly needed help. + +"I can _never_ get back there again," wailed poor Mrs. Jones, as she +flopped down on the grass. + +While the party were dismounting, Joe had just time for a quick look +about him. They were in a little meadow, maybe half a mile wide, with +towering rock walls on both sides, hung with snow-fields and a glacier +or two, and, behind, the great shale slide down which they had just +come. Only one side, to the south, was open--and there the meadow just +dropped off into space. Across the hole, far off and blue, was the great +blue mass of Mount Jackson, covered with snow, and the great white and +green slopes of Blackfeet Glacier, the largest in the Park. The meadow +was full of little limber pines, golden with millions of dog-tooth +violet bells, and criss-crossed with tiny ice-water brooks, running in +channels over the grass--made, of course, by melting snow on the cliffs +above. + +"Golly," thought Joe, "if old Spider and I could only come and camp +here!" + +But now Mills was telling him to get a quick, cold lunch, and he and the +other guide sprang for the packhorses, and got out what was needed, +while Mills made a camp-fire beside one of the brooks. + +As Joe was making his preparations, he felt Miss Elkins standing beside +him, and looked up. + +"Are you the cook?" she asked. + +"I--I believe so," Joe stammered, getting red. + +"You don't look very old to be a cook," said she. "Have you got lots and +lots to eat? I could devour a whole butcher shop, I think." + +"Cold lunch," said Joe, grinning. "Ranger's orders." + +"Oh, not a cold lunch! Mr. Mills--Mr. Mills--cook says you say a cold +lunch. You didn't say that, did you?" + +"Sure, ice water and a cracker," the Ranger grinned. "Can't stop to +cook." + +"Oh, please, just coffee--mother will _never_ get back on her horse +without a cup of coffee." + +"I'll never get back without _two_ cups," groaned Mrs. Jones. + +"Well, Joe, make 'em coffee," said Mills, with a wink at Joe, who had +been intending to make coffee all the time. + +He filled his kettle at the little brook, and while the coffee was +boiling, opened a small can of sardines apiece, some boxes of crackers, +a can of beans, and two or three jars of jam. For the jam, he carefully +whittled some dead pine limbs into rough spoons, to save dish washing, +and sweetened the coffee, when ready, in the pot, for the same purpose. + +By the time he had this very simple lunch spread out on a bit of level +ground, with no plates or spoons except for the beans, which he had +heated while the coffee was boiling, the party had scattered, all but +Val, the young cowboy. + +"Ready?" Val asked. + +"All ready." + +Val picked up a piece of wood and a frying-pan, which lay on the opened +pack. Pounding the pan with the stick like a drum, he yelled, + +"Come and get it!" + +"That's the word that brings 'em in these parts," he added to Joe. + +It did. + +"That's the most eloquent speech I ever heard!" exclaimed Mr. Jones. + +In about one minute, they were all gathered around the fire. Val passed +the food and Joe poured the coffee. + +"Say, what do you take these sardines out with?" demanded Mrs. Jones. + +"Fingers were made before forks, mother darling," said Bob. "See--watch +your little son." + +He picked up a sardine by the tail, and dropped the whole of it into his +mouth. + +"Well, I must say, I'd like a fork----" she began, and Joe turned red, +for he had forgotten the forks for the sardines. + +But Miss Elkins spoke up before Mrs. Jones could finish. + +"Cook hasn't time to wash dishes this noon," she said. "We've got to +make camp before dark. Besides, we're roughing it. I think it's great!" +and she, too, picked a sardine out of her tin by the tail, and dropped +it upon a cracker. + +Joe cast her a grateful glance, and she smiled at him sweetly. He +decided then and there, as he put it to himself, that she was "all to +the good." + +Meantime Mrs. Elkins, her mother, was watching Val, with fascinated +eyes. + +"What _are_ you looking at, mother?" her daughter demanded. Bob's eyes +followed hers, and he gave a hoot of glee. + +"A Charlie Chaplin sandwich!" he cried. + +Then everybody looked at Val, who was grinning amiably, as he sat on a +fallen log, making himself a sandwich, between two crackers, of the +entire bill of fare--sardines, jam, and baked beans. This he consumed in +exactly three bites, and proceeded to concoct another one. + +"Well," he said, as he made this second, "you mix 'em all inside, don't +you? Why not first? Saves time." + +"Ugh!" said Mrs. Jones. "I'm afraid I wasn't born to rough it." + +"Efficiency, I call it," said her husband. "Why not, as he says. Think +I'll try it." + +"Me, too," said Bob. + +"Me, too." + +"Me, too," from each of the girls. They all did try it--once--much to +Mrs. Jones' disgust. + +It did not take long to clean out the sardine tins and the jam jars. +Then Joe produced a piece of sweet chocolate apiece, while the girls +called him "a darling thing," and the congressmen lit their cigars and +lay back on the grass, while Joe and Val packed up again. + +"You go along right away, with the pack-train," said Mills to them, "and +when you reach the lake, turn toward Sun Camp, till you come to the +point of land. Start making camp by that. We'll come slower." + +So Joe had to climb back on Popgun--reluctantly, for he hated to leave +this beautiful upland meadow, and led the way down the trail, with the +eight packhorses behind him, and Val bringing up the rear. Of course, he +and Val were thus so far apart they could not talk, and with nothing in +front of him, it seemed almost as if he were alone, plunging into the +unknown wilderness. + +The trail immediately fell over the edge of the meadow, into timber, and +began to descend steeply, the woods growing more dense and the trees +much larger as the trail dropped down, till, after a mile or two, they +were in a heavy forest of big fir trees. As they neared the bottom land, +the footing got heavy, too, and finally the trail was mostly black mud. +They plodded through this for a mile or more, and then, through the +great tree trunks, Joe began to see light, and, high up, the red and +white and gray tops of mountains, and finally, after they had turned to +the left by a rushing stream, and followed down it a ways, he saw the +dancing waters of a green lake. A short distance now, and they were +beside this lake. It was, Joe knew, St. Mary Lake, the upper end of the +same lake he had seen on the trip in from the railroad on the motor bus. + +As he came out on an open headland on the shore, he could not help +pulling up his horse, and looking at it. Val trotted up beside him. + +"Some pond, eh?" said the cowboy. "I like this puddle. Good fish in it, +too." + +But Joe was not thinking of fish then. He was thinking--well, he could +not have told you what he was thinking; maybe he was just feeling. It +was all so huge, and awe-inspiring, and yet so beautiful! The lake was +two miles wide, he fancied, and went out of sight around a headland to +the east. To the west, it seemed to run right up into a big canyon that +ended bang against Blackfeet Glacier, Mount Jackson, and the sawtooth +peaks of the Great Divide. Directly opposite, two huge rock pyramids +came sheer down into the water. + +"Those are Red Eagle and Little Chief Mountains," said Val. "See that +house over on the one little island? That's where the president of the +Great Northern Railroad lives in summer. Come on, though, we can't look +at the pretty pictures. We've got to get tents up for the others. She +doesn't like to rough it, Mrs. Jones don't. Say, I bet she asks you to +heat her curling irons to-night." + +Joe laughed. + +"Why didn't you remind me of the forks?" said he. "I'm green, you know, +and get rattled." + +"Forks, what for? Let her use her pickers. It'll do her good," said Val. + +Joe laughed again. Val was just what he wanted a cowboy to be--jolly, +reckless, without any reverence for any one or anything. He liked him +especially because when it came to doing any job, he went right at it +cheerfully and did it. + +They now trotted east, along the border of the lake, directly in front +of them towering up the huge and beautifully shaped pinkish-gray pyramid +of Going-to-the-Sun Mountain. After a mile or so, Val called out for Joe +to turn off the trail, and he obeyed, going down through the woods to a +long spit of rocks and earth and little trees which had been pushed out +into the lake by a roaring brook, which now flowed through the middle of +it. Here they dismounted and unloaded the horses, which Val led back to +the trail, and then took somewhere up the slopes to their night feeding. + +Meanwhile Joe set about making camp. He first picked out a good place +for the fire pit, and built that. He got out what he was going to need +for supper, and then set about collecting dead wood for his fire. He did +not have to go far, either, for the whole rocky beach of the lake was +lined with driftwood, and he cut up a good supply, made a fire, and put +on two kettles of water to boil, one with some of the beef in it for a +stew, one for soup. Then he went at the task of setting up the tent the +Ranger had packed, in which he and Mills would sleep, and in which he +would keep his provisions. + +He had hardly finished, and had the stuff stowed into it, when up the +trail he heard voices, and a moment later the party came in sight. They +were mostly silent now--only Bob and the girls were doing any talking. +Their mothers were hanging forward over the horns of their saddles, +thoroughly tired out, and the two congressmen looked nearly as fagged as +the women. + +"Can I help?" Joe asked the Ranger, after the party had dismounted, and +the older people had flopped on the ground. + +"No, get supper as soon as you can, that's all. Dick and I will pitch +the tents. Where's Val?" + +"He took the horses somewhere." + +"Good. He can take these, too, when he gets back. That'll please him a +whole lot! Why didn't he wait till he had the whole bunch?" + +Joe looked quickly at Mills' face, for he had never seen the Ranger +cross before. + +Mills managed a grin, when he saw the look. "Yes, I got a grouch," he +said, in a low tone. "It's that Jones woman. You'd think she wanted a +twin-six limousine to bring her over Piegan Pass! What'll you take to +throw her in the lake?" + +"Wait for Val. He'll do it for nothing," Joe laughed. "She'll feel +better soon. I'm goin' to give her two forks." + +Joe went back to his preparations for supper, keeping the fire roaring +under his stew to hasten the cooking, and mixing up a batter of flour, +condensed milk, one of his precious eggs, and some baking powder, for +cakes. The Ranger and Dick, the other guide, were busy with the tents, +one for the three men, and two smaller ones for the four women. The +women's tents had little folding cot beds, but the men's did not, and +Mills, with a wink at Joe, gave Bob and the two congressmen axes, and +told them to go cut themselves boughs to sleep on, from a big evergreen +which had blown over. Meanwhile, the two girls came over to Joe's fire, +and watched him work. + +They sniffed at the kettle of stew. + +"Are we going to have _meat_, really, truly meat, for dinner, Cookie?" +asked Miss Jones. + +"Alice, if you call him Cookie, he'll poison you, won't you--Joe?" said +Miss Elkins. + +Joe looked up and met her twinkling eyes. "Sure," he said. "I'll put a +Charlie Chaplin sandwich in it." + +"Mercy, Mr. Cook, Sir Cook, My Lord Cook, Reverend Cook!" cried Alice. + +"All right, s'long as you don't call me Dr. Cook," said Joe, peeping in +the stew kettle to see how it was coming along. + +"Here, no flirting with the cook," Mills called out. "You girls have got +to make the beds." + +"All right," laughed Lucy Elkins. (Joe thought to himself that Lucy was +a nice name.) "Where are the sheets and pillow-cases?" + +"You'll find 'em in the linen closet, next door beyond the bathroom," +Mills grinned. + +Then she and Alice grabbed armfuls of blankets from the packs, and +disappeared into the tents. + +Meantime Val arrived, and the Ranger asked him why he didn't wait and +drive all the horses up together. + +"'Cause I'm a natural born mut, and didn't think of it," said Val. + +The Ranger growled, and turned away. "Because he'd rather do that than +pitch tents," he muttered. "All cowboys are lazy." + +The two weary congressmen and Bob now reappeared, with armfuls of +evergreen boughs, and the Ranger went to show them how to lay their +beds. The sun was getting well down toward the tops of the peaks on the +Great Divide to the west. Already it was getting colder, and the women +had put on their sweaters. The green waters of the lake were lap-lapping +against the shore, and the smell of Joe's stew was rising with the smoke +of the fire. When he saw it was about done, he made a big pot of coffee, +then opened his cans of soup, and poured them into the other kettle of +boiling water, and mixed it to the right consistency. As soon as this +was ready, and Val appeared down from the woods above, he pounded a +frying-pan and yelled, + +"Come and get it!" + +In a second he was surrounded. Sitting on large stones, or logs washed +down by the spring floods in the brook, with their laps or other stones +as tables, every one except Joe ate the piping hot soup. Then they had +stew, on tin plates, with bread and coffee and jam, and while the stew +was being eaten Joe tossed over the "saddle blankets" in his frying-pan. + +"Why don't you go into vaudeville with that act?" Bob called to him, as +he flapped a cake up with the pan, and caught it neatly, other side +down. + +These they ate with butter from a jar and syrup from a tin can, which +Joe had stocked at the Many Glacier store. Finally, he gave them +preserved peaches for dessert. + +"Poor Joe," said Lucy, as he passed her dessert to her. "I don't believe +we've left a thing for you." + +"Don't you worry about me," Joe answered. "I have the supplies in my +tent!" + +She laughed, but he saw that she was watching to see if there really was +any supper left for him, and it seemed very good to have some one +thinking that way about you. + +As a matter of fact, there was a little soup left, and a good big plate +of stew, and all the jam he wanted, so Joe had no complaint. He sat +behind his fire and devoured his supper hungrily, before he tackled the +final job of cleaning up all the dishes. + +It would have been quite dark at home by this time, for it was eight +o'clock, or more, but up here it was still light enough to read, and as +Joe took the dishes down to the brook to scour them with clean sand +before he poured boiling water over them, he looked up into the west, +and saw the great, towering pyramids of the mountains, blue against the +sunset sky, with their snow patches and glaciers all rosy pink. The two +girls were standing near him, and when they saw him looking, they said, +"Isn't it lovely?" + +"I never saw anything so beautiful," Joe answered, simply. "I like +mountains, but these are such big ones, and there are so many colors in +'em!" + +"Joe, I believe you're a poet," Lucy said. + +"Well, if your poetry is as good as your coffee, Shakespeare will have +to watch out," Alice laughed. + +Joe turned red again, and nearly dropped his stack of plates. + +When he had the dishes washed and the fire-wood ready for morning, he +found that the Ranger had built a big camp-fire in front of the tents, +and placed some logs about it, to lean against, while sitting on the +ground. Everybody was sitting in a ring, glad of the warmth now that the +cold night chill was falling from the peaks--all but the two cowboys, +who had disappeared. + +"They've gone to the Sun Camp chalets, half a mile down the trail," said +Mills, when somebody asked where they were. + +"And where's Joe?" said Lucy. "Oh, there he is. Come on in the house, +Joe, where it's warm. Mr. Mills is going to tell us a bedtime story." + +She made room for Joe to sit beside her, and he sank down, weary and +sore, for they had ridden twenty-two miles that day, and he had cooked +for eleven hungry people. + +"Now Mr. Mills--begin!" she commanded. + +The poor Ranger turned red in his turn. + +"Gosh," he said, "I couldn't tell a story. I don't know any stories." + +"Oh, yes you do--you must." + +"Tell us a bear story." cried Bob. "And tell it quick, or dad'll be +telling one of those he gets off in after dinner speeches, and we'll all +be asleep." + +"Bob, I'm too sore and tired to thrash you," laughed the congressman. + +"But you're never too tired to tell a story, dad. Hurry, Mr. Mills, I +can see one coming now!" + +"If I had a child like that, I'd--I'd----" Mr. Elkins began. + +"You'd send him to Congress to listen to all the speeches there for +punishment," chortled the irrepressible Bob. "Please, Mr. Mills, a bear +story." + +"Yes, a bear story!"--from the men. + +"A _grizzly_ bear story!"--from Alice. "A _great_, BIG grizzly bear +story!"--from Lucy. "And put in the middle-sized bear, and the little +weeny bear, too, if you want to." + +The Ranger laughed. "Well," he said, "I can tell you a bear and a lion +story, if that'll do." + +He threw another driftwood log on the fire, and began. + + + + +CHAPTER X--The Ranger Tells a Grizzly Bear Story Before the Camp-Fire + + +"The first thing you want to remember about old Mr. Silver Tip," said +the Ranger, "is that he's a good deal like a lot o' big, strong men, +he's too powerful to be scrappy. You hear a lot o' stories about +grizzlies bein' terrible fighters, and they sure can fight when they're +cornered, or when old mother bear thinks her cubs are in danger. But if +a silver tip can possibly get away, he gets. That's not because he's +afraid, either, of anything on earth except a high power rifle. It's +because he ain't lookin' for trouble. Mr. Silver Tip is afraid of a +rifle, all right, and he's about the smartest of all animals in keeping +away from it, too. But there's nothing else he's afraid of, and before +man came into these mountains to shoot him, he just wandered around +here, the king pin, and nobody bothered him a bit, no sir." + +"But don't grizzlies have to fight to kill anything as big as a moose?" +asked Bob. + +"They don't kill anything as big as a moose," the Ranger said. "Oh, once +in a blue moon an old bear will go wrong, and take to killing cattle. +Down in Wyoming there was a silver tip used to kill cattle, and two +hundred men and dogs hunted him a month, and never did get him. But +mostly they live on roots and berries and mice and ground squirrels and +dead birds and animal carcases something else has killed. Why, I've seen +a grizzly digging out a ground squirrel in the early spring, just after +he'd come out of his winter nest, not far from my cabin, and a lot of +sheep, down there to get the early grass, walking right up close to him +to see what he was up to. When they got too close--sheep are kind o' +curious, like kids and women--he just _woufed_ at 'em, to drive 'em off. +They weren't afraid of him eatin' 'em, though, at all, and he could have +cleaned out the flock with about two bites. + +"Well, this is just to show you how little fear Mr. Silver Tip has that +anything but a man can do him any harm, or will dare try it. I was +hunting once over west of the Flathead River, in bear country, and I had +a dead horse out in a clearing for bait. Up in a tree on the edge of the +clearing I'd built myself a kind of blind, where I could watch. You see, +most bears can climb trees, but the grizzly can't, so when one comes +after you, Bob, you just beat it up the nearest trunk." + +"Thanks for the tip--the silver tip, as you might say," the boy laughed. + +"Well," Mills went on, "by 'n' by along into the clearing come two +lions, long, lean, hungry lookin', sneaky beasts they are, too--I hate +'em--and they fell to on the carcase, and began to eat. Thinks I, I'd +wait and see what happened, instead of killin' 'em and maybe scarin' off +the bear with the shots so's he'd never come back. Sure enough, the old +boy came galumphing along presently, and went up on his hind legs when +he saw the lions at his festal board, as you might say. Then he dropped +down again, and just walked right up, stuck his big shoulders in between +the two lions, shovin' 'em apart, and began to eat." + +"That's no way to treat a lion," said Lucy. + +"No, specially as one of 'em was a lady lion," Mills laughed. "But +that's what old Silver Tip did. The lions naturally didn't like it, and +one of 'em snarled, and up with his paw and fetched the bear a nasty +swipe. Then I expected to see trouble. + +"But what do you think the old bear did? He just kind of side-cut with +one of his big paws and caught that lion a blow that sent him spinning +head over tail twenty feet down the slope. Then he went right on eating. +He didn't look at the other lion, he didn't even look around to see what +the first one was goin' to do. 'Peared as if he was quite certain what +they'd both do, and they done it. They both took a quick sneak into the +woods, and left Mr. Silver Tip to his feast. You couldn't have brushed +off a mosquito more calmly. I says to myself then that it showed how +sure of himself the grizzly is--he's king of the forest, all right." + +"And did you shoot him after that?" Lucy asked. + +"Sure I shot him." + +"I think you were real horrid," she said. + +"Maybe," Mills answered. "But I'm still wearin' his skin in winter." + +"How many shots did it take?" asked one of the congressmen. "I've always +heard you have to pump a grizzly full of lead, and then use a knife to +defend yourself, after your last shell is emptied." + +"The feller that told you that was a bum shot," said the Ranger. +"'Course there are a lot of bum shots come out here huntin'. One bullet, +in the brain, the upper part of the heart, or the right place in the +spine, will drop a silver tip like a sack o' grain. You've got to know +where to hit, and you've got to hit there, naturally. Trouble is, green +hunters get scared or rattled, and don't aim right, and half the time +when they think they're plugging the bear they're really peppering the +rocks behind him. I wouldn't want to hunt 'em myself with a single shot +rifle, but I could if I had to. A city chap in one of our parties once, +over in the Blackfeet forest, smashed all four of a bear's legs with +bullets, and then the bear, tryin' to get away, fell into a stream and +drowned to death. Our cook asked the feller why he didn't chuck him in +to start with, and save shells." + +"When you going to show us a bear?" Bob demanded. + +"Mercy, I do hope it isn't very soon!" cried Bob's mother. "I'm sure _I_ +don't want to meet one. I don't suppose there are any in the Park any +more." + +"Oh, yes, more 'n ever," said the Ranger, managing a secret wink to Joe. +"Why, there was two women from Boston once, sitting in broad day on the +steep cut bank of a stream, and they heard crashings in the bush, and +looked back and seen a big grizzly coming right toward 'em, and they +yelled like Comanches and fell right down the bank into the water, and +waded across up to their necks and beat it back to camp." + +"Better stick close to brave little Bobbie, ma," laughed her son. "I +won't let the naughty big bear bite you. But when are you going to show +me one, Mr. Mills?" + +"Day after to-morrow," said the Ranger. + +Joe pricked up his ears. It sounded as if Mills meant it. + +"Is that a threat or a promise?" Lucy asked. + +"Promise for Bob, a threat for Mrs. Jones, I guess," said the Ranger, +rising from the ground, and adding, "Who's ready for bed?" + +"Better ask who isn't," somebody laughed. + +Joe went as far out on the rocky spit into the lake as he could get; he +could see the dying camp-fire gleaming red back under the trees; and all +around him, over the dim, starlit water, rose the majestic mountains, +great walls of shadow rearing up half-way to the top of the sky. It was +a still, solemn scene, and he felt very small as he crouched by the lake +and cleaned his teeth in water that was almost as cold as ice. + +When he got back to camp every one was abed, and he crawled into the +tent with Mills and wrapped himself up in his blankets, with only his +poncho for a mattress, and almost before he had got his body fitted into +the unevennesses of the ground he was fast asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI--To Gunsight Lake, and Joe Falls Into a Crevasse on +Blackfeet Glacier + + +The Ranger was the first up in the morning. He gave Joe a shake by the +shoulder, and Joe half opened one sleepy eye and said, "Aw, ma, it ain't +time to get up yet." + +Then he heard Mills chuckle, and he realized where he was. He looked at +his watch, and saw that it was almost six. Outside, it was broad +daylight, and the sun was flooding up the lake. + +Joe sat up and threw back the blankets. "Golly, I'm sore and stiff," he +said, rubbing himself. "Been sleeping on a cot, and I'm soft, I guess." + +"You also did twenty-two miles yesterday," Mills remarked. "Well, I +haven't told 'em yet, but we're going to do only seven to-day, and then +have a side trip for the young folks. Guess Mother Jones will want to +stay in camp and help you get supper." + +"She'd better try!" cried Joe, springing up at the word "supper," for it +reminded him that it was his job to get breakfast. He had a quick wash +in the brook which ran past the camp, and set about making some biscuit, +bacon and eggs, coffee and flapjacks. His fire was going merrily, and in +its heat he had begun to get warm (for the night chill was still in the +air, and you could almost see your breath), when he saw Congressman +Elkins poking a sleepy face out of the men's tent flap, with his hair +all tousled, and his body bent half double. He spied the fire, and made +a hobble for it. + +"Say, Joe, let me get some of that heat, will you?" he said. + +"Sure," Joe laughed. "Didn't you have blankets enough?" + +"I had five--ought to be enough, in the third week of July, you'd think. +But I shivered all night, and every time I shivered a new branch in our +wonderful bough bed found a fresh spot on my anatomy to puncture. I'm +beginning to think Mrs. Jones is right about this roughing it stuff." + +"No, sir, she isn't," Joe answered, as he set his batter of biscuit over +the fire. "Only you have to learn how to do it, and get hardened to it a +bit, too. How'd you have the blankets?" + +"How'd I have 'em? Over me, of course." + +"That's the trouble," said Joe. "The secret of sleeping warm is to have +'em _under_ you, too. That's where as much cold comes as from above, +even in a bed. You roll yourself up in 'em to-night and see if you're +not warm." + +"Where'd you learn all this?" the congressman asked. "You look pretty +young to be a camp cook. Live around here?" + +"Oh, no, sir, I live in Massachusetts. I learned how to camp as a Boy +Scout. My chum--another scout--and I came out here this summer, because +I was--I wasn't very well. He's got a job at Many Glacier tepee camp, +and I'm getting so well now Mr. Mills got me to go as cook, 'cause I'd +made coffee and things for him and he knew I could cook." + +"I suppose you learned cooking as a scout, too, eh?" + +"Yes, sir," Joe answered, pouring out the ground coffee into the pot. "I +worked to get a merit badge in cooking. You see, I could help mother +with it, too, when she was sick, or anything." + +"Well, I'm beginning to have a better opinion of the Boy Scouts every +minute," the man laughed, sniffing the food and warming his hands by the +blaze. "I thought it was just a kind of fad." + +"Oh, no, sir!" Joe cried. "Why, all our little scouts, after a year, are +lots better boys, and everybody says it's been a fine thing for the +town!" + +"Here, daddy, you stop bribing the cook to give you breakfast in +advance!" a laughing voice interrupted them. Joe turned, and saw Lucy +Elkins coming from her tent. Her hair was down her back, in brown waves, +so that she looked almost like a little girl, and she was smiling and +bright and gay as the morning sun. + +"I suppose _you_ slept well," her father said, "weren't cold and no pine +boughs in your ribs." + +"I don't know," she answered. "I slept so hard I can't tell whether I +was cold or not. But I know I'm hungry. Why don't you wake everybody up, +Joe, and let's get to business." + +She went off up the brook with her tooth-brush and towel, and the +Ranger, taking a pan, beat reveille on it with two sticks. Other sleepy +heads emerged, Mrs. Jones last of all, looking very cross and shivery. +By the time they had all got fully dressed and washed, and the girls had +braided their hair (letting the braids hang down their backs), the two +guides appeared. They had spent the night just down the lake at the Sun +Camp chalets, with other guides, friends of theirs. + +Joe set his eggs to cooking last of all, got the dishes ready, poured +the coffee, and then gave the now familiar yell, + +"Come and get it!" + +That is a call in Glacier Park no one has to hear a second time. Even +Mrs. Jones perked up, and stopped complaining about how cold she was, +and how she hated to clean her teeth in ice water, and how she missed +her morning bath, and silenced her own tongue with a bite of bacon that +was more nourishing than ladylike in size. The breakfast disappeared in +double quick time, and Val went up the hill for the horses, while Mills +and Dick began to strike the tents and arrange the packs, and Joe +cleaned his dishes and packed his provisions. + +At half-past eight, the party was in the saddle again, Mills at the +head, and started up the trail, along the lake shore, toward the +gleaming white field of Blackfeet Glacier and the red, snow-spangled +cone of Mount Jackson. + +"Where are we bound to-day?" some one asked. + +"Only seven miles, to Gunsight Lake," the Ranger answered. "I thought +maybe you'd like an easy stage to-day, and this afternoon those that +wanted to could go up on the glacier." + +"The man is almost intelligent!" Mrs. Jones exclaimed. "Only seven +miles--that sounds more reasonable to me." + +They were seven easy miles, too, up a streamside by an easy grade, a +good deal of the way through tall timber, and past a beaver dam, the +first one Joe had ever seen. It was made of small logs, twigs and +grasses, all matted together, and plastered neatly and tightly with mud, +and must have been a hundred feet long and perhaps three feet high, so +that a considerable little pond had backed up behind it, in which, +rising above the water, were the huts, which looked like larger and +better built muskrat huts. Joe pulled down his horse to a slow walk as +he passed, and saw the little canals the beavers had made, leading from +the bed of the stream back into the willow and aspen swamp. He figured +out that the chief reason the beavers build dams is so they can flood +such a grove of young willows, aspens, etc., and float out the tiny logs +they cut (the young shoots, with tender bark), to their houses, where +they store them for winter food. Later he asked Mills, and found he was +right. When the beavers can find deep water, with food trees right on +the bank, they will not bother to make dams. + +Joe lingered till Val yelled at him to "get a move on," hoping he might +see one of the little animals at work, but the beaver works mostly at +night when he has to be above water, and not one was now to be seen. + +It was a short, easy trip to Gunsight Lake, and they reached the open +meadow at its foot by eleven o'clock. The lake, a smallish one, lay at +the bottom of a great horseshoe amphitheatre. If you will imagine the +Harvard stadium two or three miles long instead of two or three hundred +yards, with sides almost precipitous and three thousand feet high, and a +green lake where the football gridiron is, you have a picture of +Gunsight. The closed end of the horseshoe was the Divide, and that was +where the Gunsight Pass lay, over which they would climb to-morrow. The +north side was Fusillade Mountain, the south side was the great shoulder +of Mount Jackson (the summit being invisible from this point). The +meadow where they were to camp was just out at the open end, where they +could see around the shoulder of Jackson to the glittering field of +Blackfeet Glacier, the largest in the Park, hung on the upper slopes of +the Divide, to the southwest, and where, behind them, rose the huge +cliffs of Citadel Mountain, which is exactly like old Fort Sumter or the +old fort on Governor's Island, enlarged to the "_nth_" power. (If you +don't know what "enlarged to the _nth_ power" means, it's either because +you have not studied your algebra, or have not reached algebra yet.) The +floor of the meadow was full of wild flowers, especially the great, tall +white spikes of the Indian basket grass, and full, too, of low balsams +and pines. + +Close to the shore of the lake lay a big pile of lumber, old, twisted +iron beds, half a cook-stove, and the like. + +"What on earth happened here?" asked Mrs. Elkins. + +"Avalanche," said the Ranger. "Was a chalet here--Gunsight chalet. In +the winter of 1915-16 a snowslide started down Jackson, and this is +what's left." + +"Oh, heavens!" Mrs. Jones cried, looking up the red precipices of +Jackson to the snow-fields far above, "do you suppose there'll be +another one?" + +"We don't often have 'em in July, marm," said Mills briefly, "but you +never can tell," and he winked at Joe. + +They now pitched tents near the lake, and Joe set about cooking a hot +lunch, for he had plenty of time. While the water was heating, he got +some boards from the pile of wreckage, and made a rough table and +benches. Then he started out to gather some flowers. Lucy and Alice saw +him, and came to help. The three of them, in ten minutes, found thirty +different kinds of flowers, all in a space of two or three hundred feet, +and made three bunches, which they stood in tin cans on the table, and +then put little pine boughs around the cans "to camouflage them," as Joe +said. + +"I told you Joe was a poet," Lucy said to Alice. "I'll bet he'll produce +a table-cloth in a minute." + +"Can't do that," Joe laughed, "unless you'll climb up and get me one of +those up there----" and he gestured toward the white snow-fields far up +the cliffs, which did, indeed, look like huge sheets, or table-cloths, +flung on the rocky ledges to dry. + +As soon as the tents were pitched, and lunch was over, Mills said: + +"Well, who wants to go up to Blackfeet Glacier?" + +"I do!" from Bob. + +"I do!" from Lucy. + +"I do!" from Alice. + +"I do, if I can go on horseback," from Mr. Elkins. + +"Same as Elkins," from Mr. Jones. + +"I want to sit still," from Mrs. Jones. + +"I couldn't leave Mrs. Jones all alone," from Mrs. Elkins. + +"You haven't spoken, Joe," said Lucy. + +Poor Joe--how he wanted to climb up and see a real glacier! But he +smiled bravely and cheerfully. + +"I shall have to stay and get dinner," he answered. + +"Oh, that's too bad! I just _know_ you're dying to see the glacier. Mr. +Mills, wouldn't we be back in time for Joe to get dinner, if he went?" + +"Well, we might be, if dinner was a bit late, and you didn't have a +roast turkey," the Ranger said. + +"Well, I move we have late dinner, and take Joe along. All in favor, say +aye." + +Bob and Alice yelled "Aye!" and Mr. Elkins said, "Jones and I are +paired, so it's a vote." + +Joe tried to say some word of thanks to Lucy, but he couldn't manage it. +Besides, he had no time, for Mrs. Jones broke in: + +"Well, I'd like to know if you expect Mrs. Elkins and me to stay here +all alone?" + +"You might be getting the dinner, Martha," her husband grinned. + +"Val will stay in camp," Mills said. "He's fed up on glaciers, anyhow, +ain't you, Val?" + +The young cowboy nodded. "You can have 'em all," he said, "and welcome." + +So Joe found himself in the small party headed for Blackfeet Glacier, as +soon as he had put his stew to simmer over a small fire, which Val +promised to keep going. Mills took three of the strongest ropes from the +packs, and they set off up the steep, rough trail climbing the shoulder +of Jackson. They soon had a superb view below them, first of the meadow, +with their own tents like white dots in it, and then back down the canyon +to St. Mary Lake, and the great pink and gray pyramid of +Going-to-the-Sun Mountain. But it was not long before every one stopped +looking at the view, and paid entire attention to the trail. This was a +side trail, not one of the regular tourist highways, and it was not +built for comfort. It was tremendously steep, and very rough, more like +a flight of high, irregular stone steps than a path. + +"Oh, I think this is terrible on the poor horses!" Lucy said, as her +horse scrambled up a rock, and she had to cling to his mane to stick on +the saddle. + +"Get out and walk, then," Mills called back. "Grab hold of your horse's +tail, and let him pull you up." + +"Say, what you giving us?" said Bob. "Think I want to go down the hill +again backwards?" + +Mills laughed. "Think these horses are mules?" he answered. "See, this +is the way." + +He got off his horse, grabbed it by the tail, and to everybody's +surprised amusement, the horse started up, with the Ranger scrambling +behind him, half climbing, half being pulled along. + +Every one else got off, too, and in single file, each person clinging to +his horse's tail, they began the ascent again. The horses, being +considerably longer legged than men, climbed faster up the high steps +than a man could do alone, but with the horse's tail to hang on to, you +could manage to keep up. Everybody laughed at first, yelling at one +another, but in three minutes the yells had ceased, and in five, the +laughter. No one had any breath left for that. If Joe had thought, he +probably would have been frightened, for he was certainly disobeying the +doctor, but he was having too good a time to remember doctors, and as +even the lack of breath did not make him cough, he had nothing to remind +him. Panting, covered with perspiration, the two congressmen were about +ready to quit. They presently reached a more level place, a high upland +meadow covered with flowers, and mounting again rode up and across this, +and came at last near the lower edge of a great snow-field, which +stretched away southward for three miles, broken here and there by +peninsulas and islands of rock, and stretched upward clear to the summit +of the Divide over their heads, at an angle of about forty-five degrees +at first, but much steeper near the top. + +"The biggest glacier in the Park," said Mills. + +"Where?" said Mr. Elkins. "All I see is snow." + +"I know it--too bad, but we had so much snow last winter it's not melted +off yet. But take my word for it, that's all ice underneath." + +"Hooray, let's climb out on it!" Bob shouted. + +"Not for me--I've climbed enough to-day," his father said, still +puffing. + +It ended with the two congressmen resting in the meadow, while Mills, +Dick the guide, Joe, the girls, and Bob, climbed up some way over the +rocks without any trail, and reached at length a place where the vast +snow-field seemed to be sliding down past them, like a huge, silent +river. Of course, it did not move, but it gave that illusion. + +"What a place to ski!" said Joe. + +"Wow!" yelled Bob, "you bet! You'd get some jump at the bottom, too." + +Mills grinned. "About as far as whichever place you're going to when you +die," he said, as he began to uncoil his three ropes, fastening them +together. + +"What's the big idea?" asked Bob. "That snow's soft; you wouldn't slip +in that." + +And, to prove it, he started down the rocks, and out on to the +snow-covered glacier. + +Mills suddenly spoke with a sharp note Joe had never heard him use. + +"Come back here!" he said. + +Bob came. + +"Now, Joe," he said, "you go first on the rope, because you've got +spikes in your shoes. We've got to look out for crevasses. Sound your +footing when it looks suspicious. We'd need Alpine stocks to go far." + +He fastened one end under Joe's arms. + +"You next, Dick, to brace if Joe goes under. Then the rest of you, and +I'll be the rear anchor." + +He made the rope fast around Dick, twenty feet behind Joe, then told Bob +and the girls to hold it fast at equal intervals, and fastened the rear +end around his own waist + +"Now, Joe, let her go," he said. + +Joe went down the rocks, and out on the great snow-field, tilted like +the roof of a house. It was soft, as Bob had said, but not like ordinary +soft snow. It was more like walking in cold, wet, rock salt, and the +footing was anything but sure. Joe went cautiously, slowly climbing +upward and outward at the same time, and as he looked below him, down +that smooth, glistening, white slope, and realized that if he once got +started sliding he would probably go half a mile and shoot off the lower +edge into space, he felt his heart, for a minute, go down somewhere into +his boots. So he looked up, instead of downward, and felt better. + +Everything went well for some hundreds of yards, and the whole party, on +their rope, were well out on the great snow-field, when Joe saw just +ahead of him a very slight depression in the snow. Bracing with his +right foot, he put his left forward, and hit this depression smartly. It +caved in! He tried to spring back, yelling to Dick to brace, but his +right foot, with nothing but snow for the spikes to hold in, slipped, +and he felt himself going down. He had no time to think, only just a +terrible flash in his brain of accidents he had read about to Alpine +climbers, before the rope caught him under the armpits with a cruel +yank; he hung for a minute surrounded by the wet, cold snow which was +falling down his neck, and then he felt himself being tugged up again by +Dick. + +Mills had come up, bringing the rope around Bob and the girls in a loop, +by the time Dick had him out. + +"Hurt?" he asked. + +Joe was poking snow out of his neck, and loosening the grip of the rope +under his arms. + +"I--I guess not!" he panted. "Gee, that gave me some surprise, though. I +thought something was coming, and tested it with one foot, but the other +slipped." + +"We ought to have ice axes," Mills said. "The snow's getting too thin. +Back's the word." + +Joe looked around at the rest of the party, and saw that Lucy and Alice +had turned deadly pale, and even Bob was looking sober. + +"Are you sure you aren't hurt, Joe?" Lucy asked. + +"I'll get dinner, O.K.," Joe answered. + +Meanwhile Mills had approached the hole where Joe went under, and called +the rest to come and look, one by one, while he and Dick braced the +rope. + +Joe looked, too. His fall had collapsed a snow bridge over a crevasse, +and through the hole, which was six feet wide or more, they could see +down through a layer of snow into what looked like a bottomless slit +between walls of dirty green ice. A cold, damp, chilling breath came up +from the hole, and far below they could hear water running. + +"Now you get the big idea, Bob, eh?" said Mills. "See why we had the +rope?" + +"Yes, and I bet old cookie's glad it was a strong one," Bob replied. +"Say, I wish it had been me'd been ahead!" + +"Oh, do you?" the Ranger laughed. "Want to be lowered down?" + +"Oh, no--Mr. Mills!" Alice cried. + +"Cheer up, he wouldn't let me," Mills grinned. "Besides, he's too fat +and heavy to pull up again." + +"If a feller fell down there, and they didn't get him up, and he froze +into the ice, would he come out some time at the bottom of the glacier?" +Bob asked. + +"I guess he would," said Mills, "but his widow might get tired waiting +and marry again." + +"Mr. Mills, you're perfectly awful" said Lucy, with a shudder. "Take us +back from this horrid place." + +[Illustration: Crevasse in Blackfeet Glacier] + +They went back carefully in their own tracks, and rejoined the +congressmen, who, it seemed, had climbed where they could watch, and had +seen the whole thing from a distance. There was much excited talk about +Joe's experience all the way down (on the down trip they led their +horses over the steep part, needing no help on the descent), and Joe, +sore as he was under the arms and rather shaky from the shock, began to +feel like quite a hero. In fact, by the time they reached the level +meadows at camp, it did not seem terrible at all, and every one had +begun to enjoy it. + +"Except me," said Lucy. "I shall dream all night of the way poor Joe's +head went suddenly out of sight, and I saw Dick bracing on that rope and +wondered if it would hold!" + +"The moral is," said her father, "have a good rope." + +"I should say the moral was, don't climb in foolish places," Mrs. Jones +declared, for the two women had of course been told the story at once. + +"Gee, ma," Bob declared, "if everybody was like you, we wouldn't know +there were any Rocky Mountains. Somebody's got to take a chance!" + +Mills had said nothing. Now he spoke, in his brief, quiet way. + +"It was a sound rope. Nobody took a chance," he said. "We don't let 'em +in the Park." + +There did not seem to be any reply to this. The girls went into their +tent to rest, Joe changed his wet boots--which were soaked with the +snow--and his wet shirt, and set busily about getting dinner. After all, +he was the cook, and there was no further time for being a hero. + + + + +CHAPTER XII--Over Gunsight to Lake McDonald, and Joe and Bob See a +Grizzly at Close Range + + +There was no story telling that night. Dinner was late, and afterwards +the dusk came earlier up here under the shadows of the great cliffs, and +every one except the two women was glad enough to crawl in early. Joe +was gladdest of all. He had to confess that he was tired, as well as +sore--and now he realized that he had disobeyed all orders not to climb +and take strenuous exercise. But he felt of his head, as his mother used +to do, and could detect no fever, and he had not coughed once, so he did +not worry enough to keep himself awake more than one minute and a +quarter. In the morning, he was awake almost as soon as the Ranger, and +sat up feeling fine. Lucy was the next up, as usual, and once more her +cheerful self. She gathered fresh wild flowers--a great bunch of yellow +columbine and blue false forget-me-nots, for the "table," while Joe was +cooking, and asked him how he felt, and sang softly to herself, and then +asked him again if the fresh, clear, morning air way up here in these +high mountains was not the most wonderful thing in the world. + +"It's medicine to me, all right," Joe answered, looking up and watching +the sun come over the rock bastions of Citadel and turn to pink and gold +the snow-fields on Fusillade. "Gee, I think mountains--big +mountains--are just the best ever!" + +"The best ever, that's what they are, Joe, and you're going back East so +big and strong that your own mother won't know you. You must write to me +and tell me about it, won't you?" + +"You bet I will," Joe replied, turning red over his fire. It certainly +was almost like being home to have some one like Lucy Elkins be so +interested in him, and kindly and sweet. The fire was very smoky, and +got into Joe's eyes, and he had to wipe them--but Lucy did not see, or, +if she did, she pretended not to. + +"Well," said Mills, after breakfast, "everybody pack. We've got a long +day ahead of us, if we stop any time to see the sights." + +"And where are we going?" somebody asked. + +"Over Gunsight Pass, and down to Lake McDonald," the Ranger answered, +pointing up to the Great Divide at the head of Gunsight Lake. + +"Do you mean to tell me we are going over that place?" demanded Mrs. +Jones. + +"Why not?" said Mills. + +"Why not? Well, I'm not one of these Rocky Mountain goats I hear about." + +"Your horse is," the Ranger laughed. + +As soon as camp was struck, and the horses brought from the upper +meadows, where they had wandered in the night, and packed, the party +started up the trail. + +"Gunsight Pass--I like that name," said Bob. "But how did it get the +name?" + +"You'll see when we reach it," Mills replied. + +The trail over Gunsight is one of the most interesting in the entire +Park. The head wall of the horseshoe of rocks which holds the green lake +is too steep to climb, so the path gets to the summit by working up the +shoulder of Jackson, in a long series of inclines, with sharp, steep +switchbacks every little way, to boost it a little higher up the steep +slope. + +After climbing for, perhaps, two miles, they reached what appeared to be +the level of the Divide ahead of them, but they were still around on one +side of the horseshoe, and had to make their way along the tremendously +steep wall of the mountain till they got to the pass at the centre. +Between them and this pass lay a huge snow-field, two hundred yards +wide, and extending half a mile up the slope, and as far down, and +ending at the bottom right on the top of a precipice, which dropped off +into the lake. They could hear the melting water from this snow-field +falling down far, far below, over the precipice. + +Mills stopped his horse, and studied the ground, while the two women +looked at the steep, gleaming, slippery field of snow, steeper than a +house roof, at the yawning hole at the bottom, and declared in loud +tones that they would _not_ go across. + +But other parties had been across, and somebody had shoveled out a path, +about three feet wide, to make level footing for the horses. Still, even +so, it was a ticklish place, for if a horse once slid off, there would +be no stopping him short of the lake two thousand feet below. + +"Everybody off!" Mills ordered. + +"Joe, Dick, Val," he commanded, "lead all the horses over, one at a +time, and then two of you come back." + +After the horses were across--and they did not have the least fear, even +when one of their feet would cut through the soft snow, and they +appeared to be in danger of slipping--Joe and Dick returned, and, with +Mills, led the two women and the girls over, and helped them back into +their saddles. Bob and the two congressmen came alone, and in the centre +of the slide, Bob made a big snowball, and let it roll down. Inside of a +hundred feet it appeared to be traveling a mile a minute, growing bigger +all the time, and finally it hit a rock at the bottom with a loud +report, and the broken pieces flew out over the hole below. + +"Say, Joe," he called, "great place for skis, eh?" + +Joe laughed, but not very mirthfully. The thought of going down that +slope on skis made you sick in the pit of your stomach. + +It was but a few steps now, around a hanging ledge, to the pass, and as +they came out into the small level space on top of the Divide, they saw +in front of them, forming the northern gate-post of the pass, as it +were, a big rock pile shaped exactly like the front sight of a rifle--a +sight several hundred feet high. + +"Now you see why it's Gunsight Pass," said Mills to Bob. + +"Some gun!" the boy answered. + +Those ahead moved to the western side of the Divide, and suddenly Joe +heard the girls screaming with delight. As soon as he got there, he +realized why, for never before had he seen anywhere such a wonderful +view. + +Right below them, eight hundred or a thousand feet, lay the loveliest +little lake in all the world, oval in shape, a beautiful green in color, +possibly half or three-quarters of a mile long. Out of one side sprang +up the red precipices of Mount Jackson, from the upper end rose the wall +of the Divide to their feet, on the other side, sweeping around in a +circular curve carved by some ancient glacier as smooth as a drill hole, +was the precipice of Gunsight Mountain. At the farther end of the lake +the land just dropped away out of sight, and far off in the distance +they could see range after range of purple mountains. Right at their +feet, almost at the top of the Divide, was a pine tree, the only one, +the very outmost sentinel of timber-line. It was only eight feet tall, +though the trunk was two feet thick, and it was torn and twisted and +gnarled by the winds till it looked like a grim old fighter who had left +all the rest of his company far below and battled his way on up, almost +to the top. + +[Illustration: Party Crossing Near Top of Gunsight Pass] + +Even Mrs. Jones stopped her horse and admired this view. + +"It's really worth coming for," she said. + +"And how she hates to admit it," Val whispered in Joe's ear, for the +whole party was now gathered together on the edge, looking at the +prospect. + +"What's the name of that heavenly little lake?" Lucy asked. + +"Lake Ellen Wilson," Mills answered. + +"Oh, dear, it shouldn't be--it ought to have a beautiful Indian name, +like Eye-of-the-morning, or something," said she. + +"Let's name it Lake Lucy Elkins," Bob suggested. "Seems to suit you." + +Joe thought so, too, but he did not say anything. + +Lucy laughed. "If we only _could_ rename it," she answered, "I certainly +would find a pretty Indian name. I think it's terrible, the way we take +the land away from the Indians first, and then give everything new +names, in the bargain." + +The trail now descended in switchbacks to the very shore of the lake, +for, although it had to climb up again at the lower, west side, the +precipices were so steep in between that the only way to get from one +point to the other was to descend to the shore. + +"And this water is really going to the Pacific Ocean," said Mr. Jones, +as they reached the lake. "We are over the Great Divide, Bob!" + +"Yes, I feel a change in the climate," the irrepressible Bob answered. + +"That's not such a joke as you think, at that," Mills said. "The climate +is different over here, as you'll see presently." + +They had still another pass to go over--Lincoln Pass (not a part of the +Divide) before they could begin the final descent to Lake McDonald, and +from the lake shore they began to climb again, with the green water +between them and the tremendous red walls of Jackson, where long, narrow +snow-fields clung in the hollows. At the top of Lincoln Pass was a +meadow, on the edge of a precipice, a meadow full of snow-fields, wild +flowers, and a few stunted, twisted pines, for it was on the very edge +of timber-line. Here Mills ordered a halt for lunch. + +"Charlie Chaplin sandwiches again, Joe," he said. "You can make tea if +you want to, and can find any wood." + +Joe and Bob and the girls between them managed to scrape together enough +dead wood to make a small fire, and the water Joe got from the little +brook flowing out from under a snow-field and starting on its long +journey to the Pacific Ocean. + +After lunch, everybody wanted to sit around for a bit, and enjoy the +view of Lake Ellen Wilson and Mount Jackson, and Joe and Lucy got their +cameras from their packs, and took pictures of each other on horseback, +of the party, of Bob and Alice climbing down over an edge of the cliff +beside a waterfall, and finally of a wonderful, twisted pine. + +"I love the old trees at timber-line," Joe said. "They look so sort +of--of heroic." + +"Guess they are, all right," Bob laughed. "I'd feel heroic if I stood up +here in winter!" + +Almost as soon as they started again, they began to drop down a steep, +rocky trail to the Sperry camp, a chalet built up on the slopes to +accommodate the people who want to climb over the Divide just behind it +to Sperry Glacier; and then to drop, by a wide, good trail, past rushing +brooks, into the first real forest Joe had seen. The climate certainly +_was_ different over here--he began to feel it. It seemed warmer, and +the air wasn't quite so vividly clear. There was a faint suggestion of +haze over the lower blue ranges out to the west. It must be different, +he told himself, there must be more rainfall, anyhow, and less severe +winter cold, or the trees wouldn't be so much larger. + +Down and down they dropped, through spruces and pines and larches, +growing ever taller and larger, till suddenly the trail went into the +most wonderful forest Joe had ever seen. It was entirely composed of one +kind of tree, tall, straight, ghostly gray trees, with a thin bark that +shredded in strips on the smaller trunks; and these trees grew so +thickly together that their tops made a solid canopy over the ground +below, shutting out all sunlight, so that it was almost twilight deep in +the heart of the forest. Not a living thing grew on the forest floor; it +was simply a carpet of brownish, tiny needle-like dead leaves, and of +dead sticks and fallen tree trunks. + +Joe heard Lucy, ahead of him, saying it reminded her of the woods that +Hop-o'-my-thumb and his brother got lost in. It reminded him of some +great forest he once dreamed about in a nightmare; and yet it was +beautiful, because of the ghostly gray of the tall trees, and the utter +hush and silence of its dim recesses. + +"What kind of trees are these?" he called back to Val. "They look like +some sort of cedar." + +"You can search me," Val answered. "I couldn't tell a tree from a +cauliflower. Great place for bears, though." + +The trail here was so wide that Joe could trot ahead and ask Mills. + +"Yes, they are cedars," Mills said. "They call 'em white cedars, I +believe. The wood is much softer than your slow-growing cedar in the +East. It's a great forest, isn't it?" + +"Makes me sure I want to be a forest ranger," Joe answered. "Val says +it's a great place for bears." + +"Hi, bears, ma!" yelled Bob. "Val says there's lots of 'em here. Say, +Mr. Mills, how soon are you going to show us that bear? You know you +promised one to-day." + +"You'll see it yet--I never break a promise," the Ranger answered. + +They rode on, down through the cedar forest, for a mile more, and +suddenly saw light through the trees ahead, trotted into a clearing, and +almost immediately found themselves by a good-sized hotel, built out of +this very cedar lumber, and on the shore of a big lake. + +"Lake McDonald," said the Ranger. + +"_And_ a hotel!" cried Mrs. Jones. "You can all camp where you like, but +_I'm_ going to have a room with a bath to-night." + +"I wouldn't mind one myself," said her husband. + +"Me, too," the other congressman put in. + +"Well, I suppose that means we have to sleep in a stuffy old room +to-night, Alice," said Lucy, "and eat in a dining-room with a lot of +people. Oh, dear, I prefer Joe's cooking!" + +"Looks as if you were going to have a snap to-night, Joe," said Mills. +"You want a room with a bath, too?" + +"Oh, no," said Joe. "I'm going to take my blankets up into those cedars +and sleep." + +"You are?" Bob cried. "Then I'm with you. We won't be quitters, anyhow. +Us for the rough life--and the bears." + +"No, Bob, you'll come to the hotel with the rest of us," said his +mother. + +"Aw, no, ma, let me go with Joe! Gee whiz, here we come three thousand +miles to rough it in the Rocky Mountains and you go and bunk up in a +flossy hotel--roughing it with hot and cold water, and a valet to black +your boots!" + +Everybody laughed, and Mr. Jones said, "Let the boy have a good time, +mother. I guess he'll fare as well with Joe as he would in the hotel. +Joe's a Boy Scout, aren't you, Joe?" + +"Yes, sir," Joe answered. + +It was finally settled that way, and while the party went into the hotel +to get their rooms, Joe, the guides and Mills unpacked the horses and +stabled them, took the dunnage bags of the party to the hotel, and all +but Joe found their quarters in the annex. Joe picked out blankets for +two, an axe, some grub and a few cooking utensils, and as soon as Bob +came back, the two boys carted them back a few hundred yards into the +deep woods, in a wild spot well off the trail, made themselves a fire +pit against a big stone, which was so covered with green moss they first +thought it was a stump, spread Joe's poncho for a bed, on a raked up and +smoothed heap of the dead needles, and then went back to have a look at +the lake before supper. + +It was still early, and the girls were out on the pier in front. Bob +spied a canoe for hire, and promptly engaged it. They all four got in, +with Joe as bow paddle and Bob as stern, and paddled straight out into +the lake, which was quiet now as the wind died down with the setting +sun. As they drew away from the shore, they began to realize what a big +lake it is--ten or twelve miles long, with great, dark cedar and +evergreen forests coming right down to the water's edge, and by the time +they were near the middle, they saw how above these forests here at the +upper end rose peak after snow-covered peak, piling up to the Great +Divide. + +"It looks like a lake in Switzerland, doesn't it?" said Alice. + +Joe, of course, had never been to Switzerland, so he looked all the +harder. + +"Only I like it better," Lucy answered, "because here, except for the +hotel and those few cottages near it, you don't see anything but forest +and wilderness. It's so wild and lonely! Oh, dear, I'd like to _live_ +here!" + +"I'd like to sail an ice boat here in winter!" said Bob. + +"And I'd like to fish here now," said Joe, as a fish jumped half out of +the water just ahead of the canoe. + +"Fish! Hooray! Say, Joe," Bob called, "if I get a fish early to-morrow, +will you cook him for breakfast?" + +"You bet!" + +"You horrid things," said Alice. "We'll probably be eating breakfast +food and canned peaches in the hotel. I hope you don't get your old +fish." + +"Ain't that just like a girl!" said Bob. + +They paddled slowly and reluctantly back, as the sunset lit the +snow-fields on the great peaks to the east, and turned them pink. The +supper gong rang as they landed. + +"Now, Bob, be back right after supper, if you want to see that bear," +Mills called, and Joe and Bob hurried to their camp to get a quick +supper. + +All they bothered with was soup, some fried ham, and pancakes, with tea. +They had large quantities of those things, however, and didn't stop to +wash the dishes. + +"This is no time to be fussy," Bob said. "I'll never tell. We gotter see +old Mr. Bear." + +So they hurried back to the trail, where Joe took out a handkerchief, +and tied it to a branch. + +"What's the big idea?" Bob demanded. + +"Well, it's so dark here now you can just barely see the trail," Joe +said. "We could never tell where to turn off by the time we get back. +Don't want to be hunting all night for our camp." + +"I get you, Sherlocko," Bob replied. "Now for the bear. Hurry up!" + +The entire party was waiting when they reached the hotel, and Mills led +the way, back by another road into the cedars, which were now very dark. +A lot of other guests were moving in the same direction. After a way, a +strong smell began to assault the nose. + +"Smells to me like swill," said Bob. + +"Garbage, Robert, is a nicer word," said his mother. + +"Well, it doesn't change the smell any," he answered. + +Mills said nothing, but walked on, while the smell grew stronger, and in +a moment, by the dim light, they saw that the hotel garbage had been +dumped on both sides of the roadway. Just ahead a group of people had +stopped, and Mills led the way up to this group. + +"There," said he, "I promised you one, but I see five." + +"Where? I don't see anything," said Congressman Elkins. + +He was standing on the extreme edge of the road, and just as he spoke +something big and dark and mysterious gave a grunt and with a crash of +broken sticks reared up not six feet from him. + +The congressman jumped back and nearly upset Mrs. Jones, who screamed. + +At her scream, two other dark forms close to the road moved, and in the +dim light the party could see one of these forms go ten feet up the +trunk of a half fallen tree. Peering into the dark of the woods, Joe +could at last count, as the Ranger said, five bears, two of them huge +ones, three smaller (including the one up the tree), and not one of them +more than fifty feet away. + +"The two big ones are silver tips?" he asked. + +"Sure," said Mills. "Want to pat one?" + +"No, thanks." + +"I must say, bears are dirty animals, if this is what they eat," Mrs. +Jones put in, sniffing. "I don't think I like them so near me." + +"I'm sure _I_ don't," Mr. Elkins laughed. "Of course, I know these are +tame, and all that, but--well, it's like the dog the man said wouldn't +bite. 'I know it, and you know it,' said the other fellow, 'but does the +dog know it?'" + +Just then the big grizzly nearest them, which was standing on his hind +legs, gave a low, snarling growl, as if he was mad at being disturbed at +supper, and Mrs. Jones announced determinedly that she was going back. + +And she went. Joe, Bob, and the girls wanted to linger, but the older +people called them, and they had to go. + +"Well, _that_ wasn't very exciting!" Bob complained. "Gee, you could +have patted 'em, 'most. I wanted to see you shoot one, Mr. Mills." + +"I'd as soon shoot a cow as a tame bear," the Ranger told him. "You +can't shoot anything but lions and coyotes in the Park, and only Rangers +can shoot them. We're protecting game here, not killing it." + +"Wouldn't you kill a bear if it came for you?" + +Mills laughed. "I'd try a tree first," he said. + +But Joe had noted that all the time he stood near the bears, he had his +hand on his hip, where his big automatic rested in its holster; and the +scout suspected that he wasn't quite so sure about the bears being +entirely tame as he pretended. + +Back at the hotel, the first thing they saw was Val, in the lobby, with +a clean shave, his hair cut and plastered down in a smooth part, a clean +shirt and a bright red necktie on, and his best white fur chaps, with +silver buckles, on his legs. + +"Oh, look at Val, all dressed up like Astor's horse!" Bob shouted. + +"Where are you going, Val?" the girls demanded. + +"Oh, down to the big struggle," said the young cowboy. + +"The _what_?" they asked. + +"The big struggle--the dance," said he. + +"A dance? A dance? Where?" + +"Down to the hall. Better come." + +"Sure--come, Joe, come, Bob," Lucy cried, and grabbing poor Joe by the +hand--for Joe was scared stiff at a dance, being a poor performer, and +besides, he had on his worn scout suit and heavy boots--she led him off, +while Alice grabbed her equally reluctant brother. + +The hall was a little annex to the hotel, and when they got there the +piano was going, and a lot of people, cowboy guides, waitresses, guests, +everybody, was dancing. Almost nobody was dressed up for a party as we +dress in the East--any kind of rough clothes and stout boots went here, +alongside of silk dresses and satin slippers, worn by some of the hotel +guests. + +"Gee, I can't dance any more 'n a cow," Joe stammered to Lucy. + +"Nonsense," she said, "I'll bet you can dance very nicely. Anyhow, +you've got to try just one with me." + +So they danced a one-step, and Joe managed to get through it without +treading on anybody's toe. + +"There--what did I tell you!" Lucy laughed. "Of course you can dance. I +don't know why it is boys always say they can't." + +"I got around with you all right," Joe answered. "But with most girls I +feel 's if I had about twenty pair o' feet." + +"All you need is practice," said she. + +"Hi," called Bob, who had been dancing with his sister, "come over here +and pipe the pantalettes!" + +Joe and Lucy went into the alcove where he and Alice were, and there +they saw a stuffed and mounted mountain goat--the first Joe had ever +seen except in pictures. It stood about three feet high, with long, pure +white hair, hanging down in a beard under its chin, and hanging down its +legs to a point, as Bob said, "just above the tops of its boots, if it +wore boots." This hair on its legs did look exactly like the pantalettes +you see in pictures of little girls back in the days before the Civil +War. + +"There ain't no such animal!" Lucy laughed. + +"I wish we could see one, alive," said Bob. + +"I'm going to hunt one later with a camera--me and Spider--he's my chum +up at Many Glacier." + +At the other end of the dance hall was a mounted sheep--a big old ram, +almost six inches taller than the goat, with a magnificent pair of horns +which curved up, back, and around till the points touched the base, +making a complete circle. Even stuffed and mounted, he was a magnificent +creature, proud and alert. + +"Oh, I think it's a crime to kill such beautiful animals!" Lucy +exclaimed. + +"Me, too," said Joe. "I'd rather hunt 'em with a camera, get a picture, +and leave the animal alive for somebody else to see." + +"Well, _I'd_ like to have a head for my den," said Bob. "Wish they let +you hunt in the Park." + +Joe and Bob were both so sleepy that they soon left "the big struggle," +and started back for the camp. It was almost pitch black now in the +cedars, and after they had walked up the trail as far as they thought +was right, they had to hunt some minutes before they found the +handkerchief. Turning off from the path, they stumbled through the woods +till they caught the glimmer of red coals from their fire, threw on some +fresh wood to get light, and prepared for bed. Rolled up tight in their +blankets, they were soon fast asleep. + +It was still pitch dark, and it seemed as if he'd just gone to sleep, +when Joe was awakened by a noise close by. He felt as much as heard the +presence of somebody or something. The fire had again died down to a +heap of coals, and only a faint red glow dimly lit the base of the +great, ghostly tree trunks close around. Joe sat up, straining every +nerve of eye and ear. Suddenly a dead stick broke with a loud snap not +far away, on the side toward the provisions, which had been placed in +the fork of a half fallen tree trunk. Bob woke up at this, with a jump +that brought him, too, into a sitting posture. + +"Wha's 'at?" he exclaimed, in the startled voice of one half awake. + +The answer was another crash of broken sticks and a deep, guttural +growl. At the same instant, by a sudden flicker of flame from the fire, +a ray of light shot between the trees and in a flash that was gone +almost as quickly as it came, the two boys saw a gigantic shadowy form +rear up, it seemed to them ten feet into the air. + +"It's a grizzly!" Bob yelled. + +"Shut up!" Joe commanded. He reached over to the bare ground beside him +and grabbed a fistful of dry needles and flung them on the fire. The +blaze jumped up again brighter, and for just a second they caught a +flash of reflection like two sparks, from the bear's eyes, and then the +great shadowy bulk dropped down and they heard a crashing through the +woods, receding rapidly. + +Joe threw off his blankets and piled wood on the fire till it blazed +brightly. Then he looked at Bob, and laughed. The boy was still sitting +up on the poncho, his blankets half off, his mouth half open, and his +eyes big with fright. + +"Brace up," Joe said. "He was only after our grub. They're tame around +here." + +"Tame your grandmother!" Bob retorted. "I don't care if they are. Do you +think I'm goin' to sleep with a grizzly bear 'most under my bed?" + +He began to get up. + +"Where you going?" said Joe. + +"Back to the hotel." + +"What good'll that do? Nobody'll be up to let you in." He looked at his +watch. "It's two o'clock," he added. + +"Well, there's a couple of hammocks on the veranda. That's good enough +for yours truly." + +"Going to leave me here alone?" + +"I don't give a hang what you do. You can let the old bear sleep with +you if you want to. It's me for the hotel." And he began lacing up his +boots. + +"Well, I'm not going to stick around here all alone--besides, you'd +never find your way back alone in the dark." + +"_That's_ a good alibi!" said Bob. "Guess you don't want to stay much +yourself." + +"As a matter of fact, I don't--not alone," Joe admitted. + +They gathered up their provisions and blankets, poured the water for +their morning coffee on the fire, and started back for the trail. It was +hard work finding it, in the inky dark, and every time they heard a +noise in the blackness around them Bob yelled, "Beat it, you bear!" with +the evident idea that would drive the creature away. They knew when they +reached the trail only by the feeling of hard, even ground under their +feet, but at the hotel the starlight over the lake was clear and +comforting, and sneaking up on the veranda, they spread their blankets +in the hammocks, and went to sleep again, with the soft lap, lap, lap of +the water on the beach just below as a lullaby. + +Joe woke early and roused Bob. + +"Say, if we don't want to be guyed for the rest of the trip, we've got +to beat it from here now, 'fore anybody spots us, and get our breakfast +up the shore some place." + +"I know!" Bob whispered. "We'll take a fish-pole and a boat from the +boat-house and catch a breakfast! We can pay for the boat when the man +gets up. What time is it?" + +"Four o'clock." + +"Only four? Gee, it's day already, too. Come on." + +They piled their stuff into a boat, took a fish-pole from the eaves of +the boat-house, found some bait in a pail, and rowed out as noiselessly +as they could, and up along the shore. Joe rowed, while Bob kept casting +from the stern. Finally he gave a yell, and Joe saw his line go under, +and stopped rowing to watch the sport. He had a big one, all right, and +it fought well. Bob was fifteen minutes in landing him, but had him in +the boat finally, and hit him over the head. + +The fish was as much as eighteen inches long, or more, and must have +weighed four pounds. + +"What's it, anyhow?" Bob asked. + +"Cut-throat trout," said Joe. "I saw a man catch two or three at Lake +McDermott. I'll bet it's good, too. Come on--we'll have some breakfast! +Good job you did landing him, too, without a reel. I thought your old +line would bust two or three times." + +They rowed in to the heavily wooded shore, built a fire right by the +lake, cleaned the fish, and Joe fried the choicest parts, with a few +thin strips of bacon, coffee and biscuits. + +Then they fell to. The grizzly, the restless night, the early +rise--they'd really had only four hours of good sleep--were all +forgotten while that hot, sizzling, delicious breakfast lasted. + +"Say," Bob remarked, as he swallowed his last mouthful, "I feel like +licking my chops, the way our old cat does! You sure are some cook. I'm +going to learn to cook, too, and go camping every summer. This is the +life!" + +"Bears and all," Joe laughed. + +"Aw, forget the old bear! Don't seem so bad, now it's daylight. +Say,--not a peep, remember, about that old bear." + +"I won't say anything if you don't," Joe promised. + +They rowed back now, and found the boat-keeper up. Bob explained why +they took the boat, and paid the rental for it, and for the fish-pole. +The man was good-natured and made no complaint. + +"Guess it's all right," he said. "'Course, if you hadn't got a fish I'd +had to charge you more." + +"I suppose if we'd got two fish you'd have given us the boat free," Bob +laughed. + +They carried their stuff back to the stable, where the rest of the packs +were, and had returned to the hotel lobby and were busily writing +souvenir postcards to all their friends back at home when the party came +down to breakfast. + +"Hullo, boys!" everybody said. "Where's that fish?" + +Bob rubbed his stomach. + +"Did you really get one?" Lucy demanded. "And you've eaten it all +yourselves? Oh, you mean, greedy things!" + +"Well," Bob declared, "you folks wouldn't camp with us. Go in and eat +your old canned peaches and hunks of whisk broom and condensed cream. +Gee, Joe 'n' I have had some night, all right! Old Big Ben woke us +up----" + +"Careful!" Joe cautioned. + +"What do you mean--Big Ben?" asked Bob's mother. + +"Oh, just our name for a pet bear we've acquired," Bob laughed, ignoring +Joe's caution. "A dear, pretty, tame old silver tip who came right into +camp and tried to kiss old Joe, but Joe slapped his face and said, +'Naughty, naughty,' and he got real cross." + +"What _do_ you mean? Did a bear come into your camp? Oh, how lovely!" +Alice cried. + +"Lovely! Well, I must say----" Mrs. Jones began. + +"What _really_ happened?" Bob's father demanded. + +"Yes, tell the truth, Bob, now you've put your foot in it," Joe laughed. + +"Oh, gosh, I can't keep an old secret," said the boy. "Me and Joe--Joe +and me----" + +"Joe and _I_----" said his mother. + +"Well, Joe and I were snoring away like a couple o' buzz saws, when snap +went a stick, and woke me up, and Joe was sitting up already, and gosh +all hemlock, but it was dark! And then the fire flickered, and we saw +old Big Ben on his hind legs not two feet away----" + +"Oh, six feet, make it six!" Joe laughed. + +"Well, six, and he was ten feet tall, and growling like anything, or +sort of snarling, and I said, 'Go 'way, you spoiled my dream'--just like +that, and he went, and then Joe said he wouldn't stay there any more, +'cause he didn't like to be disturbed that way, so----" + +"_I_ said it! Well, I like that!" Joe cried. + +Bob grinned. "Well, anyhow, you wouldn't stay after I went, you know you +wouldn't," he said. "So we beat it for the hotel, and slept in the +hammocks on the porch till four, and then we got a boat and I caught a +four pound trout----" + +"How do you know it was a four pounder?" his father asked. + +"Weighed him by his own scales," Bob replied. "And then Joe cooked him, +and we had _some_ breakfast. Thank you all for your kind attention, +ladies and gents. This concludes our portion of the entertainment." + +Everybody laughed but Mrs. Jones. She couldn't get over the idea that +her son had really "been exposed to a bear," as she put it. + +"Was Bob as gay as this last night?" Lucy asked Joe, as the party headed +toward the dining-room. + +"He was not!" Joe answered. "Made me promise not to tell a soul that +we'd been scared back to the hotel." + +"Aw, well," Bob laughed, "I got more fun out of telling than keeping an +old secret. Besides, I don't care who knows you were afraid! Come on +down and see the motor boats, while they're eating their whisk brooms." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII--In Avalanche Basin, Where Bob Learns that the Story +of the Englishman's Walk Before Breakfast Was No Joke + + +When Mills arrived after breakfast, he reported that the party was to +spend the day going down the lake in a motor launch to the office of the +superintendent of the Park, on the west shore, near the lower end, where +they were to have dinner. + +"That means a holiday for you, Joe," the Ranger said. "They'll spend the +night here at the hotel again. But you'll get paid just the same. You're +your own boss to-day." + +When the launch had left, Joe began the day by visiting the barber shop +and getting his hair cut, for he had not been near a barber since he +left Southmead. Then he made himself two or three sandwiches for a +lunch, put them in his pocket, and set off back up the trail through the +cedar forest. He had never been in such a wood before, a real piece of +the primeval forest, where no axe had ever been, except to clear the +trail, where the trees had fought for existence in such dense stands +that they had to shoot up straight and high for sun, without any lower +branches whatever, and where so many had died in the struggle that their +trunks lay, right and left, blocking every passage. It had always been +Joe's ambition to become a forester, and this wood and these trails over +the Rocky Mountains had more than ever made him sure that was the job +for him. So now he headed up into the timber, intent on a long day's +study of the trees, the way they grew, the effects of soil and water and +winter storms. + +It was a wonderful day he had, too, though he got only about four miles +back up the range from the lake. The only part he did not like was being +alone. + +"If only old Spider was here!" he kept thinking. "Golly, how he'd love +these woods!" + +He ate his lunch on a point of rock above the forest, where he could +see, down over the tops, all the twelve green, dancing miles of Lake +McDonald. He made a list of all the kinds of trees he knew (for he got +up above the cedars), and looked carefully at the kinds he did not know, +so he could ask Mills about them. He picked forty-six kinds of wild +flowers, without half hunting, watched the different birds, especially +the Clark's crows (a black and white bird, a little smaller than a +crow), and just lazily enjoyed himself. + +Not a very exciting day, you say? But wait till you get out in the Rocky +Mountains. You'll find, after you've ridden the high trails for a while, +and seen the tremendous precipices, and met up with a bear or two, and +otherwise had a lively time, you will suddenly want to loaf for one +whole day, too, and not put your foot into a stirrup or do much of +anything but lie around in the lovely woods or upland meadows, and do +nothing. It's great to loaf once in a while--not too often, nor too +long. + +But Joe had one little adventure before he got back. He had sat down at +the edge of an open glade in the woods, to put a new film roll in his +camera, when he suddenly saw a big buck deer and two does come out of +the woods across the clearing. They did not see him for a full minute, +and stood feeding, quite unconsciously. Then he either made some sound +or they spied him, for the buck reared his head, stamped, and all three +looked at him with great, startled brown eyes. + +Joe was working with nervous haste to get that precious film roll in +before they ran away. He didn't dare move more than his fingers and +hands, and it was hard work; but he got it in at last, and turned it to +position. But as he raised the camera to sight it, they finally took +fright and bolted for the woods. Joe pressed the bulb, and got a picture +of their three white tails disappearing, but, alas! he didn't get their +faces. It was the nearest he had ever come to photographing a wild deer +at close range, and he was mad enough that they had come just when he +was filling his camera, and was not ready for them. + +That night Mills looked at the sky, sniffed the wind, and announced rain +before two days. + +"We'll beat it with an early start," he said "Everybody ready at +seven-thirty. Where are you going to bunk, Joe?" + +He had been told about the bear, Joe saw. + +"I'm going to bunk where I did last night," Joe answered. + +"In the hammock?" + +"No, in the cedars." + +"Good-night, nurse!" said Bob. "No more Big Ben for mine." + +"Are you really?" Lucy asked. "Aren't you foolish?" + +"Maybe," said Joe, "though it was probably a tame bear. But if I don't, +Mr. Mills will guy me all summer. I'll stay there this time, if he eats +me alive!" + +"That's the right spirit," said Lucy. "If I were a boy, I'd stay with +you!" + +"I bet you would!" Joe exclaimed. "Anybody who says girls are quitters +has got the wrong dope." + +So he went back alone to the little camp in the woods, and though it was +dark and ghostly and every cracking twig gave him a jump, he built up +his fire and lay down to sleep. He did not sleep for a long time, for he +could not make himself stop listening to noises, but finally he dozed +off, and when he finally woke it was daylight. + +"You poor simp!" he told himself. "Nothing has happened. Afraid of a +tame bear, who's probably twice as afraid of you! Glad old Spider wasn't +here to see!" + +He fried himself some bacon, and hurried back to the stables, to help +pack the horses for the trip. + +"And now where is it?" the men demanded, as they all mounted. + +"Depends on the weather," Mills said. "If it holds off rain, I want to +camp to-night in Avalanche Basin, and maybe show you a goat or two. If +it comes on to rain, we'll make for Granite Park chalet, on Swift +Current Pass." + +"I see--going around the circle, and back to Many Glacier over Swift +Current," said Mr. Elkins, who had been studying a map. "Well, let's +hope it doesn't rain. I don't see any signs now." + +"I smell it," Mills said. + +This day, with restocked provisions and well rested horses, they headed +north, on the west side of the Divide, past the head of the lake, and up +McDonald Creek, a rushing, turbulent little river which comes pouring +down the heavily wooded canyon between the Lewis Range, which is the +range that makes the Continental Divide, and the Livingston Range just +to the west. It was a pretty ride, up the side of the stream, but the +trees were so thick and tall that they could catch only occasional +glimpses of the mountain walls on either side of the canyon. + +After five miles or more, Mills halted, by the side of a smaller stream +which came in from the east, and took a look at the sky and the peak of +a mountain visible in a gap of the trees. + +"I guess we can risk it," he said, and turned eastward up the bank. This +side trail climbed much more steeply, and led them after a couple of +miles into a box canyon, like a deep rock ditch, with just the stream and +the trail at the bottom, and then into one of the wildest spots you can +imagine--a marvelous bowl, almost entirely closed in except for the gap +where they had climbed, with a green glacier lake at the bottom, and +steeply sloping sides which went up from the shore of the lake for over +five thousand feet--Cannon Mountain to the north, Brown to the south, +and at the eastern end, high over their heads, the great white field of +Sperry Glacier, pouring down its silver ribbons of waterfalls. + +They reached this lovely wild spot, called Avalanche Basin because when +the snows come in winter the sides are so steep that avalanches keep +pouring down, before noon, and at once made camp, while Joe set about +the lunch. + +After lunch, Bob said, "Well, Mr. Mills, bring on your goat." + +Mills didn't answer, but lifted his head, and scanned the cliffs. + +"All right," he finally said, "there are two." + +And he pointed upward. + +Everybody followed his finger, to a red cliff, across the lake and far +up the steep mountain wall. + +"I don't see anything but some spots of snow," Bob said. + +"Wait--wait--one of the spots is moving!" Lucy cried. "Is that really a +goat? My goodness, how does he stick on? Why, it's straight up and +down!" + +"That don't trouble a goat," said the Ranger. + +The two specks of snow were certainly moving. The whole party watched +till their necks ached, but the goats had either seen them or were not +bound for the lower reaches, anyhow, for they did not come down. +Instead, they walked along the cliff wall, and presently disappeared +around a headland. + +"Why, they're just like flies!" one of the congressmen exclaimed. "I +suppose they were on a ledge. How wide do you reckon it was?" + +"Might have been two feet, might have been six inches," Mills answered. +"I've seen sheep and goats go around a ledge on a sheer precipice that +wasn't over four inches wide, and stop to scratch themselves on the +way!" + +"I'm going to climb up there and see how steep that place is!" Bob +cried. + +"Hooray! Us, too," said Alice and Lucy. "Come on, Joe." + +Mills was smiling, and Joe thought once more of the story of the +Englishman. He told the story now, and Mills smiled again. + +"Is it that far, Mr. Mills--now, honestly?" the girls asked. + +"Go ahead and try it," the Ranger said, still smiling. "I'll come along, +like Joe's friend." + +The five of them started out, worked around the head of the lake, and +began at once to climb the long, steep, rough shale pile at the foot of +the first cliff. Above this first cliff was another slope, before the +cliff began on which they had seen the goats. It was hard going, with +thick patches of timber-line scrub spruces which held you like iron and +tore like barbed wire, and sharp, irregular rocks of all sizes, and +slopes of loose, small stones that gave way underfoot, and even patches +of snow. They toiled on, Mills in the rear this time, still smiling, +until at last they reached the foot of the first cliff, and looked far +down at the lake and their tents. They could see the people there, the +horses, even Joe's fire pit and a tin kettle. + +"Why, I could almost throw a stone down on 'em," said Bob, "yet I feel +as if we'd come a long way." + +He looked at his watch. + +"Gee whiz, we've been gone 'most two hours already!" he cried. Then he +looked up at the cliff above, which was almost perpendicular. The girls +looked at it, too. Joe looked at it, and longed for Spider and a rope to +tackle it. But he did not see how any one could safely climb it without +a rope. Mills looked at the four of them--and still smiled. + +"Well," he said, finally, "going on?" + +"You win," Bob admitted reluctantly. "We're the goats." + +"No, the trouble is, we're not!" laughed Lucy. "If we were, we could +keep on." + +So they started back, sliding down a snow-field by sitting down and +"letting her go"--which was rapid, but very damp. + +"The goats win," said Bob, as they reached camp almost three hours +later. + +"And yet we could see you all the way," his father said "Now I realize +what Rocky Mountain air is." + +That night they had a big camp-fire, and a sing--all the songs every one +knew, with Val playing on a harmonica he fished sheepishly out of his +saddle-bag. Then they all "turned in" early, to be ready for a long trip +the next day. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV--Up the Divide in a Rain, With a Lost Horse On the Way, +and a Howling Snow-Storm At the Top + + +Joe was still sleepy when the Ranger shook him by the shoulder. + +"Get up," said Mills. "We're in for a rain before night, sure. I want to +get as far as we can before it begins. Get breakfast, and put up some +stuff handy for lunch, so you can get it without unpacking." + +Joe crawled out into a new, strange world. For the first time since he'd +been in the Park it was not a clear day. The clouds hung low, way down +over the tops and sides of the mountains, gray, dull clouds, with +ghostly strings of vapor moving around on the under side. Sperry Glacier +was invisible, and the vapors were half-way down the wall where the +goats had been. Here, in the deep bowl of Avalanche Basin, with its +towering, precipitous sides, the result was that Joe felt exactly as if +he were shut in down at the bottom of a huge well, a well with a gray +smoke cover over it. Even the bright green water of the little lake, +without any sunlight, had turned a dull, chalky green, and looked +ominous and unreal, as if you would catch dead fish in it. + +"I don't like this--I feel as if I were in a prison," he said to the +Ranger, as he kindled his fire. + +"You may like it less before we get to Granite Park," Mills answered. +"Put your poncho over your saddle to-day--you're going to need it." + +Then he woke the camp. + +Everybody felt more or less as Joe did, and breakfast was curiously +quiet. Even Bob stopped his gay chatter. They got an early start, and +were soon down on the main trail beside McDonald Creek, and plugging +north through the deep forest of pines, larches and Englemann spruce. It +was dull, monotonous work, with no view at all, for when there was an +opening in the woods, all they could see was a cliff wall going up into +the gray cloud overhead, which shut down over them like a roof. Mile +after mile they went, now and then Bob or the girls starting a song, but +soon stopping it. The trail was wet and muddy underfoot, and there were +some fallen trees to jump. Moreover, the packhorses were, for some +reason, particularly badly behaved that day, and Joe and Val nearly lost +their tempers a dozen times as they rode into the brush, to head off +some packhorse which was trying to get out of line. + +When they stopped for lunch, it had already begun to drizzle. Joe made +coffee, and passed out the usual collection of food for a Charlie +Chaplin sandwich. By the time lunch was eaten, the drizzle had settled +down into a misty rain, and the trees had begun to drip. Then everybody +realized why they had been carrying around slickers on their saddles. On +went these slickers--long, yellow rubber coats such as are worn by the +Gloucester fishermen. They fitted the men all right, but poor Lucy and +Alice were completely enveloped, with the sleeves coming down over their +hands. Joe put his head through the hole in his poncho--and that was all +right till he came to mount his horse. Then he discovered that a poncho +is decidedly not the thing for horseback riding, for his knees and legs +kept coming out from under, on either side, and as the trees and bushes +were soon dripping wet, and the rain kept falling, he was speedily +soaked almost to the waist. It grew colder, too. But there was nothing +to do but plod on, through the wet, miry trail. + +However, very soon after lunch, the trail suddenly left the canyon, and +headed east right up the side wall, to Swift Current Pass. + +"Less than three miles to camp," Mills called back; "and three thousand +feet to climb," he added. + +"Three thousand feet in less than three miles," Joe reflected. "Let's +see, Mount Lafayette in the White Mountains is fifty-two hundred feet +high, and the trail starts from the Profile House, which is nineteen +hundred feet up. That makes only thirty-three hundred feet, and the +trail is five miles long." + +Then Joe thought of that trail, which he had climbed only two summers +before, and how steep it was, and whistled to himself. + +"We're in for it," he thought. + +And he was right. Ordinarily, this trail, while it is steep and not well +graded or maintained, is easy enough for a Rocky Mountain horse; but +now, with the rain pouring down, it was converted into a regular brook +in places, and in other places, where the rocks were bare or mossy, it +was slippery as ice. + +"Everybody off, and take hold of the tails of your horses," Mills +finally ordered, after two horses had almost slipped off. + +"I can't walk up here! What do you think I hired this horse for?" Mrs. +Jones demanded. + +"Well, your horse can't walk up here with you on him," the Ranger +replied. "I'm not responsible for the weather. You'll have to walk, or +break your neck." + +And Joe could see he wanted to add--"I don't care which." + +Bob and the girls grabbed their horses by the tails, and scrambled up +rapidly to the next easy stretch, but their fathers and mothers climbed +up more slowly, while Mills drove up the horses. Then Dick, Val and Joe +drove up the packhorses, which, of course, couldn't be unloaded, and had +a hard time. All of them were up but two, and they were breathing +easier, when the next to the last horse, on a slippery ledge, bumped his +pack against the upper wall, slipped out toward the edge, pawed madly +with his hoofs, got no grip on the skin of wet, slimy moss and mud which +covered the rock, and went over backward, with a wild whinny, and +staring, frightened eyes. + +Fortunately, it was not straight down here, only a very steep slope, and +twenty feet below was a thick tangle of scrub pine and tall huckleberry +bushes. The poor horse tipped over on his back, turned a complete double +somersault, and landed crash against the pines, where he lay struggling +to get on his feet again. Joe, Val, Dick and Mills all dashed down to +him, and one held his head while the rest got the pack off his back. He +got up on his feet, trembling, and the Ranger and Dick felt him all +over. + +"I guess the pack saved him, at that," Mills said. "He fell on the +blankets. Well, boys, haul the stuff up." + +They each took part of the load, and carried it to the level above, +while the Ranger led up the poor, frightened horse. At the top the party +was waiting, huddled in the rain. They were a sorry and comical looking +lot, and though Joe's own feet were soaked, and he was wet to the skin +below the hips, and he was cold, he certainly wanted to laugh. Water was +dripping from the women's hair, Mrs. Jones' face looked blacker than the +clouds which hung in the trees just above her, Mrs. Elkins looked as if +she was about to cry any minute, Mr. Elkins simply looked wet and cold +and mad, and Alice and Lucy, almost buried in their enormous slickers, +were trying to sing to keep up their courage. Only Bob was still +cheerful. He was eating wet huckleberries--wet and half green. + +It was a nasty, wet job getting the pack on again, and Mills sent the +party on ahead, with Dick to guide them. But the Granite Park chalet was +not far away. They were over the worst of the trail. In another half +hour, after crossing a meadow which was now full of running brooks, and +climbing up a last steep pitch, Joe suddenly saw the chalet emerge from +the heavy cloud, as if a picture of Switzerland in his old school +geography had popped out of a fog right over his head. Built partly of +stone and partly of rough timber, exactly in the style of a Swiss +chalet, this building was about the size of an ordinary house. Joe knew +by the map that it was almost up to the top of Swift Current Pass, just +below the Great Divide, but you could not have told it now. The clouds +were swirling all around, and it was already so cold that the rain was +beginning to freeze as fast as it hit, making a thin skin of ice on the +rocks. + +Unpacking the horses, and getting the packs piled under the shelter of +the porch, and then taking the horses to a rough stable near by, was +done in a hurry. The three men then dove into the kitchen door, into the +warmth of the fire which roared in a red hot stove. + +In the big front room there was another stove roaring, and around that +the party were already huddled, waiting for their dunnage bags, to get +out dry clothes. Joe and Dick brought the bags in, and each one went to +a room up-stairs to change. Joe himself had dry underclothes, socks, and +a pair of shoes, but he had no extra trousers. He and the cowboys and +Mills changed as much as they could in the kitchen, but Joe had to put +his wet trousers on again. When Lucy came down, in a skirt and dry +shoes, she saw this at once. + +"Oh, Joe, you _must_ get some dry trousers," she said. "You mustn't run +such a risk." + +Joe laughed. "Oh, I'm all right," he said. "Won't hurt me--I've been +exercising." + +"But you're not exercising now. I'm going to fix you." + +She went over and spoke to the manager in charge of the chalet; he +nodded, and went into the little room where he slept, emerging with a +pair of his own trousers. As he was some six inches larger around the +middle than Joe, everybody laughed, and they laughed more when Joe +reappeared, with the trousers on. + +"Say, Joe, you'll need some supper to fill them!" Bob cried. + +"Never mind," said Lucy. "They are dry." + +The chalet now smelled of drying clothes and drying leather. Over both +stoves hung stockings and trousers and even underclothes, and behind +them stood rows of boots. Outside, the wind was howling and shaking the +entire house with every gust. It was almost as dark as if it had been +evening, though it was only five o'clock, and Bob, peering through the +steamed window pane, suddenly cried, "Hi! look quick--snow!" and opened +the front door to dash out. + +As he lifted the latch, the wind caught the door and blew it wide open, +a great gust of snow swirling in, half across the room. + +"Say, is this August first or January first?" Mr. Elkins demanded. "I +thought we came to a summer resort, not Greenland." + +"Our mountains are just showing off for you a bit," Mills smiled, as the +young people and Joe, in spite of the gale, went out on the porch to see +the snow-storm driving past. + +But they were soon driven in, blowing on their fingers, and brushing the +snow off their clothes. + +"The man who built this old shack right here gets my vote," Bob +declared. "Say, ma, how'd you like to be on your prancing steed right +now, up on top of the Pass, still seven miles from blighty? Eh, wot?" + +"Thanks," said Mrs. Jones. "I prefer it here." + +"I know!" Lucy said. "Let's have afternoon tea." + +"All those in favor say aye--the ayes have it--it's a vote--Joe, go to +it," cried Bob. "That's the way they put a bill through in dad's old +Congress--just like that." + +Joe got out the tea and the cups, and with Alice and Lucy helping, they +soon had hot tea on the table, and a big plate of crackers, and a lot of +sweet chocolate Mr. Jones bought at the little counter by the manager's +desk. + +"Let the wild winds howl; what do we care for your old August +blizzards?" said Bob, as he passed his cup to Joe for a second helping. + +When tea was over, Joe set about cooking a good, hot dinner, for he had +a real stove to work with now, and an oven. He mixed dough for hot +biscuit, got out eggs for omelettes, tins of soups, made a batter for +griddle cakes, and opened his last can of preserved peaches for dessert. + +While he was working, with Val sitting in a corner, telling him stories +about broncho busting, there came a sudden stamping of feet on the porch +outside, the door opened, and two men, covered with snow, with heavy +packs on their backs, almost fell into the kitchen. + +Val sprang up and caught one of them as he staggered and was about to +tumble. Mills and the manager of the chalet came hurrying in from the +front room. Joe jumped to his stove and poured boiling water on some +fresh tea leaves. + +While the others were getting the two men into chairs, and pulling off +their soaked clothes, Joe steeped his tea, and brought each of them a +big tin mug full. They swallowed it eagerly, and brightened up. They +changed into dry clothes, supplied partly from their own packs and +partly from the manager's wardrobe. "You see," the man said, "I keep old +clothes here for just such emergencies." + +They were from a mid-western city, and had come to Glacier for a +vacation. Being fond of walking, and also wanting to do the Park as +cheaply as they could, they had decided to hike from point to point. +They had already come over Piegan Pass from the south, and stopped last +night at the tepee camp at Many Glacier. To-day they had first visited +Iceberg Lake, and then, in spite of the threatened rain (it had not +rained till long after noon on the east side of the Divide, they said), +they had climbed Swift Current Pass, headed for this chalet. They had +run into the heavy cloud near the top of the Pass, but did not expect +any trouble in finding their way, because the trail is well marked by +countless horses. But in the Pass meadow they got the full force of the +storm, where the snow hit them, and before they got across, the track +was obliterated; the cloud was so dense they could not see fifty feet +ahead, and they were almost benumbed with the cold. However, they +continued to pick up trail marks here and there, and stumbled down +finally till they saw the chalet looming up under the cloud mantle. + +"We never expected anything like this, in mid-summer," one of them said, +"or, of course, we wouldn't have climbed the Pass to-day." + +"You wouldn't get it once in five years," Mills answered,--"but there's +always a time, you know. That's why the chalet's here." + +The two men were so tired that Joe's party offered to share dinner with +them, relieving them of the task of cooking, since the regular cook +employed by the chalet had deserted the day before and all guests now +had to shift for themselves. It was quite a party that sat down to +table, with Val as waiter and Joe turning the omelettes and tossing the +griddle cakes on the stove. They ate by the light of a lamp, though up +there, ordinarily, at seven o'clock it would have been bright daylight. +Outside the wind howled, the snow flew, and the house shook as if hit by +a giant fist as each gust struck it + +But suddenly, as Joe was dishing out the canned peaches in the kitchen, +he heard a cry from Bob. + +"Hi, look--it's getting light--oh, gee, folks--come quick!" + +When Joe came into the room with what dishes Val could not carry, he +found every one up from the table and crowded at the west windows. The +lamplight had paled. Into the windows was pouring the last rays of the +setting sun, over behind the Livingston Range, the other side of the +canyon. These rays came out of a great, blue hole in the wall of clouds, +and seemed to stream like a vast search-light along the under side of +the cloud wrack overhead. They pierced right through the falling snow, +which turned to a dancing, dazzling veil of golden crystals between the +windows and the sun. And, against the hole into the west, stood up the +snow-crowned pyramid of Trapper's Peak, while, to the south, just +emerging from the clouds, its great snow-fields tinged with sunset as +with blood and gold, rose the beautiful cone of Heaven's Peak, shining, +mysterious, magnificent. + +"Dessert--peaches," said Val. + +"Go 'way," said Alice. "This is better than any dessert. Oh, I'm going +out!" + +Peaches were forgotten--everything was forgotten. Every one piled out on +the west porch and watched the wonderful display. Now the low sun was +shooting a great rainbow up on the under side of the cloud right over +the Divide. One end of this rainbow dropped down past the steep cliff of +the Divide south of the Pass, known as the Garden Wall, and ended in a +patch of snow. + +"Hi--Joe, let's go down and get the pot o' gold," Bob called. "I can see +just where it is." + +"I would, if I had on my own pants," Joe laughed. + +As if to finish off the display with a pretty touch, the snow stopped +falling, so they could see plainly all the white slopes around the camp, +and suddenly a deer bounded out from behind a pine thicket, circled all +around below them, and disappeared at last to the north. + +The sun dropped, leaving a green and pink hole in the west, enlarging +every moment. The clouds were lifting. It was still cold, however, and +the wind was howling. The crowd went in reluctantly, blew on their +fingers, and finished their dinner. + +Some one proposed games after the dinner was cleared away. Some one else +proposed a story. But Bob proposed bed, and after some debate, his +motion prevailed, chiefly, his father declared, because every one on the +opposition side was yawning so that he could not argue. + +"Are you all right? You haven't got a cold, have you?" Lucy asked Joe, +as she said good-night. + +"No, I feel fine," Joe answered. + +He did, too, and went to sleep, rolled in his blankets on the kitchen +floor, thinking of the girl--or the woman, he hardly knew which to call +her--who was so thoughtful and kind. + +"This is a pretty good old world, and pretty nice folks in it," was his +last reflection, before he dropped asleep, with Dick on one side, and +Val on the other, while the wind was still shaking the chalet. + + + + +CHAPTER XV--Tom's Chance for Adventure Comes Unexpectedly, Wearing +Hobnail Shoes and Carrying a Rope + + +The next day's trip was an easy one. Each one of the party was tired, +and Mills let them sleep late. After breakfast they set off up the +quarter mile of steep trail to Swift Current Pass, through the powder of +fresh snow which was fast melting, and then down on the other side, over +the trail Joe had taken on his first ride in the Park. How different it +seemed to him now! He sat his saddle like an old timer. He did not give +a thought to the steepness--it didn't even seem steep! In fact, he hung +his reins over the horn of his saddle, and unslinging his camera, +snapped several pictures of the party as it rounded the turns of the +switchbacks, with the girls looking up at him and waving their hands, +and Bob making horrible faces. + +At the usual point, Mills gave a yell, and started the race to the +hotel. But it was Joe's job now to get ahead of the packhorses, and hold +them back. He could not gallop with the crowd. It was almost ten minutes +later that he and Val reached the tepee camp, with their eight beasts of +burden. + +Spider was standing in front of the tepees, and ran out to grab Joe's +hand. + +"Hello, old scout!" he cried. "Gee, but I'm glad to see you! How are +you? All right? Maybe I wasn't worried in that rain yesterday. You all +right?" + +"Sure I'm all right," Joe said. "Wow--some good time, too! You'll have +to stay up all night hearing about it. I'll be back soon, and get your +lunch." + +"Forget that," said Tom. "I've got it already. I'm a bum cook, +though--haven't had a decent meal since you left. I'll wait for you. +Nobody in camp just now, but some due to-night." + +Joe rode on to the hotel, helped unpack, and said good-bye to all the +party. It was hard, too, for after those seven days on the trail and in +camp, even though he was only the camp cook and they were congressmen +and congressmen's families, he felt as if they were all old friends. + +Mr. Elkins drew him to one side a little. "I know you're working your +way out here," said he, "and we'd all like to help you, Joe, for you've +been a fine cook for us, and we've all been like a jolly family +together. I don't suppose you'd let me make you a little present, would +you, to show how grateful we are?" + +Joe turned red. "Oh, no, sir," he answered. "Scouts never take tips, and +that would be a tip, wouldn't it, sir, really? I get paid by Mr. Mills, +or the saddle company. Why, I've had more fun being with you all than +you've had, I guess!" + +Mr. Elkins put a hand on Joe's shoulder. "That's the talk I like to +hear," he said. "You've made me realize what the Boy Scouts are after, +Joe, and if you ever come to Washington, and want to see how Congress +works, you let me know, and you and I'll do the town!" + +Every one shook hands with him then, even Mrs. Jones, who, now the hotel +was in sight again, was as cheerful as a cricket. + +"I just love roughing it--now it's all over," she laughed. + +But Bob was not to be seen. Joe looked around for him, and wondered +where he could be. He shook hands with Lucy last of all. She was sweeter +and prettier than ever as she smiled at him. + +"Not good-bye--au revoir," said she. "You're going to swap snap shots +with us, and write me how you are, and what you see in the Park after +we're gone, and some day you'll come to Washington, won't you?" + +"You bet I'd like to," he answered. "Gee, you--you--you've been awful +nice to me--kind of makes me homesick----" + +He couldn't finish, and Lucy gave his fingers a friendly little +pressure, and turned away. + +Joe got on Popgun again, still wondering where Bob was, and turned to +depart, when with a "Hi, there--don't go yet!" Bob burst from the hotel +door. + +He was bearing in one hand a jointed bamboo fish-pole, in the other a +full box of tackle and flies. + +"This is for you," he said. "'Course, you can't get a good, big fish +without me to catch it for you, but you can cook what you do get O.K. +And don't let any more bears kiss you, and send a feller some snap shots +when you have 'em developed, and here's my address." + +Joe took the rod and tackle. "Gee, Bob, that's white of you," he said. +"Guess I'll never forget this trip." + +"Me, neither. Old Pennsylvania's goin' to look like a prairie when I get +back. So long, Joe." + +"So long, Bob." + +He waved his hand to Alice and Lucy, who watched him from the doorway, +and rode off behind Mills, dropped his dunnage bag at the camp, and took +Popgun to the Ranger's cabin. + +"If you boys will let me, I'll grub with you this noon. Not a thing in +my shack," the Ranger said. + +"Fine--come on. Well, Mr. Mills, did I make good?" + +Mills gave him a funny look out of his pale, keen blue eyes. + +"I never pick a man that doesn't," he said. "By the way, here's your +money--seven days at three dollars a day. Cooks are coming high this +year." + +He handed the astonished Joe twenty-one dollars--six of it in cart +wheels, which you almost never see in the East. + +"Say, I didn't expect so much. Is that on the level?" Joe demanded. + +"Regular price this season--labor's awful scarce. I don't see why you +shouldn't have all the work you want for the rest of the season." + +"Gee, and it isn't work--it's fun!" + +"Glad you think so," the Ranger laughed. "Yesterday struck me as work." + +"Sure, but it was fun, too." + +The two boys and the Ranger ate their lunch at the tepee camp, where Tom +had been experimenting on the stove. Poor Tom! He wasn't much of a +cook--not compared to Joe, at any rate, and he got rather sore for a +minute when Mills suggested that Joe remake the coffee. + +"Don't get peeved," Mills laughed. "Just take one drink of Joe's coffee, +and you'll feel better." + +Then Tom laughed, too. "Well, old Joe's a professional chef now," he +said. "I'm only a janitor. Has he been well, honest and true, Mr. +Mills?" + +"Far as I've seen, he's as sound as the best," Mills answered. "Why +don't you take him over and weigh him this afternoon?" + +"I will," said Tom. + +And he did. They found some scales in the basement of the hotel, and Joe +got on. He had gained five pounds that week, in spite of the hard work +of the trip! Spider gave a shout of glee. + +"Hooray!" he cried. "I told you the old ozone would do it! We're giving +the bugs the knock out. Now, when an M. D. comes along, you're going to +get the once over again, and see if you can climb." + +"I--I----" Joe began, looking rather guilty. "Well, Tom, I did climb a +glacier, and fell in, too!" + +"It would have served you right if they hadn't fished you out--tell me +all about it." + +All that afternoon, after Joe had given his money to Big Bertha, to keep +in the office safe for him, the two boys sat by the lake shore, on a +little point of rocks, taking turns fishing with the new rod, while Joe +narrated the story of his trip. They caught only two smallish trout, +hardly enough for a good mess, but that didn't matter. It was too much +fun telling and hearing about the wonders of the Park. + +"And you've just had to stick around here, old Spider, working for me," +Joe exclaimed, penitently. "To-morrow, I'm going to see Big Bertha, and +get him to let me run the camp for a while, so's you can take a trip." + +"Yes, and who'll go with me?" said Tom. "Can't go alone. Besides, didn't +we come out here for you to get well? Forget it, wifey." + +"Oh, I don't care what you call me to-day," Joe laughed. "I've had too +good a time--and I'm going to find a way for you to, now. You +wait--something will turn up." + +Something did--and that very night, just after the party Tom expected +went into the chalets, too tired to camp. + +Yet the turn-up did not look a bit promising when it arrived. It was a +small man, with big steel spectacles, enormous hobnail boots, a huge +pack, a blanket roll, and a coil of curious, soft rope around his waist. +He was a man about forty years old, and didn't look as if he could carry +such a load two miles. Yet he came down the trail at six o'clock erect +and brisk, and said casually he'd come that day from the Sun Camp, over +Piegan Pass. + +"That's twenty-two miles!" the boys exclaimed. + +"Is it?" said he. "I should hardly have called it so far. Have you a +cook here?" + +"Why, yes," said Tom. "Joe's a cook. Folks at camp generally get their +own meals. I'd hardly know how to charge." + +"I hate my own meals," the man said. "That's why I always take a pocket +full of raisins for lunch. You get me dinner and breakfast, and I guess +we can reckon out a fair payment. Am I alone in the camp to-night?" + +"There was a party coming," Tom said, "but they were so tired, they went +to the chalets. I don't expect anybody else." + +"Too bad," the man said. "Not that I pine for company, but I do want to +find somebody to climb with me. Here I've brought an Alpine rope all the +way out here, and I can't find a soul to shin a precipice." + +He wriggled out of the coils of the soft, braided rope, which was almost +as pliable as silk, and laid it on the table. + +"You don't know of anybody, do you?" he added. + +"Why, no sir, I don't," Tom answered, fingering the rope curiously, to +feel its soft, strange texture. + +"I do," Joe spoke up. + +Tom and the man both turned toward him. + +"Who is it?" they said. + +Joe simply made a gesture toward Tom. + +"You?" the hiker asked. "You look like a strong, capable boy, but have +you had any experience with rock climbing?" + +"Joe's talking through his hat," Spider stammered. "I couldn't go. My +job's to take care of this camp----" + +"I can fix that," Joe cut in. "I'll look after the camp. Besides, here's +somebody comes to the Park looking for a climb, and it's up to the Park +to find somebody to go with him." + +"That seems settled," the man smiled. "But have you had any experience +rock climbing?" + +"No sir, not really, I guess," Tom said. "I climbed the head wall of +Huntington Ravine on Mount Washington once, when we scouts took a hike +in the White Mountains, and Joe and I have climbed some little cliffs +around home, with just a common rope, and I got a box of spikes for my +shoes, but of course, I've never been in the Alps, or anything like +that." + +The man had now laid off his pack, and was inspecting his tepee as he +listened. + +"The head wall of Huntington Ravine isn't a bad little climb," he said, +"though one of the side walls is better. But it hardly qualifies you as +an Alpine guide. However, if you'd care to come with me, and we could +get somebody to tell us where there's an interesting wall, I'd be glad +of your company to-morrow." + +"Oh, gee, I'd like to go!" Tom cried, "if I can get off." + +"You can get off," said Joe, "and after supper I'll go get the Ranger to +come and tell Mr.--Mr.----" + +"Kent is my name," the little man said. "At home I'm Dr. Kent, but out +here I wish to forget it." + +"----Mr. Kent where there's a good cliff. Would you like an omelette for +supper, Mr. Kent, with some chicken soup and fried potatoes and griddle +cakes and coffee?" + +"That sounds very nice," said he. "But I warn you I sha'n't know what +I'm eating. I've had nothing since breakfast but a couple of raisins." + +Joe went busily about getting his supper, while Tom set the table, got +fresh water, put some extra blankets in his tepee, and ran to the supply +store for some jam or canned fruit for dessert. + +"Now, you be sure to explain to Big Bertha that I'm going to take your +place if he'll let you off," Joe whispered. "He knows I can do it. If he +makes any kick, I'll go up after supper." + +When Tom came back, he reported that it was all right, Big Bertha had +not kicked at all. + +"He's an old peach," Tom added. "Asked me why I hadn't suggested such a +scheme before." + +"I knew that would be all right," Joe laughed. "After grub, I'll get Mr. +Mills, and he'll go, too, maybe. Gee, he's dandy on a trip, and he knows +how to use a rope." + +The two scouts now devoted their entire attention to the single guest at +the camp. When Joe called, "Come and get it!" Tom set a camp chair at +the table, and brought the steaming food from the stove. While Dr. Kent +was eating the soup, Joe made the omelette just right, and kept the +fried potatoes sizzling, and with them sent in a pot of piping hot +coffee and a plate of rolls. Then he made griddle cakes--five helpings +of them the man ate, too, four thick cakes to a helping! He topped off +with preserved peaches. When he had finished, he drew a cigar case from +an inner pocket of his old, worn leather jacket, lit a cigar, came over +to a seat by the camp-fire which Tom had now lighted, stretched out his +short legs, which were clad in great, heavy, square-toed boots, blue +woollen stockings that were in wrinkles, and worn woollen knickerbockers +of a once rather startling brown and green striped pattern, sighed +contentedly, looked at the two scouts, and remarked: + +"Tom and Joe--those are your names, eh? Well, I never fared so well, +boys, in the Savoy in London or the Waldorf in New York. Joe, I knew +what I was eating all the time, it was so good. I don't know how you +chaps ever got way out here--I can tell you both come from New England. +But I'm glad you came. I think maybe the Lord sent you for my especial +benefit. What do you think about it?" + +"Tom thinks you were sent here for his special benefit," Joe laughed. +"He's not had a chance to see a bit of the Park yet." + +"Why, Joe--I do not!" poor Tom cried, getting red. + +"Well, it looks mutual," the man admitted. "Now, where's this Ranger? I +like to get to-morrow all settled while it is still to-day." + +Tom went up to the cabin for Mills, while Joe was getting a bite ready +for Spider and himself. Mills appeared in less than ten minutes. Tom +introduced the two men, and went into the cook tepee, to eat with Joe, +while they both strained their ears to hear the plans. + +"Well," the Ranger was saying, "there's a mighty nice climb at the head +of Iceberg Lake. I was never up it, but I know where the goat trail +starts. Might be good sport to follow that trail." + +"Chimney work, or mostly shelf?" the other man asked. + +"Mostly everything, I should reckon. I don't now recall any real +chimney, till the top. The goats sort of switchback on ledges. Guess +you'll need sharp toe-nails, here and there." + +"Any ice work?" + +"Nothing sticks on that wall!" said the Ranger. + +"And the height?" + +"Oh, maybe two thousand." + +"You mean two thousand, all cliff?" the man demanded. + +"Sure," said Mills. "Well, maybe you can knock off two hundred for the +shale slide at the bottom. It goes right up to the crest of the Divide." + +"Well, that sounds like a climb!" Dr. Kent exclaimed. "Suppose this boy +Tom here can do it?" + +Tom and Joe, pretending to eat, stopped their forks half-way to their +mouths to listen. Tom was almost trembling. + +"He can if you know your business," Mills answered, laconically. +"They've got good heads, both those boys--and heads count on a goat +trail." + +The doctor looked at Mills rather sharply. Evidently he was not used to +being spoken to in just that way. + +"I have climbed the Matterhorn," he replied. + +"We got a different kind o' stone out here," said Mills. "It ain't +reliable. What's the matter with me going too? I ain't had a good climb +since I hunted bighorns last, five years ago. And we can all ride up to +the lake on my horses, and I can see how the trail's standing up after +the rain." + +"Three on the rope are better than two, of course," the other said. "And +I'd be glad of your experience. I have at least climbed enough to know +that it is safer to have a guide who knows the cliff." + +"Stranger," Mills smiled, in his quiet way, "you seem kind o' sore at +me. But I'm the Park Ranger for this district, and Uncle Sam don't want +no accidents in here. You may be the next thing to a mountain goat, but +I've never seen you climb, and it's up to me to be kind o' what you'd +call sceptical. Now, wouldn't you act so, if you was here for Uncle +Sam?" + +The doctor put out his hand. "I'm ready to climb anywhere you say we can +get," he said. "You're the sort Uncle Sam needs everywhere. Shake, and +say we're friends." + +The boys saw them shake hands, and then they heard Dr. Kent calling. + +"Tom," he said, "Mr. Mills is going with us to see that we don't break +our necks. We leave to-morrow at five o'clock. Is that too early, +Mills?" + +"Not a bit," said the Ranger. + +"Joe, can you have breakfast ready then?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Mills, will you breakfast with us?" + +"Thanks--I sure will if Joe makes the coffee." + +"Then it's settled. Now, Tom, you can go to bed as early as you like. +I'm going to turn in right away." + +("Sounds like a hint!") Joe whispered. + +Tom nodded. He saw that the camp was all right, bade the doctor +good-night, and with Joe and Mills walked up the path toward their camp. + +"Well, Joe," Mills said, "they're keeping you busy, eh? Sorry you can't +come along to-morrow--we might find a hole somewhere for you to fall +into." + +"I'll let Spider do a few flipflaps now," said Joe. "I've had my turn." + +"If anybody tumbles, I hope it's the M. D.," Tom laughed. "He's just a +little bit fond of Dr. Kent,--strikes me." + +"Sh! You forget he's climbed the Matterhorn," said Mills. + +He went on to his cabin, and the boys settled down in their own tent. + +"Well, old Joey, here you are home!" Tom cried, giving him a slap. "Gee, +wifey, it's been lonely for a whole week without you!" + +"And it's some nice to get back," said Joe. "It sure seems like home, +this little old tent, and Mr. Rogers' little old cot. Slept on the floor +last night, and on the ground all the other nights. Oh, you cot!" + +He sank luxuriously down, wrapped in his blankets, and let Tom blow out +the lantern. + +"Home!" he sighed, sleepily. "Just a little old tent, but home--with old +Spider snoring in the other bunk." + +"I don't snore!" Tom retorted. "It's you who snore." + +"You may if you want to," said Joe. "It would take more'n a snore to +keep me awake to-night. Oh, you cot! 'Night, Spider." + +"'Night, Joe." + +If either of them snored, no one knew it, except the porcupine that came +sniffing around the tent, and then, disappointed, went off through the +forest. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI--Tom Goes Up a Two Thousand Foot Wall, With an Alpine Rope, +and Learns the Proper Way To Climb + + +The scouts were up again before five, and hurried to the camp, where the +doctor was still sound asleep. + +"Sound is right!" Spider laughed. + +But he woke when he heard them getting breakfast, and by the time he was +dressed and breakfast was ready, Mills came up, followed by Popgun and +the packhorse, both saddled. + +As soon as breakfast was over, the two men and Tom stowed away in their +pockets the sandwiches Joe made for them, made sure that all the spikes +were in their boots, and swung into the saddle. + +"Good-bye, old Joey," Tom called. "Have some good hot dinner ready when +we get back." + +"Yes, and you come back with your neck whole, to eat it," said Joe, +waving his hand and watching the three riders trot up the trail in the +cool, level, early morning sunlight. + +It was a fine, clear day, a real Rocky Mountain day, when you could +almost see the buttons on a man's coat a quarter of a mile away. And it +was Tom's first trip away from Many Glacier, into the high places, +though he had walked around the camp as far as he dared, and even +climbed a little way up a steep shale pile at the base of the cliff +behind the chalets. However, hikers were apt to show up at any time of +the day, and he had never been able to venture more than a mile or two. +But now he was bound for Iceberg Lake, and then up the very main +precipice of the Great Divide, the backbone of the continent, with the +Park Ranger and a man who had climbed the Matterhorn! + +It was only a short ride to Iceberg Lake--about six miles. The trail was +a fine one, of easy grade, and for some distance wound through the +woods, over tumbling brooks, and through beds of wild flowers. The +doctor seemed as much interested in these flowers as he was in the +coming climb. + +"I never saw such a profusion," he kept saying. "So many kinds all +together, and such beautiful masses of color. Well, well, how little we +Americans know about our own country. Tom, I want you to go back East +and tell your schoolmates this is a pretty fine land we live in." + +"You bet I will--if I go back," said Tom. "I like it so much here I may +stay forever, and be a ranger, like Mr. Mills." + +"After one winter, you won't like it so much," Mills said. + +Gradually the trail climbed above the tall timber, and the view opened +out. Tom could see they were headed for a big semicircular amphitheatre, +cut into the towering rock walls of the Divide, and before long they +entered the open end of this titanic stadium. It was a wild, beautiful +spot. At their feet was a meadow, covered with yellow dog-tooth violets +like gold patterns in a green carpet, and with little pines in it like +people walking about. On three sides of them, sweeping around in a +semicircle at the end, was a vast precipice, seemingly perpendicular, +except for the big shale piles at the base. The top of this cliff was a +"castellated ridge," the term mountaineers give to a summit which is +long and level, but broken into little depressions and towers, like the +battlements of an ancient castle. At the upper end of the amphitheatre +lay a round lake, about half a mile across, and at the upper end of +that, right under the shadow of the head wall, was the glacier. + +This glacier, snow covered on top, showed a thirty foot wall of green +ice on the upright edge, and chunks of this ice were constantly breaking +off and floating away in the green water. Hence the name Iceberg Lake. + +They rode right up to the shore, and Mills took the horses into a little +clump of trees, where there was some grass also, and tethered them. + +"Now," said he, coming back, "to the job. There's the cliff." + +He led the way, with long easy strides, around the right hand side of +the lake, through steep rough going, without any path and amid stubborn +timber-line evergreens, till he reached the base of a huge shale and +snowslide that stretched right up at an angle of about fifty degrees, +Tom estimated, to the base of the jagged precipice. Looking up this +shale slide to the towering cliff above, Tom saw the staggering task +ahead of them--and his heart went down into his spiked boots for a +minute. He could see how they could get up part way, all right, for at +first it wasn't quite perpendicular, and it was full of ledges. But then +there seemed to be a sheer rise, with not even a toe hold--"and if you +fell--good-night!" he whispered to himself. + +But Mills and Dr. Kent were studying the cliff quite calmly. + +"I've seen the goats come down to that snow-field at the top of this +shale, half a dozen times," the Ranger was saying, "and go back the same +way. If we can find their trail, I guess we can make it, though they'll +use an awful narrow ledge sometimes. They get into one or the other of +those two big gullies, too, on the way back." + +"There seems to be ample footing," the doctor remarked. + +There did not seem to be any footing to poor Tom, but he did not say so. +If they were going up, he was! But those two thousand feet of rock +didn't look much like the three hundred foot slope the scouts used to +climb back in Southmead. It was the Great Divide in a single jump, and +Tom felt about as small as a fly must feel on the side of the Washington +Monument--and a good deal more helpless, because the fly has suckers on +his feet, and wings beside. + +[Illustration: Iceberg Lake and Glacier] + +Mills now led the way up the shale pile, just a smooth, insecure slide +of sharp, broken stone, mostly in small, irregular, flat pieces +something like rotten slate. It wasn't as slippery as a pile of coal +would be, of course, but there was a good deal of tiresome back-slide +under one's feet, none the less. + +Close to the top was a snow-field, and Mills examined it. + +"They've been here--within a day," he announced, pointing to fresh hoof +tracks, and also pointing to spots where the goats had evidently taken +bites out of the snow, probably as a dog does when thirsty. Above the +snow-field Tom could see just the faintest hint of a trail over the +shale, which led up to the base of the solid cliff. + +"There she is--this is the way!" the Ranger called. + +The three of them now halted directly under the tremendous wall, and +looked up. Again Tom's heart sank. It wasn't so nearly perpendicular as +it looked from the lake below, but he could see stretch after stretch +where a climber's face would be ticklishly close to the spot where he'd +got to put his feet next time--and the great, ragged wall, in long, wavy +horizontal strata belts, stretched up and up and up and up! + +Did you ever stand in Broadway below the Woolworth Tower, and look up? +Imagine that tipped over a little from the perpendicular, and four times +as high, and you'll have an idea of what Tom looked at. + +"Well, now, this is worth coming for!" the doctor cried, cheerfully, as +he took off his coil of rope, and made it ready. "Mills, will you take +number one place for a way? I'll be number two and anchor, of course. +Tom can dangle off below, like a tail to the kite. How'll you like that, +Tom?" + +Tom's face must have shown what he was feeling, for the doctor suddenly +changed tone. + +"Come, come," he said. "It's not bad--only long. A Swiss guide wouldn't +even consider this dangerous. All you have to remember is to test all +your hand- and foot-holds before you put your weight on them, and watch +for falling stones. This shale pile means the rock may crumble easily in +places. Come on--be a scout!" + +"I'm game!" Tom answered, biting his lip. "I guess I won't be stumped by +an old goat!" + +Mills laughed. "Wait till you see a goat perform," he said, as he made +fast one end of the rope around his waist. As he adjusted it, he added, +"This is a better rope than I ever used. Where'd you get it?" + +"Switzerland," the doctor answered. "I have several I've brought over +from time to time. You can't get soft, flexible, braided rope here in +this country. We don't go in for mountain climbing enough to make it." + +Tom was now fastened on the lower end of the rope, and the doctor in the +middle, and the ascent began. + +"You watch me use the rope," the doctor said to Tom. "It will show you +how to do it, if you ever have to be second man on a climb--and it will +keep you from looking down, also!" + +Spider was almost as anxious to learn how to use the rope properly as he +was to get up the cliff. He had hoped to climb, when he came to the +Park, but he never dreamed he would be climbing with a real Alpine rope, +manipulated by a man who had been up the Matterhorn, and with the leader +of the party an old goat hunter. + +For the benefit of the boys who are reading this book, I want to tell +just how Dr. Kent used the rope. No boy, or man, either, should ever try +to climb a cliff without a rope, and without proper shoes, with plenty +of strong, sharp spikes. The rope must be strong enough to hold the +weight of three or four men, at the very least, and it must be soft and +pliable. If you cannot get such a soft rope, boil an ordinary one in a +wash-boiler till it loses its stiffness. But, even when you have the +rope, you must not use it on a cliff until you have learned the proper +methods, preferably under the guidance of some man who has climbed in +England or the Alps or the Rockies. + +Now in rope climbing up rocks, the leader has the hardest job because he +has to find the way up, and to climb without any rope to help him. But +the second man has what is perhaps the most important job, for he is the +anchor; it is on him that the life of the leader may depend, as well as +the life of the man below. + +Suppose three men are fastened on the rope almost fifty feet apart, as +Tom, Mills and Dr. Kent were, for the average rope is about a hundred +feet long. The first man starts climbing, and when he gets up nearly to +the full play of his fifty feet of rope, he finds some ledge where he +can rest, or some firm projection where he can throw his end of the rope +over, take a half hitch, and thus make a firm line for the second man to +climb with. The second man comes up to him, and the leader starts up +again. But now he is starting well up from the ground, and if he got any +higher and should fall, it would be bad, so the second man, before the +leader starts up, takes a half turn around the firm projection with his +end of the stretch of rope between himself and number one, or, if it is +very steep and dangerous, perhaps giving the leader a play of only +fifteen or twenty feet. Then if the leader should slip and fall, instead +of dragging off the second man with him, he would fall only the distance +between himself and the point where the rope was secured to the rock. If +the rope was strong, it would bring him up short, dangling against the +cliff, and would not yank the second man off with him. Of course, after +three climbers are well up the face of a cliff, if the leader should +fall without the rope being anchored between him and number two, he +would drag all three men off with him, probably to death. That is why +number two position is so important in rope climbing. + +And Tom was not long in realizing this. He saw Mills go up easily to a +shelf forty feet above, and both the doctor and he scrambled up after +him, without needing the rope at all. The next stage was not difficult, +either, though the Ranger, as soon as he was well above the shale pile, +began to test his hand-holds and foot-holds with the utmost care, +keeping in the faintly discernible goat track whenever he could. But +when they were up a hundred and seventy-five feet or more, all three of +them on a ledge about three feet wide, they found themselves directly +against a perpendicular wall at least twenty-five feet high. + +Mills was studying the situation. "Coming down, the goats jump it from +that shelf above," he said. "You can see their tracks here where they +land. But they can't climb it going up. They swing off to the left, by +this ledge--and look at it!" + +Tom and the doctor looked. To the left the ledge shrank to a cornice +actually not over six inches wide. + +"Do you mean to tell me the goats walk around on that?" the doctor +demanded. + +"Sure," said Mills. "It probably leads to an easy way around to the +shelf over our heads, but we can't make it--at least, I don't want to +try, unless I have to." + +Tom looked at the six inch ledge, and the hundred and seventy-five foot +drop below it, and said, "Amen!" + +"All right--straight up," said the doctor. He looked for a firm +projection of rock, and took a turn with the rope, while Mills picked up +the slack and tested it. + +The Ranger studied the wall in front of him, and made a try. Anchored by +the doctor from below, he got up ten feet, but at that point he could +not find a single handhold higher up which would bear his weight. After +a long try, he descended to the ledge again. + +"No use, we've got to go around to the right, and climb that big gully," +Mills said. "If this wall stumps us, we'd find a dozen worse ones before +we got to the top." + +To get to the gully to the east of them, they had to go along the ledge +on which they stood. It was wider to the east than six inches, which was +its width in the other direction, the direction the goats took at this +point, but it wasn't any too wide for comfort, and in places the +precipice above actually overhung it, and seemed to be crushing you +down. In one place they had to crawl on their hands and knees under this +overhang. In another place they came to what the doctor called "a real +transverse"--that is, a very narrow shelf leading them around a +projection from the ledge they were on to another one, with a sheer drop +below it. + +This transverse ledge was about fifteen feet long before it widened. It +may have been eighteen inches wide, but to Tom it looked about six. It +was level enough, and firm, but it was cut out of the side of an +absolute precipice, and the sheer drop, before you hit any ledge or +slope below, to break your fall, was at least a hundred feet. + +"Dizzy?" the doctor asked Tom, noting the expression that had come over +the scout's face. + +"No," said Tom. "But I feel as if I would be if I looked down." + +The doctor eyed him sharply. "I guess you're all right," he said. +"Remember, you'll be anchored fast, and look hard at your footing, focus +on that, and don't see off at all. All ready, Mills." + +The Ranger walked out on the ledge quite calmly, a little sideways, so +he could lean back toward the cliff, and tested each step to see that +the ledge was firm and his spikes were gripping. Then the doctor went, +even more coolly than Mills. Tom swallowed a lump in his throat, called +himself a "poor mut," and when he had the signal, followed the others. +He kept his eyes on the ledge, as the doctor told him, though there was +a horribly fascinating and indescribable temptation to peep from the +corners of them down over the edge. He could feel the doctor taking up +the slack of the rope as he came, so that with each step his fall would +be shorter if he fell. Then, suddenly, he was over! He had been cold +before he started, with a chill in his back as the wind evaporated the +perspiration. Now he was suddenly hot again, and the sweat came out on +his forehead. + +The doctor was smiling at him. + +"That's your real initiation in rock climbing," he said. "You're going +good. Keep it up!" + +The new ledge brought them to the big gully (the one you see, filled +with snow, in the picture). It still had some snow in places when the +party reached it, but for the most part it was clear, though there was a +tiny trickle of water at the bottom. It was a great, rough, jagged +trough scooped out of the cliff by ages of running snow water, and +inclined at an angle not very far off the perpendicular. + +"Not quite a real chimney," the doctor said briefly. "It's too big and +open, and you can't stretch from side to side. Looks as if we'd have to +watch out for stones, too." + +"You will," said Mills. + +Even as he spoke, they heard a noise above them, and the Ranger yelled, +"Jump for shelter!" + +All three sprang to one side of the gully, below a projecting shelf of +rock, and past them, thundering down the chute, went a stone as big as a +bucket, just loosened by melting snow above. + +Tom watched it go past, and began to think the last place on the rope +was not the softest berth he could imagine. + +The doctor now turned to him. "You see what you've got to look out for, +Tom," he said. "For each fresh climb, we'll pick a place where there is +shelter for the man waiting below. But you've still got to be on the +watch, and dodge quick. This is going to be a regular climb!" + +It was! For the next three hours Tom did the liveliest and the hardest +work he had ever put in. He had no chance to get dizzy looking down, for +he never even dared to look down. He looked up, never knowing when the +next stone or even shower of stones would descend upon him, and prepared +every second to spring to right or left to dodge them. They climbed by +sending Mills out from under a protecting ledge and letting him shin up +his fifty feet. Then the doctor would follow, and when he was up with +Mills, Tom would emerge from under the shelter, and join them. Then they +would repeat the process. But even with Mills and the doctor standing +still above him, Tom had to look out for rocks. They were always coming +down, loosened by the melting snow above, as well as by the feet of the +climbers. + +And it was hard work, too. Not only was the gully tremendously steep, +but it was rough, in places wet and slippery, and finally half full of +snow. When they reached the snow, their worst troubles came, for they +had no ice axes to make steps, and without steps they could not climb on +the snow, it was so steep. They had to work up the side of the gully, by +whatever toe holds they could find. The gully was steeper than a flight +of very steep stairs--in places, indeed, it was almost +perpendicular,--and Tom's breath began to come hard and his legs tremble +with weariness. But Mills kept plugging upward, and the towering, +upright pinnacles of the summit began to loom nearer and nearer. + +Finally Mills, without warning, turned out of the gully, close to its +top, and swung out on a wide ledge right under the final two or three +hundred feet of the climb. On this ledge, which didn't show from below, +was a regular little garden of moss campion and Alpine wild flowers. + +"Goat food," said Mills, shortly. He had hardly spoken a word since the +first bad place, and the doctor had been equally silent They sat down to +rest on this wide ledge, and looked off at last upon the great prospect +below them, with the lake, like a little green mirror now, far beneath. + +"Wonderful!" the doctor exclaimed. "A magnificent balcony seat we have +in this amphitheatre, and no ushers to bother us. Mills, you're a good +climber--you don't talk." + +Mills smiled. "Never knew a safe mountain man who did talk on a cliff or +a glacier," said he. + +"No, you can't watch your footing and gabble at the same time. Bah! how +I hate a talker on a climb!" + +"A man came out here once in a big party," said the Ranger. "I took 'em +up Cleveland. When we hit the real climb, he fetched out a sign from his +pack, and hung it on his back. It read, 'I'm not very sociable when I'm +climbing.'" + +The doctor and Tom laughed, and the former added, "There's a wise man!" + +The ledge on which they sat, which was like a little secret garden hung +up here two thousand feet above the lake, was covered with goat tracks, +and Mills pointed out several little caves, too, under overhanging +rocks, where, he said, the kids were probably born. Above them, the last +three hundred feet of the cliff went up perfectly straight, and Tom +didn't see how they were going to get any farther. + +But Mills presently rose and led the way to a "chimney," which is the +name given to an open cleft in a rock wall. This chimney was so narrow +that a man could brace his back on one side, and his feet on the other, +and climb it just as you climb a well. Of course, it was rough, with +plenty of projections to cling to. Mills had the hardest job here, for +he had no rope to help him. + +The doctor spoke in here, breaking his rule. + +"Do the goats use this chimney?" he shouted up. + +"Sure," Mills replied. "Can't you see the marks of their hoofs? They +jump from side to side right up it." + +"All I can say is, I'd like to see 'em," was the somewhat sceptical +answer. + +The chimney work was great sport, but it was also hard work. Tom's back +was sore, his hands bruised, his arms weary, before they reached the +top. But finally he saw Mills disappear over the rim, and then the +doctor; and finally he himself crawled out of the cleft, and stood on +the very summit of the precipice. And then Tom gasped, and forgot he was +hot, forgot he was tired, forgot his hands were bruised by the rough +rocks, forgot the moments when his heart had been either in his boots or +his throat, forgot everything but the bigness of that prospect! He +almost forgot to look at his watch; but the doctor didn't. + +"Four hours and a half to go two thousand feet!" the doctor said. +"That's the hardest rock climb I ever made. You don't need to go to +Switzerland for real mountain climbing, Mills. You've got it here, right +in your back yard." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII--Tom Sees Both Mountain Sheep and Goats Do Their Wild +Leaps Down Dizzy Ledges + + +Below the great wall up which they had climbed lay the little green +lake, and now they could see a horseback party which had come up to the +shore, see them with the utmost distinctness, like tiny toys. Out beyond +the lake stretched the green canyon, back to camp, and all to the south +the piled up peaks and white snow-fields. But it was to the north that +the view was best. The spot where they stood was not on the Divide, but +a spur, or spine of rock running east from the Divide. This spine was +only thirty or forty feet wide in places, and plunged down to the north, +not quite so steeply, but quite steeply enough, to another little lake, +and beyond that lake shot up the ragged gray and brown and red +battlements of Mount Merritt. Merritt also stands just east of the +Divide, so that they were looking into a second horseshoe amphitheatre, +and on the high, steep sides of this amphitheatre, extending almost to +the top of Mount Merritt, were no less than five glaciers. It was a +wild, desolate picture, far wilder than the Iceberg Lake cirque, because +there was less verdure, and not a trail or human being in it--only +glaciers and precipices and wild, tumbled, jagged mountains. + +The doctor gazed in silence for several minutes, and then he said, + +"Tom, how do you like it?" + +"Oh, it's wonderful! I never knew anything in the world could be so--so +big and lonely and sort of endless." + +The doctor smiled. "My family and a lot of my friends think I'm crazy to +risk my neck climbing," he went on, "but they don't know. They don't +know the fun of pitting your human cunning and will power against a +precipice, and then, when you've conquered it, reaching a wild spot like +this and seeing the whole world spread out at your feet. There's nothing +like it. I give my patients pills, but this is the medicine I take +myself." + +They now ate their sandwiches, which were pretty well mashed up in their +pockets, and quenched their thirst as best they could by eating snow. +Then they explored along the ragged ridge a bit, finding in the centre +of the spine, winding in and out amid the rough battlements, a distinct +game trail, like a foot-path. In spots it was so plain that you would +have thought men walked over it every day. + +Mills presently went on ahead, softly, and after a while they saw him +beckoning to them, and cautioning silence. He was at the edge of the +cliff, peering over. Tom and the doctor tiptoed up and looked over, +also. + +There, not a hundred feet below them, on a wide ledge, were five goats! +There was an old billy, standing on the edge, looking off and down, +evidently inspecting with some suspicion the party which was now +lighting a camp-fire for luncheon down on the lake shore. There were two +nannies, one eating moss and one scratching herself with her hind leg. +And, finally, there were two kids, as playful as kittens, jumping +around. Now and then one of the kids would give a leap and go up the +cliff to a rock projection higher than his head, jump from that to +another, and so climb ten or a dozen feet. Then he would jump off, head +foremost, and land beside the old goats. + +The three unsuspected human beings watched them for several minutes. It +certainly was a pretty sight, and the most wonderful part of it to Tom +was that these kids were born up here, thousands of feet above the level +earth, and perhaps would never get lower in their lives than the shale +slide above Iceberg Lake! + +"You always have to get at 'em from above," Mills whispered. "They don't +seem to expect danger from that quarter. It's below that they watch out. +Want to see 'em dive?" + +The doctor nodded, and the Ranger suddenly gave a loud shout. + +The old billy did not even look up. He simply went head foremost over +the edge of the shelf, where he had been standing, and disappeared. One +by one, in exactly the same place, the others followed him, a kid going +last. From where the men lay, a hundred feet above, the goats appeared +to be dropping off into space, and to certain death. + +"Good gracious!" Dr. Kent exclaimed. "Where'd they go to?" + +Mills didn't answer. His eyes were scanning the cliff wall below. +Suddenly he pointed to the left, at least two hundred yards away and +lower down the slope. There were the five goats, trotting along like +three big snowballs and two little ones, on a shelf not a foot wide. +They went around a sort of cornice on a shelf so narrow that the men, a +quarter of a mile away, actually could not see it at all--the goats +seemed to be just moving like flies on a wall--and disappeared. A moment +later they came in sight again, farther around on the cliff, climbing +rapidly up a gully, or chimney, by sharp, quick leaps from side to side, +each leap landing them higher, and at the top they reached a shelf which +led to the summit, and disappeared. + +"They'll go down on the other side, and be over on Mount Merritt in an +hour," said Mills. "Oh, you get a lot of exercise hunting 'em!" + +"We could have got a shot at 'em at the very start, before you scared +them," said the doctor, "and after that there wasn't a spot they took +where a man could follow till they were out of range, or a spot where he +could have shot one without its falling so far it would smash the head +to bits. If I hunted, that's the sport I'd like! The game has a better +chance than you do. But I don't hunt, thank the Lord." + +"You'd better not, in the Park," Mills laughed. "I wish I could show you +a bighorn, now. They beat the goats at diving, though they don't climb +up so well, or no better." + +The men went back to the place where they had left the rope, and decided +it was time to begin the descent. But before starting, the Ranger made +another little trip along the top, in the opposite direction, in the +hopes of seeing a sheep, for he said he knew sheep were around there. + +"If I signal, bring the rope along," he said, "and come softly. We might +be able to make one take a good jump." + +He must have been nearly a quarter of a mile away when he waved his +hand, and Tom and the doctor hurried toward him. Again he was peering +over the cliff, this time on the north side, at a point where it was +very steep. It dropped straight down about forty feet to a ledge, and on +this ledge was a fine old ram, with magnificent curling horns, two ewes, +and one lamb. They were all feeding, quite unaware of danger, evidently +secure in the knowledge that no prowling mountain lion would drop down +those forty feet of precipice from above. The ledge on one side led out +to an easy slope. On the other side it narrowed to about four feet, and +then ended abruptly. + +"Quick!" Mills whispered, taking the rope. Softly, without a sound, he +hitched it around a rock pile, and held the free end. "Now, the instant +I throw this over," he whispered again, "you and Tom go down it. The +sheep will be cut off, and have to jump from the other end of the ledge. +They'll go quick, and you'll have to, also, to see 'em." + +The doctor and Tom stood by, Mills dropped the rope over the edge, and +first Dr. Kent and then Tom slid down it, so fast their hands burned. +But the sheep were quicker. Before they reached the ledge, the last one +was overboard. Tom and his companion dashed to the end where they had +jumped, lay on their stomachs, and peered down over. + +It was a drop of twenty feet or so to the first shelf below. On this +shelf were the two ewes and the lamb. The old ram had already jumped to +the next one, another twenty feet lower. This second shelf was tiny, and +would hold only one sheep at a time. More than that, it was not directly +under the first, but six or eight feet to the left. As the man and boy +reached the edge, they saw the ram leave this shelf head foremost, and +go down the cliffside, kicking the wall as he went with his hoofs, and +land on a third ledge, seventy-five feet below them. No sooner was he +off, than one of the ewes jumped for the shelf he had just deserted. +She, too, kicked the wall with her hoofs, striking hard, incredibly +rapid blows, and these kicks, very carefully directed, propelled her +just far enough to one side as she fell to enable her to reach the +shelf. When she landed on it, with all four feet bunched, it looked from +above as if her shoulders were coming up through the brown wool on her +back. She seemed to bounce as she hit, and with the bounce went right +off again, to the ledge below, which the old ram had already left, and +was now on a safe, wide shelf far beneath, and trotting off toward the +slopes that led around to the wall of the Great Divide. The second ewe +followed her, with exactly the same tactics, and then the lamb went +bouncing down, as if it was all a game, landed almost like a rubber +ball, bounced off to the next ledge, kicking the cliff wall with his +little hoofs faster than a cat can strike with its paw. + +In much less time than it has taken to tell it, all the sheep were on +the slope a hundred feet below, and before the doctor and Tom could get +up on their feet again, the little flock was out of sight around a +shoulder of the cliff! + +"Well! I've seen chamois in the Alps, but I never saw anything like +that!" the doctor cried. "The cool nerve of that lamb! Why, they go +right off into space, and their eyes are so accurate and their feet so +quick that they kick themselves six feet to one side in falling twenty, +and land safely on a shelf not big enough for a boy to stand on!" + +The two climbed back up the rope to Mills. + +"Get a good show?" he asked. + +"That was the most interesting and thrilling exhibition of animal +strength and skill I ever witnessed," Dr. Kent answered. "And what a +handsome creature the old ram is, with those great, curving horns! Why, +a monkey in a tree isn't so active and daring! Besides, the monkey has +branches to fall into, and the sheep have only space, with sure death +below. Aren't they ever killed? Don't they ever miss?" + +"Oh, yes," said the Ranger. "But in all the years I used to hunt 'em, I +never saw one miss badly enough to be killed on a cliff he knew. It's +when they get surprised and have to jump on a strange wall, maybe on the +way to some new feeding ground, that they hit an impossible dive. On +their regular beats, they seem to know every foot of the rocks. +Sometimes the snowslides catch 'em in winter, though." + +They were walking back, or, rather, scrambling back, toward the point +where their chimney came up, as Mills talked. It was getting along in +the afternoon now, the tourist party was leaving Iceberg Lake and +winding down the trail like ants, and the three, without further delay, +prepared to descend. + +And now, for the first time, Tom learned the use of the doubled rope, in +the descent. The doctor's rope, which had seemed clumsily long to him on +the way up--a hundred feet for only three men--now was not long enough! +They did not fasten themselves to it at all, except on the dangerous +transverses. Instead, they hung it at the centre around some firm rock, +dropped the two ends down the cliff, and then, grasping both strands, +slid down them to the farthest ledge below which they could reach. That +meant a possible slide of fifty feet, of course, with a hundred foot +rope. Then, when all three were at the bottom, all they had to do was to +pull on one strand, and the other side would go up till the end was +freed from the rock above and came tumbling down. By this method they +could take straight drops down the very steepest places, when, on the +ascent, they had been obliged to work in the gully, with falling rocks +threatening them. It amounted to descending by fifty foot jumps, and as +soon as Tom learned to keep both strands of the rope equally firm in his +hands so that there was no play whatever, he felt quite confident. + +Of course, to let go of either strand while you are descending the +doubled rope means that all your weight comes on one side, the top will +slip, and down you will go. To avoid that, either Mills or the doctor +came last for several hundred feet, keeping a hand on the rope while Tom +slid down. But they soon saw he had the hang of it, and let him go +first, or last, or in the middle, as it chanced, without any more worry. + +By this method, their descent was rapid. Of course, it took time, for +they had a long way to go, and you never hurry on a dangerous cliff. You +go cautiously, deliberately, and sometimes you have to hunt three or +four minutes to find a strong enough hold for the rope. But it was much +faster than the ascent, and even though Tom's hands were soon red and +burning from sliding down the rope, for he had no leather gloves, he +enjoyed this new sport more than anything he had ever done. + +They reached the top of the shale pile at last, at half-past six, having +kept to the goat trail all the way down, out of the gully. They coiled +up the rope, and went lunging down over the loose shale and then through +the scrub trees and bushes, to the brook which flowed out to the lake. +Here, as if on a signal, all three of them dropped on their knees on the +stones, buried their faces in the ice water, and drank, and drank, and +drank. + +"So much perspiring, and such rapid evaporation in the wind up there, +certainly does use up the water in your system," the doctor said, as his +face emerged dripping from the brook, and he put on his glasses again. +"Free ice water, too. Look at the chunks of ice floating around in +it--and here it is August, and flowers growing on the bank!" + +Mills got the horses, and they mounted. Tom could hardly have truthfully +said he "vaulted into the saddle," however. He got up with considerable +difficulty, for he was stiff and lame, and his arms were trembling from +such long, hard strain in going up and then down the rope. But it was +certainly good to be in the saddle, once you got there, and find +yourself being carried, instead of having to do the work. + +The Ranger at once began to trot. The trail to Iceberg Lake is such a +good one, and the grade is so easy, that you can trot over a good deal +of the distance, and Mills did not let any grass grow under their feet, +especially as the horses were fresh. When they reached the woods near +home, and the trail was almost level, he broke into a gallop, and with +the doctor (who was not a good rider) wildly hanging to the horn of his +saddle, they tore past a party just coming in from Swift Current, and +dashed up to the tepee camp, where Joe was waiting for them. + +The camp was full of hikers--a whole party of men and women, ten or a +dozen. They were busily cooking on the stove, and the doctor looked +anything but pleased. + +"Where do I come in, Joe?" he asked, as he climbed from his horse. + +"I thought maybe you'd rather come down to our little camp for supper," +said Joe. "I can't use the stove here till this gang gets through, and +Tom and I have a rough sort of table at our camp, and I have supper all +ready to cook there, and I planned to have Mr. Mills come, too. Tom and +I will sort of give a party." + +"Well, now, that's fine!" said the doctor. "Mills and I accept. Let me +wash up in my tepee first, and I'll be with you." + +He went into his tepee. + +"I'll take the horses up to the cabin," said the Ranger, "and be with +you in a jiffy. Say, Tom," [he added this in a low tone] "we had his +number wrong. He knows the climbing game from the bottom up--he's +careful, he's got nerve, he can pick a hold every time, and he don't +gas. He gets my vote." + +"Mine, too!" Tom answered. + +"Everything O.K. here?" Tom asked Joe. "These people got wood, and cots, +and everything?" + +"Sure--beat it, and wash your mug. Gee, you're dirty!" Joe laughed. + +"Well, I guess you'd be if you'd been kissin' an old precipice all day," +Tom retorted. "Oh, gee, Joe--this is the life! Some climb! Some old +goats and sheep! Some Park!" + +"Yes, and go and wash up if you want some supper." + +Joe made sure the hikers had everything they needed or wanted, and +hurried down the path to the scout camp, where he began to cook the +supper, while Tom was having a wash and getting into dry underclothes +and shirt. He had been to the chalet store that afternoon and restocked +the larder, and secured a piece of a big, fresh steak which had just +come in by motor bus. This he now broiled over as good a bed of coals as +he could get from his soft wood fire. He had coffee already boiling, and +hot soup, and some nice canned beans, and French fried potatoes, and a +surprise for dessert--nothing less than four plates of fresh +huckleberries, which he had stumbled upon while taking a walk that noon, +and picked into his hat. + +When Mills and the doctor arrived, this supper was all ready, and the +two men and two boys sat down on the log seats around the rough table of +boards, and ate and talked, and talked and ate, while the evening +shadows crossed the lake and the lights of the big hotel could be seen +twinkling through the trees. It was a jolly meal, and a good one, and +Tom had never in his life felt so hungry, and deliciously lame and sore +and tired, so that a long draught of hot coffee seemed to go warming and +tingling through all his body. + +After supper, Joe would not let him go back to the tepee camp, but went +himself to see that everything was fixed for the night. Tom just sat by +the blazing camp-fire, while Mills and Dr. Kent smoked, and listened to +the talk of the two men, who swapped yarns about mountain climbing. The +doctor had been up rock crags in the Austrian Tyrol, thrilling +precipices steeper than the wall of Iceberg Lake, and he had climbed +over ice and snow, also, where you had to cut steps with an ice axe. But +Mills, who had never been east of Omaha in his life, had once ridden +down a mountain on a snow avalanche, (needless to say, without intending +to!) and had seen a mother goat standing over her kid on the ledge of a +precipice fighting off a bald eagle. Tom listened with ears wide open, +and though he was sleepy and tired, he was sorry when the men rose to +depart. + +"I'll come here for breakfast, boys, if you don't mind," the doctor +said. "Those hikers may be an estimable collection of citizens and +citizenesses, but I came out here to get away from folks. Good-night, +Tom. We'll have to have one more climb before I go--day after to-morrow, +I guess. To-morrow I'm going back to Iceberg Lake and look at the +flowers more carefully. Good-night, Joe. Good-night, Mills. Thanks for +coming to-day. You Rocky Mountain goat hunters don't need any course of +training in the Alps." + +"Good-night," the scouts called, as the two men disappeared in opposite +directions. + +Tom told Joe all that had happened as they got ready for bed, and ended +by declaring he was too excited still to go to sleep. + +Joe laughed. + +"I thought I was, the first day over Piegan," said he. "But the old +Rockies fooled me. I slept, all right. So'll you." + +And Tom did. In fact, it is doubtful if he heard the tail end of Joe's +sentence. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII--Joe Gets Good News From the Doctor, And The Scouts Name +Their Camp, "Camp Kent" + + +The next morning Dr. Kent arrived, rather cross, at the boys' camp, for +the hikers had waked him up early, and he told Joe nothing but a good +breakfast would set the world right. Joe did his best, and then put up +some lunch for him, and he went off presently in better spirits, to +spend the day, as he put it, "loafing with the wild flowers and inviting +my soul." Joe also cooked his dinner when he returned at night. The next +day, he said, would be his last, and he insisted that Tom go with him up +on Grinnell Glacier. + +"We'll have a little more practice with the rope," he said, "and you can +see if you can tumble into a crevasse the way your friend Joe did." + +So Joe, for a second time, took charge of the camp, and Tom left with +the doctor, bright and early. It wasn't a hard climb up to the glacier, +and they crossed it, using Tom's scout axe for cutting steps when +necessary, and the doctor sent Tom ahead a little way up a cliff, and +then reversed positions on the rope, and let Tom take number two +position. They climbed far enough up on the great gray shoulder of Gould +Mountain to look down on the glacier, on the lake far below that, on the +green meadow, and then returned leisurely to camp. + +On the way back Tom got up courage to ask Dr. Kent what he had been +longing to ask him ever since he learned of his profession. That was, to +examine Joe. He told his new friend of Joe's condition, and why they +were in the Park, and how he was responsible for him, and did not want +him to go on trips and do hard work if it wasn't safe. + +"I'll see if I can borrow a stethoscope from the hotel," Dr. Kent said. +"There must be a house physician there. Then I'll give him the once +over, gladly. Anybody who can make coffee like his mustn't be allowed to +die! But he doesn't look like a sick boy to me." + +True to his word, he got the instrument, and before dinner took Joe into +the scouts' tent, stripped him, and examined him very carefully. + +"Who told you you had tuberculosis?" he finally said. + +"Dr. Meyer," Joe replied. + +"What Dr. Meyer--not Julius Meyer?" + +"Yes, sir, in Southmead." + +"Well, if _he_ said you had, then I suppose you did have," Dr. Kent +replied. "But, frankly, I can't find any trace of it in your lungs now." + +"But ought he to do hard work?" Tom asked. + +"I wouldn't let him over-strain," the doctor said, "and if he climbs, +make him climb rather slowly. But out here in this wonderful land I +don't believe he need worry much any more. If you can keep him here for +a few months more, living this outdoor life, and then if he is careful +when he gets back, I think he'll be a well man by the time he gets his +full growth." + +"But we have to get back to go to school," Joe said. "I couldn't let old +Spider lose out on school, even if I did." + +"What are you planning to become? What are you studying to be?" the man +asked. + +"We want to go into the forest service," both scouts answered. + +"Oh, fine! That's a coming job, boys, but one that Joe can't take, if he +isn't cured thoroughly. Think of this--your life out here is the best +training you could have for the forest service. You can afford to miss +six months of school to learn how to live in the big woods and the wild +places. If you should camp with Mills till Christmas, say, you'd really +be going to school, and Joe would be taking tonic twenty-four hours a +day. Think it over, boys." + +That night, after dinner, which he again ate at the scouts' camp, the +tepee camp being again filled up with hikers, he paid Joe at the regular +rate of three dollars a day for cooking his meals, and paid for the +food, all except the dinner Joe had got ready the night of the first +climb, which the scouts declared was their treat. Then he picked up his +Alpine rope and handed it to Tom. + +"How'd you like this for a souvenir?" he asked. + +Tom gasped. "For _me_!" he exclaimed. "Oh, Dr. Kent, I--I--why, what'll +you do?" + +"I'm taking the bus out in the morning," the doctor said. "I've other +ropes at home. You boys might like to do a little climbing. But promise +me you'll pick easy grades to learn on, unless Mills is with you." + +"Thank you!" Tom cried. "I--I never guessed I'd own a real Alpine rope. +Feel of it, Joe--ain't it soft?" + +"I move we name this shack of ours Camp Kent," said Joe. + +"Carried!" Tom cried. "Camp Kent it is--and I guess we won't forget whom +it's named for in a hurry, either." + +"Thanks, boys," the doctor laughed. "And I won't forget you. I wish I +were going to stay here a month, and use the rope with you. But I've got +to get back to the sick people who can't come to the Park for a tonic. +Good-bye--and good luck. Joe, keep up the good work--live out-of-doors, +keep dry, don't worry, and you'll live to be ninety-nine. Tom--don't +forget to test your anchor stone! I'll be out in the morning early, and +get my grub at the hotel. Good-bye." + +"Good-bye," the boys said. + +And when he was gone they looked at each other, at the coil of soft, +strong, beautifully braided Alpine rope, and Tom exclaimed: + +"Well, by gosh! you never can tell. When he blew in, with those funny +old blue socks on, and the spectacles, and his talk about the +Matterhorn, I thought he was a freak or hot air artist, and so did Mr. +Mills. Instead of that he's a prince--that's what he is, a prince!" + +"I never said anything at the time," Joe answered. "But I liked him all +along. Gee, I bet he's a good doc, all right." + +"I bet he is, too--and he says you're all right now!" Tom cried, giving +Joe a punch and a hug. "We can go climbing with this old rope together +pretty soon. By jiminy, we _got_ to carry our cameras up a cliff and get +some goat pictures. Say, that's the sport! And I'm going to see Mr. +Mills about staying on with him, and write home about school, and we'll +just stay here and see the snow come, and get our skis sent on, and, +gee, it'll be wonderful!" + +"If we do that, I got to get busy and earn money," Joe replied. "I'm +going over to the Saddle Company offices at the hotel to-morrow and see +about another cooking job." + +"Go to it," said Spider. "I'm willing, now the doc says it's O.K." + +But he didn't have to go over to the hotel. That very evening a bell-boy +from the hotel came for him, and he set out the next morning with a +party on a four day trip. They went over Piegan Pass again, then up into +the Red Eagle country south of St. Mary Lake, then up on to the top of +the Divide over Triple Divide Peak, where the water from the snow-fields +flows in three directions--to the Pacific, to the Missouri River, and so +to the Gulf of Mexico, and to the St. Mary River, then the Saskatchewan +River and so to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. + +They descended to the headwaters of the Cut Bank River (so called +because of its steep banks) and camped in a lovely canyon. Then, for the +next stage, they climbed practically over the old war trail of the +Blackfeet Indians, who went across the Divide over Cut Bank Pass to +attack their foes, the Flathead Indians, on the west side. Then, for +their final stage, they took the so-called Dry Fork Trail, to Two +Medicine Lake. This was a thrilling trip, over a portion of the Divide +that truly deserved the Indian name of the backbone of the world. At one +point the knife-blade ridge was only thirty feet wide, with yawning +precipices on either side. The chief guide said, "This is the place +where they say you can spit down into the lake three thousand feet on +the east, and throw a stone more than that on the west." Joe didn't have +to get off his horse and try, in order to believe him. And he was glad +enough there was not a gale blowing, too! + +The trail finally led down around the base of old Rising Wolf Mountain +to the Two Medicine chalets, on the lake, where the party spent the +night. + +Early the next morning, the party left for the railroad by bus, and Joe +went with them to Glacier Park Hotel, where he caught the Many Glacier +morning bus back to his own camp. It was a fine trip, with splendid +scenery, but he missed Mills as the chief guide, and still more he +missed the friendly companionship of Bob, Alice and Lucy, who had made +his first trip so much like a family party. On this second trip he was +just the cook for a group of three men and their wives. But it meant +twelve more precious dollars for his fund--or, rather, it meant six +dollars for his fund, and six to send home to his mother. + +When he got back "home," as he called it, he found Tom had carved a +sign, "Camp Kent," on a piece of board, and nailed it to a tree by their +tent. He also found Tom full of an exciting piece of news. + +"There's going to be a Blackfeet Indian pow-wow here at Many Glacier +to-morrow," he said, "and it's going to end with a barbecue, which Big +Bertha says is almost as good as a Hi-yu-Mulligan-potlatch." + +"As a _what_?" Joe demanded. + +"No, not a _what_, a Hi-yu-Mulligan-potlatch," Tom laughed. "Big Bertha +says out in Washington, where he comes from, when they want to give the +Indians a good time they give 'em a potlatch, which means a free feed, +and a Mulligan potlatch is one where the free feed is Mulligan stew, and +a Hi-yu-Mulligan-potlatch is just a jim-swizzler of a potlatch that +makes an Indian yell, Hi-yu! Get it now?" + +"I get it," Joe laughed. "But what's a pow-wow, and why's it being held +here?" + +"I guess a pow-wow is short for an Indian good time, and it's being held +here to give the folks at the hotel something to look at--as if the +mountains weren't enough. The hotel is crammed full, and so are the +chalets, and I had three people in every tepee last night. I've been +doing nothing since you left but chop wood, and haul water, and air +blankets." + +"Poor old Tom," said Joe. "Well, I got twelve cartwheels in my +jeans--feels like a ton o' coal, too. That'll help toward the autumn. +Now I'll help you get the camp ready for the hikers that are coming in +to-night." + +"It's all ready," Tom answered. "The crowd last night got away early +this morning. The Indians are going to get here this afternoon, and set +up their tepees down on the flats below the falls. We're going to walk +down there now and see 'em come in, so hurry up and get yourself some +grub. I've had mine. I was up at five to-day and couldn't wait for your +old bus to get in at one-thirty." + +"I'll be with you in fifteen minutes," said Joe, as he put some bacon in +a pan. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX--The Indian Pow-Wow--Tom and Joe Get Into The Squaw Dance + + +The Indians were arriving when the boys reached the meadows below the +falls, and were already beginning to set up their wigwams, or tepees, +beside the Swift Current. The chiefs and braves, in their Indian dress, +with feathered head-gear and bright blankets, were on horseback, and so +were most of the squaws and children; but the tepees were being +transported from the reservation out on the prairie in motor buses, and +there was even an entire Indian family in a touring car, with the brave +at the wheel! + +"Gee whiz, times change all right," said Spider. "Even the Indians have +automobiles." + +Nearly a hundred Blackfeet arrived, all told, fine looking men and women +for the most part, although the older squaws were fat and huddled up in +their blankets, looking like funny bears. What struck Joe and Tom first +of all, however, was the good nature of these Indians. + +"I always thought Indians were silent and sort of grouchy," Tom said to +Mills, who was on hand to help the Indians get settled in camp and see +that the hotel, which had induced them to come, provided enough for them +to eat. + +"Not at all," the Ranger answered. "They are always laughing and joking, +as you see. They are a very happy people, and they have a mighty hard +time of it, too. They don't know how to raise cattle or grain, because +they've always been hunters. Now the government has taken the Park away +from them, and won't let 'em hunt here, and they half starve every +winter. I tell you, I'm sorry for 'em." + +The boys moved among them freely, listening to their strange language, +and watching the tepees go up. Some of these tepees were made of tanned +skins, mostly elk skins, but one or two very old ones of buffalo skins. +They were stretched around a frame of lodge-pole pines, leaving a hole +at the peak where the smoke could rise, as through a chimney. On the +outside were painted in various colors bands and designs, and in the +case of the chiefs, funny figures of buffalo and men chasing them on +horseback, and other men being killed in battle. These pictures, Mills +said, were painted by the chiefs themselves, and depicted the life +history and exploits of each warrior. + +"Good idea," Tom laughed. "You sort of paint your autobiography on the +outside of your house." + +"I suppose when you get home, you'll draw a picture of yourself climbing +a cliff, over your front door," said Joe. + +"And you can draw yourself falling down the cellar hatchway," Tom +retorted. + +By late afternoon, the tepees were all up, smoke was ascending from the +peaks, the horses of each brave were tethered near their master's lodge, +in the centre of the camp was a large, flat open space, to be used later +for the dances, and here the little Indian children were now playing. +When the flap of a lodge was lifted, you could see women inside, cooking +or laying beds of skins and blankets. The funny Indian dogs, mongrels of +all shapes, sizes and colors, were roaming around. Beside the camp +flowed the Swift Current, green and foaming, and behind it rose the +towering walls of the canyon sides. Except for the tourists who had come +down from the hotel to watch, and the one Indian automobile parked near +by, the camp might have been an Indian village of two hundred years ago, +before the white men ever came. Tom and Joe were reluctant to leave, it +all seemed so like a picture out of the past, the picture of a life and +a race now fast vanishing from the earth. They took many pictures of the +camp before they finally went back to their own camp, to see if any +hikers had arrived. + +A party was coming down the trail just as they got there, and Tom was +soon busy. But when supper was over, he and Joe went back, taking the +hikers along, to see the camp again. As they drew near, they heard +strange noises, the TUM-_tum_, TUM-_tum_, of Indian drums. The pow-wow +had begun. + +"It won't amount to much, though, till to-morrow," Mills said. "They +just get worked up a little to-night." + +There was a big fire going in the central dancing ground, and near it, +dressed in all their finery, two of them stripped bare to the waist with +their skins covered with yellow paint, were the three makers of music, +each holding a shallow skin drum in one hand and beating it with the +other, in a regular, monotonous, unvaried rhythm, a two-foot beat, +heavily accented on the first foot--TUM-_tum_, TUM-_tum_, TUM-_tum_, +over and over, rather slowly. As they pounded out this rhythm, they kept +laughing, emitting yells and calls, and sometimes sang. Meanwhile some +boy or young brave would spring out into the fire-light, in the centre +of the ring of braves and squaws and children squatted or standing +around, and dance to the music, going through strange gestures, +brandishing a decorated spear, stooping, bending, circling around, but +always, the boys soon detected, adhering to some formal plan, although +they didn't know what this dance might signify, and always surprisingly +graceful. + +"Some of those dances are very intricate," Mills said to them, as an +Indian boy, after finishing a hard dance, dropped panting back into the +circle, while the older braves applauded and another took his place +instantly. "It takes a boy weeks to learn them, and each one has a +meaning. It may be the boy's medicine dance, part of the ritual which +will keep harm away from him." + +Even after the scouts left, they could hear the TUM-_tum_ of the drums, +till the roar of the falls drowned it. The next day they hurried back, +as soon as the camp work was done, and found the Indians dancing again, +in broad daylight now, of course, with a great crowd of tourists around +watching them. They were still at it when the boys came back after +luncheon, seemingly untiring. But presently they stopped, and an old +chief stepped out and began to make a speech. + +"What's he talking about?" Tom asked Mills, edging in close to the +circle. + +"Don't ask me--I can't talk the language," the Ranger answered. "Hi, +Pete, what's old Stabs-by-Mistake saying?" + +This last question was addressed to a half-breed who was standing just +in front of them, in the Indian circle. + +Pete, who was dressed in cowboy costume, but without any hat, turned +with a grin. + +"He says they are going to take my white man name away from me, and give +me a Blackfeet name," Pete replied. "He says the white men give the +mountains foolish white man names, but I'm part Indian, and they're +going to take my name, Pete Jones, away from me." + +Stabs-by-Mistake (that was really the name of the old chief, and not a +joke of Mills') now beckoned Pete into the middle of the circle. Two or +three young braves danced around him, while the drums beat and all the +Indians shouted and sang, and then the braves seized him, pretended to +grab something from him with their hands, and ran with this imaginary +thing to some bushes outside the camp. They disappeared in these bushes, +speedily reappeared holding up their hands to show they were empty, and +came back to the circle. + +"I suppose they dropped his old name in the bushes!" Joe laughed. + +"Sure," said Mills. + +Now Stabs-by-Mistake rose to make another speech. Pete stood before him, +and he talked for two or three minutes right at him, with many gestures, +while the Indians listened. The boys could see that he had not yet given +him a new name, and all the Blackfeet were waiting, excited, to see what +the new name was going to be. Finally, Stabs-by-Mistake laid his hand on +Pete's shoulder and spoke very solemnly. Then he spoke the new name. As +he spoke it, he gave Pete a great slap on the back as a sort of period +to his oration, and at the same instant the entire circle of Indians +broke out into shouts of laughter. Pete looked sheepish, and came back +toward the Ranger, red and grinning. + +"Well, what's your name now?" Mills asked. + +"He made a big talk about giving me the name of a great chief, gone to +the Sand Hills long ago, and then he said it was +Lazy-Boy-Afraid-to-Work. That's why they are all laughing." + +Mills laughed, too. "He's got your number, Pete," said he. + +Now another chief was making a speech, and Pete grinned at Mills. + +"You're in for it now," he chuckled. "Yellow Wolf says they're going to +give you an Indian name." + +"Oh, help!" Mills exclaimed. + +He was led into the circle, looking uncomfortable and shy with so many +tourists gazing at him. But the boys knew he would rather have cut off +his right hand than hurt the Indians' feelings by refusing. For him, the +ceremony was much more serious. There was no laughing, and Yellow Wolf +made a grave and evidently impassioned speech to the tribe, who listened +and applauded. They did not go through the comic ceremony of taking the +Ranger's old name out into the bushes, but instead they sat him down in +a smaller circle of the chiefs, and passed an Indian pipe around. Then, +standing once more, they danced and sang, and finally Yellow Wolf gave +him his new name, with a slap on the shoulder, while the crowd expressed +approval. Then a gorgeous feathered head-dress was put on his head, +instead of a hat, and when he finally rejoined the boys, he was still +wearing this. + +"What's your name?" Tom asked. + +"What is it, Pete?" said Mills. + +"Tail-Feathers-Coming-Over-the-Hill," said Pete. "He was a fine Indian, +too--medicine man." + +"I thought so," Mills answered. "I thought I recognized it. Well, boys, +I suppose I'm a Blackfoot now! You know" (he added this in a lower tone) +"they are grateful to me because in the hard winter last year I didn't +prosecute one of 'em for killing a sheep, but got the government to send +'em some food, so they wouldn't have to poach. +Tail-Feathers-Coming-Over-the-Hill was a fine old Indian. I'm proud to +have his name." + +"It's some name!" the scouts laughed. + +Now that these ceremonies were over, the Indians fell to dancing again, +and the beat of the three drums, the calls and songs, rose on the air. +Seeing the crowd of tourists about, and filled with fun and good +spirits, the Indians started the squaw dance, the dance in which the +women and even the larger children of the tribe take part. The three +drummers stood in the middle, pounding their sheepskin drums, and around +them, in a ring, holding hands or linking elbows, everybody facing +inward, the Indians revolved by a curious little side step with a bend +to the right knee, in time to the TUM-_tum_, TUM-_tum_, of the drums. +Every moment or two a couple of chiefs or braves would dart out of the +circle, seize some white woman or girl, and drag her laughing back into +the ring. Then the young squaws began to run out and grab white men. Two +Indian maidens seized Joe, while Tom got his camera hastily into action. + +"Now, look pleasant, Joey!" he laughed. "We'll have this picture +enlarged for the Scout House--Joe and the Indian maidens!" + +The girls placed Joe in the circle, and he began to revolve with the +rest. One of the girls beckoned at Tom, as much as to say, "Shall we get +him?" + +Joe nodded, and the girl spoke to another squaw maid on her left, and +the two of them left the line and seized Tom, also, keeping fast hold of +his hands and dragging him with much laughter into the revolving ring. + +Before long as many as two hundred people, Indians and white, old folks +and young, men, women and children, were all revolving in a great circle +about the three drummers, who were beating violently, singing, shouting. +The Indian women began to sing, also, a strange tune, with only one +phrase, repeated over and over. Of course, the boys could not understand +the words, or even tell for sure sometimes whether there were any words. +But the tune got into their heads. They could never sing it afterwards +just as the Indians did, for the Indian scale, the intervals, are +different from ours, but they could come somewhere near it, as they +danced around their camp. + +The squaw dance lasted until the "pale faces" began to get tired and +drop out of the ring. Then the Indians went back to their former solo +dances, their other songs, their general jollification and curious +games. But the three drummers, without any rest, kept right on pounding +and shouting and singing, as if nothing could tire them. They were still +at it when the scouts had to return to their duties at the camp, and all +that evening, too, they kept it up. + +The next day the steer was to be roasted, in a fire pit dug and prepared +by the Indians themselves, but Joe did not see that, for he received +word that evening to start out early the following morning with a party +over Swift Current Pass, and down to Lake McDonald. Tom went to see the +beginning of the ceremony, but the process of roasting an entire steer +isn't very pretty, nor very tempting, and he didn't stay. Beside, he had +a big party of hikers to look after, and his own meals to cook now Joe +was away. He returned to Camp Kent, looked longingly at his coil of +Alpine rope, took his axe, and went at the task of replenishing the wood +supply. + + + + +CHAPTER XX--The Scouts Start on a Trip Together at Last, To Climb +Chief Mountain + + +Joe was gone five days, coming back over Gunsight and Piegan Pass, the +reverse of the route he had taken on his first trip. But this time, he +was getting so at home in the saddle that he could manage the packhorses +without worrying, could throw a diamond hitch as well as the next man, +and cook for a crowd without having too much left over, or not enough +prepared--not that there is ever much danger of having anything left +over in the Rocky Mountains! Everybody eats while there's food in sight. +But Tom was pretty lonely without him, especially as the Ranger was +away, too, for the first three days. + +But on the fourth day Big Bertha called Tom up to the chalet office, and +told him something that made him very happy, though it didn't seem to +please Big Bertha at all. + +"Tom," said he, "I've got to fire you." + +(This isn't what made Tom happy. It made his heart drop into his boots +for a second, before he realized that the man was trying to get a rise +out of him.) + +"Yes," the manager went on, "there's a party of men from Washington at +the hotel. They came over Piegan, and they've been up to Iceberg Lake +to-day, and now they want to climb Chief Mountain. Somebody's told 'em +about it, and nothing for it but they must go up there. There's no cook +for 'em till Joe gets back, and the Saddle Company is short on guides +anyhow, and hasn't anybody who knows Chief Mountain. Mills says he'll +lead the party, if he can have you and your rope. He won't go otherwise. +Now, that puts me in a hole, because I'll have to go short handed and +send one of my boys down to look after the tepees. But these Washington +guys are big bugs of some sort, and I suppose we gotter please 'em. So +day after to-morrow you start, if Joe gets back." + +"Hooray!" Tom shouted. "Old Joey and I'll be on a trip together!" + +"Yes, and what about me? You don't seem sorry for me at all," said Big +Bertha. + +"I'm not," Tom laughed. "I'll cut up enough wood to-morrow for a week, +and clean the stove, and fix everything up. Guess you can worry along." + +"You are a heartless, ungrateful creature," said Big Bertha, in his +funny, high voice. But Tom knew that he was really glad to give him this +chance to see Chief Mountain. + +The next day Mills and Tom got together and made all the arrangements +for the trip, for they knew Joe would not get in till late, over the +twenty-two mile Piegan trail. It was to be a long expedition--probably a +week--and needed considerable planning, for they were going north, where +there were no chalets, no stores nor camps, and they had to carry +everything. Fortunately, there were only three men in the party, so +Mills, Joe and Tom were the only guides necessary. But it meant tents, +provisions, blankets, and that meant packhorses--good ones, too, which +were hard to pick, for the season was late, and the horses were all +getting thin and tired. + +Joe came in late, as they expected, and though he, too, was tired after +the long ride over Piegan, he gave a whoop of joy at Tom's announcement. +Tom made him sit down, however, and got the supper himself. + +"And you're going to bed early," he added. "This is the real thing ahead +of us now--Chief Mountain, maybe the Belly River Canon, and Mills says +maybe Cleveland, the highest mountain in the Park, if the weather is +good. He says, though, it's getting time for a storm again. Anyhow, +we'll see old Cleveland. Gee--it'll be great to be on a rope again!" + +"You talk as if you'd climbed the Matterhorn all your life," Joe +laughed. + +The next morning at six o'clock the Ranger and the two boys were at the +hotel, and beginning to pack the horses. For this trip they took but two +tents, one for the three men, one for themselves. Enough food was the +main requirement. They got everything, including blankets, on four +horses, saving a fifth horse for the dunnage bags, which the men +speedily brought out. + +Of course, Joe and Tom looked at these men carefully. When you are going +to be on the trail and in camp with people for a whole week, you are +pretty interested to know what sort of folks they are, and whether you +are going to like them. One of these three was young, not over +twenty-two or twenty-three, the son of the oldest man in the party. The +father, whom Mills addressed as Mr. Crimmins, had gray hair, but he +looked hardy and strong, with a quick, sharp way of talking and quick +motions. He and his friend, Mr. Taylor, a man of about forty, were both +connected with the State Department at Washington, Mills said. The young +man, Robert Crimmins, was just out of college. + +"They look good to me," Joe whispered to Tom. + +"I ain't saying a word," Tom answered. "Not after Doc Kent. Wait and +see." + +The fifth horse was now packed, and the expedition started. + +But instead of turning up any of the trails toward the range, Mills led +the way straight down the automobile road, toward the prairie. It seemed +funny to Joe to be setting off on a trip in this direction, right away +from the high places, but the horses liked it. They liked the +comparatively smooth going, gently down-hill, and swung along at an easy +trot. + +Down the road they went, mile after mile, until they emerged from the +lower end of the Swift Current Valley, out into the rolling prairies, +with the whole range behind them. Then, as the road swung up over a +knoll, Mills paused and pointed north. + +"There's old Chief," he said. + +Everybody looked. About twelve miles to the northwest, thrust out +eastward far from the Divide and with the wall which rose out of the +prairie growing steeper and steeper till the last two thousand feet were +sheer precipice, stood a magnificent tower of a mountain, shining +whitish in the sun as if it were composed of limestone. At the back, it +seemed connected by a spine with the range behind, but to the prairie it +presented an unbroken front, like some great Gibraltar of a tower, with +the prairie grass and forest beating like surf at its feet. All alone it +seemed to stand, like a sentinel of the range behind, a lone outpost. + +"Is _that_ what we've got to climb?" the three men exclaimed, in one +breath. + +"Well, we won't take you up the east wall," Mills laughed. + +"Oh, couldn't we get up it?" Tom cried. + +Mills looked at him, and grinned again. "About to-night you won't feel +like climbing _anything_," he said. "Remember, you're not saddle-broke, +the way Joe is." + +They now turned north, away from the motor road, ate some lunch under +the shade of an aspen and willow thicket, amid the Persian carpet of +prairie wild flowers, and then all the afternoon pushed on toward the +great limestone tower, with the whole pile of the Rocky Mountain chain +beside them for company. Late in the day they reached a rushing stream, +which came down from a canyon just south of the big mountain. This was +the north fork of Kennedy Creek, and they turned up it by a trail, the +lowering cliffs of Chief now rearing up almost over their heads, and +went into the mouth of the valley, and up till the main tower of Chief +was east of them, and they were under the south wall of the spine which +connected the peak with the main range behind. Here they made camp, in a +little meadow beside the stream, with pine woods all about, and while +Tom and the Ranger pitched the tents, with Robert Crimmins giving +enthusiastic help, Joe built his fire pit and began to get supper. The +two older men, who were pretty sore after the thirty mile ride, hobbled +about snipping some boughs for their beds. + +It was a good supper Joe gave them, however, and the camp was in as +delightful a post as a man could ask, and around the big fire, when the +food had all been eaten, the whole party sat or lay on the grass, in the +fine democracy of the open trail, the assistant Secretaries of State +beside the boy scouts from Southmead, and the jokes and stories went +around. + +But Mills "sounded taps," as he called his bedtime order, very early, as +he planned a six o'clock getaway in the morning, and that meant getting +up at half-past four. The next day they were to climb Chief. The Ranger +looked long at the stars before he came into the tent he and the scouts +were using. + +"Boys, a good day to-morrow," he said, "but it looks like a storm after +that." + +"Well, let her rip, after to-morrow," Tom answered. "To-morrow, though, +I'm goin' up old Chief, even if I have to climb with nothing but my +hands, and I feel now's if I _would_ have to!" + +"Poor old tenderfoot!" Joe laughed. + +"Gee, it isn't my foot," said Tom, so comically that Joe and the Ranger +roared with mirth, as they rolled up in their blankets. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI--The Climb Up the Tower of Chief Mountain, the Indian +Relic on the Summit and An Eagle's Nest + + +How Mills managed to wake up just at the time he wanted to, without any +alarm clock, the scouts never were able to fathom, but he always could. +He was awake and shaking them at four-thirty the next day. Joe was up on +the instant, and putting on his outer clothes, but Tom groaned when he +tried to move, and fell back into his blankets with an "Ouch!" + +"Your sick friend strikes me as better than you are," Mills taunted him. + +"Why wouldn't he be? He's been weeks in the saddle now," Tom retorted, +stung into sitting up. "I'll be all right by to-morrow--you see if I'm +not." + +"Well, I'm sorry you're too lame to climb Chief to-day," Mills said, +with a wink at Joe. + +That brought Tom out of his blankets entirely, and on to his feet. "Too +lame, your grandmother!" he cried. "I'd like to see you get my rope +without me!" + +"Oh, it's been climbed without a rope, many a time," Mills laughed. + +Tom was up now, and thoroughly awake, and began to see the joke. He +grinned rather sheepishly, and went out of the tent with his towel. +Meanwhile, Joe beat reveille on a frying-pan, and lit his fire. + +By six o'clock breakfast was eaten, the horses packed again, and the +party on its way. They went up the trail but a short distance, and then +turned sharp to the north, and began at once to climb the long spine +which connects Chief Mountain with the main range to the west. It was a +little over a mile to the summit of this spine, rising from 6,000 feet +to 7,400. A horse does not trot up such a grade, but neither does he +have to climb like a goat. In an hour, they were at the summit, and +could look at last not only eastward, along the ridge, to the limestone +tower of Chief which was their goal, but down the slope on the north +side to the valley of the Belly River, and across it to the eastern +shoulders of Cleveland, the highest mountain in the Park, 10,438 feet. + +Here, in the open, grassy ridges at timber-line, the horses were +unsaddled and unpacked, so if they lay down to roll, they could do no +damage, and the party, with Tom's rope and the cameras, set out along +the ridge due east toward the towering cliff of Chief, which looked like +a huge castle battlement, or watch-tower. It was not over a two-mile +walk to the shale pile at the base of the summit precipice, by an easy +grade, though the going was sometimes rough. The topographical map Joe +carried showed that they rose from 7,400 feet to over 8,000, at the top +of the shale pile, and as the mountain is 9,056 feet high, that left +about a thousand feet of cliff for the final ascent. + +[Illustration: Chief Mt.--the Sentinel of the Prairies] + +At the top of the shale they paused, while Mills and Tom consulted. This +great limestone rock was not such a hard proposition as parts of the +Iceberg Lake cliff, and after a careful survey of the ground, they +decided the best way to handle six people on the rope was to send a +leader up with the end, to anchor where he could find strong anchorage, +and then let the rest use it as a rail, rather than fastening it around +each person's waist. + +Tom went in number one position, with the Ranger as number two, and Joe +was stationed at the bottom, to brace and throw a loop around anybody +who might, by chance, slip. In many places, Mills played Tom out nearly +the whole length of the rope, where the incline was sufficiently off the +perpendicular, and the rest had almost a hundred feet of rope rail to +climb by. In only a few places was there real vertical climbing, and +those as the summit was neared. Before noon they were all over the last +pitch, on the summit. + +Robert Crimmins ran to the outer edge of this summit at once, and looked +out over the vast green prairie, stretching mile on endless mile to the +east, like waves of the sea, and shouted. + +"Father, come here!" he called. "Say, this is just like riding on the +bowsprit of a tremendous ship!" + +Everybody hurried over, to feel the same sensation, all except Joe. "I +tell you what it feels like to me," he said. "It feels as if I was on +the front edge of the earth crust when it rode up and over the other +edge. This must be the very end of the overthrust." + +"That's so," Mr. Crimmins agreed. "I've been reading up on this +geological formation. This cliff under us--it must be three thousand +feet down to the shale slide--was the front edge of the overthrust. You +can see that. The Belly River has carved away one side, Kennedy Creek +the other, but this old lump of limestone has resisted all the +bombardments of frost and water, glacier and storm, and the weather has +carved it into a watch-tower of the prairies, an outpost sentinel of the +Great Divide." + +["Some speech!" Tom whispered to Joe.] + +But Joe did not laugh. He felt exactly what Mr. Crimmins meant, and it +was very thrilling. It seemed as if he could see exactly what happened +myriads of years ago when the earth cracked, and one edge of the great +crust was shoved forward on to the prairie, and as if he could see what +had happened since, to carve the crust into peaks and valleys. + +Mills, meanwhile, had been walking about. Now he called to them, and +they all went over where he stood, and saw him pointing to the bleached +skull of a large animal on the ground. + +"What's that?" the men asked. + +"Buffalo," he answered. + +"How on earth did it get up here?" said Mr. Crimmins. "There are only +three things, without wings, which can climb this cliff, surely,--goats, +mountain sheep, and men. You needn't try to tell me a buffalo could +climb up here!" + +"Shan't try," the Ranger answered. "A Blackfoot brought that up." + +"What for?" Joe asked. + +"To use for a pillow while he was getting his medicine. You know, when +an Indian boy gets about the age of you scouts, he has to take a sweat +bath (made by putting hot stones in a closed lodge and pouring water on +'em) to purify himself, and then he goes off to some wild, lonely place +and just waits there, naked, without any food, till he has a vision. +This vision tells him what his special 'medicine' is to be, which will +bring him good luck. Old Yellow Wolf told me we'd find the skull up +here. He knew the brave that brought it up for a pillow. He said the +young Indian stayed four days on the summit before he got his +'medicine.'" + +"Say, if I stayed up here four days, naked, I'd need some medicine when +I got down!" young Crimmins laughed. "Let's take the skull for a +souvenir." + +"Oh, no!" Joe cried, forgetting that he was only a cook and guide for +the party. "That would be--be desecration! Let it stay here, where the +Indian left it!" + +Mr. Crimmins looked at him sharply but kindly. "Joe is right," he said. +"Let it stay here as a record of a race too fast vanishing. I like to +think of that naked Indian boy, all alone, climbing this great rock +tower and for four whole days sitting up here far above the world, +waiting for a vision from his gods. You wouldn't catch one of our +American boys doing anything like that. Yet we think we are vastly +superior to the Indians!" + +"But his vision, after all, probably came because he was dizzy for lack +of food, and it was a superstition that it could furnish him a +'medicine' to bring good luck," Mr. Taylor said. + +"Superstition or not," the other replied, "it represented the instinct +to go out alone, and meditate on solemn things. Didn't it, Joe?" + +"Yes, sir!" Joe answered, his own heart full of enthusiasm for this +picture of the lone, naked Indian on top of the watch-tower of the +prairies. + +But Tom and Robert Crimmins, who had less imagination, had wandered away +to an edge of the cliff, to toss stones over into the depths below, and +suddenly the rest heard them shouting, and ran to the edge. + +One of the stones they had thrown over had landed on a ledge some +seventy-five feet below, and scared off a golden eagle, which was now +sailing away from the cliff face with tremendous beats of his huge +wings, each beat taking him up, it seemed, fifty feet, till soon he was +soaring in circles out over the prairie, and sweeping back, with wings +at rest, far overhead, evidently alarmed but intent on finding out what +had disturbed him. + +Crawling to the edge, and looking over, the party could see a big nest +on the ledge below, with white things in it, and beside it, like bones. + +"I'm going to have a photograph of that!" Tom cried. "Gee, I wish there +were some little eagles in it!" + +"You might be sorry if there were," Mills answered briefly, as Tom +fastened the rope under his arms. "I'm not even sure of the bird now the +young are out. Here, take my revolver, and if it comes at you, let him +have it." + +Tom put his camera in one pocket, the automatic in the other, and the +men above lowered him over the edge, where he swung almost free, and had +to kick the cliffside with his feet to keep himself from spinning and +keep his face outward. The eagle still circled above, now and then +swooping nearer till they could hear the wing beats, but it was +evidently afraid to attack. Tom finally reached the ledge, landing, in +fact, with both feet in the nest. It was a huge affair of sticks, lined +with dry prairie grass, almost as high as his shoulders, and four feet +across. He climbed out, watching the eagle with one eye, and took a +couple of snapshots of it, then picked up some of the bones and examined +them, grasped the rope just above his face, to ease the strain under his +arms, and gave the signal to those above. + +As he began to rise from the nest, the eagle swooped ever nearer, now +lower than the men on the summit, so they could see its vast wing +spread, its brown back and rusty colored head and neck. + +Tom let go of the rope with his hands, and got the pistol out of his +pocket. To tell the truth, he was beginning to get uncomfortable. As the +eagle swooped within fifty feet of him, and he could see its glinting +eyes, he lifted the gun and fired. Naturally, you cannot shoot a rapidly +moving object with a pistol, while you yourself are dangling and +spinning on the end of a rope, with any great precision of aim. He did +not hit the bird, but he frightened it. With an incredibly quick change +of tack, it tilted up on one wing, soared outward and upward, two +hundred feet overhead, and far out from the cliff. The men hauled Tom +back over the edge. + +"Well, I got my picture!" Tom exclaimed. "Say, but that's a whale of a +nest! And side of it is a little skeleton, either of a kid or a baby +lamb, and lots of small bones like rabbits and birds, and a fresh, half +eaten ground squirrel. That's what the old eagle was eating when we +disturbed him, I guess. Gee, it's a regular bone yard down there. Don't +smell very good, either. I don't think I care for eagles much." + +"I didn't care for that one, when he was coming at you!" Joe said, his +face still white. + +"I didn't myself," Tom admitted. "Wish I'd had the nerve to photograph +the old birdie instead of shooting at him." + +"They don't like to have their pictures taken," said Mills, with a short +laugh. + +After this excitement, the descent of the mountain began. Half-way down, +Joe left the rope, at a wide ledge, and went some distance along it, to +one side, to get a photograph of the whole party on the cliffside. After +he had snapped it, he kept on along the ledge a way, just to see where +it went to. After a hundred feet, it turned a sharp corner, and as Joe +rounded this turn, he suddenly was face to face with a big old ram! He +was quite as astonished as the sheep, but he instinctively pointed his +camera and snapped the bulb, just as the ram lowered its head as if to +butt. + +Joe flattened himself against the wall, not wishing to be knocked off +fifty feet to the slope below. But the sheep decided not to butt. +Instead, he turned tail, dashed a few feet back on the ledge, and went +over head first. Joe ran to the spot in time to see him land on a little +shelf twenty feet lower down, bounce off that to a ledge still lower, +and then trot around an easy slope and disappear from sight. Not having +had time to roll his film, he couldn't take another picture. But he +returned to the party in triumph. Tom might have a picture of an eagle's +nest, but now he had one of a live bighorn! The fact that his camera was +focused for a hundred feet, as he had just taken the party on the rope +when he met the sheep, and so his close-up of the old ram would be +somewhat blurry, did not occur to him till long after, when the film was +developed. + +After a quick lunch, mainly of Charlie Chaplin sandwiches, the horses +were packed again, and they descended the north slope of the ridge, by +an easy grade, getting rapidly into timber, and after five miles or so +reached the valley of the Belly River, turned up that, and presently +made camp at the mouth of the Glenns Lakes, two long, narrow, green +lakes reaching in toward the Divide, with the towering walls of +Cleveland, which they had seen clearly from Chief, rising right out of +these lakes, but now, they saw to their sorrow, going up into clouds. + +"I thought so," Mills said. "Bad weather. It don't look to me as if we +could tackle Cleveland to-morrow. I wanted to try him from this side, +too--go up on that long shoulder that comes down south, and then east, +toward us. We could get up on that and make a base camp. Well, we'll +camp here to-night, and if he's still under to-morrow, we can go over +Ahern Pass to Flat Top, and then try him from the west side. That's the +side they usually go up, anyhow." + +So they pitched their tents in a meadow by the Belly River, with the +clouds gradually shredding out overhead till they finally wrapped the +tower of Chief, and hid it from sight, and the cold grew uncomfortable, +so that everybody save Joe set about chopping a big supply of wood. +Night came early under the cloud mantle, and with no glimpse of the +stars, or the tops of those great walls towering up overhead, it was a +lonely spot. As Joe was dropping to sleep he heard a coyote barking +somewhere out near the horses, a weird, sad sound, like the coughing +laugh of an idiot. He shivered at the sound still more, and tried to +roll his blanket tighter. + +"But you've got to get used to it, old scout, if you are going to be a +forest ranger," he told himself. + +Certainly it did not trouble Mills, who was already sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII--A Blizzard on Flat Top--The Camp is Christened +"Valley Forge" + + +The next day the mountains were still under. It wasn't raining, but the +clouds were a dark, gun metal color, and seemed to rest like heavy smoke +on the rocks overhead. + +"Nothing doing," said Mills. "They may be over for two days yet, and it +will surely rain. We'll keep the trail over Ahern Pass, and make Flat +Top to-day. All out!" + +And it was a strange day that followed. The trail was none too good, +with much fallen timber to drive the packhorses around for the first two +or three miles, and it very soon got up into a wild, desolate, narrow +canyon under the southern wall of Mount Merritt, with the water of Lake +Elizabeth beside the path, looking in this gray light under the lowering +clouds a sort of dead, chalky green. Beyond Lake Elizabeth the canyon +grew steeper and narrower, the cliffs of Mount Merritt went sheer up +into the clouds, and on the other side of the valley rose the equally +steep walls that were the reverse side of the Iceberg Lake cliffs Tom +had scaled. But the tops both of Merritt and these cliffs were hidden in +cloud, that swirled and raised and lowered as the upper wind currents +hit it. When they reached Lake Helen, at the head of the canyon, where +the trail began to switchback up the wall of the Divide, they could see, +just under the clouds, poised, it seemed, almost over their heads, no +less than four glaciers, one of them apparently hanging on a shelf and +ready to fall off at any moment. In fact, a huge cake as big as a house +did fall off, and crashed down with a great roar to the rocks below, +even as they watched. + +"The mountain gnomes are bombarding us!" Mr. Crimmins laughed. + +They went steadily and steeply up, on the switchbacks, and reached the +top of the Divide at noon. But half an hour before they got to the +Divide they were in the clouds, in a thick, damp, chilling fog, that was +not rain and yet covered their clothes with drops of moisture, made +their hands wet and cold, and of course obscured every vestige of a +view. + +"Well," said the Ranger, "here we are on the backbone of the world. Over +there is Heaven's Peak. Just to the left, only a mile away, Tom, is the +top of the Iceberg Lake head wall. If it was clear, you could take Joe +over and show him where you climbed. But I guess as it is we'll get down +as fast as we can, and not even wait for lunch." + +"Anything to get out of this," the men said, blowing on their wet, numb +fingers. + +So they dropped down on the west side of the Divide, getting out of the +cloud below timber-line, and stopped while Joe made hot coffee. Then +they pushed on down still farther, picked up a better trail in the deep +woods in a canyon beside a stream--Mineral Creek Canon; and turning sharp +north, began slowly and gradually to climb again. It was the kind of a +day when nobody does much talking, and even the horses seemed to plug +dejectedly along. After two or three miles, however, they began to go up +more rapidly, out of deep timber, into a region of meadows and low +balsams. Joe was the first to smell the balsams, and sniffed eagerly. + +"I'm going to have a real bed to-night," he called to Mills, "if you +don't look. I know it's against the rules to cut bough beds in the +Park." + +"I won't look, if you won't tell," Mills called back. "We have to make +that rule to protect the trees, but way up here in the wilds Uncle Sam +won't miss a few twigs, I guess." + +They were now nearly under the clouds again. To their right a steep +debris pile rose, and ended in a jagged cliff wall, which disappeared in +the vapor. To the left was a wooded slope, and ahead the trail climbed +sharply to a ridge which could barely be seen under the clouds. + +"We're almost at the north end of Flat Top Mountain," the Ranger said. +"That cliff to the right is the Divide, and dead ahead that ridge you +see is the Divide turning sharp left and running across to the western +range. From here on into Canada the western range is the watershed. We +could climb to the top of that ridge--only half a mile, and camp on the +Divide, if you want to." + +"And spend the night in the cloud? Excuse me!" Mr. Crimmins said. "This +is bad enough." + +"All right--all off," the Ranger answered. + +He called to Joe and Tom, and the three of them pitched the two tents in +a sheltered spot, in the centre of a grove of balsams about twenty feet +tall. + +"And peg 'em down hard," he said. "Anything may come out of those clouds +to-night. Now, Tom, get a good big supply of wood, and stack it up dry, +under a pack cover, while I turn out the horses." + +While Joe was getting supper, the three tourists gathered balsam boughs +for beds, following Mills' orders to take only a few twigs from any one +tree. + +"It's against the rules," he said, "but we may need to sleep as warm as +we can to-night." + +"I believe you," Robert Crimmins replied, blowing on his numb fingers. + +Tom, meanwhile, combed the region all around for dead wood. The supply +was none too large, for they were perilously close to timber-line; and +under the cloud darkness was coming on early, to make the job harder. +But he finally found a large dead tree, down in a sheltered hollow by +the stream, and got four or five good logs out of that, and a lot of +smaller stuff. The two tents were pitched facing each other, with a +camp-fire and Joe's fire pit between, and with the surrounding +evergreens for a windbreak and the tent flaps open to catch the heat, +they were pretty comfortable that evening, though every one wore his +sweater, and Joe and Tom, who had brought their mackinaws, were glad +enough to put them on, too. + +Nobody undressed that night at all, except to take off his boots and put +on an extra pair of socks instead. The wind was rising steadily, the +tents shook, the evergreens over them sighed and whistled, and Joe lay +awake for the first time since he had been in the Park, with a curious +feeling that something was going to happen. + +He got to sleep at last, but he woke up presently--it seemed to him that +he woke up immediately--and peering through the tent flap saw no sign of +a fire. At least, he thought, the embers ought still to be glowing. He +slipped out of his blankets as softly as he could, climbed over Mills, +who was sleeping nearest the entrance, and started to unbuckle the flap. +As he did so, a gust of wind hit the tent, half lifting it off its pole, +and blew the flap wildly in. As it blew in, something soft and cold and +stinging hit Joe's face. Snow! He stuck out his head for an instant, and +all he could see was a kind of swirling, waving, hissing white darkness. +It was bitter cold, too, and the fire was out. Dimly he could see the +outline of the other tent, and the roof of it was white with drift. No +use trying to build up the fire in that! He fought the wind to close the +flap again. + +But the swirl of the snow in his face had waked the Ranger. + +"What's the matter?" he said. + +"A blizzard," Joe replied, as another gust of wind strained the canvas +and rattled the guy ropes. + +"I thought something would come out of this," said Mills. "Hang it, we +ought to have camped lower down. I'd rather be drowned than frozen." + +Tom woke up now, and they lighted the camp lantern, to peep out into the +night. + +A voice, half drowned in the roar of the gale, came across from the +other tent. + +"Say," it called, "what had we better do?" + +"Keep in your blankets and hang onto your tent!" Mills shouted back. + +"I wonder if he thinks we can call a taxi and drive to a hotel!" he +added in a normal tone, that couldn't have been heard two feet beyond +the tent flap. + +Nobody slept any more in either tent that night. They were too cold, and +too busy bailing out snow that drifted under the tent walls, or trying +to peg down the walls or stop up the gaps with the balsam beds. Finally, +toward morning, there came a perfect hurricane of wind. The tent the +scouts were in swayed, tugged, seemed about to leave its moorings, and +in the midst of the gust the occupants heard a snapping sound outside, +and a smothered yell. + +Mills sprang out into the storm, and a moment later came back with +Robert and the two men, all wrapped in their blankets, and powdered +white by the brief crossing. + +Their tent pole had snapped, and the tent had come down on top of them! +There was no chance of getting it up again then, so the six people all +huddled in the one tent, and waited for daylight. + +"Anyhow, the more we are, the warmer we can keep," said Robert, who was +rather enjoying the adventure. "Go on, Joe, keep your knee in my back, I +like it! It's as good as a hot water bottle." + +The storm began to abate presently, and as the light brightened outside, +Mills, peering out, reported that the snow had stopped falling. With the +diminution of the wind, too, the cold lessened, and the noise, and +nearly everybody, in spite of the cramped quarters, fell into a +troubled, rather restless sleep. + +What woke Joe up was the bright daylight hitting him in the eye through +a crack in the tent flap. + +He extricated himself from between Robert and Mr. Taylor, and pushed his +way out. It was a transformed, a wonderful, a beautiful world he looked +on! Evidently the sun was up over the prairie, for far down Mineral +Creek Canon he could see the top of Cannon Mountain, snow covered, pink +and rosy with the light, and Heaven's Peak, a little nearer, was like a +great pyramid of gleaming rose crystal. On the ground about him, half +covering his fire pit, was almost a foot of snow, which hung on the +balsams, was drifted over the fallen tent, covered the rocks, and +through which, here and there, rose the stems of wild flowers, their +blossoms nodding above the white carpet! + +He gave a shout. + +"Don't miss this!" he cried. "Gee, it's worth a lost night's sleep, and +then some!" + +Sleepy, stiff forms emerged from the tent behind him, and gazed at the +sunrise over a world that was white with winter, and yet was summer. +Everybody exclaimed with delight--except the Ranger. + +"This will make Cleveland hopeless," was all he said, as he began to +pull the fallen tent up out of its drift. + +"Well, I'm going to name this old camp Valley Forge," Robert Crimmins +laughed, as he stamped his feet and blew on his fingers, before picking +a wild flower for his buttonhole! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII--Up To Chaney Glacier and the Discovery of a Three +Thousand Foot Precipice + + +It was a hard job digging the camp out of the snow, and only the fact +that Tom had covered the wood and weighted down the canvas to hold it on +gave them dry fuel to cook with. They had no snow shovels, using +frying-pans and dippers to clear away the drifts from the fire pit and +their packs. + +"Valley Forge is the right name," Mr. Crimmins laughed as he stamped his +feet and blew on his fingers, as Robert had done. + +But the sun was now up, the air was rapidly warming, and while Joe got +the breakfast, Mills and Tom waded out through the snow in search of the +horses. They had to go a long way, too, for the wise beasts had simply +wandered down the trail into the woods, and kept on descending until +they had got below the snow line into rain, where the grass was not +covered and they could feed. It was almost two hours later that the +Ranger and Tom came driving them back, cross, hungry, and with boots +soaked by the snow and clothes soaked by the wet bushes. + +So they got a late start that morning. + +"We'll go up the Little Kootenai Canon," said Mills, "as far as the old +cabin of Death-on-the-trail Reynolds, and see how the land lies for a +try at the west wall of Cleveland the next day. If it isn't promising, +we can make an afternoon trip up to Waterton Lake, and then come back +the next day. If it does look like a try at the big mountain, we can +push up the side a way, and make a base camp." + +So they mounted, and pushed up through the soft, rapidly melting snow to +the top of the ridge where the Divide crosses from the eastern to the +western range, and after a short trip through the snow-filled, open +meadows of Flat Top, with the little pines and balsams looking like +Christmas cards, they began to drop down a more than two-thousand foot +slope into the canyon of the Little Kootenai River, which flows due +north, with Cleveland on the right, and Kootenai and Citadel Peaks on +the left. Especially Citadel Peak was superb in its snow mantle, a +great, glistening white fortress towering thousands of feet up from the +canyon. + +They reached the old cabin of Death-on-the-trail Reynolds at one +o'clock, and found there the ranger for that district. + +"How about Cleveland?" Mills asked. + +"Getting sort of tired of life?" the other ranger inquired. + +"That's what I thought," Mills replied. "Any chance to-morrow?" + +"Not much. She'll melt on the lower slopes to-day, but the peak'll not +begin cataracting snowslides till to-morrow morning, about ten A.M. Day +after you might make it." + +"No use--we can't wait that long," said Mr. Crimmins. "I'm sorry, but +even the State Department can't control nature." + +So, after lunch in the cabin, they left the packhorses behind, and free +to travel at a good gait, trotted down the trail to Waterton Lake, a +long, narrow, beautiful sheet of green water which stretched away north +ten miles, into Canada, and being warm with the ride the two scouts and +Robert had a swim--or, at least, they went into the water. They came out +before they had swum far, their bodies stung red as boiled lobsters by +the cold. + +"This Park reminds me of the poem," Robert said, + + "'Water, water everywhere, but not a place to swim.'" + +Back at the Ranger's cabin, they had a big, leisurely supper, with the +Ranger as their guest, and after supper he told them tales of +Death-on-the-trail Reynolds, an old mining prospector, who had first +built the cabin, and when the Park became national property was made a +ranger, and true to his name died in the saddle on one of the trails he +had followed so long. This old trail from Waterton Lake south over Flat +Top and down Mineral Creek to McDonald Creek, and so to Lake McDonald, +was a regular smuggler's route in the old days, the Ranger said, and +many a horse had been driven down it in the dark, before the American +rangers on one end and the Canadian Northwestern mounted police on the +other put a stop to that sort of thing. + +That night they slept in the cabin, and early the next day went back in +their tracks--the first time they had repeated a trail--reaching "Valley +Forge" camp at noon. The snow was about all melted here now, and when +Mills pointed up the cliffs to the east, and said Chaney Glacier lay +just on the other side, it was voted to camp here once more, and spend +the afternoon on the glacier, and the peak above. + +"I've never been up that peak," Mills said, "but I have a hunch there'd +be some view up there." + +Lunch was eaten quickly, Tom got out his rope, and they started. + +It was an easy climb, and could have been made without the rope, +probably, though the rope was a great help in making speed. After a long +grade up a shale slide, and across a snow-field, they reached the base +of a rough, jagged cliff, and by picking out upward slanting ledges on +this cliff, Tom led the way rapidly upward, Mills keeping the rear of +the rope anchored, while Tom anchored the upper end, thus making a rope +railing on the outer edge of each ledge. In less than an hour they +reached the spine of the Divide, at a col between two higher peaks. This +spine was a knife blade, not over ten feet wide, and directly on the +east side, with its upper edge so close you could step off on to it, lay +Chaney Glacier, a vast field of snow now, with little ice showing, a +mile in extent, and sloping downward till the lower end disappeared over +the rim of a precipice. Out beyond this precipice, they saw the Belly +River Canon, looking straight down it, over the green waters of Glenns +Lakes, to the spot where they had camped, and beyond that to the green +ocean of the prairies. From here, too, they got a superb view of +Cleveland, rearing up, still snow covered, a great pyramid of white. + +"Want to go out on the glacier?" the Ranger asked Joe. + +"Oh, I don't mind," Joe laughed. "The rope's strong." + +Every one did want to go out on the glacier, so Mills roped them all, +keeping last place himself, and they ventured out over the apparently +unbroken field of snow. But this snow was light and rapidly melting, and +they had not gone far before Tom, in the lead, with a sounding staff he +had cut before they left camp, detected a frail snow bridge and sent it +crumbling down into the crevasse, disclosing the green ice walls. One +look down this well into the ice decided the party not to venture far +over the treacherous field, and they returned to the firm rocks of the +Divide, and climbed on up another eight hundred feet to the top of the +peak to the south. + +The summit of this peak was only about the size of a big table, and to +the east it fell away absolutely sheer for three thousand feet to a tiny +lake far below, out of which, on the opposite side, shot up the cliff +wall of Merritt. The wind was strong up here, and the peak so small that +all six lay on their stomachs to peer over the precipice. + +"Say, that's a hole in the earth!" Mr. Crimmins exclaimed. + +[Illustration: Mt. Cleveland and Glenns Lakes] + +Robert spit over the edge. "I never spit three thousand feet before," he +said. "Want to climb up that cliff with your rope, Tom?" + +Tom shook his head. "It couldn't be done, not even by a goat," he said, +wisely. + +"As a matter of fact, you're right," Mills laughed. "I never even knew +that cliff was here, either. This Park hasn't been more'n half explored +yet." + +From almost the very top of this peak, a long, very steep shale slope +led to the "Valley Forge" meadow, and down this they descended, by the +aid of the rope, sending showers of stones ahead, so that the leader was +in constant danger, and wearing down the spikes and soles of their boots +rapidly. They camped that night in the old spot, using their former fire +pit, but there was no storm, and the next day they had an uneventful +passage back down Mineral Creek, up to Swift Current by the trail Joe +had first climbed in the rain, and so on back to Many Glacier--a long +trip of twenty-four miles, but to Joe, who by this was as hard as nails, +not very tiresome. At Many Glacier the boys bid the two men and Robert +good-bye, and as darkness was gathering, once more cooked their supper +in Camp Kent, which by now was like home to them. + +"Well," said Tom, "that was some trip, old wifey--let's see, we were six +days out, and we didn't meet a soul after we left the road till we got +back to Granite Park, except the ranger up under Cleveland. The real +wilderness stuff, eh?" + +"You bet!" said Joe. "And eighteen dollars more for me and ma." + +"You're getting terribly practical," Tom laughed. + +"I'm getting self-supporting," Joe replied. "No more grafting off you." + +"You're getting _well_," Tom cried. "That's the real thing. Gee, you're +harder'n I am now! You never seem to get tired." + +"Bet I can hit the little old cot, though," Joe laughed, as he began to +make up the beds in the tent. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV--The Boys Prepare for Winter in the Park, and Learn Why +the Timber-Line Trees Are Only Three Feet Tall + + +It was now September, and already a rain in the valleys meant fresh snow +on the peaks and high passes. The hotel was still full, however, and Tom +was busy at the tepees, while Joe had steady work as a camp cook, once +on a fishing trip, when, in three days, he cooked so many trout he said +he should be ashamed ever to look a fish in the face again, and sick if +he ate one. + +"I didn't think it was possible to get fed up on trout," he declared. + +"Wait till next April, and you'll be out whipping up Roaring Brook, all +right, all right," Tom laughed. + +Of course school had begun back in Southmead, but Tom did not feel like +quitting his job before the season was over, and, besides, after long +talks together, and consultations with the Ranger, and letters home to +their parents and Mr. Rogers, the boys had decided to stay on with +Mills, in his cabin (paying for their own food, of course, which would +be a very small item), until Christmas. It would mean that they'd lose +the whole school term instead of a month, but, in return, Joe would have +that much more outdoor life, they could do a lot of reading evenings, +and, above all, they could learn from Mills some of the duties of a +forest ranger in winter, and learn how to handle themselves in the +mountains and big woods after all trails were closed, all tourists +departed, and the Park had gone back to its primitive wildness. + +Mr. Rogers agreed with them, and evidently persuaded their parents. +"After all," he wrote, "you'll really be taking a term in practical +field forestry, and Joe can never hope to get a position as a forester +if he hasn't fully recovered his health. The government won't take a +sick man on the job. Learn all you can, especially how to take care of +yourselves." + +So the boys sent home for their very warmest winter clothes, mittens, +pull down hats, ski boots and skis and some school books and stories to +read evenings. Mills said he could get them real Indian snow-shoes in +the Park, and elk skin sleeping-bags. He was even more delighted at the +prospect of having them than they were at staying. It meant he would +have company till nearly Christmas, and the scouts knew how lonely he +usually was in the winter, because that was one thing he had never +talked about. + +The tepee camp closed about mid-September, when it got too cold for many +hikers to come over the high passes, and the next two weeks Tom worked +as a regular guide, with a license badge from the Park superintendent. +Joe also had a couple of jobs with camping parties, but he had had his +badge from the start. All the hotels and chalets closed on October +first, and then the boys moved into the Ranger's cabin. + +They were glad to move, too. Already winter had begun to come, up on the +Divide. The snow that fell did not melt, and the line of it was creeping +down the bare, rocky slopes of Gould. The nights were cold, and water +froze in a kettle, and ice formed on the edge of the lake on a still +night. Before the last bus had departed, all three made a trip out to +Glacier Park station and laid in supplies for the winter. + +"The next trip we make may be on snow-shoes," the Ranger said. "That's +fifty miles afoot, packing your sleeping-bag on your back." + +The horses presently were sent down to the prairie to winter, and Joe +got some of the hens from the hotel, which otherwise would have been +killed or taken away, and installed them in the stable. + +"We'll have fresh eggs for a while, anyhow," he declared. + +"What you going to feed 'em with?" the Ranger asked. + +"I got two barrels of feed," said Joe, "and our table scraps. When the +feed gives out, we'll live on fricasseed chicken. Anyhow, I'll keep one +good one alive till Thanksgiving, and we'll have some fresh meat that +day." + +In the weeks that followed, Tom and Joe lived a hardy, active life +afoot, sometimes going with the Ranger up the high trails to inspect +where the early snows first slid, so that he could get a line on the +spots in which the most danger to the trails lay. + +"My idea is," he said, "that in some places where we have trouble, +making us a lot of work in the spring, the government could plant Arctic +willow or limber pines, to hold the snow from sliding, and save a lot of +money. I'm going to study snowslides this winter, and make a report." + +Sometimes, too, the scouts went hunting with him, not for sheep or goats +or deer, of course, but for the animals which prey on the sheep, goats, +deer, etc. The worst pest, perhaps, is the coyote, which is a sort of +cowardly fox-wolf, and as the snow gradually pushed down the slopes and +drove many animals with it, the coyotes grew more numerous around the +cabin, so the boys could hear them barking at night. Now all the +tourists were gone, Mills gave each boy a gun, making them his +assistants, and especially on moonlight nights, when they heard the +coyotes barking, they would go out where some bait had been placed and +shoot two or three. + +"Every one you bag saves the life of a dozen ptarmigan hens, and +probably a lot of lambs and fawns," said Mills. + +It wasn't long before the side of the barn was covered with coyote +skins. + +"But what you really want is a lion's skin," said Mills. + +"What _I_ want is a silver tip skin," said Tom. "I want a coat like +yours." + +"Nothing doing," Mills laughed. "Mr. Silver Tip is protected now." + +"Well, then, bring on your lion!" Spider replied. + +"We'll get one yet," Mills answered. + +Until the snow got well down toward the valleys, Tom and Joe used to go +off for a day at a time, also, with the rope, climbing up cliffs for +practice and still oftener, with their cameras, seeking out the upland +slopes where the wind kept the snow blown off, and lying in wait for +sheep, to photograph them. The sheep, they found, came to such places to +feed. But it was cold work waiting, so they finally hit on the idea of +packing up their sleeping-bags on their backs, and lying in them, under +the shelter of some rock or timber-line pine. In this way, they got +several photographs at close range. + +They got something else, too; they got a real idea of why the trees at +timber-line are only a few feet high. It was mid-November when they had +gone up a shoulder of Mount Wilbur, early in the morning, to a bare +upland pasture where they believed that sheep would come to feed. The +sun was shining when they left, and there was no snow to speak of down +in the valley. But they took snow-shoes, to keep their feet dry up +above, and their sleeping-bags. + +Before they reached the pasture, however, which was at the extreme upper +edge of timber-line, the sun was overcast, and the wind was rising to a +gale. They kept on, in spite of it, and picking out the lee side of a +rock, where a tree grew about three feet tall, till it got above the +rock and then turned at a right angle and trailed out parallel to the +ground, they got into their bags to wait. No sheep came that morning, +but as the wind rose and shrieked and howled, and snow began to fall, +they were too interested to go back down. + +If they raised their faces the least bit above this rock, smash! came +the gale to hit them, and the snow particles cut like ice, while in the +wind they felt little stinging particles of rock dust that actually hurt +when they hit you. + +"I don't blame this tree for not growing any higher!" Joe exclaimed. +"It's like us--just cuddles down behind the rock." + +"Sure," said Tom. "If a branch does grow up over in summer, a wind like +this the next winter just cuts it off like pruning shears." + +The scouts were now beginning to get covered with snow, and in spite of +the fascination of lying up here with the storm howling over them and +feeling why it is the trees at timber-line grow only a few feet, or even +in some cases a few inches, tall in a hundred years, they realized it +was time to be getting down. + +The instant they stood up, and got the full force of the gale, they were +almost knocked off their feet. The snow was coming fast now, and it was +all they could do to keep their footing over the treacherous rocks. They +had no rope, as they had not supposed they would need it, but when Joe +was suddenly bowled over, and went nearly fifty feet down a long drift +before he could dig in his heels and stop, it began to look grave. + +As soon as they got off the partially bare shoulder, into a trifle less +windy reach, they put on their snow-shoes, and fought along toward the +Swift Current trail, almost blindly in a brief time, for the snow was +increasing till it shrouded them like a cloud. + +"Say, I'm getting nervous!" Joe cried. "We ought to be at that trail by +now." + +"Shut up," Tom said. "If you get a funk, it lets down your vitality, and +then you'll get cold and freeze your ears or feet or something. We can't +miss it; we got the pitch of the slope to go by." + +"That's so," Joe answered. And as he realized that the slope would guide +them, so they couldn't go in a circle, he suddenly felt warmer. He +realized how important it is to keep your head. + +Once on the Swift Current trail, which, though snow covered, showed +plainly, they descended rapidly on their snow-shoes, which gripped well. +There was not yet snow enough here to start a slide, but they weren't +sure there might not be, and they kept an anxious eye above them all the +way down. Once in the woods at the bottom, they hurried on to the cabin, +not even stopping to make tea. + +"Say, you poor boobs," Mills exclaimed, "I was just coming after you. +Why don't you pick a wild, windy, stormy day to go climbing Wilbur? What +are you trying to do, commit suicide?" + +"No," said Tom, "to see why the timber-line trees are so dwarfed." + +"Yes, and we found out," Joe added. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV--Protecting the Deer Yards--The Scouts Wait in the Moonlight +and Bag a Mountain Lion + + +That storm lasted two days, and it brought the snow to the valley, laid +at least sixteen inches of it on the level in the woods, and swept it +across Lake McDermott against the hotel, till the drift reached the top +of the first story. As soon as it stopped, the scouts and Mills were out +on their snow-shoes, tracking through the woods. + +"I want to find out where the deer yards are going to be this winter," +the Ranger said. "We'll want to know, so we can keep an eye on them, for +lions or wolves, and protect the herds if we can." + +"What's a deer yard?" the boys asked. + +"Big game, especially in winter, don't travel very much," the Ranger +answered. "They pick out some place where the feeding is good, and learn +to know it well, not only where to get food, but where to turn quick and +hide from enemies. When winter and deep snow come, they begin packing +down the snow with their hoofs in a sort of yard--moose, deer, and +sometimes even sheep do this--and as the snow grows deeper, their +packing raises them higher and higher up, so they can feed on taller and +taller bushes, and even finally get up to the limbs of trees." + +Mills decided that the protected southwestern slopes of the mountain +along which the trail winds to Iceberg Lake was a likely field, so the +party split up, and each one went his own way through the woods and +across the open parks, looking for tracks, and following any that he +discovered. They were to meet at one o'clock on the shore of the lake. + +Joe was soon out of sight and sound of the others, and as he was lowest +down, close to the brook at the bottom of the canyon, he was also in the +thickest woods, where the fir-trees, covered with snow like Christmas +cards, shook their "frosty pepper" into his nose as he pushed through. +The brook was partially frozen, and he often found it easiest to walk on +the snowy edge. Presently he came on deer tracks leading into the open +water, and not emerging. The deer had walked up-stream, in the water, +evidently--several of them, and recently. He hurried on, beside the +brook, and suddenly, rounding a little cover of pines, came full on a +herd of five, walking in the water. He had not heard them, because of +the gurgle of the brook, nor they him. He stopped dead in his tracks and +watched them a second, before they got his scent, or in some other way +detected him, and turned to look. He did not quite know what to do, but +the deer quickly decided. They stepped out of the brook and into the +woods, as if to let him pass. He went on, and looked back. The deer had +walked into the brook again, and were slowly coming on, browsing on +overhanging shrubs as they came. + +So Joe moved some distance from the bank, and then followed them. After +half a mile, they left the stream and entered a thick, small wood where, +just outside, was long, dried grass under the snow. He saw that they had +been here before, pawing away the snow to eat this hay. He followed into +the wood, stampeding them out on the farther side, and found already the +signs that they had begun to stamp down paths through their "yard." +Walking around the grove, he looked for tracks of coyotes or lions, but +there was nothing but the track of a snow-shoe rabbit. The deer, so far, +were safe. Indeed, they even now stood about three hundred yards away, +watching him with alert curiosity, their heads raised, a pretty picture +over the white snow. + +He carefully took note of the spot, and hurried on to report. Tom and +the Ranger reached the lake about the time he did. The Ranger had found +a yard, also, and Tom had found a mink track, and seen a snow-shoe +rabbit, in his white winter dress. + +They built a fire on the snow, beside the white snow-field which was the +lake (the water was now frozen solid), and as they made their tea, they +watched a herd of goats low down on the cliff that Tom had climbed, +evidently quite content up there, on the ledges too steep for snow to +cling, and finding something to eat. + +"It must be dry picking," Tom declared. "Why, there was little enough in +summer." + +"And no tin cans," Joe laughed. "You might have left 'em a few tin cans, +Tom, when you climbed the wall." + +"Never thought of it," Tom answered, "and now it's too slippery." + +From then on it became the scouts' almost daily task--or, rather, +pleasure--to visit the deer yards to see how the herds were getting on. +There were five deer in one yard, and eleven in the other, and before +long they got so used to the boys that if they happened to be "at home," +as Joe put it, they would hardly go a hundred yards away while the +scouts inspected their methods of feeding, looked for enemy tracks, and +sometimes left bundles of hay on the tramped snow--hay which Joe had +discovered he could dig out in a sheltered spot near the chalets. It +wasn't much, but it served to make the deer tamer. + +Often, now, the scouts came on their skis, for two more storms had put +three feet of snow on the ground, and it elevated them above the +underbrush. The run home was thrilling, with long, fast slides down open +parks and hard, Telemark stems at the bottom to keep from crashing into +trees or rocks. But they couldn't get the Ranger on skis. + +"No, sir!" he said. "You boys know how, and can keep from breaking your +necks. But I'm too old to learn." + +It was the day after Thanksgiving, when Joe, true to his word, had +killed a hen and cooked the nearest thing he could to a real New England +Thanksgiving dinner, that he and Tom, visiting the first of their yards +early in the morning, came upon a tragedy. + +There were no deer in sight as they approached, and on entering the +packed path under the trees they heard no sounds. Pushing on, they came +suddenly upon all five beautiful creatures, lying dead on the snow! +There was blood on the snow, too, and one or two bodies had been +somewhat eaten. But three of them had merely been killed wantonly, and +not eaten at all. + +The boys were furious. They cocked their rifles, and began a rapid, +angry search for tracks. Yes--there they were--big, catlike paw tracks! +The lion had crouched in the evergreens, sneaked up in the night when +the herd were huddled close for mutual warmth, and laid them all low! + +They circled the grove till they found the tracks leading away, and +followed them as fast as they could. But, being on skis, they were soon +baffled, as the lion had made at once for the steep, rocky cliffs. So +they rushed to the other yard. Here the herd had not been disturbed. +They were all browsing on a new path they had packed among some willows. + +"Come," Joe cried. "Back to see Mills and find out what to do! The old +lion may get the other herd to-night." + +That night there was a moon, and the Ranger and the boys, clad in all +their thickest clothes, with four pairs of woollen socks in their big, +easy moccasins, with sweaters, fur coats, fleece-lined mittens and +bearskin helmets, advanced on snow-shoes up the valley. + +"The lion may come back to the carcases, or wolves may scent 'em and +come," Mills said, "or he may attack the other herd. Then, again, he may +do nothing, and we'll have to watch every night for a week. You two take +the dead herd, and I'll watch the other. Approach it up wind--don't get +on the windward side at all, and if you can find a good rest in a tree, +get up in that, with a clear view of the opening. Let the lion get in +close before you fire, and let him have it in the heart and head. There +ought to be light enough to-night. Better have your guns in rest, +pointed at the carcases, so you won't have to make any noise lifting +'em." + +The Ranger and the scouts now separated, and Joe and Tom, making a wide +circle to get sharp to leeward of the yard, moved silently over the deep +snow, in the cold, clear, almost Arctic moonlight, with the great peaks +of the Divide rising up like silvery ghosts far overhead. There was no +noise in all the world, and no living thing except themselves, except +once when a startled snow-shoe rabbit leaped across an opening, white as +the snow he was half wallowing in. + +"Say, this is spooky!" Joe whispered. + +"You bet," Tom whispered back. "The little old electric lights in +Southmead Main Street are some way off!" + +They drew near the wood where the yard was, and crept stealthily into +the dark shadows of the pines. The dead deer lay in a tiny opening, five +black objects on the moonlit snow. The boys, still keeping down wind, +each picked out a tree, and with their rifles carefully locked, climbed +up through the scratching, snowy branches till they could work into some +kind of a seat, and get their guns pointed out, with an opening along +the barrel to sight. + +"Say, I hope the old lion don't take too long," Tom whispered. "My +seat's about two inches wide, and sharp on top." + +"Gosh, I'd sit on a needle all night to save those other deer," Joe +answered. "But don't talk. He may be coming any minute." + +In cold and silence, they waited. There wasn't a sound, except now and +then a muffled groan or creak of a tree limb, as one or the other of the +boys had to shift his position. It grew later and later. Joe's eyes +ached with watching the five black objects on the snow, and the patch of +white moonlight around them. They ached, and would close. He was +bitterly cold, too. He did not know whether he would be able to pull the +trigger if the lion came, or pry his lids wide enough apart to see the +sights. Every time he tried to sight the gun now, it was just a blur of +shining blackness. And he knew Tom must be feeling the same way. Mills +certainly had not fired at anything--they could have heard a rifle shot +for ten miles in that deadly still Arctic hush. + +Then, so suddenly it almost made him fall off his branch, something dark +and long and lean came sneaking into the patch of moonlight. It was the +lion, its paws sinking down, its body crouched over them, till it seemed +to creep like a snake. In this ghostly light, it looked about ten feet +long, and Joe suddenly felt hot blood go through his half-frozen veins. + +The lion gave a low, angry snarl, and stopped dead about three feet from +the body of a deer, raising its head a little. Evidently it had heard +Joe or Tom moving his rifle barrel to sight. But he had no time to +retreat. Almost as one shot, the two guns blazed, with two flashes of +red out of the evergreens, and a report that seemed to shatter the cold +night silence. + +The dark form of the lion gave a leap into the air, and landed kicking +in the snow. + +At the same instant two figures literally fell out of the trees, and +rushed toward it, going in up to their waists, for neither waited to put +on his snow-shoes again. + +Tom was the first near it. + +"Look out!" Joe yelled. "He's not dead! He may come at you!" + +But Tom had his gun up, and at pointblank range, with his sights in full +moonlight, he deliberately took aim, and fired again, at the lion's +heart. + +The body gave a last kick, and fell on its side, stone dead, its blood +slowly running out on the snow. + +"_He'll_ never kill any more deer!" Tom cried. + +They turned the lion over, and examined it. One bullet had hit him in +the front leg, one in the jaw, shattering it, and entering its throat. +But which shot was whose, nobody could say. + +"I guess it was yours that got his head," Tom declared, "'cause I was so +sleepy I couldn't see to sight." + +"My hands were so cold, I almost couldn't pull the trigger, so it must +have been yours," Joe answered. + +"After you, my dear Alphonse," Tom laughed. "Anyhow, we both hit him, +and that's some shooting at a hundred feet, in the middle of the night, +even if it is moonlight. We better get our snow-shoes on, and drag him +home. Wonder if Mr. Mills will come, or stick it out at the other yard?" + +"I bet he comes," said Joe. "He must have heard us fire." + +They made an improvised sledge of a big, broken pine bough, to keep the +body up on top of the snow, and were tying it on to this with their +handkerchiefs knotted around the feet, when they heard a far call. + +"He's coming!" said Joe, and making his hands into a trumpet, he +answered the call. + +They had the body out of the yard, and were crossing an open park with +it, tugging hard, when the Ranger's halloo sounded much nearer, and +shortly after he appeared in the moonlight, coming fast. + +"You got him, eh?" he said. "That's good work. I heard your two shots, +and then one more. That was to finish him at close range, I bet." + +"You win," said the boys. "Gee, but he's heavy to drag." + +"That's a bum sled," the Ranger laughed. "Either of you got your axe +on?" + +"No, we haven't," the boys said. + +"I'll find a fallen pole, then. Drag him along to the next stand." + +The Ranger went ahead, and found a small fallen tree from which he broke +the dead branches and made a pole. Slipping this between the lion's paws +(which were knotted together with handkerchiefs) he picked up one end +and Tom the other, the lion hanging down between them. Joe took the +rifles, and they started home. + +The moon was setting behind the Divide and the world growing dark under +the frosty stars as they neared the cabin. Once inside, the boys got a +rule, and ran back to measure their prey. He was exactly eight feet +long, with three feet more of tail, and by lantern light they could see +his yellowish-brown color, his gray face and dirty white belly. He +looked like some gigantic, elongated house cat. + +"Is that what used to be all over the country, and was called a +panther?" Joe asked. + +"I suppose it is," the Ranger said. "Probably this type that lives in +the Rocky Mountains looks a bit different, but it's the same breed o' +cat. You don't have panthers out East any more, do you?" + +"No, they say one hasn't been seen in Massachusetts for fifty years or +more," Tom answered. "Don't know that I'm sorry. I like the deer too +well." + +"Speaking of deer, to-morrow we'll go up and rescue the good carcases he +didn't eat, and have some fresh meat," said Mills. "Now to bed. Do you +know it's two o'clock?" + +"'Most time to get up!" the boys laughed, as they cleaned their rifle +barrels and made ready for bunk. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI--A Hundred Miles in Four Days, Over the Snow, Which is a +Long Trip To Get Your Mail + + +The next morning Mills was up at the usual time, but he let the boys +sleep, and it was the sound of the breakfast dishes that woke Joe, who +was usually first up to do the cooking and get the stove red hot. Joe +himself slept in a separate little room partitioned off at the back, so +he could have his window wide open without freezing out the whole cabin. +He got up now and hurried out, still sleepy. + +"I had a funny dream last night," he said. "I dreamed we were bringing +the lion home on the sledge Peary took to the North Pole." + +"Not a bad idea!" the Ranger exclaimed. "We might make a sledge to get +the deer meat home on. Suppose we do that to-day, and to-night we'll +take turns guarding the yard from possible wolves." + +In the Ranger's cabin was a kit of tools, and outside was plenty of +wood. A sled like Peary's, however, was impractical in the soft snow, +and, moreover, they soon found that without small hard woods to work +with it would be impossible to build any kind of an enduring sledge. + +"Why don't we make a toboggan?" said Tom. + +"You need hard wood for that, too, to curl the end--and it takes time to +steam the wood and get it bent, anyhow," Mills replied. + +"Wait--I have it!" Joe cried. "You folks be getting three or four strips +of board ten feet long planed down thin, with the under side smooth. +I'll come back presently." + +He put on his skis and vanished down the trail, with a shovel over his +shoulder. + +While he was gone Tom and the Ranger took two boards left over from the +stable, each about six inches wide, and made another by hand-hewing it +from a fallen log close to the cabin. Before this was done, Joe had +returned, bearing triumphantly a twenty-five pound butter box. + +"I saw it behind the hotel, on the trash pile, when I got the hens," he +said. "I went down there and dug where I thought it was. Had to make +three holes and a tunnel before I got it--but it's hard wood, and all +curled." + +When the third board was hewn out, and all three planed smooth and thin, +they were laid side by side and connected with light crosspieces. Then +the bottom was removed from the big butter box, the side drum severed, +and one end securely fastened under the front end of the toboggan +bottom. Thus the butter box curled up and around like the front of a +real toboggan. The loose end was secured with thongs, and rings were put +on either side of the boards, to run ropes through to hold on a load. +Finally, a rope to pull it by was made fast. + +"There!" Tom said. "That's a regular toboggan, and she'll ride on top of +the softest snow." + +"I wonder if she'll buck when we throw a diamond hitch?" Joe laughed. + +As soon as supper was over, Joe went alone, with his rifle, up to the +yard, and watched over the dead deer till eleven o'clock, when Tom +relieved him. Tom watched till three, and then the Ranger guarded till +daylight. + +But before daylight Joe was up, cooked some breakfast, roused Tom, and +taking food for Mills and pulling the toboggan, they hurried over the +snow, now well packed into a trail by their frequent trips to the yard. +All that morning they worked skinning the deer, to save the valuable +hides for moccasins, thongs, and similar uses, and quartering the +carcases which the lion had not molested after killing them. The meat, +of course, was frozen now, and would keep indefinitely. It was a great +load of skins and meat they finally packed upon the toboggan, piled high +and fastened securely on, but a very dirty, bloody, tired lot of people +to drag it home, and they were glad enough that the yard was above the +cabin, not below it. + +But that night, after they were washed, they sat down to a fresh venison +steak, and forgot their weariness, as only men can who have lived +largely on canned goods for many weeks. + +"M-m, m-m!" said Tom. "This is good! Somehow I ain't so mad at that old +lion as I was!" + +"What did you kill him for, then?" Mills laughed. "You might have had +eleven other deer to eat if you'd let him go." + +"Kind o' mixed, isn't it?" Tom confessed. "I sure would kill him every +time--but I'd rather eat the deer than leave 'em for the wolves, just +the same." + +"If you want something good to eat, get one of your lion friends to kill +a sheep for you, and bring us some mutton," said the Ranger. "I haven't +had a piece of mutton for ten years, I guess. Before this was a Park, +and we used to hunt here, my! the feasts I've had!" + +"Well, I could stand tinned beef all my life, to see the sheep alive," +Joe declared. "I'm glad it's a Park now." + +The next day the hides were spread to cure, and the meat was all cleaned +and hung, and the three then overhauled their equipment and packed up to +make a start the next day for Glacier Park station. No mail had come to +anybody since October, they had been able to send no letters to their +parents, and the Ranger had not even been able to report to the Park +superintendent, or the boys to send telegrams since the storm before +Thanksgiving, because the telephone wire between Many Glacier Hotel and +the railroad had been broken. As a rule, Mills used this wire in winter. +One of the objects of their trip was to see about this break. + +The trip out to the railroad, which was about fifty-five miles by +automobile road, could now be reduced to about forty-five, because they +could cut cross lots, over the deep snow, shaving the end of Flat Top +Mountain (not the Flat Top of the Valley Forge camp, but another on the +eastern edge of the overthrust), and by good hiking reach Glacier Park +station in two days. They planned to take the toboggan, loading on it +their provisions, sleeping-bags, a small tent, axes, and the scouts' +snow-shoes. The boys planned to wear skis for a good part of the trip, +and to put Mills on the toboggan on the down grades, thus saving time. +He laughed at the idea, but as the shoes were light made no objection. + +That night was clear and cold, and the next day promised to be fair. Joe +and Tom sat up late, getting letters ready to send home, and Joe spent +an hour on a letter to Lucy Elkins, telling her about his life in the +Park, and promising to send snow pictures as soon as he could get them +developed. But they were up long before the sun in the morning, and set +off by starlight, all three on the ropes of the toboggan, down the +trail. + +When they came to the first long, snowy slope, Mills said, "Let me see +one of you go down it on your skis." + +Tom dropped the rope, and ran, gaining speed as he went, the snow flying +out from under the prow of his skis, and a moment later was waving his +hand from the bottom. + +"Saves time, all right," the Ranger agreed, "but what's to become of +me?" + +"Get on the back of the toboggan, let one foot hang out and steer with +it, and come along," Joe laughed. "It's easy." + +"I never steered one of the blamed things," said Mills. + +"Here, you sit on top of the bags, and hold my skis. I'll show you." + +Joe took his skis off, put Mills on the front, and pushed the toboggan +over. A cloud of snow rose over the curl of the butter box prow, +powdering the Ranger in the face, and they flew down the hill in Tom's +tracks, and stopped at his side. + +"Well, I'll be darned--here we be!" was all Mills said, as he brushed +off the snow. + +"Tom, I believe there's something we can teach Mr. Mills!" Joe laughed. +"I believe he was afraid of a toboggan!" + +Mills' blue eyes twinkled a little. + +"By gosh, I'll go down the next one on your skis, just for that!" + +They pushed on steadily down the Swift Current Valley, taking the +easiest way over the frozen lake, into the sunrise, and then, at the +valley's mouth, swinging south and cutting across toward the end of Flat +Top. Mills did put on Joe's skis at the next favorable slope--and the +scouts had to dig him out of the snow half-way down! + +"Take your old skis," he spluttered, grabbing for his snow-shoes again. +"I'll stick to what I'm used to--and the toboggan. I don't have to +balance the toboggan." + +After that, he steered the toboggan down the hills, while the scouts ran +on skis. + +For the up grades, the boys put on their snow-shoes, also, because even +on a gentle slope you back-slide with skis if you are pulling a load. +They reached the ridge over Lower St. Mary Lake at noon, ate lunch, +lowered the toboggan down the slope to the lake, and then ran on the +white, level snow surface above the ice inshore, due south, till at +evening they had passed St. Mary Chalets at the foot of Upper St. Mary +Lake, and went on into a stand of thick woods, where they decided to +camp. + +The tent was pitched in the most sheltered spot, on packed snow, facing +a rock, and on logs laid across the snow packed in front of the rock +they built a roaring fire. With the heat of this fire, Joe was able to +cook supper without his mittens on, though he could not go far away from +it without them. When supper was over, they built the fire up afresh, +laid in a big supply of wood, and crawling into their sleeping-bags, +under the shelter of the tent, itself sheltered by the evergreens, with +the flap facing the fire left wide open and the rock reflecting the heat +in to them, they were surprisingly warm, when you consider that they +were sleeping on snow, with the mercury in the thermometer outside +playing tag somewhere below the zero mark--or it would have been, if +there had been a thermometer outside. + +It was "anybody's job," if he woke up, to crawl out and throw more wood +on the fire, and Joe twice did this. Both times, however, must have been +long before morning, because when he finally woke up there was a faint +hint of dawn in the sky, and the fire was practically out--only the logs +they had placed on the snow for a fire base were smouldering. + +He crawled out again, and built a new fire. Then he took a kettle and +went to see if he could find any brook open, it was such a slow job +melting snow. When he got back, the others were up, stretching and +warming themselves by the blaze. The coffee certainly tasted good that +morning! And how fragrantly the hot bacon sizzled and spluttered in the +pan! + +They made the second stage of their journey chiefly over the prairie, +more or less following the motor road, but cutting off all the corners +they could to reduce mileage, and getting dozens of wonderful ski runs +over the treeless slopes, while Mills, who by now had become quite an +expert steering the toboggan, came on behind. + +"When I get back," he kept saying, "I'm going to learn to use those +blooming things, too--but on a little hill first!" + +The early twilight was deepening into night, and the northern lights +were playing when they came over the final slope and saw the railroad +signal lights--the first sign of other human beings than themselves +they'd laid eyes on since October. + +Half an hour later they were at the station, Mills was telephoning to +Park headquarters at Lake McDonald, and the boys were getting their +accumulated mail--letters from home, newspapers for two months past, a +big box of cakes and sweet chocolate for Tom from his mother, and, for +Joe, a long letter from Lucy Elkins, enclosing the pictures she had +taken on their trip. + +That evening they slept in beds at the house of the station agent, after +they had spent the evening hearing the news from the outside world. The +mass of newspapers they kept to read in the long evenings back in the +cabin. Laying in some additional provisions, and carefully packing their +precious papers, they started back in the morning, over their old +tracks, which, except in windy places where they were drift covered, +afforded now pretty easy sledding for the toboggan. They made camp again +in the same spot, and were up before daylight for the last stage, Mills +looking scowlingly at the sky. + +"Don't like it to-day, boys," he said. "We're in for a storm. Let's beat +it home, if we can." + +And that day he gave them little rest, driving on at a fast pace, with +the toboggan rope straining over his shoulder. The sun went under before +noon. By mid-afternoon, as they entered the Swift Current valley mouth, +the peaks of the Divide were lost in a cold, gun metal cloud, and the +wind was rising. They faced this wind all up the valley, with no chance +now to coast--only a steady, grinding up-hill pull. + +It was dark long before they got to the cabin, and the snow had begun to +fall in fine, stinging flakes. They were a cold, weary lot when finally +they tugged their load up the last grade to the level of the lake, +passed into the trees at the tepee camp, and a few minutes later tumbled +into the cold cabin, and began to pile wood into the stove. + +"Well, Joe, get a hunk of that venison out, and let's forget this day!" +Mills cried. "Light up the big lamp, Tom. We've got kerosene enough, +too. Let's be cheerful." + +The roar of the logs in the stove, the light of the lamp, and presently +the smell of food and coffee, acted like magic. They were soon laughing +again, while the wind rose outside, and the trees groaned and creaked, +and the snow drove with a kind of hissing patter against the windows and +the roof. + +"A hundred miles in four days, over four feet of snow, and pulling a +toboggan--gosh, if anybody'd told me old Joe could do that last May, I'd +have thought he was crazy," said Tom. + +"You couldn't have done it yourself last May," Joe replied. + +"And," said the Ranger, stretching out his legs and rubbing them, "by +golly, _I_ don't want to do it again!" + +"Ho," said Tom, "I feel fine!" + +But he was the first to propose bed--although it must be admitted nobody +quarreled with his suggestion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII--The Ranger and the Boys Get a Ride Down the Mountain +on a Snow Avalanche, and Don't Look for Another + + +The following day the storm was still raging, and it kept it up till +night, too. The drifts were piled half-way up the windows, shutting out +their light, the rear door, leading to the stable, was completely +barricaded by a drift, and they had to make periodic sallies with a +shovel out of the front door, which opened on a veranda four feet above +ground level, to keep that clear. It was too bitter cold, the wind too +penetrating, to invite further expeditions. Even clearing the veranda in +front of the door was a job they quarreled over, and finally had to +assign at intervals of one hour, each person taking his turn while the +other two peered out of the window to see if he did a thorough job. + +But they had plenty of dry wood inside, and the accumulated newspapers +of two months to read, so the day didn't drag, after all. + +"And," said the Ranger, "about to-morrow, or next day, the slides will +start, the real slides, this time. That'll be something worth coming out +here for. There is so much of this snow that the steep places can't hold +it all, and the first sun will send it down." + +That night, toward morning, Joe was awakened by a sound like thunder, +and sat up in his sleeping-bag, astonished. + +"What's a thunder-storm doing in December?" he thought. + +There was no lightning, however, and he could see outside the brilliant +starlight. + +"Slides!" he suddenly remembered. And as soon as it was light, he was +up, getting breakfast. Breakfast over, he and Tom lost no time in +getting on their snow-shoes and hurrying out, free of the woods, on the +white surface of the frozen lake, with no less than eight feet of snow +under them. The sun was now up over the prairie, and sending its rays up +the Swift Current Valley and hitting the snow-covered peaks till they +glistened rosy. And all around, from the steep walls of Gould, six miles +away, to the upper precipices of the two mountains hemming in the lake +over their heads, the snowslides were leaping and booming with a noise +like soft thunder. It was a wonderful sight. You had no idea where or +when one was going to start. A steep precipice, covered with snow, would +suddenly show signs of life, the snow high up would start slipping, and +as the mass descended it would grow in volume, sweeping the slope +beneath it and sending up a comet's tail of snow-dust, till it ran out +with a boom and a roar upon the less steep slopes below. All around the +slides were running, and the steep places seemed fairly to smoke with +the comet tails of snow-dust. + +"Of course," said Mills, when he was ready to set out, "these slides now +are just top snow, the latest fall sliding off the very steep places, +and doing little or no harm. In spring the bad ones come, when the whole +winter mass, and all the ice and rocks it has gathered up, come down. +Then, once in a great while, a third kind will descend--the accumulated +snow and ice and rock dust of maybe half a century or more. That kind +always chooses a place where there hasn't been a slide before, wipes out +forests as it comes, and sometimes houses and people in the valleys. The +slides to-day all follow regular channels. I know where there'll +probably be a good one." + +He led the way up toward the Divide, by a side tributary of the Swift +Current. They climbed steadily a long way up toward the steep head wall, +leaving the deep brook bed at the danger point, and working on the side +slope above it. Finally they reached a point where they were almost +under the steep wall, and separated from the brook channel by a mass of +rock. Here they waited. They had not long to wait. Suddenly, without any +warning, the snow almost above them started slipping, and in a few +seconds was coming down the brook bed at a tremendous rate, pushing all +the last snowfall and some of the old ahead of it as it came. By the +time it reached the point just below Mills and the two scouts, it was +apparently going thirty miles an hour, with a head about forty feet +high, the whole mass maybe fifty or a hundred feet wide and two hundred +feet long, and churning, foaming, falling over and over itself with a +great, booming roar and sending out a perfect gale of snow-dust. + +As it rushed past, the noise was so great that no one heard a lesser +roar behind him. Without any warning, a smaller slide had started just +above the three observers, no doubt caused by the jar and shock of the +first, and suddenly the snow boiled up under their feet, they were +launched downward on this second slide, and found themselves on the tail +end of the big one. + +Then followed the wildest ride any of them had ever had, or ever wanted +to have. + +Of course, it was only their wide western snow-shoes that saved their +lives. In a second, they were on the tail of the big slide, riding on +top of fifty feet of boiling, churning, racing snow, that was by this +time going down-hill at close to a mile a minute. If you have ever run +logs on a river, you know what a slippery job that is. But imagine the +logs leaping up and down as well as rolling around, and traveling a mile +a minute down-hill into the bargain, and finally casting up a deluge of +powdered snow-dust into your face, and you will have some idea of the +job that confronted Mills and Tom and Joe. + +No one dared look at the others. No one could speak, or make himself +heard six inches from his mouth if he did open it. Each of them looked +at his own feet, or tried to through the blinding snow powder, and just +trod snow desperately, to keep upright. To fall down meant to be churned +in under the boiling mass, and probably suffocated, or crushed to death. + +After about one minute that seemed like an hour, the slide had descended +to less steep ground. Here it hit a little pine wood, and Joe just could +see, through the flying snow, the trees go crashing down in front, and +those on either side (their tops level with his feet!) bow and bend in +the wind made by the rushing slide. A second later a tree came boiling +up out of the snow right under his feet--or a log, rather, for all its +branches were stripped off. He jumped madly to avoid it, and it missed +him only by a hair's breadth. + +Beyond the wood, the slide ran out into an open park, went up the +incline on the further side by its own momentum, and there spread itself +out and came to rest. + +Joe wiped the snow-dust from his eyes and looked to see what had become +of Tom and the Ranger. He was still on his feet, but they were not. The +final slump of the slide, with the tail end on which they rode +telescoping over the centre, had flung them down and half buried them. +For some reason Joe had been able to keep his feet. He sprang to help +them up, crying, "Are you hurt?" + +They both rose, dazed, and wiped their faces. + +"I--I dunno!" Tom said. "I haven't had time to find out!" + +The Ranger was red with rage. + +"It had no business to start there!" he exclaimed. "We ought to have +been in a safe place. Teaches me a lesson--you can't bank on slides any +time o' year. That drift above where we stood is always anchored till +spring." + +"Well, I guess it's lucky we're alive!" Joe exclaimed. "Wow! that was +some ride! I never was kept so busy in my life!" + +"And I never want to be again," Mills said. "Boys, had enough slides for +to-day? Seen how they work?" + +"I sure have!" both exclaimed, in one breath. + +"Let's go home. What I'd like to see now is a Chinook wind, to take some +of this snow away. There's too much of it." + +"Do Chinook winds come before spring?" Joe asked. He had heard of the +dry, warm wind which comes over the ranges, from the warm Pacific +current, raising the temperature sometimes sixty degrees in as many +minutes, and evaporating the snow like magic. + +"Sometimes," Mills said. "And we need it now, or all the animals will +starve." + +They were all too weary and even a bit shaky after that terrific ride, +to do much more that day. Mills did go over to try his telephone, which +he found the storm had put out of commission again, and then they sat +around the cabin and talked over the two minute excitement, which had +seemed, while it lasted, nearer two hours. + +For supper that night Joe got out a can of lobster he found in the +storeroom. He thought it would be a special treat, and it was to Mills, +but Tom didn't like lobster, and Joe himself didn't care much for it, +either, when he came to taste it. So Mills ate it all. + +"Came near death this morning--might as well risk my life again +to-night," he laughed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII--Tom Starts on a Long Hike in the Deep Snow, Over the +Divide, Risking Snow-Slides, to Save the Ranger's Life + + +The Ranger spoke in jest, but in the night the boys were awakened by his +groans, and they found his words were anything but a joke. He was +suffering terrible pain, in his stomach evidently, and they had never +seen anybody look so sick. They scrambled into clothes; Joe made up the +fire and put on water to heat, while Tom got out their first aid kit, +and made an emetic, which they got down the poor Ranger's throat. The +results eased his pain a little, but the boys were certainly scared. + +"We _got_ to get a doctor," Tom cried. "We _got_ to--a doctor or +somebody who knows what to do. I got to get over Swift Current, and down +to Lake McDonald, to the Park superintendent's office. That's all there +is to it." + +"You can't--you can't!" Joe exclaimed. "Think of that head wall if a +slide hit you! Besides, it's thirty miles to the hotel at the head of +the lake, and you don't know the way. I do. I'll have to go." + +"A lot I'll let _you_ go! No such over-exertion for you, and you just +well. Besides, I know the way over the pass and down to Mineral Creek. +Then I turn south, through the woods, and just follow the one trail. I +couldn't miss it, and if I did, all I'd have to do would be to take the +creek bed. I can start before daylight, get to the head wall at sunrise, +be over the pass and down the other side before noon, and have five +hours of light to make twenty miles." + +"What if there shouldn't be any caretaker at the hotel at the head of +the lake?" said Joe. + +"I'll break in and use the 'phone, and make a fire. Anyhow, I'll pack my +sleeping-bag on my back, and get to the superintendent's camp the next +morning." + +He flew to make his preparations, putting on all his warmest clothes, +with extra socks and mitts stowed in his sleeping-bag, while Joe put him +up tea, bacon, matches, raisins and sweet chocolate, in the smallest +possible space, got his axe and compass, and extra snow-shoe thongs in +case of accident, and finally cooked him some bacon and made tea. + +"I'm coming with you to the foot of the Swift Current switchbacks," said +Joe. "I _got_ to know whether you get up to the top safe!" + +"But the Ranger?" + +"I can't help him much if I stay--and I guess he's in no more danger +than you'll be. Oh, Spider, I _got_ to know if you get up there safe!" + +Poor Joe was close to anxious tears as he spoke, and Tom grasped his +hand. + +"I'll get there!" he cried. + +Mills was now only half conscious, moaning on his bed, and the two boys +slipped out into the starlight and pushed up the Swift Current trail. It +was bitterly cold. Joe carried the pack all the way to the foot of the +switchbacks, so that Tom could be as fresh as possible. Then, at the +foot, as day was beginning to redden in the east and give light enough +to follow the windings of the trail by, for, on this steep slope, even +such a deep snow could not quite hide the cuts the trail made in the +bank, the two scouts shook hands silently, and Tom started up. + +"It's Mills' life, or mine," he said, grimly. + +Joe watched him go up, slowly, carefully, following the trail wherever +he could detect it by the contour of the snow. Two or three times his +snow-shoes started a small slide of loose snow, but as he was above the +starting point, it left him secure, rushing down past Joe with a whirl +and shower of snow powder. But on this slope, steep as it was, the tiny +trees and shrubs seemed to anchor the snow, and there were no large +slides at all. After an hour, from far above him, Joe heard a faint, +thin, "Hoo-oo!" and knew that Tom was beyond danger. + +His heart seemed to come back into his breast again, and with a great +sigh of relief he hurried back in the level sunrise light, to the cabin, +to do what he could for the sufferer. + +There followed for Joe a long vigil, almost helpless, with a very sick +man. He gave him hot water to drink, and improvised a hot water bag with +a hot stone wrapped in flannel, but he had no medicines, and could do +little but watch the poor Ranger suffer, and wonder, and wonder, how Tom +was getting on, until a great, dark, ugly cloud suddenly began to come +over the top of the Divide, from the west, and his wonder changed to +fear and then almost to terror. It looked as if the worst blizzard of +all was raging already on the west side of the range, where Tom was +tracking, all alone, miles from any human being, in the deep forests of +the canyon! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX--Tom Tramps Down McDonald Creek in a Chinook Wind, +and Reaches Shelter Almost Exhausted + + +Meanwhile, Tom had been losing no time. An hour after he had yelled to +Joe from the top of the danger zone on the wall, he had gone over the +pass and reached the Granite Park chalet. Here he paused a few moments +for breath, and looked across the shadow-filled canyon to the great white +pinnacle of Heaven's Peak, rosy-white with the sunrise. Then he plunged +down the trail, with little fear of snowslides on this side because of +the trees to anchor the drifts, and in another hour reached the Lake +McDonald trail at the bottom. Without any pause, he plugged steadily +along through the tall, silent, lonely forest, over such deep snow that +he was elevated far above the underbrush and had difficulty sometimes in +spotting the trail, and kept at it till noon. Then he paused to build a +fire of dead pine limbs on trodden snow and cook himself some bacon, +roasting it on a stick. + +It was not till this lunch was eaten that he noticed the dusking of the +sun, and looking up saw a great, ugly, dark cloud coming over the range +to the west. + +His heart, like Joe's back in the cabin a little later, went down +somewhere into his moccasins. But, he kept telling himself, he had only +a dozen or fifteen more miles to go, he was in the protection of woods, +and he couldn't get lost because the canyon walls would always show him +the way. Besides, he had his sleeping-bag. He could crawl into some +hollow tree with it, if the blizzard got too bad. But he must not stop +if he could help it. + +"Mills' life or mine!" he kept saying. "It's up to me to save the +Ranger!" + +And he shouldered his pack once more, and pressed on, with one anxious +eye on the trail, one on the cloud above, which was rapidly spreading +across to the eastern range and enveloping the Divide. Every second he +expected to see the first white, driving sheets of the blizzard, for the +cloud was racing now, the wind up there was blowing hard. Yet no snow +came. In fact, Tom began to get hot. He thought it was the exertion of +trying to increase his pace. But when he stopped to rest his weary +shoulders a moment, he was still hot. The wind was certainly beginning +to come roaring down into the trees above him now. At last it hit his +face. It was a hot wind! + +Then, suddenly, he realized what was coming. "The Chinook!" he cried +aloud. + +It was the Chinook! In half an hour, Tom was in a wringing perspiration, +and his fur coat had taken its place on his pack. Under his feet a +miracle was being performed. The level of the snow was steadily +sinking--slowly, to be sure, here in the woods, but steadily. It was +sticky on his snow-shoes, but not half so sticky as he thought it would +be. The wind seemed so dry that it just soaked the snow up, instead of +melting it. + +On and on Tom plodded, wearily, almost exhausted now, going on sheer +nerve, till close to five o'clock he got a hint of the lake. Then he +picked up other snow-shoe tracks, and Robinson Crusoe could not have +been more delighted at the sight of a human footprint. + +"There's somebody at the hotel!" Tom cried, again aloud. + +This sight gave him a second wind, and he plugged on, with clear hints +of the lake through the trees now, and what seemed like open water. But +the trail kept off to the east of it, and it was getting rapidly dark +when he finally came into a clearing and saw the hotel. + +The hotel was dark, but near by, in a smaller house, there shone a +light! Tom hurried, with his last ounce of strength, to the door, and +pounded. + +The door was opened, and Tom almost fell in. A strong hand caught him, +and steadied him while he got off his snow-shoes, and then steadied him +to a chair. + +"Well, who be you, and where'd you come from?" a voice asked. + +Tom could see little but the warm lamplight. The room, the face of the +man, were all a blur. + +"Many Glacier, over Swift Current," he gasped. "Mills ate something last +night--he's awful sick--telephone to the superintendent--or +somebody--send a doctor." + +"You mean to tell me you've come over Swift Current since last night, in +that snow, and then through the Chinook?" + +"Yes--'phone for a doctor--quick!" + +"Why didn't you 'phone from Many Glacier?" + +"Wire's on the bum--can't you hurry and 'phone?" Tom almost wailed. + +"Easy, son, easy," the voice steadied him. "Nobody can start back now +till mornin'. I want to get this right. I can hardly believe it." + +"Oh, you _got_ to believe it!" Tom cried. + +The man rose and began to work at the stove. Presently he brought Tom a +big cup of hot coffee, and a plate of food, and stood by while he drank +and ate. + +As the hot coffee and the food began to revive him, Tom told the whole +story over again, more calmly, and the caretaker listened, his eyes big. + +"Well, son," he said, "you're all to the mustard. Now, if you're able, +we'll go 'phone." + +He led the way, and Tom repeated his story to the Park superintendent's +office. + +"Be ready to start back at daylight," a voice said. "If the Chinook's +cleared open water enough for the launch to get up the lake, we'll pick +you up where you are. Otherwise, meet us at the fork of the east and +west trail at the head of the lake an hour after sunrise--that is, if +you are up to going back with us." + +"I'll be there!" Tom said. + +His new friend now took him back into the warm, lighted room, made him +undress and give himself a good rub, and then put him to bed on a couch +in the corner. + +"If you're goin' back over that trail to-morrow," he said, "you'll need +all the sleep you can get to-night." + +"I guess you're right," Tom answered, as he fell wearily, helplessly, +upon the soft spring, and almost immediately felt his eyelids close of +their own accord. That was the last he remembered till a hand on his +shoulder was shaking him,--it seemed about five minutes later. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX--Tom Gets Back with the Doctor, and Mills Pulls +Through--Then the Scouts Have To Leave for Home + + +"Time to get up," said the voice of the owner of the hand. + +Tom opened his eyes. The room was still lighted by a lamp, but something +told him it was morning, perhaps the gray light at the window. He rose +stiffly, and helped his host get breakfast. Going out, he found the +Chinook wind had passed, but it had been blowing, apparently, a good +while, for the lake was open water all the way inshore now, except for a +fringe of ice cakes piled up like ragged surf along the eastern side. + +"The lake hadn't frozen yet very far out, anyhow," the caretaker said. +"But the Chinook's sure taken the snow down!" + +It had. As if by magic, the eight or ten feet of snow that yesterday had +covered everything except the trees was reduced to less than two. The +air, too, while it had the sting of winter again, was not bitterly +cold--just a nice winter temperature. + +As the sun was beginning to redden the peaks above the lake, Tom heard +the _put-put_ of a motor boat far off, and in half an hour a launch had +worked in through the floating ice to the end of the pier and a ranger +accompanied by a young man threw their packs on the pier and climbed +out. + +"_You_ the man that came over Swift Current yesterday?" the Ranger said, +looking at Tom. "Why, you're only a boy!" + +"Well, I did it--and I'd do more'n that for Mr. Mills!" Tom answered. + +"You were takin' chances on the Swift Current head wall," the Ranger +said. "I'm mighty glad the Chinook came, before I have to go down that +trail." + +"I got sort of used to slides," Tom said, as they all fastened on their +packs, and waved farewell to the caretaker. He told the Ranger and the +doctor about their ride on the snowslide. + +"Say, you've been havin' an excitin' time up there," the Ranger laughed. +"Wonder what's happened since you left?" + +"If Mills has ptomaine poisoning, nothing has happened," the doctor +said. "He's simply been wishing it would!" + +They grew silent as the grind began up the canyon trail through the +forest. Tom's tracks of yesterday, melted less than the unpacked snow, +showed plainly, and often he had been way off the trail, taking short +cuts ten feet up where he was clear of underbrush. + +"Didn't intend to," he said. "But the snow was so deep I couldn't always +see the trail, and just steamed straight ahead." + +At noon they paused an hour for lunch and rest, and then picked up their +loads again. The low sun was sinking behind Heaven's Peak when they +reached the top of the pass, and took off their snow-shoes, for the +Chinook had stripped all the snow from the Divide, where the wind had +previously blown it thin. On the head wall, they found only a few +inches, and they were able to slide from one switchback to the next +lower, thus cutting off the turns and descending with great rapidity. + +But even so it was dark before they reached the cabin, and once more Tom +was traveling on sheer nerve. So was the doctor, for that matter, though +the Ranger seemed as fresh as when they started. They had been on the +trail for twelve hours, with only one hour rest. + +But Tom was the first up the steps and in the door. + +Joe sprang up from a chair to greet him, and by the lamplight he could +see Mills, on the couch, and heard him say, in a weak voice, "Hello, +Tom." + +"Thank God!" Tom cried, and slumped down weary and exhausted on his +pack. + +The doctor went to work at once. "What have you done for him?" he asked +Joe. + +"Nothing much I could do," Joe said. "We gave him an emetic as soon as +he was sick, and I gave him physic and hot water. The hot water seemed +to ease him a little." + +"Good," the doctor answered. "You couldn't have done better. He'll come +around all right now. Sick, were you, Mills?" + +Mills groaned for reply. + +"When the Chinook came," Joe laughed, "I told him I thought a blizzard +was going to hit us, and he said he hoped it would blow the cabin into +the lake!" + +Joe now hurried about getting supper and making up beds for the tired +men, while Mills lay feebly on the couch and made Tom sit by him and +tell about his trip. + +"You shouldn't 'a' done it, boy," he kept saying. "You shouldn't 'a' +risked it for the old Ranger." + +But that night they were roused by hearing poor Mills in the throes of +another attack. The doctor hurried to him. + +"It's brought on a sort of acute indigestion," he said to the others. "I +didn't realize he was so bad. It's lucky I'm here, for you can't let +such attacks go on, or they get you." + +All that night he and Joe sat up with the sick man, and all the next +day, and the day after that, he kept the Ranger in bed, and doctored +him. + +The third day Mills was feeling better, and grew restless. + +"You stay where you are," the doctor laughed, "and thank young Tom who +got me, and Joe who dosed you till I came, that you're alive at all! +I've got to go to-morrow, but Jerry will stay with you and feed you +according to schedule till you're O.K. again." + +"I suppose that means the boys are going to-morrow, too," Mills +answered. "They--they got to be home for Christmas. Say, doc, can't you +make 'em just sick enough so they'll have to stay?" + +The doctor laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"Maybe I can get you transferred to headquarters till you're all right +again," he said. "Then you won't miss the boys so much." + +But if it was hard for the Ranger to part with Tom and Joe, it was +scarcely less hard for them to leave him, even if it did mean getting +home to their families for Christmas, yet they could not put it off a +day longer, because already they had just time to make connections at +Chicago and reach home on Christmas morning. The Ranger's sickness had +delayed them. + +So Tom and Joe began to pack. They had long realized they would have to +leave some day, and in mid-winter, so they had sent home by express all +their summer clothes and their balloon silk tent and their folding cots, +in their trunks, by the last bus out in October. But they still had a +big load. All the books, except a few school books, they left for Mills. +Most of their clothes they put on. The two sleeping-bags and the +snow-shoes, which belonged to the Ranger, they were to leave with the +station agent. Their bearskin caps and coats, which Mills had procured +for them, he made them keep as a present, and Tom, for a present to him, +left his skis behind. Joe left as his present the warm, soft bed puff he +had used ever since he came to the Park, and his aluminum coffee-pot, to +take the place of the battered old tin one Mills used. + +They packed the toboggan that night, to be ready for an early start, and +then sat around the stove for the last time, in the little cabin. The +doctor and the other Ranger did all the talking. Mills, who lay on the +couch, and the boys did not feel like saying a word. + +The next morning Joe cooked the last breakfast. Poor Mills was not +allowed to drink any coffee. + +"I'm goin' to drink tea after this, anyhow, Joe," he said. "You've +spoiled my taste for my own coffee, confound you." + +He came to the door to help in the last packing of the toboggan. "If +you've left anything, I'll keep it till you come back next summer," he +said, trying to laugh. + +"We'll be back!" the scouts cried. "We'll be rangers, too, some day, +with you as our boss!" + +"I'm goin' to miss you something fierce, boys," Mills added, taking each +of them by the hand. "Tom, I can't never thank you proper for what you +did--so we'll let it go at that. You're a regular scout, and you and +Joe'll make good whatever you do, and Joe'll keep as well as he is now, +always." + +He turned his head suddenly away, and the boys felt a lump in their own +throats. + +Then they started. + +When they looked back to wave, however, he was facing them, and they +could see his pale, blue eyes--the eyes of a woodsman--looking at them +as they went down the trail. + +Opposite the entrance to their old camp, Joe dropped the rope, and ran +down the path, to the surprise of Tom and the doctor. He came back with +their rough sign, "Camp Kent," and stuck it into the load. + +"Gee, if we'd forgotten that for a souvenir!" he cried. + +Tom gave the doctor some wild rides on the toboggan in the next two +days, while Joe took the hills on skis. They camped that night in the +same woods as before, only this time they had no tent, only such +protection as they could hastily rig up by making a rough lean-to of +evergreen boughs and crawling under it in their sleeping-bags. Each one +took a watch to keep the fire going during the night, and they managed +to come through fairly comfortably, though it was bitterly cold. +However, they were up long before the sun, and on their way. + +The second day the boys knew they were seeing the mountains for the last +time, and as they passed by old Rising Wolf, his red rocks buried under +glistening snow, they loitered a little on the trail and walked with +their eyes turned upward and toward the west. + +And that evening they were suddenly landed out of the lonely snow-fields +and the wilderness of rocks and cliffs and frozen lakes, of deer and +lions and avalanches, into the hot, musty smell of a Pullman sleeping +car, on the trans-continental limited, bound east! + +They each took one sniff, and looked at one another. + +Then Tom laughed. "We'll get used to it again," he said. + +"I suppose so," Joe answered, "but gosh! it's going to be hard work." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI--Home Again--Joe's Christmas Present to His Mother +is Sound Health Again, and Tom Rejoices + + +They got to Chicago the day before Christmas, and had time to go +shopping for presents. Tom sneaked off by himself, and returned with a +mysterious parcel, which Joe imagined was for him. Twenty-five hours +later, they were getting out of the train at Southmead, into the arms of +their parents and brothers and sisters, and amid the cheers of the +assembled scouts. + +"Well, you are certainly a hard looking pair!" Mr. Rogers laughed. "And +hard feeling, too," he added, poking Joe's legs and arms. "What do you +weigh, Joe?" + +"I weighed a hundred and fifty-nine in Chicago," Joe answered. + +The next two days both boys spent telling everybody the tales of their +adventures, and Mr. Rogers took Joe up to Dr. Meyer again, who thumped +him and listened at him as before, weighed him and tested him, and then, +with a smile, declared he was as fit as a fiddle. + +"And mind you live outdoors till you're twenty-one, and keep so!" he +added. "And then go on living outdoors if you can, till you're a hundred +and one. It's the only way to live, anyhow. I haven't been out for a +week, and I know!" + +"Take that news home to your mother as a Christmas present, Joe," said +Mr. Rogers. + +Then he turned to Tom. "And you, Tom, gave the present of health to Joe. +How do you like giving instead of receiving?" + +"Giving? Giving nothing!" Tom exclaimed. "Don't you make any mistake. I +received more pleasure seeing old Joey get fat and strong than I'll ever +give anybody!" + +"That's what I like to hear a scout say," Mr. Rogers smiled, putting an +arm over each boy's shoulder, and hanging his weight on them, to feel +how sturdy they were. Neither flinched an inch, but stood up like +hickory posts. + +Joe's Christmas present from Tom--the mysterious bundle he bought in +Chicago--was a developing tank and all the chemicals. Joe also received +from Lucy Elkins, on Christmas day, a beautiful enlargement of a view of +Gunsight Lake and Mount Jackson, to hang in his room. For the next few +days he and Tom toiled over the tank, developing their endless rolls of +film, and then, when these were printed, they gave an exhibition at the +scout house. + +But it was several days before they went into the woods. + +"Gee, it's too much like a prairie 'round here," Tom said, casting a +contemplative glance at their eighteen-hundred-foot mountain. + +Finally, however, just before school commenced, they put on snow-shoes, +and tramped over a mean little eight inches of snow to the top of their +highest hill, out on a ledge above the trees. Southmead lay below them, +with all its roofs and steeples gathered in the snowy fields like a herd +of cattle. The woods were still. + +"It's not the Rockies," said Tom, "but it's pretty nice at that, and +we'll get out the old rope on this baby cliff in the spring." + +"It's home," said Joe, "and I'm well again, and can go to school, and +help mother, and study for the forestry service with you, and--and--oh, +Spider, you're the best friend a fellow ever had!" + +"No," Tom answered, "you've got the wrong dope. I've got the best friend +to be a friend to a fellow ever had. Anyhow, Joey, we've given old man +tuberculosis the knock out, and had a grand old time doing it. Let's see +if we can start a snowslide here." + +But the snow stuck in a huckleberry bush six feet down. + +"I guess it's old Caesar and geometry for us," Tom sighed, "till we beat +it for the Rockies for good and all." + +"Geometry's not so exciting," Joe laughed, "but I suppose we've got to +have it." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Boy Scouts in Glacier Park, by +Walter Prichard Eaton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS IN GLACIER PARK *** + +***** This file should be named 37485.txt or 37485.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/8/37485/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from images made available by the HathiTrust +Digital Library.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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