THE PATHFINDERS
It did not take the two pathfinders long to get so far ahead of the
main party that they were out of sight and almost out of hearing. The
girls who carried the necessary provisions and utensils, however, made
their way light by singing Camp Fire songs as they walked, and their
voices echoed through the woods.
"This is great! Oh, I love it!" said Dolly, happily. "I'm so glad you
beat Margery, Bessie!"
"I thought you liked Margery, Dolly?"
"I do, but you're my very dearest chum, Bessie! I think Margery's
great, but she is just a little bit superior, sometimes. I expect I
deserve it when she gives me a lecture, but I like you because you
don't preach, though you're just as good as she is any day in the week!"
"I'll probably lecture you some time, Dolly, if I think you need it."
"Go ahead! I don't mind when you do it, or if you do it. I don't know
why, but it's the same way with Miss Eleanor. She's scolded me
sometimes, but she isn't a bit like my Aunt Mabel, or the teachers at
school."
"How do you mean? They're kind to you, I suppose? It isn't that that
makes the difference?"
"No. I don't just know what it is, except that she makes me feel as if
I had made her unhappy, and they always talk just as if they thought it
was their duty."
"It probably is, Dolly. You ought to have had the sort of scoldings I
used to get from Maw Hoover! Then you'd know what a real scolding is
like."
"Oh, I just hate that woman, Bessie, for the way she treated you.
Don't you hate her, too?"
"I don't know. I used to, but I'm sort of sorry for her, Dolly."
"I don't see why!"
"Well, since I've been away from the farm, I've seen that she didn't
have a very much better time than I did. She had to work all day long,
and she never got much pleasure."
"That wasn't any excuse for her treating you so badly."
"I think maybe it was, Dolly. I suppose she was nervous, like a whole
lot of other women, and she had to have something to wear herself out
on. She took things out on me. I'm beginning to think that maybe she
wasn't really mad at me when she acted like that. I believe she used
to get so upset about things that she had to sort of kick out at
whatever was nearest--and it happened to be me."
"Well, I hate her, just the same! You can forgive her if you like, but
I'm not going to!"
"It's a good thing she never did anything to you, Dolly. If you hate
her like that when you've never even seen her, what would you do if you
had some real reason for it?"
Dolly laughed.
"I suppose I am silly," she said, "but I can't help it. I just feel
that way, that's all. Do you know what I wish, Bessie?"
"Nothing dreadful, I hope, Dolly."
"She'd think it was, I'm sure--spiteful old cat! I wish you'd find out
all about your father and mother, and that they'd not be lost any more."
"Oh, Dolly, so do I! But that wouldn't seem dreadful to Mrs. Hoover,
I'm sure. I think she'd be glad enough."
"Let me finish. I wish you'd find them or that they'd find you, and
turn out to be ever so rich. They might, you know. It might all be a
mistake, or an accident, or something."
"I wouldn't care if they weren't rich, Dolly, if only I knew what had
become of them, and why they had to leave me there all that time with
the Hoovers."
"I just know there's some good reason, Bessie. You're so nice that
you're bound to be happy some time. Of course you'd like to have your
father and mother, whether they were rich or not. But wouldn't it be
great if they really were rich?"
"I don't know. I don't know what it's like to be rich, Dolly."
"Oh, you could do all sorts of things! You could make them take you
back to Hedgeville in an automobile, just for one thing."
"There are lots and lots of places I'd rather go to, Dolly."
"Oh, yes, of course! But think of how everyone would stare at you, and
how envious they would be! I bet they'd be sorry then that they
weren't nice to you."
Bessie smiled wistfully at the fantastic idea Dolly's lively brain had
conjured up.
"It would be fun," she sighed. "They did tease me dreadfully, some of
the girls. You see, the Hoovers didn't have so very much money, and my
clothes were mostly old things that Maw made over to fit me when she
was through with them."
"You could go back in better dresses than any of those Hedgeville girls
ever even saw, Bessie. And just think of how that horrid Jake Hoover
would feel then."
"Oh, well, there's no use thinking about it, Dolly. It won't ever
happen. So I shan't be disappointed, anyhow."
"Well, it might happen and I think it's simply great to dream about
things that might happen to you. It doesn't do any harm, and it's
awfully good fun."
"You do the dreaming, Dolly, and tell me about your dreams. You can do
it better than I could. I'm no good at dreaming that way at all."
"All right, that's a bargain. And right now I guess we'd better stop
thinking about dreams and attend to pathfinding. Here's a turn. Which
way ought we to go?"
"Straight ahead, I'm sure," said Bessie. "See how the trail narrows in
the other direction, and it doesn't look as if it had ever been made
like the main trail. It's more as if people had just broken through
one after another, until a sort of trail was made."
"Yes, and it isn't straight ahead, either. When there's a big tree in
the way, the trail goes around it, and on the regular trail the guides
went along a straight line and chopped down trees when they had to."
"All right. Give me the hatchet, and I'll mark the proper way to go."
Deftly Bessie, who had had long practice in the use of a hatchet when
she lived with the Hoovers, cut off a strip of bark on a tree at the
meeting point of the two trails, so that it formed a plain and
unmistakable guide to anyone who knew anything at all of woodcraft.
Then they pressed on. They walked fast, and, with nothing to delay
them, they made good time, pausing only once in a while to take a sip
from their water bottles.
"I can't hear the girls singing any more, can you?" asked Dolly,
presently.
"No," said Bessie, pausing to listen. "I guess we must be quite a
little way ahead of them now. We ought to be, of course."
"How much sooner than they ought we to reach the peak?"
"That's pretty hard to tell. I don't know how far it is. But I should
think we ought to walk about four miles to their three. So if it's ten
miles, we ought to be about two miles and a half ahead of them when we
get there--and they ought to walk that in about half an hour--say a
little more, forty minutes."
"That would give us plenty of time to get things ready."
"I should hope so! We really haven't so very much to do when we get
there. It's quite an honor for us to be allowed to make the fire,
isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. But we won the right to do it, Bessie. You must remember
that. And, of course, it isn't like a ceremonial fire."
"No, but it's a real fire, and an important one. Look! We're
beginning to go down hill now. We'll be climbing again before we get
there, though."
"Let's hurry! I'm just crazy to get the fire started. Who is going to
make the light?"
"Why, you are, Dolly! You won the dish-washing race, so you've
certainly got the right to do that."
"I'll let you do it if you want to, Bessie. I don't care about the old
race."
"No. You earned the right. And I believe you can do it better than I
can, anyhow."
"It's just a trick, when you once know how. I used to think it was a
wonderful thing to do, but it's just as easy as threading a needle."
"That's another thing that isn't easy until you know just how to do it,
though."
"I guess that's so. I've seen boys try to do it, ever and ever so many
times, and they usually threw the needle and thread away two or three
times before they managed it."
"Are we to cook lunch as soon as we all get to the camping spot?"
"I don't think so. It would be too early, you see."
"I guess the fire will be made, though. Do you know what we are going
to have?"
"Potatoes. I saw those. And I believe we're going to have a ham, too.
And coffee, of course, and a lot of fruit for dessert."
"Well, the ham would take quite a long time to cook. I guess maybe
we'd have to start in cooking right away to get finished in time."
"The boys ought to be having just the same sort of meal that we do. Or
else it wouldn't be fair, because some things take longer to cook than
others, and you can't hurry them, either."
"Oh, I remember now that Miss Eleanor spoke about that. That's one of
the rules."
"I believe we're getting near, for the trail is rising pretty sharply
now," said Dolly.
"That's so. See how hilly it is getting to be. It's quite clear on
top of the peaks, I believe. I wonder if we'll be able to see them on
the other peak and if they'll be able to see us?"
"We'll see the smoke, anyhow. There's nearly half a mile between the
two peaks, Miss Eleanor said."
"Come on, let's hurry. I'll be dreadfully disappointed if they get
their fire started first."
"So will I."
Then the ascent grew so sharp that for a time they needed all their
breath for the climb before them. But the prospect of reaching their
destination prevented them from being weary; they were too excited by
this strange sort of race in which the contestants could not see one
another at all.
"I think this is splendid!" panted Bessie. "This being on our honor.
Either side could cheat, and the other wouldn't know it--but neither
side will."
"Oh, there's no fun in cheating," said Dolly, scornfully. "If I win
anything, I want to know I've really won it, not that I got it because
I was smarter than someone else that way."
"That's right. Of course it's no fun to cheat! I always wonder why
people who cheat play games at all. I don't believe they really know
themselves, or they wouldn't do it."
Then came the last part of the ascent, and they went at it with a will,
though they were ready for a rest. But when they reached the summit,
and were able to stand still at last in an open space almost altogether
clear of trees they were amply rewarded for all their exertions.
First of all they looked eagerly to the south, toward the peak that was
the twin of their own. A happy exclamation burst from them
simultaneously.
"No smoke there yet!" cried Bessie.
"We're here in time!" echoed Dolly.
"We mustn't waste any time, though," cried Bessie. "Get your sticks
started while I lay a fire, Dolly."
Swiftly Dolly sank to her knees and arranged her fire-making apparatus,
the bow, the socket and the drill. Then, while she drew the bow
steadily and slowly, making the drill revolve in the socket which was
full of punk, Bessie brought small, dry sticks and a few leaves, so
that when the spark came in the punk, it would have fuel upon which to
feed.
"There it is--the fire!" cried Dolly. "See how it runs along in the
leaves, Bessie."
First a little glowing ember; then tiny flames, that crackled and
sputtered. And then arose a wisp of smoke. Carefully Bessie piled on
stick after stick, carefully chosen and well dried by sun and wind, so
that they would burn quickly.
"Oh, the beautiful fire!" cried Dolly. "I do love it, Bessie. See,
how it runs along. Really, it's a splendid fire!"
Merrily it blazed up, bright and clear.
"Now we want some green wood that will make a smoke," said Dolly.
"Here's some. I think it's burning well enough now, don't you?"
"Yes. Let's make the smoke now."
On went the green, damp wood, resinous and full of oil. And in a
moment a thick smoke hid the bright, leaping flames.
"Here's the blanket!" cried Dolly. "Catch the other side--now!"
Standing on either side of the fire, the blanket held over it, they
dipped it down now, so that the smoke was caught and held under the
obstruction. Then they lifted it clear of the fire altogether, and the
smoke, released, rose straight up in a long, tall column, that was
visible for miles where the trees did not obscure the view. Once and
again they repeated this, making three separate columns of smoke before
they left the fire to itself.
And still there was no answering smoke from the other peak. The girls
had won their race.
"Did the Indians really use those signals?" asked Dolly.
"They certainly did. Out on the plains, you see, smoke like that could
be seen for miles and miles. And so, if there were Indians a few miles
apart, signals could go very, very quickly for great distances, and
they could send messages for hundreds of miles almost as quickly as we
can send them now by telegraph."
Then they piled on more dry wood, and built the fire up so that it was
a great, roaring blaze.
"Now we will just find the water. They'll need that for cooking."
In less than five minutes after they separated to look for the spring
they knew was near, Dolly cried out that she had found it. And in the
same moment the first smoke rose from South Peak.