favorable trail that might lead them to the valley. But every draw
they found was so forbidding that they were repulsed from trying it.
Some showed great rocks that might roll down at the slightest motion
of the ground, and crush everything in their plunge. Even as they
pondered the chance of going down one of these, the water caused by
the melting snow loosened the grip of a great fragment of rock held up
in the gorge, and down it crashed! Other draws displayed century-old
snags, and down-timber that lay half-sunken in slimy ooze which
trickled down from the mossy sides of the gully; these would suck in
any horse or rider that was daring enough to try and go over them.
Finally, Tally came to a draw which was not nearly so forbidding as
the others, but it was a very deep chasm, and sent up echoes of
roaring water in its bottom.
"Wad yuh tink, Omney--do we try him?" asked Tally.
"Tally, it looks terrifying!" gasped Mrs. Vernon.
"Not so bad as udder ones," remarked Tally.
"Must we go down any of them?" asked Mr. Vernon.
"Mebbe we not find trail for two--four day, and grub mos' gone,"
returned Tally, meaningly.
"We've got to trust to Tally's guidance, pards, so let us do exactly
as he thinks best," added Mr. Gilroy.
Feeling somewhat dubious about the outcome of this ride, the two
Indians led down the steep sides of the gulch. The horses slipped,
stumbled, and scrambled through the piled-up rubbish until it was a
marvel that they had not broken legs and necks. The debris carried
down by the streams that emptied into the torrents at the bottom of
the draw, formed almost impassable barriers to going onward. But the
day was breaking, and this cheered every one tremendously. Soon the
darkness would be entirely dispelled and they could see just where the
horses were stepping.
"I'm so hungry I could almost eat this leather harness," remarked
Anne, sighing.
"Maybe we might catch something for an early breakfast, if we knew
where to give our horses a stand while we hunted," said Ruth.
Then, suddenly, they heard a crash of branches and rolling rocks, and
there, outlined against the pale sky, stood a giant elk with head
erect and ears attentive to the sounds from these riders. It was the
first one the scouts had seen, and it was such a magnificent animal
that a sight of it was thrilling.
The elk waited with great antlers reared to their extreme height, long
sensitive nose sniffing the air, and legs stiffened ready for a leap.
The Captain drew the camera from a side-pocket of the saddle and
planned to get a picture. But the wary animal heard the click of the
shutter and sprang fully fifteen feet across the chasm to gain a ledge
of rock that hung dangerously out.
Every one gasped as he waited to see it miss footing, or roll down
with the crag that surely would topple over with such added weight
upon it. But the elk must have known its trail, for it lightly touched
upon the rock, then vanished over the rim of the top.
"There goes our venison steaks for breakfast!" sighed Julie, making
the others laugh in spite of their troubles.
The sides of the canyon near the bottom were filled with dangerous
sink-holes, or bogs, that were a constant menace to the riders. For
let a horse slip into one of these and he might be sucked down
instantly. But the animals were sure-footed and accustomed to such
rough traveling, and they instinctively avoided all soft soil. Ever
and anon, a horse would slip on a rolling stone, or a hoof would break
through rotten timber, so that the scouts were being constantly jolted
one side or another.
Finally they found better going along a narrow ledge that looked like
an old trail. But it began nowhere and ended--well, it terminated
suddenly just ahead of Tally's next step!
"Back! Back!" yelled Tally, dragging on the reins with all his might.
That effectually halted the others, who were so close behind him, and
Mr. Vernon leaned over to ask, "What is it, Tally?"
"Big hole--she go down mebbe fifty feet to bottom. Gotta back out and
go round nudder way."
"Oh, mercy sakes! Back out all along this narrow ledge?" cried the
scouts.
But while they spoke, Jolt passed them, going on the verge of the
ledge, and causing every one to tremble for his life. When he was
passing Tally, the guide shouted angrily, "Whoa! Whoa!"
But Jolt acted exactly like a sleep-walker does. He paid no attention
to sight or sound, and in another moment he would have walked right
over the edge of the precipice, had not Tally jumped from his saddle
and caught hold of the guide rope that had been tied to his halter
before entering the gully.
This slight hold, however, did not save the mule from disappearing
over the verge of the cliff, and it almost yanked Tally over, too. The
only thing that saved the guide was Omney, who jumped to assist his
friend when Jolt went by. The rope was instantly wound about a tree
stump and braced. Then Tally climbed warily to safety, before the
loose shale should crumble in with his weight.
Every one had been speechless with horror a moment before, but now
every one spoke with loosened tongue.
"The mule had all the food-stuffs," said Anne.
"And the camp outfit as well," added Mr. Vernon.
"Just think of the poor thing--down there crushed to bits," wept Betty.
Some felt sorry for Jolt, and some felt sorry for themselves. Then
Tally said, "Eef light scout crawl ober an' tell what her see Jolt
doin', mebbe we save him."
Betty was the lightest so she offered her services. She was tied
securely to one of the ropes that hung on the saddle-horn, and Tally
advised her what to do.
"Crawl to edge, look down. Tell what Jolt do, or eef he mashed in
bottom!"
So Betty crept slowly over the shale and reached the edge of the
ravine. She peered down, and the sunlight that shone through the trees
just then, helped her to see plainly.
"Jolt's standing on a wide ledge of rock about twenty feet lower than
this one. His packs are gone--guess they tumbled down when the straps
burst open. But there isn't any _spare_ room for him to exercise on,"
reported Betty.
"Did you say he was standing upon his feet?" asked Mr. Gilroy,
unbelievingly.
"Yes, with his head facing towards the outlet of this chasm. He hears
me talking, 'cause I see him prick up his long ears."
"Al' light," said Tally, joyfully. "Tell me, do ledge end in hole like
dis-a-one do?"
"No, it looks as if it ran right down to the valley, Tally. I can see
the sunlight down at the end, about a mile away."
That caused great joy in each heart, and Tally said, "Al'light, now
come back."
So the scout crawled back, while Tally spoke with Omney and planned
what to do. The result of this conversation was then apparent.
Tally tied a long rope to his own waist, and Omney began paying out
the rope as the Indian went over the edge of the gulch. Every one held
his breath to wait developments. Then they heard Tally shout,
"Al'light--le' go."
"Now us back out--Tally ride Jolt down valley," announced Omney.
"O Hominy! Do you think the mule is all right?" cried Ruth.
"Tally say so. Us go back now." So back they went in every sense of
the word--back along the ledge, and backwards all the way.
The horses climbed the rocky slope and went along the top-side of the
chasm, but it was no better adapted for comfortable riding than the
bottom had been. After an hour of dreadful jumps and jolts and slips,
the riders came out to the valley that Betty had spoken of, at the end
of the draw.
There stood Tally, grinning with good news. "Fine camp!"
"But where is Jolt?" demanded the scouts.
"Him dockered up wid bear-grease, bandages, an' herb!' laughed Tally,
pointing to a place where they could see a mule taking things easy on
the grass.
"Got packs out, Tally?" asked Omney.
"Us go in get 'em now, Omney. Scouts make camp an' we come back wid
grub, pooty soon."
So the two guides rode in through the chasm again, along the bottom
beside the river, and the scouts rode on to make camp where Tally had
directed them.
There the scouts found one of the most interesting shelters of all on
that camping-trip. It was discovered under the wide overspreading
boughs of a clump of firs which had so grown that a perfectly clear
and covered area in the center provided a Nature-made house.
While Ruth and Betty were ordered to clean up the sticks and stones on
the ground under the trees, the other girls gathered balsam and made
the beds. The two men went to fish, and the Captain built a good fire
to cook the combination breakfast and dinner, as it was now long past
noon.
Tally and Omney came back after a long absence, but they had the
packs, a little the worse for the fall, to be sure.
"I see this is the last can of soup and our last can of beans,"
ventured Mrs. Vernon, when she opened the food-pack.
"Um! Us know rancher--plenty grub in him lodge," said Tally,
significantly. Everybody laughed at his wink that accompanied the
words.
The ride from Flat Top had been so strenuous that the scouts camped
that night in the fir-tree lodge, as they had called it. All retired
early, as they hoped to make a start at dawn in order to reach the
rancher's, where Tally said he could buy a stock of food.
But a number of timber wolves howled about the camp all the night
through, keeping the tired travelers half-awake. Towards dawn they
must have followed another scent, as all was quiet in the forests
thereafter.
The Captain was startled out of a sound sleep by a strange
"s-swish"--close to her ear. Springing up with the remembrance of the
wolves, she heard Tally whisper through the pine-boughs, "Tell scout
come see caribou in valley."
In a few moments every one was up and out of the tree-lodge. The
scouts saw the men crouching down behind a large boulder that stood
near the verge of a steep descent to the green valley below. The
curious girls soon joined them and then witnessed a most unusual
sight.
Down in the valley, several hundred yards away, was a herd of caribou
grazing on the juicy grass. A fine buck with antlers spreading far
from each side of his head, jumped about as if worked by springs. If a
cow got in his way he stamped his polished hoofs and threatened her
with his flattened horns.
But the cows seemed not to mind such idle threats on the part of the
bull, and continued grazing.
Julie laughed. "They're suffrage caribou--they know how a male talks
fine but seldom does what he brags about!"
This started an animated argument between Mr. Gilroy and the Scout
Leader, which was suddenly hushed by the behavior of the buck. He
lifted his nose, sniffed angrily and stamped his hoof in token that he
resented any interference with his family's breakfast.
"What's the matter with him?" asked Joan in a whisper.
"Maybe he scented human beings watching him," suggested Anne.
Tally shook his head, but in another moment the scouts learned what
had caused his annoyance. He now sounded a warning to the cows, and
they all lifted their heads instantly and sniffed as the buck had
done.
"Dear me, I hope they won't run away," wished Ruth, and then she saw
that they would not run--they would defend themselves.
From out the dark fringe of forest there now crept a number of lean
hungry timber-wolves, looking like long grey shadows of the trees. So
slowly and noiselessly did they move that only animals trained to
defend themselves in the wilderness would have known an enemy was so
close at hand.
As they moved, the four men silently lifted their rifles, and waited
for the signal from Tally to shoot.
"Are those the wolves we heard last night?" asked Julie.
"Most likely, or some like them," returned Mr. Gilroy, in a whisper
that only those next him could hear.
"Um! t'ree of 'em--get reward fur dem coyotes!" grinned Omney.
The caribou, warned in time by the bull, saw the skulking beasts
creeping, creeping like the shadows towards them, and they instantly
formed their defence, as they always do in case of extreme danger when
it is wiser to fight than to fly.
With their hind legs closed together like the center of a wheel, and
their heads presenting antlers pointing towards the enemy like
bayonets on the defence line in a battle, the herd stood perfectly
still and waited.
"Wonderful sight!" breathed Mrs. Vernon.
"Oh, for that camera! It is in the duffel-bag," sighed Julie.
But the scene now grew too exciting for any scout to yearn over
forgotten kodaks, for the wolves were almost near enough to begin
their raid. The four rifles still pointed directly at them, but the
signal was not yet forthcoming. Tally knew when to fire.
Just as the foremost wolf rose on his hind legs to hurl himself at the
caribou nearest him, and the bull bellowed madly and wheeled to
attack, Tally signaled. Four spurts of blue and four streaks of
red--and three timber wolves rolled over dead!
At the sound of those dire sounds which the bull understood to be as
deadly as a wolf, he lifted his snout high in the air, called hastily
to his herd, and the wheel broke--the caribou trotted away swiftly and
disappeared in the forest.
"That certainly was a sight worth seeing," sighed the Captain. "But I
must hang that camera about my neck, day in and day out, or I shall
miss the best pictures every time."
At breakfast that morning Mr. Gilroy said, "I had planned to cross the
Continental Divide at Milner's Pass, because of the beauties of the
Fall River Road, but this unexpected slide down from Flat Top
yesterday, disarranged all these plans. What shall we do about it?"
"What was your next point of interest, had we gone over the pass as
you had planned?" asked Mrs. Vernon.
"Well, you see, I thought we would land somewhere near Beaver Creek on
the western slope of the Divide. I know a number of ranchers living
about that section, and I thought the scouts might enjoy spending a
week or so on these ranches."
"If it's all the same to you, Gilly, we'd rather enjoy the wildlife of
the Rockies instead of ranching," ventured Julie.
"Oh, it's all the same. In fact, I'd rather not use any time on the
ranches while I still have many interesting moraines to explore," said
he.
"Then we'll plan a new route. What would you do next?" said the
Captain.
"We are near the Meadow Fork of Grand River, I think, and we can
follow that to reach Grand Lake. Then we can trail from there, along
the North Fork of the Grand, until we reach Hot Sulphur Springs. After
a visit to the Springs, we can go down Gore Canyon, cross the Gore
Range, and thus reach Steamboat Springs."
"All right, let's do as you just said," remarked Mr. Vernon.
"Tally give up Devil-Bear and timber wolves at Spring," now said
Tally.
"All right, Tally, but don't you think the girls ought to share in the
reward for the wolves? We helped shoot them," said Mr. Gilroy.
"Um, sure! Scout git Devil-Bear money, too!" said Tally, amazed that
any one should have thought otherwise.
"How so?" demanded Julie.
"Tally 'gree to guide, hunt, fish, help Mees'r Gilloy an' scout all
way frough summer. Devil-Bear kill in hunt, but Tally paid for time,"
explained the Indian, thus refuting the reputation many white men give
the Indian, that he will take advantage of other races every chance he
gets.
"Oh, no, Tally! We wouldn't think of such a division!" exclaimed the
Captain. "Give us the pelts and you take the reward."
As this suggestion was seconded by the others, Tally and Omney grinned
joyously, for it was a windfall they had not looked for.
Further along the trail, Tally turned off to stop at a ranch-house and
lay in a supply of flour and what other edibles the ranch-owner would
sell him. Then they continued over the mountains.
Had the scouts come suddenly upon the Continental Divide they would
have been speechless with the grandeur of it, but they had been riding
past and over many peaks, canoeing down marvelous waterways, and had
climbed all the ranges that led to the Divide, so that they scarcely
realized that they were crossing the stupendous elevation until they
heard Tally speak.
"Mos' over now, foothills all way to Sulphur Springs."
As they rode on, looking for Meadow Fork, along which Mr. Gilroy
wished to trail, many questions were asked by the scouts and answered
by the Indians.
Ruth then said, "I've heard a lot about Hot Sulphur Springs, Gilly,
but what thrilling sight shall we find there?"
"Its name might lead you to believe you would see the apparition who
is said to have charge of all sulphur worlds," said Julie, giggling.
"Also you will have an opportunity to taste the nastiest drinking
water he--Julie's friend--ever sent bubbling forth," added Mr. Gilroy,
quickly.
"That friend and I had a falling out and now we are not on speaking
terms!" retorted Julie, and the others laughed.
"Why stop there, then? Let's go on to Gore's Canyon,--that sounds
awfully thrilling," remarked Joan.
"Is it named Gory, Gilly, because so many Red Men scalped the early
settlers out here?" asked Betty.
"Oh, no," laughed Mr. Gilroy. "It is named after an Irish nobleman,
Sir George Gore, who discovered the canyon while he and a party of
friends were hunting big game in the Rockies many years ago, before
folks went over the Divide. In those days it was considered a
marvelous feat to go into the Rockies."
"If every one can have a mountain named after them, why can't I have
one called 'Juliet's Peak'?" demanded the irrepressible scout.
"You can, if you like. That is the easiest part of all, but how will
other tourists know that that particular peak is named for _you_?"
laughed Mr. Gilroy.
"You'd have to advertise the fact by some wild adventure, or great
patriotic deed," added Mr. Vernon.
"Oh, I can advertise, all right!" retorted Julie. "I'll take a great
bucket of whitewash and a calcimine brush; then on every flat-faced
rock along the trail, up one side and down the other, I'll slap a
hand-painted sign on every one of them: 'This is Juliet's Peak,' and
the finger in ghostly white will point to my peak."
Her ridiculous explanation caused every one to laugh, but when Jolt
turned and opened his jaw wide to emit the grating sound "Hee--haw!
Hee--haw!" the riders declared it was screamingly opportune of the
mule.
Late in the afternoon, the second day from Flat Top, the scouts had
their first battle with a rattlesnake. It is claimed that one never
sees a rattler on the east slope of the Rockies,--why, it is not
stated. But one certainly encounters many of them on the west side and
on other ranges in Colorado.
They were jogging along comfortably when Julie's horse suddenly leaped
aside and climbed a steep bank beside the trail. The other horses
trembled, and instantly the warning rattle sounded. Tally hurried back
and saw a huge reptile coiled at one side of the trail, half-hidden
under a bush.
He jumped from the saddle and snapped a hickory stick from a young
sapling nearby. Then he whipped the rattler over the back. He could
not break its back as the bush fended the blows. But Omney and Tally
could so tire the reptile with blows that kept its head swinging from
side to side, that finally they might jump on it.
The scouts sat and watched this interesting fight, the rattler darting
its forked tongue venomously at the sticks, and in so doing having to
turn its head from one to the other. This defence kept it from
uncoiling and gliding away. Neither could it spring from the coil to
strike while its head was so busy.
At last it showed signs of weariness, and once, when it momentarily
forgot to strike at Tally's whip but struck twice in succession at the
stick Omney wielded, the former took instant advantage of it, and in
another moment his heel was planted upon the flat head.
Then the guides dragged the sinuous reptile out and measured it. It
was fully five feet long, from head to tip of tail where ten rattles
were attached. Tally removed these, and with a bow presented them to
the Captain,--an honor shown all Tenderfeet in the Rockies, if a
rattler is encountered by the natives.
"Him make fine money book, er belt," suggested Omney, when the scouts
shuddered at the diamond-backed rattler.
"Oh, yes, we must send the skin home to be cured and made into
souvenirs, girls!" exclaimed Mr. Gilroy.
In vain did the riders look for other rattlers after that, for every
one wanted every skin that could be gotten for souvenirs.
Mr. Gilroy rode along, watching for the familiar landmarks that would
tell him he had found Meadow Fork, but he finally admitted that he
must have taken the wrong turn back by the ranch.
They rode past lovely streams and camped beside a most enchanting
lake, then on, alongside a fine river, but Mr. Gilroy did not find his
Meadow Fork or Grand Lake.
Finally, from the summit of one of the lower peaks on the western
slope of the Rockies, the scouts saw a valley spread out before them,
and concentrated in one spot of this valley were numerous dots, that
were dwelling-houses, together with several large ones, that denoted
they were hotels.
Mr. Gilroy rubbed his eyes, then stared. "Now, if I did not know
better, I'd swear that that was Sulphur Springs."
"'Tis Sp'ings," chuckled Tally.
"But, Tally, it can't be! We haven't found Meadow Fork or Grand River,
yet! Have we trailed along some other way?" wondered Mr. Gilroy.
The town proved to be the Springs, and there Mr. Gilroy learned that
he had been riding along Meadow Fork, had camped at Grand Lake, and
then followed Grand River, without knowing it. This error in judgment
gave the scouts a never-ending chance for teasing him, thereafter.
That night the horses, as well as their riders, were glad to stretch
out upon comfortable town-made beds, and in the morning the breakfast
was already provided for all, instead of their having to first gather
it.
The first thing the guides did after breakfast was to cash in their
reward for Devil-Bear. The skin proved their claim, and word instantly
circulated that two Indians had killed the menace of the ranches. The
scouts received the reward for the tongues of the timber-wolves which
Tally had brought into town, and thus the scouting party soon found
fame camping on their doorstep. The local papers made much of them,
and the girls took a keen delight in mailing home copies of the papers
containing the account of their exploits.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A FOREST FIRE
"Now, friends, let us get away as soon as possible, or the guides may
spend all their reward money on firewater, and be unable to start for
a week," suggested Mr. Gilroy, confidentially, to the scouts.
"Why don't you take the money and deposit it for them in a bank?"
asked Julie.
"I offered to keep it for them, but they were not overanxious to part
with the cash. I know the boys too well to dream that they can
withstand temptations of a town when they have such easy money to
burn."
So the riders planned to leave immediately, starting away soon after
the midday meal.
"I'm not sorry to leave the Springs with its ailing visitors behind,"
remarked Joan, as they got back into the saddles.
"Thank goodness we are not rheumatic, or gone to pieces, to have to
come here to be mended again," declared Julie.
"I should think the horrid water would kill them, instead of curing,"
added Ruth, making a wry face at the remembrance of her taste of the
waters.
"It isn't the water that cures, remember," said Mr. Gilroy, "it is the
people's faith in it. And some folks believe that the more
disagreeable a cure tastes, the better it will act."
From Hot Sulphur Springs the party rode through Gore Canyon, and then
over the Gore Range, as Mr. Gilroy had planned. The climb up the
latter mountains was one of the thrilling experiences of the trip.
Following Tally through an unbroken wilderness, they unexpectedly came
upon an old lumber-road. Along this they trailed until it ended in a
natural clearing of over a thousand acres. The park was surrounded by
dense forests with apparently no trail leading from it.
"Here we are, boys! In, all right, but no way out," called Mr. Vernon,
smiling at the perplexed looks of the riders.
"That means that every one has to hunt for a blaze of some kind,"
returned Mrs. Vernon.
"The blazes are here, all right, but the trail is such an old one that
the young timber has, likely, grown up and hidden the old pines which
carry the signs," added Mr. Gilroy.
Thereupon, every scout began to thrash through bushes and between
young trees, hunting for the much-desired blaze. It was Betty's luck
to find it, although she really wasn't looking as anxiously for it as
were the other scouts.
She saw a queer scar on an old pine before her when she broke through
some brush, and she was studying its strange formation when Tally came
up behind her. He recognized the blaze and laughed.
"Betty find him! Come see!" shouted he.
The others galloped across the park and stared at the deeply scarred
pine, while Tally read its meaning to them.
"It must have been blazed in the days of the First People," said
Julie.