A MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE.
Early one morning in the following week, Hugh and Alec, moved by a
spirit of newly cemented friendship, asked that they, attended by Indian
Joe and accompanied by Billy Worth and Sam Winter, be permitted to make
a trip on foot through the wilderness, to a mountain about five miles
east of old Stormberg.
This request Lieutenant Denmead readily granted, after giving each of
the four young “mountaineers,” as he called them, a physical
examination, testing heart, lungs, muscle, etc. “It ought to be a rule
in all camps,” said he, “that no boy whose heart is not first examined
should attempt a mountain climb over a thousand feet, or a long
march,—that is, no boy in his teens. You fellows, with the exception of
Alec, are ‘sound in wind and limb.’”
“What’s the matter with me, sir?” queried Alec.
“How about that ankle of yours, my boy?”
“Oh, that’s all right, Chief! It’s quite strong again. I had forgotten
all about it.”
“All right, then. But be careful. By the way, I think I’ll ask Rawson to
go with you.”
“Fine!” “Great!” “Wish he would come!” the boys responded
enthusiastically.
Accordingly, George Rawson joined the expedition that set forth bright
and early next morning. Each member carried a haversack filled with
provisions, in addition to the regular equipment for camping-out in fine
weather.
The peak which they intended to climb was locally known as the Pinnacle.
Higher than old Stormberg, it rose in the heart of the forest, and was
approached from camp, first by a long-disused logging road that skirted
the lower end of Pioneer Lake, then by trails and bridle-paths, and
finally by a single trail that wound up its rocky sides. Though not
remote from camp, it was nearly nightfall when the little party arrived
at a farmer’s barn nestling at the foot of the mountain, and, as a
reward for helping him with the last of the day’s “chores,” were allowed
to sleep in his hayloft. Much as they preferred to sleep in the open, a
heavy rain—which had begun suddenly during the last two hours of their
march—forced them to seek the shelter of the barn.
The morrow dawned in a heavy fog, and the Scouts were astir early in
anticipation of clear weather. After a breakfast of oatmeal cakes,
hard-boiled eggs, and cereal coffee, Hugh and Billy approached Joe, who
was packing the cooking outfit, and said, “Rawson says we can go ahead a
little if you will show us the trail, Joe. He has climbed the Pinnacle
before, and will follow later.”
Joe gave a grunt of assent, and the three strapped on their haversacks
once more, left the barnyard, and struck out into the woods.
As they began to ascend the mountain the wreaths of fog floated higher
and higher above them, until the sun came forth in full splendor and all
the moist, dripping woods were bathed again in light. In a few minutes
Hugh realized, with a thrill of excitement, that the slopes of the magic
peak were actually under his feet! He stumbled frequently over the
broken rocks, helping himself up with the aid of trees, saplings, and
undergrowth. Billy, less lithe and agile than Hugh, found it more
difficult to keep in Joe’s wake; and further, he was encumbered with a
camera, which he had insisted on taking with him on this trip. How he
managed to carry the thing along without smashing it, he could never
afterward explain; but in the course of that day he got some remarkable
photographs, and thereby added several points to the credit score of the
Wolf Patrol.
Occasionally they were obliged to swing by their arms, like apes, from
roots or branches projecting over the edge of some miniature precipice.
Their faces were scratched by brambles, their hands cut by the sharp
edges of rocks, and their clothing torn by the jagged limbs of broken
pines and hemlocks.
It was after ten o’clock before they reached a broad ledge, where they
paused to rest and wait for the others. And it was twilight again before
the reunited party reached the summit.
Stunted evergreen trees covered the top of the mountain, but the weary
Scouts found a comparatively open space in an angle of rocks on one
side, a few yards down, and there they made a bed of pine twigs. Then,
collecting a heap of dead branches, they soon had a roaring fire. On all
sides lay the wilderness, a great dark gulf beneath them. From among the
trees came the nocturnal cries of wild animals, the hoot of a great
horned owl, and the soughing of the fitful wind in the pines. In an hour
the moon rose and shed a faint illumination over the weird scene.
In the morning the wilderness was like a green ocean surrounding that
island peak, even the sharp, spiky tops of trees blending softly in a
light haze. After disposing of breakfast, the party started to descend
the mountain on another side, attracted by a lake that they had noticed
shining in the light of the moon. But unwittingly they chose the worst
possible place for descent, and that, in spite of Joe’s general
knowledge of the locality. In about an hour they found themselves
involved in perpendicular cliffs and headlong pitches of the
mountainside, which seemed to their inexperience truly frightful. At
last they came out upon the dizzy brow of a precipice which was too
smooth to afford any foothold.
The cliffs towering behind them seemed to forbid return, and they
searched anxiously for a place where they dared attempt to descend.
“Look!” exclaimed Joe, at last, pointing to a dead pine which had fallen
against the face of the precipice and remained leaning there. “We got to
climb down that tree. Come.”
He crawled forward until half of his body was over the smooth ledge,
then reaching down, he grasped the topmost branch of the leaning pine
and swung himself over, landing on the trunk of the tree. After that it
was easy to crawl along the trunk to its roots, which rested upon more
level ground. The feat was not without peril, but it was the only way
out of the difficulty. Each member of the party in turn followed Joe’s
example, crawling, clinging, scrambling to safety. Then they looked back
at the sheer cliff and rejoiced that they had had even this chance of
escape.
Another danger, however, soon became evident. They had lost their way!
Wandering in the intricacies of a “windfall,” they struggled desperately
with a tangled mass of broken branches and uptorn roots. After spending
the greater part of the forenoon in advancing perhaps half a mile, Sam
climbed a tree, gave a searching look around, and announced that he had
his bearings.
The half-breed climbed up, also, and surveyed the landscape with his
keen black eyes.
“Right!” he grunted positively. “Sam guess right. Joe know Pioneer
Lake.”
Nevertheless, when by slow stages they approached the lake, they found
they still had to traverse broad swamps. At last, they came upon the
backwoods trail which had grown familiar in many stalking games and
signaling tests, and all their difficulties blended into the single one
of tramping for an hour or two without food on a path that was
wearisomely long, though it led out of the wilderness. Presently they
emerged into the open, breaking into a cheer at the welcome sight of the
council-fire of Pioneer Camp.
The “mountaineers” were quickly surrounded by a mob of curious boys and
bombarded with eager questions. Rawson, however, demanded water and food
for the hungry travelers first of all, and not until their exhausted
comrades were amply refreshed did the other Scouts beg again to hear
their experiences. Then Hugh and Alec, supplemented by Billy and Sam and
endorsed by Rawson, told the story of their mountain climb. When it was
finished, the council-fire had crumbled into ashes, and the last sparks
had died out in the light of the stars.
Another day of camp-life was ended. As the boys fell asleep, they smiled
with content at their lot, and wondered what new happenings awaited them
in the Land of Tomorrow, at dawn to become another Today!
That there _were_ new and strangely unforeseen experiences before them,
proof now exists, for the record may be found in “The Boy Scouts of
Pioneer Camp.”
Transcriber’s Notes
--Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public
domain in the country of publication.
--Silently corrected palpable typos (including once exchanging the order
of two entire lines); left non-standard spellings and dialect
unchanged.
--Retained the probable typo “stertorious” for its portmanteau-word
potential.
--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the
HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)