"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 s.p.a.ce 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.
CHAPTER X.
THE SIGNAL SMOKES.
"There"s smoke, Dolly!" cried Bessie, triumphantly. "Oh, but we"ve beaten them on this! Ours must have gone up twenty minutes before theirs, and they must have been able to see it when they were building their fire, too."
"Good! Oh, we"ll take them down a peg or two before we"re done today, Bessie!"
"Don"t be too confident yet, Dolly. Remember this is only the start. There"s ever so much more to be done before we"ve won."
"I don"t care! You and I have done our share, anyhow."
"You certainly have," said Eleanor Mercer"s laughing voice. "But Bessie"s right; it isn"t time to celebrate yet. Come on, now, we"re all going to be busy cooking and getting ready to cook."
Dolly and Bessie looked at the girls emerging from the trail in surprised delight.
"Well, you"ve done your share, and more, too," said Bessie. "We thought we came pretty fast, and we didn"t expect you for another fifteen minutes, anyway."
"Well, we didn"t exactly loiter on the way. I expect we"d all be glad of a chance to rest a little, but that will have to come later. We"ll be able to take things easy while we"re eating. We"re each to allow a full hour for that, you see, no matter when we get ready."
"But if we"re ready to start eating first we can start clearing up first, too, can"t we?" asked Dolly.
"Certainly! That"s the object of hurrying now. When we"re ready to sit down we"re to make two smokes, and they are to do the same, and again when we"ve finished, or when our hour is up, at least. We"ll keep tabs on one another that way, you see, and each side will know just how much the other has done. There"s got to be some such arrangement as that to make it interesting."
"Yes," said Margery Burton. "It wouldn"t really seem like a race unless we knew a little something about what the other side was doing, I think."
"Well," said Eleanor, "I see you"ve got a splendid fire. I"ll appoint you chief cook, Margery. You are to be here at the fire, and Zara shall help you."
Zara sprang to attention at once, and she and Margery unwrapped the ham, and got out the big boiler in which it was to be cooked.
"You go and get water, Dolly and Bessie," said Eleanor, then. "There are the buckets. Hurry, now, so that the water can be boiling while the others are fixing the ham."
And so dividing up the tasks that were to be done, she a.s.signed one to each girl. They were all as busy as bees in a moment, and the work flew beneath their accustomed fingers. Miss Eleanor knew the girls thoroughly, and while, as a rule, she saw to it that each girl had to do a certain number of things that did not particularly appeal to her since that made for good discipline, she managed matters differently today.
It was a time to give each girl the sort of work she most enjoyed, and which, therefore, she was likely to do better and more quickly than any of the other girls.
Although a stranger, hearing the singing, and seeing the bustling group of girls without understanding just what they were doing, might have thought he was looking on at a scene of great confusion, order really ruled. Each girl knew exactly what she was to do, and there was no overlapping. Things were done once, and once only, whereas, at the ordinary picnic there are half a dozen willing hands for one task, and none at all for another.
"Too many cooks spoil the broth," says the proverb, and the same rule applies doubly to such meals as the one the girls were so busily preparing. But there was no spoiling here, and in a surprisingly short time most of the girls were able to rest. Places were laid for the meal; plenty of water had been provided for the cooks, and there was an ample heap of firewood beside the fire.
"I"ll be ready for dinner when it"s time, all right," said Dolly, sniffing the delicious odor of the cooking ham as it rose from the fire. "My, but that smells good!"
"I"ve heard some people who had to cook meals say that it spoiled their appet.i.tes, and that they didn"t enjoy meals they had to cook themselves," said Eleanor. "But I don"t believe that applies to us a bit. You"ll be able to eat with the rest of us, won"t you, Margery--you and Zara?"
"I can"t speak for Zara," said Margery, laughing. "But I certainly can for myself. Just you watch me when dinner"s ready! Let"s start the coffee, Zara."
A great coffee pot had been brought, and a muslin sack full of coffee. This sack was now put in the coffee pot, which was filled with water, and the pot was set on the fire. There is no better way of making coffee. The finest French drip coffee pot in the world can"t equal the brew that this simple and old-fashioned method produces. And anyone who has ever tasted really good coffee made in such a fashion will agree that this is so.
"Can those boys really cook, Miss Eleanor?" asked Dolly, looking toward the other peak, whence smoke was rising steadily.
"Can"t they, just!" said Eleanor, heartily. "What makes you ask that, Dolly?"
"I don"t know. It seems sort of funny for them to be able to do it, that"s all. You expect boys to do lots of other things, but cooking seems to be a girl"s business."
"Oh, there are lots of times when it"s a good thing for a man to be able to cook himself a meal, especially when he"s camping out. And they certainly can do it--those Boy Scouts."
"Have you ever tasted any of their cooking?"
"I certainly have. One day I was out for a long tramp near the city, and I managed to lose way in some fashion. You know some of the roads are pretty lonely, and I managed to go a long way without coming to any sort of a house where I wanted to stop and ask them to let me have something to eat, and I was nearly starved."
"What did you do? Wasn"t there even a store where you could have bought something?"
"I didn"t find it, if there was. Well, finally I decided to try a short cut through some woods, and I hadn"t gone very far when I ran plump into this same troop of Boy Scouts that is on the other peak now!"
"I bet you were glad to see them!"
"Indeed I was. I knew Mr. Hastings, you see, and when I told him I was lost and hungry, he made me sit down right away, and he explained that they were just going to have an early supper."
"That must have been good news!"
"If you knew how hungry I was, you"d believe it. Well, I never have had a meal that tasted half so good. They had crisp bacon, and the most delicious coffee, and real biscuit!"
"Biscuit! And had they cooked them themselves?"
"They certainly had--and they were so good and flaky they fairly melted in my mouth. If you"d tasted that supper you"d never ask again if boys could cook. Those boys over there today will fare just as well as we do ourselves, and they"ll have just as good a time getting the meal ready, too."
"I guess they"re better able to look after themselves than most of the boys we know at home."
"Dinner!" cried Margery, then. "Everything else ready? We"ll be all ready for you in a jiffy now. The ham"s cooked, and so are the potatoes and the corn is all roasted!"
"We"re ready whenever you are," said Eleanor, with a glance at the "table." "Dolly, you and Bessie can send up your two smoke signals now. I do believe we"re ready to eat before they are!"