"A Rocky Mountain goat! I verily believe," said Mr. Gilroy.
"Oh, oh! That"s what we want to see!" cried the girls.
"And I want to get a good picture of it," added the Captain.
"Now"s your opportunity," returned her husband.
"But we are too far away to focus the camera."
"If the goat will wait, you might go over there," laughed Mr. Gilroy.
"Verny, we could ride across this plateau and manage to get a much better focus," suggested Julie.
"And there may be a whole herd feeding on the gra.s.s down in the glade between these cliffs," said Mr. Gilroy.
"Oh, let"s go and see!" teased the scouts; so the horses were left with Tally, and their riders crept carefully across the gra.s.sy knolls and glades that hid from their view the ravine where they hoped to see the goats.
They were well rewarded for their trouble, too. Down in the green basin, under the crag where the ram kept guard for his sheep and ewes, grazed a large flock of Rocky Mountain goats. The scouts had a sight such as few tourists ever are blessed with, and Mrs. Vernon took a whole film of excellent snapshots,--all but one exposure, and that was left on the chance of an unusual sight.
While they stood watching the herd, a great ram was seen bounding recklessly along the edge of the cliff that formed the wall of the glade directly opposite the scouts. He nimbly jumped from ledge to ledge down this almost perpendicular wall, and soon reached the herd.
Then another ram, that first sighted by the riders, also started down, going where there seemed to be absolutely no foothold for him. He would spring from the ledge and, scarcely touching the side rock with his hoofs, land upon a bit of shelf, thence on down to another tiny ledge far beneath, and so on until he reached the glade.
The two rams now conveyed an alarm to the sheep, and forthwith they started up the perpendicular wall at the end of the glen, winding a way along one ledge after another where no visible foothold was seen with the naked eye. Yet _they_ found one, for they climbed, and having reached the top of the wall, they disappeared.
"Oh, pshaw! I meant to snap the last exposure with that wonderful picture of the herd going up the wall," exclaimed Mrs. Vernon in evident disappointment.
"You"re lucky to get the ones you did, Captain. These Rocky Mountain sheep are the wildest on earth, and seldom can man come near enough to get snapshots as you did to-day. The Peruvian goats and those in Arabia are agile and daring, but they do not compare with these goats for agility, and faith in their footsteps.
"When we go further North in the mountains, this scene we just witnessed will seem like child"s play to the feats those goats will accomplish.
"The lambs are even more intrepid than the elders, and have not the slightest bit of fear of falling. Strangely enough, they seldom fall, and are hardly ever injured. It is said that the only risks they run are when they happen to jump in strange territory where the ledges and footholds are not understood."
As Mr. Gilroy finished his interesting description, Mr. Vernon added, "I"ve read that the injuries or death that come to these little athletes are due to their traveling in strange places and along unfamiliar trails, as you just mentioned. But in their own crags and mountain recesses, no hunter can ever trap them. They will jump, no matter from what height, and are always sure of a secure footing somewhere."
The scouts were so absorbed in listening that they had paid little attention to their own footsteps as they retraced their way to join Tally. Here and there were small pits almost hidden by the long slippery gra.s.s that grew on and hung over the edges.
Julie was about to draw every one"s attention to a great bird that hovered overhead, when her foot slipped on such gra.s.s and, in trying to catch hold of something to waylay her descent into the shallow pit, she managed to lay hold of Mr. Gilroy"s leg. In another moment, he was sliding down with her.
"Look pleasant!" warned the Captain, as she quickly snapped a picture on the last exposure of the roll, and then laughed merrily as she turned the k.n.o.b that wound up the film securely.
When the two coasters managed to scramble out of the hollow, midst the laughter of all, Mrs. Vernon said, "I am glad now that my last picture will be one so fitting to be shown with the others of the Rocky Mountain Athletes."
[Ill.u.s.tration: A great ram came out opposite the scouts]
CHAPTER SEVEN
TALLY AND OMNEY ENTERTAIN
While seeking for a likely spot where they could pitch camp that night, Mr. Vernon saw smoke ascending from the pines a short distance away. Fearing lest a fire had started in some way, Mr. Gilroy and he quickly sought for the place and came upon an old acquaintance. Mr.
Lewis and his guide, Omney, to say nothing of their Irish terrier, Scrub, were in camp, eating supper.
It was a pleasant surprise for both Mr. Lewis and Mr. Gilroy, as the two geologists had not met since their trip in the mountains many years before. So both parties soon joined camps and enjoyed themselves immensely.
After supper that night, the girl scouts heard of many wonderful experiences these friends had shared--the jaunts and jeopardies that always provide such thrilling stories after they are over. Finally Mr.
Lewis remarked, "I came here this summer to hunt out a few of those glacial specimens we missed the last time, Gilroy."
"Now, that"s strange, Lewis, because that is why I am here. Dr. Hayden mentions some in his latest book, and Tyndall Glacier is the only place I"ve ever heard of where there is any such moraine," said Mr.
Gilroy.
"Have you been there, yet?" asked Mr. Lewis.
"No, "but I"m on my way,"" laughed the scientist.
"Then take me with you, old pal! How about the rest of your party,"
said Mr. Lewis.
"Oh, Mr. Vernon is fast becoming as infatuated with the hunt for specimens as you or I ever were. So we"ll share fifty-fifty if we can find anything worthwhile."
"And the ladies?" added Mr. Lewis.
"As they are tried and trusty scouts, they are fit for any trial of courage or endurance--is that enough?"
"That"s a splendid recommendation for any one, Gilroy, but have you told them that exploring these glaciers is not as easy as sitting beside a fire and talking of the thrills?"
"I have no idea of dragging them down through the moraines with us; but they can accompany us on the trail and enjoy the camp while we wander about in our hunting. The guides can plan the girls" recreation for the time we are absent. Now, how does that strike every one?" said Mr. Gilroy.
Of course, every one agreed that the plan was great, so they rode forward in the morning, bound for the district around Tyndall Glacier.
When they found a place that would make a comfortable camp for the time, the Indians went to work to arrange things for a week, or more, according to the geologists" plans.
Camp was pitched upon a knoll with plenty of pine trees so standing that natural tentpoles were readymade. The rain would drain from all sides of the knoll, and at one side ran a stream of pure spring-water.
From the front of this campsite one could see the cold forbidding peak of Tyndall Glacier.
Mr. Lewis"s guide, whose baptismal name was as difficult to p.r.o.nounce as Tally"s, was called Omney,--that being a good imitation of what it really was. Julie, who was always doing something funny, named him "Hominy."
As soon as the campsite had been decided upon, the two guides told the scouts to clear away all excrescences from the ground. This meant they had to take axes and cut out all brush and roots that would interfere with comfortable walking about. Then the girls said the place was as clean as a whistle, and Tally went over it carefully. But it was amazing how many "stick-up" obstacles he found, where everything had seemed so smooth.
While Tally was doing this, Omney supervised the cooking of supper, and soon various savory odors greeted the nostrils of the hungry scouts. Every one was ready to eat when Omney announced that it was ready, and then there was a period of silence for a time.
Supper was over with the sunset, and the long purpling shadows of the mountains crept up while the guides placed fresh fuel on the fire and sat down to smoke their pipes. The Rocky Mountain wilderness, untamed as yet, closed in about the group that sat around the fire, while certain unfamiliar sounds of wildlife in the forest reached the ears of the scouts; but they cared not for prowling creatures there and then, because the campfire provided ample protection.
The two Indians, not having seen each other since their masters" last trip, were in high feather; and when Mr. Gilroy suggested that they entertain the party, they quickly responded. Omney first chanted his tribe"s Medicine Song; but before he sang he made obeisance to the four winds of heaven,--the North, East, South, and West,--that neither wind should forget Him who held them in the palms of His hands. He then explained that this honor and the song to follow were the opening forms to their daily worship of the Great Spirit.
He began in a deep-toned rhythmical chant, and he proceeded with the syncopated melody, now and then sifting in some queer sounds that _may_ have been words, while he kept time with hands and feet. Finally this motion seemed to become an obsession, and he accompanied his sudden cries and exclamations with muscular actions and twists of his supple limbs. When he reached this point in the Medicine Song, Tally caught up a pan, and with m.u.f.fled sticks beat time to the singing.