THE BLIZZARD ON GRIZZLY SLIDE
As the adventurers advanced up the mountainside, the pines grew closer until it was almost impossible to ride between the great trees that crowded on either side of the faint trail.
"Polly, I don"t see how we can go much farther!" said Anne, who had never before been as high as this.
"Oh, we are only one-third of the way up, Anne," smiled Polly, swinging Noddy suddenly to one side to avoid a bowlder of rock that had rolled upon the trail.
After more arduous climbing, the horses unexpectedly came out into a vast clearing, called a "park" by the natives. It was acres in extent, fringed about by the heavy close growth of pines. The girls exclaimed at the beauty of the spot, for wild-mountain flowers grew profusely among the thick buffalo gra.s.s.
"Now, then, every one of you start at this point and hunt for the trail. I haven"t been here since last summer when we went for that trapper and his pelts. I didn"t look for the blaze then, but it was here, so we must find it to help us find the way out!" called Polly, as she guided Noddy slowly past the fringe of forest trees, looking carefully at each tree.
"Goodness, Polly! Do you ever expect to find an opening in this tangle of trees?" asked Barbara.
"We can if Polly says there"s one!" declared Anne, riding her horse carefully in the opposite direction from Polly.
Eleanor permitted her burro to follow after Polly, as she hadn"t the slightest idea of what the blaze or trail would look like.
Consequently, she was directly behind Polly when she shouted, "I"ve found it!"
The other girls wheeled their horses and galloped over to the place where Polly was swinging the ax about her head.
With several good whacks, she chopped down enough young aspens to clear a way through the brush, thus exposing to view an old tree bearing a blaze over twenty years old.
"I"ll show you how to count the age," said Polly, beginning at the outer bark and counting the rings plainly lined from the new bark into the tree until she reached the place where the blaze had been made.
"How interesting! Then that means this trail was made twenty years ago!" said Barbara.
"Maybe twenty times twenty years ago, for all we know. n.o.body really knows how old this trail is, for it was used by the Indians as far back as the oldest trappers and hunters know and have heard tell from their fathers and grandfathers!" replied Polly, swinging into the saddle and telling Noddy to proceed.
The little burro obediently went into the seemingly impa.s.sable thicket, the other horses following. After they had traveled for ten or fifteen yards, the undergrowth thinned until they were going on pine-needle-covered ground as soft as moss. The silent forest with its sentinel pines, spreading a canopy overhead, seemed like another world from the bright glare of the one left behind that morning.
The trees were so tall and majestic, with great fragrant green tops that scarcely allowed a sunbeam to penetrate to the pale green twilight underneath, that a solemn peace pervaded the minds of the young adventurers. The singing of birds, or the crackling of dry twigs, as wild creatures sprang over them, were the only sounds heard.
No shrubs or vegetation obstructed this impressive place, so the girls rode on in silence, until the trail ascended again. Near the confines of this forest, Polly suddenly reined in Noddy and held out a warning hand. Right across their pathway sped a young deer. It paused by the side of a sheltering pine-trunk, with head erect and fore-foot poised gracefully, gazing steadily at the strange creatures who dared intrude upon those sacred precincts!
It as suddenly vanished again, and the girls breathed deeply.
"Oh, for our camera!" cried Eleanor.
"How stupid of us to leave it home," added Barbara.
"It"s always the way. Who remembers a kodak until it is needed,"
laughed Anne.
"John promised to bring me a fine camera this summer, but he never came home from college, so I didn"t get it," said Polly, wistfully.
"Haven"t you one, Poll?" wondered Eleanor.
"Not yet."
"It"s a shame--and you with such wonderful ways to use it. The moment we get home, I shall give you my new one, and you can give me some prints from it in exchange," said Eleanor, generously.
"Why, Eleanor Maynard! Yours is brand new and cost forty dollars!"
cried shocked Barbara.
"Of course it"s new! Would I give my best friend a second-hand thing?"
retorted Eleanor.
"Oh, Nolla, it"s awfully good of you but I wouldn"t think of taking it!" exclaimed Polly, gratefully.
"If you don"t I"ll give it to Sary, and then you can look for trouble!
She"ll snap pictures of Jeb at dinner, of Jeb at the pump, and Jeb here, there, and everywhere!"
The girls laughed merrily at the pictures outlined, and the camera was forgotten.
After climbing for two hours more, Noddy wrinkled his nose and twitched his sensitive ears.
"Noddy scents water. See, Choko is acting the same way," called Polly; and sure enough both burros were making faces at the sky-line.
In a short time the riders reached another Park but this one was not half the size of the first. Instead of encircling forest trees, the girls saw giant up-thrusts of rock that deft the blue sky. On each side of the widened trail stood lodge-pole pine that ran up to the summit and down the other side of the peak.
"At last--Top Notch Trail!" exclaimed Polly.
"You seem relieved?" ventured Anne.
"I am, because I half-doubted whether I would remember the right route without an older guide."
"When in doubt don"t do anything," suggested Eleanor.
"If we didn"t do anything we wouldn"t have been up here," argued Anne.
"This trail runs straight to Grizzly Slide, a glacial peak I"ve always wanted to see. Father never had time to take me and mother wouldn"t allow me to find it alone. Explorers say it is a permanent glacier that seldom changes its form as most of our other snow-capped peaks do in summertime."
"How I"d love to see it!" sighed Eleanor.
"It sounds as if we were in Switzerland about to visit the Alps," added Barbara.
"Have you any plans for to-day, Polly?" asked Anne.
"Nothing particular. I thought we would try for this trail and have dinner up here, then do whatever you liked before starting for home."
"How long might it take to ride along the top and hunt for Grizzly Slide?" asked Eleanor eagerly.
"I"m not sure of the distance, although I hear it is four miles from Four Mile Blaze. From here to the blaze may be one or ten miles, but the going is fine on this trail," replied Polly, eagerly showing her inclinations.
"I simply won"t consider going back home yet!" declared Eleanor.
"We might go on a bit further before eating, and then we can see what the trail is like. If we decided to try for the Grizzly Something-or-other Poll mentioned, I"ll agree, all right!" ventured Anne, the gleam of adventure shining in her eyes.