"Yes, it"s a clear morning and it doesn"t take long for the snow to melt, once it gets started!" replied Polly.
"Have you enough ammunition to load again in case of need?" questioned Anne.
"Yes, I always look after that! But I was wondering what we can have for breakfast?"
"Ha! Leave that to the cook!" laughed Anne, going to the ledge and reaching up behind a crevice in the rocky wall. She brought forth one of the small fish spared from the night before.
"Good for you, Anne! If you could only dig up some sandwiches as readily!" laughed Polly.
"Maybe I can do that too, if you will look after the horses and burros!" said Anne, taking a small newspaper bundle from behind her spruce bed.
When opened, it showed that Anne had stolen some of the oats from the feed. This she rolled between two stones until it was crushed. Then she told Eleanor to pick out as many of the husks as possible.
"She"s going to give us Rolled Oats, as I live!" laughed Eleanor.
Polly smiled for she was surprised to find Anne could prepare a feast in the wilderness; and soon the oatmeal was cooking beside the fish-pan.
"How can you girls enjoy that awful stuff without sugar or cream?"
asked Barbara, plaintively.
"We"re eating ours without a grumble, but I notice, you are also eating yours and doing all the complaining!" retorted Eleanor.
"I have to eat it to keep from starving, still I can"t enjoy it as you seem to, Nolla. I declare, you seem to be getting awfully common in your tastes."
"Huh! Show me a selection of food for breakfast!" laughed Eleanor, smacking her lips over the last spoonful of oats.
"What shall we do about feeding the animals?" asked Eleanor, as they got up from the ground to pack up the pans and other stuff waiting to be taken back home.
"We"ll stop at the first good Park and let them graze for an hour or two. Then a good drink from a stream will fix them all right!" said Polly, glancing at Noddy, who had come from her stall and stood looking sleepily at the girls.
"Doesn"t Noddy look for all the world like a sleepy child who has to get up for school, but who hates to be disturbed!" laughed Anne, as Noddy"s tousled head bobbed up and down while she sniffed the air redolent with oatmeal.
Satisfied that something was cooking for her breakfast, Noddy ran over and nozzled at the girls, who laughed and tried to push her cold nose away.
The other burros and horses came out then, and Polly said, "It makes me feel selfish to eat their oats but then they can eat gra.s.s in the park and we can"t!"
"Girls! Aren"t you going to have another look at the gold-mine before you leave here?" asked Barbara.
"What for? It won"t do us any good and only waste time," replied Polly.
"Maybe you can find some more nuggets to carry back!" ventured Barbara.
"We have all we need to claim the rights of the mine, so why lug any more than we need?" returned Polly.
"Come on, Poll! Let"s pack up and be going!" said Eleanor, decisively.
So, with the animals saddled and the panniers packed, the cave-dwellers started carefully along the ledge towards the slope.
It was an invigorating morning, and the sun with its rays was just topping the tips of the pines, when the girls rode forth to climb the slope.
"Not a sign of that awful storm!" said Anne, amazed.
"Only in the glades and ravines, where the snow has drifted into heaps!
Even that will melt rapidly, as the warmth of the day is felt," said Polly, looking eagerly about as she rode.
"Polly, what do you suppose became of those wild animals?" asked Eleanor, riding directly behind Polly.
"That is just what I am looking for. I thought maybe I could see some tracks, for I was sure I got that panther when I took aim and shot!"
"Well, I"m going over near that edge of the cliff and see if there is any sign of blood or tracks!" declared Eleanor.
"No, no! You stop right here with us, Nolla!" cried Barbara, anxiously.
"I"m going over myself, Bob, because I am curious to see why both of them should slink away so quickly. A mountain-lion seldom leaves a possible victim until he has been gorged, and it was strange that he should go without having tried to get at us!" said Polly.
"Oh, Polly! _Please_ don"t talk of such gruesome things! I am so glad we will soon be back in civilization!" said Barbara.
The horses reached the top of the slope and Polly guided Noddy across the rough place to the cliff, where the fight had taken place.
Here she sought for some track or sign of the fight, but saw only a few small spots of red in the white snow.
Eleanor tried to make her burro follow after Noddy, but he was fractious and would not go near the cliff. He made a detour, however, about a small group of trees and just as he came opposite them, something upon the snow-drift at the base of the largest tree, caused him to shy violently.
"Oh, girls! Run! Come here and see what"s here," cried Eleanor, excitedly, jumping from her burro but remembering to hold the bridle.
The burro backed and refused to go nearer the thing, but Polly rode Noddy over and saw that Eleanor had discovered one of the victims of the fight.
"Ha! I thought so!" said Polly, with satisfaction.
Noddy was left to watch from a comfortable vantage point, while her mistress ran up to the large panther which was stretched out at the foot of the tree. He had tried to climb it in order to escape the grizzly"s claws.
"Isn"t he a ma.s.sive beast!" cried Anne, watching from her horse some distance away.
"You girls come back! He may not be dead!" shrieked Barbara, the moment she saw the animal.
"Say, Bob, if he wasn"t dead, he"d have had me down long before you came along to warn us!" laughed Eleanor.
"Polly, he"s a beauty, even if he is such a terror, isn"t he?" said Eleanor, admiring the satiny coat and beautiful form of the large mountain-lion, so majestic in death.
"I never saw a larger one! He must be at least nine feet long from nose to tip of tail!" said Polly, lifting the tail with her foot, then letting it drop again.
She stooped over looking closely at the wounds made by the grizzly, then she suddenly cried out, "Oh! I thought that shot hit him! It must have been that first shot from the rifle that sent him back from the cliff. Then, the bear tracked him and had the fight back here in the forest. That is when we heard the sounds diminishing.
"Well, old fellow, I"m sorry it had to be so! But you decreed it! It was you or one of us, and I preferred to have had it you! Old Grizzly wouldn"t be so cattish about sneaking up and laying low for us until the fire died down, or till one of us happened to step out of the circle of light! He would have made a big noise from the beginning and pounced down upon us w.i.l.l.y-nilly. And now he has given you yours!"
As Polly spoke, she stood looking regretfully at the creature, as if she wished the world was ordered otherwise than all the killing and taking, one from another, in the vain belief of living!
"Polly, how much do you think he weighs?" asked Eleanor eagerly.