Girl Scouts in the Rockies

“So I did, but it is simply impossible for me to lead the scouts such a dance, and now that they have two bears to dance along with them, I shall have to forego Mills’,” laughed Mr. Gilroy, longingly.

“Is Mr. Lewis going right back to Denver, did you say?” asked Julie.

“Yes, he has a public lecture to give at the Auditorium, so he cannot go on with us,” explained Mr. Vernon.

“Then listen to my idea, and tell me what you think of it – everybody,” exclaimed Julie, eagerly.

“Why can’t Mr. Lewis take back our pelts and the cubs, and express them home for us?”

The very audacity of the suggestion made every one laugh at first, but after much talking it seemed not so impossible.

“Then Gilly and Uncle can go through their wonderful heaps of glacial débris, while Tally guides us along the trail to the Flat Top. We will meet again at the foot of Tyndall Glacier,” said Julie.

So out of all the talking and planning this was the result: Frolic was selected as being the best-behaved of the two mules; the double crate was harnessed to her back, and in each crate a little cub was secured. The pelts of the bear, the panther, and the lynx were strapped across her back, and she was ready to start back to Long’s Peak village, with Mr. Lewis and Omney. There the bears would be crated anew, and shipped to the Zoo at Central Park, New York City, while the pelts were to be expressed to Mrs. Vernon’s home to await the scouts’ return.

Mr. Lewis was then to send Frolic back with Omney, who was to trail with the party and help Tally in various ways, while his master finished his lecture tour in Colorado.

The morning of their departure, the cubs were scrubbed, combed, and fed to repletion by the scouts, then secured in the crates. They were oblivious of the tears shed by the scouts over their soft little bodies, for they were curled up and fast asleep after such a hearty breakfast.

When Mr. Lewis and Omney rode down the trail, the scouts wept forlornly while the little party was in sight, but once a bend in the pathway was turned, Scrub came in for his full share of love and petting again.

“If we could only have kept the cubs with us!” sighed Joan.

“Thank heavens we have Scrub left as a hostage for Frolic,” sighed Ruth, hugging the dog, who now ignored every fond attention.

“As it was impossible to ‘travel light’ with two bears, isn’t it much better the way we arranged it, girls?” asked Mrs. Vernon.

And they had to admit that such was the case.

CHAPTER NINE – A THRILLING CANOE TRIP

With one pack mule less, Jolt had more to carry but he seemed not to mind it. He was made up of that temperament like few humans, that as long as he had plenty to eat and a place to sleep, it mattered not how hard he had to work at other times.

The day following Mr. Lewis’s departure with Omney and the cubs, the scouts broke camp and moved along the trail to pitch a camp nearer Battle Mountain. From this spot Mr. Gilroy and Mr. Vernon could daily rove about, hunting for the precious bits of rock and débris that meant so much to the geologist. Here the party planned to await the return of Omney and the mule, Frolic.

The new camp near Battle Mountain was much like the old one, with the exception of its being nearer the trail instead of way back in the woods. Thus it happened that the second day of camping, a party of tourists stopped to ask which trail would lead them to a certain stream where they were to meet a party of canoeists.

Tally explained how they could reach the place, and after they had gone, Joan sighed, “I wish we could canoe for a change!”

“It wouldn’t be much like the infant trips we took last summer,” said Ruth.

“I should say not! In the Rockies there’d be rapids, then a whirlpool, and then over a waterfall – to extinction!” laughed Julie.

“All the same, others take these trips safely, – why shouldn’t experienced scouts?” added Anne.

“Just because we never thought of it, with all our other excitement,” answered Ruth.

“Now that we have thought of it, let’s ask Verny why there are no places where one can hire a canoe,” suggested Julie.

The girls laughed at such an idea, but the thought of what a wonderful experience it would be to canoe on these streams, clung to their minds, and so the Captain heard about it.

“Even if you had canoes, there are no navigable streams,” said she.

“Those folks who stopped to ask Tally the way to Flat Top base were to meet friends who canoed all the way from somewhere,” said Joan.

“Yes, they told us they were to meet the party there and all were going to cross the Divide on horses, then come back and canoe home,” added Judith.

“It seems too bad that all those fine canoes must remain idle while those folks are riding over the Divide,” sighed Julie.

Mrs. Vernon purposely ignored the sigh and the insinuation, then did her best to change the subject to one more practical. But the Fates were against her this time.

The following morning, two of the men who had previously stopped to inquire the right trail to take, returned to ask Tally if he knew of any one who would sell them, or hire out, a number of mountain-climbing horses. Now that the canoeing party had arrived, there were no extra horses for them to ride.

“How many horses will you need?” asked Julie, quickly scheming.

“There are eight people in the party, and they will want one or two extra horses for the luggage,” replied the man.

“There are nine horses and one mule in our outfit,” hinted Julie, her eyes gleaming as she glanced at the Captain.

“But your mounts will do us no good,” laughed the man.

“Oh, they might, if you could persuade us to swap for a time,” said Julie, daringly.

“Julie, what do you mean?” demanded Mrs. Vernon, angrily.

“Why, one likes to be brotherly, you know, Verny, and in the wilds, far from other people, we ought to do a good turn to strangers. Here is a party with a number of canoes but no horses, and here are we with horses but no canoes – see my point?” she said.

“Even though you are the Scout Leader, Julie, I do not see how you can even suggest such a step. The Captain refuses to listen to any argument along those lines,” said Mrs. Vernon sternly.

“We scouts like to canoe, and we will be here at camp for several weeks, so a little side trip like the one offered now would be most delightful,” responded Julie, who understood that the Captain’s objections arose mostly from dread of the scouts taking the trip on unknown streams.

“Several weeks! Why, we are only camping here for a few days,” retorted Mrs. Vernon. “Besides I have no idea of exchanging safe methods of travel, for what is known to be a great risk.”

“Verny, Gilly told Uncle last night that he had enough material on hand in these moraines to keep him busy for a year, if he wanted to do the thing properly. But even as it was, he proposed spending several weeks between here and Tyndall Glacier,” said Joan, to corroborate Julie’s statement.

“Well, what of that? Would you advise me to loan the horses Gilly gave security for, to a party of strangers we never saw in our lives?”

Before any one could answer, Mr. Gilroy hurried back to camp. “I’ve forgotten my magnifying glasses, girls. Don’t stop me for anything, now,” said he.

He ran into his tent and was out again in a moment, but one of the men who came to ask about horses, recognized him in that moment.

“Why, it is Mr. Gilroy, who has a place in the Adirondacks!” exclaimed he, coming forward.

“Well of all people! You’re the last I looked for in the Rockies, Kenmore!” laughed Mr. Gilroy, shaking hands with his friend from the East.

“Funny how we should happen to meet like this,” said Mr. Kenmore, then he introduced his companion. Mr. Gilroy, in turn, introduced the two men to Mrs. Vernon and the girls.

When Mr. Kenmore told his story, and why he had stopped at the camp, Julie hastily interpolated and repeated what she had said about a fair exchange of horses and canoes. But no one spoke of the Captain’s fears.