Girl Scouts in the Rockies Part 16

Several of the scouts a.s.sisted and soon the tree bough was rolled away, Scrub managing to get in every one's way during the procedure.

"Her dead mos' two day--babies no get milk to eat," said Tally, after examining the teats and body of the bear.

"Mebbe we coax home wid eats," suggested he, as he glanced from mother to cubs and back again.

"Tally, I brought some candy in my pocket," said Anne, instantly producing the sweets.

"Bear like sugar. Us lead cubs easy wid dis."

"Tally, how can we keep this dead bear so we can have her skin, too,"

now asked Julie, anxiously.

"Oh, if we could only ship home such a magnificent bear pelt, wouldn't we be proud!" sighed Joan.

"Kin skin and bury 'um now. Come back mornin' an' carry to camp. Got han' full wid two cub to-day," grinned the Indian.

"Oh, if you boys would skin it and save it for us!" sighed several eager scouts.

So the guides sharpened their great knives that they always carried in their belts, and began work on the dead bear. The girls would have fainted at such a sight a year before, but now they stood by without a quiver and watched the Indians skin the animal.

The pelt was soon stripped from the carca.s.s, and the former was buried deep under the log, while the latter was left for the wolves, or other animals. While Tally finished this work the scouts gathered berries to feed to the starved cubs. The latter were so famished that they eagerly ate everything given them.

All the way home the scouts took turns in holding bits of candy in front of the cubs' noses, to make them run for it. At some of these "home-runs" the cubs got the best of it, and the scouts had to drop the candy and jump aside, or be clawed in the bears' eagerness to get the sweets. At such times Scrub barked and jumped at the harnessed cubs, and they in turn would fight back, so there ensued a wild scene of battle until Tally got the upper hand again.

Once the cubs were in camp and caged they became tame and friendly with every one,--even Scrub failed to draw a snarl from Snap now. The smaller of the two bears was named Yap, as she was forever wanting something to eat and yapped when she could not get it.

In a few days' time they were freed from the homemade cage and tethered to a tree during the daytime. They furnished great amus.e.m.e.nt for the scouts; and Scrub was peeved because every one showed so much attention to these horrid little brutes, while _he_ would permit petting without a snap if his friends were so inclined.

The campers had been on this site for almost two weeks before the men mentioned that they were ready to move along. The cubs were quite tame now, and ran about camp, playing with every one who would play with them. They were fine and plump, and the scouts gave much time to the currying of their soft silky coats and to teaching them tricks.

"What do you scouts intend doing with Snap and Yap when we start on the trail again?" asked Mr. Gilroy.

"Where do you plan to go from here, Gilly?" asked Julie.

"Why, Lewis is going back now that he has secured the special specimens he came to the glaciers for," returned Mr. Gilroy; "but we are to go along to Flat Top, where I hope to spend some time at Tyndall, you know."

"You told me, Gill, that you wanted to visit Mills' Moraine and hunt for glacial deposits there," ventured Mr. Lewis.

"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 debris, 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 debris 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.