Polly of Pebbly Pit Part 26

"I'm the only molly-coddle in the crowd and I'd like to see more of this mountain, myself," laughed Barbara.

"'Nuff said,' when Barbara talks like that!" laughed Eleanor.

So they continued along the crest of the mountain from which grand views of distant peaks and vast forest-sides could be seen. The brilliant hues of wild flowers, everywhere, mottled the ground; the dark-green of towering pines, or again the shorter aspens like pickets on guard in the foreground; the bleached skeletons of lodge-pole pine burnt clean in forest fires; and just before the riders, the plunging water falling from a cliff that shut out any glimpse of the trail ahead, combined to produce a master-piece of Nature's work.

"Why not camp at those Falls for dinner?" asked Eleanor.

"Good idea--I'm half-starved," admitted Anne.

"And maybe the horses can rest, too," from Barbara.

"Bob's going to join the S.P.C.A. soon," laughed Eleanor.

"No, I'm not, but horses will last longer if you feed and rest them, and I do not care to walk home!" retorted Barbara.

"I brought my fishing tackle, girls, and while you are unpacking dinner I may as well cast for a few trout in that stream," suggested Polly.

"Can you fish trout?" exclaimed Barbara, wonderingly.

"Can a bird fly?" laughed Anne.

"The idea! A westerner and _not_ know how to fish!" scorned Eleanor.

But Barbara was not sensitive to-day so did not feel offended at these remarks; neither did she take pains to disguise her real sentiments when it would have been kinder to keep silence on a subject.

Having reached the base of the cliff, the girls found a delightful spot for the luncheon. The packs were slipped from Choko and he, with the other mounts, were hobbled and left to graze on the buffalo gra.s.s in the clearing.

The girls unpacked a pannier while Polly arranged her tackle and started for the top of the cliff whence fell the water.

"Let me go with you, Poll, and watch?" asked Eleanor.

"If you won't speak, and mind you don't slip and fall!"

"I won't," promised Eleanor, crawling up after the sure-footed Polly until both reached the top. To their surprise, the girls found a cleft between two great rocks with a quiet pool resting at the base. The current pa.s.sed, rushing onward to the Falls, but the water circulating in the nook scarcely rippled. Even as the two girls watched, a flash of a speckled back flounced up in play and splashed their shoes.

"_What_ a spot for trout!" whispered Polly, crawling out to the rim of a rock while Eleanor watched breathlessly.

"Not too far out, Poll!" whispered Eleanor, anxiously, as Polly leaned over the edge to gaze into the clear depths.

Without a word, Polly carefully cast her fly far out upon the smooth surface of the sparkling water. Then flashes deep down, and in incredibly short time a large speckled trout rose to the bait, and Polly felt her nerves tauten with the excitement of the sportsman.

Eleanor held her breath for fear the trout would disappear.

Polly landed that one, weighing at least three pounds, then caught two more, weighing about two pounds each.

"Guess these will be enough for this noon. No use catching more than we need!" remarked Polly, coming back to Eleanor's side.

The girls hastened down the rocks and brought the fish over to the place where Polly expected to find a good fire burning.

"Why, I don't see any fire--didn't you build one for the fish?" cried Polly.

"You didn't tell us to! Anyway, what would we make it with--no matches and no kindlings!" replied Barbara.

"Can't you girls start fire with flint--or some sticks?" asked Polly, curiously.

"The only fire I can light is with a safety match and the valve of a gas-stove!" replied Barbara, quaintly.

The others considered her remark very funny and Polly promised to teach them how to make a fire with two sticks only!

"Do it now, and fry the fish for us!" said Eleanor.

"No, it will be too late for us to begin all that now. We had better wait until supper-time. We really ought to be on the trail by this time," said Polly.

"Child alive! You don't intend being out in the woods at supper-time, do you?" gasped Barbara, fearfully.

Polly laughed. "Is that so fearful? Why, I think it is piles of fun to camp out on a fine night!"

"Maybe you do, but remember the rattle-snake! We may be sleeping on the ground when one comes along-_Oh,_ OH!" cried Barbara, shivering.

"Oh, come now, Bob! No use conjuring up such gruesome pictures to tickle your nerves!" exclaimed Eleanor, impatiently.

"If you don't want to go on to Grizzly Slide, now's the time to say so!

When we get there it will be too late to complain about the lateness of the hour in getting home!" said sensible Polly. "Oh, we all want to go to Grizzly Slide!" a.s.serted Anne, hastily.

"And we will take everything that comes with it!" declared Eleanor, eagerly.

"Well, all right, but for the love of goodness, don't let's camp in the wilderness all night!" cried Barbara.

They sat down after that discussion and ate the sandwiches and fruit, but Polly wanted a piece of the chocolate cake she thought Sary had packed for them.

"I couldn't find any! We looked through and found only sandwiches in the papers," said Anne.

"Oh, pshaw! I was sure there was cake!" grumbled Polly.

"It may possibly be in the bottom of the other pannier, as we didn't unpack everything, you know," suggested Barbara.

"If it is, we'll eat it to-night for supper. At least we know Sary packed _something_ good for us," added Anne.

Once more on the trail, the adventurers rode through forests where the notes of unseen birds blending with the murmur of pines sounded like weird music to the city girls.

"Just like the sea's roar in a conch-sh.e.l.l, isn't it?" whispered Anne, as she listened rapturously.

They pa.s.sed tumbling, hurrying mountain streams where the burnished trout flashed swiftly back and forth in the clear water. They came to an upland park where the soft whistle of quail caused Polly to lift her rifle, but the whir of wings told of a flight. From jagged rents in the cliffs, through which the horses pa.s.sed, their hoofs ringing echoes from the iron-veined rock, they came to sleepy hollows where the Quaker Aspens stood ghostlike as sentinels on guard before their beautiful Eden.

Having climbed one peak and descended it, then the next one, and so on, and on, following the winding trail that became more difficult to find and more dangerous to climb, Polly finally drew rein beside a tree distinctly scarred.

"Hurrah! The blaze to the Slide," shouted she, sc.r.a.ping away the lichen that covered the spot.

Glad of an excuse to jump down and stretch their limbs, the other girls joined Polly at the tree and saw the blaze, although so old, to be perfectly plain and easily traced.