CHAPTER TWELVE
LOST IN A BLIZZARD
It was early dawn but such dark clouds obscured everything that thescouts thought it still was night.
"Bad storm blowin', Mees'r Gilloy. Us hurry down f'om here," saidTally, anxiously.
"All right--all up, and hurry away!" shouted Mr. Gilroy, running forthe horses, to help Omney saddle them for the ride.
Soon thereafter, without stopping to attend to any of their customarytoilets, the scouts were in the saddles and quickly following theguides down the trail on the opposite side from that they had mountedthe day before.
The blackness was now so thick that it was difficult to see any oneten feet ahead, and the girls could not see the trail at all. ThenTally suddenly shouted a warning to those behind him.
"Huddle togedder--blizzer comin' down now!"
And in a few seconds, an unexpected breaking of the clouds drove thicksmothery, enveloping snow across the plateau. Even the heavy cloudsseemed to choke everything in their folds. The wind, which blew agale, uprooted trees and flicked them out of the way as if they weresnips of paper. Gusts of the mad tornado tore off great masses of thedark clouds and, eddying them about, whirled the vapor out of them,away down the sides of the mountain. Trees, rocks, clods of earth,everything movable that presented an obstacle to the gale, was carriedaway like thistledown.
The poor horses and pack-mules crouched close together, with headslow, making of their bodies as scant a resistance as possible againstthe storm, and at the same time providing shelter, with their steamingbodies, for the human beings who huddled under them.
Then, as suddenly as the storm broke, it ceased. A weird light playedover the plateau for a time, and Mr. Gilroy noted the worriedexpressions of the Indians.
"What now, Tally?"
"Us clim' saddles, stick gedder an' must get away!" shouted Tally,trying to be heard above the soughing of the wind, that was nowblowing from behind the crag.
Even as the riders tried to get into the saddles and start afterTally, a chill filled the air. It crept into bones and marrow, and ina few minutes the full fury of the blizzard was felt. In less thanfive minutes after the first snow fell, everything was drifted underwhite blankets. The cold bit into human flesh like sharp points ofsteel, and it was certain that every one must get down from thataltitude immediately or be frozen to death.
The Indians led the way, although they trusted their safety on thesemountains entirely to the horses and their wonderful sense. The otherriders tried to follow as closely as they could in the tracks made bythe first two horses. Then as they descended further from the plateau,the storm abated and the temperature felt warmer, until they reachedthe place where dripping snow from all the tree branches and rocksthoroughly soaked the unfortunates.
The mountainside was cut up by ravines and gulches, or "draws" as theyare called, made by erosion of mountain streams that came from theglacier on top of Flat Top.
From one of these draws the scouts could look down for miles to aplace where it widened out through the velocity of the roaring watersand unearthed everything in its floods.
Here and there great pines had fallen across and formed naturalbridges over the chasms. At other spots the roots or branches of atree washed down, would catch in the debris of the sides of a draw,obstructing the way and holding up great masses of waste thataccumulated rapidly about the twisted limbs, when the torrent washedeverything against this comb, that caught the larger objects.
So the file of riders went carefully downward, on the watch for afavorable trail that might lead them to the valley. But every drawthey found was so forbidding that they were repulsed from trying it.Some showed great rocks that might roll down at the slightest motionof the ground, and crush everything in their plunge. Even as theypondered the chance of going down one of these, the water caused bythe melting snow loosened the grip of a great fragment of rock held upin the gorge, and down it crashed! Other draws displayed century-oldsnags, and down-timber that lay half-sunken in slimy ooze whichtrickled down from the mossy sides of the gully; these would suck inany horse or rider that was daring enough to try and go over them.
Finally, Tally came to a draw which was not nearly so forbidding asthe others, but it was a very deep chasm, and sent up echoes ofroaring water in its bottom.
"Wad yuh tink, Omney--do we try him?" asked Tally.
"Tally, it looks terrifying!" gasped Mrs. Vernon.
"Not so bad as udder ones," remarked Tally.
"Must we go down any of them?" asked Mr. Vernon.
"Mebbe we not find trail for two--four day, and grub mos' gone,"returned Tally, meaningly.
"We've got to trust to Tally's guidance, pards, so let us do exactlyas he thinks best," added Mr. Gilroy.
Feeling somewhat dubious about the outcome of this ride, the twoIndians led down the steep sides of the gulch. The horses slipped,stumbled, and scrambled through the piled-up rubbish until it was amarvel that they had not broken legs and necks. The debris carrieddown by the streams that emptied into the torrents at the bottom ofthe draw, formed almost impassable barriers to going onward. But theday was breaking, and this cheered every one tremendously. Soon thedarkness would be entirely dispelled and they could see just where thehorses were stepping.
"I'm so hungry I could almost eat this leather harness," remarkedAnne, sighing.
"Maybe we might catch something for an early breakfast, if we knewwhere to give our horses a stand while we hunted," said Ruth.
Then, suddenly, they heard a crash of branches and rolling rocks, andthere, outlined against the pale sky, stood a giant elk with headerect and ears attentive to the sounds from these riders. It was thefirst one the scouts had seen, and it was such a magnificent animalthat a sight of it was thrilling.
The elk waited with great antlers reared to their extreme height, longsensitive nose sniffing the air, and legs stiffened ready for a leap.The Captain drew the camera from a side-pocket of the saddle andplanned to get a picture. But the wary animal heard the click of theshutter and sprang fully fifteen feet across the chasm to gain a ledgeof rock that hung dangerously out.
Every one gasped as he waited to see it miss footing, or roll downwith the crag that surely would topple over with such added weightupon it. But the elk must have known its trail, for it lightly touchedupon the rock, then vanished over the rim of the top.
"There goes our venison steaks for breakfast!" sighed Julie, makingthe others laugh in spite of their troubles.
The sides of the canyon near the bottom were filled with dangeroussink-holes, or bogs, that were a constant menace to the riders. Forlet a horse slip into one of these and he might be sucked downinstantly. But the animals were sure-footed and accustomed to suchrough traveling, and they instinctively avoided all soft soil. Everand anon, a horse would slip on a rolling stone, or a hoof would breakthrough rotten timber, so that the scouts were being constantly joltedone side or another.
Finally they found better going along a narrow ledge that looked likean old trail. But it began nowhere and ended--well, it terminatedsuddenly just ahead of Tally's next step!
"Back! Back!" yelled Tally, dragging on the reins with all his might.
That effectually halted the others, who were so close behind him, andMr. Vernon leaned over to ask, "What is it, Tally?"
"Big hole--she go down mebbe fifty feet to bottom. Gotta back out andgo round nudder way."
"Oh, mercy sakes! Back out all along this narrow ledge?" cried thescouts.
But while they spoke, Jolt passed them, going on the verge of theledge, and causing every one to tremble for his life. When he waspassing Tally, the guide shouted angrily, "Whoa! Whoa!"
But Jolt acted exactly like a sleep-walker does. He paid no attentionto sight or sound, and in another moment he would have walked rightover the edge of the precipice, had not Tally jumped from his saddleand caught hold of the guide rope that had been tied to his halterbefore entering the gully.
This slight hold, however, did not save
the mule from disappearingover the verge of the cliff, and it almost yanked Tally over, too. Theonly thing that saved the guide was Omney, who jumped to assist hisfriend when Jolt went by. The rope was instantly wound about a treestump and braced. Then Tally climbed warily to safety, before theloose shale should crumble in with his weight.
Every one had been speechless with horror a moment before, but nowevery one spoke with loosened tongue.
"The mule had all the food-stuffs," said Anne.
"And the camp outfit as well," added Mr. Vernon.
"Just think of the poor thing--down there crushed to bits," wept Betty.
Some felt sorry for Jolt, and some felt sorry for themselves. ThenTally said, "Eef light scout crawl ober an' tell what her see Joltdoin', mebbe we save him."
Betty was the lightest so she offered her services. She was tiedsecurely to one of the ropes that hung on the saddle-horn, and Tallyadvised her what to do.
"Crawl to edge, look down. Tell what Jolt do, or eef he mashed inbottom!"
So Betty crept slowly over the shale and reached the edge of theravine. She peered down, and the sunlight that shone through the treesjust then, helped her to see plainly.
"Jolt's standing on a wide ledge of rock about twenty feet lower thanthis one. His packs are gone--guess they tumbled down when the strapsburst open. But there isn't any _spare_ room for him to exercise on,"reported Betty.
"Did you say he was standing upon his feet?" asked Mr. Gilroy,unbelievingly.
"Yes, with his head facing towards the outlet of this chasm. He hearsme talking, 'cause I see him prick up his long ears."
"Al' light," said Tally, joyfully. "Tell me, do ledge end in hole likedis-a-one do?"
"No, it looks as if it ran right down to the valley, Tally. I can seethe sunlight down at the end, about a mile away."
That caused great joy in each heart, and Tally said, "Al'light, nowcome back."
So the scout crawled back, while Tally spoke with Omney and plannedwhat to do. The result of this conversation was then apparent.
Tally tied a long rope to his own waist, and Omney began paying outthe rope as the Indian went over the edge of the gulch. Every one heldhis breath to wait developments. Then they heard Tally shout,"Al'light--le' go."
"Now us back out--Tally ride Jolt down valley," announced Omney.
"O Hominy! Do you think the mule is all right?" cried Ruth.
"Tally say so. Us go back now." So back they went in every sense ofthe word--back along the ledge, and backwards all the way.
The horses climbed the rocky slope and went along the top-side of thechasm, but it was no better adapted for comfortable riding than thebottom had been. After an hour of dreadful jumps and jolts and slips,the riders came out to the valley that Betty had spoken of, at the endof the draw.
There stood Tally, grinning with good news. "Fine camp!"
"But where is Jolt?" demanded the scouts.
"Him dockered up wid bear-grease, bandages, an' herb!' laughed Tally,pointing to a place where they could see a mule taking things easy onthe grass.
"Got packs out, Tally?" asked Omney.
"Us go in get 'em now, Omney. Scouts make camp an' we come back widgrub, pooty soon."
So the two guides rode in through the chasm again, along the bottombeside the river, and the scouts rode on to make camp where Tally haddirected them.
There the scouts found one of the most interesting shelters of all onthat camping-trip. It was discovered under the wide overspreadingboughs of a clump of firs which had so grown that a perfectly clearand covered area in the center provided a Nature-made house.
While Ruth and Betty were ordered to clean up the sticks and stones onthe ground under the trees, the other girls gathered balsam and madethe beds. The two men went to fish, and the Captain built a good fireto cook the combination breakfast and dinner, as it was now long pastnoon.
Tally and Omney came back after a long absence, but they had thepacks, a little the worse for the fall, to be sure.
"I see this is the last can of soup and our last can of beans,"ventured Mrs. Vernon, when she opened the food-pack.
"Um! Us know rancher--plenty grub in him lodge," said Tally,significantly. Everybody laughed at his wink that accompanied thewords.
The ride from Flat Top had been so strenuous that the scouts campedthat night in the fir-tree lodge, as they had called it. All retiredearly, as they hoped to make a start at dawn in order to reach therancher's, where Tally said he could buy a stock of food.
But a number of timber wolves howled about the camp all the nightthrough, keeping the tired travelers half-awake. Towards dawn theymust have followed another scent, as all was quiet in the foreststhereafter.
The Captain was startled out of a sound sleep by a strange"s-swish"--close to her ear. Springing up with the remembrance of thewolves, she heard Tally whisper through the pine-boughs, "Tell scoutcome see caribou in valley."
In a few moments every one was up and out of the tree-lodge. Thescouts saw the men crouching down behind a large boulder that stoodnear the verge of a steep descent to the green valley below. Thecurious girls soon joined them and then witnessed a most unusualsight.
Down in the valley, several hundred yards away, was a herd of caribougrazing on the juicy grass. A fine buck with antlers spreading farfrom each side of his head, jumped about as if worked by springs. If acow got in his way he stamped his polished hoofs and threatened herwith his flattened horns.
But the cows seemed not to mind such idle threats on the part of thebull, and continued grazing.
Julie laughed. "They're suffrage caribou--they know how a male talksfine but seldom does what he brags about!"
This started an animated argument between Mr. Gilroy and the ScoutLeader, which was suddenly hushed by the behavior of the buck. Helifted his nose, sniffed angrily and stamped his hoof in token that heresented any interference with his family's breakfast.
"What's the matter with him?" asked Joan in a whisper.
"Maybe he scented human beings watching him," suggested Anne.
Tally shook his head, but in another moment the scouts learned whathad caused his annoyance. He now sounded a warning to the cows, andthey all lifted their heads instantly and sniffed as the buck haddone.
"Dear me, I hope they won't run away," wished Ruth, and then she sawthat they would not run--they would defend themselves.
From out the dark fringe of forest there now crept a number of leanhungry timber-wolves, looking like long grey shadows of the trees. Soslowly and noiselessly did they move that only animals trained todefend themselves in the wilderness would have known an enemy was soclose at hand.
As they moved, the four men silently lifted their rifles, and waitedfor the signal from Tally to shoot.
"Are those the wolves we heard last night?" asked Julie.
"Most likely, or some like them," returned Mr. Gilroy, in a whisperthat only those next him could hear.
"Um! t'ree of 'em--get reward fur dem coyotes!" grinned Omney.
The caribou, warned in time by the bull, saw the skulking beastscreeping, creeping like the shadows towards them, and they instantlyformed their defence, as they always do in case of extreme danger whenit is wiser to fight than to fly.
With their hind legs closed together like the center of a wheel, andtheir heads presenting antlers pointing towards the enemy likebayonets on the defence line in a battle, the herd stood perfectlystill and waited.
"Wonderful sight!" breathed Mrs. Vernon.
"Oh, for that camera! It is in the duffel-bag," sighed Julie.
But the scene now grew too exciting for any scout to yearn overforgotten kodaks, for the wolves were almost near enough to begintheir raid. The four rifles still pointed directly at them, but thesignal was not yet forthcoming. Tally knew when to fire.
Just as the foremost wolf rose on his hind legs to hurl himself at thecaribou nearest him, and the bull bellowed madly and wheeled toattack, Tally signaled. Four spurts of blue and four streaks o
fred--and three timber wolves rolled over dead!
At the sound of those dire sounds which the bull understood to be asdeadly as a wolf, he lifted his snout high in the air, called hastilyto his herd, and the wheel broke--the caribou trotted away swiftly anddisappeared in the forest.
"That certainly was a sight worth seeing," sighed the Captain. "But Imust hang that camera about my neck, day in and day out, or I shallmiss the best pictures every time."
At breakfast that morning Mr. Gilroy said, "I had planned to cross theContinental Divide at Milner's Pass, because of the beauties of theFall River Road, but this unexpected slide down from Flat Topyesterday, disarranged all these plans. What shall we do about it?"
"What was your next point of interest, had we gone over the pass asyou had planned?" asked Mrs. Vernon.
"Well, you see, I thought we would land somewhere near Beaver Creek onthe western slope of the Divide. I know a number of ranchers livingabout that section, and I thought the scouts might enjoy spending aweek or so on these ranches."
"If it's all the same to you, Gilly, we'd rather enjoy the wildlife ofthe Rockies instead of ranching," ventured Julie.
"Oh, it's all the same. In fact, I'd rather not use any time on theranches while I still have many interesting moraines to explore," saidhe.
"Then we'll plan a new route. What would you do next?" said theCaptain.
"We are near the Meadow Fork of Grand River, I think, and we canfollow that to reach Grand Lake. Then we can trail from there, alongthe North Fork of the Grand, until we reach Hot Sulphur Springs. Aftera visit to the Springs, we can go down Gore Canyon, cross the GoreRange, and thus reach Steamboat Springs."
"All right, let's do as you just said," remarked Mr. Vernon.
"Tally give up Devil-Bear and timber wolves at Spring," now saidTally.
"All right, Tally, but don't you think the girls ought to share in thereward for the wolves? We helped shoot them," said Mr. Gilroy.
"Um, sure! Scout git Devil-Bear money, too!" said Tally, amazed thatany one should have thought otherwise.
"How so?" demanded Julie.
"Tally 'gree to guide, hunt, fish, help Mees'r Gilloy an' scout allway frough summer. Devil-Bear kill in hunt, but Tally paid for time,"explained the Indian, thus refuting the reputation many white men givethe Indian, that he will take advantage of other races every chance hegets.
"Oh, no, Tally! We wouldn't think of such a division!" exclaimed theCaptain. "Give us the pelts and you take the reward."
As this suggestion was seconded by the others, Tally and Omney grinnedjoyously, for it was a windfall they had not looked for.
Further along the trail, Tally turned off to stop at a ranch-house andlay in a supply of flour and what other edibles the ranch-owner wouldsell him. Then they continued over the mountains.
Had the scouts come suddenly upon the Continental Divide they wouldhave been speechless with the grandeur of it, but they had been ridingpast and over many peaks, canoeing down marvelous waterways, and hadclimbed all the ranges that led to the Divide, so that they scarcelyrealized that they were crossing the stupendous elevation until theyheard Tally speak.
"Mos' over now, foothills all way to Sulphur Springs."
As they rode on, looking for Meadow Fork, along which Mr. Gilroywished to trail, many questions were asked by the scouts and answeredby the Indians.
Ruth then said, "I've heard a lot about Hot Sulphur Springs, Gilly,but what thrilling sight shall we find there?"
"Its name might lead you to believe you would see the apparition whois said to have charge of all sulphur worlds," said Julie, giggling.
"Also you will have an opportunity to taste the nastiest drinkingwater he--Julie's friend--ever sent bubbling forth," added Mr. Gilroy,quickly.
"That friend and I had a falling out and now we are not on speakingterms!" retorted Julie, and the others laughed.
"Why stop there, then? Let's go on to Gore's Canyon,--that soundsawfully thrilling," remarked Joan.
"Is it named Gory, Gilly, because so many Red Men scalped the earlysettlers out here?" asked Betty.
"Oh, no," laughed Mr. Gilroy. "It is named after an Irish nobleman,Sir George Gore, who discovered the canyon while he and a party offriends were hunting big game in the Rockies many years ago, beforefolks went over the Divide. In those days it was considered amarvelous feat to go into the Rockies."
"If every one can have a mountain named after them, why can't I haveone called 'Juliet's Peak'?" demanded the irrepressible scout.
"You can, if you like. That is the easiest part of all, but how willother tourists know that that particular peak is named for _you_?"laughed Mr. Gilroy.
"You'd have to advertise the fact by some wild adventure, or greatpatriotic deed," added Mr. Vernon.
"Oh, I can advertise, all right!" retorted Julie. "I'll take a greatbucket of whitewash and a calcimine brush; then on every flat-facedrock along the trail, up one side and down the other, I'll slap ahand-painted sign on every one of them: 'This is Juliet's Peak,' andthe finger in ghostly white will point to my peak."
Her ridiculous explanation caused every one to laugh, but when Joltturned and opened his jaw wide to emit the grating sound "Hee--haw!Hee--haw!" the riders declared it was screamingly opportune of themule.
Late in the afternoon, the second day from Flat Top, the scouts hadtheir first battle with a rattlesnake. It is claimed that one neversees a rattler on the east slope of the Rockies,--why, it is notstated. But one certainly encounters many of them on the west side andon other ranges in Colorado.
They were jogging along comfortably when Julie's horse suddenly leapedaside and climbed a steep bank beside the trail. The other horsestrembled, and instantly the warning rattle sounded. Tally hurried backand saw a huge reptile coiled at one side of the trail, half-hiddenunder a bush.
He jumped from the saddle and snapped a hickory stick from a youngsapling nearby. Then he whipped the rattler over the back. He couldnot break its back as the bush fended the blows. But Omney and Tallycould so tire the reptile with blows that kept its head swinging fromside to side, that finally they might jump on it.
The scouts sat and watched this interesting fight, the rattler dartingits forked tongue venomously at the sticks, and in so doing having toturn its head from one to the other. This defence kept it fromuncoiling and gliding away. Neither could it spring from the coil tostrike while its head was so busy.
At last it showed signs of weariness, and once, when it momentarilyforgot to strike at Tally's whip but struck twice in succession at thestick Omney wielded, the former took instant advantage of it, and inanother moment his heel was planted upon the flat head.
Then the guides dragged the sinuous reptile out and measured it. Itwas fully five feet long, from head to tip of tail where ten rattleswere attached. Tally removed these, and with a bow presented them tothe Captain,--an honor shown all Tenderfeet in the Rockies, if arattler is encountered by the natives.
"Him make fine money book, er belt," suggested Omney, when the scoutsshuddered at the diamond-backed rattler.
"Oh, yes, we must send the skin home to be cured and made intosouvenirs, girls!" exclaimed Mr. Gilroy.
In vain did the riders look for other rattlers after that, for everyone wanted every skin that could be gotten for souvenirs.
Mr. Gilroy rode along, watching for the familiar landmarks that wouldtell him he had found Meadow Fork, but he finally admitted that hemust have taken the wrong turn back by the ranch.
They rode past lovely streams and camped beside a most enchantinglake, then on, alongside a fine river, but Mr. Gilroy did not find hisMeadow Fork or Grand Lake.
Finally, from the summit of one of the lower peaks on the westernslope of the Rockies, the scouts saw a valley spread out before them,and concentrated in one spot of this valley were numerous dots, thatwere dwelling-houses, together with several large ones, that denotedthey were hotels.
Mr. Gilroy rubbed his eyes, then stared. "Now, if I did not knowbetter,
I'd swear that that was Sulphur Springs."
"'Tis Sp'ings," chuckled Tally.
"But, Tally, it can't be! We haven't found Meadow Fork or Grand River,yet! Have we trailed along some other way?" wondered Mr. Gilroy.
The town proved to be the Springs, and there Mr. Gilroy learned thathe had been riding along Meadow Fork, had camped at Grand Lake, andthen followed Grand River, without knowing it. This error in judgmentgave the scouts a never-ending chance for teasing him, thereafter.
That night the horses, as well as their riders, were glad to stretchout upon comfortable town-made beds, and in the morning the breakfastwas already provided for all, instead of their having to first gatherit.
The first thing the guides did after breakfast was to cash in theirreward for Devil-Bear. The skin proved their claim, and word instantlycirculated that two Indians had killed the menace of the ranches. Thescouts received the reward for the tongues of the timber-wolves whichTally had brought into town, and thus the scouting party soon foundfame camping on their doorstep. The local papers made much of them,and the girls took a keen delight in mailing home copies of the paperscontaining the account of their exploits.