CHAPTER XVIII
AT THE "TOP OF THE WORLD"
The morning dawned with the sky a molten green and gold. The mountainpeak and the high ridges were a beautiful pink, and below them lay thegreen and blue of the meadow like a velvet carpet.
"Wonderful!" breathed the girls in chorus.
"Could anything be more beautiful?" murmured Grace.
"This is worth all the hardships we have endured," declared Elfreda.
The Overlanders continued to admire the scene until breakfast was ready.Immediately after the meal the journey was resumed, each one eager toreach the pink snows above that held so great a fascination for all.They came to the snow line late in the day. The ponies were left incharge of Woo Smith to remain until the party returned from the highpeak of the Sierras, which was now their immediate objective.
Now that they were close to it, they discovered that the snow really waspink. No one seemed able to explain this mystery until Tom announced itas his opinion that the pink shade was due to a tiny bright red flowerwhose petals were found imbedded in the snow. Stacy scooped up a handfulof snow and tasted it, and then made a wry face.
"It tastes like turpentine," he declared.
The Overland Riders danced and capered about in the snow like schoolchildren, and tried to snowball each other, but found the snow socrumbly that it could not be rolled into balls. This they overcame bywetting handfuls of snow from their canteens, and then, ere they eventhought of making camp, they had a merry snowballing battle thousands offeet above sea level. They battled until their breaths gave out in therarefied air--threw snowballs at each other until almost exhausted.
"Never mind. Don't wolly till to-mollow," comforted Stacy Brown.
With the coming of night a chill settled over the mountain, beside whichthe previous nights were almost sultry, and a damp, gray cloud hid thelower reaches of the peaks like a great gray blanket. The Overlanderswere glad that they were above rather than below that cloud, and theyhugged their cook fire, though it was far from being a roaring one, forthey did not have fuel to waste.
Tom Gray, who, before the evening was far advanced, went out to examinethe strange twisted little trees that grew here and there, discoveredthat they were full of pitch. He said nothing to his companions, but,moving back a little distance from the camp, he tested one with a match.The trunk of the twisted tree flared instantly. He put out the blazewith snow and returned to camp.
"How would you folks like a real camp-fire?" he asked.
"There ain't no such thing," mocked Emma.
Grace gazed at her husband inquiringly, knowing quite well that Tom hadsome plan for a fire in mind.
"The easiest thing in the world, my dear friends," chuckled Tom. "Allthat is needed to make a regular conflagration is the know-how." Tomstruck a match against the trunk of a small scrubby tree against whichhe was standing, and held the match close to the trunk until he felt theheat, then sprang away from it. The tree blazed up gloriously.
"I did it with my magic wand!" he cried, waving his arms dramatically.
Exclamations of wonder greeted the achievement, and the Overlandersgathered about the blaze, holding out their hands to catch some of thewarmth.
"Me savvy nicee piecee fire," observed Chunky solemnly.
"However did you do it, Tom?" wondered Nora.
"The tree is filled with pitch," answered Tom Gray. "When we get readyto turn in we will light another one. I don't suppose we shall get anywarmth from it, but we can hear it crackle, which will be some comfort."
That night the Overlanders made their beds under an overhanging rockwhere there was no snow, and were lulled to sleep by another of TomGray's burning trees. They awakened in the morning again stiff withcold, but half an hour after sunrise they had fully recovered theirspirits and were making preparations for the long hard hike ahead ofthem.
Each of the men carried a pack on his back, leaving the girls to carrysuch provisions as they thought would be needed. Even the rifles hadbeen left behind with Woo, the mountain climbers carrying no arms buttheir revolvers. Ropes, an axe and a shovel were included in theequipment and they finally set out for what Elfreda Briggs characterizedas "The Top of the World."
The peak of the great mountain was reached late in the afternoon, withall hands well tired out. They found the summit of the peak strewn withhuge granite slabs, from some of which the snow had been blown away inspots, forming little scooped-out cups in the pink mantle.
"Well, now that we have enjoyed this punk view, suppose we get down tosome place where we can make camp and sleep," suggested Stacy.
"This is where we are to sleep to-night," answered Tom.
"What! Here?" gasped Stacy.
"Yes. Did we not come up here for that purpose?"
Stacy shivered, and glanced down over the glittering snow field, thenshivered some more, but made no further comment.
"This will be the first time that I ever slept in a snow bank, and Itrust it may be the last," observed Emma resignedly. "Last night wefound a nice dry spot for our beds, but up here--Br-r-r-r!"
"You will be as comfortable as though you were in your own bed at home,"promised Grace.
"I wish to goodness I had your imagination," grumbled Chunky. "It mustbe beautiful to be able to dream things the way you do."
No fuel for a fire had been brought along on this last leg of the climbabove timber line, so supper was a cold meal. Everyone felt so miserableafter supper that the Overlanders with one accord began preparing toroll up in their blankets for the night. Hippy had already dug trenchesin the snow for the party to sleep in, so they might be out of the wind.The girls talked chatteringly of everything they could think of, toassist them in forgetting their misery, then crawled into their trenchesand tightly rolled themselves up in their blankets.
"This is the first time I ever went to bed with my boots on," complainedElfreda. "Should I live until morning I surely shall have something tobrag about."
"Why, girls, this is an ideal summer resort," laughingly chided Grace.
The response was a chorus of dismal groans. For a few moments after thatthe Overlanders lay gazing up at the bright stars, then a gradual warmthoverspread their shivering bodies, and one by one they dropped off tosleep, now nearly thirteen thousand feet above sea level.