back
the road was fearfully dusty."

"The trouble is, when it rains out here it rains," answered the old
scout. "The clouds come a-tumbling over yonder mountains, and inside of
half an hour you'd fancy the water was going to drown out everything."

"Then if it rains we'll have to put up somewhere," said Darry Germain.

"Aint no cabin on this trail short of Hank Leeson's place, twenty miles
this side of the fort. If we can get that far I reckon we can make the
fort."

"Then where will we stop to-night?" asked Darry with interest.

"At the Star Hotel--if the sky is clear," said Sam Benson, with a laugh
at what he considered his little joke.

"You mean in the open, under the stars!" cried the boy; and, as the old
scout nodded, he went on: "That will be nice. I've been wanting to camp
out in regular trapper style ever since we left Riverton."

"So have I," put in Joe Moore. "But I don't know as I care to camp out
and get soaked."

"If it rains we'll find some kind of shelter," answered Benson. "But
come, let us make the most of the daylight while it lasts," and he
urged his steed forward, and the two boys did the same.

The three were pursuing their way along a gap in the Rocky Mountains,
where the so-called valley was broken up by tiny water-courses, walls of
rock, and dense patches of forest and underbrush. It was midsummer, and
the hot air was filled with the scent of green growing things. Deep in
the forest the song-birds sang gayly and the wild animals had full play
to come and go as they pleased, for to get at them in those vast
fastnesses was next to impossible.

The party of three had left the town of Riverton four days before. They
were bound for Fort Carson,--so named after Kit Carson, the celebrated
scout and Indian fighter,--and Sam Benson carried messages of importance
to Colonel Fairfield, the commandant at the fort.

Joe Moore and Darry Germain were cousins, and both were boys of sixteen,
well built and well trained in outdoor athletic sports. Joe came from
Chicago and Darry from St. Louis, and each had graduated from his local
high school but a few weeks before.

It was while Darry was spending a brief vacation with his cousin Joe
that a plan for visiting the fort was formed. Joe's older brother,
William, was a West Point graduate and a captain at the fort, and he
wrote on stating that he had received permission to have Joe visit him,
and Darry could come too if he desired. Colonel Fairfield wa