going to shine?" implored Bo.

"Wal, you bet," rejoined Roy, as he strode off.

Helen and Bo ate breakfast and had the camp to themselves for perhaps
half an hour; then the horses came thudding down, with Dale and Roy
riding bareback.

By the time all was in readiness to start the sun was up, melting the
frost and ice, so that a dazzling, bright mist, full of rainbows, shone
under the trees.

Dale looked Ranger over, and tried the cinches of Bo's horse.

"What's your choice--a long ride behind the packs with me--or a short
cut over the hills with Roy?" he asked.

"I choose the lesser of two rides," replied Helen, smiling.

"Reckon that 'll be easier, but you'll know you've had a ride," said
Dale, significantly.

"What was that we had yesterday?" asked Bo, archly.

"Only thirty miles, but cold an' wet. To-day will be fine for ridin'."

"Milt, I'll take a blanket an' some grub in case you don't meet us
to-night," said Roy. "An' I reckon we'll split up here where I'll have
to strike out on thet short cut."

Bo mounted without a helping hand, but Helen's limbs were so stiff that
she could not get astride the high Ranger without assistance. The hunter
headed up the slope of the canyon, which on that side was not steep.
It was brown pine forest, with here and there a clump of dark,
silver-pointed evergreens that Roy called spruce. By the time this slope
was surmounted Helen's aches were not so bad. The saddle appeared to
fit her better, and the gait of the horse was not so unfamiliar. She
reflected, however, that she always had done pretty well uphill. Here it
was beautiful forest-land, uneven and wilder. They rode for a time along
the rim, with the white rushing stream in plain sight far below, with
its melodious roar ever thrumming in the ear.

Dale reined in and peered down at the pine-mat.

"Fresh deer sign all along here," he said, pointing.

"Wal, I seen thet long ago," rejoined Roy.

Helen's scrutiny was rewarded by descrying several tiny depressions in
the pine-needles, dark in color and sharply defined.

"We may never get a better chance," said Dale. "Those deer are workin'
up our way. Get your rifle out."

Travel was resumed then, with Roy a little in advance of the pack-train.
Presently he dismounted, threw his bridle, and cautiously peered ahead.
Then, turning, he waved his sombrero. The pack-animals halted in a
bunch. Dale beckoned for the girls to follow and rode up to Roy's horse.
This poin