tened along the backs of their necks. If browse was good, they
remained in the home meadow,--after first circling it to make sure there
was no foe in ambush. If not, they wandered till they found good
feed,--and one night they wandered so many miles, hobbled as they were,
that it took all of the next forenoon to find them and bring them back to
camp.

They could walk a log with their packs to cross a stream, or, packs
removed and pullied across, they could swim it, if they were started up
current and left to guide themselves. They would not slip on smooth rock
ledges, they could hop up or down bowlders like so many bipeds. It was a
constant marvel to Ace and Pedro what they could do. No lead ropes were
necessary at all.

Long Lester was meticulous in their care. Every afternoon when the packs
were removed he sponged their backs with cold water. And though the party
was on its way by seven every morning,--having risen with the first light
of dawn,--and though by ten they would have covered half of their average
twelve miles a day, the old guide never watered them till the sun was
warm, which was generally not till after the middle of the forenoon. For
a wilderness trip comes to grief when any one member, man or beast, gives
out, as he knew from a lifetime of experience in that rugged and
unpeopled region.

They had figured on about three pounds of food per day per person, for
the four weeks' trip. That loaded each burro with a grub list of ninety
pounds, and about ten pounds of personal equipment, besides the axes and
aluminums and such incidentals as soap and matches. Ease of packing was
secured by slipping into each of the food kyacks a case such as those in
which a pair of five gallon coal oil cans come.

Their kit included neats' foot oil, (scrupulously packed), for the
wearing qualities of their footwear along those stony trails depended in
large degree on keeping the leather soft. No mosquito netting was
necessary in the mountains,--it was too dry and cool for the
insects,--but each member of the party had a pair of buckskin gloves, six
good pairs of all wool socks,--worn two at a time to pad the feet against
stone-bruise,--extra shoe laces, and a pair of sneakers to rest his feet
around camp. Norris carried a pocket telescope, and Long Lester a hone
made of the side of a cigar box with fine emery cloth pasted on one side,
coarse on the other. They saved on blankets by doubling each into three
crosswise,--excep