Ralphson George Harvey - Boy Scouts on the Open Plains; The Round-Up Not Ordered стр 2.

Harry was really on his way to the ranch of his uncles. Not being in any hurry he and his chums had first visited San Francisco, and then Los Angeles. While here they somehow conceived the rather singular idea of crossing the desert afoot, in order to have new experiences, and be able to say that they knew what it was to find themselves alone on a sandy tract that stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction.

What remarkable adventures had come their way while carrying out this scheme have already been set down in the pages of the volume just preceding this book, under the title of Boy Scouts in Death Valley, so there would be no need of our repeating any of the exciting episodes here. They had purchased the four burros from a discouraged party of men who were prospecting for gold in the mountains to the west of the parched valley of the evil name.

Since they managed to escape from Death Valley, after almost leaving their bones there as the penalty of their rashness, some days had passed; in fact it was now a week later. They had done considerable traveling in that time, and overcome all obstacles with their accustomed ability.

All of them had grown weary of so much mountain climbing, and Jimmy really voiced the united sentiment of the party when he declared that he was yearning for a chance to see the open plain, with grass instead of the eternal blistering sand, and mottes of trees dotting the picture with pleasing bunches of green that would be a relief to their tortured eyes.

So they sat there and talked of the past, as well as tried to lift the veil that hid the immediate future, as though anxious to know what awaited them in the new life to which they were hastening.

Finally Ned Nestor arose and stretched himself, as he remarked:

I think wed better be on our way, fellows, if we hope to get down there to the level before night comes along. The suns headed for the west, you notice, and as this ridge will shut him out from us early, we havent any too much time.

I guess youre about right there, Ned, commented Jack; and for one I want to say Id be right glad to make camp at the foot of the mountains. We cant say good-bye to these rocky backbones of the region any too soon to please me.

The four burros had rested after their arduous climb, and there was not the least difficulty about getting them started moving. In fact they seemed to already scent the grass of the plains below, so different from anything that had been encountered thus far on the trip, and were showing signs of a mad desire to reach the lowlands.

Several times Ned had to caution one of the others about undue haste.

Hold your burro in more, Jimmy, he would say; there are too many precipices on our trail to take chances of his slipping, and dragging you over with him. To be sure mules and donkeys are clever about keeping their footing and almost equal Rocky Mountain sheep, or the chamois of the Alps that way; but they can stumble, we know, and it might come at a bad time. Theyre wild to get down out of this; but for one I dont care to take a short cut by plunging over a three hundred foot precipice. Easy now, Teddy; behave yourself, old boy. Thats an ugly hole were passing right now, and we want to go slow.

Jimmy himself was apt to be a reckless sort of a chap; and many a time did Ned have to check his impatience in days gone by. Jack, too, often did things without sufficient consideration, though he could hold himself in on occasion; while Harry seldom if ever had to be cautioned, for he was inclined to be slow.

They often found themselves put to it to make progress, for while they followed what seemed to be a trail over the ridge, it had been seldom used, and many obstructions often blocked the way.

Once they had to get wooden crowbars and pry a huge boulder loose that had fallen so as to completely block progress. Fortunately it had been easy to move it a few inches at a time, until they sent it into a gulf that yawned alongside the trail, to hear it crash downward for hundreds of feet, and make the face of the mountain quiver under the shock.

In this fashion they had managed to get a third of the way down from the apex of the ridge, and Ned, comparing

the time with the progress made, announced it as his opinion that he believed they would be easily able to make the bottom before night came on.

That sounds all to the good to me, Ned, declared Jimmy, with a broad grin on his freckled face.

Hope youre a true prophet, thats all, said Harry.

I agree with Ned, Jack broke in with, and say, we ought to make the foot of the range before night, the way were going, unless we hit up against some bad spot thatll hold us up worse than weve struck yet.

That isnt likely to happen, Ned observed, because the further down we get the easier the going ought to be.

But I notice that the holes are just as deep, Harry told him.

And a fall would jolt a feller as hard too, seems like, Jimmy admitted as he craned his neck to look over at a place where the trail was only a few feet wide with a blank wall on the right and an empty void on the left.