Josephine Chase

“ We’ll have a bear hunt,” shouted Stacy.
“Not here, you won’t,” answered Tom Gray severely.
“Why won’t we?” demanded the fat boy.
“This is a government preserve, young man, and hunting is forbidden here,” replied Tom.
“Tom is right, Stacy, and you will please not forget that your Uncle Sam is not to be trifled with. Follow the crowd and sit on your safety valve until we get clear of the Park,” advised Lieutenant Wingate.
“Pshaw!” grunted the fat boy. “Somebody is always taking the joy out of life. ”

“ The quaint little town with its wooden buildings built in irregular formation, like many other far western towns, sat in a vast amphitheater formed by surrounding mountain ranges.
“Come, girls,” urged Grace Harlowe. “We must busy ourselves, for we have much to do. Tom, please inquire if our guide, Jake Coville, is here.”
“What concerns me most at the moment is where we are to eat,” spoke up Nora Wingate.
“I was about to ask the same question,” nodded Stacy Brown, more familiarly known to his companions as “Chunky,” whose appetite had never been known to be fully appeased. ”

“ Elfreda shook her head, and she and Tom walked on ahead to talk, while Lieutenant Wingate engaged his nephew in earnest conversation. When they arrived at the camp a warm welcome awaited Stacy Brown.
“Meet me with food,” shouted Chunky.
“Come, girls! Let’s kill the fatted calf in celebration of the prodigal’s return,” cried Grace.
“No, no!” protested Emma Dean with mock seriousness. “If you must sacrifice someone why not take Jim Badger? I don’t believe that either we or the world would miss him. Kill the fatted calf? Never!” finished Emma amid the laughter of her companions. ”

“ Hippy was having a strenuous time trying to keep the ponies from breaking their tethers and stampeding. Such a result would have been fatal to them, for in the darkness the animals undoubtedly would have plunged down the mountain-side to their death.
After the storm had raged for a full hour there came a sudden blast that seemed as if it were tearing the mountain apart. So severe was the shock that the Overlanders were almost stunned. Emma toppled over and lay moaning, while the others struggled to pull themselves together. ”

“ Nothing more was seen of the missing garments that day, but when day was just breaking next morning the party was aroused by a shout from the guide.
“She’s going to spout again!” he cried.
Pajama-clad, Stacy and Hippy raced for the “Fountain.” Each had snatched up a pole with which he hoped to spear the missing clothing. The others of the Overland party followed as soon as they had made themselves presentable, all laughing and rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. ”

“ After luncheon they sat on the broad veranda watching the splendid teams hooked to Concord coaches, carrying parties of tourists to the geysers or on a journey around the Park itself.
From the verandas of the hotel were visible the dazzling white terraces of the Mammoth Springs, shining like ridges of solid silver in the bright sunlight. From the plateau, terrace rose upon terrace, finally disappearing among the pines far up on the opposite mountain-side. The guide told them that there were two hundred acres of these terraces. ”

“ No food is worse than poor food,” urged Stacy.
“Yes. Let’s do,” agreed Emma.
“No breakfast until we have unloaded and fed the ponies,” called Hippy Wingate. “The animals need more attention than we do. Come along.”
“They don’t need it so much as this animal does,” declared Chunky.
“Feed the ponies; then we will think of food for ourselves,” was Hippy’s reply. “Tom, what about the guide?”
“I’ll find out.” Stepping over to the station agent, who was busy with a pile of trunks that had been unloaded from the Limited, Tom asked: “Do you know where we may find Jake Coville?” ”

“ We can’t be bothered carrying a sick man along with us,” warned Lieutenant Wingate severely.
“That is what I have been trying to tell him,” spoke up Tom. “Young man, don’t look for sympathy from me if you eat yourself sick.”
“I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m looking for fish. Fish is brain food, you know. Emma, why don’t you eat fish?”
“For the very good reason that I don’t need it,” answered Miss Dean amid laughter.
Stacy ran out of bait and asked for more, but his companions refused to let him have any. ”

“ Tom took the lamp from Grace and began creeping down the sloping rocks.
“You folks stay where you are,” he called.
“Have you discovered anything?” called Elfreda.
“Some broken-down bushes,” came the reply. “Something went down this way.”
“Come back,” begged Grace, as Stacy also began clambering down the slope.
“Somebody must be a hero,” answered Stacy, continuing on.
A shout from Tom Gray indicated that he had made a discovery.
“He’s got him,” called Stacy, relaying the message that Tom had hurled up from somewhere below him.
“Is—is he—” began Nora.
“All right!” Tom’s voice sounded far away. ”

“ There is one consolation, Tom. Our duds will be well laundered when they do come out, won’t they?”
“Yes, when they do,” sighed Tom, and the Overlanders burst into a peal of merry laughter. “Hereafter I wash my clothes in a creek—in one that has no kick to it. Who suggested this fool thing, anyway?”
“The guide,” dodged Stacy.
The “Little Fountain” did not erupt again that day, so the guide was left to watch it while the Overland party went off for a few hours’ exploration among the other geysers of the Great Basin. ”

“ Don’t you think I want to go to sleep?” demanded Stacy from an adjoining tent.
“It will take more than talking to cause you to lose sleep,” piped the voice of Emma Dean.
“Don’t interrupt, young man. We are having a private conversation,” begged Miss Briggs laughingly. However, she and Grace finished their talk in lower tones, and soon after that quiet settled over the camp, the guide being curled up in his blankets by the fire, long since sound asleep.
It was shortly after midnight that Grace, awakened by the snorting and stamping of the ponies, sat up to listen. ”

“ Stacy was hauled out protesting and groaning. Grace and Elfreda sprang forward and took him in charge.
“Where are you the most distressed?” questioned Miss Briggs.
“Feet. They’re scalded.”
“Your feet are a little red like your face, but they are not in the least scalded,” announced Elfreda after they had removed the boy’s shoes and stockings. “Stacy Brown, I believe you are what we, in the army, used to call a malingerer—one who feigns illness. The skin on your feet is not even broken.”
“Too bad,” murmured Emma. ”

“ Grace held up a warning hand.
“I hear it! It’s Stacy! It’s Stacy!” yelled Lieutenant Wingate. “Where are you?”
They caught the fat boy’s reply, but failed to understand what he said. That did not matter. The great truth was that he was still alive.
“Where are you?” roared Hippy.
The reply was a long-drawn-out howl.
“He is somewhere below us,” announced Tom. “Let us get further down. His being alive passes all comprehension.”
The Overlanders climbed down over the rocks, making all haste, all watching eagerly for a sight of the unfortunate Stacy. ”

“ It really is not prudent to remain here,” replied Tom.
“Yes. Chunky has accumulated so much electricity that we Overlanders are in danger of being struck by lightning most any time now,” averred Emma.
“Pack up and get going,” urged Lieutenant Wingate.
A few moments later the party was picking its way down the mountain-side. The nerves of each member of the Overland outfit were on edge, and Stacy Brown was nursing the many bruises that he had sustained in his tumble. Going down, while not such hard work, was attended with much more difficulty than had been the ascent. ”

“ If he continues to mix things up the Overland Riders will, sooner or later, be involved in serious difficulties.”
“I should say that a warning now, to be followed by sending him home if he causes any further worry for us, would be the wise course,” spoke up Tom.
“No, no,” protested Emma. “Think what a lot of entertainment we should miss. We intellectual persons need a foil—some brainless person to furnish light entertainment for us. My suggestion is that we appoint a guardian for Stacy—a guardian who will be responsible for him and whom he must obey.”
“You win,” cried Hippy amid laughter. ”

“ It is my belief that we folks are about to witness a most entertaining spectacle,” said Emma, nodding towards Stacy, who was gathering up his belongings on his way to the “Fountain,” a small pool of bubbling, boiling water.
Reaching the pool Emma and Grace saw him slip several bars of double X soap into the boiling pot, while Tom Gray, after critically eyeing the pool and its surroundings, sat down beside it. After sousing his garments in the water he drew them out steaming and proceeded to soap them liberally, the Overland girls offering expert advice on laundering clothes. ”

“ The Overlanders ran up the gangway and peered in.
“For mercy’s sake!” cried Nora Wingate. “Those are not our ponies.”
The car, instead of holding the slim-limbed, sleek ponies of the Overland outfit, was filled with huge draft horses, such as one sees exhibited at county fairs in the east.
“Mr. Agent, they have dropped the wrong car here. These are not our animals,” declared Hippy. ”

“ Shouted the Guide.
There was little need for his warning. The Overland Riders were already running at top speed.
The menacing hiss of the geyser grew louder, and the cloud of misty spray mounted higher and higher. Then a vast column of water rose into the air, with clouds of white steam.
“Oh, look! Look!” cried Nora, clapping her hands excitedly.
“Wonderful! A sublime spectacle,” breathed Elfreda Briggs. ”

“ Immediately after luncheon, badinage ceased and the camp presented a scene of activity in preparation for the start for the valley and the upper basin. Stacy, as usual, killed all the time possible in trifling, doing practically no real work at all. The Overland Riders were under way within the hour, glad indeed once more to be in the saddle, and just before nightfall halted to make camp at the edge of a thick growth of slender pines a short distance from “Old Faithful” herself. “Old Faithful” was steaming away lazily, a thin cloud of vapor drifting from its mound-shaped cone. ”

“ Tom told him. “The bears have taken to the timber with their cubs long before this.”
“Too bad we can’t shoot them,” muttered Stacy.
“You can, but it’ll cost you money if you’re caught at it,” said the guide.
“One experience in that direction is enough,” answered Stacy.
“I thought you were going to do your family washing,” reminded Emma.
“Well, I reckon I will if I can find my shirts and the rest of the outfit, but I won’t go out alone. You folks have got to come with me. Emma, you stand around and chase the bears away. All you have to do is just to look at ’em and they’ll run.” ”