Lillian Elizabeth Roy

“ Hester understood perfectly, so Julie rushed over to the crooked, leaning pine, half-dead, but draped as the scout had said, with long swinging tendrils of vines.
“Isn’t this going to be a thriller of a picture, Verny?” called Julie, waving a hand at the wide canyon and the shimmering falls.
“For goodness’ sake, Julie! don’t go so close to the edge,” warned Joan. But she was too late.
In turning to address the Captain, Julie had inadvertently stepped back one pace too far. With the wave of her hand at the ravine she lost her balance. ”

“ Vernon, fervently.
“No wonder you Forest Rangers are such fine chaps. Who could be sickly or small when living on heights so near to God,” declared Mr. Gilroy, and Sanderson flushed at such praise.
As they began to climb to the crest of Raton, the birds were flashing back and forth overhead, industriously seeking dinner for their young. The fragrant verdure, the slanting sunbeams as they seemed to search through the crannies of cliffs and chasms, the sudden flash of a wild thing scuttling away from the trail, all served to exhilarate the riders. ”

“ The tourists had left Laguna, where the sun was touching the twin-towers of the church on the crest of the hill as they had their last glimpse of it, and had been going steadily up the trail for some time before Julie spoke.
The comparison was true. Far off near an adobe dwelling one could see an oriental female form with a water-jar upon her head; glimpse the bit of brilliant color produced by the red shawl; see the sandy stretches of sandy mesa, dotted with flaring blossoms; the water-hole to which the flock was now trending; the lavender-tinted hills encircling this great plain ”

“ Julie had a secret mission to perform during this summer’s outing, but she had taken no one into her confidence, not even the Captain, nor her twin-sister Betty. As she rested in a sitting position in the berth, she smiled as she thought of how she had to maneuver since leaving Elmertown on Sunday morning.
“But I did it and no one is the wiser,” murmured Julie to herself. “This ought to be a fine opportunity to write my impressions of Chicago and the railroad journey going west.” ”

“ Gilroy had no idea of allowing the scouts to see the Cañon at once. It was late afternoon when they left the train, and he led them directly to the hotel where they could wash and brush up and then have afternoon tea. He planned to show them their first view of the wonderful chasm with the hues of sunset full upon its walls, and his plan succeeded even better than he could have hoped for.
The eager and impatient scouts ran out ahead of Mr. Gilroy the sooner to view the Wonder they had come so far to see. They reached the rail and looked. The earth lay open before their eyes! ”

“ Anne was a healthy, hearty eater, and during the summer in the Rockies had made the most of every opportunity to eat.
“Perhaps you will command your younger sister as Eleanor now commands you, Anne, when you are Eleanor’s age and have a beau,” remarked Mrs. Vernon, smilingly.
“Verny! I want you to wake me up sharply if you find me, at the age of twenty, hypnotized with any young man that happens to cast an eye upon my fair face,” laughed Anne. “A girl, now-days, ought to remain single till she is twenty-five or -six. ”

“ Gilroy concluded his story of the Petrified Forests, the scouts realized that they were almost there—at the Inland Lake of primeval times which had left such marvelous records of the Great Storm.
That day the tourists visited everything worth seeing in the two Petrified Forests, the second one covering an area of over two thousand acres. The girls marveled at the huge fallen tree trunks, the old giants of that long-ago mountainside, now transformed into agate and onyx with beautiful marblings of rich crimson, pastel greens, royal purples, dazzling gold—all woven and twisted together. ”

“ As she was speaking Julie led Hester to a spot and showed her just what she was to do after she, Julie, was posed and ready.
“That beautiful hanging tree all draped with creepers, see it—right on the verge of the cliff? I’ll lean against it gracefully, as if I was leaning over to look down into the chasm, and then you push the button. You’ll get the falls as a background, and everything.” ”

“ Immediately following the Ranger’s departure the scout-party rode away from Albuquerque and struck the trail leading to Laguna. But the wind blew such a gale of dust that day that riding was anything rather than pleasure. It would have been a simple matter for the tourists to take the train to Laguna, but that was too usual. Perhaps they silently regretted this decision long before they saw the old pueblo town of Laguna. The railroad passes through the lower street—“strata”—but the scouts rode up to the city after having viewed it from afar. ”

“ At Las Vegas the scouts found three cities in one: first, the ancient Spanish, then the up-to-date town with its fine hotel called the Castañeda, and, thirdly, the health resort town with its famous Las Vegas Hot Springs. At these Springs, which are a paradise for the sick or for those who believe in prevention of illness, you may sport about in boiling mineral waters, if you choose, or merely bask in the sunshine and enjoy the exhilarating air. ”

“ Joan’s horse heretofore had been considered one of the best mounts in the group, but in the test of endurance it failed to measure up to the Indian ponies bought at the Mission, or with the raw-boned animals the other scouts were riding.
Every scout was now fighting a single-handed battle with the hurricane, fighting the stinging, blinding sand while trying to guide the horse after the Indians who led the way. The great billows of dust were caught up in clouds and were kept driving over the waste-lands in such volume as to create a panic in any heart. ”

“ The scouts stopped at the Alvarado Hotel, a luxurious place with every modern convenience, though its style of architecture is Old Spanish Mission. From its verandas the girls could see the peaks of New Mexico as they sent up their snowy tips to the azure sky.
Being the season when tourists crowded the city, the scouts found things very lively with dances and plays and drives day and night. They went to the Musee, to the fashionable restaurants, and forgot they were in the land of the pueblos. ”

“ After having spent several days at the luxurious hotel in Albuquerque, and then, as a contrast, camping at night and for three meals each day on the dusty trail to Laguna, the scouts were relieved to find a splendid camp-site back of the town, where they would have privacy and comfort. The Denver gentleman who had welcomed them as they rode into Laguna that afternoon nodded in the direction of a tiny stream running through a crevice of the rock, and at a short distance from the site a good pasturage for the animals. ”

“ Though the scouts were impatient to arrive at the wonderful lode-star that had beckoned them West, they signified their willingness to defer that moment when they should stand on the rim of the world and gaze at the awful rent in Mother Earth’s garment—a rent over a hundred miles in length, eighteen miles in width, and over a mile in depth, all to be seen in one sweeping glance from a point which projects from the upper level of the ground at the top of the Cañon. ”

“ Adair instantly pulled out a wooden chair for the Padre, who very courteously placed it for Mrs. Vernon, and she, smiling, thanked him and sat down. At the same time Sandy had discovered a second chair at the end of the narrow piazza, and now ran to fetch it. The scouts sat on the top step of the entrance from the pathway, and were anxiously waiting for the promised tale. The young men seated themselves Indian fashion, upon the grass at the foot of the steps and seemed more interested in the girls than in the Padre’s words. ”

“ Every caravan have scout out-riders and a Capitaine what command; and Capitaine have twoscore wagons to look after. That trip take forty-fifty days to mak over desert and dune. It were no fun to trek across Indian land those days, where Ute Warriors, or Comanche savages, lay wait to attack and scalp men, then steal beasts and burdens—Ye’es, I see it all!” Even so, the scouts, too, saw the mirage which the Padre painted in such telling words. ”

“ Tally made every one go to work and, soon, they were settled as if camp had been established for a week.
That night was a merry one around the camp fire. Singing, tale-telling, and star-gazing, to say nothing of the chaff that pleases young folks, made the time fly until Mr. Gilroy said it was time to say good-night.
The following morning the riders resumed the trail and, quite naturally, paired off as best suited them. Sandy rode with Julie, Mr. Gilroy and Betty; Adair and Joan followed; then Hester and Chase. Mrs. Vernon rode with Burt, and Mr. Vernon with Tally. ”

“ If a tenderfoot in the East fancies New Mexico has a climate that is hot enough to sizzle bacon on a rock, or induce a tourist to go to bed at night without sheets or blanket to cover him, that one will have another guess coming. In all the time the scouts had been in New Mexico they had not felt any too warm, even at noon-day, in their woolen shirts and khaki breeches. Now, at the hotel dance, they were decidedly cool in their light dinner gowns, and evening scarfs. ”

“ But the climb up, and up, and UP, to the scouts, was like going up the side of the Woolworth Building.
Finally, however, they reached the top of the stone steps, and the sandy reaches, and the high places, where shaky ladders have to be used. Once up, the tourists gazed around in interest at the dwellings, tier upon tier, and each tier reached by means of movable ladders.
“No chance for burglaries in those upper flats, if the tenant pulls the ladder up after him,” laughed Mr. Burt.
The entire village was built upon a solid rock. ”

“ The scouts traveled over the miles and miles of gray sea of sage-brush, the delicate perfume of the sage-blossoms greeting their nostrils in a haunting scent. After riding for hours across the mesa, the wonders ever increasing, the tourists came to a forest of cedars. Still going on through these woods that appeared to stretch out and onward forever, the trail continued to descend without the riders realizing the fact. Finally Lo reined in his horse at a spring which was guarded by a wall of stone ”

“ The night-clerk in the hotel was told to call the tourists at four the next morning, as they were eager to get away.
Tally had purchased the tents and camp equipment in Trinidad, and had the ponies saddled and waiting just outside the town proper; the three little burros, well-laden, looked more like ants carrying elephants than anything able to crawl up peaks and down perpendicular ravines. As before, when visiting the Rockies, the girls felt sorry for the little pack animals that appeared too slender and weak to stand any strain or fatigue. ”

“ There were pools of clear spring water, enough to supply all the inhabitants and their domestic animals. There were plenty of dogs, and cats, and chickens wandering about on the shelf-like dooryards of the flats, and of these Julie got a fine picture of a hen and her brood clucking about up on the fourth tier of a dwelling.
“What she can find to eat after scratching in that bare adobe is a caution to me!” cried Joan, watching the energetic ambition of the mother-hen.
After visiting the church in Acoma, which took forty years to build, Julie said: “No wonder! with walls ten feet thick.” ”

“ In suddenly calling a halt on the trail where it was so narrow that the riders’ legs on the Cañon side were sheer over the edge, many of the mules had turned a sharp projecting cliff and were out of sight, while the rest were still crawling down the trail upon the upper side of the bluff. At the very moment when the halt was ordered Julie’s mule was about to turn the corner, and the wise little beast instantly obeyed the command. ”

“ Presently the cavalcade resumed the downward climb. Lower and lower went the trail, and higher, still higher, rose the walls of the Cañon above the heads of these tiny dots which clung tenaciously as they crawled along the face of the cliffs. Finally the advance guide shouted:
“We’re coming to the plateau where are the Indian Gardens. There we will halt and rest the mules; the riders may stretch their own muscles and walk around, if they choose.” The riders were glad to do so. ”

“ Two bright crimson spots began to glow in Betty’s cheeks as she followed after her friends, but she trembled every time she glanced in the direction of the Cañon.
There were twenty-three tourists, besides the scout-party, to ride down Bright Angel trail that morning. Some ladies who were not provided with riding habits had rented them from the outfit department of the hotel. Of course, Julie had to say “23 is skiddoo!” Every one had to ride cross-saddle, but two of the ladies in the cavalcade made a great fuss over such an immodest sight! The scouts stared in amazement. ”

“ While Sandy enjoyed Julie’s companionship, he remembered the Government had first claim on his time. His duty was to interpret for and to guide the man he was to meet at Springer or Las Vegas, and secure such statistics as would be valuable for the righting of the wrong done the Pueblo Indians; consequently, he felt that he had no right to pay attention to a pretty girl, while his work remained unfinished. ”

“ Sanderson, we heard last summer that a trail once made by human feet will forever keep its peculiarity so that it never becomes completely overgrown again. On the other hand, it is said that the trails worn by forest creatures will, after being abandoned, become obliterated by growth of young trees and brush,” said Julie.
“That’s what people say, but I can hardly believe it,” returned Sanderson. “If you were a Forest Ranger and had to build the roads we do, you would forget all about these other kind of trails. ”