"Wow! are we ever going to get up there?" grunted Toby, who had just hated to come on this expedition at all, when he would much rather have liked hanging around camp, and examining the deflated balloon; no doubt dreaming dreams of the time when he hoped to have the chance to soar away among the clouds in one of those gas bags.
"Seems like that mountain top is just nigh as far away from us as ever," complained Larry Billings, who was puffing at a great rate, as he seemed to be rather short winded, and had to be taken to task several times for his faulty manner of walking.
"Oh! no, you're greatly mistaken there," laughed Elmer. "Distances are deceptive in the mountains, to anyone not used to measuring them with the eye. Just wait a little, and all at once you're going to realize that we're getting up handsomely. Look across the valley, and see how high we are right now! That proves it, Larry."
"Hey! what's that moving, away up on that other hill, Elmer?" cried Jasper Merriweather, the novice and real tenderfoot of the crowd; who, under the careful supervision of the scout leader of the Wolf Patrol, was actually doing himself proud, and gaining new confidence in his abilities with each passing hour.
Elmer followed the line of his outstretched finger.
"You deserve considerable praise, Jasper, for making that discovery," he declared, presently. "I can see what you mean now; though when I looked across before I didn't happen to notice. Yes, that's our other squad, climbing up just like we are, and not making any better job of it either, I think."
"Ho! they ain't near as far up, for a fact," said Nat Scott, with pardonable pride, since he had developed into a pretty good climber.
"Well, that mountain is not so tall as ours; but then it may be even rougher, for all we know," observed Elmer. "I picked out this one because it was so high, and I always want to tackle the hardest job, if I've got any choice. It makes you feel all the better if you win out. But come on, fellows, let's pitch in. Given one more good hour's work, and I think we ought to be pretty near the crown."
"I hope so!" sighed poor Larry, who was puffing still, and rubbing his leg where he had hurt it a little on the previous day; though it was nothing so bad as Red's injury, aggravated as it had been by his stubborn determination to return to the lone hut and accompany the relief party.
Once more they struggled upward. Sometimes they found the going so very difficult that they were obliged to give each other a helping hand.