Tad chuckled softly.
“Why do you laugh?” demanded the Professor.
“Oh, I was just thinking of something funny.”
“Let’s hear it,” begged Stacy.
“I rather think I’ll keep it to myself,” answered Tad, smiling. “Let Stacy tell you one of his funny stories.”
“All right, I’ll tell you one,” agreed Chunky readily.
“Leave the telling until you get to camp,” 61advised the Professor. “This is a rough trail, and you need to give it your undivided attention.”
“The Professor is right. We would do well to watch out where we are going,” agreed Tad.
“Yes, I dread to think what would happen to our packs were one of those mules, in a moment of forgetfulness, to think he was traveling in a circle at the end of a sweep down in a mine,” said Ned.
The trail they were now following was narrow. In fact, it was a mere gash in the side of the mountain, winding in and out with many a sharp turn, and there was barely room for the ponies to travel in single file. Above them towered the mountains for thousands of feet. Below them was a sheer precipice of fully two hundred feet, getting deeper all the time, as they continued on a gradual ascent.