“No,” said Hugh, “the way we came is good enough for me. I know I can get back that way, and, if we try some other road, I don’t feel sure that we won’t meet some steep slope or some big crack that will stop us. I took notice as we came up this morning that the snow on the other side of the basin looks mighty steep, and I don’t want to imitate Joe and go sliding around the way he did. Let’s go back the way we came, and then if we want to try some other way, if we ever come here again, we can try it from the bottom, and if we get stopped we can go back to camp.”
Adjusting their ropes, they started on the return journey. The heat of the sun had decidedly affected the snow, and it was much softer than when they had come up a few hours before. This made the walking easier, and their progress down the slope was much more rapid, so that the afternoon was only half spent when they found themselves once more in camp.
None of the horses were in sight, and they at once set out to look for them, and after considerable search found them all together not very far from camp, but a little way down the hill, where the grass grew thicker and greener than close to the camp.
“Now, boys,” said Hugh, “I’ll tell you what we’ve got to do. We can’t afford to lose our horses and we can’t expect them to stay close to camp where there’s no grass, so let’s take them over across the creek, and turn them loose on the other side, where the feed is better and they can’t very well get away. If they come back and cross the creek to go down hill, we will hear them, and in the morning if any of them are gone from the place where we turned them loose, we can go down the hill on this side of the creek and catch them before they have gone far.”
Hugh’s advice was acted on, and then returning to the tent they found that it was time for supper.
After supper the question came up as to what they should do to-morrow. After talking for a little while, Hugh said, “Now, son, of course, we want to keep busy and see and do all that we can up here in the mountains, but then we must remember that we’ve got pretty nearly all the time there is. We don’t need to make a labor of our fun and climb these hills every day. If you boys want to do so, you can just as well stay in camp for a day now and then, and kind of rest up. These rocks here are not going to get away, and you don’t have to climb them all to-morrow. If you feel like doing it, we can all stay in camp to-morrow and take things easy, and then start out on our travels the next day.”
“I think maybe that’s a good idea, Hugh,” said Jack. “We’ve been on the go pretty steadily ever since we came out, and maybe it would be a good idea to loaf for a day.”
“I think so, too,” agreed Joe, “and then something else, my eyes hurt me to-night. I think maybe the shine of the sun on the snow is what makes them pain.”
“Yes,” said Hugh; “we did a fool trick this morning. I didn’t think of it until we got well up on the ice, and the sun commenced to get strong. We ought to have blackened our noses before we started out. We’re all of us likely to have sore eyes to-morrow. I don’t think it will last long nor hurt much, but the sun is strong now. You see it’s mid-summer and, of course, the glare from the ice is pretty bad. After this, we must not start out over the snow without fixing up our faces.”
So after a little more talk it was determined that the next day should be spent in and about camp.