“You say you needed two men?” asked the owner of the Circle Four.
“It will be a long climb up the mountain,” said Tim, “and we may have to carry Lewis down. He weighs something over two hundred pounds and that won’t be any picnic if he can’t walk.”
“I’ll say you need two men then,” said Cummins. “Looks to me like there’s room for three or four in that mail hole there.”
“There is room enough,” explained Tim, “but remember we’ll have to count on bringing Lewis back with us.”
“We could leave a couple of the boys on the mountain,” said the ranchman. “Give them plenty of blankets and we can send after them tomorrow. Sounds to me like we’ll need lots of help.”
“All right,” agreed Tim. “You pick the men and we’ll get under way.”
Cummins turned to the cowboys, all of whom were eager to make the trip.
“Curly, Boots and Jim,” he called, and three husky punchers stepped up to the side of the plane.
“Pile in boys,” urged Tim. “You’ll have to lay down in the mail compartment and you won’t get a chance to see very much scenery if you put the top down.”
“Leave her up,” cried Curly, “I’ve always wanted to see how this dog-goned country looked from the air.”