"That's the idea. Bessie's right, Margery," said Eleanor. "We have a perfect right, and so have they, to employ any time-saving idea we happen to get hold of. And I'm quite sure this is a good one, and that Mr. Hastings will think of it, too."
"Well, I hope he doesn't do anything of the sort!" said Margery, wholly converted and now enthusiastic for the plan.
"You haven't told us yet who is to go ahead," said Dolly. "I'm just crazy to be one of the two—"
"We all are! Who wouldn't like to get out of carrying a load?" cried two or three girls in chorus.
Eleanor laughed at the eagerness they displayed.
"It won't be all fun for the pathfinders, as we'll call them," she said. "They've got a lot of responsibility, you see."
"What sort of responsibility?" asked Margery. "All they've got to do is to go just as fast as they can and make a fire when they get to the peak."
"That isn't all they've got to do, though. They've got to make a smoke signal, for one thing, by stopping the smoke with a blanket, and then letting it rise, straight up, three times. And they've got to go to work and get enough wood to keep the fire going, as soon as they've lighted it."
"But they'll be able to go along ever so easily on the trail!"
"It isn't a very well marked trail. Neither of the trails to the peak is, for that matter. And the pathfinders, if they find they're in any danger of making a wrong turn, must make a sign for us who follow. That might easily save us a good many minutes in getting there. So you see it isn't quite as easy as you thought. Now, I'll call for volunteers. Who wants to join the pathfinders?"