[Illustration: Up and up wound the trail.]
"We rest here," announced Janus, after they had been climbing for an hour without once stopping during that time. It was not a particularly desirable place in which to rest, being located on a steep slope, but the spot was surrounded by bushes, so that, when all came together and sat down, they could see nothing of the rugged mountain scenery about them.
"Better get out some biscuit or something to munch on, for we shan't find a place where we can cook a meal until we get nearly to the top. We'll have to rest hanging on by our eyelids after this," declared Janus.
"No more mountain climbing for me," declared Margery.
"This is nothing," chuckled the guide. "Wait until you climb Mt. Washington."
"Wait until I do!" nodded Margery with emphasis.
"That is to be our next," Miss Elting informed them. "By the time we have finished that I think we shall be seasoned mountain climbers."
"Yeth. And we'll have the habit so badly that we'll be climbing telephone poleth every day when we get home," averred Tommy. "I withh my father could thee me now. He wouldn't thay hith little girl wath lathy, would he?"