“I am going to try climbing it, some day, just the same,” she thought to herself, “but of course, I must get used to finding my way about first. I must find out just what I saw this morning.”
“Where have you been, Mollie?” asked Grace, opening her eyes as Mollie came back to bed.
“What’s up?” called Ruth from the next room, where she slept with Miss Sallie.
“Oh, nothing,” Mollie answered, fearful of being thought superstitious. “I thought I heard a sound at the door, but I was mistaken.”
“Girls,” Ruth demanded later, as they sat over their breakfast, “is there anything in the world so good to eat as bacon fried by Ceally over an open fire?” Ruth helped herself to all that was left on the dish.
“Ruth Stuart!” called Barbara. “How dare you take all the bacon, when you have just declared it was so delicious? Miss Sallie, make her divide with me.”
Miss Stuart looked up from her eggs and toast: “What are you children quarreling about?” she asked placidly. “Suppose you bring us another dish of bacon, Ceally. The mountain air certainly creates an appetite. I am sure I don’t see what benefit I am to get from ‘roughing it!’ The one thing I hoped to do by living outdoors was to reduce my figure, but, if my appetite continues at the present rate, I shall certainly not lose an ounce.”
“Don’t you be too sure, auntie,” Ruth demurred. “Wait till we get through with you to-day. Think you can climb the hill back of us?”
Mollie interrupted. “Naki warns us against that particular hill. He says it is unpopular for climbing because of its cliffs and ravines. But he hints that there is an Indian trail over it, so I am dying to explore it. Aren’t you, Bab?”
“Well, it’s not for me!” laughed Ruth hastily. “I am not any too devoted to scaling cliffs, you may remember.”