His words, more than anything Lo had said or done since he accepted the position as guide across the Desert, impressed the scouts with the fact that for Lo there was but one world, and one country of that world—and that was Navajo Land!
It was, therefore, with regret that the scouts, also Tally, said good-by to Lo and watched him ride back on his lonely trail to St. Michael’s Mission. But Lo would not consider himself lonely; he would have the music of the desert wind, the company of stars at night, and the close companionship of the Great Spirit to go with him on the home trail.
So eager were the scouts to reach the Grand Cañon now that they were daily coming nearer to it, that many beauties and unusual sights on the trail to Adamana were merely given divided attention by the girls. But once they had reached Adamana, named after the man who had brought the public interest to these unique forests, the scouts quite forgot the Grand Cañon for the time being.
As the trip along the Painted Desert had been long and continued, Tally said the horses must have a day’s rest.
“Great Scott, Tally! We bought the pack-horses for use, not for resting. And the rented horses have rested more than they have worked. I’ll bet a new hat your friend who owns them would have worked them much more than we have this past month.”
“I onny say so ’cause Boss like good hoss to ride to Grand Cañon,” argued Tally.
“If that means we lounge around Adamana and lose a whole day while the animals are recuperating, then we’ll ride them to the Petrified Forest, and after we come back we’ll take the train to Williams instead of riding through the San Francisco Mountains as we had planned.”
Tally said nothing more, but saw to it that the horses were well fed and bedded for the night. The scouts were only too thankful to rest upon real beds once more, and not one of them objected when the Captain proposed that they retire early in order to be up at sunrise and get a good start for the day.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE REGION OF THE PETRIFIED FORESTS