“Me! Why, no. This is my first visit there. What made you ask?”
“Because you seem to know more about the whole length and breadth of Grand Cañon than all the books ever written on the subject,” retorted the man, with finality.
Thereafter there was comparative silence in the Pullman, for which the scouts were duly grateful to the sarcastic man.
“Gilly, are we going to stop at the El Tovar Hotel that woman was telling about?” asked Betty.
“No, Betsy, I thought you scouts would much rather camp, and go on from site to site as the spirit moves us, eh?”
A chorus of “Oh, yes, Gilly!” assured the Boss of the party that his idea was well favored. Then Mr. Vernon said: “How about outfits now that Tally sold ours in Williams?”
“We’ll join a ‘John Bass Camp’; there being so many in our group we can manage to secure a guide and the outfits without having strangers thrust in upon our party. In this way we secure the horses, outfits, and everything, much cheaper than we could provide them for ourselves,” explained Mr. Gilroy.
“Oh, I’m just crazy to get there!” cried Judith, who really acted half-wild over everything in the west.
“What a pity it is our Judy could not have been in the Rockies with us last summer,” said the Captain.
“I’m glad she wasn’t, Verny. I never should have been the chief actor in all the thrills Joan and I reeled off for you,” said Julie.