Mrs. Vernon cut this unpleasant little scene short by saying: “We’re all ready to start when you are, Gilly. Betty is going too, as she’ll see once she is on the way that there is nothing to dread.”
Two bright crimson spots began to glow in Betty’s cheeks as she followed after her friends, but she trembled every time she glanced in the direction of the Cañon.
There were twenty-three tourists, besides the scout-party, to ride down Bright Angel trail that morning. Some ladies who were not provided with riding habits had rented them from the outfit department of the hotel. Of course, Julie had to say “23 is skiddoo!” Every one had to ride cross-saddle, but two of the ladies in the cavalcade made a great fuss over such an immodest sight! The scouts stared in amazement.
Judith whispered: “They ought to remain home on the farm and knit antimacassors for the chairs.”
Finally they started off, one guide leading, another bringing up the rear. Tally rode directly in front of Amy, then after Amy came Betty. Back of Betty rode the Bass Guide, and behind him rode Hester. This arrangement would place each one of the two guides next to each of the three timid girls.
The trail, cut and made by hands with infinite labor and patience, seemed all too narrow for the feet of man. Yet the little burros go up and down it with perfect security.
“How can they do it, Gilly?” asked Joan, as they started down.
“Because their tiny hoofs take up no room, whatever, as they plant them down one directly in front of the other. Another thing, they are trained for this trail, and instinct tells them at what precise place to go slow, or at what time to hasten. Just trust them and look up. Don’t look down into the chasm, but up and over at the marvels of this place.”
To Amy, there were no more marvels in this Cañon—it was all purgatory from fear. To Hester it looked like the side of the Woolworth Tower. To Betty it was just nothing at all, but space, down, down into the bowels of the earth.
But the donkeys had started down and, perforce, carried the riders with them. Here and there the Cañon guides called the attention of their charges to various attractions.