“Well, I don’t suppose any one will take me to account for my time if I should decide to linger along the way with you,” remarked the Ranger. As he spoke he led his horse over to the group of horses which had been tethered under the trees. When he came back to the impromptu camp, he said: “If you’re ready, Mr. Gilroy, I’ll show where the trout are as thick as flies on molasses.”
“Just a moment, Ranger, till I get my rods and flies,” said Mr. Gilroy, running to get the tackle.
Mr. Vernon accompanied the two, and soon the three were out of sight in the forest.
“How do you like the portable cook-stove, Tally?” asked Mrs. Vernon, walking over to the guide, who was cooking.
“Personally, Verny, I think it will prove a great accelerator of mealtime,” said Julie laughingly; “but Tally vows he has no use for new-fangled ways of roughing it.”
Joan added: “Tally’s like the man who swore he’d never pay the bills for having modern plumbing installed in his home, after his wife had ordered it; yet he monopolized the bath-tub every morning to the inconvenience of his family; and he had his meals served on a tray as he sat right over the register of hot air in the dining-room; the others ate at the table and shivered.”
“Looks as if he had been swearing at the cost,” chuckled Hester.
“But that isn’t Tally’s case,” retorted Mrs. Vernon. “The burro pays the price of having a stove in camp; all we do is to unload it and give it plenty of wood to burn.”
Presently the three men returned with a splendid catch of trout which they brought over to the Indian to prepare for the lunch. Mr. Gilroy and Mr. Vernon seemed to have become well acquainted with the Ranger during their little fishing excursion; and during the luncheon the girl scouts also came under the spell woven by this interesting young man’s personality.
There were many a merry laugh and jest during the time the dishes were being washed and all signs of the midday meal removed; then the Ranger and Tally destroyed every vestige of the camp fire, before the entire party climbed into their saddles and rode away from the camping spot.