There stood Tally, grinning with good news. “Fine camp!”
“But where is Jolt?” demanded the scouts.
“Him dockered up wid bear-grease, bandages, an’ herb!’ laughed Tally, pointing to a place where they could see a mule taking things easy on the grass.
“Got packs out, Tally?” asked Omney.
“Us go in get ’em now, Omney. Scouts make camp an’ we come back wid grub, pooty soon.”
So the two guides rode in through the chasm again, along the bottom beside the river, and the scouts rode on to make camp where Tally had directed them.
There the scouts found one of the most interesting shelters of all on that camping-trip. It was discovered under the wide overspreading boughs of a clump of firs which had so grown that a perfectly clear and covered area in the center provided a Nature-made house.
While Ruth and Betty were ordered to clean up the sticks and stones on the ground under the trees, the other girls gathered balsam and made the beds. The two men went to fish, and the Captain built a good fire to cook the combination breakfast and dinner, as it was now long past noon.
Tally and Omney came back after a long absence, but they had the packs, a little the worse for the fall, to be sure.
“I see this is the last can of soup and our last can of beans,” ventured Mrs. Vernon, when she opened the food-pack.