“No wonder!” laughed Polly, seeking carefully for the last crumb of black bread, “wood-cutters always come in after a hard day’s work, with appetites like ravening wolves.”
“That’s us!” declared Dodo, ungrammatically. Then she smacked her lips with relish over the coffee, while her companions laughed.
Poor Barnes had the worst of that ride, for the small bones of his ankle had been fractured and he would have to keep it in splints for a long time, if he would have it knit well and be as good as ever. But this accident proved to be beneficial for future riders up Humphrey Mountain, for the trail was ordered to be made wider and kept open and clear to protect man and beast in the future.
That evening, at the hotel, Polly remarked to her friends: “One place on the map that we won’t see this trip!”
“I’m not grieving,” laughed Jack. “I’ve seen all of that peak I ever care to.”
“Um! I’m with Jack in that sentiment,” added Eleanor.
“‘Them’s all our sentiments, too!’” giggled Dodo.
CHAPTER XII
TWO WEEKS LATER
Jack managed to escort his friends to all the other places of interest which they had decided to visit, and then, having heard from Mr. Dalken and his two companions that they were not to wait for them, the five members of the party at Flagstaff decided to go on to Grand Canyon, where they expected to meet Mrs. Alexander and Algy.
They heard from Mr. Barnes the last day of their stay in Flagstaff, and were pleased to learn that he was recovering quickly from his injury. Then they bid the hotel people good-by and started for Grand Canyon. They arrived at a time of year when few tourists think of visiting Arizona and its wonders. But they found that the first of December was the most wonderful of all seasons in the year to see the Canyon and the surrounding scenery. It beggared all attempts at description, when the snow flurried over the great abyss, or the sun reflected a million points of colored lights from the icy crags and the frozen drips of water!