"That's no news," laughed John. "Where are you going?"
Fred had arisen and throwing his gun over his shoulder he had started toward one of the canyons that opened on the opposite side of the great gulch.
"Where are you going?" called out Pete sharply as he discovered the action of the Go Ahead Boy.
"Not very far," replied Fred.
"You had better not," warned Pete. "Look out for snakes."
Fred stopped abruptly at the reference to the reptiles, but as John laughed loudly he decided to continue on his way. "Come along, Jack," Fred called.
"Nay verily, not so. I've had all the hike I want to-day."
Fred laughed and made no further response. Without waiting for his friend to join him he turned into the canyon and in a few minutes was unable to see the camping place which he had left behind him.
Fred, who had a keen eye for color, was examining the marvelous shades that were to be seen along the sides of the canyon. Rock and soil were clearly distinguished and the comparison which John had made the preceding day, when he had said that the sides of the canyon looked like a great piece of layer-cake, caused Fred to smile at the recollection.
He stopped abruptly when for a moment he fancied he saw a huge living creature behind a sage bush a few yards before him. Pete had related many stories of the savage mountain lion and the peril of encounters which he had with the savage beasts. Since he had started, the fiercest animal Fred had seen had been the noisy little coyote. After night fall the sly, little beasts often came within sound of the camp and their weird barks or cries made the silence of the night appear even more intense. Of bears Fred had not seen one. Pete had related the story of the fate which had befallen a friend of his who, making his way through the forest one day had jumped upon a log which appeared in his pathway and without any delay then had leaped down upon the ground before him. The "ground" however, had proved to be a she-bear with her two cubs nearby. "They found only the bones of poor Jim Hyde," Pete had remarked at the end of the story.