"Hello, Eddo, we ran away just to scare you, and we'll do it again if we please!"
It was a great day for dogs. Ever so many dogs ran out to meet Slam and Bang. They always bit their ears for a "How d'ye do?" and then trotted along beside them just for company. Eddo found it quite exciting. One was a Mexican dog, without a particle of hair, but he did not seem to be in the least ashamed of his singular appearance.
Edith said it was an "empty country," and indeed there were few houses; but there must have been more dogs than houses, for the whole journey had a running accompaniment of "bow-wow-wows."
The farther up hill the road wound the steeper it grew; and Jimmy exclaimed more than once:—
"This coach is standing up straight on its hind feet, papa! Just look! 'Twill spill us all out backward!"
But it did nothing of the sort. It took them straight to Castle Cliff, "nearly six thousand feet above the level of the sea," and there it stopped, before the front door of the hotel. It was about half-past five o'clock in the afternoon, and Mr. Templeton, who had been looking out for the tallyho, came down the steps to meet his guests.
II
THE FIRST DINNER
Mr. Templeton's wife was just behind him. They both greeted the party as if they had all been old friends. The house, a large white one, stood as if in the act of climbing the hill. In front was a sloping lawn full of brilliant flowers, bordered with house-leek, or "old hen and chickens," a plant running over with pink blossoms. Kyzie had not expected to see a garden like this on the mountain.