With a rush of words she poured out the whole story as her grandparents listened with excitement and pleasure.
Grandpa stood up and walked across the room. “Good luck to you, Judy. After watching this little performance you put on for us I know you’ll be the star of that company before the summer’s over.” Mr. Ritchie beamed down at his granddaughter. “You’ll love Colorado, Judy, as we did.” He took his wife’s hand. “Remember when we were there, climbing like goats and weeks later went on to climb Mt. Rainier—”
“I love the mountains. I’ve never seen anything higher than Mt. Washington.”
“Aspen is high. Eight thousand feet and is surrounded by peaks thirteen and fourteen thousand feet.” Mr. Ritchie paused, a faraway look in his eyes. “Those glorious mountains once possessed the greatest silver mines in the world! But that’s a story in itself.”
Judy looked up expectantly. For years her grandfather had told her fascinating tales of American history.
“You know you’re going to tell that story.” Minna smiled at her father.
He looked quizzically at his daughter. “I’m only being persuaded for Judy’s sake.”
“Yes, yes, we know,” his son-in-law added grinning.
“The fascinating thing about Aspen, Judy, is that until about seventy-five or eighty years ago, it was an empty valley in the heart of the Rockies. Colorado was a territory with little to attract settlers until they discovered silver. Then there was a mad rush to get to the camps near Denver. Soon all the claims were staked out. The late comers looked across the jagged peaks and thought of the silver hidden in those mountains.”
“Did they go?” Judy asked impatiently.