Spider took another step forward and slipped into a hole nearly up to his waist, lost his balance, and went under. He came up spitting water, and made a wild leap for the shore.
“You keep out o’ this, Joe,” he spluttered. “It’s too cold for you to go in. Talk about glacier water—not for me!”
“I want to try it,” pleaded Joe.
“No, you don’t!”—and Spider grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back.
As Tom peeled off his suit and reached for a towel, Joe ran for their little camp mirror.
“Look at yourself,” he said.
Tom looked. He was as red as a boiled lobster from head to foot.
“It’s a wonder there ain’t icicles on my elbows,” he laughed. “You heat yourself some water on the fire, Joe, if you want a bath!”
Which was exactly what Joe did.
They were hardly dressed again, and beginning to prepare supper, when they heard a great clatter of hoofs and shouting coming down the trail. They ran through their fringe of woods, coming out on the trail a little way above the camp, and galloping toward them they saw a procession on horseback, shouting, laughing, screaming. At the head rode a cowboy, well in the lead, and holding his horse back. It was a big, bay horse, with a white star in its forehead, and full of ginger. The cowboy wore white fur chaps on his legs, and spurs, and a broad-brimmed felt hat. Behind him came another guide, also in cowboy costume, and then almost a dozen men and women, evidently tourists. Some of them knew how to ride, but more of them evidently did not. The women were bouncing around in their saddles and screaming, but nobody stopped. The race for home had begun, and the horses intended to finish at a gallop. As the leader thundered past the two boys, they saw with admiration how firmly he sat in his saddle, like a part of the horse, and looked calmly back over his shoulder with a laugh. Then they saw him touch the horse with his spurs, and it sprang forward with a bound, while the rest came tearing on behind. As one woman passed the scouts, her last hairpin flew out, and her hair came tumbling down in a braid, which began bobbing up and down on her back.