Complaints increased that their horses were hard-gaited, and the voices
of the ladies held plaintive notes as they declared their intention of
riding in the surrey when they overtook it. Pinkey was stopped finally,
and his passengers augmented by the addition of Mrs. Stott, Miss
Gaskett, and Mrs. Budlong, who carefully folded their jackets to sit on.
At five o'clock Mr. Stott raced forward and returned to announce that
Hicks had camped just around the bend of the river.
"You're wearing that horse out, Stott," said Wallie, coldly.
"He's feeling good--watch him!" cried the lawyer, gaily, putting spurs
to the horse and disappearing.
It was a beautiful camping spot that Hicks had selected, though "Red"
McGonnigle grumbled that it was not level enough for the teepees.
Old Mr. Penrose, who had fallen off his horse rather than dismounted,
declared he was so tired that he could sleep on the teeth of a harrow,
like a babe in its cradle.
"We'll be all right when we get seasoned," said Mr. Appel, cheerfully,
hunting in his wife's handbag for the vaseline.
"You couldn't have a better place to start in at," "Red" commented,
grimly.
On the whole, the day might be regarded as a pleasant one, and if the
remainder of the trip equalled it, there was no doubt but that the party
would return satisfied, which meant that they would advertise it and the
next season would be even more successful.
Everyone carried wood to build a camp-fire after supper, but by the time
they had it going they were too sleepy to sit up and enjoy it. They
stumbled away to their several teepees with their eyes half closed and
for the first time since they had known each other failed to say
"pleasant dreams!" when separating for the night.
Mr. Stott lingered to regale Pinkey and Wallie for the fourteenth time
with the story of the hoot-owl which had frightened him while hunting in
Florida, but since it was received without much enthusiasm and he was
not encouraged to tell another, he, too, retired to crawl between his
blankets and "sleep on Nature's bosom" with most of his clothes on.
"I wouldn't wonder but that we'll have to hit him between the horns
before the trip is over," Pinkey remarked, looking after Stott.
Wallie said nothing, but his face spoke for him.
Pinkey continued in a tone of satisfaction:
"Outside of him, everything's goin' splendid. The Yellowstone Park is
the fightin'est place anybody ever heard of. I've seen life-time
friends go in there campin' and come out enemies--each one sittin' on
his own grub-box and not speakin'. But it don't look as if we was goin'
to have any serious trouble--they're nice people."
"And they think the world of me," Wallie reiterated.
"I've been thinkin' I could lose the horses for two or three days and
that would count up considerable. Ten dudes at $5.00 a day for three
days, say---- Oh, we're sittin' pretty! We'll come out of this with
a roll as big as a gambler's."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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