CHAPTER XI
AN URSINE HOLD-UP
The party of young people were so excited by the adventure that they were scarcely in mind to appreciate the rugged beauty of the canon. The opposite wall was covered with verdure—hardy trees and shrubs found their rootage in the crevices between the rocks. Some beds of moss, far down where the spray from the river continually irrigated the thin soil, were spangled so thickly with starlike, white flowers that the patches looked like brocaded bedspreads.
Around the elbow in the trail—that sharp turn which had been the scene of the all but fatal accident—the driveway broadened. Far ahead (for the canon was here quite straight again) they could see the arching roof of rock, surmounted by the primeval forest, which formed the so-called natural bridge. The river tumbled out of the darkness of the tunnel, fretted to a foaming cascade by battling with the boulders which strewed its bed under the roof-rock. The water's surface gleamed ghostly in the shadow of the arch, and before the opening the arc of a rainbow shone in the spray.
As the girls' excitement subsided, Ruth saw this scene far ahead and cried aloud in rapture:
"Look! Oh, just look! Isn't that beautiful?"
"The waterfall," agreed her chum, "or cascade, or whatever they call it, is just a picture, Ruthie!"
"Mighty pretty," said Tom, reining in the pony beside them.
"The cavern is so black and the water is so white—like milk," cried Madge from the second carriage. What a contrast!"
"I tell you what it looks like," added Heavy, who sat beside her. "A great, big chocolate cream drop that's broken and the cream oozing out. M—m!"
They all laughed at the stout girl's figure of speech, for Jennie Stone's mind seemed always to linger upon good things to eat, and this comparison was quite characteristic.
"I'd be afraid to go down under that bridge," said Helen. "It's so dark there."
"But there's a path through the tunnel, Miss," said Jib, the Indian. "And there's another path by which you can climb out on the top of the bridge. But the trail for a waggin' stops right yonder, where we camp."
This spot was a sort of cove in the wall of the canon—perhaps half an acre in extent. There was a pretty lawn with a spring of sweet water, the overflow of which trickled away to the edge of the precipice and dashed itself to spray on the rocks fifty feet below.
They had become used to the sullen roar of the river now and did not heed its voice. This was a delightful spot for camping and when Ricardo came up with the wagon, the boys and Jib quickly erected the tent, hobbled the ponies, and built a fire in the most approved campers' fashion.
Never had a picnic luncheon tasted so good to any of the party. The mountain air had put an edge on their appetites, and Heavy performed such feats of mastication that Helen declared she trembled for the result.
"Don't you trouble about me," said the stout girl. "You want to begin to worry over my health when I don't eat at all. And I can't see where I have got so far ahead of any of the rest of you in the punishment of this lunch."
But afterward, when the other girls proposed to climb the rocky path to the summit of the natural bridge, Heavy objected.
"It's injurious to take violent exercise after eating heavily," she said.
"I never knew the time when Heavy considered it safe to exercise," said The Fox, who had gradually recovered her usual manner since the runaway. "The time between meals isn't long enough, in her opinion, to warrant anybody's working. Come on! let's leave her to slothful dreams."
"And blisters," added Heavy. "My shoes have hurt me for two days. I wouldn't climb over these rocks for a farm—with a pig on't! Go on—and perspire—and tell yourselves you're having a good time. I've a book here to read," declared the graceless and lazy stout girl.
"But aren't the boys going?" asked Ruth.
"They've started for the tunnel down there—with Jib," said Jane Ann, with a snap. "Huh! boys aren't no good, anyway."
"Your opinion may be correct; your grammar is terrible," scoffed Mary Cox.
"Never you mind about my grammar, Miss Smarty!" rejoined the Western girl, who really couldn't forget the peril into which The Fox had run her friends so recently. "If you girls are comin' along to the top of the bridge, come on. Let the boys go down there, if they want to. The rocks are slippery, and they'll get sopping wet."
"There isn't any danger, is there?" queried Helen, thinking of her brother.
"No, of course not," replied Jane Ann. "No more danger than there is up this way," and she led the way on the path that wound up the rocky heights.
The girls were dressed in corduroy skirts and strong, laced walking boots—a fitting costume for the climb. But had Jib been present at the camp perhaps he would not have allowed them to start without an escort. Ricardo had to remain at the camp. This was a wild country and not even Jane Ann carried any weapon, although when the ranchman's niece rode about the range alone she carried a gun—and she knew how to use the weapon, too.
But they could hear the shouts of the boys, rising above the thunder of the river, when they left the plateau and began to climb the heights, and danger of any kind did not enter the minds of the girls. It was like picnicking along the Lomano River, at home, only the scenery here was grander.
Ruth and Helen assumed the lead after a very few minutes; they were even better climbers than the Western girl. But the way was steep and rugged and it wasn't long before their chatter ceased and they saved their breath for the work in hand. Madge and Jane Ann came along after the chums quite pluckily; but The Fox began clamoring for rest before they had climbed half the distance to the top of the cliff.
"Oh, come on, Mary!" ejaculated Madge. "Don't be whining."
"I don't see anything in this," grumbled The Fox. "It's no fun scrambling over these rocks. Ouch! Now I've torn my stocking."
"Aw, come on!" said Jane Ann. "You're a regular wet blanket, you are."
"There's no sense in working so hard for nothing," snapped The Fox.
"What did you start out for, Mary?" demanded Madge. "You might have remained at the camp with Heavy."
"And she had sense."
"It's too bad you haven't a little, then," observed Jane Ann, rudely.
Ruth and Helen, who really enjoyed the climb, looked down from the heights and beckoned their comrades on.
"Hurry up, Slow Pokes!" cried Ruth. "We shall certainly beat you to the top."
"And much good may that do you!" grumbled Mary Cox. "What a silly thing to do, anyway."
"I do wish you'd go back, if you want to, Mary," declared Madge, wearily.
"She's as cross as two sticks," ejaculated Jane Ann.
"Well, why shouldn't I be cross?' demanded The Fox, quite ready to quarrel. "This place is as dull as ditch-water. I wish I hadn't come West at all. I'm sure, I've had no fun."
"Well, you've made enough trouble, if you haven't had a good time," Jane Ann said, frankly.
"I must say you're polite to your guests," exclaimed Mary Cox, viciously.
"And I must say you're anything but polite to me," responded the ranch girl, not at all abashed. "You're pretty near the limit, you are. Somebody ought to give you a good shaking."
Ruth and Helen had gotten so far ahead because they had not wasted their breath. Now they were waiting for the other three who came puffing to the shelf on which the chums rested, all three wearing frowns on their faces.
"For pity's sake!" gasped Helen; "what's the matter with you all?"
"I'm tired," admitted Madge, throwing herself upon the short turf.
"This girl says it's all foolishness to climb up here," said Jane Ann, pointing at The Fox.
"Oh, I want to reach the very summit, now I've started," cried Ruth.
"That's silly,' declared Mary Cox.
"You're just as cross as a bear," began the Western girl, when Helen suddenly shrieked:
"Oh, oh! Will you look at that? What is it?"
Ruth had already started on. She did not wish to have any words with The Fox. A rod or more separated her from her mates. Out of an aperture heretofore unnoticed, and between Ruth and the other girls, was thrust the shaggy head and shoulders of a huge animal.
"A dog!" cried Madge.
"It's a wolf!" shrieked Mary Cox.
But the Western girl knew instantly what the creature was. "Run, Ruthie!" she shouted. "I'll call Jib and the boys. It's a bear!"
And at that moment Bruin waddled fully out of the hole—a huge, hairy, sleepy looking beast. He was between Ruth and her friends, and his awkward body blocked the path by which they were climbing to the summit of the natural bridge.
"Wu-uh-uh-uff!! said the bear, and swung his head and huge shoulders from the group of four girls to the lone girl above him.
"Run, Ruth!" shrieked Helen.
Her cry seemed to startle the ursine marauder. He uttered another grunt of expostulation and started up the steep path. Nobody needed to advise Ruth to run a second time. She scrambled up the rocks with an awful fear clutching at her heart and the sound in her ears of the bear's sabre-like claws scratching over the path!