e week-end at Camp to welcome the party from the
ranch; so the young folks at Pebbly Pit eagerly prepared for the trip to
Buffalo Park. The panniers were packed with luncheon for the riders,
besides the cakes and home-made pies which Mrs. Brewster sent to the
boys in camp.

At dawn on Saturday morning, the party started, Mrs. Brewster watching
them ride down the trail until they disappeared back of Rainbow Cliffs.
Then she went back to attend to her household duties.

Polly rode Noddy as usual, and Eleanor had Choko. The other four members
of the party rode horses, but one extra burro, Nigger, was taken to
carry the luggage. The trail from Bear Forks across the mountain-side
was very rough, being seldom used; most riders, going to Buffalo Park,
took the old worn trail that ran from Silver Creek.

Finally, the going was found to be so steep that it was deemed best to
attach the pack-burro to John's horse, by means of a rope. This would
necessitate the burro following after John's horse instead of wandering
away in the maze of forest trees.

But sometimes, these little burros get stubborn when they are made to
follow in the rear of a horse, and it was so with Nigger. He acted like
a sulky child, and made the girls laugh at his contrary behavior. He
seemed to have lost all individual ambition, and made John's horse drag
him at the unusually hard places in the trail.

They had been climbing steadily for two hours and hoped soon to reach
the clearer trail that ran direct to Buffalo Park. But the trees grew so
closely together, now, that they offered obstructions in every direction
the horses went. Sometimes it was even necessary for the riders to
dismount and follow after the horses to eliminate the extra width caused
by stirrups and legs.

Nigger's panniers were packed with food, cooking utensils to use while
on the trail, and rifles. This bulky roll projected over a foot on
either side of him, often creating a "blockade" in the narrow going
between trees.

John's horse, being unable to read blazes as easily as his rider could,
would choose the wrong turn now and then, sulkily followed by Nigger.
Then the horse would come to a spot impossible to pass through and would
decide to back out. Nigger, with his clumsy pack and grouchy manner,
stood and fairly laughed at such times. Polly and Eleanor enjoyed these
funny experiences thoroughly; but John felt annoyed, as he wished to
appear his best before Anne, and how can a