s led the way to the right,
instead of following the perpendicular trail. The former trail led
them around a jutting point of rock, then over boulders, irregular
slabs and crags, obliging them to pick their way with caution and cling
to the life line.

They were now following a sort of spiral; for, though the party seemed
to be encircling the mountain, they were rising gradually toward the
blue dome of the summit. Here and there a mountain bird, dislodged
from its perch, would hurl itself out into space, giving the girls a
start, and threatening, for the moment, their equilibrium. But they
did much better than the guide had hoped for. Greatly to his relief,
he was not obliged to go to the rescue of a Meadow-Brook Girl that day.

About noon, however, Margery Brown got a blister on her right heel, and
Hazel turned one of her ankles. This put an end to the mountain
climbing for the time being, but not to the hanging-on. The girls
perched themselves behind rocks for support while the guardian was
dressing the sprain and the blister. Janus went on to look over the
trail and pick out the easy places. While they were waiting for Miss
Elting to attend to Margery and Hazel, the guide returned with an
armful of dry sticks.

"We aren't going to starve even if we can't move on," he cried
cheerily. "I promised you that you shouldn't have a warm meal until we
reached the summit this evening. I'm going to give you a surprise,
though. Now, what will you have?"

"I think I'll have a thirloin thteak," answered Tommy.

"A cup of coffee will help me, I am sure," declared Harriet.

"I would eat the frying-pan handle if I couldn't get anything better,"
added Jane. "Mountain climbing is something like work, eh?"

Janus bolstered up his dry wood in a crotch formed by a jutting rock,
and built a fire where one would scarcely have believed it were
possible to do so. He got water from a little spring just above them,
and by the time Miss Elting had disposed of her patients for the moment
the water for coffee was boiling. But there was no setting of a table.
To have put a dish down on that slope would have meant to lose it, and
they had too few dishes to be able to afford to lose even one.

The coffee was drunk without milk, though lumps of sugar were produced
from each girl's blouse pocket and dropped into her cup with much
laughter. They made the best of their circumstances; but when, about
the middle of the afternoon, Mi