lized what a beautiful state New Hampshire is
until we began looking about a little," answered Harriet Burrell.

"There are too many thtoneth," objected Tommy. "I thhall be afraid of
thtubbing my toeth all the time."

"Lift your feet and you won't," suggested Margaret, with a smile.

"Buthter, I didn't athk for your advithe," retorted Tommy.

"There are the foothills," interrupted the guide, "and there is
Chocorua. Isn't she a beauty?"

This was the girls' first real glimpse of the White Mountains.
Chocorua loomed high in the air, reminding them of pictures they had
seen of ancient temples, except that this was higher than any temple
they had ever seen pictured. Its gray domes, flanked by the other tops
of the neighboring range, stood out clearly defined.

"Three thousand five hundred feet above sea level," the guide informed
them, waving a hand toward Chocorua. "Doesn't look that high, does it?"

"Have we got to climb up there?" questioned Margery.

"We are going to. We do not have to if we don't want to," replied
Hazel.

"Oh, dear, I'm too tired to go on," whined Margery.

"I knew Buthter could never climb a mountain," observed Tommy, with a
hopeless shake of her little tow-head. "But never mind, Buthter, you
can thtay here and wait until we come back. It will only be a few
weekth and you won't be tho very lonely. Of courthe, you will mith me
a great deal."

"Don't worry yourself over me," snapped, Buster. "I can climb as well
as you. But if I did stay behind, you can make up your mind I wouldn't
miss you."

"Stop squabbling, girls," laughed Harriet. "Neither one of you could
get along without the other."

The granite domes soon faded in the waning light. The driver urged on
his horses. The carry-all bumped over the uneven road, swaying giddily
from side to side, the girls clinging tightly to the sides of the
wagon, fearing that they might be thrown out. Darkness shut out pretty
much everything at an early hour. Janus decided that they had better
wait for supper till they reached the "Shelter," a cabin part way up
the side of the mountain, where tourists halted for a rest or to stay
over night when intending to climb the mountain. It was not expected
that there would be any save themselves there on this occasion.

The road grew so uneven that the driver became a little uneasy. He
finally declared that he did not dare to try following the trail up to
the Shelter that night; that either