nd along the river. Must have been fifty feet anyhow, maybe
more; but that didn't phase 'em. Of a sudden out walked Ole Curiosity,
lookin' as big as a house, with circlin' horns three feet long. The
ole feller jumped last; and jest as he jumped I rode out of the woods."

Ed eyed the circle of eager faces; his listeners tensed and leaned
forward breathlessly. Then he continued:

"When the ole ram was about halfway down he seen me. An' what do you
reckon he did?"

His hypnotized audience were too spellbound to hazard a guess.

"He turned aroun' and went back."

The story of the ram that turned back is still told around the
campfires of the Rockies, and it has not grown leaner in the
repetitions. But the old-time guides are giving way to younger ones,
more scientific but not so entertaining. The Indians who have turned
guides are unexcelled when it comes to following trails that are dim,
or in tracking down runaway horses. Indians have a subtle sense of
humor, even during the most serious situations. "Injun not lost, trail
lost," one said when adrift in the woods.

To prevent "trails from getting lost," the Park Service requires all to
pass examinations on packing, making camp, handling horses, first aid,
familiarity of the region and general aptness for the calling before
granting them a license entitling them to conduct parties on the peaks
and trails of Rocky Mountain National Park. When the first
superintendent was giving these examinations he invited me to assist
him.

In order to focus the attention of the would-be guides upon certain
important essentials, the questions started out by asking:

"What is the first consideration of a guide?"

"What is the second consideration of a guide?"

The answer expected to the first, of course, was the safety of the
party, and to the second the comfort of the party.

The superintendent and I strolled about the room where a dozen or more
young fellows were laboriously writing out their answers. One chap in
particular attracted my attention, for he was from the woods, a big
strapping fellow with clear eyes, and an eager, honest face.

I peeped over his shoulder. Beneath "What is the first consideration
of a guide?" he had written in unmistakable brevity: "HAM." Beneath
"What is the second consideration of a guide?" in a clear, legible hand
was the kindred word: "BACON."

CHAPTER ELEVEN

OFF THE TRAIL

That same youthful ambition to emulate the e