s a goat; but instead I had to shove myself. But up I went,
nip and tuck--and my head thumped when my heart did, about a thousand
times a minute. Every step I took hurt from hair to sole. But I didn't
care, if I only could go far enough. Bill and Mike climbed after, on
the oblique so as to cut me off before I could reach the top of the
ridge and the level there.

Straight up I went, drawing them on; and halfway my throat was too dry
and my legs were too heavy and my head jarred my eyes too much, and I
wobbled and fell down. On came the two enemy; but I didn't care. I
looked past them and saw Fitzpatrick the Bad Hand pelting down the road.
He had cached his camera, but he had the flag and the message, his one
arm was working like a driving-rod, he was running true, the trail lay
straight and waiting, with the goal open, and I knew that he would make
it!

APPENDIX: SCOUT NOTES

CHAPTER I

Note 1, page 3: Many old-time "scouts" of Western plains and mountains
did not amount to much. They led a useless life, hunting and fighting
for personal gain, and gave little thought to preserving game, making
permanent trails, or otherwise benefiting people who would follow. Their
knowledge and experience was of the selfish or of the unreliable kind.
They cared for nobody but themselves, and for nothing but their wild
haunts. However, these trapper-explorers whose names the Elk Patrol took
were of value to the world at large and deserve to be remembered.

General William H. Ashley lived in old St. Louis, and became a
fur-trader and fur-hunter in 1822. By his great enterprise he encouraged
other Americans to penetrate the Western country. He led numerous
expeditions across the wild plains and the wild Rockies, and his parties
were great training-schools for young trapper-scouts. He it was who
fairly broke the famous Oregon and California emigrant trail across the
Rocky Mountains by hauling a six-pounder cannon, on wheels, to his fort
in Utah; his men were the first to explore the Great Salt Lake; he was
the first brigadier-general of the Missouri State militia, and after his
fur days he went to Congress.

Major Andrew Henry was General Ashley's partner in fur. But before
joining with Ashley, in 1810 he had built, in Idaho, the first American
trading post or fort west of the mountains.

Kit Carson was a real "boy scout," for he took the scout trail in 1826,
when he was only sixteen. Because of his modesty, his bravery, hi