Unexplored!

Stetson sombrero, hiking boots and flannel shirt, a red bandanna at his throat, and to supplement his khaki riding breeches he had bestowed lovingly in his du

rris warned him would last about a week on such rough going), and a wool jersey in the same soft tan. He took their guying good naturedly, however, and in mockery of Ace's more picturesque accoutrement, gave a first cla

ke-shift camp. There was not one chance in a hundred of any rain, but they decided a lean-to would be convenient anyway.

which were overlapped shingle-fashion on both sides and roof. The tarpaulins would make a curtain across the front. The floor was bedded down

gouging these out on the under side so that stout legs could be fitted in. Stools were made from short lengths

hair of poles, using a double thickn

e of sheet iron across the top, and a great f

roof container, and Pedro fashioned a refrigerator by replacing the two sides of a cracker box with s

, butt ends first, and shoved closer as they burned. Ted devised a rake for gathering together the dry twigs and cones and bark with

ers also laundered the dish towels after each meal. That way, everything was always ship-shape. And, be it noted, any cook who burned the nested aluminum pans and kettles had to clean them himself, and though Norris had made that eas

r a windproof outer layer. And many's the sleeping bag race they ran,-or rather, hopped, to the amazement, no doubt, of the wild folk who very likely watc

. The tooth-brush brigade sallied forth as soon as the sun began slanting its long morning rays through the forest aisles, and the boys often began nodding at a ridiculously early hour around the bon-fire, tired from the

ey never ran under any one's palm. Pedro got one cornered and caught him with his bare hands, and put him on a leash, but the furry mite spent the next half hour straining to get awa

lace, and the name was inscribed on the side of a

the boys came, they displayed a preference for drinking out of the same water pai

used to chase the little fellows to within an inch of their lives. One day a big Sayes chipmunk attempted to fish a cheese rind out of the fireplace. The ashes

h oven bread nibbled around the edges, Pedro hung the bread-bag from the clothes-line one night. He was awakened next morning

beady eyes, wondering how far they dared approach without danger to their agile persons. But the funniest thing was when two chipmunks would quarrel,-as generally happened when one unearthed a nut that another had buried. Nickering in the angriest way

rging his team forward. The yellow sunshine sifted aslant through the giant trees, birds sang, and chipmunks chattered. A water-packer passed them one day with his mule plodding along under 4

en bored for the purpose. Iron wedges were driven after the saw. The instant the tree began to lean, the head chopper had driven a stake about 150 feet from the base on the side of the kerf, declaring that the falling tree would drive that stake into the ground, so accurately could they gauge the direction of its fall. The swampers ha

and raced each other up and down the novel roadway that it made. Then, the excitemen

peeling off the thick red bark, which the boys found could be whittled into odd shapes and rubbed velvety at the cut ends. The sawyers were sawing the trunk into lengths short enough to ride on box cars, and the chain tenders were drivi

lishments varied from the ability to deliver an impromptu and usually unsolicited sermon to that of calling off the numbers at a stag dance, was summoned in haste and from a long black bag that went with the framed diploma that hung at the head of h

a crude slide that slanted sheer to a sizeable lake. Ace threatened to try ridi

to suspect it was no afternoon stroll he had embarked upon. "Ha

ys fish," Norr

weeks we may not see a living soul to buy a pound of bacon of. Eating's half the fun of camp

t gosh! Won't it take a whole train-load of burros to pack enough stuff? Five men, three times a day, that's fifteen meals. And thirty days wo

pack-train we won't have time for anything but donkey driving, and if we carry feed to keep them going on the trai

d of watery canned goods. They're just as good, aren't they? Only the water's been taken out of them, and we ca

ugh less dependent than the plumper Pedro on his three square meals

r. Dried peaches are the same thing except for that, and two pounds of dried

hat else? Mr. Norris, you've had a lot o

ting reminiscently. "Did you ever eat black bea

and dill pickle. And what about fried frogs' legs and watercress?

have we a mushroom expert in our midst?

laughed

"Goodness knows I'm no expert, but I do know a

the Senator's son.

n times in my life when I didn't turn u

completed the rec

potatoes for more than the first few days, a

a day-"

ds me of apples,-dried apple pie, apple pudding, apple dumplings, (baked or boile

!" queried

rolling pin, and perhaps bake it in the frying pan, and he hesitates to label the result, he terms it

ed at such times, he had been doing a lot of thinking. He now added his contribution: "How about rain

sh and a grater,

n ashes, baked on a stone, fried-of course, and roasted and stuffed with sage. Let's take sage. Then how about cold boiled trout salad with mustard dressing, and fish chowder a la canned milk, with

for it good and s

he word," ch

k of flavorings. Now I even take caraway seed to give a different flavor to a batch of biscuit, and raisins, or some anise seed, or a little strong cheese, that you can grate into it or on it and then to

eal and buckwheat in our pa

atmeal to mix in? It bakes fine and flaky. And there's

Norris p

s thin shoulder blade, "y'r all right," but at the thr

ead all the time anyway? Why not macaroni a

lic?" te

nd noodles, and all those things. They're

ulky," prot

, then. They're not so heavy, parked

get into the higher altitudes. And we can start off with a few fresh eggs, for compactness and safety broken a dozen at a time into glass jars.

rip, after all, is jerky and pemmican. I think old Lester jerked some venison himself last fall, an

are emergency rat

eantime we mustn't forget pilot biscuit and peanut butter for a pocket lunch and she

point. "The best grade of canned beets and spinach are pretty solid weight. I'

In all this time nobo

er start out without it, whether we told him to or not. But I'm awfully afr

ffee isn't one quarter so bulky, and put up in little s

coffee that could compare with

g and then get it powdered and seal

e're going to be as fussy as all that." (Ac

Senator's son hastened to change th

by Pedro's discovery that a

s he has been unmolested. A friendly fellow even in the wild state,-for the most part,-he roams the Giant Forest as much a prized part of the landscape as the Big Trees thems

vacate when the boys returned. On the contrary, he snarled and showed his teeth when they would have driven him from the maple sugar can, and even Ace felt at the moment that disc

slung over the limb of a tree. The boys still slept under the stars, for they knew enough about bears, (all but Pedro), not to

nd for help to get him out. When it happened half a dozen times, he was ordered shot. But he was the only one I've ever heard of a

ne and I fed him some candy. Then we parked, and went up to the hotel for dinner. When we came back, we found he had mig

he fi

ever

ft their lunch boxes in the machine while they went to climb Moro Rock. When they came back

large as a good sized room, with a Gothic sort of opening they could have made a door for. But t

ris? Will we find more of them?" asked Pe

eet above sea level. And in fact, south of Kings' River, the Sequoias stretch in an almost unbroken forest for seventy miles. Nor are they all of the proportions so often cited, where a man standing at their base looks like a fly on the wall by comparison with these prehistoric giants. Nor did they all get their start in life 4,000 years ago. There are

erhaps 500 summers, with its slender branches drooping in blue-green plumes toward the base, with purple-barked limbs out-thrust on the horizontal half way up, and at the top reaching ardently heaven

y tiny for such a tree, hang heavy with see

"I should think the trees would grow so thic

nny about them. You'd naturally think, from the number of streams in these forests, that they required a lot of moisture. Well, they don't. Further South they grow and flourish on perfectly dry ground. But their roots retain so much rain and snow water that their tendency is to make streams. The den

ars. Why, these Sequoias might have formed one continuous forest from the American River on South, if it had not been

ean them off the basins of the

the King and the Kern protected the Tule and the K

id Pedro. "Where will we find the nut pines t

und. Another, that forms a dietary staple with the Indians of Nevada, is to be found only on the East slope of the Sierra, and the little nut pine that our California India

Ted, "is whether we are going t

!" the old prospect

eyes

re at the time of the spring floods the yellow pine logs had been sent down to the river, he thought to try a little target shooting with Long Lester's rifle. But at the first shot a bunch of range cattle

ely on the horn. The shock at first stunned the animal, and he fell forward on

he sent it shooting

densome enough on his slow climb upward. They now impeded him till he could not ha

the head of the slide, he pulled the lever and sent it shooting to the stream below, and the fallen pine needles flew out in a cloud b

reached the river,-but Ace did not. An