CHILDREN OF MY TRAIL SCHOOL 163 



traveller readjusts himself to its conditions and 

 develops along the way. 



With a party of more than twenty we one day 

 cooked our lunch over a camp-fire. We used little 

 sticks for the fire and kept it as small as possible. 

 As Indians were supposed to be after us we burned 

 every scrap of refuse and carefully covered the ashes 

 with a flat rock. Being clean is the most concealing 

 camouflage for a camp. When we left it the place 

 did not look as though any one had ever camped 

 there. Although we had twenty in this party we 

 generally limited the number to five or six. 



Trailing appears to be the supreme outdoor ex- 

 perience. Sometimes we follow the track of a 

 deer or a horse; at other times one of the party 

 travels for ten minutes from a given point and is 

 allowed to conceal his trail in every way he can 

 think of. At the word we set off eagerly to follow 

 this concealed trail. There is concentration, en- 

 thusiasm, and application. In following a trail 

 of any kind the girls frequently excel the boys. 



One of our excursions was an exciting two-day 

 search for the source of a stream. We found it 

 above the limits of tree growth in a little pool at 

 the foot of a cliff. There were mountain sheep 

 tracks by it. On the tiny stream each boy and 

 girl launched a boat — the tiny leaf of an alpine 

 plant — which was to report promptly, with its 

 message, to some boy or girl in New Orleans. 



We tried out our noses. Polemonium, with 



