CHAPTER XII 



A DAY WITH A NATURE GUIDE 



ONE morning six variously attired people, four 

 men and two women, started from a hotel 

 in the Rocky Mountain National Park 

 with a nature guide. An auto whirled them to 

 the end of the road far up the mountainside from 

 whence they continued afoot. They were bound 

 for one of the eternal snowdrifts on Long's Peak. 



The essence of nature guiding is to travel grace- 

 fully rather than to arrive. This guide tactfully 

 put two or three at ease by convincing them that 

 in the United States the belief in ferocious animals 

 is a superstition. ''And no one," he continued, 

 "in this locality has ever been attacked by a wild 

 animal." The day was perfect, but so interest- 

 ingly did the guide describe experiences in storms 

 that everyone hoped to be Rain-in-the-Face be- 

 fore evening. 



The guide was jollied for being silent. These 

 people, true to the customs of the day, asked for 

 rubber-neck specialties and demanded where their 

 megaphone artist was. They were climbing in 

 a V-shaped canon, travelling west. Presently the 



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