Grace Harlowes Overland Riders Among the Kentucky Mountaineers | Page 4

woodcraft, a necessary accomplishment in one who is going to pilot a
party of girls across such mountain territory as you propose to travel."
"What's that you say, Tom Gray?" called Lieutenant Wingate from the
campfire where he was observing Washington fan it into life.
Grace laughingly repeated what Tom had said.
"Humph! I know all I need to know about woodcraft," declared Hippy
with emphasis. "When I smell wood burning in the kitchen stove I
know it is time to eat. What more knowledge of woodcraft does a
fellow need?"
"Amply sufficient for you, Hippy. But what about the rest of the
party?" grinned Tom Gray.
"As I was about to say," resumed Grace, "we shall be up with you in a
few weeks. How long do you reckon it will take you to finish your

government contract to survey that tract in the Cumberlands?"
"Possibly four weeks. Not longer."
"Call it three weeks--three weeks from to-day. That will make it the
twenty-fifth. We will try to be in the vicinity of Hall's Corners on that
date, and if you are not there we will wait for you. You will do the
same provided we are late in reaching the Corners. Let's have a look at
the contour map," suggested Grace.
While the others of the party were busy setting the camp to rights,
Washington having removed the packs from the mules, Grace and Tom
pored over the map of the eastern section of the mountains. Not only
were they planning their routes, but they were critically examining a
portion of the map that was encircled with a ring of red ink. The space
within the circle represented a tract of mountain land that belonged to
Lieutenant Hippy Wingate, property that he had inherited.
Hippy had never seen this property, it having been left to him by a
wealthy uncle whose large fortune Hippy had inherited while fighting
the Germans in the air in France. He now proposed to look it over. In
fact, this journey of the Overland Riders had been planned with that
object in view.
Following their return from France, where they had served in the
Overton College Unit, Grace having been an ambulance driver at the
front, the girls had decided to seek recreation in the saddle each
summer. Their first vacation was spent in an exciting ride over the Old
Apache Trail in Arizona, following this with a venturesome journey on
horseback across the arid waste of the Great American Desert.
Lieutenant Wingate's determination to visit his property in the
Kentucky Mountains led the Overland Riders, as Grace Harlowe and
her friends called themselves, to make those mountains the objective of
their third vacation in the saddle.
After Tom Gray had finished his government survey, it was their
purpose to proceed with him to Lieutenant Wingate's tract, where Tom
was to make a survey and examination of it, so that Hippy might learn

whether or not the property possessed any particular value.
"Hippy says his uncle took the property in payment of a debt, but that
the uncle never had considered it to be worth much of anything," said
Tom reflectively. "From what little I know of that section of the
country, I am inclined to agree with him. However, we shall see when
we get there."
"Who knows but that Hippy may find still another fortune awaiting him
there?" suggested Grace.
Tom shook his head and smiled.
"It would be Hippy's luck, wouldn't it? He doesn't need it; he already
has more money than he knows what to do with. Nor have I the
slightest hope that he will find anything of value there. The twenty-fifth,
then, it is. I shall make Chapman's my base and work from there. If
necessary to communicate with me in the meantime you may address
me there. I--"
"What's this? Henpecking your husband again, Grace Harlowe?" teased
Hippy, coming up to them at this juncture.
"Yes, Hip. I am a shining example of a much henpecked husband.
What would you do were you a henpecked husband?" questioned Tom
quizzically. "Come, now!"
"Well," reflected Hippy, "I think that would depend largely upon the
hen."
"You are right," agreed Tom Gray laughingly. "I shall be leaving in the
morning, old man, and I have agreed with Grace to meet the Overland
outfit at Hall's Corners three weeks from to-day, or as near to that date
as possible. We will then make a pilgrimage to the lands of one
Lieutenant Wingate and see what we shall find there. Probably nothing
more than some wild game, a few rattlers and--and some
mountaineers," added Tom significantly.

"I have been thinking, Tom and Grace, that, should we discover
anything of real value there, the Overland Riders should share in it.
This is a sort of exploration