The Pony Rider Boys in the Grand Canyon | Page 7

I have said, it is a primeval forest. This great woodland stretches
away from the very base of the San Francisco mountains southward for
a distance of nearly two hundred miles. We are taking a short cut
through it and should reach Flagstaff in about an hour from now."
"Hurrah! We're going to see the Flagstaff in an hour," cried Stacy, his
face wreathed in smiles.
"A further fact, which is no doubt unknown to you, is that this
enormous forest covers an area of over ten thousand square miles, and
contains six million, four hundred thousand acres."
The boys uttered exclamations of amazement and wonder.
"If you'd said ten acres, I'd understand you better," replied Stacy. "I
never could think in such big figures. I'm like a rich fellow in our town,
who doesn't know what money is above a certain sum."
"Well, what about it?" demanded Tad.
"Up to fifty dollars, he knows how much it is, but for anything above
that it's a check," finished Chunky, looking about him expectantly.

No one laughed.
"Speaking of checks," said Ned Rector after an interval of silence, "did
you bring along that snaffle bit, Tad?"
"What snaffle bit?"
"The one we were going to put on Stacy Brown to hold him in check?"
A series of groans greeted Ned's words. Chunky grumbled something
about making a checker board of Ned's face if he didn't watch out, after
which the Professor turned the rising tide into other and safer channels
by continuing his lecture on the great Arizona forest.
As the train dashed on the Pony Riders were greeted with occasional
views of a mountain differing from anything they ever had seen. One
peak especially attracted their attention. Its blackened sides, and its
summit bathed in a warm glow of yellow sunshine, gave it a most
striking appearance.
"What is it, Professor?" asked Tad, with an inquiring gaze and nod
toward the mountain.
"Sunset Mountain," answered Professor Zepplin. "You should have
discovered that."
"But it isn't sunset," objected Walter.
"It is always sunset there. The effect is always a sunset effect."
"In the night, too!" questioned Chunky.
"No, it's moonset then," scoffed Rector.
"In the same direction you will observe the others of the San Francisco
mountains. However, we shall have more of this later on. For the
present you would do well to gather up Your belongings, for we shall
be at our journey's end in a few minutes."

This announcement caused the boys to spring up, reaching to the racks
above for such of their luggage as had been stowed there. All was
bustle for the next twenty minutes. Then the train drew into the station,
the cars covered with the dust of the desert, changing the dark brown of
their paint to a dirty gray.
The boys found that they had arrived at a typical western town, a
tree-surrounded, mountain-shadowed, breeze-blown place set like a
gem in a frame of green and gold, nestling, it seemed, at the very base
of the towering peaks of the San Francisco mountains, whose three
rough volcanic peaks stood silent sentinel over the little community
clustered at their base.
The railroad track lined one side of the main street, while business
blocks and public houses were ranged on the opposite side. Here the
garb of the Pony Riders failed to attract the same attention that it had
done further east. There were many others on the station platform
whose clothes and general get-up were similar to those of the boys.
But as they descended from the sleeping car, their arms full of their
belongings, each carrying a rifle in a case, they caught sight of a man
who instantly claimed their attention. He was fully sixty years old,
standing straight as a tree and wearing a soft black felt hat, a white shirt
and a wing collar. From his chin, extend almost back to the ears, there
stood a growth of white bristling whiskers. As he tilted his head
backward in an apparent effort to stand still more erect, the whiskers
stood out almost at right angles, giving him a most ferocious
appearance.
Tad felt a tug at his sleeve. He turned to find the big eyes of Chunky
Brown gazing up into his face.
"Is that the Wild Man of the Canyon?" whispered Stacy.
"I don't know. He looks as if he might be a Senator, or-----"
"Any of you boys know where we can find Jim Nance?" interrupted the
Professor.

"I reckon we do," drawled a cowboy.
"Well?" urged the Professor somewhat irritably.
"Wal?" answered the cowboy.
"Will you please tell us where we may find him, pardner?" spoke up
Tad, observing how the land lay and wishing to head off friction.
"I reckon that's him," answered the cowboy, pointing to the straight,