Page:Boy scouts in the White Mountains; the story of a long hike (IA boyscoutsinwhite00eato).pdf/226

 "Now, Mr. Bugler, tell us why you have the bugle."

Much to the boys' surprise, the man addressed blushed.

"Gee, you boys will laugh at me!" he said, like a boy himself. "But I'll tell you. I toted this bugle up from Randolph yesterday. We came in around through the Great Gulf, and up the Six Husbands' Trail"

"Some trail, too!" the other four put in.

"and back over Adams to the Madison Hut. We spent last night there, and came over the Gulf Side this morning. We'd reached Clay before the bad weather hit us. The summit cone held it back. And we got to the carriage road before it got so thick that you couldn't see at all. Lord, how the wind blew coming around Clay! Honestly, I didn't know if we could make it."

"But the bugle?" said Peanut.

"Oh, yes, the bugle. I was forgetting the bugle, wasn't I?"

"You were—maybe," said Peanut.

The rest laughed.

"Well, now I'll tell you about the bugle," the speaker went on. "When I was in college a chap roomed next to me who could punt a football farther than anybody I ever knew"

"How far?" asked Art.