"Hello, New York! Haven't died, have you? Come on, we're going to break trail down the Canyon, you and I."
"Not on your life!" Nucky roused at once and sat up in bed, his face very pale under its thatch of dark red hair.
"John Seaton turned you over to me. Said to tell you he thought you needed the sleep more than you did to say good-by to him."
"He told me last night," exclaimed Nucky; "that I didn't have to go down the Canyon."
"And you don't, you poor sissy! You aren't afraid to get up and dress, are you?" Allen's grin took away part of the sting of his speech. "Meet me in the lobby in twenty minutes, Enoch," and he turned on his heel.
Nucky was down in less than the time allotted. As he leaned against the office desk, waiting for the guide, the room clerk said, "So you're the kid that's afraid to go down the trail. Usually it's the old ladies that kick up about that. Most boys your age are crazy for the trip."
Nucky muttered something and moved away. In front of the fire the woman who had smiled at him the day before, smiled again.
"Afraid too, aren't you! They can't get me onto that trail, either."
Nucky smiled feebly then looked about a little wildly for Frank Allen. When he espied the guide at the cigar-stand, he crossed to him hurriedly.
"Now don't tell everybody I'm afraid of the trail!"
"Oh, you're the kid!" exclaimed a bell boy. "Say, there was an old lady here once that used to go out every morning and pray to the Lord to close the earth's gap, it made her so nervous! Why don't you try that, kid? Maybe the Lord would take a suggestion from a New Yorker."
Nucky rushed to the dining room. He was too angry and resentful to eat much. He drank two cups of coffee, however, and swallowed some toast.
"Ain't you going to eat your eggs?" demanded the waitress. "What's the matter with you? Folks always stuff themselves, here. Say, don't let the trail scare you. I was that way at first, but finally I got my nerve up and there's nothing to it. Say, let me give you some advice. There's only a few folks here now, so the guides and the hotel people have got plenty of time on their hands. They're awful jokers and they'll tease the life out of you, till you take the trip. You just get on a mule, this morning, and start. Every day you wait, you'll hate it more."