CHAPTER XIII

THE RESULT OF THE SURVEYS


Promptly at nine o'clock on the following Monday morning, a clean-cut,
well-knit, strong-featured young man stood before an eager-faced
group of khaki-clad scouts in Pioneer Camp.

The businesslike attitude of the young instructor, Ransom Thayer,
was reflected in the appearance of the boys; and from the first
crisp greeting of Mr. Thayer to his curt dismissal an hour and a
half later, the interest and attention of his auditors never wavered.

His first lesson emphasized the historical phase of geology; and
as he talked and pointed here and there in illustration, it seemed
to the boys that every stone and boulder and pebble and overhanging
cliff responded with the story of its life. This crevice, that
oblique angle, this smooth indentation, that rough mass,---each
marking had its significant meaning to the enthusiastic leader.

Walter Osborne said to Blake after "school" was over for the morning,
"I have always felt as though the trees of the forest were alive,
but now it seems to me that every rock is a breathing, changing,
growing thing, too."

That afternoon Mr. Thayer led his troop afield and showed them other