"Oh, get out," said Art. "That isn't what makes folks climb such places. It's the fun of getting where nobody ever got before—just saying, 'You old cliff, you can't stump me!' isn't it, Mr. Rogers?"
"About that, I guess," the Scout Master replied. "There's some fascination about mountain climbing which makes men risk their lives at it all over the globe, every year, on cliffs beside which this one would look like a canoe beside the Mauretania. I'm glad we've had a taste of real climbing this afternoon, anyhow, to see what it's like. Look, the men have reached the top, and are waving good-bye."
The boys waved back, and as the men disappeared from sight, they themselves moved slowly down the trail, toward the Raymond Path, looking up with a new respect at the walls on either side, and speculating how they could be climbed. Consulting the Appalachian Mountain Club guide book, they found no description of how to get up the west wall, but the ascent of the eastern wall, to Nelson's Crag, which was called "the most interesting rock climb in the White Mountains," was described briefly. The Scouts easily identified the gully up which the ascent must be made, but nobody seemed very eager to make it.
"No, sir," said Peanut, "not for me, till I've had
