Mr. Rogers smiled, "We'll leave it at four o'clock, though," he answered. "If you think you can beat that schedule, all right. Maybe we'll be on Adams earlier."
The party now went down the steps to the carriage road, and swung along down that for a quarter of a mile. Then they turned off to the left by the Gulf Side Trail, and walking over the rough stones with grass between drew near the head wall of the Great Gulf. Soon they were at it. The Great Gulf is a gigantic ravine between the huge eastern shoulder of Mount Washington, called the Chandler Ridge, and the three northern peaks of Madison, Adams and Jefferson. Mount Clay, the fourth of the north peaks, and the one next to Washington, is almost a part of the head wall of the Gulf. The Gulf sides are very precipitous, and as the boys looked across it to the shoulder of Jefferson, where the Six Husbands' Trail ascends, Lou and Frank began to laugh.
"Glad we haven't got to climb that to-day!" they cried.
"Lazy stiffs," said Peanut. "What's that! A mere nothing!" But he grinned dubiously, even as he spoke.
"Well, we're in for it now," said Rob, "so come on."
"Oh, I'm coming," Peanut replied.
