“No, we do not.  We prefer to blaze our own trails, or, rather, to have you do so, and the rougher they prove the better, as long as it is safe.  My girls are equal to any sort of rough-and-tumble climbing.  How do we get to the mountains?”

“I’ve engaged a carry-all to take us out to the foothills.  From there you can walk or ride.  If we take the rough trails, of course we’ll have to climb.”

“I shall ask you to lay out your route, then arrange to have some of our baggage shipped on to meet us, say a week from now.  Our necessary equipment we can carry.  The girls are used to shouldering heavy packs.  You will provide climbing equipment.  I understand from Miss McCarthy that you are a climber.”

“I’m everything and anything in the White Mountain Range,” answered the guide boldly.

“Then, what do you say if we make Mount Chocorua first?”

“Perhaps you had better decide for us.”

“This mountain is three thousand five hundred feet high.  The way we shall take you will, I think, find rugged enough to please the young ladies,” added Janus, with a grin behind his whiskers.  “What time will you be ready to start?”

“As soon after daylight as we shall be able to get our breakfast.”

“He had better bring our baggage from the station to-night.  Then we can have our packs in readiness,” suggested Harriet Burrell.

“Yes, please do that, Mr. Grubb.”

“Anything else, Miss?”

“Not that I think of for the moment.  We have our tent in sections.  We also shall pack our blankets and such other things as will be needed.  The rest of the equipment can be sent on ahead to meet us wherever you say.  I don’t know what the most convenient point would be.  Where would you suggest?”

“I can send it to the Tip-Top station on Moosilauke.  Will that do?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll be going,” said the guide.  “I’ll take you over to the Compton House, and if you want to see me again this evening, you can call me on the telephone.”

Janus had started to move toward the steps preparatory to going about his duties, when an exclamation from Harriet Burrell caused them to turn sharply to her.

“There he is!  There is the man with the goggles!” she whispered, pointing toward the store.  They saw a stoop-shouldered man standing with his back against the large window.  He was facing them, but, his face being in the shadow, they were unable to distinguish the features.  The light in the store being at his back, and his head slightly turned to the steps, toward which Janus was moving, Harriet Burrell was enabled to look directly through one of the lenses.  She saw that the glass was green and that it masked effectually the eyes of the strange man.

“Quick, Mr. Grubb!” cried the girl.  “The man again!  Find out who he is!”

Janus, who had moved down to the second step, now started back, and was on the porch with one bound, thrusting the Meadow-Brook Girls aside in his eagerness to reach the man who had impersonated him.