Dick Leslie Ranger
: The Young ForesterWhich end of the street I entered I had no idea. The cabins were all
alike, and in my hurry I would have passed the cook's shack had it not
been for the sight of a man standing in the door. That stalwart figure I
would have known anywhere.
"Dick!" I cried, rushing at him.
What Dick's welcome was I did not hear, but judging from the grip he put
on my shoulders and then on my hands, he was gla
"Ken, blessed if I'd have known you," he said, shoving me back at
arm's-length. "Let's have a look at you.... Grown I say, but you're a
husky lad!"
While he was looking at me I returned the scrutiny with interest. Dick
had always been big, but now he seemed wider and heavier. Among these
bronzed Westerners he appeared pale, but that was only on account of his
fair skin.
"Ken, didn't you get my letter--the one telling you not to come West yet
a while?"
"No," I replied, blankly. "The last one I got was in May--about the
middle. I have it with me. You certainly asked me to come then. Dick,
don't you want me--now?"
Plain it was that my friend felt uncomfortable; he shifted from one foot
to another, and a cloud darkened his brow. But his blue eyes burned with
a warm light as he put his hand on my shoulder.
"Ken, I'm glad to see you," he said, earnestly. "It's like getting
a glimpse of home. But I wrote you not to come. Conditions have
changed--there's something doing here--I'll--"
"You needn't explain, Dick," I replied, gravely. "I know. Buell and--" I
waved my hand from the sawmill to the encircling slash.
Dick's face turned a fiery red. I believed that was the only time Dick
Leslie ever failed to look a fellow in the eye.
"Ken!... You're on," he said, recovering his composure. "Well, wait till
you hear--Hello! here's Jim Williams, my pardner."
A clinking of spurs accompanied a soft step.
"Jim, here's Ken Ward, the kid pardner I used to have back in the
States," said Dick. "Ken, you know Jim."
If ever I knew anything by heart it was what Dick had written me about
this Texan, Jim Williams.
"Ken, I shore am glad to see you," drawled Jim, giving my hand a squeeze
that I thought must break every bone in it.
Though Jim Williams had never been described to me, my first sight of
him fitted my own ideas. He was tall and spare; his weather-beaten
face seemed set like a dark mask; only his eyes moved, and they had a
quivering alertness and a brilliancy that made them hard to look into.
He wore a wide sombrero, a blue flannel shirt with a double row of big
buttons, overalls, top-boots with very high heels, and long spurs. A
heavy revolver swung at his hip, and if I had not already known that Jim
Williams had fought Indians and killed bad men, I should still have seen
something that awed me in the look of him.
I certainly felt proud to be standing with those two rangers, and for
the moment Buell and all his crew could not have daunted me.
"Hello! what's this?" inquired Dick, throwing back my coat; and,
catching sight of my revolver, he ejaculated: "Ken Ward!"
"Wal, Ken, if you-all ain't packin' a gun!" said Jim, in his slow,
careless drawl. "Dick, he shore is!"
It was now my turn to blush.
"Yes, I've got a gun," I replied, "and I ought to have had it the other
night."
"How so?" inquired Dick, quickly.
It did not take me long to relate the incident of the Mexican.
Dick looked like a thunder-cloud, but Jim swayed and shook with
laughter.
"You knocked him off the roof? Wal, thet shore is dee-lightful. It shore
is!"
"Yes; and, Dick," I went on, breathlessly, "the Greaser followed me,
and if I hadn't missed the trail, I don't know what would have happened.
Anyway, he got here first."
"The Greaser trailed you?" interrupted Dick, sharply.
When I replied he glanced keenly at me. "How do you know?"
"I suspected it when I saw him with two men in the forest. But now I
know it."
"How?"
"I beard Buell tell Stockton he had put the Greaser on my trail."
"Buell--Stockton!" exclaimed Dick. "What'd they have to do with the
Greaser?"
"I met Buell on the train. I told him I had come West to study forestry.
Buell's afraid I'll find out about this lumber steal, and he wants to
shut my mouth."
Dick looked from me to Jim, and Jim slowly straitened his tall form. For
a moment neither spoke. Dick's white face caused me to look away from
him. Jim put a hand on my arm.
"Ken, you shore was lucky; you shore was."
"I guess he doesn't know how lucky," added Dick, somewhat huskily. "Come
on, we'll look up the Mexican."
"It shore is funny how bad I want to see thet Greaser."
Dick's hard look and tone were threatening enough, yet they did not
affect me so much as the easy, gay manner of the Texan. Little cold
quivers ran over me, and my knees knocked together. For the moment my
animosity toward the Mexican vanished, and with it the old hunger to be
in the thick of Wild Western life. I was afraid that I was going to see
a man killed without being able to lift a hand to prevent it.
The rangers marched me between them down the street and into the corner
saloon. Dick held me half behind him with his left hand while Jim
sauntered ahead. Strangest of all the things that had happened was the
sudden silencing of the noisy crowd.
The Mexican was not there. His companions, Bud and Bill, as Buell had
called them, were sitting at a table, and as Jim Williams walked into
the center of the room they slowly and gradually rose to their feet. One
was a swarthy man with evil eyes and a scar on his cheek; the other
had a brick-red face and a sandy mustache with a vicious curl. Neither
seemed to be afraid, only cautious.
"We're all lookin' for thet Greaser friend of yourn," drawled Jim. "I
shore want to see him bad."
"He's gone, Williams," replied one. "Was in somethin' of a rustle, an'
didn't leave no word."
"Wal, I reckon he's all we're lookin' for this pertickler minnit."
Jim spoke in a soft, drawling voice, and his almost expressionless tone
seemed to indicate pleasant indifference; still, no one could have been
misled by it, for the long, steady gaze he gave the men and his cool
presence that held the room quiet meant something vastly different.
No reply was offered. Bud and Bill sat down, evidently to resume their
card-playing. The uneasy silence broke to a laugh, then to subdued
voices, and finally the clatter and hum began again. Dick led me
outside, where we were soon joined by Jim.
"He's holed up," suggested Dick.
"Shore. I don't take no stock in his hittin' the trail. He's layin'
low."
"Let's look around a bit, anyhow."
Dick took me back to the cook's cabin and, bidding me remain inside,
strode away. I beard footsteps so soon after his departure that I made
certain he had returned, but the burly form which blocked the light in
the cabin door was not Dick's. I was astounded to recognize Buell.
"Hello!" he said, in his blustering voice. "Heard you had reached camp,
an' have been huntin' you up."
I greeted him pleasantly enough--more from surprise than from a desire
to mislead him. It seemed to me then that a child could have read Buell.
He'd an air of suppressed excitement; there was a glow on his face and
a kind of daring flash in his eyes. He seemed too eager, too glad to see
me.
"I've got a good job for you," he went on, glibly, "jest what you want,
an' you're jest what I need. Come into my office an' help me. There'll
be plenty of outside work--measurin' lumber, markin' trees, an' such."
"Why, Mr. Buell--I--you see, Dick--he might not--"
I hesitated, not knowing how to proceed. But at my halting speech Buell
became even more smiling and voluble.
"Dick? Oh, Dick an' I stand all right; take thet from me. Dick'll agree
to what I want. I need a young feller bad. Money's no object. You're a
bright youngster. You'll look out for my interests. Here!" He pulled
out a large wad of greenbacks, and then spoke in a lower voice. "You
understand that money cuts no ice 'round this camp. We've a big deal.
We need a smart young feller. There's always some little irregularities
about these big timber deals out West. But you'll wear blinkers, an'
make some money while you're studyin' forestry. See?"
"Irregularities? What kind of irregularities?"
For the life of me I could not keep a little scorn out of my question.
Buell slowly put the bills in his pocket while his eyes searched; I
could not control my rising temper.
"You mean you want to fix me?"
He made no answer, and his face stiffened.
"You mean you want to buy my silence, shut my mouth about this lumber
steal?"
He drew in his breath audibly, yet still he did not speak. Either he was
dull of comprehension or else he was astonished beyond words. I knew I
was mad to goad him like that, but I could not help it. I grew hot with
anger, and the more clearly I realized that he had believed he could
"fix" me with his dirty money the hotter I got.
"You told Stockton you were leary of Washington, and were afraid I'd
queer your big deal.... Well, Mr. Buell, that's exactly what I'm going
to do--queer it!"
He went black in the face, and, cursing horribly, grasped me by the arm.
I struggled, but I could not loose that iron hand. Suddenly I felt a
violent wrench that freed me. Then I saw Dick swing back his shoulder
and shoot out his arm. He knocked Buell clear across the room, and
when the man fell I thought the cabin was coming down in the crash. He
appeared stunned, for he groped about with his hands, found a chair,
and, using it as a support, rose to his feet, swaying unsteadily.
"Leslie, I'll get you for this--take it from me," he muttered.
Dick's lips were tight, and he watched Buell with flaming eyes. The
lumberman lurched out of the door, and we heard him cursing after he had
disappeared. Then Dick looked at me with no little disapproval.
"What did you say to make Buell wild like that?"
I told Dick, word for word. First he looked dumfounded, then angry, and
he ended up with a grim laugh.
"Ken, you're sure bent on starting something, as Jim would say. You've
started it all right. And Jim'll love you for it. But I'm responsible to
your mother. Ken, I remember your mother--and you're going back home."
"Dick!"
"You're going back home as fast as I can get you to Holston and put you
on a train, that's all."
"I won't go!" I cried.
Without any more words Dick led me down the street to a rude corral;
here he rapidly saddled and packed his horses. The only time he spoke
was when he asked me where I had tied my mustangs. Soon we were hurrying
out through the slash toward the forest. Dick's troubled face kept
down my resentment, but my heart grew like lead. What an ending to
my long-cherished trip to the West! It had lasted two days. The
disappointment seemed more than I could bear.
We found the mustangs as I had left them, and the sight of Hal and
the feeling of the saddle made me all the worse. We did not climb the
foot-hill by the trail which the Mexican had used, but took a long,
slow ascent far round to the left. Dick glanced back often, and when we
reached the top he looked again in a way to convince me that he had some
apprehensions of being followed.
Twilight of that eventful day found us pitching camp in a thickly
timbered hollow. I could not help dwelling on how different my feelings
would have been if this night were but the beginning of many nights with
Dick. It was the last, and the more I thought about it the more wretched
I grew. Dick rolled in his blanket without saying even good-night, and
I lay there watching the veils and shadows of firelight flicker on the
pines, and listening, to the wind. Gradually the bitterness seemed to go
away; my body relaxed and sank into the soft, fragrant pine-needles; the
great shadowy trees mixed with the surrounding darkness. When I awoke it
was broad daylight, and Dick was shaking my arm.
"Hunt up the horses while I get the grub ready," he said, curtly.
As the hollow was carpeted with thick grass our horses had not strayed.
I noticed that here the larger trees had been cut, and the forest
resembled a fine park. In the sunny patches seedlings were sprouting,
many little bushy pines were growing, and the saplings had sufficient
room and light to prosper. I commented to Dick upon the difference
between this part of Penetier and the hideous slash we had left.
"There were a couple of Government markers went through here and marked
the timber to be cut," said Dick.
"Was the timber cut in the mill I saw?"
"No. Buell's just run up that mill. The old one is out here a ways,
nearer Holston."
"Is it possible, Dick, that any of those loggers back there don't know
the Government is being defrauded?"
"Ken, hardly any of them know it, and they wouldn't care if they did.
You see, this forest-preserve business is new out here. Formerly the
lumbermen bought so much land and cut over it--skinned it. Two years
ago, when the National Forests were laid out, the lumbering men--that
is, the loggers, sawmill hands, and so on--found they did not get as
much employment as formerly. So generally they're sore on the National
Forest idea."
"But, Dick, if they understand the idea of forestry they'd never oppose
it."
"Maybe. I don't understand it too well myself. I can fight fire--that's
my business; but this ranger work is new. I doubt if the Westerners
will take to forestry. There've been some shady deals all over the West
because of it. Buell, now, he's a timber shark. He bought so much timber
from the Government, and had the markers come in to mark the cut; then
after they were gone, he rushed up a mill and clapped on a thousand
hands."
"And the rangers stand for it? Where'll their jobs be when the
Government finds out?"
"I was against it from the start. So was Jim, particularly. But the
other rangers persuaded us."
It began to dawn upon me that Dick Leslie might, after all, turn out to
be good soil in which to plant some seeds of forestry. I said no more
then, as we were busy packing for the start, but when we had mounted
I began to talk. I told him all I had learned about trees, how I loved
them, and how I had determined to devote my life to their study, care,
and development. As we rode along under the wide-spreading pines I
illustrated my remarks by every example I could possibly use. The more I
talked the more interested Dick became, and this spurred me on. Perhaps
I exaggerated, but my conscience never pricked me. He began to ask
questions.
We reached a spring at midday, and halted for a rest. I kept on
pleading, and presently I discovered, to my joy, that I had made a
strong impression upon Dick. It seemed a strange thing for me to be
trying to explain forestry to a forest ranger, but so it was.
"Ken, it's all news to me. I've been on Penetier about a year, and I
never heard a word of what you've been telling me. My duties have
been the practical ones that any woodsman knows. Jim and the other
rangers--why, they don't know any more than I. It's a great thing, and
I've queered my chance with the Government."
"No, you haven't--neither has Jim--not if you'll be straight from now
on. You can't keep faith with Buell. He tried to kidnap me. That lets
you out. We'll spoil Buell's little deal and save Penetier. A letter
to father will do it. He has friends in the Forestry Department at
Washington. Dick, what do you say? It's not too late!"
The dark shade lifted from the ranger's face, and he looked at me with
the smile of the old fishing days.
"Say? I say yes!" he exclaimed, in ringing voice, "Ken, you've made a
man of me!"
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A man's mind is a tricky thing—or, speaking more exactly, a man's emotions are tricky things. Love has come rushing to the beck of a tip-tilted chin, or the tone of a voice, or the droop of an eyelid. It has fled for cause as slight. Sometimes it run... En Passant
It was intentionally late in the day when we reached Dodge. My horse, which I was leading, gave considerable trouble while returning, compelling us to drive slow. The buyers repeatedly complained that dinner would be over at their hotel, but the det... Enter Bear-trap Collins
She had been aware of him from the moment of his spectacular entrance, though no slightest sign of interest manifested itself in her indolent, incurious eyes. Indeed, his abundant and picturesque area was so vivid that it would have been difficult n... Enter Simon Harley
The prospector's house in which they had found refuge was perched on the mountainside just at one edge of the draw. Rough as the girl had thought it, there was a more pretentious appearance to it than might have been expected. The cabin was of hewn ... Enter The Man
Some notable sight was drawing the passengers, both men and women, to the window; and therefore I rose and crossed the car to see what it was. I saw near the track an enclosure, and round it some laughing men, and inside it some whirling dust, and... Enter The Woman
"We are taking steps," said Mr. Taylor. "Bear Creek ain't going to be hasty about a schoolmarm." "Sure," assented the Virginian. "The children wouldn't want yu' to hurry." But Mr. Taylor was, as I have indicated, a serious family man. The pr... Equal Payment
They knew what it meant; even Joan had heard the cry of the lone wolf hunting in the lean time of winter, and of all things sad, all things lonely, all things demoniacal, the howl of a wolf stands alone. Lee Haines reached for his gun, little Joan s... Escape
Down, down I plunged, and the shock of the icy water seemed to petrify me. I should have gone straight to the bottom like a piece of lead but for the lasso. It tightened around my chest, and began to haul me up. I felt the air and the light, and o... Estrella
The honeymoon developed and the necessary adjustments took place. The latter Senor Johnson had not foreseen; and yet, when the necessity for them arose, he acknowledged them right and proper. "Course she don't want to ride over to Circle I with u... Evadna Goes Calling
"I have every reason to believe that your two missing jumpers took the train for Shoshone last night," Miss Georgie made answer to Good Indian's account of what had happened since he saw her. "Two furtive-eyed individuals answering your description ... Even Mushrooms Help
Bud wanted to have a little confidential talk with Marian. He hoped that she would be willing to tell him a great deal more than could be written on one side of a cigarette paper, and he was curious to hear what it was. On the other hand, he wanted ... Everyman's Share
"This switching-engine mystery opens up a field that I've been trying to get into for some little time, Mac," the superintendent began, after the half-hour had elapsed and the trainmaster had returned to the private office. "Sit down and we'll thr... Exit The King
They bedded that night under the great vault-roof where twinkle a million stars. There were three of the outlaw's men with him, and both Mcwilliams and his friend noticed that they slept a little apart from their chief. There were other indicatio... Exposed To The Sunlight
It was a month before Trevison went to town, again. Only once during that time did he see Rosalind Benham, for the Blakeleys had vacated, and goods and servants had arrived from the East and needed attention. Rosalind presided at the Bar B ranchho... Failure
Smaltz was a liar, as he said, but Bruce knew that he had told the truth regarding Banule's work. He confirmed the suspicions and fears that had been in Bruce's mind for months. Therefore, when he said quietly to Banule--"You'd better go up the hi...