The Trail
: The Young ForesterA short dash brought me to the end of the block; the side street was not
so dark, and after I had crossed this open space I glanced backward.
Soon I sped into a wan circle of light, and, reaching a door upon which
was a hotel sign, I burst in. Chairs were scattered about a bare office;
a man stirred on a couch, and then sat up, blinking.
"I'm afraid--I believe some one's chasing me," I said.
He sat there eying me, and then drawled, sleepily:
"Thet ain't no call to wake a feller, is it?"
The man settled himself comfortably again, and closed his eyes.
"Say, isn't this a hotel? I want a room!" I cried.
"Up-stairs; first door." And with that the porter went to sleep in good
earnest.
I made for the stairs, and, after a backward look into the street, I ran
up. A smelly lamp shed a yellowish glare along a hall. I pushed open
the first door, and, entering the room, bolted myself in. Then all the
strength went out of my legs. When I sat down on the bed I was in a cold
sweat and shaking like a leaf. Soon the weakness passed, and I moved
about the room, trying to find a lamp or candle. Evidently the hotel,
and, for that matter, the town of Holston, did not concern itself
with such trifles as lights. On the instant I got a bad impression of
Holston. I had to undress in the dark. When I pulled the window open a
little at the top the upper sash slid all the way down. I managed to
get it back, and tried raising the lower sash. It was very loose, but it
stayed up. Then I crawled into bed.
Though I was tired and sleepy, my mind whirled so that I could not get
to sleep. If I had been honest with myself I should have wished myself
back home. Pennsylvania seemed a long way off, and the adventures that I
had dreamed of did not seem so alluring, now that I was in a lonely room
in a lonely, dark town. Buell had seemed friendly and kind--at least,
in the beginning. Why had he not answered my call? The incident did
not look well to me. Then I fell to wondering if the Mexican had really
followed me. The first thing for me in the morning would be to buy a
revolver. Then if any Mexicans--
A step on the tin roof outside frightened me stiff. I had noticed a
porch, or shed, under my window. Some one must have climbed upon it. I
stopped breathing to listen. For what seemed moments there was no sound.
I wanted to think that the noise might have been made by a cat, but I
couldn't. I was scared--frightened half to death.
If there had been a bolt on the window the matter would not have been so
disturbing. I lay there a-quiver, eyes upon the gray window space of my
room. Dead silence once more intervened. All I heard was the pound of my
heart against my ribs.
Suddenly I froze at the sight of a black figure against the light of
my window. I recognized the strange bat, the grotesque outlines. I was
about to shout for help when the fellow reached down and softly began to
raise the sash.
That made me angry. Jerking up in bed, I caught the heavy pitcher from
the wash-stand and flung it with all my might.
Crash!
Had I smashed out the whole side of the room it could scarcely have made
more noise. Accompanied by the clinking of glass and the creaking of
tin, my visitor rolled off the roof. I waited, expecting an uproar from
the other inmates of the hotel. No footstep, no call sounded within
hearing. Once again the stillness settled down.
Then, to my relief, the gray gloom lightened, and dawn broke. Never
had I been so glad to see the morning. While dressing I cast gratified
glances at the ragged hole in the window. With the daylight my courage
had returned, and I began to have a sort of pride in my achievement.
"If that fellow had known how I can throw a baseball he'd have been
careful," I thought, a little cockily.
I went down-stairs into the office. The sleepy porter was mopping the
floor. Behind the desk stood a man so large that he made Buell seem
small. He was all shoulders and beard.
"Can I get breakfast?"
"Nobody's got a half-hitch on you, has they?" he replied, jerking a
monstrous thumb over his shoulder toward a door.
I knew the words half-hitch had something to do with a lasso, and I was
rather taken back by the hotel proprietor's remark. The dining-room was
more attractive than anything I had yet seen about the place: the linen
was clean, and the ham and eggs and coffee that were being served to
several rugged men gave forth a savory odor. But either the waiter was
blind or he could not bear, for he paid not the slightest attention to
me. I waited, while trying to figure out the situation. Something was
wrong, and, whatever it was, I guessed that it must be with me. After
about an hour I got my breakfast. Then I went into the office, intending
to be brisk, businesslike, and careful about asking questions.
"I'd like to pay my bill, and also for a little damage," I said, telling
what had happened.
"Somebody'll kill thet Greaser yet," was all the comment the man made.
I went outside, not knowing whether to be angry or amused with these
queer people. In the broad light of day Holston looked as bad as it
had made me feel by night. All I could see were the station and
freight-sheds, several stores with high, wide signs, glaringly painted,
and a long block of saloons. When I had turned a street corner,
however, a number of stores came into view with some three-storied brick
buildings, and, farther out, many frame houses.
Moreover, this street led my eye to great snowcapped mountains, and I
stopped short in my tracks, for I realized they were the Arizona peaks.
Up the swelling slopes swept a black fringe that I knew to be timber.
The mountains appeared to be close, but I knew that even the foot-bills
were miles away. Penetier, I remembered from one of Dick's letters, was
on the extreme northern slope, and it must be anywhere from forty to
sixty miles off. The sharp, white peaks glistened in the morning sun;
the air had a cool touch of snow and a tang of pine. I drew in a full
breath, with a sense on being among the pines.
Now I must buy my outfit and take the trail for Penetier. This I
resolved to do with as few questions as possible. I never before was
troubled by sensitiveness, but the fact had dawned upon me that I did
not like being taken for a tenderfoot. So, with this in mind, I entered
a general merchandise store.
It was very large, and full of hardware, harness, saddles,
blankets--everything that cowboys and ranchmen use. Several men, two
in shirt-sleeves, were chatting near the door. They saw me come in, and
then, for all that it meant to them, I might as well not have been in
existence at all. So I sat down to wait, determined to take Western ways
and things as I found them. I sat there fifteen minutes by my watch.
This was not so bad; but when a lanky, red-faced, leather-legged
individual came in too he at once supplied with his wants, I began to get
angry. I waited another five minutes, and still the friendly chatting
went on. Finally I could stand it no longer.
"Will somebody wait on me?" I demanded.
One of the shirt-sleeved men leisurely got up and surveyed me.
"Do you want to buy something?" he drawled.
"Yes, I do."
"Why didn't you say so?"
The reply trembling on my lips was cut short by the entrance of Buell.
"Hello!" he said in a loud voice, shaking hands with me. "You've trailed
into the right place. Smith, treat this lad right. It's guns an' knives
an' lassoes he wants, I'll bet a hoss."
"Yes, I want an outfit," I said, much embarrassed. "I'm going to meet a
friend out in Penetier, a ranger--Dick Leslie."
Buell started violently, and his eyes flashed. "Dick--Dick Leslie!" he
said, and coughed loudly. "I know Dick.... So you're a friend of his'n?
... Now, let me help you with the outfit."
Anything strange in Buell's manner was forgotten, in the absorbing
interest of my outfit. Father had given me plenty of money, so that I
had but to choose. I had had sense enough to bring my old corduroys and
boots, and I had donned them that morning. One after another I made my
purchases--Winchester, revolver, bolsters, ammunition, saddle, bridle,
lasso, blanket. When I got so far, Buell said: "You'll need a mustang
an' a pack-pony. I know a feller who's got jest what you want." And with
that he led me out of the store.
"Now you take it from me," he went on, in a fatherly voice, "Holston
people haven't got any use for Easterners. An' if you mention your
business--forestry an' that--why, you wouldn't be safe. There's many in
the lumberin' business here as don't take kindly to the Government. See!
That's why I'm givin' you advice. Keep it to yourself an' hit the trail
today, soon as you can. I'll steer you right."
I was too much excited to answer clearly; indeed, I hardly thanked him.
However, he scarcely gave me the chance. He kept up his talk about the
townspeople and their attitude toward Easterners until we arrived at a
kind of stock-yard full of shaggy little ponies. The sight of them drove
every other thought out of my head.
"Mustangs!" I exclaimed.
"Sure. Can you ride?"
"Oh yes. I have a horse at home.... What wiry little fellows! They're so
wild-looking."
"You pick out the one as suits you, an' I'll step into Cless's here.
He's the man who owns this bunch."
It did not take me long to decide. A black mustang at once took my eye.
When he had been curried and brushed he would be a little beauty. I was
trying to coax him to me when Buell returned with a man.
"Thet your pick?" he asked, as I pointed. "Well, now, you're not so much
of a tenderfoot. Thet's the best mustang in the lot. Cless, how much for
him, an' a pack-pony an' pack-saddle?"
"I reckon twenty dollars'll make it square," replied the owner.
This nearly made me drop with amazement. I had only about seventy-five
dollars left, and I had been very much afraid that I could not buy the
mustang, let alone the pack-pony and saddle.
"Cless, send round to Smith for the lad's outfit, an' saddle up for him
at once." Then he turned to me. "Now some grub, an' a pan or two."
Having camped before, I knew how to buy supplies. Buell, however, cut
out much that I wanted, saying the thing to think of was a light pack
for the pony.
"I'll hurry to the hotel and get my things," I said, "and meet you here.
I'll not be a moment."
But Buell said it would be better for him to go with me, though he did
not explain. He kept with me, still he remained in the office while I
went up-stairs. Somehow this suited me, for I did not want him to see
the broken window. I took a few things from my grip and rolled them in a
bundle. Then I took a little leather case of odds and ends I had always
carried when camping and slipped it into my pocket. Hurrying down-stairs
I left my grip with the porter, wrote and mailed a postal card to my
father, and followed the impatient Buell.
"You see, it's a smart lick of a ride to Penetier, and I want to get
there before dark," he explained, kindly.
I could have shouted for very glee when I saw the black mustang saddled
and bridled.
"He's well broke," said Cless. "Keep his bridle down when you ain't
in the saddle. An' find a patch of grass fer him at night. The pony'll
stick to him."
Cless fell to packing a lean pack-pony.
"Watch me do this," said he; "you'll hev trouble if you don't git the
hang of the diamondhitch."
I watched him set the little wooden criss-cross on the pony's back,
throw the balance of my outfit (which he had tied up in a canvas) over
the saddle, and then pass a long rope in remarkable turns and wonderful
loops round pony and pack.
"What's the mustang's name?" I inquired.
"Never had any," replied the former owner.
"Then it's Hal." I thought how that name would please my brother at
home.
"Climb up. Let's see if you fit the stirrups," said Cless. "Couldn't be
better."
"Now, young feller, you can hit the trail," put in Buell, with his big
voice. "An' remember what I told you. This country ain't got much use
for a feller as can't look out for himself."
He opened the gate, and led my mustang into the road and quite some
distance. The pony jogged along after us. Then Buell stopped with a
finger outstretched.
"There, at the end of this street, you'll find a trail. Hit it an' stick
to it. All the little trail's leadin' into it needn't bother you."
He swept his hand round to the west of the mountain. The direction did
not tally with the idea I had gotten from Dick's letter.
"I thought Penetier was on the north side of the mountains."
"Who said so?" he asked, staring. "Don't I know this country? Take it
from me."
I thanked him, and, turning, with a light heart I faced the black
mountain and my journey.
It was about ten o'clock when Hal jogged into a broad trail on the
outskirts of Holston. A gray flat lay before me, on the other side of
which began the slow rise of the slope. I could hardly contain myself.
I wanted to run the mustang, but did not for the sake of the burdened
pony. That sage-flat was miles wide, though it seemed so narrow. The
back of the lower slope began to change to a dark green, which told me I
was surely getting closer to the mountains, even if it did not seem so.
The trail began to rise, and at last I reached the first pine-trees.
They were a disappointment to me, being no larger than many of the white
oaks at home, and stunted, with ragged dead tops. They proved to me that
trees isolated from their fellows fare as poorly as trees overcrowded.
Where pines grow closely, but not too closely, they rise straight and
true, cleaning themselves of the low branches, and making good lumber,
free of knots. Where they grow far apart, at the mercy of wind and heat
and free to spread many branches, they make only gnarled and knotty
lumber.
As I rode on the pines became slowly more numerous and loftier. Then,
when I had surmounted what I took to be the first foot-hill, I came upon
a magnificent forest. A little farther on the trail walled me in with
great seamed trunks, six feet in diameter, rising a hundred feet before
spreading a single branch.
Meanwhile my mustang kept steadily up the slow-rising trail, and the
time passed. Either the grand old forest had completely bewitched me or
the sweet smell of pine had intoxicated me, for as I rode along utterly
content I entirely forgot about Dick and the trail and where I was
heading. Nor did I come to my senses until Hal snorted and stopped
before a tangled windfall.
Then I glanced down to see only the clean, brown pine-needles. There was
no trail. Perplexed and somewhat anxious, I rode back a piece, expecting
surely to cross the trail. But I did not. I went to the left and to
the right, then circled in a wide curve. No trail! The forest about me
seemed at once familiar and strange.
It was only when the long shadows began to creep under the trees that I
awoke fully to the truth.
I had missed the trail! I was lost in the forest!
More
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So there I stood, amidst silence, gaping foolishly, breathing hard, my revolver smoking in my fingers and my enemy in a shockingly prone posture at my feet, gradually reddening the white of the torn soil. He was upon his face, his revolver hand ou... The Trail Herd
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On that evening Prosper began to talk. The unnatural self-repression he had practiced gave way before the flood of his sociability. It was Joan's amazing beauty as she stumbled wretchedly into the circle of his firelight, her neck drawn up to its ... The Trap
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It was on a Saturday morning that we made this discovery, and as my father and mother had both driven down to San Remo and would not be back till sunset, we could not ask permission to abandon our regular work and go exploring. But, as I had said ... The Unexpected
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All in a grim instant he saw the trap. It closed upon his consciousness with a click, and as he doubled Satan around he knew that the only escape was in running southeast along the banks of the Asper. Even that was a desperate, a forlorn chance, for... The Watchers At Roderick's
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Without an instant's hesitation Dave flung himself past Rosa and through the inner door. Jose Sanchez met him with a shout; the shock of their collision overbore the lighter man, and the two went down together, arms and legs intertwined. The ho... The Water-hole
A fitful breeze played among the mesquite bushes. The naked earth, where it showed between the clumps of grass, was baked plaster hard. It burned like hot slag, and except for a panting lizard here and there, or a dust-gray jack-rabbit, startled f... The White Feather
At the appointed time Bob sneaked back to the hotel. He hung around the lobby for a minute or two, drifted into the saloon and gambling annex, and presently found himself hanging over the bar because he did not know what else to do with himself. ... The White Mustang
For thirty miles down Nail Canyon we marked, in every dusty trail and sandy wash, the small, oval, sharply defined tracks of the White Mustang and his band. The canyon had been well named. It was long, straight and square sided; its bare walls gl... The Whole Duty Of Woman
Joan waited for Holliwell and, waiting, began inevitably to regain her strength. One evening as Wen Ho was spreading the table, Prosper looked up from his writing to see a tall, gaunt girl clinging to the door-jamb. She was dressed in the heavy cl... The Wife Of Chino
I. CHINO'S WIFE On the back porch of the "office," young Lockwood--his boots, stained with the mud of the mines and with candle-drippings, on the rail--sat smoking his pipe and looking off down the canon. It was early in the evening. Lockwood... The Wild Cat's Trail
"He is quite right," said my father, when, on reaching home again, we related to him the results of our day's work and told him how the hermit had warned us against Long John. "He is quite right. Your hermit is a man of sense in spite of his reput... The Wild Geese
Twenty-four hours from Alder to Elkhead, and beyond Elkhead to the Cumberland ranch, is long riding and hard riding, but not far after dark on the following night, Joan lifted her head, where she played with the puppy on the hearth, and listened. Th... The Wild-goose Chase
Because they had no human means of knowing anything about the black automobile that bad whirled across the mesa to the southeast and left its mysterious passengers in one of the arroyos that leads into the Sandias Mountains near Coyote Springs, nine... The Wind In The Cedars
PIUTE'S Indian sense of the advantage of position in attack stood Jack in good stead; he led him up the ledge which overhung one end of the corral. In the pale starlight the sheep could be seen running in bands, massing together, crowding the fenc... The Winter Of Our Discontent
The inquiry was over before noon. A lieutenant detailed a few men and made a pretense of taking possession of Lovell. But once the special commissioner was out of sight, the farce was turned into an ovation, and nearly every officer in the post came... The Wolf Pack
"Good evening, gentlemen. Hope I don't intrude on the festivities." Leroy smiled down ironically on the four flushed, startled faces that looked up at him. Suspicion was alive in every rustle of the men's clothes. It breathed from the lowering cou... The Wolf With Wet Feet
We had been so expeditious, thanks largely to Joe's good judgment in tumbling into the right hole at the start when he slid down the shale, that we reached home well before sunset, when, according to the arrangement we had made as we rode down, Jo...