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The guard let them out, and warned them that any attemptat flight would be followed immediately by a shot.]
THE RANGER BOYS OUTWIT THE TIMBER THIEVES
By CLAUDE A. LABELLE
Author of
"The Ranger Boys to the Rescue," "The Ranger Boys Find the Hermit," "The Ranger Boys and the Border Smugglers," "The Ranger Boys and Their Reward."
A. L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers New York
THE RANGER BOYS SERIES
A Series of Stories for Boys 12 to 16 Years of Age
By CLAUDE A. LABELLE
The Ranger Boys to the Rescue The Ranger Boys Find the Hermit The Ranger Boys and the Border Smugglers The Ranger Boys Outwit the Timber Thieves The Ranger Boys and Their Reward
Copyright, 1922
By A. L. BURT COMPANY
Made in "U. S. A."
THE RANGER BOYS OUTWIT THE TIMBER THIEVES.
CHAPTER I
THE START OF NEW ADVENTURES
"Bangor, Bangor, all change for Portland, Boston and way stations,"shouted the trainman.
"Here we are, boys," shouted Garry Boone. "Wake up, Dick, let's get ourpacks and rifles. We will be in the station in a few seconds now. My,but I'll be glad to see Dad again. And he promises us some real action,too. I wonder what trouble he is in. You remember he hinted at somethingof the sort in the letter that he wrote us at Hobart."
"Well, we'll know in a few minutes now, for your father will be waitingfor us at the Bangor House. Don't fret over what he wants, Garry, justbe glad that we have a chance to get into action of some kind. Thesepast few weeks have gotten me so that I am not happy if we don't have afew scrapes to get in and out of," remarked the second of the trio ofboys.
Dick Wallace, a plump, heavyset chap, yawned and rubbed the sleep fromhis eyes, and then got up and stretched his cramped limbs. He had beennapping for more than an hour.
At that moment the train drew into the station with a screeching ofbrakes, and the boys, having dug out their knapsacks and rifles frombetween the seats where they had stowed them, soon were off the trainand walking briskly toward the Bangor House.
"Why not take a car, there ought to be one along in a minute or two,"half grumbled Dick. It must be explained that Dick, because of hisweight, took the easiest method of doing anything whenever possible.
This does not mean that he ever shirked his duty, or that he wasincapable of walking whenever he had to. As a matter of fact, he hadmade long hikes in the woods without ever batting an eyelash, but hebelieved in doing such things only when they were necessary.
"Trust Dick to want a street car and something to eat the minute he getsto a city," laughed Garry.
"Yes, I bet he is starving right now," jibed Phil Durant. "All he hashad to eat since lunchtime is an apple, three bananas, and I don't knowhow many bags of peanuts. If the train boy hadn't made a sale all theafternoon except to Dick he would have made a day's pay anyway."
"That reminds me that it is almost supper time now," said Dick. He hadheard his chums rag him so many times about his appetite, that theirremarks rolled off him as does water off a duck's back. "I move wepostpone hearing what Dad Boone has to tell us until after we haveeaten. Then he can tell us what he wants, and after that perhaps we canall go to a movie show."
There was no car in sight, so they continued their walk, and soon wereat the doors of the Bangor House, a large, well-appointed hotel. Theboys cut a strange figure as they walked through the lobby, for theywere clad in broad brimmed Stetson army hats, khaki coats cut likehunters' jackets, with big roomy pockets, and khaki trousers stuffedinto the tops of shoepacks, which are nothing more than heavy moccasinswith an extra leather sole.
Each boy carried a knapsack on his back, and attached to this was alariat. In addition, a stout forest hatchet was thrust through the beltthat girdled them, and each boy carried a rifle.
Many curious looks were cast in their direction as they walked to thedesk where Garry asked if Mr. Boone was registered there.
In a few moments the clerk had telephoned up to Garry's father andimmediately was told to send the boys up. Following in the wake of thebell boy they ascended to the room, where Mr. Boone was waiting.
He greeted the boys heartily and commented on their healthy appearance,for the sun and open air had made them as tanned as any woodsman.
Greetings over, Mr. Boone remarked:
"Before I tell you boys why I have sent for you, I suggest that we getour dinner and then come back to the room."
"Welcome words!" uttered Dick enthusiastically.
"I thought that would about hit the spot with you, Dick," laughed Mr.Boone.
"Yes," said Garry, "he is starving to death; he hasn't had anything toeat for nearly an hour and a half."
Leading the way, Mr. Boone headed the boys toward the dining room, whilethey unanimously ordered a fine steak, and soon were busily eating.
As they eat, let us look them over and get acquainted with them. Thoseof our readers who have read the three volumes preceding this one, "TheRanger Boys to the Rescue," "The Ranger Boys Find the Hermit," and "TheRanger Boys and the Border Smugglers," already know our heroes. Othersmust be introduced.
The leader of the trio is Garfield Boone. He is generally known asGarry. The stout boy with the long distance appetite is Dick Wallace,close friend of Garry, and ward of Mr. Boone. The third is Phil Durant,a boy of French Canadian parentage. The three boys live in a small Mainetown, only a few miles from Portland, the principal city of the PineTree State, as our northernmost commonwealth is known.
They have just completed their junior year in high school, and it hasbeen decided that Garry and Dick shall go to a military school thecoming fall, while Phil will have to remain and finish at the highschool.
Hence they wanted to spend their last vacation together, and had pickedon the idea of taking a camping trip to the woods. Mr. Boone, father ofGarry, who owned extensive lumber tracts in the Maine woods and wasconnected with some of the big paper mills of the state, came to batwith an idea that pleased the boys immensely.
It was to this effect. That instead of going on a mere camping tripwhich might prove to be tiresome before it was concluded, that the boysbecome attached to the Forest Ranger Service as an extraordinary Unit ofthis woodcraft outfit.
Their duties would be the same as those of the older Rangers; that is,to guard the forests from the fire peril that constantly menaced thetimber lands of the state. In this service there were two branches, themen who act as lookouts, having an unchanged station, and the patrol menwho travel over a certain set course watching that fire does not startand keeping careless campers from starting fires in dangerous spots.
In a few days the boys had outfitted themselves and were on their way totheir first station on the Sourdehunq Mountain, a tract of timberlandowned by Mr. Boone. They had no thought of any adventure other than thatwhich might be caused by the discovery of a fire, but on their secondnight on the trail they find the guide they had hired, one Jean LeBlanc,a French Canadian halfbreed, trying to steal their supplies.
They drive him away, and later find the halfbreed is inimical to thembecause of a fancied grievance he has against the elder Boone. They alsomake a staunch friend in the person of Nate Webster, an old Maine guide.Later Webster replaces the Deputy Ranger, Anderson by name, who hasproved incompetent, and Anderson joins forces with LeBlanc and becomesan enemy of the Ranger Boys, and nearly succeeds in doing them greatharm.
Another frien
d is made in the person of an old hermit, who on severaloccasions warns the boys of impending peril by sending them crypticnotes.
On one occasion Jean LeBlanc kidnaps the little daughter of a family bythe name of Graham, who are camping in the woods. With the aid of a notefrom the hermit, the boys are able to rescue her and capture LeBlanc.The latter, however, escapes and makes much trouble for the boys,finally setting fire to the woods.
He and Anderson escape by climbing a sheer cliff. Still later the boysare asked by the Customs Secret Service to get evidence of a gang ofsmugglers on the Canadian border. This they do and the gang is seized,all except LeBlanc who dodges back across the boundary and is hence safefrom arrest since he is on Canadian territory and not amenable to theUnited States law.
During a rainy season, they seek out the hermit and find him; that is,Dick finds him. One of their greatest adventures during the search forthe gang of border smugglers is the finding, with the aid of an old map,of a tourmaline mine. The boys get a deed to the mineral rights of theland, and plan at a later date to mine the gems and make a handsomeincome for themselves.
It must also be explained that there is a mystery connected with Dick.His father was a college professor of geology and botany, and aclassmate of Mr. Boone. He had a fall from a horse that destroyed hismemory, and before an operation could be performed, disappeared. Dick'smother had died when he was a baby, and so being without parents orhome, Mr. Boone had become his guardian, bringing him up with his ownson, Garry.
Now that we have a brief sketch of the boys and their previousactivities, let us see what Mr. Boone's need of them is.
"Here is the whole story, boys," said Mr. Boone as they finished theirdinner and returned to his room. "As you know, I have extensiveinterests not only in the timberland but in the mills that manufacturepaper. Recently I severed connections with several of the mills, and putall my eggs in one basket, so to speak, by investing my funds all in onemill. Of course it is impossible to do business on a big scale withoutmaking many business enemies, or at least determined rivals. I have agood many such, and I have been given to understand that several of themhave pooled their resources and become connected with the mills fromwhich I withdrew my money.
"Of course I have not enough work in my one mill to take care of all thetimber that I can cut, so I contract to supply other mills, necessarilybecoming a rival of some of the other timber owners.
"Then, too, I have recently decided to start an experiment in summerlumbering. You know, of course, that Maine's lumber cutting season hasalways been in the winter because the logs could be cut and hauled overthe snow to the rivers and then when the spring unleashed the ice-boundrivers, the logs could be driven down to the mills. However, I amfiguring on getting out lumber for building during the summer and in thewinter getting the logs for the pulp mills to grind ready for the makingof paper. I have several important contracts with a time limit; that is,the necessary amount of lumber must be gotten out by a certain date elseI forfeit my profit and large damages besides.
"Lately I have seen from my reports that the lumber is not being gottenout on schedule time. Whenever I come and look it over, or send arepresentative, everything goes like clockwork, but the moment that Iturn my back a saw breaks, making a week's delay, or a tractor isbroken, or something else happens. Unfortunately my financial affairs atthe present time are in such shape that I must devote the greater partof my time to keeping the wheels going. This necessitates my being muchof the time in Boston and New York, hence I cannot be at the cuttingoperations all the time.
"I have changed managers, but still no good comes of it. Now I amconfident that the morale of my camp is being undermined by somebusiness rivals, and that there is underground work of some sort goingon. Since your success in getting that gang of smugglers, the completestory of which I have already heard, I believe that you boys can findout what is going on at the camp to hinder my contracts.
"I have thought that you boys might go to the vicinity of the cuttingand sawmills and camp there. You would have the freedom of the camp, asI would write the manager who you were, and then you could use your eyesand ears and see what was what.
"I should suggest that you display a great deal of ignorance aboutlumbering operations and sawmill work, so that your presence would notexcite undue suspicion. Further than that I can give you noinstructions, for if I knew what the matter was I would not have to callon you for assistance. I am simply relying on you to be able to do asgood a job for me as you have done for the Ranger Service and theCustoms Department. In other words, you will have to work out your ownsalvation, and I am sure that you can produce for me the results that Iwant."
Mr. Boone concluded his long explanation and then leaned back, lettingthe matter sink in. Then he asked, "Well, boys, what do you think of theproposition? Are you willing to undertake it? Not that there will be anydanger attached, but do you feel yourselves confident of making asuccess of the venture?"
The eyes of the three boys sparkled. They discounted Mr. Boone's beliefthat there would be no danger attached, for they felt that theproposition offered a chance for much excitement, and this was what theywanted. Thrilling adventures were for them the spice of life after whatthey had experienced that summer. Garry answered for the others. "Willwe do it? You bet we will, and we'll succeed!"