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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:52:58 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:52:58 -0700 |
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diff --git a/30010-h/30010-h.htm b/30010-h/30010-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4a0a60 --- /dev/null +++ b/30010-h/30010-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,556 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Trees Are Where You Find Them, by Arthur Dekker Savage + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2 {text-align: left; font-weight: normal;} + hr {width: 45%; margin: 2em auto; visibility: hidden;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .figl {float: left; clear: left; margin: 0 1em 1em 0; padding: 0; width: 229px;} + img {border: none;} + a:link,a:visited {text-decoration: none;} + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; font-size: 300%; line-height: .8em; width: auto;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + .figt {float: left; clear: left; margin: 15px; padding: 0; width: 287px;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; min-height: 230px;} + .trn p {margin: 15px;} + .hd1 {margin-bottom: 3em;} + .sp1 {font-size: 150%;} + .hd2 {text-align: center; margin-top: 2em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30010 ***</div> + +<div class="figl"><img src="images/001.png" width="229" height="500" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<p class="hd1"><big><i>The trees on Mars are few and +stunted, says old Doc Yoris. +There's plenty of gold, of +course—but trees can be much +more important!</i></big></p> + +<h1><span class="sp1">TREES<br /> +<i>are where<br /> +you find<br /> +them</i></span></h1> + +<h2>By Arthur Dekker Savage</h2> + +<p class="hd1">Illustrated by Philip Parsons</p> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">You might</span> say the trouble +started at the Ivy, which is a +moving picture house in Cave +Junction built like a big quonset. +It's the only show in these parts, +and most of us old-timers up here +in the timber country of southwest +Oregon have got into the habit of +going to see a picture on Saturday +nights before we head for a tavern.</p> + +<p>But I don't think old Doc Yoris, +who was there with Lew and Rusty +and me, had been to more than two +or three shows in his life. Doc is +kind of sensitive about his appearance +on account of his small eyes +and big nose and ears; and since +gold mining gave way to logging +and lumber mills, with Outsiders +drifting into the country, Doc has +taken to staying on his homestead +away back up along Deer Creek, +near the boundary of the Siskiyou +National Forest. It's gotten so he'll +come to Cave Junction only after +dark, and even then he wears dark +glasses so strangers won't notice +him too much.</p> + +<p>I couldn't see anything funny +about the picture when Doc started +laughing, but I figure it's a man's +own business when he wants to +laugh, so I didn't say anything. The +show was one of these scientific +things, and when Doc began to +cackle it was showing some men +getting out of a rocket ship on Mars +and running over to look at some +trees.</p> + +<p>Rusty, who's top choker setter in +our logging outfit, was trying to +see Doc's point. He can snare logs +with a hunk of steel cable faster +than anyone I know, but he's never +had much schooling. He turned to +Doc. "I don't get it, Doc," he said. +"What's the deal?"</p> + +<p>Doc kept chuckling. "It's them +trees," he said. "There's no trees +like that on Mars."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Rusty.</p> + +<p>I suppose it was just chance that +Burt Holden was sitting behind us +and heard the talk. Burt is one of +the newcomers. He'd come down +from Grants Pass and started a big +lumber mill and logging outfit, and +was trying to freeze out the little +operators.</p> + +<p>He growled something about +keeping quiet. That got Rusty and +Lew kind of mad, and Lew turned +around and looked at Burt. Lew is +even bigger than Burt, and things +might have got interesting, but I +wanted to see the rest of the picture. +I nudged him and asked him if he +had a chew. They won't let you +smoke in the show, but it's okay to +chew, and most of us were in the +habit anyway, because there's too +much danger of forest fire when +you smoke on the job.</p> + +<p>Doc laughed every time the +screen showed trees, and I could +hear Burt humping around in his +seat like he was irritated.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">At the end</span> of the show we +drifted over to the Owl Tavern +and took a table against the north +wall, behind the pool tables and +across from the bar. Doc had put +his dark glasses back on, and he sat +facing the wall.</p> + +<p>Not that many people apart from +the Insiders knew Doc. He hadn't +been very active since the young +medical doctor had come to Cave +Junction in 1948, although he never +turned down anyone who came for +help, and as far as I knew he'd +never lost a patient unless he was +already dead when Doc got there.</p> + +<p>We were kidding Lew because +he was still wearing his tin hat and +caulked boots from work. "You +figuring on starting early in the +morning?" I asked him. Rusty and +Doc laughed. It was a good joke +because we rode out to the job in +my jeep, and so we'd naturally get +there at the same time.</p> + +<p>Then Rusty sat up straighter and +looked over at the bar. "Hey," +he said, "Pop's talking to Burt +Holden." Pop Johnson owns our +outfit. He's one of the small operators +that guys like Burt are trying +to squeeze out.</p> + +<p>"Hope he don't try to rook Pop +into no deals," said Lew.</p> + +<p>Doc tipped up his bottle of beer. +In Oregon they don't sell anything +but beer in the taverns. "Times +change," he said. "Back in 1900 all +they wanted was gold. Now they're +trying to take all the trees."</p> + +<p>"It's the big operators like Burt," +I said. "Little guys like Pop can't +cut 'em as fast as they grow. The +companies don't have to reseed, +either, except on National Forest +land."</p> + +<p>"That Burt Holden was up to my +place couple weeks ago," said Doc. +"Darn near caught me skinning out +a deer."</p> + +<p>"He better not yap to the game +warden," said Rusty. "Them laws +is for sports and Outsiders, not us +guys who need the meat."</p> + +<p>"He wanted to buy all my timber," +said Doc. "Offered me ten +dollars a thousand board feet, on +the stump."</p> + +<p>"Don't sell," I advised him. "If +Burt offers that much, almost anyone +else will pay twelve."</p> + +<p>Doc looked at me. "I'd never +sell my trees. Not at any price. I +got a hundred and sixty acres of +virgin stand, and that's the way it's +gonna stay. I cut up the windfalls +and snags for firewood, and that's +all."</p> + +<p>"Here comes Pop," said Lew.</p> + +<p>Pop sat down with us and had +a beer. He looked worried. We +didn't ask him any questions, because +we figure a man will talk if +he wants to, and if he doesn't it's +his own business.</p> + +<p>He finally unlimbered. "Burt +Holden wants to buy the mill," he +said, wiping his mouth on the back +of his hand.</p> + +<p>"Buy <i>your</i> mill?" said Lew. +"Hell, his mill is five times as big, +and he's even got a burner to take +care of slashings, so he don't have +to shut down in the fire season."</p> + +<p>"He just wants the land," said +Pop, "because it's near the highway. +He wants to tear down my setup +and build a pulp mill."</p> + +<p>"A <i>pulp</i> mill!" If we could have +seen Doc's eyes through the glasses +I imagine they'd have been popped +open a full half inch. "Why, then +they'll be cutting down everything +but the brush!"</p> + +<p>Pop nodded. "Yeah. Size of a +log don't matter when you make +paper—just so it's wood."</p> + +<p>It seemed as though Doc was +talking to himself. "They'll strip +the land down bare," he mumbled. +"And the hills will wash away, and +the chemicals they use in the mill +will kill the fish in the creeks and +the Illinois River."</p> + +<p>"That's why they won't let anyone +start a pulp mill near Grants +Pass," said Pop. "Most of the +town's money comes from sports +who come up to the Rogue River +to fish."</p> + +<p>Rusty set his jaw. "In the winter +we <i>need</i> them fish," he said. He +was right, too. The woods close +down in the winter, on account of +the snow, and if a man can't hunt +and fish he's liable to get kind of +hungry. That rocking chair money +doesn't stretch very far.</p> + +<p>"I ain't gonna sell," said Pop. +"But that won't stop Burt Holden, +and any place he builds the mill +around here will drain into the +Illinois."</p> + +<p>Doc pushed back his chair and +stood up to his full height of five +foot four. "I'm gonna talk to Burt +Holden," he said.</p> + +<p>Rusty stood up to his six foot +three. "I'll bring him over here, +Doc," he said. "We're handy to the +cue rack here, and Lew and Simmons +can keep them guys he's with +off my back."</p> + +<p>I stood up and shoved Rusty +back down. I'm no taller than he is, +but I outweigh him about twenty +pounds. I started working in the +woods when we still felled trees +with axes and misery whips—crosscut +saws to the Outsiders. "I'll go +get him," I said. "You're still mad +about the show, and you wouldn't +be able to get him this far without +mussing him up."</p> + +<p>"There won't be no trouble," +said Doc. "I just want to make him +an offer."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">I went</span> over and told Burt that +Doc wanted to talk to him. The +three guys with him followed us +back to the table.</p> + +<p>Burt figured he knew what it +was all about, and he just stood +over Doc and looked down on him. +"If it's about your timber, Yoris," +he said, "I'll take it, but I can't +pay you more than nine dollars +now. Lumber's coming down, and +I'm taking a chance even at that." +He rocked back and forth on his +heels and looked at Pop as though +daring him to say different.</p> + +<p>"I still don't want to sell, Mr. +Holden," said Doc. "But I've got +better than three million feet on my +place, and I'll <i>give</i> it to you if you +won't put a pulp mill anywhere in +the Illinois Valley."</p> + +<p>We were all floored at that, but +Burt recovered first. He gave a +nasty laugh. "Not interested, Yoris. +If you want to sell, look me up."</p> + +<p>"Wait!" said Doc. "A pulp mill +will take every tree in the Valley. +In a few years—"</p> + +<p>"It'll make money, too," said +Burt flatly.</p> + +<p>"Money ain't everything by a +long shot. It won't buy trees and +creeks and rain."</p> + +<p>"It'll buy trees to make lumber." +Burt was getting mad. "I don't +want any opposition from you, +Yoris. I've had enough trouble +from people who try to hold back +progress. If you don't like the way +we run things here, you can—hell, +you can go back to Mars!"</p> + +<p>It seemed to me that it was just +about time to start in. I could have +taken Burt easiest, but I knew +Rusty would probably swing on him +first and get in my way, so I planned +to work on the two guys on Burt's +right, leaving the one on his left +for Lew. I didn't want Pop to get +tangled up in it.</p> + +<p>I don't generally wait too long +after I make up my mind, but then +I noticed Rusty reaching out slowly +for a cue stick, and I thought +maybe I'd better take Burt first, +while Rusty got set. I never did +see a guy so one way about having +something in his hands.</p> + +<p>But Doc didn't drop out. "There +ain't nothing but a few scrub trees +on Mars," he said to Burt, looking +him square in the eye. "And no +creeks and no rain."</p> + +<p>Burt curled his lip sarcastically. +"The hell you say! Is that why you +didn't like it there?" You could see +he was just trying to egg Doc into +saying he'd come from Mars, so he +could give him the horse laugh. +The guys he was with were getting +set for a fracas, but they were waiting +for Burt to lead off.</p> + +<p>Doc didn't get caught. "But +there's gold," he said, like he hadn't +heard Burt at all. "Tons of it—laying +all over the ground."</p> + +<p>I guess Burt decided to ride +along. "Okay, Yoris," he said. "Tell +you what I'll do. For only one ton +of Martian gold I'll agree to drop +all plans for a pulp mill, here or +anywhere else. In fact, I'll get out +of business altogether."</p> + +<p>Doc moved in like a log falling +out of the loading tongs. "That's a +deal," he said. "You ready to go?"</p> + +<p>Burt started to look disgusted, +then he smiled. "Sure. Mars must +be quite a place if you came from +there."</p> + +<p>"Okay," said Doc. "You just +stand up against the wall, Mr. +Holden." Burt's smile faded. He +figured Doc was trying to maneuver +him into a likely position for us. +But Doc cleared that up quick. +"You boys get up and stand aside," +he ordered. "Get back a ways and +give Mr. Holden plenty of room." +We didn't like it, but we cleared +out from around the table. A bunch +from the bar and pool tables, sensing +something was up, came drifting +over to watch. I could feel tension +building up. "Now," said Doc, +pointing, "you just stand right over +there, Mr. Holden, and fold your +arms."</p> + +<p>Burt didn't like the audience, and +I guess he figured his plans were +backfiring when Doc didn't bluff. +"You hill-happy old coot," he +snarled. "You'd better go home +and sleep it off!" I grabbed hold +of Lew's arm and shook my head at +Rusty. I wasn't going to interfere +with Doc now.</p> + +<p>"You're not scared, are you, Mr. +Holden?" said Doc quietly. "Just +you stand against the wall and take +it easy. It won't hurt a bit."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Burt Holden</span> was plenty +tough for an Outsider, and a +hard-headed businessman to boot, +but he'd never run into a customer +like Doc before. You could see him +trying to make up his mind on how +to handle this thing. He glanced +around quick at the crowd, and I +could tell he decided to play it out +to where Doc would have to draw +in his horns. He actually grinned, +for the effect it would have on +everybody watching. "All right, +Yoris," he said. He backed against +the wall and folded his arms. "But +hadn't you better stand up here +with me?"</p> + +<p>"I ain't going," said Doc. "I +don't like Mars. But you won't +have no trouble getting your gold. +There's nuggets the size of your +fist laying all over the dry river +beds."</p> + +<p>"I hate to be nosey," said Burt, +playing to the crowd, "but how are +you going to get me there?"</p> + +<p>"With his head, o'course!" blurted +Rusty before I could stop him. +"Just like he cures you when you're +sick!" Doc had pulled Rusty +through two or three bad kid sicknesses—and +a lot of the rest of us, +too.</p> + +<p>"Yep," said Doc. "A man don't +need one of them rocket things to +get between here and Mars. Fact +is, I never seen one."</p> + +<p>Burt looked at the ceiling like he +was a martyr, then back at Doc. +"Well, Yoris," he said in a tone +that meant he was just about +through humoring him, "I'm waiting. +Can you send me there or can't +you?" The start of a nasty smile +was beginning to show at the +corners of his mouth.</p> + +<p>"Sure," said Doc. He slumped +down in his chair and cupped his +hands lightly around his dark +glasses. I noticed his fingers trembling +a little against his forehead.</p> + +<p>The lights dimmed, flickered and +went out, and we waited for the +bartender to put in a new fuse. The +power around here doesn't go haywire +except in the winter, when +trees fall across the lines. A small +fight started over in a corner.</p> + +<p>When the lights came back on, +Doc and Pop started for the door, +and Lew and Rusty and I followed. +Burt's buddies were looking kind of +puzzled, and a few old-timers were +moving over to watch the fight. +The rest were heading back to the +bar.</p> + +<p>Rusty piled into the jeep with +Doc and me. "When you going to +bring him back, Doc?" he asked +when we started moving.</p> + +<p>"Dunno," said Doc. He took off +his glasses to watch me shift gears. +He's been after me for a long time +to teach him how to drive. "It only +works on a man once."</p> + +<p class="hd2">THE END</p> + +<div class="trn"><div class="figt"><a href="images/002-2.jpg"><img src="images/002-1.jpg" width="287" height="200" alt="" title="" /></a></div> + +<p><big><b>Transcriber's Note:</b></big></p> + +<p>This etext was produced from <i>If Worlds of Science Fiction</i> November 1953. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and +typographical errors have been corrected without note.</p></div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30010 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30010-h/images/001.png b/30010-h/images/001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..51b4bd7 --- /dev/null +++ b/30010-h/images/001.png diff --git a/30010-h/images/002-1.jpg b/30010-h/images/002-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7d1fb1 --- /dev/null +++ b/30010-h/images/002-1.jpg diff --git a/30010-h/images/002-2.jpg b/30010-h/images/002-2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9651a97 --- /dev/null +++ b/30010-h/images/002-2.jpg |
