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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38087-8.txt b/38087-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..191e122 --- /dev/null +++ b/38087-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11716 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound, by Harold Bindloss + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: November 22, 2011 [EBook #38087] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND + + + + +[Illustration: "'DESERTED!' JAKE SAID SHORTLY"--Page 282] + + + + +THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND + +BY HAROLD BINDLOSS + +Author of "Alton of Somasco," "Winston of the Prairie," "Lorimer of the +Northwest," "Thurston of Orchard Valley," etc. + +[Illustration] + + NEW YORK + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + +Copyright, 1910, By +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + +_All rights reserved_ + +_September, 1910_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. FRANK GOES WEST 1 + II. THE BUSH 14 + III. THE RANCH 28 + IV. TARGET PRACTICE 39 + V. THE MYSTERIOUS SCHOONER 51 + VI. AT THE HELM 62 + VII. A WARNING 71 + VIII. SALMON SPEARING 82 + IX. A PLAIN HINT 93 + X. A BREEZE OF WIND 106 + XI. MR. BARCLAY JOINS THE PARTY 118 + XII. THE STRANGER 127 + XIII. THE SCHOONER REAPPEARS 137 + XIV. A TEST OF ENDURANCE 148 + XV. A MIDNIGHT VISITOR 157 + XVI. FRANK KILLS A DEER 166 + XVII. MR. WEBSTER'S GUNS 174 + XVIII. RUNNING A CARGO 184 + XIX. THE CACHÉ 195 + XX. MR. WEBSTER'S SLASHING 206 + XXI. A NIGHT ON THE SANDS 216 + XXII. THE ULTIMATUM 228 + XXIII. MR. OLIVER OUTWITS HIS WATCHERS 237 + XXIV. A FAST RUN 249 + XXV. THE UNITED STATES MAIL 259 + XXVI. MR. BARCLAY LAYS HIS PLANS 268 + XXVII. THE DERELICT 277 + XXVIII. A GRIM DISCOVERY 285 + XXIX. THE RAID 294 + XXX. THE RELIEF OF THE RANCH 305 + XXXI. FRANK BECOMES A RANCH OWNER 315 + + + + +THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FRANK GOES WEST + + +It was the middle of an afternoon in May. An old side-wheeler was +steaming south toward Puget Sound across the land-locked waters that lie +between Vancouver Island and the state of Washington. A little astern on +one hand Mount Baker lifted its heights of eternal snow. On the other, +and a little ahead, the Olympians rose white and majestic; and between, +vast, dim forests rolled down to the ruffled, blue water. It seemed to +Frank Whitney, sitting on the steamer's upper deck in the lee of her +smokestack, that it was a wild and wonderfully beautiful country he had +reached at last; for since leaving Vancouver, British Columbia, they had +steamed past endless rocks and woods, while island after island faded +into the smoke trail down the seething wake and great white mountains +opened out, changed their shapes, and closed in on one another as the +steamer went by. He had, however, not come there to admire the scenery, +and as he watched the wonderful panorama unroll itself he looked back +upon the troubles that had befallen him since he set out from Boston a +little less than a year ago. + +When he left that city he was but sixteen, and was, as he had cause to +realize during the following twelve months, merely an average American +boy, with a certain amount of alertness, self-reliance and common sense; +though he might, perhaps, have had more of these desirable qualities, +had he not been a trifle spoiled by his widowed mother before he went to +Gorton school. He had, quite apart from his lessons, learned a few +useful things there which probably he would never have learned at home, +but he had been suddenly recalled, and his mother had informed him that +it was now impossible for him to enter the profession for which he had +been intended. Frank did not understand all the reasons for this, but he +knew that they were connected with the fall in value of some railroad +stock and the failure of a manufacturing company in which his mother +held shares. She had, as she pointed out, his two younger sisters to +provide for, and he must earn his living at once. + +Frank found this much harder than he had expected. The subjects in which +he excelled did not seem to be of the least use to business men, and the +fact that he could play several games moderately well did not seem to +count at all. There were people who were ready to give him a trial, but +they seemed singularly unwilling to pay him enough to live in a way that +he considered fitting; and this somewhat astonished as well as troubled +him. In the end, a relative, who said that a young man with any grit and +snap had better chances in the West, found him a position with a big +milling company in Minneapolis. Frank accepted the position, but soon +found it not much to his liking. The people he met were not like his +Boston friends. They were mostly Germans and Scandinavians, and their +ways were not those to which he had been accustomed. What was worse, +they hustled him in the milling company's offices, and instead of +teaching him the business kept him busy licking stamps, copying letters +and answering telephones, which did not seem to him a fitting occupation +for an intellectual lad. + +He bore it, nevertheless, because he had to, until one day there came a +climax, when a clerk who had bullied him all along assigned to him a +particularly disagreeable task which was really outside his duties. In +return, in a fit of very foolish anger, Frank screwed the clerk's new +hat down tight in a copying-press, and it happened that the secretary +came upon the scene during the trouble that followed. The secretary had +an unpleasant temper, and when he walked out of the general office Frank +sat down at his desk boiling with indignation and almost stupefied. +There was, however, not the least doubt that he was fired. + +He spent a very dismal evening afterward, for one thing, at least, was +clear--he could not go home to Boston and become a burden on his mother. +But the flour trade was bad in Minneapolis just then, and business in +St. Paul did not seem much better, so eventually he found employment in +the offices of a milling company in Winnipeg. He suffered from the +extreme cold during the winter there. The cold of Massachusetts, as he +discovered, is very different from the iron frost which shuts down on +the Canadian prairie and never slackens its grip for months together. +The clothing he had brought from Boston was not warm enough, and his +small earnings would only provide him with shelter in the cheapest +quarters. Still, he held on until trade grew slack in the early spring +and he was turned adrift again. This time he felt that he had had enough +of business. He had heard and read of men who burrowed for treasure in +the snow-clad ranges, broke wild horses, and cleared the forests, out in +the farthest West. There was a romance in that life surpassing anything +that seemed likely to be got out of the addition of flour invoices or +the licking of stamps, and he wrote a letter to an old friend of his +dead father, who lived on a ranch near Puget Sound. It was some time +before he got an answer telling him rather tersely to come along. + +Frank started the day after he received it, and was now, he supposed, +within a short distance of his journey's end. He had never seen his +father's friend, and knew nothing of what he would be required to do at +the ranch, though he fancied that all that was necessary could readily +be learned by an intelligent lad. In this, however, he was wrong. + +Suddenly the steamer's whistle hurled a great blast out across the +waters, and, looking around, Frank saw, not far ahead, a long point +strewn with rocks and streaked with wisps of pines. There was, however, +no sign of life on it, and he turned to a deck-hand who strode by. + +"Can that be Bannington's?" he asked. + +"Yes," the man informed him. "I guess that's just what it is." + +"But there's nobody about," objected Frank. + +The deck-hand grinned. + +"Did you expect it was like Seattle or Port Townsend? There's a store to +the place, and they've got a post-office back among the rocks. We lay +off and whistle, and if there's no sign of a shore boat she goes on +again." + +He went forward with a jump as a man came out of the pilot house with a +pair of glasses in his hand. + +"Run up slow," he ordered. "There's nothing coming yet." + +The big side-wheels beat more slowly and the whistle called again, but +there was still only the ruffled blue water with white flecks on it and +the rapidly rising pines. Frank watched them anxiously, for he had only +about two dollars in his pocket, and it seemed quite possible that he +might be carried on to Seattle, in which case he had not the faintest +notion as to how he was to get back. It was quite certain that he could +not pay any more steamboat fares. + +A minute or two later the man with the glasses raised his hand as a sail +crept out around the point, and the big wheels stopped. The strip of +canvas grew into a gaff mainsail and a jib; the hull beneath it emerged +at intervals from the little tumbling seas; and it became apparent to +Frank for the first time that it was blowing rather hard. The sail +seemed to be dripping and he could see the spray flying about the +shapeless figure at the helm. Then the steamboat officer motioned to +him. + +"Are you getting off here?" he asked. + +Frank answered rather dubiously that this was his intention. + +"Then you'd better get down on to the wheel-case bracings with your +grip. I don't know how they're going to take you off, but I guess +they'll shoot her up head to wind and you'll have to jump." + +Frank got out on the guard-framing on the after side of the wheel and +watched the boat drive by, swung up on a little sea some distance away. +Half of her hull seemed to be under water, though the fore part of it +was hove up streaming into the air. She rolled wildly with her big +mainsail squared right out and the jib, which hung slack, dripping +water. Then she came round and headed for the steamer, lying down all +slanted to one side, while the water sluiced along her lee deck, and +Frank made out a boy crouching under the sail with a rope in his hand. +It seemed to him that the boat must inevitably ram the steamer and smash +in her bows. Then a hail reached him. + +"Hello, pilot house! Shove her astern soon as we're clear of you!" + +Somebody shouted an answer, and the steamer swung out, lifting a row of +wet plates out of the water and burying them again with a gurgling +splash. A glance around showed Frank a deck-hand standing behind him +with a long, spiked pole and a crowd of passengers leaning over the +rails of the deck above. How he was to get into the boat he did not +know, for the thing was beginning to look difficult. Then there was +another shout from the figure at her helm: + +"That you, Whitney?" + +Frank waved his hand in answer, hastily grabbing up the small bag which +contained his few possessions. The wheel-casing sank again into a ridge +of frothing brine which swirled about his feet, and he felt that it +would be a good deal wiser to climb back to the deck above and go on to +Seattle. This, however, was out of the question, even if there had not +been so many passengers looking on, and it was comforting to remember +that he could swim a little. The next moment the deck-hand touched his +arm. + +"I'll sling your grip aboard her as she shoots," he said. "Then jump, +and stick to anything you get your hands on." + +The boat was now only seven or eight yards away, nearer the steamer's +stern, but as Frank gazed at her she suddenly swayed upright with a +frantic thrashing of canvas, and shot forward head to wind beneath the +vessel's side. The next moment his bag went hurtling through the air, +and he heard the deck-hand shout something in his ear. Then he set his +lips and jumped. + +He struck something hard with his knees, and was conscious of a sudden +chill as the brine washed over one leg, but he had his hands clenched +tight on a strip of wet wood, and somebody seized him by the shoulder. +Making a determined effort he dragged himself up on the narrow side +deck, and fell in a heap into the bottom of the boat. When he scrambled +to his feet again the big side-wheel was splashing amidst a welter of +churned-up foam as the steamer pushed away from them, and, in the boat, +the boy he had already noticed was tugging desperately at a rope. + +"Get hold and heave!" he cried. + +Frank did as the boy directed. Then the helmsman waved his hand. + +"Not too flat! Belay at that! Get down here aft, both of you!" + +Frank staggered aft a pace or two, and sitting down breathless and +dripping gazed about him. The boat looked a good deal bigger than she +had appeared from the steamer, and, as a matter of fact, she was a +half-decked sloop of about twenty-four feet in length. Just then she was +slanted well down on one side, with the water foaming along her +depressed deck and showers of spray beating into her over her weather +bow, while the jib above her bowsprit every now and then plunged into +the short, white-topped seas. There seemed to be some water inside her, +for it washed up above the floorings at every heave. In a few moments +Frank had recovered his breath sufficiently to look around at his +companions. One was a boy of about his own age who smiled at him. He had +a bronzed skin and a kindly expression, and looked lean and wiry. + +"You're Frank Whitney?" asked the boy. + +Frank acknowledged that this was his name, and the other proceeded to +introduce himself and his companion. + +"I'm Harry Oliver, and, as you're going to stay with us, we've got to +hit it off together." + +Then he turned and indicated the ruddy-faced, red-haired man who held +the helm. + +"This is Jake, one of the smartest choppers and trailers on the Pacific +Slope. There aren't many of the boys who could have picked you off that +steamboat in a breeze of wind as he did." + +"Oh, pshaw!" said the helmsman with a grin. + +Neither of them had said anything striking in the way of welcome, but +Frank felt quickly at ease with them. As a rule, the new acquaintances +he had made in business farther east seemed to expect him to recognize +their superiority, or, at least, to understand that it was a privilege +to be admitted into their society. His present companions, however, +somehow made it plain that as long as he was willing to be commonly +civil there was no reason why they should not get on well together, for +which he was thankful, though he felt that any attempt to put on airs +with them would probably lead to trouble. + +"How far is it to your father's ranch?" he asked presently. + +"Twelve miles," responded Harry. "With a head wind like this one, it +means from eighteen to twenty-four miles' sailing. It depends, for one +thing, on Jake's steering." + +"Thirty, sure," broke in the helmsman, "if you had the tiller." + +"How's that?" asked Frank. + +"Know anything about sailing?" + +Frank confessed his ignorance, and Jake nodded to Harry. + +"Show him," he said. "He has got to learn and you can teach the fellow +who'll allow he doesn't know anything. The kind we've no use for is the +one that knows too much." + +Harry laid a wet finger on the hove-up weather deck. + +"Now," he began, "a boat or a ship under sail can go straight to the +place she's bound for as long as she has the wind anywhere from right +behind her to a little forward on her side. In fact, as she'll lie up +within a few points of the wind, there's only a small segment of the +circle you can't sail her straight into." + +He traced a circle on the deck and then placed his finger over about a +quarter of the circumference of it. + +"She won't go there." + +"But supposing you want to?" + +"Then, if the wind's ahead, you have to beat." He drew two lines across +the circle at right angles to each other and laid his finger at the end +of one. "Say we're here at north and the cove we're going to lies about +south. Well, you get your sheets in flat--same as we have them now--and +you sail up this way, at this angle to the wind." He ran a slanting line +across the circle until it touched the rim. "That brings you here; then +you come round, and go off at the same angle on the opposite tack, which +brings you right up to the cove. You can do it in two long tacks, +or--and it's the same thing--in a lot of little ones, each at the same +angle to the wind; but how many degrees there are in that angle and when +you get there depends on how your sails are cut and how smart you are at +steering her." + +Frank understood the gist of it, but there were one or two difficulties, +and he was not ashamed to ask a question: + +"What makes her go slantways against the wind? Why doesn't it blow her +back, or sideways?" + +"It does," Jake broke in dryly, "if you don't sail her right, or it +blows hard enough." + +"What makes a kite go up slantways against, or on, the wind, which is +the same thing in sailing?" continued Harry. "Because with the wind and +the string both pulling her, that's the line of least resistance." He +paused, and added deprecatingly, "I was at school at Tacoma and as I'd a +notion I might take up surveying, they pounded some facts into me that +made this kind of thing easier to get hold of. A boat goes ahead on the +wind because, considering the shape of her, it's the easiest way; and +this is what stops her going off sideways to lee." He kicked a high +narrow box which ran along the middle of the boat. "It holds the +centerboard--a big plate that's down deep in the water now. Before the +wind could shove her off sideways--and it does a little--it would have +to press that flat plate sideways through the water." + +Frank made a sign of comprehension. + +"That's about the size of it," said Jake. "Now I guess it would be more +useful if you got some of the water out of her." + +Harry, who explained that there was something wrong with the pump, +pulled up one of the flooring boards and invited Frank to dip a bucket +into the cavity and hand it up to him when it was full. Frank endeavored +to do so, but found it difficult, for the water which surged to and fro +as the sloop plunged left the bottom of the hole almost dry one moment +and the next came splashing back so rapidly that before he could get a +fair scoop with the bucket it had generally gone again. Besides, the +motion every now and then flung him off his knees; but he toiled on with +his head down for nearly half an hour, when a horrible nausea mastered +him and he staggered to the foam-swept lee coaming. For the next ten +minutes he felt desperately unhappy, and when he turned around again +there was a grin on the faces of his companions. + +"She'll do," said Harry. "You want to look to weather and get the wind +on your face. That's the best way to keep a hold on your dinner." + +Frank suddenly remembered that he had had no dinner. He had had only a +dollar or two left in his possession, and after considering the +steamboat tariff he had decided to dispense with the meal. In spite of +this fact and the unpleasant sensations he felt, he was conscious of a +certain satisfaction with his new surroundings. The seasickness would +pass, and grappling with the winds of heaven and the charging seas +seemed a finer thing than adding up the price of flour or sticking +stamps on letters. Here man's skill, nerve and quickness were pitted +against the variable elements, and Frank had a suspicion--which, as it +happened, was quite justified--that if Jake made a blunder the next +white-topped comber would come foaming across the bows of the craft. It +was only his cool judgment and ready hand on the tiller that swung her +safely over them. + +Raising himself a little he glanced ahead. The steamer and her smoke +trail had vanished some time ago, and the white Olympians had faded, +too. Evening was drawing on. The sky was now a dismal, dingy gray, and +the leaden-blue water was streaked with flecks and curls of foam. It +seemed to him that the sea was steadily getting higher, and there was +not the least doubt that the sloop was slanting more sharply and +throwing the spray all over her. + +"It looks bad up yonder, doesn't it?" he queried in anxious tones. + +"I allow we might have more wind by and by," Jake answered laconically. +"Seems to me she has about all the sail she can stand up to on her now." + +He had scarcely finished speaking when a comber curled over at its top +rose up close ahead, and the boat went into it to the mast. Part of it +poured over the forward head ledge into the open well, and the rest +sluiced foaming down the slanted deck to lee, through which she lurched +clear, with the water splashing and gurgling inside her. + +"We'll heave another reef down right away," said Jake. "Get forward, +Harry, and claw that headsail off her." + +The boy seized a wet sail that lay in the well, and as he crawled +forward with it the sloop rose almost upright, with her mainsail banging +and thrashing furiously. When he loosed a rope the jib ran partly down +its stay, and then jammed, filling out and emptying with sudden shocks +that shook the stout spar beneath it and the reeling mast. Harry, +however, crawled out on the bowsprit with his feet braced against a +wire--a lean, dripping figure that dipped in the tumbling seas--and +Frank, seeing that he was struggling vainly with the sail, scrambled +forward to help him, sick as he was. Water flowed about his knees on the +plunging deck, flying ropes whipped him, and the spray was hurled into +his face, but he could think of no reason why the Western boy should do +more than he could. He crouched down, hauling savagely on a rope at +which Harry pointed, and by and by the sail fell upon both of them. They +dragged it in, made it fast, and set a smaller one in place of it, +after which they floundered aft to where Jake was struggling with the +mainsail. + +He had hauled down what Frank afterward learned was the leach of it, and +was now standing with his toes on the coaming and his chest upon the +boom, pulling down the hard, drenched canvas and tying the little bits +of rope that hung in a row from it around the boom. + +"Hustle!" he shouted. "Get those reef-points in!" + +Frank took his place with his companion, and tried not to look at the +frothing water close beneath him as he leaned out on the jerking boom. +For the most part, the big spar lay fairly quiet, but now and then the +canvas above it shook itself with a bang. It cost him a strenuous effort +to drag each handful of it down in turn, and he discovered afterward +that he had broken two of his nails. He lost his breath, the +perspiration started from every pore in his skin, and he was sick and +dizzy, but he managed to hold on. At last it was finished, and soon +afterward Jake, driving the sloop on her course again, turned to Harry. + +"She'll make nothing of it against this breeze," he said. "We'll up-helm +and look for shelter under Tourmalin." + +Harry, bracing himself against the strain, let a rope run through the +clattering blocks, the bow swung around, and the motion became a little +easier. + +"We'll be snug beneath the pines in an hour," said Jake, nodding +reassuringly. + +Frank found the time quite long enough. He was wet and dizzy, and the +way the big frothing ridges came tumbling up out of the growing darkness +was rather terrifying. They heaved themselves up above the boat, and +every time that one foamed about her she slanted alarmingly over to +leeward. At last, when it had grown quite dark, a shadowy blur that grew +into a wisp of tall pines rose up ahead, and a minute or two later +there was an almost bewildering change from the rolling and plunging as +the sloop ran into smooth water. Her sails dropped, the anchor chain +rattled out, and by and by they were all sitting in the little cabin, +which was scarcely three feet high, and Jake was cramming bark and +kerosene rags into the stove. + +Half an hour later Frank forced himself to eat a little canned beef and +drink some coffee, and then Harry told him he could lie down on what +seemed to be a moderately dry sail. He had scarcely done so when he fell +asleep. Jake, who had been watching him, turned the lantern so that the +light fell on his face. + +"He was mighty sick," he observed, a kindly smile lighting up his rugged +features, "but he stayed with it through the reefin'. Your father should +make something of him. I guess he'll do." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BUSH + + +Frank awoke a little before daylight, feeling considerably better. The +nausea and dizziness had gone, and the sloop seemed to be lying almost +still, which was a relief to him. Then he noticed by the light of a lamp +that his companions' places were empty, and presently he heard them +talking in the well. Crawling out through the narrow doorway, he stood +up shivering in the coldness of the dawn. + +There were dim black trees and shadowy rocks close in front of him, with +a white wash about the latter, for a smooth swell worked in around a +point from open water. He could hear the rumble of the surf upon the +reefs, and though he could scarcely feel a breath of wind upon his face +the wailing of the black pines suggested that it was blowing still. He +could smell the clean resinous scent of them and it seemed to him that +they were singing wild, barbaric songs. Afterward, when he knew them +better, he learned that the pines and their kin, the cedars and balsams +and redwoods, are never silent altogether. Even when their fragrance +steals out heavy and sweet as honey under the fierce sunshine of a +windless day, one can hear faint elfin whisperings high up among their +somber spires. Then he saw that Jake was standing on the side deck, +apparently gazing at the white surf about the end of the point. + +"No," he mused, "she wouldn't face it. The breeze hasn't fallen any, and +the sea'll be steeper. Guess you'd better leave me here, and take the +Indian trail." + +Harry agreed with this. + +"We'll get off as soon as we've had breakfast; and, as I did the cooking +yesterday, it's your turn this morning. There's still a little fire in +the stove." + +Jake disappeared into the cabin, and presently came out again and was +filling his pipe when Harry sprang up suddenly on the deck. + +"Hello!" he cried. "There's a schooner yonder!" + +It was growing a little clearer and Frank, turning around, saw a tall +black spire of canvas cutting against the sky. He made out a frothy +whiteness beneath it where the swell broke on the vessel's bows, and the +sight of her singularly stirred his imagination. She had appeared so +suddenly, probably from behind the point, and she looked ghostly in the +uncertain light. She ran in under her headsails and boom-foresail with +her mainmast bare, rising higher and growing clearer all the while. By +and by there was a splash, and a voice broke through the wailing of the +trees. + +"Three fathom," it said. "You can luff her in a little." + +Harry seemed about to hail her, but Jake gripped his arm, and they all +stood silent while the schooner crept up abreast of them. The little +sloop, lying with the shadowy land close behind her, had evidently not +been seen. Then the vessel commenced to fade again, and in a few minutes +she had vanished altogether. + +"It looks as if there might have been some truth in old Sandberg's +tale," Harry remarked thoughtfully. "It's kind of curious that halibut +fisherman from Bannington's said he saw her too." + +"He said she'd a white stripe round her. Sandberg allowed it was green," +objected Jake. + +"That wouldn't prove anything. They could soon paint the stripe another +color." + +"What would they want to do it for?" + +"What does a schooner want running in here? There's no freight to be +picked up nearer than Port Townsend." + +"That," said Jake dryly, "is just what I don't know. What's more, I +don't want to. She might have run in for bark for cooking, or maybe for +water." + +Harry laughed. "If she has come down from Seattle they'd get plenty +cordwood or, if they wanted it, stove coal there, and I guess a skipper +wouldn't waste a fair wind like this one to save two or three dollars. +The thing's mighty curious. That vessel's been seen twice, anyway, and +nobody seems to know where she comes from or where she goes." + +"Well," Jake observed stolidly, "she doesn't belong to you or me, and if +you want your breakfast it should be ready." + +They crawled into the cabin, and when they had made a meal Jake sculled +the sloop in near enough to the steep beach for them to jump. Then he +flung a small packet after them. + +"It's the most I can spare you, as I mayn't get a slant round the reefs +until to-morrow," he said. "Anyway, it will do you two meals, and you +ought to fetch the ranch by sundown. You want to head right up the +valley until you strike a big log that lies across the river. When you +get over, cross the neck of the ridge where it's lowest. You'll see the +clearing from the top of it." + +Harry said this was plain enough and moved away across the shingle, +Frank following him cautiously when they reached the fringe of driftwood +which divided beach from bush. Whitened logs and barked branches were +scattered about in tangled confusion where the water had left them, and +it was with difficulty that the lads scrambled over the barrier. Then +Frank stopped breathless, with one leg wet to the knee and a rent in his +trousers. + +"It's pretty rough going, if this is an average sample," he panted. + +"You'll find it a good deal worse before we reach the ranch," Harry +answered with a laugh. + +He strode forward, and Frank looked around with wonder when they plunged +into the bush, for he had never seen a wood of that kind except in +pictures of the giant Californian Sequoia. There are, of course, pines +in the eastern states, but they seemed pigmies by comparison with these +tremendous conifers which were already tall and stately when Columbus +sailed from Spain. They ran up far above the boy in huge cylindrical +columns before they flung out their first great branches, which met and +crossed like the ribs of high-vaulted arches, holding up a roof of dusky +greenery. Beneath, there was a dim shadow, and a tangle of such +luxuriant vegetation as is seen, excepting in the tropics, probably only +upon the warm, damp Pacific Slope. + +There was another difference which struck Frank. The eastern woods that +he had seen were clear of wreckage, for lumber and fuel are valuable +there, and the ax had kept them clean, but this forest was strewn with +huge logs and branches, some of which evidently had fallen years ago. +Thickets of all kinds had sprung up between, and these were filled with +tufts of unrolling fern which Harry told him would grow six or eight +feet high. Through the midst of it all there twisted a narrow path which +Frank remembered Jake had mentioned as the Indian trail. + +"Have you Indians here?" he asked. + +"Oh, yes," said Harry, "we have a few Siwashes, though there are more of +them up in Canada. They seem fond of Indians there." + +"Are they quiet?" + +Harry chuckled. "You don't want to get them mixed with the redskins of +the plains, though I suppose where they're not wiped out they're pretty +quiet too. These fellows are a different breed. Most of them are +sailors and fishermen, and they dress much the same as you and I do. +They come up these rivers now and then after the salmon, and they made +this trail. You can tell that by the looks of it." + +"How?" + +"It goes in and out, and where there's an obstacle it winds around. +That's the difference between a white man's and an Indian's nature. The +Siwash strikes a big fir log, and he walks around it, if he has to keep +on doing it for months. It doesn't seem to worry him that he's wasting a +minute or two every time. Then the white man comes along and gets to +work with his ax. He goes right straight through. It's born in him." + +Frank had made a sign of understanding. He knew something of the history +of the old great nations as well as that of his own country, and he +remembered another dominant race that ages ago blazed its trails from +Rome across all Europe and far into Asia. It was characteristic of those +men that, turning aside for no obstacle, they went straight, and long +after their power had perished their roads remained, running, as the +crow flies, through morasses and over mountains and rivers. His own +people had done much the same, whittling west with the axes through the +eastern woods, and then pushing on with their wagons across the lonely +plains, until they drove the steel track through the snow-clad Rockies +and over the Sierras. They died in shoals on the journey, but it was the +march of a nation, and always more came on, the lumberman after the +trapper, the track-grader on the cowboy's heels, with ranches and farms +and factories growing up along the line. Now they had reached the +Pacific, and Frank wondered vaguely whether that would be the limit, or +where they were going then. It was, however, a question that seemed too +big for him. + +"This country's rough on one's clothes," he said ruefully, looking down +at a second tear in his trousers. + +Harry laughed. He was dressed in old duck overalls, long boots, and a +battered gray hat. + +"That's a fact. What you want to wear is leather. There were two sports +from back East came out to hunt last fall, and they had their things +made of some patent cloth warranted to turn water and resist any thorns. +Jake went along to cook for them." He paused with a chuckle and added, +"They were wearing their blankets because they hadn't any clothes left +when he brought them back." + +They went on for an hour or so until they came out upon the bank of a +frothing river which roared among the rocks in a shallow cañon. There +was no way of reaching the water, had they desired it, and, as Harry had +predicted, the trail they followed grew rapidly worse. In places it +wound perilously along narrow ledges beneath a dripping wall of rock, in +others it led over banks of stones which had slipped down from the +heights above. The boys made very slow progress until noon, when they +stopped for a meal from the package Jake had thrown them. While they ate +it Frank looked down again at his boots, which were already badly +ripped. + +"They were new just before I left Winnipeg," he said. "In some ways the +people in Europe are ahead of us. There are one or two countries where +they make their shoes of wood." + +Harry was too busy to make an answer, and when he had finished eating he +carefully tied up the packet, which was now considerably smaller, before +he turned to his companion. + +"We'd better be hitting the trail," he said. "Unless we can make the +ranch by sundown, we'll get mighty little supper." + +They pushed on for a couple of hours, still floundering and stumbling +among the rocks. Harry stopped for a moment where the bush was thinner +and pointed to a big gap in a ridge of hillside three or four miles +away. + +"That's the neck," he said. "The log we cross the river on is somewhere +abreast of it. We surely can't have passed the thing." + +They went on a little farther, but there was no sign of the log. +Presently Harry stopped again with an exclamation, catching a glimpse of +a great branchless fir which rose out of a welter of foam in the bottom +of the cañon. + +"There she is," he exclaimed, "jammed in where we certainly can't get +down to her. It will be difficult to go straight this time, but we'll +have to try." + +Frank drew a pace or two nearer the edge of the cañon, and felt a creepy +shiver run through him as he looked down. The rock he stood upon arched +out a little over the shadowy hollow, through the bottom of which the +wild waters seethed and clamored. He supposed that he stood at least +sixty feet above them. The rock on the opposite side also projected, so +that the rift was wider at the bottom than at the top. In one place, +however, the crest of it had broken away and plunged into the gulf, +leaving a short slope down which stones and soil had slid. Its lower +edge lay about twelve feet beneath him, though the distance would have +been rather less if it could have been measured horizontally. + +"How are we to get across?" he asked hesitatingly. + +"Jump," said Harry curtly. "Can't you do it?" + +"No," Frank answered with some reluctance. + +"Scared?" asked Harry, looking at him curiously. + +"I am, but it's not that altogether." + +"You didn't seem to want sand when you jumped into the boat." + +Frank stood silent a moment or two with a flush on his face. Had he been +forced to make the choice a year earlier, he probably would have jumped +and chanced it from shame of appearing afraid or of owning his +inferiority to another, but he had learned a little sense since then. + +"It was different then," he explained. "I was scared--badly scared--but +I felt I could do the thing if I forced myself to it. Now I'm almost +certain that I can't." + +"Yes," owned Harry, thoughtfully, "that's quite right. One hasn't much +use for the fellow whose great idea is to keep himself from getting +hurt, but when a thing's too big for you it's best to own it." He +dismissed the subject with a wave of his hand. "The question is how +we're going to get across, and my notion is that we'd better head right +up into the bush. The river will be getting smaller, and it forks +somewhere. Each branch will probably be only half the size, and I guess +the cañon can't go on very far." + +It occurred to Frank that considering the nature of the country it would +be singularly inconvenient if the cañon went on for another league or +two, particularly as they had only a handful of provisions left, but he +followed his companion, and they stumbled and floundered forward all the +afternoon. There was now no trail to follow, and where they were not +forced to scramble over slippery rock, fallen trees and thorny brakes +barred their way. Still, there was nothing to indicate that the cañon +was dying out, and where they could have reached the water it either +foamed furiously between rocky ledges or spun round in horrible black +eddies on the verge of a wild, yeasty turmoil. They looked at these +spots and abandoned any thought of swimming. + +Evening came at length, and they sat down beneath a big cedar where the +roar of the river rang about them in deep pulsations. A chilly wind was +wailing in the tops of the pines, and trails of white mist commenced to +drift in and out among their trunks, which showed through it +spectrally. Harry gazed about him with a rueful grin on his face. + +"If I'd an ax, one or two matches, and a couple of blankets, I'd make +you quite snug. Then with a few groceries, a kettle, and a spider, we'd +have all any one could reasonably want." + +"You haven't got them," Frank commented. "Wouldn't it save time if you +wished for a furnished house?" + +"I'd 'most as soon have an ax. Then I could make a shelter that would, +anyway, keep us comfortable enough, and when I'd cut you a good layer of +spruce twigs you wouldn't want a better bed. If I'd a rifle I might get +a blue grouse for supper. Still"--and he laughed--"as you say, we +haven't got them, and we couldn't do any cooking without matches. +Curious, isn't it, what a lot of things you want, and that in most cases +you have to get another fellow to make them?" + +Frank agreed with this, but he had never realized the truth of it as he +did just then. It was clear that the man who made all he wanted must +live as the Indians or grosser savages did, and that it was only the +division of employments that provided one with the comforts of +civilization. Every man, it seemed, lived by the toil of another, for +while on the Pacific Slope they turned the forests into dressed lumber +and raised fruit and wheat, the clothes they wore, and their saws and +plows and axes, came from the East. One could clear a ranch on Puget +Sound only because a host of other men puddled liquid iron or pounded +white-hot steel in the forges of, for instance, Pennsylvania. Frank +would very much have liked to provide his companion with the fruit of +somebody else's labor in the shape of a few matches, which would have +made a cheerful fire possible. + +In the meanwhile Harry had opened the packet and divided its contents +equally. + +"There's not enough to keep any over," he observed. "We have got to make +the ranch to-morrow." + +They ate the little that was left them, and then set to work to search +for a young spruce from which they might obtain a few branches, but they +failed to find one small enough even to climb. Coming back they lay down +among the cedar sprays, which seemed rather wet, and it was some time +before Frank could go to sleep. He was still hungry, and the roar of the +river and the strangeness of his surroundings had a peculiar effect on +him. The mist, which was getting thicker, rested clammily on his face, +and crawled in denser wreaths among the black trunks which stood out +here and there from the encircling gloom. Drops of moisture began to +fall upon him from the branches, and once or twice he cautiously moved +an elbow until it touched his companion. It was consoling to feel that +he was not alone. + +At length, however, he fell asleep, and awaking in the gray light of +dawn staggered to his feet when Harry called him, feeling very +miserable. He was chilled to the bone. His shoulders ached, his knees +ached, and one hip-joint ached worse than all, while his energy and +courage seemed to have melted out of him. As a matter of fact, nobody +unused to it feels very animated on getting up before sunrise from a bed +on the damp ground. + +"As we have to reach home to-night, we may as well get a move on," +announced Harry. "It's about four o'clock now, and it won't be dark +until after eight." + +The prospect of a sixteen hours' march with nothing to eat all the while +did not appeal to Frank. It was the first time in his life that he had +felt downright hungry, and this fast had made him the more sensitive to +an unpleasant pain in his left side. + +"If you're not sure about the way, wouldn't it be better if we went +back to Jake?" he suggested. "It seems a pity we didn't think of it +earlier." + +"I did," Harry answered smilingly. "The trouble is that Jake would clear +out the minute the wind dropped a little or shifted enough to let him +get round the head. Besides, he'd have mighty little to eat if he were +still lying behind the point when we got there. When your letter reached +us we'd hardly time to run down to Bannington's to meet the steamer, so +I just grabbed what I could find, and we sailed in a few minutes." + +Frank said nothing further, and they pushed on doggedly into the shadowy +bush. It was wrapped in a thick white mist, and every brake they smashed +through dripped with moisture. Except for the clamor of the river, +everything was wonderfully still--so still, indeed, that the heavy +silence was beginning to pall upon Frank, who suddenly turned to his +companion. + +"Isn't there anything alive besides ourselves in this bush?" he asked. + +"That," replied Harry, "is more than I can tell you. We have bears, and +a few timber wolves, besides two kinds of deer and several kinds of +grouse, and some of them are quite often about, but there are belts of +bush where for some reason you can't find one." + +They went on again, following up the river for an hour or two. In the +meanwhile the mist melted, and Frank could see the endless ranks of +mighty trees stretch away before him until they merged into a blurred +columnar mass. At last the cañon, which was growing shallower, forked +off into two branches, and they followed one branch until a broken rocky +slope led them down to the water. It was a dull greenish color and +foamed furiously past them among great stones. There was no means of +ascertaining how deep it was and the boys looked at each other dubiously +for a moment or two. Then Harry made a little gesture. + +"We have to get across," he said. + +Frank, without waiting for his resolution to fail him, plunged in on the +instant, and a couple of steps took him well above his knees. The water +seemed icy cold. As a matter of fact, it was mostly melted snow, and the +drainage from the glaciers had given it the curious green color. The +gravel commenced to slide away beneath Frank's feet, and by the time the +foam was swirling round his waist he was gasping and struggling +savagely. There was a big, eddying pool not far away and, though he +could swim a little, he had no desire to be swept into it. A moment or +two later he was driven against a rock with a violence that shook all +the breath out of him. He clung to it desperately until Harry came +floundering by and held out his hand. They made a yard or two together +and then Harry slipped suddenly, jerking Frank off his feet as he rolled +over in the flood. Frank went down overhead and as he felt himself being +swept along toward the eddy he exerted all his energy in a struggle to +regain his footing. He clutched at a rock, but the swirling waters only +carried him past. Half dazed and breathless he was flung against another +rock. This time, with a great effort, he managed to hold on, and when he +stood up, gasping, he found that the water now reached only to his +knees. In another minute he and Harry were safe on dry land. + +Half an hour later they crossed the other creek, and soon afterward +Frank sat down limply in the warm sunlight, which at last came filtering +between the thinner trees. + +"I must have a rest," he gasped. + +"There's just this trouble," Harry pointed out. "If you rest any time +you won't want to get up again." + +"If I go on now I'll drop in another few hundred yards," declared Frank. + +It was probably no more than the truth. He had been clever at athletics +and open air games, but, as it happened, he had been able to learn them +easily. Besides, he had been indulged by his mother and had been rather +a favorite at school, and as one result of it he fell short of the +hardihood usually acquired by the boy who has everything against him. +After all, an hour's exercise in a gymnasium or an hour and a half spent +over a game amidst applause and excitement is a very different thing +from the strain of unrelaxing effort that must be made all day when +there is nobody to cheer. He did not want to rest, but his worn-out body +rebelled and mastered him. + +"Aren't--you--played out?" he stammered weakly. + +"Oh, yes," replied Harry with a grin. "Still, in this country you're +quite often dead played out and have to go on again." + +"But if you can't?" + +"Then," said Harry dryly, "you have to keep on trying until you're able +to." + +It struck Frank that this might be painful and his heart sank. After a +while he tried another question: + +"Don't people get lost in the bush every now and then?" + +"Why, yes," was the answer. "There was a man strayed off from a picnic +just outside one of the cities not long ago and they didn't find him +until a month or two afterward. He was lying dead not a mile from a +graded road." + +Frank shivered inwardly at this. + +"Still, I suppose you generally have something to guide you--the moss on +the north side of the trees? I've heard that people who don't know about +it walk around in rings." + +"I must have gone pretty straight the only time I was lost," laughed +Harry; "and it's mighty hard to find moss in some parts of the bush. In +others it's all around the trees. I'd rather have a big peak as a guide. +You have heard about people walking round, but I wonder whether you have +heard that when they're badly scared they'll walk right across a trail +without seeing it?" + +"Is that a fact?" Frank asked in astonishment. + +"Sure!" said Harry. "A lost man will sometimes walk across a logging +road without the slightest idea that he's doing it. Anyway, I know where +the homestead lies. It's only a question of holding out until we reach +it." + +Frank was sincerely pleased to hear this, and by and by he rose with an +effort and they went on again. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE RANCH + + +Dusk was not far away when the boys, stumbling down a low hillside, came +into sight of an oblong clearing in the forest with a wooden house +standing on one side of it. That was all Frank noticed, for he found it +difficult to keep himself on his feet, and his sight seemed hazy. +Indeed, he fell down once or twice in the steeper places, and had some +trouble in getting up; and after that he had only a confused +recollection of crossing an open space and entering a dwelling. A man +shook hands with him, and a woman in a print dress made him sit down in +a low chair before she set out a bountiful meal. Soon after he had eaten +a considerable share of it Harry led him into a very little room where a +bed like a shelf with a side to it was fixed against one wall. Five +minutes later he was blissfully unconscious of his recent painful +experience. + +The sun was streaming in through the window when he awoke, feeling +wonderfully refreshed, and, dressing himself in some overalls which had +been laid across the foot of his bed, he walked out into the larger +general room. It had uncovered walls of logs and a very roughly boarded +floor, and there seemed to be little in it besides a stove, a table and +several chairs. + +A brown-faced man with a little gray in his hair sat at one end of the +table and at the other end sat a woman resembling him and of about the +same age. Harry, sitting between them, was apparently engaged in +narrating their adventures. Frank, who took the place laid out for him, +found that his supper had not spoiled his breakfast, for he fell upon +the pork, potatoes, dried apricots, hot cakes and syrup with an +excellent appetite. When the meal was over, the man led Frank into +another room and filling his pipe asked him to sit down. + +"We'd better have a talk," he said. "You can take the chair yonder." + +Frank looked at him more closely when he sat down. Mr. Oliver, who was +dressed in duck overalls, was rather spare in figure, though he looked +wiry. His manner was quiet, and his voice was that of an educated man, +but he had somewhat piercing gray eyes. + +"I had a sincere regard for your father," he began. "On that account +alone I should be glad to have you here; but first of all we had better +understand each other. You mentioned that you had been in business in +Minneapolis and afterward in Winnipeg. Didn't you like it?" + +"No, sir," replied Frank, who felt that it would be wiser to answer +carefully any questions this man might ask. "Still, that wasn't exactly +why I gave it up, though"--and he hesitated--"to say I gave it up isn't +quite correct." + +"If I remember, you called it being fired, in your letter," Mr. Oliver +suggested with a twinkle in his eyes. "What led up to that?" + +"Slack trade in the last case. I'd like to think it was only the grudge +a bullying clerk had against me in the other." + +"Then, if you had been allowed, you would have stayed with the milling +business, though you didn't care for it?" + +"Yes," responded Frank. "Anyway, I'd have stayed until I could have got +hold of something I liked better." + +Mr. Oliver nodded in a way which suggested that he was pleased with the +answer. + +"Well," he said, "that brings us to the question why you came out here. +Was it because you had heard that it was a good country for hunting and +fishing?" + +Frank's face flushed. "No, sir," he replied, "I wanted to earn a living, +and I understood that a"--he was going to say a live man, but thought +better of it--"any one who wasn't too particular could generally come +across something to do quickest in the West. In fact, I'd like to begin +at once. After buying my ticket and getting odd meals I've only two or +three dollars left." + +"Two-fifty, to be precise. My sister took your clothes away to mend. +Now, it's possible that I might manage to get you into the office of +some lumber or general trading company in one of the cities. How would +that do?" + +"I'd rather go on to the land. I'd like to be a rancher." + +"How much do you know about ranching?" + +"Very little, but I could soon learn." + +It was Frank's first blunder, and he realized it as he saw the gleam of +amusement in Mr. Oliver's eyes. + +"It's by no means certain," commented the latter. "There are men who +can't learn to use the ax in a lifetime. We'll let it go at that, and +say you're willing to learn. Have you any idea of making money by +ranching?" + +Frank thought a moment. "Well," he said finally, "I'd naturally wish to +make some, but I don't think that counts for most with me. I'd rather +have the kind of life I like." + +"The trouble with a good many men is that when they get it they find out +they like something else. Quite sure that hunting and fishing aren't +taking too prominent a place in your mind? If they are, I'd better tell +you that the favorite amusement in this country is chopping down big +trees. There's another fact that you must consider. It takes a good deal +of money to buy a ranch and, unless it's already cleared, you have to +wait a long while before you get any of the money back. This place cost +me about nine thousand dollars, one way or another, and in all +probability there's not a business on the Pacific Slope in which I +wouldn't get twice as much as I'm getting here for the money, though +I've been here a good many years. Now what do you expect to do with two +dollars and a half?" + +What he had heard had been somewhat of a shock to Frank, and the +question was difficult to answer. + +"I might earn a little more by degrees, sir," he said hopefully. + +Mr. Oliver smiled at him encouragingly. + +"It's possible; and there's cheaper land than mine, while a smart man +used to the country can often get hold of a small contract of some kind. +Now I'll tell you what we'll do. Wait a month, and then if you find that +you like the life I'll hire you for what anybody else would give you." + +With that he arose, signifying that the discussion was over, and Frank +went out of doors and joined Harry in the clearing. The latter held a +big handspike with an arched iron hook hinged to it, and he invited +Frank to assist him in rolling logs. + +"It will give you some idea how a ranch is cleared," he said. "To begin +with, you had better take a look around." + +Frank did so and first of all noticed the rather rambling house, part of +which was built of logs notched into one another at the ends, though the +rest, which had evidently been added to it later, was of sawed lumber. +It was roofed with what he fancied were red cedar shingles. On the other +side of it, carefully fenced off with tall split rails, stood orderly +ranks of trees, some in delicate pink and white blossom. Harry told him +they were apples and prunes and peaches. Nearer him were one or two +fields of timothy grass and fresh green oats, and then more of the +latter growing among fern-engirdled stumps sawed off some six feet above +the ground. Beyond them, in turn, half-burned branches were strewn +among another stretch of stumps, then there was a narrow belt where +great trees lately chopped lay in tremendous ruin, and behind them again +the forest rose in an unbroken wall. + +"Now," explained Harry, "you have the whole thing in front of you, if +you'll begin at the bush and work back toward the house. First you chop +down the trees, then you burn them up and raise your first crop or two +round the stumps. Afterward by degrees you grub up the stumps and get +the clean, tilled land. When it's been worked a few years it will grow +almost anything." + +"But where's the stock?" Frank asked. "I had a notion that a ranch was a +place where you raised no end of horses or cattle." + +"That's on the plains," laughed Harry. "On this side of the Rockies it's +any piece of cleared land with a house on it. At quite a few of the +ranches they raise nothing but fruit. As you asked the question, though, +our cattle are in the bush. They run there and live on what they can +find until we round them up. Now we'll get to work." + +He turned away after a pair of brawny oxen that were plodding leisurely +across the clearing, and in a little while they halted on the edge of +what Harry called the slashing. This was a belt of fallen timber which +ran around most of the open space. As Frank gazed at the chaos of great +trunks and mighty branches he felt inclined to wonder how Mr. Oliver had +managed to get them down. + +"What will you do with these?" he asked. + +"Saw or chop off the bigger branches," Harry answered. "Then we'll wait +until the trunks are good and dry in the fall and put a fire to them. It +will burn up all the small stuff, and leave them like this." + +He pointed to the rows of blackened and partly burned logs which lay +between the slashing and the half-cleared soil, and Frank noticed that +most of them had been sawed into several pieces. + +"Couldn't you sell them for lumber?" he inquired. + +"No," replied Harry. "For one thing, it's quite a long way to the +nearest mill and we'd have to build a skidway for a mile or two down to +the water. Besides, in a general way, it's only the redwood and red +cedar that the mills have much use for." + +Then he gave Frank a handspike that lay close by, and between them they +prized up one end of a log so that he could slip a chain sling under it. +The other end of the chain was attached to the yoke of the oxen, and +when he called them the big white and red beasts hauled the log away +until he stopped them and went back for another. Frank did not find much +difficulty in this, but it was different when they had drawn six or +seven of the logs together and laid them side by side. Harry said that +the next lot must go on top of the others, and Frank was wondering how +they were to get them there, when his companion laid two or three stout +skids some distance apart against the first of the row. These, it was +evident, would serve as short, slanting bridges, but Frank was still not +clear as to how the next log could be propelled up them. + +When Harry brought it up he slipped the chain along toward its middle, +though it cost the boys an effort to prize the mass up with their +handspikes, after which he made one end of the chain fast on the +opposite side of the row, around which he led the oxen. The other end he +hooked to their yoke, so that it now led doubled across the row and +around the trunk they wished to raise. He said that when the chain was +pulled the log would roll up it. He next shouted to the oxen, who +plodded forward straining at the yoke, while he and Frank slipped their +handspikes under opposite ends of the log. + +"Heave!" he cried. "Send her up!" + +Frank did his utmost, with the perspiration dripping from him and the +veins on his forehead swelling, but the ponderous mass rolled very +slowly up the skids, and several times he fancied it would drag the oxen +backward and slide down on him. Indeed, for about half a minute it hung +stationary, though Harry, who dared not draw out his handspike, shouted +frantic encouragement to the straining beasts. Then it moved another +inch or two, and one released skid shot up as though fired out of a gun +when the log rolled upon the first of the preceding ones. They worked it +well across them, and then freeing the chain went back for another, +though Frank's arms felt as if they had been almost pulled out of their +sockets. + +"You want somebody to keep the oxen up to it as well as two to heave, +when the logs are as big as these," said his companion. "Still, some of +the small ranchers do the whole thing alone." + +Frank could not help wondering what kind of men these were, but in the +meanwhile he was obliged to bend all his thought on his difficult task, +which grew heavier when, having ranged the logs in two layers, they +commenced the third. The skids were now too short to reach the top of +the second tier without making the slope rather steep and Harry said +that they must cut some new ones. A couple of axes lay close by, and +handing one to Frank he strode into the bush and stopped in front of a +young fir. + +"The butt ought to make a skid," he said. "I'll leave you to get it down +and I'll look for another. You do it like this." + +Spreading his feet apart and balancing himself lightly, he swung the +heavy, long-hafted ax above his head. The big blade, descending, buried +itself in the trunk, and rose with a flash when he wrenched it clear. +This time he struck horizontally and a neat wedge-shaped chip flew out. + +"Now," he said, handing the ax to Frank, "you can go ahead." + +He turned away and Frank swung the ax experimentally once or twice. The +thing looked easy. Whirling up the blade, he struck with all his might. +It came down into the notch Harry had made, but it was the flat of it +that struck, and, while the haft jarred his hands, the blade glanced and +just missed his leg. This appeared somewhat extraordinary, and he was a +little more cautious when he tried again. He hit the tree fairly this +time, but almost a foot above the cut, and he was commencing to feel +indignant when he dragged the steel out again, which in itself was not +particularly easy. He then struck horizontally, but the blade did not +seem to go in at all, and at the next attempt the ax buried itself in +the soil, just grazing his boot. This steadied him, for he had no desire +to lame himself for life. Shortening his hold upon the haft, he used it +after the manner of a domestic chopper, until at length, when his hands +were blistered and he was very hot, the tree went down with a crash. +Then turning around he saw Harry watching him with a look of amusement. + +"Have you got yours down?" Frank asked. + +"Oh, yes," Harry replied, "and another. I've chopped them through for +skids." He pointed to the hacked and splintered log. "Looks as if +something had been eating it, doesn't it?" + +Frank's face grew rather red. "You couldn't expect me to drop into it +all at once. Give me a week or two to pick up the swing and balance of +it." + +"A week or two!" Harry seemed to address the clustering firs. "They sure +raise smart folks back East." + +"How long were you learning?" retorted Frank. + +"Well," said Harry thoughtfully, "you could call it most of twelve +years. I used to go whittling with a toy tomahawk soon after I could +walk. Of course, they confiscated the thing now and then. Once it was +after I'd just brought down a one-leg round table." + +"Did you ever cut yourself?" + +Harry rolled up his trousers and pointed to a big white mark below his +knee. + +"I could show you two or three more of them," he commented dryly. "There +are quite a few bush ranchers who haven't got all their toes on." + +He cut a skid from the butt of the log, and when they went back to the +pile the work which before had been hard now became more or less +dangerous. They had to prize and sometimes shoulder up the ponderous +masses of timber three-high, and Frank was far from feeling over the +effects of the previous two-days' march. Still, if his companion could +manage it, he was determined that he could, and he toiled on, soaked in +perspiration, straining and gasping over one of the heaviest tasks +connected with clearing land, until to his vast relief Miss Oliver +appeared in the doorway, jingling a cowbell as a signal that dinner was +ready. + +They went back to work after the meal, and Frank somehow held out until +the middle of the afternoon. It seemed very hot in the clearing and the +scorching sunrays beat down upon the back of his neck and shoulders. One +of his horribly blistered hands commenced to bleed, he was almost afraid +to straighten his back, and his arms were sore all over. At last as they +were heaving up a heavy log it stuck just on the edge of the tier and +Frank, who felt his breath failing him and his heart beating as though +it would burst, could hear the oxen scuffling furiously on the other +side of the pile. + +"Heave!" Harry shouted. "Another inch will land her!" + +"I can't!" Frank panted, with his hands slipping upon the lever. + +"Then look out!" warned Harry. "Let go of the thing and jump!" + +Frank did not remember whether he let go or whether the handspike was +torn from his grasp, but he jumped backward as far as he could and +staggered a few paces farther when he saw the big log rolling down after +him. Then he fell headlong, there was a crash and a great trampling of +hoofs, and he wondered whether the log would crush the life out of him. +When he scrambled to his feet, however, it had stopped not far away; and +in a few moments Harry appeared from behind the pile. + +"It pulled the oxen backward right up to the logs," he explained. Then +he looked sharply at Frank. "We haven't done badly for one day, and Aunt +Sophy wants me to haul in some stovewood. You sit there and rest +yourself awhile." + +He went away with the oxen, and Frank was thankful to do as he was told, +for his heart was heavy and he was utterly worn out. His hands were torn +and blistered and the logs that he had partly lifted with his body had +bruised his breast and ribs. If this was ranching, it was horrible work, +and he felt that he would break down altogether if he attempted much +more of it. It was nothing like his dream of riding through the bush on +spirited horses after half-wild cattle. Then the troublesome question as +to what he should do if he gave it up had to be faced. He had found that +he had no aptitude for business, and he had a suspicion that work would +be quite as hard in a logging camp or in a sawmill. It was clear that he +could not go home, even if he had the money for his fare, which was not +the case, and he felt very forlorn and miserable. + +In the meanwhile the twigs he lay upon were pleasantly soft, and it was +cool and peaceful in the lengthening shadow of the firs. There was a +curious rhythmic drumming sound which he found most soothing and which +he afterward learned was made by a blue grouse not far away. The pungent +smell of withering fir and cedar sprays in the slashing dulled his +senses, until at last his troubles seemed to melt away and he fancied +that he was back in Boston where nobody had ever required him to heave +ponderous logs upon one another. + +It was a couple of hours later when Mr. Oliver, walking back that way +with Harry, stopped and looked at the pile. + +"You have put all those up since this morning?" he asked. + +Harry said that they had done so, and Mr. Oliver glanced down with a +little smile at Frank, who lay fast asleep. + +"It's rather more than I expected. The lad must have done his share, but +it might have been better if you had started him at something easier." + +"He stood it all right until a while ago, and I think he'd have seen me +through if it hadn't been for the walk yesterday. Shall we crosscut some +of those branches to-morrow instead?" + +"No," replied Mr. Oliver after a moment's reflection. "It might be wiser +to let him see the worst of it. If he stands a week's logging there's no +doubt that he'll do." He paused a moment and looked down at Frank again. +"I don't think he'll back down on it. He's very much like his father, as +I remember him a good many years ago." + +Then he laid his hand on Frank's shoulder. + +"Get up, boy. Supper's ready." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TARGET PRACTICE + + +The two boys spent most of the following week rolling logs and they were +busy among them one hot afternoon when Mr. Oliver walked out of the bush +nearby. As they did not immediately see him, he stopped and stood +watching them in the shadow for a few minutes. Frank was feeling more +cheerful by this time, though his hands were still very sore and, as a +good many of the logs were burned on the outside, he was more or less +blackened all over. He was getting used to the work, and Jake, who had +arrived with the sloop in the meanwhile, relieved him and his companion +of the heaviest part of it. Turning around presently at a sound, Frank +saw Mr. Oliver smiling at him. + +"If I were as grimy as you I think I'd go in for a swim," he said. "It's +hot enough, and there's a nice beach not far away. I dare say Harry will +go along with you while Jake and I put up these logs." + +Harry lost no time in throwing down his handspike, and they set out +together down a narrow trail through the woods, which led them out by +and by upon a head above the cove in which the sloop lay moored. +Standing on the edge of the crag, Frank looked down upon the clear, +green water which lapped smooth as oil upon a belt of milk-white shingle +and broke into little wisps of foam beneath the gray rocks at the mouth +of the cove. Beyond this the sea flashed silver in the sunlight like a +great mirror, except where a faint, fitful breeze traced dark blue +streaks across it. Dim smudges of islands and headlands broke the +gleaming surface here and there, and high above it all was a cold white +gleam of eternal snow. + +In a few minutes they had scrambled down a winding path, and Frank, +stripping off his clothes, waded into the water abreast of the sloop +which lay swinging gently about a dozen yards from the beach. + +"Can you swim off to her?" shouted Harry. + +Frank said that he thought he could, and set about it with a jerky +breast stroke, for he was not very proficient in the art. The water was +decidedly cold and he was glad when he reached the sloop. Clutching her +rail where it was lowest amidships he endeavored to pull himself out. To +his disgust he found that his feet would shoot forward under the bottom +of her, with the result that he sank back to the neck after each effort. +When he had made two or three attempts he heard a shout: + +"Hold on! You'll never do it that way." + +Harry shot toward him, his limbs gleaming curiously white through the +shining green water, though his face and neck showed a coffee-brown, as +did his lower arms, which he swung out above his head, rolling from side +to side at every stroke. He grasped Frank's shoulder and pushed him +toward the stern of the sloop. + +"Now," he said when he clutched it, "there are just two ways of getting +out of the water into a boat. If she has a flat stern you make for there +and get your hands on the top of it spread a little apart. Then you +heave yourself up by a handspring--though that isn't very easy." + +Frank smiled at these instructions, but said nothing. It was easy for +him, because he had learned the trick in a gymnasium. Suddenly jerking +down his elbows, which ever since he had grasped the stern were as high +as his head, he shot his body up until his hands were down at his hips. +Then, as his waist was level with the sloop's transom, he quietly +crawled on board. Harry, however, had to make two or three attempts +before he succeeded, and then he looked at his companion with +undisguised astonishment. + +"I've never done it right away yet," he said admiringly. "Say, do you +know how to dive?" + +"No," replied Frank; "that is, I've scarcely tried." + +Harry led him forward where the boat's sheer was higher and he could +stand a couple of feet or so above the water. + +"You only get half the fun out of swimming unless you can dive," he +said. "Let's see what kind of a show you make." + +Frank stiffened himself and jumped. At least, that was what he meant to +do, but as it happened, he merely threw himself flat upon the water, and +the result was rather disconcerting. He felt as though all the breath +had been knocked out of him, and in addition to this all the front of +his body was smarting. He was about to swim toward the stern again when +Harry stopped him. + +"Hold on!" he called. "You may as well learn the other way of getting +out, and if she's a sailing craft with a bowsprit it's much the easiest +one. Swim forward to the bow." + +Frank did so and saw that a wire ran from the end of the bowsprit, +dipping a little below the water where it was attached to the boat. He +had no difficulty in getting his foot upon it, and after that it was a +simple matter to crawl on board. His chest and limbs were still smarting +and were very red when he joined Harry. The latter regarded him with a +look of amusement. + +"You'll get hurt every time, if you dive like that," he said. "Look +here," and he stood up on the boat's deck. "You want to get your weight +on the fore part of your feet all ready to shove off before you go. Then +you must shoot as far forward as you can--falling on it won't do--and +hollow your back and stiffen yourself once you're under. That is, when +you want to skim along just below the surface. Watch me." + +Leaning forward a little he sprang out from the boat, a lithe, tense +figure, with hands flung straight forward over his head. They struck the +water first, and he went in with an impetus which swept him along +scarcely a foot beneath the top. Then his speed slowly slackened and he +had stopped altogether about a length of the boat away when he raised +his head and swam back to her. + +"You don't want to try that in less than four feet until you're sure you +can do it right," he said when he had climbed on board. "The other kind +of diving's different." Then, taking up a galvanized pin, he threw it +in. "See whether you can fetch it. There's about eight or nine feet of +water here. You can open your eyes as soon as your head's in, and you +won't have any trouble in coming up again. Jump, and throw your legs +straight up as you go." + +Frank managed this time not to drop in a heap as he had done before. He +also opened his eyes under water for the first time and found it +perfectly easy to see. It was like looking through green glass. He could +make out the pin lying a long way down beneath him. It was, however, +impossible to reach it. The water seemed determined on forcing him back +to the top, and when he abandoned the struggle to get down he seemed to +reach the surface with a bound. + +"How far did I go?" he gasped. + +"About six feet. It's quite as far as I expected." + +Harry plunged, and Frank, who had climbed out in the meanwhile, saw him +striking upward with his feet until he turned and came up with a rush, +holding the pin in one hand. Flinging it on board he headed for the +beach and was standing on the shingle rubbing himself with his hands +when Frank joined him. + +"I guess you had two towels when you went swimming back East?" he +laughed. + +Frank looked up inquiringly, acknowledging that he usually had taken +one. + +"Well," said Harry, "we have them at the homestead, but there are +ranches in this country where you wouldn't get even one." + +"No towels!" exclaimed Frank in some astonishment. "What do they use +instead?" + +"Some of them cut a very little bit off of a cotton flour bag. Those +bags are valuable because they keep them to mend their shirts with. I've +a notion that the other fellows sit in the sun." + +Frank laughed and scrambled into his clothes after rubbing himself with +his hands. He was commencing to realize that whether Harry was joking +with him or not it was unavoidable that they should have different ways +in different parts of so big a country. Indeed, now that he was some +four thousand miles from Boston, he felt that instead of its being +curious that the people were slightly different it was wonderful that +they were so much the same. If one measured four thousand miles across +Europe and Asia one would get Frenchmen at the one end and wild Cossacks +or nomad Tartars at the other, with perhaps a score of wholly different +nations, speaking different languages, between. + +They had an excellent appetite for supper when they went back to the +ranch, and after the meal was over, Mr. Oliver took down a rifle from +the wall. + +"You can bring yours along, Harry," he said, and then turned to Frank. +"In a general way, a rancher doesn't get much time for hunting, and he +seldom goes out for the fun of the thing, but an odd deer or grouse +comes in handy now and then. Anyway, before you can hunt at all you must +learn to shoot and you may as well begin." + +"Dad's a pot-hunter," chuckled Harry. "At least, that's what the two +smart sports we had round here last fall said he was." + +A gleam of amusement crept into his aunt's eyes, but Mr. Oliver's face +contracted into a slight frown. + +"Harry knows my views, but you had better hear them, too," he said to +Frank. "I'm certainly what those fellows called a pot-hunter, though +they very foolishly seemed to think that one ought to be ashamed of it. +Most of the ranchers in this district take down the rifle only when they +want something to eat, and that's the best excuse there is for shooting. +Is it a desirable thing to destroy a dozen harmless beasts for the mere +pleasure of killing, and leave them in the bush for the wolves and +eagles?" + +"Don't the game laws prevent that, sir?" Frank asked. + +"They limit a man to so many head of this and that, and in a general way +he brings no more out with him, but it doesn't by any means follow that +he hasn't killed a bear or a deer that he doesn't mention in some lonely +ravine. The sport who hasn't a conscience is as big a pest in a game +country as the horn and hide hunter used to be, and we have to thank him +for practically exterminating several of the finest beasts in North +America." + +"Wouldn't the clearing of virgin country and the way the farms and +ranches spring up account for it?" + +"Only to some extent. It's my opinion that there are more deer and bears +about the smaller ranches than you could find anywhere else. All this is +no reason why you shouldn't learn to shoot; that is, to hit your game +just where you want to and kill it there and then." + +He walked out with his rifle and the boys followed him across the +clearing. Here Harry fixed a piece of white paper about two feet square +with a black dab in the middle of it on the trunk of a big fir, after +which he came back to where the others were standing. + +"How far do you make it?" his father asked. + +"About a hundred yards." + +Mr. Oliver now turned to Frank. + +"As I think you told me you couldn't shoot, I'll give you a short +lecture on the principles of the thing. When they're after birds most +men use a scatter gun. It will spread an ounce of shot--several hundred +pellets--over a six-foot circle at a distance of about forty yards; but +the rifle is the great weapon of western America. Take this one and open +the breach--now look up the barrel." + +"I can see little grooves twisting round it like a screw," said Frank. + +"That's the rifling. It serves two purposes. The bullet--you use only +one--has to screw round and round to get out, and that gives the +explosion time to act upon it. It increases the muzzle velocity. Then it +gives the bullet a rotary motion, and anything spinning on its axis +travels very much straighter than it would do otherwise. It's the +twisting motion that keeps a top from falling over." + +Frank could readily understand this, and he remembered what he had read +about the gyroscope. + +"Now," continued Mr. Oliver, "we have to consider the pull of the earth +upon the bullet, which would bring it down, and to counteract this you +have to direct it rather upward. The slight curve it makes before it +reaches its mark is called the trajectory, and it naturally varies with +the distance. You arrange it by the sights. There are two of them, one +on the muzzle and one near the breach. The last one slides up and down +like this. The farther off the mark is the higher it must go. As you +have to get them both in line, it's evident that pushing the back one up +will raise the muzzle. You can understand that?" + +Frank said that he could, and Mr. Oliver pushed the rearsight down and +snapped a lever. + +"It's cocked, though it hasn't a shell in it. At a hundred yards or less +the sight goes down about the limit." He handed Frank the rifle. "Stand +straight, left foot a little to the left and forward--that will do. Now +bring the rifle to your shoulder--left hand under the barrel near the +rearsight, elbow well down, right hand round the small of the butt, +thumb on the top. Try to hold it steady." + +Frank found it difficult. The rifle was heavy and the muzzle seemed to +want to drop, but Mr. Oliver stopped him when he let his left elbow fall +in toward his side. + +"Bring it down and wait a moment before you throw it up again," he +advised. + +Frank did so once or twice, and at length his instructor seemed +satisfied. + +"Now we'll aim," he said. "Drop your left cheek on the stock--you'd +better shut your left eye. Try to see the target through the hollow of +the rearsight, with the front one right in the middle of it." + +It seemed singularly difficult. The square of paper now looked +exceedingly small and the sights would wobble across it. After several +attempts, however, Frank got them comparatively steady. + +"Put your forefinger on the trigger," Mr. Oliver directed. "Don't pull, +but squeeze it slowly and steadily, holding your breath in the +meanwhile." + +This was worst of all, for Frank found that he pulled the sight off the +target when he tightened his forefinger. After he had made an attempt or +two, Mr. Oliver told him to put the rifle down. + +"See what you can do, Harry," he said. + +"Standing?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver, turning to Frank again. "Standing's hardest, +kneeling easier, and lying down easiest of all, but when you're hunting +in thick bush you generally have to stand." + +Harry slipped a shell into his rifle, and pitched it to his shoulder. It +wobbled for a moment and then grew still. After that there was a +spitting of red sparks from the muzzle, which suddenly jerked, followed +by a sharp detonation. A second or two later there was a thud, and Harry +laughed as he stood gazing at the mark while a little blue smoke curled +out of the muzzle and the opened breach. + +"It's well up on the left top corner," he said. + +Frank was blankly astonished. He could certainly see the square of +paper, but it seemed impossible that anybody could tell whether there +was a mark on it. As a matter of fact, very few people who had not been +taught how to use their eyes could have done so. + +Then Mr. Oliver took up his rifle, and Frank noticed that his whole body +and limbs seemed to fall into the best position for holding it steady +without any visible effort on the man's part. The blue barrel did not +seem to move at all until at length it jerked, and Harry grinned +exultantly at Frank when a thin streak of smoke drifted past them. + +"That's the pot-hunter's way. He's about two inches off the center." + +Mr. Oliver gave Frank the rifle, and this time he slipped in a shell. + +"If you can't get the sights right bring it down," he directed. "Don't +dwell too long on your aim." + +Frank held his breath and stiffened his muscles, but the foresight would +wobble and the target seemed to dance up and down in a most exasperating +manner. At length he pressed the trigger. He felt a sharp jar upon his +shoulder, but to his astonishment he heard no report. After what seemed +quite a long time there was a faint thud in the forest. + +"You've got something, but I guess it's the wrong tree," laughed Harry. + +After that Frank tried several shots, finally succeeding in hitting the +tree a couple of feet above the mark. Mr. Oliver, who had taken out his +pipe in the meanwhile, nodded at him encouragingly. + +"You only need to practice steadily," he said. "For the rest, anything +that tends toward a healthy life will make you shoot well. Whisky and +tobacco most certainly won't." + +Harry's eyes twinkled as he glanced at his father's pipe. + +"One of them hasn't much effect on him. I don't know whether I told you +about the bag the two sports who were round here last fall nearly made. +I got the tale from Webster on the next ranch." + +Frank said that he would like to hear it, and Harry laughed. + +"Well," he began, "Webster was sitting on a log in the bush just outside +his slashing, looking around kind of sorrowful at the trees. It seemed +to him they looked so big and nice it would be a pity to spoil them. +When I've been chopping until my hands are sore I sometimes feel like +that." + +"It doesn't lead to riches," interrupted his father dryly. + +"By and by," Harry continued, "Webster heard a smashing in the +underbrush. It kept coming nearer, but it wasn't in the least like the +sound a bear makes or a jumping deer. You don't know they're around +unless they're badly scared. Anyway, Webster sat still wondering what it +could be, until he saw a man crawling on the ground. He was coming along +very cautiously, but you couldn't have heard him more than half a mile +away. By and by he disappeared behind a big tree, and as there hadn't +been a deer about for a week Webster wondered if the man was mad, until +there was a blaze of repeater firing in the bush. Then Fremont, his +logging ox, came out of it like a locomotive and headed for the range so +fast that Webster couldn't see how he went. He grabbed his logging +handspike, and found a sport abusing another for missing in the bush. + +"'What in the name of wonder are you after?' he asked. + +"'We've been trailing a deer two hours,' one of them declared. 'A mighty +big deer. Must have been an elk.' + +"'An elk, sure. I saw it,' added the other. + +"'There isn't a blamed elk in the country,' said Webster. + +"'You'll see,' persisted the other. 'I tell you I pumped the cylinder +full into him.' + +"'Quite sure of that?' Webster asked. + +"The other man said that he was, and Webster waved his handspike. + +"'Then it's going to cost you sixty dollars, and I'll take a deposit +now,' he said. 'It's my ox Fremont you've been after.'" + +"Did they give it to him?" Frank broke in. + +"Five dollars," Harry answered. "Webster looked big and savage, and they +compromised on that." + +"But had they hit the ox?" + +Harry chuckled. "Give a man who isn't a hunter a repeater and he'll +never hit anything--unless it's what he isn't shooting at." + +"Anyway, it's better to stick to the single shot at first," Mr. Oliver +remarked. "Then you take time and care, and it's more likely that when +you shoot you kill. No humane person has any use for the man who leaves +badly wounded beasts wandering about the woods." + +He rose, and shook out his pipe. + +"We'll be getting back," he added. "There's only one way of making it +easy to rise at sun-up." + +They walked toward the house together, and it seemed to Frank that there +was a good deal to be said for this rancher's views. He did not tell +tall stories and boast of what he had shot, but Frank had seen enough +to realize that it was most unlikely that he left any sorely wounded +animal to die in misery. It was not often that Mr. Oliver molested the +beautiful wild creatures of the woods, but when he fixed the sights on +one of them he killed it clean. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE MYSTERIOUS SCHOONER + + +Three or four weeks slipped by uneventfully, and Frank was commencing to +like the simple, laborious life at the ranch. He and Harry were standing +together one evening on the shingle down in the cove. It was close upon +high water and a long swell worked in, breaking noisily upon the +pebbles, while they could see the blue undulations burst into snowy +froth about the dark rocks at the entrance. The sun had just dipped; it +was wonderfully fresh and cool, and a sweet resinous smell drifted out +of the forest behind them. + +Harry glanced at a canoe which lay close by. It was about fourteen feet +long and just wide enough to sit in, and had been hollowed out of a +cedar log by a Siwash Indian. The bow, which swept sharply upward, had +been rudely cut into the likeness of a bird's head. The craft was kept +there so that anybody who wished to reach the sloop could go off in her. + +"I don't think it's quite high water yet, and the breeze is dropping," +Harry was saying. "There's just enough to take us a mile or two down the +beach over the tide with the spritsail set. Then we could lower the mast +and paddle home." + +"Wouldn't she sail back?" Ray asked. + +"No," was the answer, "only with a fair wind. You can't beat a thing +like that to windward. There's not enough of her in the water." + +Frank said that he would like to go, and after running the canoe down +they lifted the short mast into place and set the little sail. It filled +when a few strokes of the paddle had driven them out of the cove, and +they slid away, rising and falling smoothly, with the swell running +after them. Harry took hold of the rope that held the foot of the sail +fast to a peg. + +"You want to keep the sheet handy in a very small craft," he instructed. +"Then if a hard puff of wind strikes her you can slack it up, or let it +go altogether, when the sail will blow out loose. There's more weight in +this breeze than I expected." + +It seemed to Frank from the gurgle at the bows and the way the foam +slipped by them that they were sailing very fast, but for a while he +watched the rocky heads that dipped to the water open out one after +another and then close in again behind them. The woods that crept +between them down to the strips of shingle were rapidly growing shadowy, +and the ridges of water that followed them seemed to be getting darker, +though here and there one of them was flecked with bright wisps of +froth. At length Harry let the sheet go and brought the canoe around. + +"We'll have the mast down and get back," he said. + +They had no trouble in rolling up the sail and laying the mast in the +bottom of the craft, but when they dipped the paddles, Harry kneeling in +the stern and Frank toward the bow, the latter realized that their next +task would not be quite so easy. A chilly wind which seemed considerably +stronger than before they turned struck his face, the bows splashed +noisily, throwing up little spurts of spray, and now and then the narrow +craft lurched rather wildly over the top of a swell. He worked hard for +about twenty minutes, and then glancing astern was a little astonished +to see that a rock which had been opposite them was now a remarkably +small distance behind. Harry, who had evidently followed his glance, +scowled disapprovingly. + +"We'll have to paddle, that's a cold fact," he declared. "The tide seems +to have turned quite a while before it ought to have, and the breeze is +getting up again. We might find slacker water right inshore." + +They edged close in to the rocks, the sight of which did not add to +Frank's comfort, though the boat crept on a little faster. The swell +broke in long white swirls about their feet, and it was evident that any +attempt to land there was out of the question. Besides, even if they +managed to reach the bush, there was no trail to the ranch, and he had +no desire to struggle through the tangle of fallen branches and dense +thickets in the darkness. His knees and hands were getting sore, but he +toiled on patiently with the single-ended paddle, while the canoe +lurched more viciously and little showers of spray flew in over her bow. +It was becoming exceedingly hard work to drive the craft into the rising +head sea. The foam-girt rocks were, however, slowly crawling by, and at +length, after laboring, panting and breathless, around a somewhat larger +head, Harry suddenly stopped paddling. + +"Hold on!" he exclaimed. "Just keep her from swinging, and look yonder!" + +Frank, glad of a brief rest, gazed astern. It was neither light nor +dark, for a pale moon hung low in the sky, casting a faint silvery track +upon the water, which was now flecked with white froth a little off +shore. Across the sweep of radiance there moved a tall black spire of +slanting canvas, with the foam leaping up about the shadowy strip of +hull beneath. + +"The schooner!" said Harry significantly. "She's beating up over the +tide and she'll probably stand close in, but I don't think they could +see us against the land." + +He spoke as if he did not wish to be seen, and for no very clear reason +Frank felt glad that they lay in the shadow of a big black head. The +schooner was coming on very fast, rising, it seemed to him, bodily, +until he could make out the curl of piled-up water that flowed away +beneath her depressed side. The mass of straining sailcloth hid most of +her slanted deck, and he could see nobody on board her, but it seemed +curious that she carried no lights. Then it occurred to him that she was +heading straight for them, and he was about to dip his paddle when Harry +stopped him. + +"Keep still!" he commanded. "They'll have to come round before they +reach us." + +Frank could now hear the roar of water about the bow of the vessel, and +in a minute or two she swayed suddenly upright and there was a great +thrashing of canvas as, shooting forward, she came round. She was very +near them and as her boom-foresail and mainsail swung across, leaving +clear the side of the deck they had shrouded, he saw two or three +shadowy figures busy forward. They became more distinct as she drove +back into the moonlight, which fell upon the form of her helmsman. Frank +could see him clearly, and there was, he fancied, something peculiar +about the man. + +The splashing top of a sea slopped into the canoe as they got way on +her, and they taxed their strength to the utmost during the next hour. +The craft bucked and jumped as they laboriously drove her over the +confused swell, which was rapidly getting higher, and there was already +a good deal of water washing about inside her. Once or twice Frank held +his breath as a threatening mass of water heaved up ahead, but in each +case she lurched across it safely, and presently they found smoother +water under another crag. He gave a sigh of relief when at length they +reached the cove and beached her upon the shingle. They turned her over +to empty before they ran her up, and then Harry sat down upon a boulder. +Frank already had discovered that he seldom talked of anything they had +done as though it were an exploit. + +"I'm quite puzzled about that schooner," he said presently. + +"Why?" + +Harry paused and thought a moment. "Well, it's a sure thing she's the +vessel that crept past us the morning we were lying beneath the point, +and though she's been seen three or four times now there's no notice in +the papers of any arrival that seems to fit her. She has the look of +being built for the Canadian sealing trade, and most of the craft in +that business are mighty smart vessels." + +"Doesn't a ship have to carry papers saying where she's from and where +she's going?" + +"Oh, yes," assented Harry. "Still, she might clear from somewhere in +Canada, say for the halibut fishing--I've heard they're trying to start +it there--or something that would keep her out a month or so. Then, as +there is no end of quiet inlets in British Columbia and a good many +here, she could run up and down from one to another and go back with a +few fish, and there'd be nothing to show what she had been doing in the +meanwhile." + +"You think it's something illegal?" + +"If it is anything honest I don't see why she was beating up without her +lights in the strength of the tide, when she'd have slacker water over +toward the other side, only there'd be a chance of her being seen from +the Seattle boat if she ran across yonder. Now it's a general idea that +there's a good deal of dope--that's opium--smuggled into this country, +and now and then Chinamen, too. Our people won't have any more of them, +but though they have no trouble in getting into Canada, they seem to +like the States better. I guess wages are higher." + +"Have you talked to your father about it?" + +"I told him what we'd seen the other time and he looked kind of amused, +or as if he didn't want to be bothered about the thing; though that may +not have been it, either. Unless he tells you right out, you can never +figure on what he's thinking. Anyway, I'll say nothing more to him +unless there's some particular reason." + +Harry was afterward sorry that he had arrived at this decision, and, for +that matter, so was his father, but it was the next morning before this +came about. In the meanwhile the boys went back to the ranch, and soon +afterward retired to rest in the room they now shared. Frank went to +sleep at once, and it was some time later when, awaking suddenly, he +fancied that Harry had left his bed, which was fixed against the +opposite wall. A faint light from outside crept into the room, and Frank +made out a black figure standing by the open window. Slipping softly to +the floor he moved toward it and Harry raised his hand warningly when he +joined him. + +"What are you doing here?" Frank inquired. + +"Well," answered Harry, "since you ask me, I don't quite know, but I +fancied I heard somebody about the ranch. Keep still and listen." + +He spoke in a low and rather strained voice, and Frank, who was uneasily +impressed by it, leaned out of the window. There was a moon somewhere in +the sky, but it was obscured by clouds, and only a dim, uncertain light +filtered down. It showed the great black firs which rose, a rampart of +impenetrable darkness, beyond the rather less shadowy clearing, across +part of which the fruit trees stretched. Then ran back, in regular rows, +little clumps of deeper obscurity which presently grew blurred and faded +into one another. The wind had apparently dropped again, for it was +impressively still. + +"I can't hear anything," whispered Frank. + +"I'm not sure that I did," rejoined Harry. "It may be that seeing that +schooner put the thing into my head, but we'll wait a little now that +we're up." + +For a couple of minutes they waited in silence. Then Harry suddenly +gripped his companion's arm. + +"Look!" he whispered. "Across the clearing--yonder!" + +Frank fancied that he could make out a shadowy object in the open space +between the fruit trees and the forest. It was very dim and indistinct, +and he realized that he would not have noticed it only that it moved. +Shortly afterward it disappeared and a faint rattle like that made by +two pieces of wood jarring together came out of the deep gloom beneath +the firs. + +"The fence," suggested Harry. "It sounded like the top rails going +down." + +The fence was made of split rails interlocked together in the usual +manner without the use of nails, and it seemed to Frank very probable +that anybody climbing over it in the darkness would be apt to knock one +or two of them down. The question was who would be likely to climb over +it, since there was no one living within some miles of the ranch. Then +he caught another sound which seemed farther off. It suggested the +crackle of rotten branches or torn-down undergrowth, but it ceased +almost immediately. + +"Slip on your things," whispered Harry. "I'm going down." + +In a few moments they crept softly down the stairway barefooted, and +Harry opened the outer door very cautiously. He picked up an ax outside, +and they moved silently around the house, stopping now and then to +listen. There was only a deep stillness. Nothing seemed to move; though +Frank wished that he had at least a good thick stick in his hand. He had +an uncomfortable feeling that they might come upon a man hiding in some +strip of deeper gloom as they slowly crept along the wall. When at +length they had satisfied themselves that there was nobody about, Harry +sat down. + +"I can't figure out this thing," he mused. "It seems to me that whoever +those strangers were they haven't been near the house, and it's a quiet +country, anyway." He glanced down at his bare feet. "I'd go along and +look around the barn and stables only that I'd certainly stub my toes, +and it wouldn't be any use. Nobody steals horses around here. They +couldn't get rid of them if they did." + +The outbuildings stood at some little distance from the house, and +Frank, who remembered that they had strewn the trail to them with broken +twigs in dragging some branches from the slashing, agreed with his +companion that it would not be wise to traverse it in the darkness with +unprotected feet. + +"Couldn't you slip into the kitchen and get our boots?" he suggested. + +"Not without waking dad," answered Harry. "He's in the next room, and he +sleeps lightly. I'm not anxious to bring him out if no harm's been +done." + +"He'd get angry?" + +"No, he'd only smile; and somehow that makes you feel quite cheap and +small. Besides"--and he hesitated--"there was another time, when I +roused them for nothing; and I don't want to do it again. You wouldn't +either, if you had stood as much about it from Jake as I've had to ever +since." + +They decided to say nothing about the matter unless some reason for +doing so appeared in the morning, and creeping back through the house as +silently as possible they went to bed. They awoke a little later than +usual, and going down found Mr. Oliver standing at one side of the +kitchen table rather grave of face, with Jake, who also looked +thoughtful, opposite him. A strip of paper with some writing on it lay +between them. Mr. Oliver looked around as the boys came in. + +"Did either of you hear anything suspicious last night?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Harry hesitatingly. "In fact, we came down." + +He briefly related why they had done so, and Jake broke in: + +"Then why in the name of wonder didn't you call somebody?" + +"It's a reasonable question," said Mr. Oliver. + +Harry explained with some diffidence that they were afraid of being +laughed at, and Frank felt a little uncomfortable under the rancher's +steady gaze. + +"Well," said the latter dryly, "I suppose your idea was natural, and +we'll let it go at that. It's perhaps scarcely worth while to point out +that most people get laughed at now and then, and there's no reason for +believing that it hurts them. I wonder if you will be surprised to hear +that my team has gone?" + +They were certainly somewhat startled. + +"I found this stuck up on the stable door," said Jake, pushing the strip +of paper across toward them. + +The boys read the straggling writing: "_If you want your team back keep +your mouth shut._" + +For a moment they looked at each other in silence, and then Mr. Oliver +turned to them. + +"It's all we know in the meanwhile. Have you anything more to tell us?" + +Harry diffidently mentioned the schooner, and his father drew down his +brows. + +"Whether her appearance has any connection with the matter is more than +I can say, but I'll sail up to the settlement this morning. You and +Frank can go on with the drain cutting while I am away." + +Just then Miss Oliver came in to get breakfast ready, and when the meal +was finished the two boys made for the clearing where they were cutting +a trench. When they reached their destination Harry sat down and pushed +back his hat. + +"This thing isn't very clear to me, but I'm beginning to get the drift +of it," he announced. "It's quite likely that dad knows a good deal more +about it than I do, but until he has it all worked out he won't tell. +First of all, we'll allow that they're smugglers on that schooner. They +borrowed two of our horses and that fixes it." + +"You couldn't smuggle a great deal on two horses," Frank pointed out. + +"Sure," admitted Harry. "Still, they might have picked up another team +somewhere else, and you want to remember that it only pays to smuggle +things that are valuable and can be easily moved. Now one packhorse load +of dope would be worth a good many dollars, and you can't move anything +much easier than a man. He's got feet." + +This was incontestable, but Frank considered the matter. + +"If you turned a number of Chinamen loose in the bush wouldn't they be +recognized as strangers at any settlement they reached and have to give +an account of themselves to somebody?" + +"The trouble is that, although I believe they have to carry papers of +some kind, it's mighty hard to tell one Chinaman from another and they +all work into each other's hands." + +"Your idea is that the smugglers have confederates?" + +"They have them, sure," said Harry. "There's some diking being done on a +salt marsh not far away, and the last time I was there it struck me +there were some hard-looking white toughs on the workings. Then there's +a small Chinese colony behind the settlement, and it's thick bush with +only a few ranches for some leagues beyond. Just the kind of country for +running dope through." + +"Are the ranchers likely to stand in?" + +"No, not in a general way, but it's possible that a man here and there +living by himself in the bush would say nothing if they borrowed a +horse or two. It's not nice to have a gang of toughs up against you." + +"Your father doesn't seem inclined to look at it that way." + +Harry laughed. "I'll allow that there's a good deal of sense in dad. It +would be clear to him that he couldn't well give them away afterward if +he did nothing this time. They'd certainly have got him; and dad's not +the man to let a gang of dope runners order him round." He paused a +moment, and added significantly: "If they try any bluffing in this case +there'll be trouble." + +Frank asked no further questions and they set about the trenching. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AT THE HELM + + +Mr. Oliver did not come back until nightfall. He said nothing about his +visit to the settlement and several days passed before the boys heard +anything further of the matter. In the meanwhile they went on with the +drain they were cutting across a swampy strip of clearing, and one +afternoon they stood in the bottom of the four-foot trench. Harry was +then busy with a grubhoe, cutting through the roots and breaking up the +wet soil, which his companion flung out with a long-handled shovel. It +was unpleasantly hot, and the flies were troublesome. Frank's hands were +too muddy to brush them away and they crawled about his face and into +his ears. He had already decided that draining was about the last +occupation he would have chosen for a scorching afternoon, had the +choice been open to him. + +He stood, stripped to shirt and trousers, in about a foot of water, and +because he had not learned the trick of pitching out the soil, part of +every shovelful fell back upon him. His shirt was spattered all over, +and patches of sticky mire glued it to his skin. There was no doubt that +ranching was considerably less romantic than he had supposed it to be, +and logging and ditching struck him as particularly uninteresting and +somewhat barbarous work, but he was beginning to realize that all the +agricultural prosperity of his country was founded on toil of a very +similar kind. The wheat and the fruit trees would not grow until man +with patient labor had prepared the soil for them, and, what was more +significant, Mr. Oliver had made it plain that their yield varied in +direct proportion with the work bestowed on them. Nature's alchemy, it +seemed, could transmute the effort of straining muscle into golden +sheaves, glowing-tinted apples, and velvet-skinned peaches and prunes. + +It was clear to Frank that if he meant to become a rancher he must make +up his mind to face a good many unpleasant tasks, and he swung up the +mire shovelful by shovelful, though his back and limbs were aching and +he had to work in a horribly cramped position. He was young, and though +there were times when the work seemed almost too much for him, it was +consoling to feel when he laid down his tools at night that he was +growing harder and tougher with every day's toil, for his muscles were +now beginning to obey instead of mastering him. He could go on for +several hours after they commenced to ache, without its costing him any +great effort. + +By and by, however, there was an interruption, and Frank was by no means +sorry when Mr. Oliver came up with a stranger and called them out of the +trench. + +"This is Mr. Barclay whose business is connected with the collection of +the United States revenue," he said. "I believe he would like a little +talk with you." + +He walked away and left them with the stranger, who sat down on a log +and took out a cigar. He was a little man and rather stout, dressed +carelessly in store clothes, with a big soft hat and a white shirt which +bulged up above the opening in his half-buttoned vest. It occurred to +Frank that he looked like a country doctor. From out rather bushy +eyebrows shone a pair of whimsical, twinkling eyes. When he had lighted +his cigar he indicated the trench with a large, plump hand. + +"Been making all that hole yourselves?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," replied Harry. + +"Interesting work?" + +"That depends on how you look at it," said Harry flippantly. "Would you +like to try?" + +Mr. Barclay waved his hand. "It isn't necessary. Did something of the +same kind years ago--only, if I remember, it was rather wetter." + +"Where was that?" Harry inquired with an air of languid politeness, at +which Frank felt inclined to chuckle. + +"Place called Forks Butte Creek. It was a twenty-foot trench." + +Harry seemed astonished and his manner suddenly changed. + +"You were with the boys at Forks Butte when they swung the creek?" + +"Sure," assented Mr. Barclay with a laugh. "I didn't expect you'd have +heard of it. You certainly weren't ranching then." + +"I've heard of it lots of times," declared Harry, turning excitedly to +Frank. "It was one of the biggest things ever done by a few men this +side of the Cascades. The old-timers talk about it yet. A mining +row--there were about a dozen of them working some alluvial claims on a +disputed location. I don't know the whole of it, but the thing turned +upon the frontage, and they stood off a swarm of jumpers while they +shifted the creek." + +"Something like that," said Mr. Barclay. "In those days they interpreted +the mining laws with a certain amount of sentiment, which--and in some +respects it's a pity--they don't do now." He paused and flicked the ash +from his cigar. "I understand you have been seeing a mysterious +schooner." + +His tone was sufficiently ironical to put Harry on his mettle, and he +furnished a full and particular account of the vessel. When he had +finished Mr. Barclay glanced at him with amusement in his eyes. + +"You have an idea there might be smugglers on board of her?" he +suggested. + +"It's more than an idea. I'm sure." + +"I wonder if you could tell me why?" + +It was rather difficult to answer, but Harry made the attempt, +furnishing his questioner with half a dozen reasons which did not seem +to have much effect on him. + +"Well," he persisted, "you're convinced she had opium and Chinamen on +board her?" + +"Aren't you?" + +Mr. Barclay looked up with a smile. "At the present moment I can't form +an opinion. After all, it's possible." + +He rose, and as he was strolling away toward the house Harry's face +contracted into an indignant frown. + +"That man must have been cooking, or something of the kind, at Forks +Butte," he broke out contemptuously. "Anyway, it was the last time he +ever did anything worth talking about. Did you ever run up against such +a stuffed image?" + +Frank was far from certain that this description was altogether +applicable to the stranger, but Harry seemed so much annoyed that he did +not express his opinion, and they got down into the trench again. When +they went back to the ranch an hour later they heard that Mr. Oliver and +Mr. Barclay had gone to a neighboring ranch and intended to make a +journey into the bush if they could borrow horses. When the boys were +eating breakfast the next morning Miss Oliver turned to Harry. + +"We have run out of pork, and the flour is almost gone," she said. "I +meant to ask your father to bring some when he went up to the +settlement, but I forgot it, and Jake must bring in those steers +to-day." + +"We'll go," broke in Harry quickly. "There's a nice sailing breeze." + +His aunt looked doubtful. "You have never been so far with the sloop +unless Jake was with you; and isn't there a nasty tide-rip somewhere? +Still, I don't know what I shall do unless I get the flour." + +She yielded when Harry insisted; and shortly afterward the boys paddled +off to the sloop and made the canoe fast astern. They set the big gaff +mainsail and Harry sculled her out of the cove before he hoisted the +jib. Then he made Frank take the helm. + +"It's a head wind until we're round the point yonder, but you'll have to +learn to sail her sometime," he said. "The first thing to remember is +that she'll only lie up at an angle to the wind and if you make it too +small she won't go through the water. You want to feel a slight strain +on the tiller." + +He hauled the sheets in until the boom hung just over the boat's +quarter, and while Frank grasped the tiller she slid out into open +water. Bright sunshine smote the little tumbling green ridges that had +here and there crests of snowy foam, and she bounded over them with a +spray cloud flying at her bows. She seemed to be making an excellent +pace, but Harry shook his head. + +"No," he objected, "you're letting her fall off. That is, the angle +you're sailing her at is too big. She'll go faster that way, but she +won't go so far to windward. Don't pull so much on your tiller and +she'll come up closer." + +Frank tried it, but the boat sailed more slowly, and presently her +mainsail flapped. + +"Now you're too close," warned Harry. "You're trying to head her right +into the wind. Pull your helm up again." + +Frank did so, and when the boat gathered speed he ventured a question. + +"If you keep her too close to the wind she won't sail, and if you let +her fall off she's not going where you want. How do you find out the +exact angle she ought to make?" + +Harry laughed. "It depends on the boat, the cut of her sails, and how +smart you are at the helm. One man would shove her to windward a point +closer than another could and keep her sailing faster, too. It's a +thing that takes time to learn, and there are men you couldn't teach to +sail a boat at all." + +Frank found that it became easier by degrees, though his companion did +not appear altogether satisfied. The sloop had dipped her lee rail just +level with the water now, and she rushed along, bounding with a lurch +and splash over the small froth-tipped seas. He began to understand how +one arrived at the proper angle by the slant at which the wind struck +his face as well as by watching the direction of the seas which came +charging down to meet her in regular formation. Then Harry said that as +they had stretched out far enough to clear the point they would go about +upon the other tack. + +"Shove your helm down--that's to lee--not too hard!" he ordered, and as +Frank obeyed him there was a sharp banging of sail cloth and the boat, +swinging around, swayed upright. + +In another moment the wind was on her opposite side, and she was heading +off at an angle to her previous course, while Harry with one foot braced +against the lee coaming struggled to flatten in the sheet on the jib. +The big mainboom had swung over of its own accord amidst a great clatter +of blocks. By and by when the point slid away to lee of them Harry told +Frank to pull his helm up, and then he pointed to a confused mass of +gray rocks and trees rising above the glistening water several miles +away. + +"Now," he said, "she'll go there straight, and all you have to do is to +keep her bowsprit on yonder head. It's a fair wind, and when you've got +that you want to slack out the sheets until the sails are as far +outboard as they'll go and still keep full. If your sheets are too +tight, you'll know it by the weight on the tiller." + +He let a couple of ropes run out through the clattering blocks, and the +sloop, slanting over a little farther, seemed to leap forward. The +sparkling green ridges which came tumbling up on one side of her swung +her aloft with the foam boiling along the edge of her lee deck, and +then surged away in turn and let her drop while another came rolling up. +Instead of being a mere thing of wood and canvas she seemed to become +animate, charged with vitality. The springy way she rushed along was +strangely exhilarating. Frank became fascinated watching her bows go up +and the snowy, straining sail sweep across the dazzling blue at every +lurch, while he became conscious of a sense of control and mastery as he +gripped the tiller. He felt that he could do what he wanted with this +wonderful rushing thing. + +For she was certainly wonderful. There was no doubt of that, because +among all of man's works and inventions there is none that more nearly +approaches the simplicity of perfection and adaptability to its purpose +than the modern sailboat. It has taken centuries to evolve her, each +builder adding a little to the work of those who went before, and +balancing in her making, often without knowing it, the great natural +forces one against another, until at last science justified what man +did, so that with this frail creation one may brave the untrammeled +winds of heaven and the onslaught of the seas. + +By and by the headland they had been nearing thrust them off their +course, and outside it lay a nest of islets, with a strong stream +running up between. As it ran to windward it broke up the regular, +breeze-driven waves into short, foaming combers with hollowed breasts +and tumbling tops which flung up wisps of spray. Frank glanced at this +tumult with some anxiety, and it was a relief to him when his companion +offered to take the tiller. + +"You had better let me have her," Harry said. "She wants handling in a +jump like that. I'd heave a reef down to reduce the sail, only that it +would take us some time to tie it in and there'll be smoother water once +we're past the islands. As we'll have to beat through, you can get the +sheets in." + +Frank found this no easy task, for he had no idea that the sails could +pull so hard, and Harry had to help him with one hand. Then the latter's +face became intent as they plunged into the turmoil. The seas looked big +and angry now. In fact, as usually happens, they looked a good deal +bigger than they really were, but they were breaking in a threatening +manner and came on to meet the sloop in white-topped phalanxes. She went +over some with a disconcerting plunge and swoop, but she rammed a few of +the rest, driving her jib and bows in and flinging the brine all over +her when she swung them up. Her deck was sluicing, and every now and +then a green and white cascade came frothing over the coaming into the +well. Frank, however, noticed that, instead of letting the boat meet the +combers, his companion occasionally pulled his tiller up, so that, +swinging round a little, she brought the ridge of frothing water farther +on her side as she plunged over it. + +"I thought you had to face a nasty sea head-on," he said. + +"Did you?" Harry responded. "Then watch that smaller one." + +A slope of water came tumbling on some yards ahead, and as the boy eased +his helm down an inch or two the bows came up to meet the sea. They +struck it full in its hollowed breast, and the next moment there was a +shock and half the deck was lost in a rush of foam. + +"Like me to plug another?" laughed Harry. + +Frank begged him not to do it. The result of the experiment was rather +alarming, and Harry let her fall off a little to dodge the onslaught of +the succeeding combers, until at last they grew smaller as the stream +spread itself out in open water. Then he gave Frank some further +instruction. + +"If you were pulling or paddling a small craft it would be safer to +bring her head-on, because you have to remember that she'd be going +mighty slow, but when you're sailing a boat that's carrying her speed +it's evident that you don't want to ram her right at a comber. If you +do, she's bound to go bang into it. When you see one that looks +threatening you let her fall off slightly and she goes over slanting." +He broke off for a moment with a laugh. "Seems to me I'm always on the +'teach.' You come here and take the tiller while I get some of the water +out of her. You can head for that point to starboard." + +He busied himself with the bucket while Frank steered the boat, and an +hour or so later they ran into a little sheltered inlet where they +brought her head to wind and pitched the anchor over. After that they +bailed out the half-swamped canoe, and, dropping into her, paddled +ashore. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A WARNING + + +Frank looked about him with some curiosity when they reached the +settlement, which struck him as a singularly unattractive place. In a +hole chopped out of the forest that crept close to the edge of the water +stood a few small log houses and several roughly boarded shacks. Tall +fir stumps surrounded them, and here and there provision cans and old +boots lay among the fern, in which a few lean hogs were rooting. Farther +on, however, there was an opening in the bush, for the boy could catch +the gleam of water between the trees, and in one place the great +columnar trunks cut against the soft green of a meadow. The grass was +bright with sunshine, but dim shadow hung over the forest-shrouded +settlement. + +"A forlorn spot," said Harry. "I don't know why the folks first pitched +here, but they raise a little fruit, and now and then a Seattle boat +comes along. It's thin gravel soil on this strip, and that's probably +the reason they haven't done any more chopping--there are salt meadows +farther along--but if they'd any hustlers among them they'd have got out +their axes and let a little daylight in." He waved his hand +contemptuously. "They're a mean crowd, anyway, except the storekeeper, +and I've wondered how he makes a living out of them. Now we'll go along +and get that flour." + +They moved on down the trail, which was torn up by the passage of jumper +sledges, until they reached a frame building which Frank had not noticed +at first. It stood back a little and was larger and neater than any of +the rest. A veranda ran along the front of it and in one window small +flour bags and more provision cans were displayed. A couple of men in +blue shirts and overalls lounged smoking on the veranda in a manner +which suggested that they had never hurried themselves in their lives, +and they seemed to be the only inhabitants of the place. As the boys +walked up the stairway Harry pointed to a notice pasted up in the +window. Frank stopped and read it aloud. + + "_Twenty dollars will be paid to any one identifying + the man who recently drove a pair of horses off the + Oliver ranch._" + +With a laugh Harry looked up defiantly at the lounging men. "That's +Oliver's answer," he said. "They told him to keep his mouth shut." + +One of the men grinned. "Seems to me it was good advice. Do you figure +any one round here is going to earn those twenty dollars?" + +Harry shook his head. "I don't," he answered. "Still, my only reason for +believing it is that the money isn't big enough. Anyway, that notice +will serve its purpose. It makes it clear that we mean to fight." + +The lounger grinned again and Harry, marching past him with his head up, +entered the store. A man who was sitting behind the counter rose when +the boys came in and raised his hand in a manner which seemed to +indicate that caution was desirable. + +"You're wanting some groceries?" he asked. + +"Flour," Harry answered. "A seventy-pound bag, if you've got it. Some +pork, too--you know the piece we take. You might send them down to the +beach, if there's anybody in the place who's not afraid of carrying a +flour bag." + +The storekeeper smiled and strolled casually toward the window. Coming +back he leaned upon the counter. + +"Your aunt's mighty particular about her pork," he said, raising his +voice a little. "Better come along into the back store and see what I've +got." + +They followed him into a smaller room, where he first of all threw +several big slabs of pork down upon a board, making, it seemed to Frank, +as much noise as possible. + +"Twelve pounds in this lot," he said loudly, then lowering his voice: +"Those fellows outside haven't gone and I don't want them to hear. You +haven't found your horses yet?" + +Harry admitted that they had not done so, and the man nodded gravely. + +"Well," he said, "I guess they'll turn up presently. I couldn't tell +your father that because there were other folks in the store when he +handed me the notice. What I want to say is that he's not wise in +bluffing the boys. You had better tell him that's my opinion." + +"How much do you know about the thing?" Harry asked directly. + +"Very little, but I can guess a good deal. Quite enough, anyway, to +convince me that you folks had better lie quiet, and let the boys +alone." + +Harry glanced scornfully toward the veranda. + +"Pshaw!" he growled. "We don't want to meddle, but it's another matter +to let those slouches drive off our team. That's my view, though I don't +know what my father means to do about it. He hasn't told me." + +"He never does tell folks," the storekeeper answered with a trace of +dryness. "I guess he'll wait, and kick when he's ready, but you tell him +from me that he's up against quite a big thing." He raised his voice: +"Well, I'll send that pork and flour along." + +The boys went out and met one of the loungers strolling casually across +the store, though Frank had a suspicion that he had come in softly some +time earlier. As they were walking down to the beach Harry glanced up +the strip of sheltered water. + +"There's a Chinese camp a little way up the creek," he said. "Nothing +much to see there, but we may as well take a look at it." + +They paddled across a strip of shadow where the reflections of spreading +cedar and towering fir floated inverted in the still, green water until +the ripple from the bows broke across and banished them. After that they +slid out into the sunlight where a narrow belt of cultivated land ran +back on either hand. On one side it was partly hidden by a bank of soil, +at the end of which three or four men were leisurely working. They +merely looked down as the canoe slid past. + +"Hard cases!" said Harry presently. "If I was sheriff I'd clean this +hole right out. There are decent folks here, but the curious thing is +that when you let two or three toughs into a place they seem to get on +top." + +Frank made no comment, and soon they were once more paddling into the +shadow of the forest. The creek was growing smaller, and at length they +ran the canoe ashore and struck into a narrow trail through the bush. + +It was now getting on into the afternoon and Frank felt sorry that they +had not eaten the lunch Miss Oliver had prepared for them before they +left the sloop. It was very hot, and very still, except when now and +then the drumming of a blue grouse came sharply out of the shadows. By +and by, however, the wood became a little thinner, and Harry pointed +toward an opening between the trees. + +"That's the place," he said. "Not much to look at, but it's good land. +You can see the maples yonder--that's always a favorable sign--and +somebody with money has lately bought quite a piece of it to start a +fruit ranch on. The Chows have taken the contract for clearing it, and +if any dope has been landed in the neighborhood they're probably mixed +up with the thing." + +Frank glanced toward the opening, and sitting, as he was, in dim +shadow, the open space he looked out upon seemed flooded with dazzling +brightness. In the background, and some distance away, little, blue-clad +figures were toiling with axes that flashed as they swung amidst a +confusion of branches and fallen logs, the staccato chunk of the blades +ripping through the heavy stillness. Nothing else, however, seemed to +move, and the air was filled with a languorous, resinous smell. Rows of +stumps stretched out from the spot on which the Chinamen were working, +breaking off before a cluster of bark and split-board shacks that stood +beneath the edge of the forest. A man dressed in loose, blue garments +was seated motionless outside one of the shacks, before two logs, from +between which a little smoke curled straight up into the air. Presently +the man stood up, and just then Harry seized Frank's shoulder. + +"Look round a little--to the left," he whispered. + +Frank did so and was astonished to see another man slip quietly out of +the forest and approach the shack. His face was not discernible, but +there was something peculiar in the way he walked, and his dress made it +evident that he was a white man. + +"Have you seen him before?" Harry asked softly. + +"I can't locate him, but I've an idea that he's not quite a stranger," +said Frank. + +"Well," said Harry, "I'm open to make a guess at him. Just as the +schooner went about that night I had a look at her helmsman. He had his +back to me, but it was moonlight, and I could see that one shoulder +hunched up in a kind of curious manner." + +Frank looked again and it seemed to him that there was something unusual +in the way the man held his shoulder. It was somewhat higher than the +other, though it hardly amounted to a deformity. + +"Slip in behind that tree," whispered Harry, pointing toward the bush. +"We'll creep up through the shadow if he goes into the shack." + +They spent some minutes moving forward in and out among the trees, and +in the meanwhile Frank saw the stranger enter the shack and the Chinaman +follow him. Then he and Harry walked out of the bush scarcely a score of +yards from the rude building, and headed straight for it. As they +approached, the Chinaman became visible in the doorway, where he stood +waiting for them. He appeared to be an old man, for his face was lined +and seamed, but it was absolutely expressionless, an impassive yellow +mask, and Frank felt baffled and repelled by it. As soon as it was +evident that the boys intended to enter his dwelling, he moved aside, +and when they stood in the little, shadowy room Frank was astonished to +see that there was nobody else in it. This seemed incomprehensible, for +there was only one door in the place. In the meanwhile the Chinaman was +looking at them quietly. + +"It's quite hot," observed Harry. + +"Velly hot," assented the other, who did not seem in any way disturbed +by the fact that they had so unceremoniously marched in. + +Harry appeared embarrassed after this, as though he did not know what to +say next, until he was evidently seized by an inspiration. + +"Got any chow, John?" he asked. + +"Velly good chow," answered the Chinaman. "Lice, blue glouse, smokee +fishee." + +"Blue grouse!" said Harry disgustedly aside to Frank. "It's the nesting +season, but I guess that wouldn't count for much with them." He turned +to his host. "I'm not a heathen. Savvy cook American? Got any flour you +can make biscuits or flapjacks of?" + +"You leavee chow to me," said the other. "Cookee all same big hotel +Seattle, Tacoma, San F'lisco." + +"It's quite likely," said Harry, looking round at Frank. "You can trust +a Chinaman to turn out a decent meal. I'll walk round a bit in the +meanwhile; you can sit here and rest." + +Frank did not particularly wish to rest, but he fancied that his +companion had given him a hint, and while the Chinaman busied himself +with his pots and pans he sat down outside the shack. He had been up +early that morning, and after the steady, arduous work at the ranch it +was pleasant to sit still in the strip of shadow and let his eyes wander +idly about the clearing. Among other things, he noticed that a little +trickle of water flowed across it, and that the soil was quaggy in the +neighborhood. He concluded that the stranger, who had so mysteriously +disappeared, must have crossed the wet place. + +It was some little time before Harry came back and the Chinaman then set +out their dinner. Frank had no idea what some of it consisted of and his +companion was unable to enlighten him, but it was excellent. When they +had finished, the man turned to Harry. + +"One dolla," he said gravely. + +Harry handed it over readily and smiled at Frank when they strolled back +into the bush. + +"It wasn't what I'd figured on when I first walked in, but I had to make +some excuse," he said. "Just now I'd very much like to know how far it +went with him." He paused and looked thoughtful. "I guess it wasn't a +very long way. The image is ahead of us by a dollar." + +Frank laughed. "You had some reason for going for that walk?" + +"Oh, yes," replied Harry. "I wanted to make sure of things, and the +ground was soft. There were some footprints in it--going from the +shack--and they'd been made quite lately by a white man's boot. John +sticks to his slipper things in a general way. Anyhow, it was the man we +saw who left those tracks." + +"How do you know that?" + +"There were a lot of others about, but they'd been made earlier. The +water had got into them, but there was very little in those I was +interested in." + +Frank was conscious that this was a point which would probably have +escaped his notice, but he had not lived in the bush and learned to use +his eyes. + +"It's very curious how the fellow got out of the shack without our +seeing him," he said. + +"It looks curious until you begin to think. Now, though I tried to keep +my eye on it all the while, the trees kept getting between me and the +shack as we made for it, and what I couldn't see you couldn't see +either. You were close behind me, which, in one way, was where we were +wrong. If we had crept in well apart, the same tree wouldn't have +bothered both of us, though if we'd done that it would have doubled the +chances of our being seen." + +"A tree isn't such a very big thing," Frank objected. + +"No," said Harry. "The point is that it will shut an object a good deal +bigger than itself out of your sight." He stopped a moment and pointed +toward a neighboring cedar. "We'll say that one's three feet in +diameter, but, as you're standing, it will shut off a good deal more +than a track three feet wide through the bush. You want to run a line +from your eye to both edges of the trunk and then carry them out behind +it. The farther you run them, the farther they get apart, and as you +can't see round a corner, everything in the wedge they enclose is shut +out from view. Got that into you? It will come in useful when you're +trailing a deer." + +It was quite clear to Frank now that it had been explained, but his +companion went on. + +"Well," he added, "it wouldn't have taken that fellow more than a few +seconds to slip out of the shack and in behind it. Then if he kept it +between him and us he'd be hidden until he reached the bush." + +"Yes," said Frank. "It must mean that he saw us, and didn't want us to +see him." + +"You're getting quite smart," said Harry with a grin. "I don't know if +you noticed it, but you trod on a rotten branch that smashed. He didn't +want us to know him again, but I'd pick that fellow anywhere by his back +and walk. Now why was he so anxious that we shouldn't see him talking to +the Chinaman?" + +It was a suggestive question, but Frank could not answer it, and Harry +said nothing further. Reaching the canoe they paddled down the creek +until they came abreast of the sloop and saw the provisions lying upon +the shingle some little distance from the water, for the tide had ebbed +since their arrival. When they had run the canoe in Frank assisted Harry +in getting the flour bag on his back, but gave a sudden cry of dismay as +a white cloud flew all over him. + +"Hold on!" he cried. "Put it down. It's running out!" + +Harry dropped the bag and drew down his brows as he gazed at the little +pile of flour which lay at his feet. Then he suddenly stooped down. + +"The bag seemed a sound one," Frank suggested. + +"Oh, yes," said Harry shortly. "There's only one thing the matter with +it. See here," and he laid his finger on a long slit. "Somebody has +stuck a knife into it." + +"A mean trick!" Frank broke out wrathfully. + +Harry stood up with a flash in his eyes. "It's rather more than that. +It's a hint. Anyway, if you'll get hold of the other end we'll pack the +bag down with the cut uppermost." + +In spite of this precaution they spilled a good deal of the flour before +they got it on board the sloop, but Harry said no more about the matter, +and hoisting sail they slid out of the inlet with a faint breeze abeam +of them. They found it fair and the breeze only a little stronger when +they had left the woods behind, and Frank sat at the tiller while the +sloop glided rapidly through the smooth blue water with no more than a +drowsy gurgle beneath her bows. The tide was running down with them now +and it was only when he glanced toward the beach that he realized how +fast they were going. + +A pleasant salt odor of drying weed was mingled with the scent of the +firs. In front of them a wonderful vista of white snow mountains emerged +from fleecy cloud, and far beneath the silvery vapor appeared the faint +and shadowy blurs of distant hillsides clothed with mighty forest. +Overhead the big white sail swayed languidly to and fro, cutting sharply +into the blue, and Frank felt that he would like to sail on like this +for hours, lounging at the helm, and listening to the water as it +slipped along the sides. With a light fair wind he could guide the boat +wherever he wished by the slightest touch of the tiller, and it was +pleasant to see how steadily he could keep her bowsprit pointing to a +low rocky head that rose, a patch of soft blue shadow, against the +evening light. + +The voyage, however, came to an end almost too soon, and the rocks and +firs were growing dim when they ran into the cove and picked up their +mooring buoy. After they had stowed and covered the sails they went +ashore, and both boys were very tired and warm when they reached the +homestead. Harry's clothes were covered with flour, which had left a +white trail along the way. Miss Oliver was standing in the lamplight +when they came in and noticed the white patches on their clothes. + +"You have let him give you a burst bag!" she exclaimed. + +Harry looked meaningly at Frank. "No," he said, "I think it was all +right when it left the store and I don't think we have spilled more than +a few pounds. Perhaps we had better skip it into the barrel. It will +save the stuff from running out when you move it." + +They managed to carry it away between them; and when they had emptied it +Harry turned to Frank. + +"If she starts talking about that bag, head her off on to something +else," he said. "I don't want her to get imagining trouble every time we +leave the ranch." + +When Miss Oliver resumed the subject at supper Frank attempted to divert +her attention, and fancied that he succeeded, though he wondered why she +smiled at times. When the boys had gone to their room she picked up the +bag and stretched it out under the light. Then her face grew grave as +she saw the slit in it. Being a clever woman, however, she decided not +to mention her suspicions. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SALMON SPEARING + + +When the boys came in for breakfast next morning Jake was standing in +the kitchen, and Miss Oliver sat opposite him looking unusually +thoughtful. + +"What's the matter?" Harry asked. + +Jake turned toward him slowly. + +"I don't know that there's anything very wrong," he said. "Leader's come +back." + +Leader was the name of one of the missing horses, and Frank started as +he remembered what the storekeeper had said, but feeling Miss Oliver's +eyes upon him, turned his head and looked out into the clearing. + +"Where's Tillicum?" inquired Harry. + +"That," replied Jake, "is more than I can tell. Leader was standing +outside the stable when I went along and I can't make out why the other +horse wasn't with him. He'd have come with Leader if anybody had turned +them into the trail together." + +Harry called to Frank and went out of the door. Jake followed them to +the stable, where they found the horse looking rather jaded, but except +for that very little the worse. Jake nodded reassuringly when Harry had +felt him over. + +"No sign of anything wrong," he said. "There was a good deal of dried +mud on him before I fixed him up, and he seemed mighty keen on his corn. +They hadn't given him very much." + +"What do you make of it?" Harry asked. + +"About as much as you do," answered Jake. "They turned him loose on the +trail when they'd done with him, and that's all there is to it. I guess +the question is what they've done with Tillicum. One thing's certain. If +he doesn't turn up, your father's going to be mighty mad." + +Harry agreed that this would be very probable, though he did not think +his father would show it. As there was nothing more to be said they went +back to the house, where, somewhat to their relief, Miss Oliver made no +allusion to the affair, and they proceeded quietly to eat breakfast. + +"Are there any spring salmon in the river?" she asked presently, looking +across at Harry. + +"Yes," he responded, "there are a few coming up." + +"Then you might take Frank with you this morning and try to get me one. +I dare say Jake will smoke it." Miss Oliver smiled at Frank. "You don't +get salmon prepared that way back East." + +"We have it canned," said Frank. "I've an idea I've seen some smoked, +but I can't remember. Is it very nice? I thought you didn't care for +salmon here." + +"Fresh salmon," Jake said curtly, "is only good for hogs, and if you +keep it long enough, for growing potatoes with. Still," he added +thoughtfully, "I don't know that you call it fresh then." + +Miss Oliver laughed. "Wait until you try it smoked--as Jake does it. He +can prepare it as some of the Siwash do. I believe they taught him in +British Columbia." + +Jake shook his head solemnly. "No," he said, "I can't cure salmon as +some of the Indians do. You'd get nothing like it in a New York hotel, +but I guess I can dress it 'most as well as any white man. You go along +and get me a fish, Harry. I'd try the pool by the big fall." + +They set out a few minutes later, taking with them a pole which had a +big iron hook lashed to it and a long Indian salmon spear. There was a +small fork at one end of the latter on which were placed two nicely +made bone barbs attached to the haft by strips of sinew. Harry removed +them to show Frank that they would slip off their sockets easily. +Leaving the clearing, they struck into a narrow trail through the bush, +and after half an hour's scramble over fallen logs and through thick +fern they reached the river. + +It poured frothing out of shadowy forest and leaped over a rock ledge in +a thundering fall, beneath which it swirled around a deep basin, and +then after sweeping down a white rapid, spread out over a wide belt of +stones. There were rocks on either side of it, and, as the trees could +find no hold on them, warm sunlight streamed down upon the foaming +water. Harry sat down on a ledge above the pool with the spear beside +him and pointed to a great bird wheeling on slanted wings above the +shallow. + +"A fish eagle," he said. "Here are salmon making up." + +Frank watched the circling of the majestic bird, which did not seem much +afraid of them. It had a white head and a cruel beak, and once when it +swept over him he noticed the fixed gaze of its cold, impassive eye. +Splendid as it was, he somehow shrank from the thing. It looked so +powerful and utterly merciless. When it stopped in the air, dropped, and +struck, he saw a splash as a writhing, silvery creature was snatched up +in its talons. + +"Got him wrong!" cried Harry. "You watch. He'll have to let go again." + +So far as Frank could see, the eagle had seized the salmon by the middle +of its back, the fish twisting itself crossways as it was carried up +into the air. The next moment there was a splash in the water and the +bird swooped down again. When it rose it held its prey differently, and +Frank fancied he could see one wicked claw gripping the fish close by +the back of its neck, while the other was spread out toward its tail. +In any case, the salmon did not seem able to wriggle now, and the eagle +flew off with it and vanished among the tops of the black firs. + +"Not a big fish, but I've a notion the eagle could lift a thing as heavy +as itself," said Harry. "They're mighty powerful. It might be the one he +dropped, though I think it's another." + +Frank had no idea how much an eagle weighed, but he realized something +of the capabilities of a bird that could carry off this fish apparently +without an effort, and, what was more astonishing, drag the tremendously +muscular creature out of the water which was its home. Then his +companion touched his shoulder. + +"Watch those two fellows in the eddy," said he. "They're going to rush +the fall." + +Frank saw two slim shadows shoot out beneath a wreath of circling foam +and flash--which seemed the best word for it--through the crystal depths +of the slacker part of the pool. They were lost in the snowy turmoil +near the foot of the fall, and a few minutes passed before he saw them +again. Then one shot out of the water like a bow that had suddenly +straightened itself, gleamed resplendent with silver, and plunged into +the foam again. Harry pointed him out the other, and though it was a +moment or two before he could see it he marveled when he did. It had its +dusky back toward him, for now and then the dorsal fin rose clear, and +it was swimming up a thin cascade which poured down a steep slope of +stone. That any creature should have strength enough to stem that rush +of water seemed incredible, but there was no doubt that the fish was +ascending inch by inch. Then it found a momentary harbor in a little +pool just outside the main leap of the fall, and shot out of it again +with its curious uncurving spring. Frank watched it eagerly when it +dropped into the fall, and it was with a sense of sympathy that he saw +its gallant efforts wasted as it was suddenly swept down. Before +reaching the bottom, however, it had evidently rallied all its powers, +for it flashed clear into the sunlight, and had recovered a fathom when +he lost sight of it once more. + +After that he glanced back toward the shallows and saw that other birds +had appeared. He did not know what they were, and Harry could only tell +him that they were fishhawks of some kind. As he watched them wheeling +or stooping, dropping upon the sparkling stream, and screaming now and +then, the boy began to form some idea of the desperate battle for +existence that is fought daily and hourly by the lower creation. + +"There don't seem to be a great many salmon," he remarked. + +"It's a thin run," said Harry. "There'll probably be more of them in the +next one. Once upon a time, as I expect you've heard, these rivers were +so thick with fish that you could walk across their backs, though I'll +allow I've never seen anything of that kind." + +Frank was not astonished at the last admission. This brown-skinned, +clear-eyed boy, who could sail a boat and hold the rifle straight, was +not one to talk of the wonderful things he had seen and done. He left +that to the whisky-faced sports of the saloons who were probably capable +of butchering a crippled deer at fifty yards with the repeater. + +"I suppose the salmon have plenty enemies," he suggested. + +"Oh, yes," said Harry. "In the sea the seals and porpoises get their +share of them. Then, as they head for the rivers, there are the fish +traps, and in Canada the seine-net boats along the shore. After that +when they're in fresh water they have to run the gauntlet of the +Indians, birds, and bears." + +"Bears?" Frank interrupted. + +"Sure," said Harry. "They're quite smart fishers. Even the little minks +get some of the salmon stranded in the shallow pools. The Indians set +long baskets, narrow end downward, for them near the top of the falls. +These, of course, are fresh from salt-water--you can see they're +silvery--but they lose that brightness as they go up the larger rivers, +and on the Columbia and Fraser they push on hundreds of miles, up +tremendous cañons, up falls and rapids, toward the Rockies. Those that +fetch headwaters are scarred and battered, with the bright scales and +most of their fins and tails worn right off them. Once they're through +with the spawning they die." + +"Then they go straight to the place where they spawn?" + +"Yes, the salmon's really a seafish. It's born in fresh water, but it +goes down to the ocean as soon as it's big enough, and it's generally +believed that it stays there three or four years, though it's a fact +that we know mighty little about the salmon yet. Then it comes back to +the same place and spawns and dies. You see, there's a constant +succession coming up." He broke off with a laugh. "Now we'll try to get +one. There are three or four big fellows yonder. All you have to do is +to slash at them with the hook." + +Frank perched himself upon a jutting shelf of rock, and presently two or +three swift shadows flitted by. He swung up the pole and made a sudden +sweep at them, only to see the hook splash two or three feet behind the +last one's tail. Incidentally, he came very near to going headforemost +into the pool. Then another fish swept toward him, and this time he +landed the hook some inches in front of its nose, after which he made +several more attempts, succeeding only in splashing himself all over. He +was beginning to discover that his hands and eyes needed a good deal of +training. One, it seemed, must judge speed and distance and strike +simultaneously, but the trouble was that he needed a second or two to +think, and, naturally, while he thought the fish got away. + +By and by he turned and watched Harry, who had not struck once yet. He +stood upon a ledge, alert, strung-up, and steady-eyed, but absolutely +motionless, with the long spear running up above his shoulder. At last, +however, he drove his right arm down and the beautiful, straight shaft +sank into the pool. It stopped suddenly for a second, quivering, and +then bent and twisted upward in the boy's clenched hands. + +Frank ran toward him, wondering that the slender shaft did not +immediately break, when he observed that one barb had slipped off its +socket and that the fish, struck by it, was now held by the short length +of sinew. A moment or two later Harry jerked it out upon the bank by a +quick vertical movement and knocked it on the head. It lay still after +this, a beautiful creature of some seven or eight pounds, with the +sunlight gleaming on its silver scales. Frank glanced once more at the +long spear. It occurred to him that this was also perfect in its way and +could not have been better adapted to its purpose. + +"It's curious that an Indian should be able to make a thing like that," +he remarked. "I don't think a white man could turn out anything as +handy, unless, of course, he had one to copy." + +"The point is that it took the Siwash a mighty long while to make the +salmon spear," said Harry. "It's quite likely they spent two hundred +years over it. Their spears are all on the same pattern, so are their +traps and canoes." Seeing a puzzled look cross Frank's face, he smiled. +"An Indian is no smarter than a white man--in fact, when you stop to +think of it, he's not half as smart, though most everything he makes is +excellent. It's this way. If we want a saw for a new purpose or a +different kind of wood, we write to the Disston people or somebody of +the kind and they set their boss designer to work. He considers, and +then because he knows all about the physical sciences he draws the thing +on paper and sends it to the forges or grinding shops. In a general way, +that saw does its work, though I guess if the designer had to use it for +a year or two he'd make the next one better." + +"Of course," agreed Frank. + +"It's different with the Indians," Harry continued. "One fellow made a +fish spear ever so long ago and found that it wouldn't do. He made the +next one different and was satisfied with it, but his son made it a +little longer and thinner. Then his grandson altered the barb, and his +son added another one. After that each fellow made it a little handier, +until nothing more could be done to it, and they stuck to the pattern." +He turned and glanced at the spear. "This thing is the product of the +skill of ever so many generations." + +It was simple but convincing, for it explained the efficiency of the +Indian's tools, and also why he had not progressed. He worked along the +same line, sticking to one simple implement until he had perfected it, +and, though this was his greatest disadvantage, the man who killed the +fish generally made the spear. He got so far and stopped, content, and +incapable of going any farther. The white man, on the other hand, +changed his methods continually with his changing needs and, what +counted more than all, he very seldom made the tools he used, because he +had discovered that somebody who did nothing else could make them +better. When the Americans of the Pacific Slope wanted salmon they did +not whittle spears, but sent east to the cordage factories, whose owners +brought in fibers from all over the world and spun the netting with +which to build gigantic fish traps. + +"We could do with another fish," ventured Harry. "Let's see if you can +get one." + +Frank took up his pole again. It was a heavy and clumsy affair, but +Harry had told him that he would probably break the Indian spear. They +waited awhile until another swift shadow swept around with the eddy +beneath their feet. + +"Hold on!" cried Harry. "Wait till the stream heads him and then strike +as quick as you can." + +The fish's speed was checked for a moment as it entered the furious rush +beneath the fall, and Frank, who could just see its dusky back amidst +the foam, swung his pole. There was a splash and then a curious shock +which sent a thrill through him, and the haft jerked sharply in his +hands. + +"Heave him out!" cried Harry. "That thing won't break." + +Frank tugged with all his might and the salmon flew up over his +shoulder. The next moment he had seized it and was almost reluctant to +let it go when his companion clubbed it on the head. + +"Two's as many as we have any use for and we'll go along," said the +latter. "We haven't made much of a show at that draining lately." + +Frank would have preferred to stay where he was, but he followed Harry +toward the bush, and soon after they struck a cleared trail to the +ranch, which was, however, not the way they had come. A little later +they were somewhat astonished to see a group of figures among the trees, +and hurrying forward they found Mr. Oliver and Mr. Barclay talking to +Jake, who apparently had been driving home two or three steers. + +Mr. Oliver, looking unusually grave, nodded to the boys. "We have just +met Jake," he said. "He tells me Tillicum's back a little way up the +trail with a broken leg." + +"I guess he's done," murmured Jake, adding significantly, "I wouldn't +have left him like that if I'd had a gun." + +"Go on with the steers," said Mr. Oliver. "We'll turn back." + +The boys accompanied him and Mr. Barclay, and leaving the trail by and +by where the bush was thinner they stopped before a pitiable sight. It +was Tillicum who stood awkwardly before them, his head lowered and one +leg that seemed distorted out of its usual shape hanging limp. Caked +mire was spattered about the poor animal, its coat was foul, and every +line of its body seemed expressive of pain and exhaustion. As it raised +its drooping head and looked at them pitifully, Frank felt a thrill of +hot anger against the outlaws who were responsible for its condition. +Mr. Oliver stepped up to the horse and gently felt of its injured limb, +after which he turned abruptly toward Mr. Barclay and Frank noticed that +his face was set. + +"There's only one thing to be done," he said. "Have you a pistol?" + +"Haven't _you_?" his companion asked with a slight trace of astonishment +in his tone. + +"If I'd had one would I have wanted to borrow yours?" retorted Mr. +Oliver. + +"Well," said Mr. Barclay, "it's seldom I carry one, but in this case it +seemed advisable." He put his hand into his pocket. "Here you are. It's +a big caliber." + +Mr. Oliver took the weapon and held it behind him, and turning back +toward the horse, gently stroked its head. Then there was a flash and +detonation, and the beast dropped like a stone. After a moment the +rancher turned around with a very curious look in his eyes, with the +smoking weapon clenched hard in his hand. + +"I've had that faithful animal six years," he said in a harsh voice. +"We'll get away." + +They walked on in silence for a while, and then Mr. Barclay spoke. + +"The breaking of its leg was probably an accident," he suggested. + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver. "It's possible he broke it after they turned him +loose, but that doesn't seem to affect the case." He paused and looked +around at his companion. "You understand that I'm with you right through +this thing." + +Nothing more was said until they approached the ranch, when Mr. Oliver +turned to the boys. + +"I'll take the fish," he said. "You can go on with whatever you were +doing." + +They moved away toward the drain, and when they reached it Harry stood +still a moment or two. + +"It's a long while since I've seen dad look half so mad," he said. "When +he sets his face that way it's sure to mean trouble. Anyway, when I saw +Tillicum I felt kind of boiling over--as well as sorry." + +"Did you notice what Mr. Barclay said about the pistol?" Frank asked. + +"Why, of course," said Harry thoughtfully. "Now I don't know what +they've been after, but it's plain enough that there was some danger in +the thing. Mr. Barclay doesn't seem extra smart, but there's something +in his look that suggests he wouldn't be easy scared, and he took a +pistol along." Then he laughed in a significant manner and jumped down +into the trench. "It's my idea those dope fellows are going to be sorry +before dad gets through with them, and now we'll go on with the +draining." + +He fell to with the grubhoe and for the next half hour worked furiously, +after which Jake appeared and called them in to dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A PLAIN HINT + + +Mr. Oliver bought another horse from one of his scattered neighbors, and +a few days afterward he and Jake set off for an inlet along the coast +near which a few ranchers lived. Harry explained to Frank that as they +clubbed together and bought their supplies from Seattle a little steamer +from the latter place called at the inlet now and then to deliver the +goods, and his father had ordered a mower which was to be sent down by +her. + +Mr. Oliver did not come back until late in the evening a couple of days +later, but as soon as he arrived he and Jake set to work to put the +machine together, and it was getting dusk when at last they left it +standing beneath the trees near the edge of a ravine. Early on the +following morning the boys went back with them to see if it would work +satisfactorily in cutting a little green timothy, but as they crossed +the clearing Jake, who was leading the team a little distance in front +of his companions, stopped suddenly. + +"You didn't go back and move that machine after we left it?" he asked. + +"No," replied Mr. Oliver. "What made you think I did?" + +Jake looked at his employer rather curiously. "Well," he said, "somebody +must have moved it. The thing's gone." + +Mr. Oliver broke into a run and the rest followed. When they reached the +clump of trees they could discover no sign of the mower, except for the +track of wheels among the withered needles and undergrowth. This led +toward the ravine, at the bottom of which a little water flowed, and +Frank saw Mr. Oliver's face harden as he followed this guide. A minute +later they stood on the brink of the declivity and saw the mower lying +upon its side among the stones thirty or forty feet below them. The +slope was almost precipitous, but Mr. Oliver went down sliding amidst a +rush of loosened soil, and Frank and Harry with some difficulty +scrambled down after him. A glance was sufficient to show them that the +implement was not likely to be of the least use to its owner. Mr. Oliver +examined it quietly and then clambered back up the side of the ravine, +after which he sat down and took out his pipe before he turned to Jake. + +"Every bit of cast-iron in it is smashed," he said. "The pinion wheels +are broken, and the other parts are bent. I'll have to order another +one." + +Jake made a gesture of sympathy. + +"If I could get hold of the folks who did the thing it would be a +consolation, but I haven't the least notion how to trail them." + +"One man couldn't have moved it," said Mr. Oliver. + +"There were three of them. The question is, what brought them here? I +guess they didn't come just to smash the machine." + +Mr. Oliver seemed lost a moment in contemplation. + +"I think you're right," he said at length. "They probably came because +this is the easiest way of getting through to the settlements in the +Basker district and the beach behind the head makes a handy landing. +We'll go along and look around. I don't think they'd try the cove. It's +too near the house." + +They turned into a bush trail together, and when they reached the beach +a little while later Jake, stooping over a furrow in the smooth shingle +by the water's edge, looked up at Mr. Oliver. + +"A sea canoe grounded here soon after last high water," he said. "You +can see where they ran her down when it had ebbed a little." + +Mr. Oliver, who was still quietly smoking, nodded. + +"Yes," he said, "it's very much as I expected. With a sheltered landing +here and as good a trail inland as they could find, it's not difficult +to understand why those fellows were anxious that I should stand in with +them, or, at least, leave them alone. This thing, of course, was meant +as a warning." Then he addressed the boys: "You needn't wait. You can +get some more of those branches sawed off in the slashing." + +They moved away and left him talking to Jake, and it was not until they +had reached the bush that Harry made any observation. + +"I've a notion that we're up against the meanest kind of toughs, but in +the long run I'll back dad," he said. "It's quite likely that if we lie +low you and I may get a hand in later on." + +Frank made no answer, though the prospect his companion suggested was +not unpleasant to him. Going back to their work they sawed up branches +until nightfall. On the following afternoon they were still engaged at +the same task at some distance from the house when they saw Jake, who +had set out for a neighboring ranch in the morning, enter the clearing, +dragging a big and evidently very unwilling animal after him. He sat +down upon a log, and Harry dropped his ax. + +"It's Webster's dog," he said to Frank. "I heard that somebody had given +him one. We'll go along and look at him." + +They found Jake rather breathless and very red in face, holding the end +of a chain fastened to the collar of the dog, who crouched close by +watching him with wicked eyes and white fangs bared. A serviceable club +lay beside Jake, but it seemed to Frank that he had got as far away from +the animal as the chain permitted. The lad was, however, not astonished +at this, for he fancied he had never seen as intractable and generally +unprepossessing a dog as this one. + +"Dad's borrowed him from Webster?" Harry suggested. + +"It seemed to me Webster was mighty glad to get rid of him and didn't +want him back," said Jake. "Guess if he was mine I wouldn't be anxious +to keep him either." + +Frank moved a pace or two nearer the dog, holding out his hand, but +speedily retired when it growled at him savagely. After that Jake turned +to Harry. + +"You're fond of dogs," he suggested. "Wouldn't you like to pat him?" + +"No," said Harry, edging away. "I wouldn't try it for five dollars. What +kind of a brute is he?" + +"Well," said Jake, "I figure that fellow has a considerable mixture of +ancestors, though there's a strain of the bull in him. That's where he +got his stylish mouth from. He's about as amiable as a timber-wolf, and +he has the gait of a bear, while it's my opinion there's more sense in a +plow ox than there is in him." + +"When did you leave Webster's?" Harry next inquired. + +"Soon as dinner was over," responded Jake dryly. + +"And supper will be ready soon. What in the name of wonder have you been +doing?" Harry looked around at Frank. "It's about three miles." + +Jake grinned. "Coming along--and resting. This fellow kind of decided +he'd sit down every now and then, and I let him. He's a dog that's been +accustomed to doing just what he wants." + +"Did you have to cross the creek?" asked Frank, who noticed that the +man's long boots and part of his trousers were wet. + +"No," said Jake curtly. "The critter took a notion he'd like to go in, +and as I couldn't let him loose, I had to go in, too. We splashed +around in it for quite a few minutes." + +Harry broke into a burst of laughter and Jake handed him the club. "I +want to get in by supper. Suppose you put a move on him." + +He stood up and jerked the chain, but the dog bared his teeth again and +declined to stir. Harry, getting behind him, tapped him with the club, +and he swung round savagely, straining at the chain. + +"Now," said Jake, "I know how we'll fix him. You make him mad and then +head for the ranch while he gets after you, and I'll try to hold him." + +"No," said Harry decisively, "I don't think we'll try that way. Go on +and lead him." + +The animal moved off at last and shambled toward the house, looking +bigger and considerably more clumsy than the largest bulldog Frank had +ever seen. He walked into the kitchen docilely, but when Miss Oliver +approached him Harry cried out in dismay. + +"Keep away!" he warned. "He isn't safe." + +"Loose the chain," said Miss Oliver, and to their vast astonishment the +dog walked up to her, wagging his disreputable tail, and crouching down, +licked her hands. She patted his great head gently and then turned +smilingly to the boys. + +"I'm afraid Webster has been rough with him," she said. "It's clear that +he's a woman's dog." + +"A woman's dog?" echoed Harry scathingly. "Well, the man who gave that +beast to a woman must have been crazy." + +During the next few days the dog made himself at home at the ranch, +though with the exception of Miss Oliver he still eyed its inhabitants +suspiciously. Jake said that though almost fully grown he was young and +had no sense yet. Then the dog commenced to follow the boys about at a +distance, and once fell upon and destroyed their overall jackets which +they had taken off when they went to work. They found him sitting upon +the tatters, evidently feeling proud of himself, for he wagged his tail +and barked delightedly when they approached. As a rule, he did not make +much noise, but his growl was deep and ominous, with something in it +that discouraged any attempt at undue familiarity. + +While they were ruefully inspecting their ruined garments Jake came up +and leaned against a neighboring tree. + +"He wants training, Harry," he observed. "If he was my dog, I'd break +him in." + +"The question," retorted Harry indignantly, "is how it's to be done. +I'll own up that I know very little about training dogs, and that's not +the kind of one I'd like to begin on." He turned to Frank. "Considering +that a good many of the ranchers live almost alone, it's rather a +curious thing that there are very few dogs in this part of the country." + +Jake fixed his eyes dubiously upon the animal, who trotted up a little +nearer and growled at him. + +"Well," he said, "he's sure a daisy, but I guess he can be taught, and +the first thing is to let him see you're not afraid of him." + +Harry snickered. "Then suppose you try to prove it. Haul him up by the +ear and teach him he's not to eat my jacket." + +Jake judiciously disregarded this suggestion. "There's one trick most +dogs learn quite easy. It's to guard. You put down some of your clothes, +for instance, and make him see that nobody's to touch them until you +come back. Then he'll sit tight until you do, and I guess in this +fellow's case there'd be mighty little wrong with the nerves of the man +who'd put a hand on them." + +"If it's to be clothes they'll have to be somebody else's," said Harry. +"Anyway, I'll mention it to my aunt. It's my opinion she's the only +person who could teach him anything." + +How Miss Oliver taught the dog they did not know, but she succeeded, for +when the boys walked up to the house at supper time one evening a week +or two later Harry, who reached the door first, came out hurriedly. + +"The brute won't let me in," he explained. "I confess it sounds kind of +silly, but perhaps you'd like to try." + +Frank approached the door cautiously and stopped when he reached it. The +dog crouched near the center of the kitchen floor, with a woman's straw +hat in front of him from which there trailed a couple of chewed-up +feathers. He looked up at Frank with a low, warning growl which said +very plainly, "Come no farther!" + +They called him endearing names, which, so far as they could see, had +not the least effect, but neither of them felt equal to entering the +kitchen until Miss Oliver walked in by another door. Then the dog let +her take the hat, wagging his tail with satisfaction. + +"He's a good deal more intelligent than you seem to think," she said. +"Give him your hat, Harry, and then go out and wait for a few minutes +before you come back for it." + +Harry did so, and the dog made no trouble when he picked up the hat, but +he would not let Frank go near it in the meanwhile. After that they +tried two or three more experiments of the same kind, though Frank took +no part in them, which was a thing he regretted when he went for a swim +an evening or two later. + +On this occasion the tide was almost full, the water in the cove was +pleasantly warm and bright sunlight streamed down upon it, showing the +white shingle a fathom beneath the surface. Now and then Frank went down +toward it, for he had learned to swim under water and look about him +while he did so, but by and by he headed for the entrance to the cove +with the overhand side stroke which Harry had taught him. Swinging his +left arm forward over his head, his face dipped under and then rose in +the midst of a ripple as his hollowed palm swept backward under his +crooked elbow to his thigh, while his legs swung across each other like +a pair of scissors. The brine gleamed and sparkled as it slipped past +him, and when he reached the entrance to the cove he slid up and down +the smooth, green undulations with a pleasant lift and fall. It was so +exhilarating that he went farther than he had intended, and he was +feeling a little breathless when at last he turned back, but when he +reached the spot where he had undressed trouble awaited him. + +The dog was seated upon his clothing, watching him with suspicious eyes, +and it growled when he stood up knee-deep. Frank hesitated. The dog did +not look amiable, but he was beginning to feel cold, and he walked +slowly forward a pace or two. Then the creature raised itself on its +forepaws, with white fangs bare, and once more broke into a deep, +ominous growl. There was no doubt that it intended to guard his clothes. + +He threw a piece of shingle at it and was glad on the whole that he had +not succeeded in hitting it when it stood up with bristling hair and a +most determined look in its eyes. Frank floundered back into the water, +wondering uneasily if it was coming in after him, and then standing +still up to his waist considered what he should do. It was evident that +he could not stay where he was much longer, and the dog showed no sign +of going away. It was equally impossible for him to walk back to the +ranch without his clothes, and in the meanwhile he was growing +unpleasantly chilly. Then he noticed that although the shadow of the +crags above rested upon the spot where he stood the sunshine fell upon a +boulder which rose out of the water not far away. Swimming to it he +crawled out and found it a little warmer there, but this brought him no +nearer to finding a way out of the difficulty. + +He did not remember how long he lay shivering upon the stone, but the +shadow had crept across it and the tall firs above him showed up more +blackly against the evening light, when at last Harry came clattering +over the shingle and stopped in astonishment on seeing him. + +"Whatever are you doing there?" he asked. + +"Waiting until your dog goes home," said Frank. "He won't let me have my +clothes. If you hadn't come I expect I'd have to stay here until +to-morrow." + +Harry couldn't help grinning when he observed the resolute animal. +"Wouldn't it have been easier to come out and whack him off?" + +"No," said Frank decidedly. "If you were in my place you wouldn't want +to try." + +Harry walked up to the creature and picked up the clothes, whereat it +rose immediately and wagged its tail as though satisfied in having done +its duty. + +"He doesn't seem to mind me," Harry observed dryly. "Anyway, there's no +reason why you shouldn't come out now unless, of course, you're happier +where you are." + +Frank swam across, dressed, and ran all the way to the ranch, but it was +half an hour before he was moderately warm again. The next day he set +about teaching the dog to guard. It occurred to him that it was not +desirable that Harry and Miss Oliver should be the only ones to whom the +animal would give any stray article of clothing he might come across. + +A week or two later Miss Oliver went away on a visit to Tacoma, and Mr. +Oliver, who had bought a new mower, commenced to cut his timothy hay. +The machine could only work on the cleared land, and where the stumps +were thick he set the boys to mow with the scythe. Frank found it +troublesome work, for the big roots ran along the surface of the ground. +The fern had grown up among these roots, and it was their task to cut +and pick it out from the grass, while every few minutes the scythe point +struck a root and sometimes stuck in it. In places it struck gravel, +which made dents in it, and the blade often got entangled among shooting +willows and young fir saplings. Frank decided that while it was +evidently a costly and difficult thing to clear a ranch, it must be +almost as hard for its owner to keep what he had won, since the forest +persistently crept back again. + +"Suppose you left this place alone for a couple of years?" he asked, +stopping to whet his dinted scythe. + +"You wouldn't know it again," Harry answered with a smile. "It would be +a waste of willows, with young firs growing up between them. You +couldn't tell it from the bush, only that the trees all round would be +higher." + +Frank dropped his scythe blade and leaned upon the haft. He had been +mowing since sunrise, and the shadows were now rapidly lengthening. His +back ached and his hands were sore, and he found it a relief to stand +still a moment and look about him. On one side of the clearing the +slanting sunrays struck deep into the forest, forcing up great columnar +trunks out of the shadow. On the other, the fretted pinnacles of the +firs cut sharp against the sky, and between stretched long swathes of +fallen timothy and fern already turning yellow. Not far away, Mr. +Oliver, sitting in the mower's saddle, was guiding his team along the +edge of the grass which fell beneath the rasping knife, and the clink +and rattle of the machine rang sharply through the still, evening air. +Frank, stripped to blue shirt and trousers, found everything his eyes +rested on pleasant, and he felt that, after all, he had done wisely when +he left the cities. + +Then he noticed Jake, who had been to the settlement, crossing the +clearing with some letters in his hand. He gave them to Mr. Oliver, who +pulled his team up and sat still for some minutes reading them. After +that he stepped out and walked toward the boys. + +"You might take the team along, Harry, and put the kettle on the stove," +he said. "We'll have supper as soon as it's ready." + +Harry moved away and Mr. Oliver leaned against a neighboring stump with +his eyes fixed thoughtfully on Frank. + +"I've a letter from your mother," he said. "She wants to know if I'm +satisfied with you." He paused a moment and added with a smile: "That's +a question I think I can answer in the affirmative." + +"Thank you, sir," said Frank. + +"Then," Mr. Oliver continued, "she goes into one or two other matters on +which she seems to want my opinion. In the first place, somebody has +offered to find you an opening in the office of a Philadelphia business +firm. You'll have to decide about it, and it seems to me that the choice +is rather a big one. You see, if you stay out here ranching two or three +years it will probably spoil you for a business life in the eastern +cities." + +Frank thought hard for a minute or two. There was no doubt that +ranching, when it included clearing land, as it generally seemed to do, +was remarkably arduous work. In the case of a man with little money it +evidently meant almost incessant toil, for it was only by persistent +effort that one could chop and saw up the great trees and grub the +stumps out. Still, he was growing fond of it, and, what was more, he was +conscious that he was gaining a resolution and muscular vigor that in +all probability he would never have acquired in the crowded cities. + +Finally he looked up. "I don't think I would care to go back to them +now," he said. + +Mr. Oliver nodded gravely. "Your mother doesn't seem to think a great +deal of this opening, but, on the other hand, you want to bear in mind +that if you expect to make money in ranching you must be able to invest +it. Raising cattle and fruit for sale is a trade, and a trader gets no +more than a certain interest on his money and the wages which an equally +capable managing clerk or foreman in the same profession would receive. +There are few respectable businesses in which that interest is a very +big one. As the result of this, the trader must be content with a little +unless he has the money to earn him more." + +"Yes," said Frank somewhat ruefully, "that's clear. I'm afraid I can +hardly count on much." + +"Your mother mentions that when you are three or four years older she +might perhaps be able to raise you about two thousand dollars." + +"I suppose that wouldn't go very far, sir?" + +"It certainly wouldn't buy you a ranch anywhere near a city, but you +might get land enough to make a small one back in the bush. If you +bought such a place, you would probably have to go out and work at one +of the sawmills or logging camps now and then. It would be several years +before you could make much of a living, because it would cost you so +much to bring your stock to market." + +"Yes," said Frank. "I suppose that is why the land would be cheap?" + +Mr. Oliver made a sign of assent. "It's a difficulty which is, however, +usually got over in this country. You hold on and cultivate your land, +and by and by the market comes to you. Somebody starts a sawmill or a +pulp mill in the locality, or, if there's ore about, a smelter. New +trails are cut, settlements spring up, and presently a branch railroad +comes along, and the rancher can sell everything he can raise." He broke +off for a moment, and smiled rather dryly. "In such a case you may get +big prices, but if you average them out over the years of working and +waiting, you'll find you have earned them, and that, after all, the +stuff you sell is mighty cheap." + +Then he handed Frank the letter. "I'd consider it carefully. The mail +won't leave for the next three days, and now we'll go along to supper." + +Harry had managed to prepare a meal, and when it was over Mr. Oliver +turned to the boys. + +"A friend of mine in Victoria has written asking me to look at a big +piece of bush land he thinks of buying on the west coast of Vancouver +Island. He offers to pay my expenses and a fee, and I've an idea that we +might run across in the sloop if we get moderately fine weather after +the hay is in. I wonder if you would like to go with me?" + +There was no doubt that the prospect appealed to them and Mr. Oliver +smiled his approval. + +"Then," he said, "you had better hustle that hay in. We'll start as soon +as we're through with it." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A BREEZE OF WIND + + +The hay was almost in when Frank and Harry stood one evening close under +the apex of the roof in the log barn. The crop was heavy and because the +barn was small it had been their business during the afternoon to spread +and trample down the grass Jake flung up to them. They had been working +at high pressure at one task or another since soon after daylight that +morning, and now the confined space was very hot, though the sun was +low. Its slanting rays smote the cedar shingles above their bent heads, +and the dust that rose from the grass floated about them in a cloud and +clung to their dripping faces. Frank felt that the veins on his forehead +were swollen when they paused a moment for breath, leaning on their +forks. + +"I suppose we could get a couple more loads in, and there can't be more +than that," said Harry dubiously. "I wouldn't mind a great deal if the +next jumperful upset." + +Frank devoutly wished it would, for he felt that he must get out into +the open air, but a few moments later they heard the plodding oxen's +feet and the groaning of the clumsy sled. The sounds ceased abruptly and +Jake's voice reached them. + +"Tramp it down good!" he called. "You've got to squeeze in this lot and +another." + +Frank choked down the answer which rose to his lips. But the hay must be +got in, and the boys fell with their forks upon the first of the +crackling grass Jake flung up to them. There seemed to be more dust in +it than usual, and before the jumper was half unloaded they were +panting heavily. When at last the oxen hauled the sled away they stood +doubled up knee-deep in the hay with their backs close against the roof. + +"I can't see how we're to make room for the last lot," Harry gasped. +"Still, I guess it has to be done." + +They set to work again, packing the hay into corners and stamping it +down, and his occupation reminded Frank of what he had heard about +mining in a thin seam of coal. It seemed hotter than ever, the dust was +choking, and at every incautious move he bumped his head or shoulders +against the beams. The last sled arrived before they were ready for it, +and they crawled about half buried, dragging the grass here and there +with their hands and ramming it with their feet and knees into any odd +spaces left. At length the work was finished, and wriggling toward the +opening in the wall, Harry caught at the edge of it and finding a +foothold on a log beneath boldly leaped down. Frank was, however, less +fortunate when he followed his companion, for some of the hay slipped +away beneath him, and, without the least intention of leaving the barn +in that undignified fashion, he suddenly shot out through the hole. He +felt the air rush past him, and then, somewhat to his astonishment, +found himself on the ground, none the worse except for the jar of the +fall. + +"If I'd tried to do that it's very likely I'd have broken my leg," he +panted. + +He sat down and threw off his hat. It was delightful to feel the breeze +upon his dripping face and to be out in the fresh air again. He had been +at work for fourteen hours, and was aching all over, but that did not +trouble him. The hay was safely in, and there was some satisfaction in +the feeling that he had done his part in a heavy piece of work. Looking +about him he noticed that the shadow of the firs had crept half across +the clearing, and that thin wisps of fleecy cloud were streaming by +high above their tall black tops. Then he heard Harry speaking to his +father. + +"There's a smart southerly breeze, and the tide is running ebb," he was +saying. "What's the matter with starting for Victoria right away?" + +"Haven't you done enough for to-day?" Mr. Oliver asked with a smile. + +"I don't feel as fresh as I did this morning," Harry admitted. "Anyway, +when we've got a fair wind and three or four hours' ebb going with us, +it would be a pity not to make the most of them." + +Mr. Oliver looked doubtful. "I'm anxious to get away, because, as I've +arranged to meet a man in Victoria, we'll have to take the steamer +unless we can slip across very shortly. I've an idea that we may get +more wind than we'll have any use for before sun-up. Still, we could run +in behind the point at Bannington's, if it was necessary." + +Then Jake broke in: "If you're going, I'll get supper and pack some +bread and pork along to the sloop." + +Mr. Oliver assented, and an hour later they paddled off to the sloop. +The dog jumped into the canoe with them, and when they got on board he +quietly sat down on the floorings while Jake helped the boys to hoist +the mainsail. When they came to the jib Mr. Oliver stood up on the deck +looking about him. + +"I think we'd better have the smaller one," he advised. + +They were ready at length, and Jake, who was to stay behind, called the +dog as he was about to jump into the canoe. Harry was busy forward just +then with the mooring chain in his hand and the loose jib thrashing +about him, while the big mainboom jerked over Mr. Oliver's head as he +sat at the helm. The dog, however, showed no signs of moving. + +"Give him a shove," said Jake, addressing Frank. "When he gets up on +deck, pitch him in." + +Frank turned toward the dog, and then stopped abruptly when it showed +its teeth and growled. + +"It looks as if he meant to go along," Jake remarked with a grin. "Prod +him with the boathook if he won't move." + +Frank was dubious, as he imagined the dog might resent the prodding. At +that moment Harry, who had been too busy to notice what was going on, +hauled up the weather sheet of the jib. + +"I'm clear," he called to his father. "I'll cant her head to lee when +you're ready." + +Mr. Oliver put the helm up as the bows swung around, and when the sloop +slanted over Jake made a futile grab at the dog. Then shouting to Frank, +he dropped into the canoe and clutched the rail as the sloop forged +ahead, but the boy was busy with the mainsheet and did not look up. In +another moment Jake let go. Almost immediately afterward the sloop came +round, and when she stretched away toward the mouth of the cove the +canoe dropped astern. + +"Stand by your jibsheets," called Mr. Oliver. "We'll have to come round +again." + +They were very busy during the next few minutes, for the cove was narrow +and the wind was blowing in. When at length they swept out into the open +water the dog crawled up to Harry and licked his hands. Harry looked at +his father, who made a little sign of assent. + +"I suppose he'll have to stay," he sighed. "When that dog decides on +doing anything it's wise to let him do it. Now we'll square off the +mainboom." + +They let the sheet run until the big mainsail swung right out, and the +sloop drove away, rolling viciously. Short, foam-flecked seas came +tumbling after her, but as the tide was running the same way under them, +lessening the resistance, very few broke angrily. Frank had learned +enough by this time, however, to realize that it would probably be +different when the stream turned. In the meanwhile the boat was sailing +very fast, with a little ridge of frothing water washing by on either +side when she lifted, and a thin shower of spray blowing all over her. +Now and then the great sail with the heavy boom beneath it swung upward +in an alarming fashion. Frank noticed that Mr. Oliver's eyes were gazing +intently before him, and that his hands were clenched tightly upon the +tiller. + +"She seems rather bad to steer," he said. + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver, without looking up. "You have to be careful when +you're running before a fresh breeze. It's remarkably easy to bring the +mainsail over with a bang if you let her fall off too much, and the +result of that would probably be to tear the mast out of her. It's +considerably worse when there's a big sea coming along behind." + +Frank glanced astern. The sun had gone and the sky was strewn with ranks +of hurrying clouds, while the sea was flecked with smears of white. + +"Aren't you pressing her a little?" Harry asked. "She'd be easier on the +helm if we lowered the peak or tied a reef in." + +"I'd like to pick up the Hootalquin reef before it's dark," answered Mr. +Oliver. "I'm not sure we'll get very much farther to-night. You wanted a +sail, and I fancy you're going to be gratified." + +During the next hour Frank had to admit that this remark was warranted. +The breeze steadily freshened, and there was no doubt that the sea was +rising. It frothed in a white hillock on either side of the boat, and +little trails of foam swirled about her deck. Frank could see that she +was overburdened by the sail she was carrying, but Mr. Oliver still sat +with a set face at the tiller and showed no desire to leave his post. In +the meanwhile it was getting dark. Forest and beach had faded to a +faint, shadowy blur and there was only a steadily narrowing stretch of +foaming water in front of them. Frank was very wet and the spray beat +upon him continually. At length, when the light had almost gone, a dusky +patch of something grew out of the gathering gloom ahead, and fancying +it to be a rocky point, he felt considerably relieved, because there +would be shelter behind it. A minute or two later Mr. Oliver called to +the boys. + +"Get forward and ease the peak down," he ordered. "Then back the jib. +We'll tie two reefs in." + +"Aren't we going in here?" Harry asked. + +His father shook his head. "No, it's too dark. I could take her through +in the daylight, but there are one or two rocks in the channel. We'll +have to try for Bannington's." + +Frank felt a twinge of disappointment. Bannington's was still a good way +off, and it seemed to him that the gale was increasing every moment. He +scrambled forward with Harry, however, and when they loosened the rope +the tall peak of the sail swung down. Soon after they had done this Mr. +Oliver put down his helm, causing the mainboom to jerk and thrash to and +fro furiously, while as the boat came up head to wind a white sea struck +her side and foamed on board her. + +"Handy with the throat!" shouted Mr. Oliver. "I don't want to leave the +helm." + +They slacked another rope, making the gaff sink farther down, after +which they tied up about a yard of the inner bottom corner of the sail +to the foot of the mast. This was comparatively easy, but it was +different when, standing in the water on the lee deck, they grabbed the +tackle beneath the boom and endeavored to pull the leach, or outer edge, +of the mainsail down. It would not come, and the heavy spar struck them +as it jerked in board, flinging Frank off into the well. + +"Get another pull on your topping lift," ordered Mr. Oliver. + +They jumped forward to do it, but it proved no easy task, for they had +to raise the outer end of the heavy boom. They were struggling with the +tackle again when Mr. Oliver laid both hands on the rope. + +"Now," he shouted, "heave, and bowse her down!" + +They succeeded this time, and afterward hung out over the water while +they knotted the reef-points beneath the spar. Then when they had +trimmed the jib over Mr. Oliver put up his helm and the sloop drove on +again into the darkness with shortened sail. + +The boys sat down as far under the side deck as they could get, out of +the worst of the spray, with the dog crouching in the water which washed +about the floorings at their feet. + +"Why didn't your father help us more than he did?" Frank asked +presently. + +"He couldn't leave the tiller for more than a moment or two," said +Harry. "When Jake and I reefed her the day we took you off the steamer +there wasn't as much wind. Of course, there are boats in which you can +lash the helm, but that's not always possible. If dad had let go the +tiller she'd have fallen off and started sailing, which would have +dragged the tackle from our hands or pitched us in, and then she'd have +come up again banging and shaking. He kept her heading so that the +mainsail was lifting slack with no weight in it." + +Frank was commencing to realize that the handling of a sailboat was +rather a fine art. It is as much of a machine as a steamer, but it is +also of the kind whose efficiency depends directly upon the human eye, +hand and brain. Man has evolved a number of such instruments, and in the +right hands they are far more wonderful than the others. Any one, for +instance, can learn the pianola, but to extract fine music from a +Cremona violin is a very different matter. + +It blew steadily harder, and there was, as Frank noticed, a difference +in the sea, for the flood stream was now setting up against them and +was growing shorter and more turbulent. There was a smaller interval +between the waves, which seemed to become steeper and less regular. They +curled over and broke about the boat with a sound that reacted +unpleasantly upon Frank's nerves, and he was thankful that he could, +after all, see very little of them. The sloop's motion also changed. One +moment she seemed to be moving almost slowly, and the next she swung up +in a quick, savage rush, with her bows in the air and the white foam +boiling high about her. Sometimes, too, there was a thud and a splash +astern, and the decks were swept by a deluge of seething water. + +In the meanwhile the boys had contrived to light a lamp in a little box +which held a compass, and they laid it on the thwart before Mr. Oliver, +though, as he explained in a word or two, it was particularly difficult +to steer an exact course in a sea of that kind. It was on the boat's +quarter, that is, she was traveling with the wind almost behind her at a +long slant across the course of the waves, but each time an extra big +wave foamed up astern Mr. Oliver let her fall off and run right down +wind with it to prevent its breaking on board. + +Frank wondered how he did it, for the seas were following them and it +was quite dark, but Mr. Oliver had no need to look around. He had for +guides the sound of the oncoming seas, the pull of the tiller, and the +motion of the boat, and, besides, from long experience his brain worked +sub-consciously. He did not pause to consider when the bows climbed out +and the stern sank down in a rush of foam, and had he done so, in all +probability he would have brought the big mainboom smashing over. To run +a fore-and-aft rigged craft, and a sloop in particular, before a badly +breaking sea, is a difficult and somewhat perilous thing, and the +ability to do it comes only from long acquaintance with the water, and, +perhaps, from something in the helmsman's nature. + +The boat sped on furiously, though they presently lowered the peak down +to reduce the sail further, and by degrees Frank became conscious of an +unpleasant nervous tension that seemed to sap away his hardihood. There +was nothing to do in the meanwhile, but he felt that if he were called +upon for any difficult or hazardous service he would find himself +incapable of it. He was drenched and shivering, and he did not want to +move. He only wished to cower beside Harry under the partial shelter of +the coaming. This was, however, a feeling that other folks occasionally +experience who go to sea in small vessels, which they have to grapple +with and overcome. It is when there is no particular call on him, and he +can only stand by and watch, that terror gets its strongest hold on the +heart of a man. + +At length Mr. Oliver called to the boys. "We must be close abreast of +Bannington's," he said. "The end of the point should be to leeward. Get +forward, Harry, where you can see out beneath the jib." + +Frank followed his companion as he crawled up on the little deck. He did +not want to seem afraid, but he held on tight with one hand when they +knelt in the water that splashed about them. He could see the frothy +seas beneath the black curve of the jib, but for what seemed a very long +while there was nothing else. Then Harry suddenly raised his voice. + +"Point's right ahead!" he sang out, and the next moment jumped to his +feet. "There's a black patch a little to weather." + +"Up peak for your lives!" cried Mr. Oliver. + +He left the helm with a bound, and all three struggled desperately with +a rope, while as the bagged mainsail extended and straightened out a sea +broke on board the boat. Then they floundered aft and dragged in the +mainsheet with all their might, after which Mr. Oliver jumped for the +helm again, while the boys flattened in the jib. + +"We're the wrong side of the point," gasped Harry. "I'm not sure she'll +beat round it." + +There was no difficulty in imagining what was likely to happen if she +failed to do so, and Frank, who did not think she would last long if she +washed up among the boulders before the sea that was running, clung to +the coaming in a state of tense suspense. What seemed to be a continuous +sheet of spray whirled about him, the boat slanted over at an alarming +angle with half her lee deck in the sea, and the tops of the confused +breaking waves through which she plunged washed all over her. This was +sailing with a vengeance, and a very different thing from lounging at +the tiller while she swung smoothly across the water before a fair wind. +She was now thrashing to windward for her life, with the full weight of +the sea on her weather bow and a foam-swept reef lying in wait close to +lee of her, and whether she would claw off it or not depended largely +upon her helmsman's skill. + +Frank could see him dimly, a black shape gripping the tiller, and he was +unpleasantly aware of the fact that there would speedily be an end of +them all if he lost his nerve for a moment or made a blunder. It happens +now and then at sea that the safety of crew and vessel hangs upon the +brute strength of human muscle and the simple valor which enables a man +to do what is required of him on the moment without flinching; empty +assurance and a consequential air are of uncommonly little service then. +Such occasions are a very grim test of manhood, and, as a rule, it is +not the loud talker who best stands that strain. + +Frank admitted afterward that he was badly scared, which was not in the +least unnatural. It was more important that he should nevertheless +realize that it was his business to trim the jib over when this was +necessary. His companion, who was gazing to leeward, presently raised +his voice. + +"Broken water close ahead," he announced. + +"Stand by your jib!" shouted Mr. Oliver. "We must try to heave her +around." + +Frank let the lee sheet run, groping deep in the water for it as Mr. +Oliver put down the helm, and with a frantic thrashing of canvas the +sloop came up into the wind. There was a moment of suspense during which +she seemed to stop, and the boy felt his heart thumping furiously. He +knew that if she fell off again on the previous tack nothing could save +her from going ashore. Suddenly he heard Harry call to him. + +"Haul it up!" he shouted. "We have to box her off." + +Frank hauled with all his might, and the thrashing of the head sail +ceased. It caught the wind, and a sea fell upon the boat as the bows +swung around. Then they jumped to the opposite side of her and struggled +desperately to haul the lee sheet in as she forged ahead again, after +which there was nothing to do but wait and wonder if she was driving in +toward the shore or working out toward open water. They stood on for +half an hour, seeing nothing, and then came round half-swamped, only to +stagger away on the opposite tack, running once more into horribly +broken water. As they did so Harry shouted that there were boulders, the +end of the point, he fancied, close to lee. + +"She won't come about in the rabble," said Mr. Oliver. + +It was evident that they must now either scrape around the point on that +tack or go ashore, and Frank felt his nerves tingle as he gazed into the +spray. He fancied that there was something black and solid beyond it, +but could distinguish nothing further. Then the blackness faded, the sea +seemed to become a little more regular, and Harry cried out hoarsely, +"We're round!" + +"Down peak!" called Mr. Oliver. "We'll have to jibe her." + +Frank had learned that to jibe a boat is to turn her around stern to +wind, instead of head-on, which is the usual way, and scrambling forward +with Harry he helped lower the peak. After that they again floundered +aft, leaving the mainsail reduced in size, and grabbed the sheet as Mr. +Oliver put up his helm. The bows swung around as the boat went up with a +sea, and the big boom tilted high up into the darkness above the boys. +They struggled savagely with the sheet, which slightly restrained it, +until the boat rolled suddenly down upon her side as the sail jerked +over and the rope was torn swiftly through their hands. There was a +crash and a bang, and Frank was conscious that the water was pouring +over the coaming. He clung to the sheet, however, and while Mr. Oliver +helped them with one hand they got a little of it in, after which the +sloop, rising somewhat, drove forward. A few minutes later the sea +suddenly became smoother, the wind seemed cut off, and Frank made out a +black mass of rock rising close above them. They ran on beneath it until +Mr. Oliver, rounding the boat up, bade them pitch the anchor over. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MR. BARCLAY JOINS THE PARTY + + +When the boat brought up to her anchor the boys spent some time +straightening up her gear and pumping her out. The work put a little +warmth into them, but they were glad to crawl into the cabin when it was +done. There was scarcely room in it to sit upright, and with the +moisture standing beaded everywhere it looked rather like the inside of +a well. Mr. Oliver had lighted the stove and a lamp was burning. By and +by he took off a hissing kettle, and when they had made a meal they lay +down in their wet clothes amidst a raffle of more or less dripping ropes +and sails. Fortunately, the place was warm, and Frank was thankful to +stretch himself out along the side of the boat. He was discovering that +mental strain of the kind he had undergone during the last few hours is +as fatiguing as bodily labor. + +But he did not immediately go to sleep. The craft rocked upon the long +swell which worked in round the point, with now and then a sharp rattle +as she plucked hard at her cable. Sometimes she swung suddenly around +upon it as an eddying blast swept down from the rocks above, and the +drumming of the halliards against the mast broke continuously through +the moan of the wind among the trees ashore and the deeper rumble of the +ground sea. At last, however, he fell into a heavy slumber, and it was +daylight and Harry had put the spider on the stove when he awoke again. +He made his breakfast before he went out on deck, to find that the wind +had dropped a little and it was raining hard. The dim, slate-green +water lapped noisily upon the wall of rock close by, and glancing +seaward he saw nothing but a leaden haze and a short stretch of tumbling +combers. Mr. Oliver had gone out earlier and was standing on the deck +looking about him. + +"There's no great weight in the wind, though the sea's still rather +high," he said presently. "I think we can push on for Victoria." + +Frank, who fancied they would not get there before that night, was by no +means so keen about the sail as he had been on the previous day. He felt +that it would be considerably pleasanter to remain in the shelter of the +point until the sun came out or the wind went down, and it seemed to him +that Harry shared his opinion. The dog also looked very draggled and +miserable and had evidently had enough of the voyage. They, however, set +the mainsail, leaving the reefs in, hauled up the anchor, and hoisted +the jib as the sloop stretched out across the waste of tumbling water, +after which the boys went below to straighten up the breakfast things. +Frank once or twice felt a little sick as he did so, and he noticed that +Harry wore a somewhat anxious look. + +"It's not blowing as hard as it was when we ran in, but I don't think +dad would have gone unless he'd some particular reason," Harry said at +length. "I wonder who the man is he expects to meet in Victoria, because +I'm inclined to believe it's not the one who wants him to look at the +land. The worst of dad is that he keeps such a lot to himself." + +They crawled out again shortly afterward and found the seas getting +longer and bigger. Once or twice a blur of something went by that might +have been the end of an island, and Mr. Oliver changed his course a +little, but after that the dim, green water stretched away before them +empty and only broken by smears of snowy froth, and the sloop drove on +before the combers which came up out of the haze astern of her in long +succession. + +It was toward noon, and Mr. Oliver had gone into the cabin to get dinner +ready, leaving Harry at the helm, when, glancing around, Frank saw an +indistinct mass of something break out of the mist. It grew into the +shadowy shape of a steamer while he watched it. + +"There's a big vessel close by," he said, touching his companion's arm. + +Harry glanced over his shoulder. "Sure," he nodded. "What's more, she's +coming right along our track. Get in some mainsheet while I luff her." + +He changed the sloop's course a trifle, but in the meanwhile the steamer +was growing in size and distinctness with a marvelous rapidity. Her +great bow seemed to be rising out of the water like a headland, over +which Frank could just see the tiers of white deckhouses, one mast, and +the tall smokestack. Then he glanced forward at the sloop's wet deck and +the low strip of her double-reefed mainsail, looking very small among +the tumbling seas, and it occurred to him that it would probably be +difficult for the steamer's lookout to see them. He felt rather anxious +when he glanced back astern. + +"She still seems to be coming right down on us," he said. + +Harry called his father, who hurried out and glanced at the vessel. + +"Shall we get up and yell?" the boy asked. + +"No," said Mr. Oliver curtly, "they couldn't hear you to windward. Let +her come up farther." + +Frank helped drag some more mainsheet and then looked around again with +a very unpleasant thrill of apprehension. The black bow seemed almost +above them, and the sea leaped against a wall of plates as the great +mass of iron swung slowly out of it and sank down again. Then from +somewhere beside the smokestack a streak of white steam blew out and a +great reverberatory roar came hurtling about them. Mr. Oliver's anxious +face relaxed. + +"They've seen us," he said. "Her helm's going over." + +The bow drew out and lengthened into an increasing strip of side. +Another mast became visible, with a double row of white deckhouses and a +tier of boats between. Here and there a cluster of diminutive figures +showed up among them, and then the great ship sped by with the whole of +her size revealed. The sloop plunged madly on her screw-torn wake, but +in another minute or two she had drawn away and was melting into the +haze again. + +"A big boat," said Mr. Oliver. "She was very close to us. You had better +keep your eyes open while I get dinner." + +The rest of the dismal day passed uneventfully, but toward evening the +haze commenced to roll aside and they saw blurred black pines looming up +ahead of them. A little later they ran into Victoria harbor, and, hiring +a Siwash to take them ashore, walked through the streets of what struck +Frank as a very handsome city until they reached a hotel. Here they +ordered supper, and after the meal was over the boys, who had changed +their clothes, sat with Mr. Oliver in the almost deserted smoking room. +He seemed to be expecting somebody, which somewhat astonished Frank, but +he noticed that Harry smiled meaningly when Mr. Barclay walked in. He +was dressed in light-colored sporting garments, with a belt around his +waist and a leather patch on one shoulder, and there were gaudy trout +flies stuck in his little cloth cap. He threw the cap on the table +before he shook hands with Mr. Oliver and the boys, smiling as he caught +Harry's eye. + +"Well," he asked, indicating the flies, "what do you think of them?" + +Harry grinned again as he laid his finger on one. + +"You're not going to get many trout with that fellow, unless they've +different habits in British Columbia. They won't come on for quite a +while." + +Mr. Barclay removed the fly and put it into a wallet. + +"Thanks," he said. "It's some time since I did any fishing." Then he +seemed to notice the manner in which the boy was surveying his clothing. +"It's a sport's get-up, but are you acquainted with any reason why a +United States citizen shouldn't get a little innocent amusement catching +Canadian trout?" + +"No, sir," answered Harry coolly. "Still, there are quite a few trout in +the rivers on the American side of the boundary. It makes one wonder if +you had anything else in view besides fishing in coming to British +Columbia." + +Mr. Barclay regarded him with an air of ironical reproof. + +"In a general way, young man, it's most unwise to blurt the thing right +out when you have a suspicion in your mind. It's better to let it stay +there until you have good cause to act on it." He turned to Mr. Oliver. +"I'm inclined to doubt the advisability of leaving your sloop lying +where she is in full view of the wharf." + +"Then you recognized her?" + +"At a glance. The trouble is that there are one or two acquaintances of +yours who might do the same." + +Mr. Oliver looked thoughtful. + +"I've been considering that, but it was getting dark when we ran in, and +we had better move the first thing to-morrow. Now with this unsettled +weather I'm not very keen on sailing up the west coast, which is open to +the Pacific, and the place we are bound for is rather a long way." + +"Then go east," advised Mr. Barclay. "There are a number of inlets on +that side of the island within easy reach of the railroad, and you ought +to reach the nearest of them in a few hours. I'll go on with the cars +to-morrow, and if you don't get in at one of the way stations, I'll wait +for you at Wellington. Then we could cross to the west coast by the +Alberni stage and hire a couple of Indians and a sea canoe. It wouldn't +be a long run from there." + +Mr. Oliver agreed to this, and getting up early next morning, they +slipped out of the harbor, and some hours afterward crept into a +forest-girt inlet, where they left the sloop. There was a depot nearby, +and getting on board the cars when the next train came in, they found +Mr. Barclay awaiting them. Early in the afternoon they alighted at a +little wooden, colliery town, and next day they crossed the island in +the stage over a very rough trail which led through tremendous forests. +Once they passed a wonderful blue lake lying deep-sunk between steep +walls of hills. Then they crossed a divide and came winding down into a +valley with water flashing at the foot of it. It was evening when they +arrived at a straggling settlement on the banks of a riband of salt +water twisting away among the forest-shrouded hills, and found several +Indians there who had come up in their sea canoes. + +Mr. Oliver hired a couple of them, and they started after they had +purchased a few stores. A light, pine-scented breeze was blowing down +the valley when they thrust the canoe off from the shingle. They had no +sooner done so, however, when the dog arose with a deep growl which +indicated that he objected to the Indians going with them. As his +actions did not seem to have the desired effect he seized the nearest +Indian by the leg, and it was only when Harry belabored him with a +paddle that he could be induced to let go. Then he barked at them +savagely until Frank drew him down upon his knee with a hand about his +neck, while the Siwash raised two little masts. In the meanwhile the boy +watched the men with interest, and decided that they had very little in +common with the prairie Indians he had seen in pictures and from the +cars. + +They were dressed neatly in clothes which had evidently been purchased +at a store, and though their faces were brown and their hair rather +coarse and dark there was nothing else unusual about them. They talked +with Mr. Oliver and Mr. Barclay freely in what Harry said was Chinook, a +readily learned lingua-franca in use on parts of the Pacific Slope. Then +Frank fixed his attention upon the canoe, a long, narrow, and +beautifully shaped craft with the usual tall, bird's-head bow. She was +rather shallow, but Harry said that this made her paddle fast. He added +that though these canoes would sail reasonably well when the breeze was +fair the Indians usually drove them to windward with the paddle unless +the sea was too heavy, in which case they generally made for the beach +and pulled the craft out. + +Frank remembered that this, or something like it, was the ancient +practice, and that it was only by slow degrees that man had discovered +he could still make the wind propel his vessel to its destination when +it blew from ahead. Greek and Roman triremes, Alexandrian wheat ships, +and Viking galleys, had made wonderful voyages, and they all carried +sail, but they set it only when the wind was fair. When it drew ahead +they stowed their canvas and thrashed the lean hull through the seas +with their long oars. Now, after perfecting his vessel's under-water +body, inventing the center board, and learning how to make flat-setting +sails, man was going back to the old-time plan, only that instead of +relying upon the muscle of close-packed rowers he used improved +propellers, tri-compound reciprocators and turbines. + +One of the Siwash shook out the two spritsails which sat on a pole +stretching up to the peak from the foot of the mast, and when he had led +the sheets aft his companion knelt astern with a paddle held over the +gunwale. Slanting gently down to the faint breeze, the craft slid away +through the smooth, green water with a long ripple running back behind +her. The log houses dropped astern and were lost among the trees, a +valley filled with somber forest, and a rampart of tall hillside, +slipped by, and as they crept on from point to point the strip of still +water stretched away before them between somber ranks of climbing trees. + +Frank had no idea how far they had gone when the light began to fail, +though he fancied that the shallow craft, now slipping forward so +smoothly, was sailing a good deal faster than she seemed to be. At +length one of the Siwash loosened the sheets and stowed the sails, while +his companion turned the bows toward the beach. She slid in and grounded +gently on a bank of shingle in a little cove, where a gigantic forest +crept down to the water. They got out and ran her up, filled their +kettle at a tinkling creek, hewed resinous chips from a fallen fir, and +built a fire. Then they cut armfuls of thin spruce branches with which +to make their beds, and presently sat down to an ample supper. + +When it was over the Indians went down to the canoe, and Mr. Oliver and +Mr. Barclay drew a little apart from the boys. Frank, lying near Harry +beneath a big cedar, raised himself up on one elbow and watched the +firelight flicker upon the mighty trunks. On the one hand they were lost +in the gloom of the dense mass of dusky foliage, but on the other their +great branches cut against the sky, which was still softly blue, and a +blaze of silver radiance stretched across the water, for a half-moon had +just sailed up above the opposite hill. Out of the silence there stole a +faint whispering from the tops of the taller trees and the languid +lapping of water among the stones, but there was no other sound, and +once more Frank was glad that he had not exchanged the stillness of the +wilderness for the turmoil of the cities. He had now definitely decided +to become a rancher. + +It grew colder by and by, and wrapping his blanket around him, he +wriggled down closer among the yielding spruce twigs. The great trunks +grew dimmer and the smoke wisps which drifted among them became less +distinct. By degrees they all grew mixed together--a confusion of +sliding vapor and spectral trees--and he was conscious of nothing more. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE STRANGER + + +A couple of days later the party pitched their camp in the depths of a +lonely valley sloping to the Pacific, which was not far away. It was +filled with great redwoods, balsams and cedars, and as Frank gazed at +the endless rows of towering trunks it struck him as curious that Mr. +Oliver's friend should think of buying this tract of giant forest for +ranching land. He said so to Harry, who laughed. + +"There's no rock or gravel on it and that counts for a good deal," said +his companion. "If the soil looks as if it would grow things, it's about +all the average man expects on this side of the Rockies. A few trees +more or less don't matter. It's the same with us right down the Pacific +Slope; the only difference is that on this island the firs seem just a +little bigger." He appeared to admit the latter fact reluctantly, +adding, "I guess that's because it's wetter in Canada." + +They were standing outside a little tent of the kind most often used in +the Western bush. It was supported by a ridge pole resting at either end +upon two more, which were spread well apart at the bottom and crossed +near the top. A short branch stay stretched back from each pair, and a +few turns of cord lashing held the whole frame together. They had cut +the poles in five minutes in the bush, and had brought the light cotton +cover with them rolled up in a bundle. A good many men in that country +live in such shelters during most of the year. Mr. Barclay sat on one of +the hearth logs which were rolled close together in front of the tent +and Mr. Oliver stood in the entrance. + +"But the place must be such a tremendous way from a market," said Frank +in response to Harry's last remark. + +Mr. Oliver smiled. "It's not long since I tried to explain that a good +many of the bush ranchers have to wait until the market comes to them. +They stake their dollars and a number of years of hard work on the +future of the country." + +"Some of them get badly left now and then," said Mr. Barclay dryly. +"You'll find laid-out townsites that have never grown up all along the +Pacific Slope. There are stores and hotels falling to pieces in one or +two I've struck." Then changing the subject: "Are you boys coming across +with me to the river for some fishing to-morrow?" + +They said that they would be glad to do so, and Mr. Barclay turned to +Mr. Oliver. "We'll give you another two days to finish your surveying, +and then we'll meet you at the rancherie on the inlet we spoke of. We +can camp in the bush outside the tent for a couple of nights." + +They started early the next morning, taking one Indian with them to pack +their provisions, and the dog, who insisted on accompanying them. They +were plodding along a hillside toward noon when Mr. Barclay, who was +walking in front with their guide, looked back at the boys. + +"Get hold of the dog as soon as we stop and keep him quiet," he +cautioned. + +After that they moved forward in silence for some minutes while the +trees grew thinner ahead of them, until Mr. Barclay stopped behind a +brake of undergrowth. The dog broke into a short, throaty bark and then +growled hoarsely until Frank knelt beside him and laid a hand upon his +collar. When he had quieted the animal, who by degrees had become +attached to him, he arose and found he could look down upon a narrow +slit of valley into which the sunlight poured. A creek swirled through +the bottom of it, and he was astonished to see a swarm of blue-clad +figures toiling with grubhoe and shovel upon its banks, and a cluster of +bark shelters in the widest part of the hollow. + +"Chinamen!" he said. "What can they be doing? One never would have +expected to find a colony of them here." + +Mr. Barclay smiled in a somewhat curious fashion. + +"They're washing gold. It's a remarkably simple process, if you're +willing to work hard enough. You shovel out the soil and sand and keep +on washing it until it's all washed away. Any gold there is remains in +the bottom of the pan." + +"But if there's gold in that creek, how is it there are no white men +about?" + +"Probably because they couldn't make wages. There's a little gold in a +number of the creeks right down the Slope, but where the quantity's very +small nobody but a Chinaman finds it worth while to look for it." + +Mr. Barclay sat down and spent some minutes apparently carefully +watching the blue-clad figures toiling in the sunlight below, after +which he got up and signaled for them to go on again. The boys, however, +dropped a little behind, and presently Harry gave his companion a nudge. + +"I guess you noticed that when you said one wouldn't have expected to +find those Chinamen here Barclay didn't answer it?" + +"Yes," said Frank thoughtfully. "I suppose you mean he wasn't astonished +when he saw them?" + +"You've hit it, first time," Harry assented. "That man's on the trail, +and though I can't tell you exactly who he's getting after, I've my +ideas." He paused with a chuckle. "I'm not sure now he's quite so much +of a stuffed image as he seemed to be." + +Frank said nothing in answer to this. A few minutes later Harry touched +his arm as Mr. Barclay, turning suddenly, shouted: + +"Get hold of the dog!" + +Frank grabbed at the animal's collar but missed it, and the next moment +the dog had vanished. Then there was a crash in the bush, and a +beautiful slender creature with long legs and little horns shot out from +behind a thicket and flung itself high into the air. It fell again, this +time with scarcely a sound, into a clump of fern, rose out of it, and in +a wonderful bound cleared a fallen trunk with broken branches projecting +from it. Then it was lost in another thicket and the dog's harsh barking +rang through the silence of the woods. Once or twice again Frank caught +a momentary glimpse of a marvelously agile creature rising and falling +among the undergrowth, and then there was only the yelping of the dog +which became fainter and fainter and finally broke out at irregular +intervals. Mr. Barclay sat down upon the fallen trees. + +"I suppose we'll have to wait until that amiable pet of yours comes +back," he said. "On the whole it's fortunate the deer broke out now +instead of a quarter of an hour earlier." + +They waited a considerable time before the dog crept up to them wagging +his ragged tail in a disappointed manner. Harry shook his fishing rod at +him threateningly. + +"I'd lay into you good, only it wouldn't be any use," he said. "The more +you're whacked, the worse you get." + +The dog wagged his tail again and jumped upon Frank, who patted him +before they resumed the march. + +"It's rather curious, but that's the first deer I've seen since I've +been in the country," he said. "Do they always jump like that?" + +"Well," said Harry, "in a general way they are quite hard to see, and +you can walk right past one without noticing it when it's standing +still. Their colors match the trunks and the fern, and, what's more +important, it's not often you can see the whole of them. In fact, I've +struck as many deer by accident as I've done when I've been trailing +them. Now and then you almost walk right up to one, though I haven't the +least notion how it is they don't hear you, because as a rule the one +you're trailing will leave you out of sight in a few moments if you snap +a twig. Anyway, a scared deer goes over whatever lies in front of him. +There are very few things he can't jump, and he comes down almost +without a sound." + +The rest of the journey proved uneventful, and early in the evening they +made camp on the banks of a frothing river which swept out of the shadow +crystal clear. In this it differed, as Harry explained, from most of the +larger ones on the Pacific Slope, which are usually fed by melted snow +and stained a faint green. Mr. Barclay, whose boots and clothes were +already considerably the worse for wear, sat down beside a swirling pool +and took out his pipe. + +"There's no use pitching a fly across it yet, I suppose," he said. "We +may as well get supper before we start." + +The Siwash prepared the meal and remained behind with Mr. Barclay when +it was over, while the two boys went down stream with a rod he had lent +them which Harry insisted Frank should take. There were, he urged, +plenty of trout in the river near his father's ranch, though it was very +seldom he had leisure to go after them. They wandered on some distance +beside the water, which ran almost west toward the Pacific, and +wherever the forest was a little thinner the slanting sunrays streaming +between the serried trunks smote along it. Frank, who had, as it +happened, once or twice got a week or two's fishing in the East, kept +his eyes open, but it was only twice that he fancied he noticed the +faint dimple made by a short-rising trout. + +"I'd have expected to find a river of this kind thick with fish," he +said. + +"There's sure to be a good many in it," answered Harry. "You wait about +another half hour." + +"What's the matter with starting now?" urged Frank. "Isn't that one +rising in the slack yonder?" + +"See if you can get him," said Harry, smiling. + +Frank swung the rod, straining every effort to make a neat, clean cast, +and he succeeded. The flies dropped lightly about a foot above the +dimple made by the fish, and swept down stream across the spot where he +had reason to suppose it was waiting. There was no response, however, +and nothing broke the rippling surface when the flies floated down a +second time. Frank laid down the rod. + +"It's curious," he murmured. + +Harry laughed. "Hold on a little. You've seen three fish rising now, and +that's quite out of the common." + +Frank sat down again, and waited until the sunlight faded off the river +and the firs about it suddenly grew blacker. Soon afterward what seemed +an almost solid cloud of tiny insects drifted along the surface of the +water, which was immediately broken by multitudinous splashes. + +"Now you can begin," said Harry. + +Frank, clambering to a ledge of rock, swung his rod, and as the flies +swept across an eddy there was a splash and a swirl and a sudden +tightening of the line. He got the butt down as the winch commenced to +clink, and Harry waded out into the stream lower down, holding his wide +hat. + +"Let him run, but keep a strain on," he cried. "You've got a big one." + +The fish fought for three or four minutes, gleaming, a streak of silver, +through the shadowy flood, as it showed its side, then sprang clear and +changed again to a half-seen dusky shape that drove violently here and +there. Then it came up toward the bending point of the rod, and at +length Harry, slipping his hat beneath it, lifted it out. + +"Nearly three quarters of a pound," he said. "Your trace is clear now. +Try again, and never mind about the slack and eddies. Pitch your flies +anywhere." + +Frank did so, and they had scarcely fallen when there was a second rush, +but this fish seemed smaller and he dragged it out unceremoniously upon +the shingle. It was the same the next cast, and for a while he was kept +desperately busy. When at length he laid the rod down Harry announced +that they had a dozen fish. + +"We'll try the next pool now," he added. "Some of these trout aren't +half a pound and I'd like you to get a real big one." + +The next pool proved to be some distance away and there was nothing but +rock and foaming water between, but when they reached a slacker place +where the current circled around a deep basin Frank had four or five +more minutes' fishing, during which he landed several trout. Then the +flies seemed to vanish and there was scarcely a splash on the shadowy +water. + +"You may as well put the rod up," Harry advised. "It's a sure thing you +won't get another." + +Frank tried for a few minutes, but finding his companion's prediction +justified, sat down near him among the roots of a big fir. At the foot +of the pool where he had been fishing the stream swept furiously +between big scattered boulders in a wild white rapid. It was narrower +there, and a ledge of rock, slightly hollowed out underneath, rose above +it on the side on which they sat a little more than a hundred yards +away. The woods were now darkening fast, and the chill of the dew was in +the air, which was heavy with the scent of redwood and cedar. In places +the water still glimmered faintly, and except for the roar it made, +everything was very still. + +Suddenly Harry pointed to the dog, who was lying near Frank. + +"Get hold of him," he said in a low voice. "If nothing else will keep +him quiet, we'll roll your jacket round his head." + +Frank, who had taken off his jacket, which was badly torn, when he began +fishing, laid his hand on the dog as it arose with a low growl. Then as +it tried to break away from him he seized its collar and held on with +all his might while Harry flung the jacket over it. Though the thing +cost them an effort they managed to hold the animal still between them. +In the meanwhile there was a crackle of undergrowth and Frank saw a man +who walked in a rather curious manner move out from the shadow. Even +when he was clear of the overhanging branches it was impossible to see +him distinctly, but Frank recognized him with a start. There was +something wrong with one of the dark figure's shoulders. + +The man moved on away from them, until he stopped at the edge of the +overhanging rock, where he stood for a moment or two. Then he leaped out +suddenly and alighted on the top of a boulder about which the white +froth whirled. Frank fancied that only a very powerful person could have +safely made such a leap, and there was no doubt that whatever it was +that had caused the man's unusual gait, it had not affected his agility. +The next moment, he jumped again, and, coming down rather more than +knee-deep in the rapid, floundered through it and vanished into the +shadow beneath the trees. Then Harry looked around at his companion with +a smile. + +"I'll own up that Barclay's smart, after all," he said. "He's sure on +the trail. Anyway, perhaps we'd better head back to camp in case some +more of them come along." + +It was quite dark when they reached the fire the Siwash had made and +found Mr. Barclay, who now seemed rather wet as well as ragged, sitting +beside it with his pipe in his hand. When they had compared their fish +with those he had killed they lay down among the withered needles on the +opposite side of the fire. + +"It's good fishing, sir, but you must be very keen to come so far for +it," said Harry, looking up innocently at Mr. Barclay. + +The red light of the fire was on Mr. Barclay's face and Frank saw that +he glanced thoughtfully at Harry. + +"It certainly is," he answered. "I believe you have already said +something very much like your last remark. Still, you see, I don't +propose to come often." + +Frank suppressed a chuckle. If Harry had intended to surprise the man +into some admission he had not succeeded yet. + +"And we go on to the rancherie in a couple of days," Harry added. "From +what the Indians told me I don't think we'd get any fishing there. +Wouldn't it be better to stay here a little longer?" + +"No," said Mr. Barclay, "quite apart from the difficulty of sending your +father word, what you suggest doesn't strike me as advisable, for one or +two reasons." + +Harry seemed to realize that he was making no progress, and, looking +meaningly at Frank, suddenly changed his tactics. + +"There's something I should perhaps have told you, sir, though I don't +know whether it will interest you. Anyway, not long ago Frank and I were +up at the Chinese colony behind the settlement near our ranch. Perhaps +you have been there?" + +"I've heard of it," said Barclay dryly. + +Then in a few words Harry described how the man they had endeavored to +trail had vanished at the Chinaman's shack, and Frank saw a look of +eager interest cross Mr. Barclay's usually stolid face. + +"You suggest that the fellow didn't want you to see him?" he asked. + +"That was certainly how it struck me." + +"And he walked rather curiously and one shoulder seemed a little higher +than the other? I think you mentioned that?" + +"I did," repeated Harry. + +Mr. Barclay seemed to reflect, but there was now sign of deeper interest +in his expression. + +"Did you notice whether he had red hair and gray eyes?" + +"No," said Harry with a grin, "though I can't be sure about it, I've a +notion that his hair was dark. As it happened, I only saw his back, but +I'd know the man again." He paused impressively. "In fact, I hadn't the +least trouble about it when I saw him half an hour ago." + +Mr. Barclay started and there was no doubt that he was astonished at +this. + +"You ran up against him here!" + +"No," said Harry, "I only watched him from behind a fir. He crossed the +creek heading south and didn't notice us." + +Mr. Barclay settled back again and seemed lost in thought. "After all," +he said shortly, "it's possible." + +Then he changed the subject and they talked about fishing until the fire +died down, when they spread their blankets upon their couches of soft +spruce twigs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SCHOONER REAPPEARS + + +It was early in the evening when after a toilsome march Mr. Barclay and +the boys reached a Siwash rancherie built just above high-water mark on +the pebbly beach of a sheltered inlet. Frank had already discovered that +the northern part of the Pacific Slope is a land of majestic beauty, but +he had so far seen nothing quite so wild and rugged as the surroundings +of the Indian dwelling. Behind it, a great rock fell almost sheer, +leaving only room for a breadth of shingle between its feet and the +strip of clear green water. On the opposite side mighty firs climbed the +face of a towering hill so steep that Frank wondered how they clung to +it, and at the head of the tremendous chasm a crystal stream came +splashing out of eternal shadow. Seaward a wet reef guarded the inlet's +mouth, with its outer edge hidden by spouts of snowy foam, upon which +the big Pacific rollers broke continually, ranging up in tall green +walls and crumbling upon the stony barrier with a deep vibratory roar +which rang in long pulsations across the stately pines. + +The rancherie was a long and rather ramshackle, single-storied, wooden +building not unlike a frame barn, only lower, and Frank discovered that +although it was inhabited by the whole Siwash colony there were no +divisions in it, but each inmate or family claimed its allotted space +upon the floor. A tall pole rudely carved with grotesque figures stood +in front of it, and it occurred to Frank as he inspected them that he +was face to face with the rudiments of heraldry. The nobles of ancient +Europe, he remembered, blazoned devices of this kind upon their shields, +and their descendants still painted their lions and griffins and eagles +upon their carriages and stamped them upon their note paper. He was +probably right in his surmises, though there are different views upon +the subject of totem poles, and the Siwash, who ought to know most about +them, seem singularly unwilling to supply inquirers with any reliable +information. + +A group of brown-faced, black-haired men and women dressed much as white +folks stood about the rancherie, and near them were ranged rows of +shallow trays of bark containing drying berries. Frank noticed that the +woods were full of the latter--hat berries, salmon berries, and splendid +black and yellow raspberries. Several big sea canoes were drawn up at +the edge of the water, and Mr. Oliver sat near one of them with another +cluster of Siwash gathered about him. They had spread a number of +peltries out upon the stones, which Mr. Oliver explained were seal +skins. Frank examined one, and found it difficult to believe that this +coarse, greasy, and nastily smelling hair was the material out of which +the beautiful glossy furs were made. He confided his views to Harry. + +"Yes," said the latter, "they're not much to look at now. They have to +go through quite a lot of dressing, and I've heard that in the first +place all the long outside hair is plucked out. There's an inner coat." +He looked at the men. "It's done in England, isn't it?" + +Mr. Barclay smiled. "A good deal of it is, anyway." Then he addressed +Mr. Oliver. "You're buying some of these peltries?" + +"One or two," was the answer. "We want an excuse for this visit." + +Mr. Barclay made a sign of assent, and after chaffering with the Indians +for a few moments Mr. Oliver broke in again: "They're cheap, that's +sure. I suppose these fellows would rather sell them on the spot for +dollars down than pack them along down to Alberni or some other place +where they'd probably have to take grocery stores in payment. If you're +open to make a deal we'll take two or three between us. We ought to get +our money back with something over in Victoria." + +Mr. Oliver kept up the bargaining for a while, and then explained that +he and his companion did not care for the rest of the skins, which were +inferior to those they had chosen. One of the Siwash thereupon informed +him that more canoes were expected in a day or two, adding that he would +probably be able to show them further peltries if they could wait their +arrival. + +"Tell him we'll stay," said Mr. Barclay. "At the same time you had +better ask him if there's any likelihood of our getting down to Victoria +by water. You can say we've had about enough crawling through the +bush--it's a fact that _I_ have--and lead up to the question naturally." + +Frank, observing a twinkle in Harry's eyes, watched the Indians' faces +when Mr. Oliver addressed them, but they remained perfectly +expressionless. + +"I can't get anything out of them about the schooner," Mr. Oliver +reported at length. "This fellow says the easiest way would be to send +our Indians back for the canoe, which I'll do. It's possible that we may +chance upon a little more information later on." + +"Where do they get the skins?" Frank asked presently, when the Indians +had left them. + +"That's a point they don't seem much inclined to talk about," Mr. +Barclay answered. "They probably follow them in their canoes as they +work up north, though it's only odd seals they pick up in that way. The +principal supply comes from the Pribyloff Islands up in the Bering Sea. +It's supposed that with the exception of a few which frequent some reefs +lying nearer Russian Asia practically all the seals in the North +Pacific haul out there for two or three months every year. The American +lessees club them on the land, but the crews of the Canadian schooners +kill a number in open water outside our limit. They claim that although +the seals are born on American beaches we don't own them when they're in +the sea, but, as it's suggested that they're not always very particular +about their exact distance from the islands, their proceedings make +trouble every now and then. I'm talking about the fur seals; there are +several other kinds which are more or less common everywhere." + +He broke off and sat smoking silently for a while, looking at the skins. + +"They seem to have taken your fancy," Mr. Oliver observed presently. + +"It's a fact," Mr. Barclay assented. "I was just thinking I'd like to +take that big one and the other yonder home with me. My daughter Minnie +visits East in the winter now and then, and she's fond of furs, though +so far I haven't been able to buy her any particularly smart ones. +There's a man I know in Portland who can fix up a skin as well as any +one in London. He was a good many years in Alaska trading furs for the +A. C. C., and some of the Russians who stayed behind there taught him to +dress them." + +Mr. Oliver laughed. "I suppose the thing is quite out of the question?" + +"It is," said Mr. Barclay dryly. "You ought to know that the United +States charges a big duty on foreign furs." + +"On foreign ones!" broke in Harry, nudging Frank. "A seal born on an +American beach could certainly be considered an American seal." + +"When you import goods into the United States you require a certificate +of origin, young man." + +"That fixes the thing," said Harry. "On your own showing, those seals +originated on the Pribyloffs. They're American." + +"Ingenious!" exclaimed Mr. Barclay, with a longing glance at the skins. +"There's some reason in that contention, but won't you go on? You don't +seem to have got through yet." + +"In case you felt justified in taking a skin or two," continued Harry +thoughtfully, "I'd like to point out that, as a rule, the Customs +fellows don't trouble about a sloop the size of ours. We just run up to +our moorings when we come back from a yachting trip, and there's a nice +little nook forward which would just hold a bundle of those peltries. +It's hidden beneath the second cable." + +Mr. Barclay picked up a piece of shingle and flung it at him. + +"You can stop right now before you get yourself into difficulties. What +do you mean by proposing a smuggling deal to a man connected with the +United States revenue?" + +"I'm sorry," Harry answered with a chuckle. "I should have waited until +the rest had gone." + +Mr. Barclay regarded him severely, though his eyes twinkled. + +"Your smartness is going to make trouble for you by and by," he said. +"Go and see what that Siwash is doing about our supper." + +Harry moved away, but presently came back to announce that the meal was +ready. When it was over the boys strolled off toward the reef, leaving +the men sitting smoking on the beach. + +"That boy of yours told me what seemed a rather curious thing last +night," said Mr. Barclay, and he briefly ran over what Harry had related +about the man with the peculiar shoulder. + +Mr. Oliver listened in evident astonishment. + +"It's the first time I've heard of the matter," he exclaimed. "What do +you make of it?" + +"In the meanwhile I don't quite know what to think. If that man is boss +of the gang it explains a good deal that has been puzzling me, but I +must own it's considerably more than I expected. The general idea was +that he'd cleared out of the country, which would have been a very +natural course in view of the fact that he'd probably have been +sandbagged if he'd show himself after dark on any wharf of two of the +coast states. Anyway, your son's description was quite straight. He +seemed sure of him." + +"Harry's eyes are as good as yours or mine," said Mr. Oliver with a +smile. Mr. Barclay wrinkled his brow. + +"There's a point that struck me--though I can't say if it explains the +thing. The boy's only young yet, he has imagination and, it's possible, +a fondness for detective literature, like the rest of them. Now we'll +assume that he had heard of a certain sensational case--a particularly +grewsome crime on board an American ship--and the arrest of the rascal +accused of it. I needn't point out that the fellow only escaped on a +technical point of law and that his picture figured in some of the +papers. Isn't that the kind of thing that's likely to make a marked +impression on the youthful mind?" + +"I can see two objections," responded Mr. Oliver. "In the first place, +Harry was away in Idaho while the case was going on. The second one's +more important. Harry might try to put the laugh on you, as he did not +long ago, but when he makes a concise statement it's to be relied upon. +In such a case I've never known him to let his imagination run away with +him." + +Mr. Barclay spread his hands out in a deprecatory manner. + +"Then we'll take the thing for granted, and it certainly simplifies the +affair. I'd no trouble in finding the Chinese colony, and though I've no +idea how they get the dope, that doesn't matter. The point is that it's +very seldom anybody is likely to disturb them in this part of the bush, +and there are two inlets handy. A schooner could slip in here a dozen +times without being noticed by anybody except the Siwash. Then we have +the fact that a notorious rascal who has evidently a hand in the thing +was seen heading for the Chinese colony. It seems to me decisive." + +"What are you going to do about it?" Mr. Oliver asked. + +"Wait and keep my eyes open. If it appears advisable I may communicate +with the Canadian authorities later on, though, of course, we must +contrive to get our hands on the fellows in American waters. I've an +idea it can be done." + +Mr. Oliver said nothing further, and by and by, when a thin haze rolled +down from the hillside and night closed in, they strolled toward the +rancherie, where they were given a strip of floor space not far from the +entrance. The boys came in a little later and lay down apart from them +and nearer the door, but Frank did not go to sleep. The rancherie was +hot and the dull roar of the combers on the reef came throbbing in and +made him restless. He lay still for what seemed a considerable time, and +at last there was a low sound which might have been made by somebody +rising stealthily, after which a dim black object flitted out of the +door. Then Harry, who lay close to him, touched his arm. + +"Are you asleep?" he asked very softly. + +"No," answered Frank. "Where's that fellow going?" + +"Get out as quietly as you can," was Harry's reply. + +Frank had kept his shirt and trousers on, and after feeling for his +boots he arose cautiously, holding them in his hand. In another moment +or two he had slipped out into the cool night air and was crossing the +shingle in his stockinged feet. Once or twice a stone rattled, but he +supposed the sound was lost in the clamor of the reef, for nobody seemed +to hear it. When they had left the rancherie some distance behind they +sat down. + +"Now," said Harry, "I'll tell you my idea. They're expecting the +schooner and don't want her to run in while we're about. They've +probably had a man on the lookout down by the entrance, and I expect the +fellow who went out has been sent by the boss or Tyee to learn if the +other one has seen her." + +"It's curious some of them didn't hear us," Frank observed thoughtfully. + +"I'm not sure that they didn't," Harry admitted. "Anyway, they couldn't +stop us without some excuse, and, if I'm right, they certainly wouldn't +want to tell us why they wished us to stay in. Of course," he added, "it +might make them suspicious, but I don't know any reason why we should +point that out to Barclay. The great thing is to keep out of sight in +case they follow us." + +They put on their boots and crept along in the gloom beneath the rock, +heading toward the reefs. A little breeze blew down the hollow, setting +the dark firs to sighing, and part of the inlet lay black in their +shadow. The rest sparkled in the light of a half-moon which had just +risen above the crest of the hill. They could hear the soft splash and +tinkle of water rippling among the stones, but now and then this sound +was drowned as the roar of the reef grew louder and deeper. Presently a +dim, filmy whiteness in front of them resolved itself into a glimmering +spray cloud and fountains of spouting foam, and when at length they +stopped among a cluster of wet boulders they could see a black ridge of +rock thrusting itself out, half buried, into a mad turmoil of frothing +water. It lay in the shadow of the rock, and there was no moonlight on +the ghostly combers which came seething down upon it. A little outshore, +however, the sea sparkled with a silvery radiance except where the +shadow of a black head fell upon it. There was not more than a moderate +breeze, but the Pacific surge breaks upon and roars about those reefs +continually. + +A little thrill ran through Frank as he leaned upon one of the wet +boulders. It was the first time he had trodden a Pacific beach, and he +realized that he had now reached the outermost verge of the West. He +could go no farther. The ocean barred his progress, and beyond it lay +different lands, whose dark-skinned peoples spoke in other tongues. The +white man's civilization stopped short where he stood. Then as he +watched the ceaseless shoreward rush of the big combers and looked up at +black rock and climbing pines, a strange delight in the new life he led +crept into his heart. Dusky shadow and silvery moonlight seemed filled +with glamour, and he was learning to love the wilderness as he could +never have loved the cities. Besides, he was there to watch for the +mysterious schooner, and that alone was sufficient to stir him and put a +tension on his nerves. It was more than possible that there were other +watchers hidden somewhere in the gloom. + +He did not know how long they waited, with the salt spray stinging their +faces and the diapason of the surf in their ears, but at last she came, +breaking upon his sight suddenly and strangely, as he felt it was most +fitting that she should do. Her black headsails swept out of the shadow +of the neighboring head, the tall boom-foresail followed, and a second +later he saw the greater spread of her after canvas. She drove on, +growing larger, into a strip of moonlight, when, for the wind was off +the shore, he saw her hull hove up on the side toward him, with the +water flashing beneath it and frothing white at her bows. + +"She's close-hauled," said Harry. "They'll stretch across to the other +side and then put the helm down and let her reach in. It's a mighty +awkward place to make when the wind's blowing out." + +She plunged once more into the shadow, but Frank could still see her +more or less plainly--a tall, slanted mass of canvas flitting swiftly +through the dusky blueness of the night. She edged close in with the +reef, still carrying everything except her main gaff-topsail, and then +as her headsails swept across the entrance the splash of a paddle +reached the boys faintly through the clamor of the surf and they heard a +hoarse shout. + +"There's a canoe yonder," announced Harry. "The Siwash in her is hailing +them. They've heard him. Her peak's coming down." + +A clatter of blocks broke out and the upper half of the tall mainsail +suddenly collapsed. Then the schooner's bows swung around a little until +they pointed to the seething froth upon the opposite beach. + +"What are they doing?" Frank asked. "She's going straight ashore." + +Harry laughed excitedly. "No," he said, "that Siwash has told them to +clear out again, and it will want smart work to get her round in this +narrow water. They've dropped the mainsail peak because she wouldn't +fall off fast enough." + +Frank watched her eagerly for the next moment or two. Her bows were +swinging around, but they were swinging slowly, and the beach with the +white surf upon it seemed ominously close ahead. He saw two black +figures go scrambling forward and haul the staysail to windward, but she +was still forging across the inlet. Then her bows fell off a little +farther, the trailing gaff swung out with a bang, and Frank saw the +masts fall into line with him and a bent figure behind the deckhouse +struggling with the wheel. In another moment her mainsail came over with +a crash and she was flitting out to sea again. + +"Now," cried Harry, "back up the beach for your life! We're going in +swimming!" + +"You can do what you like," grunted Frank. "I'm heading straight for the +rancherie." + +"After the swim," urged Harry. "Get a move on and loose your things as +you run. I'll explain later." + +He ran on, flinging off his clothes, and plunged into the water when +they drew near the rancherie. In another moment or two Frank waded in +after him and was glad he had done so when he heard the soft splash of a +canoe paddle somewhere in the gloom. He fancied that the Siwash would +see them, which, as he realized, was what Harry had desired. They were +some distance from the mouth of the inlet and he did not think the +schooner would have been visible from the spot, which led him to believe +that if the Indians had noticed their absence their present occupation +might serve as an excuse for it. + +He did not see the canoe reach the beach, but in two or three minutes +Harry suggested that they might as well go out, and putting on some of +their clothes they made for the rancherie. Creeping into it softly, they +lay down and soon afterward went to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A TEST OF ENDURANCE + + +The boys were sitting on the beach next morning after breakfast when Mr. +Oliver looked across at Harry, who had not yet said anything about their +adventures. + +"What were you two doing last night?" he asked casually. + +Harry started. "Then you heard us?" + +"I did," said his father. "You were out of the door before I quite +realized what was going on, and it didn't seem altogether wise to +commence talking when you came back, but that's not the point. You +haven't answered my question." + +"We went in swimming," Harry informed him with a grin. + +"Considering that most people would prefer to swim in daylight, I wonder +if you had any particular reason for choosing the middle of the night?" +mused Mr. Oliver thoughtfully. + +"Why, yes," was Harry's answer. "I've a notion it was rather a good one. +I wanted the Siwash to see us in the water, because it would explain the +thing. There were at least two of them about the beach, though only one +left the rancherie after we came into it." + +"Then the fellow must have gone out a good deal more quietly than you +did, because I didn't hear him. I suppose you felt you had to get after +him and see what he was doing?" + +Mr. Barclay smiled and waved his hand. + +"Sure," he broke in. "The temptation would be irresistible. What else +would you expect from two enterprising youngsters like these, who have +no doubt been studying detective literature and the exploits of other +young men in the brave old jayhawking days?" + +A flush crept into Harry's face, but he answered quietly: + +"Well, it's perhaps as well we went, because I can tell you what the +Siwash were watching for. We saw the schooner." + +Mr. Barclay gave a sudden start and cast a significant glance at Mr. +Oliver. + +"The dramatic climax! There's no doubt you have sprung it upon us +smartly, but now you have worked it off you can go ahead with the tale." + +Harry told him what they had seen and when he had finished Mr. Barclay +seemed to be considering the matter ponderously. Then he turned to Mr. +Oliver. + +"It seems to me there's nothing more to keep us here." + +"No," said the rancher. "On the other hand, it might, perhaps, be better +if we waited until those canoes arrive--if it's only for the look of the +thing." + +His companion made a sign of agreement and neither one said anything +further on the subject. The boys lounged about the beach and gathered +delicious berries in the woods most of the day, and on the following day +two more canoes ran in. Their crews had, however, traded off their +peltries somewhere else, and shortly after their arrival Mr. Oliver and +his party left the inlet in the canoe which he had sent the Indians back +to bring. The weather had changed in the night, and when they paddled +down the strip of sheltered water their ears were filled with the clamor +of the surf, and the hillsides were lost in thin drizzle and sliding +mist. A filmy spray cloud hung about the entrance, and beyond it big, +gray combers tipped with froth came rolling up in long succession. The +sight of them affected Frank disagreeably, and he was not astonished +when Mr. Oliver, who spoke to one of the Indians, suggested that he and +Harry had better help with the spare paddles until they were far enough +off shore to get the masts up. + +Frank found it hard enough work, for the sea was almost ahead and the +canoe lurched viciously, pitching her bows out. The crag beyond the +inlet, however, still slightly sheltered them, and straining at the +paddle with the rain in their faces they made shift to drive her over +the big, gray-sided ridges, though every now and then the frothing top +of one came splashing in. At length one of the Siwash lifted the short +mast forward into its place, and thrusting in the sprit, shook loose the +sail. His companion, who knelt aft gripping a long-bladed paddle, seized +the sheet, and the craft, gathering speed, headed out toward the point +to lee of them. When she had cleared it the Siwash raised a second mast +farther aft, and setting the sail upon it, slacked both sheets, after +which the canoe drove away at what seemed to Frank an astonishing pace. +As a matter of fact, she was traveling very fast, for a narrow, +shallow-bodied craft of that kind is very speedy so long as the wind is +more or less behind her. + +Sitting with his back against her hove-up weather side he noticed rather +uneasily that the opposite one was almost level with the brine. Then he +glanced astern at the combers that followed them, and was by no means +comforted by the sight. They were unlike the short, tumbling waves he +had seen already in land-locked water, for they were larger and longer, +and swept up with a kind of stately swing until they broke into seething +foam. Their rise and fall seemed measured, and they rolled on in their +ceaseless march in well-ordered ranks. It struck him that the canoe was +carrying a dangerous press of sail, but nobody else appeared disturbed, +and he admitted that the Indians probably knew how much it was safe to +spread. + +"Isn't she making a great pace?" he asked of Mr. Oliver, who sat nearest +him. + +"Yes," was the answer, "I've made two or three trips in these canoes, +but I never saw one driven quite so hard. These fellows are probably +afraid the breeze will freshen up, and want to get as far as possible +before it does." + +They ran on for a couple of hours, seeing nothing but the ranks of +tumbling combers, except at intervals when the haze thinned a little and +they made out a shadowy mass which might have been high and rocky land +over the port side. In the meanwhile the seas were steadily getting +bigger, and a good deal of water came in at irregular intervals. By and +by, the boys were kept busy bailing it out, and the Indian who was not +steering held the sheet of the larger sail. + +At length, when the tops of two or three seas splashed in over the +foam-washed stern in quick succession, the helmsman raised his hand and +there was a wild thrashing as his companion loosened the after-sheet. +Rolling the sail together he flung the mast down, and the canoe ran on +with only the forward one set, which seemed to Frank quite sufficient. +The sea was on her quarter, and each comber that came up boiled about +her in a great surge of foam, and heaved her up before it left her to +sink dizzily into the hollow. Each time she did so Frank was conscious +of a curious and unpleasant feeling in his interior. + +He had, however, no difficulty in eating his share of the crackers and +canned provisions Mr. Oliver presently handed around, and after that he +was kept too busy bailing to notice anything until late in the afternoon +when he heard the two Indians muttering to one another. The result of +the discussion was that one of them pulled the sprit out, and folding +down the peak left only a small three-cornered strip of sail. Frank +understood the cause for this when he glanced at the seas, which looked +alarmingly big. It was disconcerting to realize that they could take no +more sail off the canoe unless they lowered the mast altogether, and +where the beach was he could not tell. He had seen no sign of it for the +last two hours, and it was now raining viciously hard. + +Nobody seemed inclined to talk, and there was only the roar and splash +of the combers behind them as they drove wildly on, until when dusk was +close at hand the dim shadow of a hill rose up suddenly on one side of +them. Then the Indian hauled the sheet, and presently when the water +became smoother, called to his companion, who thrust the sprit up again. +After that the canoe put her lee side in every now and then, but very +soon a foam-fringed point stretched out ahead. They swept around it, and +after skirting a half-seen, rocky beach ran with spritsail thrashing +into a little basin down to which there crept rows of mist-wrapped +trees. + +Frank was thankful to get out when the helmsman ran her ashore, and the +work of assisting the Indians to chop branches and make a fire put a +little warmth into him. They made supper when darkness closed down, and +afterward the Indians erected a rude branch-and-bark shelter, while the +white men and the boys huddled together in the tent. It was better than +sitting in the foam-swept canoe, but Frank longed for the sloop's +low-roofed cabin. + +He went to sleep, however, wet as he was, and after an early breakfast +next morning they started again, with both spritsails up in torrential +rain. The water was comparatively smooth, though the doleful moaning of +the firs fell from the half-seen hills, and Mr. Oliver announced that +the entrance to the canal they had come down was not far away. Frank had +learned that on the Pacific Slope canal generally means a natural arm +of the sea. + +They reached its entrance presently, sailing close-hauled, and on +stretching across it the canoe plunged viciously on a short, +white-topped sea. The wind was blowing straight down the deep rift in +the hills, and Frank remembered with regret that Alberni stood a long +way up at the head of the inlet. They came back on the other tack, +making almost nothing, and the Siwash pulled the masts down before one +of them spoke to Mr. Oliver. + +"I suppose they can't get the canoe to windward?" suggested Mr. Barclay. + +"He says we'll have to paddle," Mr. Oliver answered. "There seem to be +four paddles in her and that will leave two of us to relieve the rest in +turn." + +Harry and Frank took the first spell with the Indians, and they had had +enough of it before an hour had passed. The wind was dead ahead of them, +and though they crept in close with the beach they were met by little, +spiteful seas. It was necessary to fight for every fathom, thrashing her +slowly ahead by sheer force of muscle. Frank's hands were soon sore and +one knee raw from pressing it against the craft's bottom. He got hot and +breathless, the rain was in his face, and his side began to ache, and it +was a vast relief to him when Mr. Oliver finally took his place. + +The mists were thinning when he sat down limply in the bottom of the +craft, and great rocky hills and dusky firs crawled slowly by, except +when now and then a fiercer gust swept down, whitening all the inlet, +and they barely held their own by desperate paddling. Then as it dropped +a little they forged ahead again. It was dreary as well as very arduous +work, but there was no avoiding it, for their provisions were almost +gone and there was no trail of any kind through the bush. Frank felt +that even paddling into a strong head wind was better than smashing +through continuous thorny brakes and floundering over great fallen logs. + +One hand commenced to bleed when he next took his turn, but that was, as +he realized, not a matter of much importance. They had to reach Alberni +sometime next day, and his chief concern was how it could be done. Then +the pain in his side set in again and became rapidly worse, and he set +his lips tight as he swung gasping with each stroke of the splashing +blade. They won a foot or so each time the paddles came down, and it was +somewhat consoling to recognize it. He felt that if he had been called +upon to do this kind of thing after sleeping wet through upon the ground +when he first came out he would have immediately collapsed, but he was +steadily acquiring the power to disregard bodily fatigue. + +There was no change as the day slipped by. It rained pitilessly, and the +wind continually headed them as they labored on wearily with set, wet +faces and straining muscles. The stroke must not slacken, for the moment +it grew feebler the canoe would drive astern. They kept it up until +nightfall, and then beaching the canoe lay down once more in the tent, +which strained in the wind. They were aching all over when they rose +next morning, and the work was still the same, but they reached Alberni, +worn out, early in the evening. It was a very small place then, though +it afterward sprang up into a mining town. Two or three ranch houses +stood in their clearings beside a crystal river, and a few more +buildings clustered at the head of the inlet half hidden in the bush. +There was a store and a frame hotel among them, and Mr. Oliver, who took +up quarters in the latter, told the boys that the stage would start on +the following morning. The Indians were given shelter in one of the +outbuildings, and the hotelkeeper insisted on locking up the dog, who +growled at everybody about the place. + +"I'm not scared of dogs," he explained, "but that one of yours won't let +me get about my own house. Besides, I guess he'd eat some of those +Chinamen before morning if you leave him loose." + +They were standing near a window, and Mr. Oliver glanced at one or two +blue-clad figures lounging under the dripping trees. + +"You seem to have a number of them about," he remarked. "I saw another +lot as I came in. What are they doing here?" + +"Stopping for the night," was the answer. "They're camping in a barn of +mine and going on to the gold creek at sun-up, though they may start +earlier if the rain stops. Quite a few of them have come in over the +trail lately." + +"Then there must be a regular colony in the bush," broke in Mr. Barclay, +who had strolled up. + +"No," replied the hotelkeeper, "that's the curious thing. They keep on +coming in by threes and fours, but Blake from the ranch higher up the +river was through that way not long ago, and he said he didn't see many +of them yonder. About two dozen, he figured, but more than that have +come through here to my certain knowledge." + +"It looks as if the gold-washing didn't pay and the rest had gone on +somewhere," Mr. Barclay suggested carelessly. + +The hotelkeeper looked bewildered. "Well," he said, "this is the only +trail to the settlements, and they certainly haven't come back this way. +It's mighty rough traveling through the bush, as you ought to know." + +Mr. Barclay smiled ruefully as he glanced down at his torn clothing and +badly damaged boots. "That's a sure thing. Besides, they'd have their +truck to pack along, which would make it more difficult. Those fellows +generally bring a lot of odds and ends with them." + +"Oh, yes," assented the hotelkeeper. "Most of them have their slung +baskets on poles. Anyway, I've no fault to find with them. They make no +trouble." + +He walked off, and when Mr. Barclay and Mr. Oliver went out, Harry gave +a triumphant glance at Frank. + +"Now," he said, "you see what our friend has found out without giving +himself away. The question is, where do those Chinamen who don't stay +with the gold-washing get to?" + +Frank laughed. "I expect Barclay could give you an answer. There's +another thing he could probably guess at, and that's what they've got in +some of those slung baskets." + +Then they moved back toward the lighted stove, for the rain drove +against the frame walls and it was damp and chilly in the big bare +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A MIDNIGHT VISITOR + + +It was getting dark when the boys retired to their room, in which two +beds were standing at opposite corners. Harry chose the one nearest the +door, and they left the window open. The room was, as usual in such +places, very scantily furnished, but it appeared very comfortable after +their camps in the dripping bush, and Frank found it a luxury to get his +clothes off and lie down upon a comparatively soft mattress. + +A draught blew in at intervals through the window, and the door, which +would not shut, swung to and fro. It was raining as hard as ever, for +Frank could hear a muffled roar upon the shingled roof, and the pines +outside were wailing dolefully. He soon went to sleep, however, but was +awakened later by the sound of voices and a soft patter of feet below. +The rain seemed to have stopped at last, though he could hear a heavy +splashing from the branches of the firs close by, and he fancied that +the Chinamen must be starting. There was, however, no sign of morning +when he glanced toward the window, which showed only as a faintly +lighter square in the surrounding obscurity. In fact, it seemed +unusually dark, which struck him as curious, since there was a moon, but +the hotel stood in a valley shrouded by giant trees and he supposed that +the sky was thick with cloud. + +He heard the voices grow fainter and the footsteps gradually recede +until they were lost in the moaning of the pines, and he felt that he +did not envy the Chinamen their journey. He wondered why they had not +waited until sunrise before starting, and then remembered that a rancher +he had met had told him that a trail led out of the settlement for some +distance. He supposed it would be light before the Chinamen should reach +the end of it and plunge into the forest. About a quarter of an hour had +slipped away when, lying half asleep, he thought that he heard some one +in the room. He could see nothing but the window, and could hear little +else than the sound of the wind among the trees, but raising himself +very cautiously on one elbow he distinctly heard a faint sound that +suggested a stealthy movement. This seemed very curious, for he felt +almost certain that if his companion had had any idea of trying to find +out something about the Chinamen he would have told him, besides which, +the Chinamen had gone. + +While he lay still listening with tingling nerves there was a soft +scraping and presently a very pale blue flame broke out, showing a +shadowy figure in a loose robe bending over Harry's bed with a light in +its hand. Frank did not pause to consider what the stranger's intentions +might be, but reached for his boot, which was a heavy one, and flung it +with all his might at the shadowy object's head. It struck the boarded +wall with a startling crash, the light suddenly went out, and he sprang +from his bed in the darkness with a cry of "Harry!" + +"Well," said his companion drowsily, "what's the matter?" + +"Where's the Chinaman?" shouted Frank, darting toward the door. + +He ran out into a passage with Harry blundering half awake behind him, +and noticed that there was an open window near the door which had been +shut when he had last seen it. On reaching it he espied what seemed to +be the roof of a low outbuilding not far below, but there was very +little else to be seen except the loom of the dusky pines which were +beginning to stand out against the sky. Then he heard a rush of +pattering feet and a yelp on the stairway close by, and a furry body +flung itself against his knee. He recognized the dog, who almost +immediately darted into the room. It came out again, sprang to the +window ledge, and bounded to the roof beneath. He heard a soft thud on +the shingles and a bark that sounded farther off, and then for a moment +or two there was silence again. + +It was broken by the sound of a door flung open, and Mr. Barclay came +along the passage very lightly dressed, with a lamp in his hand. Telling +them to follow, he walked into the boys' room, and placed the lamp on a +bureau before he sat down on the nearest bed. + +"Now," he asked, "what's the cause of this commotion?" + +"I don't know," said Harry. "Perhaps Frank can tell you. He seems to +have been throwing his boots about." + +Frank, a little nettled, narrated what he had seen. Mr. Barclay smiled. + +"You say the man was standing by Harry's bed," he observed. "Did you +notice if he had a big knife in his hand?" + +"He'd nothing but a match," Frank answered shortly. + +"Now that's curious," said Mr. Barclay. "Do you suppose he meant to set +the bed on fire, or have you any idea what he was doing?" + +Frank heard a slight sound and looking around saw Mr. Oliver standing in +the doorway, while just then a shout came down the passage, apparently +from the hotelkeeper. + +"What's the trouble? Is there anything wrong?" + +"We're trying to find out," Mr. Barclay replied. "It doesn't seem to be +serious, anyway." + +"Then I'll put a few clothes on before I come along," said the voice, +and a door banged. + +"He seemed to be looking down at Harry's face," said Frank, who saw +that Mr. Barclay was waiting an answer. + +Mr. Barclay now turned and favored Harry with a critical gaze. + +"I can't understand what the fellow wanted to do that for." Then he +smiled back at Frank. "These are decadent days. He wouldn't have got +away with his scalp on if he'd come creeping into the room of the James +boys." + +Harry flushed. "I suppose you mean to hint that Frank imagined it all, +sir? Well, he told you the man struck a match, and though sulphur +matches don't give much light they make a considerable smell. Do you +notice any particular odor in this room?" Then he stooped suddenly and +picked up a half-burned match. "What do you make of this? I haven't +struck one." + +Mr. Barclay examined the match with an abstracted expression, and while +he did so the dog pattered into the room wagging his tail in a +deprecatory manner, as if to excuse himself for not overtaking the +intruder. He jumped distractedly around the boys for a moment and then +crouched down upon the floor with a short length of broken cord trailing +from his collar. Mr. Oliver pointed to it with an amused smile. + +"It seems to me the dog must have imagined something of the same kind as +Frank did," he observed. + +By this time the hotelkeeper arrived and gazed on with astonishment +while Mr. Barclay briefly explained the cause of the commotion. + +"I've never heard anything like this since I've been in the place," he +declared. "The Chinamen are out on the trail now. Better see if you have +lost anything." + +The couple of dollars that Frank had brought with him proved to be still +in his pocket, and Harry fished out the dollar which belonged to him. +His cheap watch was safe beneath his pillow, and Frank declared that he +had left his silver one at the ranch. This appeared to make the matter +more inexplicable to the hotelkeeper. + +"If the fellow had gone off with something, I could have understood it," +he said in a puzzled way. + +"It's most likely that Frank saw him almost immediately after he came +in," said Mr. Oliver. "As he pitched his boot at him, the man was +probably startled and got out without wasting any time in looking round. +Then the dog broke loose and went after him." + +The hotelkeeper agreed with this and shortly afterward Mr. Oliver, +telling the boys not to trouble themselves any further about the matter, +followed him out with Mr. Barclay. They turned into the latter's room, +where Mr. Oliver sat down. + +"I imagine that Frank's notion is correct," he said. "As Harry told you, +he and Frank once paid a visit to the Chinese camp near our ranch where +he saw the man with the high shoulder and followed him to a shack from +which he disappeared. If the Chinaman who crept into the room chanced to +have been about the camp when the boys were there, it's quite possible +that he did wish to see Harry's face." + +"That," Mr. Barclay admitted, "is my own opinion, though it seemed wiser +not to impress it on the boys. I don't suppose you want them to get to +making any investigations on their own account?" + +"No," rejoined Mr. Oliver. "On the other hand, they've taken a certain +part in the matter already. In fact, it might have been better if I'd +left them behind. The trouble is that if the Chinaman recognized Harry +it would probably give him some idea as to why we made this visit." + +Mr. Barclay nodded his head. "Yes," he said. "It's a pity, but, after +all, I'm rather glad I made this trip. It's going to prove worth while." + +Nothing further was said on the subject and silence settled down again +on the hotel. There was bright sunshine when the party started with the +stage next morning, and after spending the night at a little colliery +town they took the train south. Getting off at a small station they +found the sloop safe in the cove where they had left her. Mr. Barclay, +however, went on with the peltries to Victoria, which was not far away, +and there managed to dispose of them, after which he hired a horse and +rode back to the inlet. They set sail as soon as he arrived, and after +two days of light winds duly reached the cove near the ranch. + +A few months slipped by peacefully. The smugglers showed no sign of +further activity, and Mr. Oliver got his oat crop in undisturbed. One +way or another he kept the boys busy from morning until night, but at +last when the maple leaves were beginning to turn he told them to take +their rifles and go hunting, and they set off one morning after +breakfast. + +It was a still, clear morning, and now that the fall was drawing on +there was a change in the bush. Here and there a maple leaf caught a ray +of sunshine and burned like a crimson lamp, the fern was growing yellow, +and the undergrowth was splashed and spattered with flecks of varying +color. Even the light in the openings seemed different. It was at once +softer and clearer than the glare of summer, and the shadows seemed +thinner and bluer than they had been. But there was no difference in the +great black firs. They lifted their fretted spires high against the sky, +as they had done for centuries, and they would remain the same until the +white man's ax should sweep the wilderness away. + +The boys were floundering waist-deep in withered fern and tangled +undergrowth when they heard a rustling and scurrying somewhere near +their feet, and Harry, breaking off a rotten branch from a fallen fir, +hurled it into a neighboring thicket. + +"A fool hen!" he shouted. "Jump round this bush, and try to put it up." + +Frank fell into the thicket in his haste, but he still heard the +scurrying in front of him when he scrambled to his feet. He kicked a +clump of fern, and there was no doubt that something rushed away from +underneath it, after which he plunged through the brake with Harry some +yards away on one side of him, but there was nothing visible. They +hunted the unseen creature for what he supposed was about ten minutes +with no better result. Then a plainly colored bird about the size of a +pigeon rose from almost under his feet and flew to a fir branch some +twenty yards away, where it perched and looked down at its pursuers +unconcernedly. + +"It doesn't seem scared now," said Frank in astonishment. + +"It isn't," Harry answered with a laugh. "The thing feels quite safe +once it's on a branch. I guess that's why it's called the fool hen, +though its proper name is the willow grouse. Walk up and try a shot at +it--only you must cut its head off." + +Frank crept up nearer with a caution which was wholly unnecessary, for +the bird did not seem to mind him in the least when he stopped close +beneath it and pitched his rifle to his shoulder, but as he gazed at it +over the half-moon of the rearsight it seemed to him that its neck was +exceedingly small. He could not keep the forebead fixed on it, and +bringing the rifle down he rested before he tried it again. Then he felt +the butt thump his shoulder and the barrel jerk, and a little wisp of +smoke drifted across his eyes and hung about the bushes. When it +cleared, the grouse, to his astonishment, was sitting on the branch as +calmly as ever. + +"It likes it," said Harry. "Try again--only at its neck." + +Trying again, Frank succeeded in inducing the bird to move to a +neighboring branch, after which he braced himself with desperate +determination for the third attempt. This time the jar upon his shoulder +was followed by a soft thud, and he understood why he had been warned +to shoot only at its neck when he picked up his victim. The big .44 +bullet had horribly shattered it. + +"Could _you_ have shot its head off?" he asked after he had thrown it +down in disgust. + +"Why, yes," said Harry. "Anyway, I can generally manage it if the thing +sits still. Most of the bush ranchers could do it every time." + +He made this good presently when they found another bird, for it dropped +at his first shot without its head. Half an hour later they saw a blue +grouse perched rather high up in a cedar. + +"This fellow won't sit to be fired at," Harry explained. "Better try it +kneeling where you are, if you can get the foresight up enough." + +Frank knelt with his right foot tucked under him and his left elbow on +his knee. It steadied the rifle considerably, but he had to cramp +himself a little to raise the muzzle. Holding his breath he squeezed the +trigger when a part of the bird filled up the curve of the rearsight, +but he was mildly astonished when Harry walked toward him with the +grouse in his hand. + +"I guess this one could be cooked," he said dubiously. "We'll take it +along." + +Frank surveyed his victim with a thrill of pride. It was larger than the +willow grouse. In fact, it seemed to him a remarkably big and handsome +bird in spite of the hole in it, and he thrust it into the flour bag on +his back with unalloyed satisfaction. + +"Is this the thing that makes the drumming in the spring?" he asked. + +Harry said that it was, and they scrambled through the bush for a couple +of hours without seeing anything further, until they approached a swampy +hollow with a steep hillside over which the undergrowth hung unusually +thick. + +"There ought to be a black bear yonder; they like the wild cabbage," +said Harry. "We'll try to crawl in. It's a pity there isn't a little +wind ahead of us." + +They spent half an hour over the operation, and Frank realized that +trailing had its drawbacks when he found that it entailed burrowing +among thorny thickets and crawling across quaggy places on his hands and +knees. In spite of his caution sticks would snap and it seemed to his +strung-up imagination that he was making a prodigious noise. At last, +however, there was another sound some distance in front of him which +suddenly became louder. + +"A bear, sure," cried Harry excitedly. "Going off up hill. Shoot if you +can see it." + +Frank gazed intently ahead, but could see absolutely nothing, though he +could hear a smashing and crashing which presently died away again on +the slope. Then Harry brought down his rifle and turned away. + +"You can generally hear a black bear," he said. "He goes straight and +rips right through the things a deer would jump. He's a kind of harmless +beast, anyway." + +"Could we find a deer?" Frank asked, his hopes still high. + +"We'll try when we've had dinner," replied his companion. "I haven't +seen any lately, though that doesn't count for much, because it would be +possible not to notice one if the woods were full of them. Still, they +seem to have a way of clearing right out of the country every now and +then for no particular reason. The bear and the timber wolves do the +same thing." + +They ate their dinner sitting among the roots of a big cedar, while a +gorgeous green and red woodpecker climbed about a neighboring trunk. +Then Harry stood up and shouldered his rifle. + +"After this we'll leave the birds alone," he announced. "You don't want +to make a noise when you're trailing deer." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +FRANK KILLS A DEER + + +They plodded through the bush for an hour or two without seeing any +living thing except a few pigeons, and Harry began to look doubtful. + +"If it was early morning, I'd try one of the rock outcrops where nothing +grows," he observed. "The deer get up on to those places out of the dew +then. As it's afternoon, I don't know which way to head." + +Frank glanced at his clothes. Keen as he was on hunting, he would not +have been sorry to head for home, for his duck trousers were badly torn +and one of his boots which had been rather the worse for wear when he +started was almost dropping off his foot. They trudged on, however, and +accident favored them, as it often does when one is hunting, for at last +when they were in very thick bush Harry dropped suddenly behind a patch +of withered fern. + +"Look there!" he said softly. "Right ahead of you yonder." + +Frank gazed ahead with straining eyes, but he could only see the great +trunks stretching back in serried ranks. He had heard somewhat to his +astonishment that it is not often that a novice can see a deer in the +bush even when it is pointed out to him, but now, it seemed, the thing +was true. He could have declared that there was not a deer anywhere +within the range of his vision. + +"Right in front," whispered Harry, impatiently. "About seventy yards +off. Oh, look yonder!" + +He stretched his hand out and at last Frank noticed what seemed to be a +very slightly different colored strip of something behind a narrow +opening in a thicket. It might have been withering fern, or a cluster of +fading leaves, but he would never have imagined it to be a portion of a +deer. Then his doubts vanished, for it suddenly moved. + +"Where shall I shoot?" he asked beneath his breath. + +"At the bottom of the bit you can see," was the low answer. + +Frank threw up his rifle. He was too eager to kneel or lie down, and it +scarcely seemed probable that the deer would wait until he was +comfortably ready. He lined the sights on a twig immediately in front of +the object, and though his hands had quivered he found them growing +steadier as he squeezed the trigger. He heard no report, but there was a +crash in the thicket as the smoke came drifting back, and Harry ran +forward with a shout. + +"Come on!" he cried. "You've hit it!" + +Frank ran his fastest, though running of any kind was extraordinarily +difficult. In places the withered fern was higher than his head and +there seemed to be innumerable bushes in his way, while when he +endeavored to avoid them he generally came upon a giant tree which had +to be scrambled around. Still, there was no doubt that the deer was not +far off, for he could hear it floundering through the brakes and fern, +and by and by he came upon a trail of red splashes scattered here and +there upon the leaves. + +"It's hit bad," panted Harry. "If we can hold out we'll get it yet." + +They did their utmost for the next half hour, but they never once saw +the deer, which by the decreasing sound seemed to be drawing away from +them, and Frank felt that it would be impossible for him to keep up the +pace many minutes longer. He was breathless, and dripping with +perspiration, and his clothes were torn all over. Indeed, eager as he +was, it was almost a relief when the sound in front of him gradually +died away, and Harry stopped, gasping, and leaned against a fir. + +"What are we going to do about it now?" Frank asked. + +"Trail that deer," was the breathless answer. "It's not going very far. +You can tell by the noise it made that it was hit too bad to jump." + +Frank was of the opinion that it had gone quite far enough already, but +he silently watched Harry, who began to walk up and down, looking +carefully about him. + +"It went through this bush," he said at length. "After that it must have +crossed the fern yonder." Then scrambling forward he waved his hand. +"Come on! The trail's quite plain." + +Frank followed him with some trouble and once more saw the red splashes +on the leaves. Now and then they lost them for a little while and the +undergrowth did not seem to have been disturbed, but on each occasion +Harry contrived to find the spots again. He traced them from place to +place, moving more slowly and cautiously, while Frank painfully broke +through the thickets in his wake. They were both nearly exhausted when +an hour after the shot was fired they came to a little creek. + +"It lay down here," said Harry. "We'll stop a minute or two. Guess that +deer's 'most as played out as we are." + +This seemed very probable to Frank as he glanced at the broad red smear +upon the damp soil, and for the first time he was troubled by a sense of +compunction as he realized that there were two sides to hunting. The +pursuers' labor was severe enough, but he could imagine what the flight +must have cost the sorely wounded creature who had so far managed to +keep in front of them. He was scratched and torn and exhausted, but at +least he was sound in limb, while the deer must have staggered on in +anguished terror with its life steadily draining from the cruel bullet +hole. Somewhere in his mind there was now a wish that he had not made so +good a shot. + +"Do you think we're far behind it?" he asked. + +"I don't, but that doesn't count," answered Harry. "We have to follow +it, anyway. I remember when I got my first deer. Dad was with me, and +before I fired he asked if I thought I could hit it where I wanted. I +said I did, and he told me to make sure, because if the beast got away +with a bullet in it I'd have to trail it until it dropped." He stopped +with a significant laugh. "As it happened, we followed it close on three +hours, through the thickest kind of bush, and--I wasn't so big then--it +was mighty hard work to get back to the ranch afterward." + +Frank fancied that in the present case he might drop before the deer +did, though he realized that Mr. Oliver's rule was in one way a merciful +one and undoubtedly calculated to encourage careful shooting. When he +had recovered his breath a little they started again, but it was half an +hour later when they caught a glimpse of the deer painfully laboring +through a clump of fern on the slope of a steep rise. Harry pitched up +his rifle, and though the animal disappeared again immediately after +they fired, they knew it was still going on by the snapping of twigs and +the rustling in the fern. + +Harry was sure that he had hit it, and making a last effort, they broke +into a run which Frank remembered for a considerable time afterward. The +slope seemed to be getting remarkably steep, he could scarcely see a +dozen yards in front of him through the undergrowth, and several times +he stuck fast for a moment or two in tangled thickets. Then he fell into +a horrible tangle of rotting branches, dropping his rifle and bruising +himself cruelly, and he only succeeded in forcing himself along because +his companion shouted breathlessly that the deer was rapidly flagging. +Frank could hear it very plainly now. + +At last when they reached the summit of the rise it came out into open +view for a moment. The bush was thinner there, with less growth between +the trees, and he saw the animal limp out from a thicket, dragging an +injured limb. He flung up his rifle, and Harry who was a little in front +fired almost as he did. The deer staggered, made a feeble bound, and +vanished as if the earth had opened under it. A moment or two later +Harry stopped with a hoarse, gasping shout. + +Frank stumbled forward and found him standing on the brink of what +seemed to be a very deep ravine, the almost precipitous sides of which +were shrouded in young firs and densely growing bushes. Harry was gazing +dubiously into the gully. + +"I don't quite know how we're going to get down, but we'll have to try," +he said. "The deer's at the bottom done for, and I don't feel like going +home and telling dad we left it. Besides, it's quite likely he might +send us back for it." + +"Then if it has to be done, we may as well get about it," said Frank +wearily. + +Slinging his rifle, he crawled over the edge and went sliding and +slipping down for about a dozen yards until he fell into the branches of +a young fir. After that he plunged into several bushes before he could +stop again, and eventually lowered himself foot by foot, clutching at +whatever seemed strong enough to hold him, until he alighted knee-deep +in a splashing creek. Nearby the deer lay motionless where it had fallen +upon the stones. It was a beautifully symmetrical creature, but it +seemed to Frank smaller than he had expected. + +"A young black-tail," said Harry. "Anyway, that's what we call them, +though I believe it's really the mule-deer. There's another black-tail. +We've got the deer names kind of mixed up on the Pacific Slope." + +Frank regarded the animal dubiously. "It seems to me the most important +question is how we're going to get it home." + +"Pack it," answered Harry. "But I'd better open it up first. You can sit +down while I do it, if you'd rather." + +Frank would very much have preferred to sit down out of sight while the +deer was dressed, but it occurred to him that it would scarcely be +fitting to leave the disagreeable part of the work to his companion. + +"No," he persisted, "I'll help as much as I can." + +"Well," said Harry dryly, "if you want to go hunting it's a thing you'll +have to learn." + +The operations that followed were singularly unpleasant, and Frank felt +a good deal less enthusiastic about hunting when he washed his hands and +the sleeves of his jacket in the creek after they were over. + +"I don't know if I'll eat any of that deer," he said. + +"You'll get over it," Harry assured him with a smile. "Anyway, in my +opinion deer meat isn't much of a delicacy. It's that stringy you could +'most make lariats of it, unless you keep it until it's bad." + +Frank felt inclined later to agree with this statement, but in the +meanwhile Harry got the deer, which he had not yet skinned, upon his +shoulders with its fore legs pulled over in front of him, and they +started back for the ranch. It was, however, some time before they could +find a way out of the gulch, and then they only gained the summit by an +arduous scramble. After that they found themselves in exceedingly thick +bush, with nothing that Frank could see to guide them. There was +probably not much light at any time down among those great trunks whose +branches met and crossed high overhead, and what there was seemed to be +getting dim. + +"If we keep on going down we'll strike something by and by," urged +Harry. "The slope's naturally toward the beach." + +The first thing they struck was a remarkably steep hillside, up which +they struggled, Frank now carrying the deer, which he found heavy enough +before he reached the top. Then a narrow valley opened up before them, +which did not seem to be what Harry had expected. There were one or two +ponds in the bottom of it, and he gazed at them thoughtfully. + +"We might get a duck," he mused. "They ought to be coming down from +Alaska now. It's freezing up there." + +They floundered down the declivity, and, though Frank would have +preferred to push on straight for home, Harry insisted on creeping +through the long harsh grass about the edge of the water. They tried one +of the ponds with no result, but at last Harry dropped suddenly behind a +tall clump of grass. + +"Look!" he said. "There are two or three ducks yonder. You take the +nearest. Keep the foresight as fine as you can." + +Frank saw one or two small objects floating just outside the grass +across the pond. They seemed to be a very long way off, and though he +feared that he could not keep the sights upon any of them standing, the +ground looked horribly quaggy to kneel in. This could not be helped, +however, for it seemed that getting wet and torn did not count when one +was hunting, and he pressed his right knee down into the mire. He could +just see one of the ducks when he closed his left eye, and he had +misgivings as to the result when he squeezed the trigger. Harry's rifle +flashed immediately after his, there was a rattle of wings and a +startled quacking, and he saw two ducks with long necks stretched out +fly off above the trees. Another seemed to be lying on the water, and +remembering the size of the bullet, he had no fear of that one getting +away. + +"The next thing is to get it," said Harry. "It's not going to be easy." + +He was perfectly right. They spent a long while struggling around the +pond, into which they had to wade nearly waist-deep before Harry +contrived to rake the duck in toward him with the muzzle of his rifle. +It did not look a sightly object when he had secured it, but he decided +that there was enough of it left to eat. + +"Is it the one you shot at?" he asked with a grin. + +"I can't say," Frank answered. "I shouldn't be surprised if it wasn't." + +"Well," said Harry, "we're not going to quarrel about the thing. What we +have to do is to make a bee-line home. We'll come along again in a week +or two. The ponds are full of ducks for a little in the spring and +fall." + +"Only then?" + +"They're not so plentiful between-whiles," Harry answered. "Of course, +our worst winters aren't marked by the cold snaps you have back East, +and quite a few of the ducks stay with us, while some put in the summer, +too; but in a general way every swimming bird of any size heads north to +the tundra marshes by the Polar Sea in spring. In the fall they come +back again, how far I don't know--lower California, Mexico, perhaps, +right away to Bolivia and Peru. Going and coming, the big flocks stop +around here to rest a while." He smiled at his companion. "A mallard +duck's a little thing, but he covers a considerable sweep of country." + +He picked up the deer and they went on again, but darkness overtook them +before they reached the ranch, utterly worn out, with most of their +garments rent to tatters; and Frank, who had carried the deer the last +mile or two, gave a gasp of relief when he laid it down. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +MR. WEBSTER'S GUNS + + +It was about a week after the boys' hunting trip when Mr. Oliver's +nearest neighbor, Mr. Webster, drove up to the ranch in a dilapidated +wagon. It was dark when he arrived, for the days were rapidly getting +shorter. When Jake had taken his horse away he laid what appeared to be +a small armory on the kitchen table and sat down by the stove. He was a +young man with a careless, good-humored expression, and Harry aside +informed Frank that his ranch was not much of a place. + +"I've brought you my guns along," said Mr. Webster, addressing Mr. +Oliver, and then looked down at the dog, who had walked up to him in the +meanwhile and now stood regarding him with its head on one side. +"Hello!" he added, patting it, "I'd 'most forgotten you. You have +managed to put up with him, Miss Oliver?" + +Miss Oliver said that she had grown fond of him, and the dog, after +standing up with a paw upon the man's knee, dropped down on all fours at +the sound of her voice and trotted back to her without waiting for +another pat. + +"I always had a notion he was an ungrateful as well as an ordinary +beast," said Mr. Webster. "Would you have fancied my dog would leave me +like that after all I've done for him? I guess I've laid into him with +'most everything about the ranch from the grubhoe handle to the riding +quirt." + +Mr. Oliver laughed. "But why have you brought your guns?" + +"For you to take care of. My place gets damp in winter without the stove +on and I'm going away for a month or two. I've taken on a log-bridge +contract with a fellow I used to work with, on one of the new settlement +roads. The man who's been clearing land up the creek took the few head +of stock I had off my hands and the fruit trees will grow along all +right without worrying anybody until I get back again. If one hadn't to +do so much cutting every now and then, they'd be a long sight handier +than raising stock." + +"Well," Mr. Oliver assured, "I think we can promise to look after the +guns. I didn't know you had so many of them." + +Mr. Webster arose and walked toward the table. "Though I never was a +great shot, guns are rather a hobby of mine. I needn't say anything +about these two--single-shot Marlin, Winchester repeater--but the +old-timers seem to have a notion that a man must excuse himself for +keeping a scatter gun. This"--and he picked up what seemed to Frank a +handsome single barrel--"is a thing I bought for a few dollars last time +I was in Portland. I allowed she would do to keep the pigeons off my +oats. Not much of a gun, but she throws out the shell." Then he took up +a double gun with the brown rubbed off the barrels, leaving bright +patches. "This one's different; there's some tone about her. A sport I +once had boarding with me gave her to me when he went away. Said I'd +given him a great time, and as he was fixed, it might be two or three +years before he could get out into the woods again." + +He sat down on the table and looked over with a smile at the boys. "I +don't know any reason why you two shouldn't have those guns until I come +back; they'll keep better if they're used and rubbed out once in a +while, and there's a box of shells in the wagon. You can't call yourself +a sport until you can drop a flying bird with the scatter gun, and +there's considerably more to it than most of the old-timers who can +only plug a deer with a rifle seem to think." + +He evidently noticed the interest in Frank's face, for he proceeded to +demonstrate, standing up with the double gun held across him a little +above his waist. + +"Now," he added, "you don't want to aim, poking the gun about. You keep +it down and your eyes on the bird, until you're ready, and then pitch it +up right on the spot first time--it's better with both eyes open, if you +can manage it." The gun went in to his shoulder and Frank heard the +striker click, after which the man swung the muzzle half a foot or so. +"Say you missed. You've still got the second barrel--" + +They heard no more, for there was an appalling crash, a short cry from +Miss Oliver, and a yelp from the dog who jumped into the air, while a +filmy cloud of smoke drifted about the room. When it cleared Mr. +Webster, who had opened the door, sat down on the table looking very +sheepish and turned toward Miss Oliver. + +"I'm sorry--dreadful sorry," he observed contritely. "I hadn't the least +notion there was anything in the thing." + +Mr. Oliver glanced at the ragged hole high up in the log wall and then +looked at Mr. Webster with ironical amusement in his eyes. + +"Your instructions were good as far as they went, but you have forgotten +one rather important point." He turned to the boys. "It's this. Never +bring a gun of any kind into a house without first opening the magazine +or breach, and if there's a shell in it, immediately take it out. It's a +precaution that's as simple as it's effective, and though there was +perhaps some excuse for an accident in the old days when a man couldn't +readily empty his gun unless he fired off the charge, there's none now." + +"Sure," agreed Mr. Webster, who seemed to be getting over his +confusion, for he addressed the boys again. "With winter coming on, the +best sport I know with a scatter gun is shooting flighting duck, and +there's plenty of them along the beach. They've a way of moving around +in flocks between the light and dark, which is the best time, though you +can get them through the night if there's not too bright a moon. A good +place would be those patches of sand and mud behind the islands, +especially when the tide's just leaving the flats. Take the sloop or +canoe along sometime and try it." + +The boys thanked him and Frank's eyes glistened as he handled the light +single gun. + +"What are you going to do with your team?" asked Mr. Oliver, changing +the subject. + +"Anson down by Nare's Hill will take them for their keep, but I might +have made a few dollars out of them if I'd been staying on." + +"How's that?" + +"Well," in a significant tone, "a man came along three or four nights +ago. I don't know where he came from, and I don't know where he went--he +just walked in with the lamp lit when I was getting supper. He wanted to +know if I was open to hire him a team for a night or two." + +"What kind of a man?" + +"A stranger. He looked like a sailor and seemed liberal. Said he wanted +the team particularly, and if I'd have them handy when he turned up we +needn't quarrel about the figure. That must have meant I could charge +most what I liked." + +"What did you say?" + +Mr. Webster smiled. "I just told him the horses were promised and I +couldn't make the deal. Anyway"--and he added this in a different +voice--"I'd no notion of going back on you." + +"Thanks," said Mr. Oliver quietly, and they talked about other matters +until Webster, making a few more excuses to Miss Oliver, drove away. +When he had gone she looked at her brother and laughed softly. + +"I was startled but not very much astonished when the gun went off," she +said. "The little incident was so characteristic of the man." + +The next day the boys commenced practicing at flung-up meat cans with +the cartridges he had given them and in a week they could hit one every +now and then at thirty yards. Soon afterward Mr. Oliver went away. He +only told the boys that he was going to Tacoma, but Harry thought it +possible that he wanted to see Mr. Barclay, since Mr. Webster's story +made it clear that the dope runners were about again. He announced +ingenuously that they had better try the flight-shooting while his +father was away, because if they came back all right with several ducks +he would probably not object to their going another time. Miss Oliver +seemed doubtful when they casually mentioned the project to her, but as +she did not actually forbid it they set out with the sloop late one +afternoon, taking the dog with them. + +It was falling dusk and the tide had been running ebb two or three hours +when they beat in under the lee side of one of the islands they had +passed on a previous occasion on their way to the settlement. After +anchoring the sloop where she would lie afloat at low water some +distance off the beach they got into the canoe and paddling ashore +crossed the island, which was small and narrow. It was covered with thin +underbrush and dwarf firs, and on its opposite side a broad stretch of +wet sand and shingle with pools and creeks in it stretched back toward +the channel, which cut it off from the mainland. + +To the eastward, the pale silver sickle of a crescent moon hung low in +the sky, but westward a wide band of flaring crimson and saffron still +burned beneath dusky masses of ragged cloud and the uncovered sands +gleamed blood-red in the fading glow. A cold wind stirred the pines to +an eerie sighing, and the splash of a tiny surf came up faintly from the +outer edge of the sands. The whole scene struck Frank as very forbidding +and desolate, and he fancied that there was a threat of wind in the sky. +Something in the loneliness troubled him, and for no particular reason +he felt half sorry that he had come. He realized that it would have been +much more cozy in the sloop's cabin than upon that dreary beach, and he +said something about the weather to Harry. + +"We'll be sheltered here if the breeze does come up, and this looks just +the place where we ought to get a duck," his companion answered. "There +aren't many spots like it around this part of the coast, where we've +generally deeper water. Perhaps we'd better move on a little nearer +yonder clump of firs. They'll hide us from any birds that come sailing +down to the flats." + +"What's the matter with the dog?" Frank asked. "What's he snuffing at?" + +The animal was trotting about with his nose upon the ground and would +not come when they called him. + +"I don't know," said Harry carelessly. "Perhaps somebody's been across +the island lately, though I don't think it's often a white man lands +here." + +They took up their stations a little apart from each other among some +very rough boulders, with the nearest of the firs on a rocky ridge some +thirty or forty yards away from them. Their ragged branches cut in a +sharp ebony pattern against the sky, which was duskily blue. It was very +cold and the wind seemed fresher, for the trees were rustling and +moaning, and the calling of distant wildfowl came up through the +increasing murmur of the surf. + +Frank's boots had suffered from hard wear in the bush, and, as he had +stumbled into a pool, his feet were very wet, but he crouched behind a +boulder, clutching the single-barreled gun with cold fingers, and +watching the sky beyond the fir tops, for what seemed a considerable +time. Nothing moved across it except a long wisp of torn-edged cloud, +and he was commencing to wonder whether it would not be better to go +back to the sloop when Harry called softly, and he heard a new sound in +the darkness somewhere beyond the firs. It suggested the regular +movement of a row of fans, which was the best comparison that occurred +to him, for there was a kind of measured beat in it, and in another few +moments he recognized it as the rhythmic stroke of wings. Then a double +line of dark bodies spreading out from a point in the shape of a wedge +appeared close above him against the sky. + +He saw that they had long necks, but that was all, for they were coming +on with an extraordinary swiftness. There was a crash as Harry's gun +flung a streak of red fire into the darkness. Then Frank pitched up the +single barrel, pulling hard upon the trigger as the butt struck his +shoulder. He felt the jar of it and saw a whirling blaze, after which he +swung around when Harry's gun flashed again. + +The wedge, which had scattered, was reuniting. He could just see it +dotted upon the sky, but he fancied that one dark object had come +whirling down and struck the flats outshore of him a few seconds +earlier. + +"One, sure!" cried Harry. "I've an idea there's a cripple, too, trailing +on the ground. Where's that dog? I wonder if he'd hunt it up?" + +They called, but there was no sign of the animal. + +"He'd probably sit down and eat it, if he got it," said Frank, laughing. +"As he isn't here, we'd better get after the birds." + +They soon picked up the dead one, a mallard, Harry said; but it was some +minutes before they saw the other fluttering across a patch of wet sand. +Breaking into a run they were astonished to find that they did not get +much nearer, and it must be admitted that Frank fired again without +stopping it. After that, it led them through several pools and runlets +of water, until at a flash of Harry's gun it lay still, but they were +almost up to their knees in a little channel before they retrieved it. + +"I wonder how long we'll have to wait before some more ducks come," said +Harry as they made their way back to the boulders. Then he suddenly +looked about him. "Where can that dog have gone?" + +They called a second time, but there was still no answer, and while they +listened it struck Frank that the sound of the surf was growing more +distinct. + +"He seemed to be trailing something when I last saw him," he answered. +"I don't feel keen on going after him. The top of the island's rough. +Perhaps, we'd better wait here until he comes." + +They waited for about ten minutes and then a succession of quick barks +reached them, apparently from across the island. There was something +startling in the sound and Frank turned sharply toward his companion. + +"He doesn't bark like that for nothing. Hadn't we better go along?" he +suggested. + +They started on the moment, stumbling among the boulders and splashing +into pools. The going was no easier when they reached the firs, but they +broke through them somehow, and when at length they approached the +beach, which was steep on that side, the dog came bounding toward them +and then ran back with a growl to the edge of the water. Looking around +with strained attention, Frank made out the sloop, a dim, dark shape +upon the water, for the moon was covered now. After that he ran down +toward the edge of the tide, but there was nothing unusual to be seen, +though the dog again yelped savagely. As he stopped close beside the +animal Harry's voice reached him. + +"Where's the canoe?" he cried. + +It was a moment or two before Frank saw her, and then he started and +cast a quick glance at the strip of beach left uncovered by the ebbing +tide. The breeze was off the shore, and on arriving they had thrown over +a lump of iron with a rope made fast to it and then paddled the canoe +ashore and shoved her out again to drift off as far as the rope would +allow her, in order to avoid dragging her down over the rough stones +when they went away. Now she seemed farther off than she should have +been, and in another moment he realized that she was moving. + +"She's adrift!" he shouted. + +"Then we will have to get her," Harry answered. + +Frank laid down his gun and threw off his jacket. Harry could swim +better than he could, but Harry was some distance back and the beach was +very rough, while it was clear that every moment would increase the +distance between it and the canoe. He struck his knees against something +which hurt as he floundered into the water stumbling among the stones, +but that did not matter then, and as soon as it was deep enough he flung +himself down. A horrible chill struck through him as he swung his left +arm out, and he was badly hampered by his boots and clothes, and though +he swam savagely the canoe was still some way in front of him when at +length he turned breathlessly upon his breast. What was worse, she was +steadily drifting farther off shore. + +Chilled and anxious as he was, he thought quickly. He was far from +certain that he could get back to the beach, and even if he did so, he +would have to spend the night wet through without any means of making a +shelter. The sloop was lying a good way out and he did not think that +Harry could swim so far in that cold water. He was quite sure that he +could not, and it was evident that there was nothing for it but to +overtake the canoe. + +For what seemed a very long time he swam desperately, and then just as +he was almost alongside the craft something came up behind him and +seized his arm. Turning his head with a half-choked cry, he saw that it +was the dog, who apparently intended to stick fast to him. The animal, +however, hampered him terribly, and flinging it off he made a last +effort and contrived to clutch the canoe before it seized him again. +Holding on by the low stern he tried to recover his breath, while he +wondered if he could manage to lift himself in. It seemed to him that if +he failed to do it at that moment he could not expect to succeed +afterward, in which case he would in all probability have to let go +before very long. Setting his lips he made the attempt, and falling +headforemost into the canoe he lay still for a few moments gasping, +until he rose and pulled the dog on board. Then he hauled up the iron, +which was still attached to the rope, though it was not upon the bottom, +and found a paddle. Two or three minutes later he was back at the beach, +and Harry got in. + +"Make for the sloop as fast as you can," he said. + +Frank, now chilled to the bone, was glad to paddle, and they were soon +alongside. Harry handed him up the birds and guns when he got on board, +and then made the painter fast. + +"I'll start the stove first thing while you tie two reefs in the +mainsail," he said. "I guess we'll want them, and the work will warm +you." + +He disappeared below, and before he came out again Frank had managed to +get the tack and leach down, which was not so difficult now that the +sail lay along the boom. + +Harry gave him a quick look. + +"Go in and strip yourself," he said. "There's a blanket forward and some +coffee in the can. I'll be down by the time you have wrung out your +things." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +RUNNING A CARGO + + +On crawling into the cabin Frank found the stove burning fiercely with +the register open full blast. He was sitting near it wrapped in a thick +blanket from which his bare legs and arms protruded when Harry joined +him. + +"This should thaw you out," the latter said. "The place would do for +drying fruit in. Got any coffee left?" + +Frank gave him some, and when he had drunk it Harry examined some of the +garments which were hanging about the stove. + +"They'll be getting fairly dry in half an hour or so and then we'll pull +out for home," he added. "It's breezing up quite smart now and I'd lie +here until morning only aunt would get badly scared. She wouldn't say +anything, but if Jake got to talking it would probably make trouble when +dad comes home." + +"How did the canoe get adrift?" Frank inquired sleepily. + +"That," said Harry with an excellent imitation of Mr. Barclay's manner, +"is a point I have been investigating. To begin with, the killick had +been hauled up since we pitched it over, and let go again--only on the +last occasion it was made fast so it wouldn't quite fetch the bottom." +He raised his hand in protest as Frank was about to speak. "It's a sure +thing. One strand was chafed where I took a turn with the rope, and that +frayed bit had got moved a fathom or two along. I felt about until I +struck it." + +Frank started, for this confirmed a hazy suspicion which had already +been in his mind, but he stooped to pat the dog, who was licking his +uncovered foot. + +"Hold on. Your tongue's rough," he said before he looked up at his +companion. "What do you make of the thing?" + +"Well," said Harry, "the man who did it wanted it to look as if the +canoe had gone adrift by accident. He was on the island when we came +along and the dog got after him. It's most likely he went off in a boat +or canoe while we were making for the beach after we'd heard the +barking. Seems to me he'd some reason for wanting to keep us here." + +"You think he was one of the dope men?" suggested Frank. + +"I wouldn't be greatly astonished if we saw the schooner on our way +home," Harry answered with a chuckle. + +There was some excuse for his amusement, because Frank looked somewhat +ludicrous as he sat thinking hard with his brows wrinkled down and the +blanket falling away from him. + +"I've an idea," he announced at length. "The question, of course, is why +should the man who set the canoe adrift have landed on a desolate place +like this? I expect it's just its desolateness that brought him here. +Now the smugglers probably find it difficult to get hold of the dope in +Canada, and they may have to save it up in small parcels until it's +worth while to send the schooner through. She couldn't come often with +only a case or two, because it wouldn't pay and it would increase the +chances of somebody's seeing her. On the other hand, they may not be +able to get rid of the stuff immediately when she brings a big lot, and +in that case they'd be likely to make a cache of part of it where nobody +would be likely to strike it and their friends could come for it later. +This island ought to be just the place." + +Harry made a sign of assent. + +"I guess you've hit it first time, but I'll go up and get the mainsail +on her. I can manage it alone with two reefs in, and you can stay where +you are until your clothes are a little drier, unless I call you." + +He went out, and Frank heard a clatter of blocks and flutter of canvas. +After that there was a sharp rattling as Harry hauled in the anchor +chain, and then the boat suddenly slanted over with a jerk which flung +Frank backward against the side of her. As he got up he heard the water +splash about her bows. A few minutes later they began to swing sharply +up and down, and the thuds against them made it evident that the sloop +was plunging close-hauled through a short, head sea. By and by the +plunges grew more violent, and struggling into his clothes, which were +partly dry, Frank put out the lamp and crawled out into the well. For a +minute or two he could see nothing as he held on by the weather coaming, +though he felt the buffeting of the wind and the sting of the spray upon +his face. Then by degrees he made out that the sloop was lying down on +one side, with the small black strip of her double-reefed mainsail +slanting sharply above her, and a filmy white cloud flying at her bows. +Suddenly the frothing water began to glitter, and on looking up he saw +that the moon, which had grown brighter, had just emerged from behind a +bank of flying cloud. Then Harry who sat at the helm called to him. + +"Look yonder! Just over the bowsprit end," he cried. + +Frank, gazing where his companion told him, saw a bright red twinkle low +down above the sea and apparently two or three miles away. + +"A fire!" he exclaimed. "On the island by the point, isn't it?" + +"A signal," Harry assented. "Guess it's to show the schooner men the +bush gang are ready." He broke into a laugh which reached Frank faintly. +"They're figuring we're safe on the island out of the way. You couldn't +see that fire from the beach we were left upon." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Stand right on to where the fire is. We have to make a long leg on this +tack, anyway. When we're close up with the point we'll consider. Get a +little more head sheet in if you can." + +It cost Frank an effort, though the sloop was carrying her smallest jib, +and when he had made the rope fast he crouched beside his comrade in the +partial shelter of the coaming with the dog at his feet. It was blowing +moderately fresh, and the sloop was very wet, for the tide was running +with her and she thrashed on at a great pace pitching the water all +over, while the red twinkle ahead grew steadily higher and brighter. It +was the only thing that Frank could see, because the moon had +disappeared again. + +In the meanwhile he wondered what his companion meant to do, for he +fancied that Harry had something in his mind. The latter was like his +father in some respects, since he did not, as a rule, explain what his +intentions were until he was reasonably sure that he could carry them +out. One result of this was that while each seldom did less than he said +he would he not infrequently did a good deal more. Folks of this kind, +Frank reflected, inspired one with confidence. + +At last, when the fire was large and bright, a head loomed up above it +with the wavering glow falling upon its rocky face. On one side of the +crag there was a strip of darkness, which Frank supposed was water, and +a little nearer him a long shadowy patch, which he knew to be an island. +He turned to Harry, who was just then glancing up at the sky. + +"We'll run right into the light if you stand on much longer," he pointed +out. + +He had hardly spoken when the red blaze sank down amidst an upward rush +of sparks, and as it died away Harry laughed. + +"That means one of two things," he said. "Either they've given the +schooner up, or she has her anchor down inside and they've no more use +for a light that might set folks wondering, though I don't know that +anybody would be likely to see it." + +"Anyway, you'll go ashore if you stand on," persisted Frank. + +"It's not my intention that we should stand on," said Harry, glancing up +again at the cloud-barred sky. "We can just weather the island as she's +lying, and when that's done I could put up my helm and run through the +sound behind it. I'll do it if the moon keeps in. If the schooner's +inside yonder we ought to see her." + +Frank was rather staggered by the boldness of the idea. The strait +seemed narrow and he fancied that it would be further contracted by +shallows now that the tide was getting low, while it appeared very +probable that if they saw the schooner her crew would see them. If she +were landing cargo there would be boats about, and he did not think it +would be pleasant to fall in with them, after the pains somebody had +taken in setting the canoe adrift. Still, though he was very dubious +about its wisdom, the prospect of the adventure appealed to him and +Harry seemed to take his consent for granted. + +"We'll carry a fair wind through," the latter announced. "If it's +necessary we could lower the peak down and that would leave very little +canvas to be seen. You had better shorten the canoe up while I luff. +She's half full and towing heavily." + +The mainsail thrashed and the speed slackened when he put down his helm, +and Frank, hauling with all his might, dragged the canoe up a little +closer astern and made her fast with a shorter rope, after which Harry +got way on the boat again. It seemed to Frank to be blowing harder, and +she swayed down farther, plunging furiously through the short seas with +a white belt of surf which had shadowy rocks behind it to lee of her. +The moon was still hidden, but it was evident that they were very close +to the end of the island. By and by the white line to lee suddenly +vanished and they stretched out into the dark water, with a high, black +mass not far ahead. + +"We've got to jibe her," said Harry. "Get the peak down." + +The deck was horribly slanted and slippery, but Frank made his way +forward along it while the seas which seemed steeper there drenched him +with showers of cold brine. He found the halliard and let it go, and +scrambling aft as the head of the sail swung down, helped his companion, +who was struggling with a rope, while he jammed the tiller over with his +shoulder. + +"Handy!" cried Harry. "You must check the boom as it comes over." + +The craft was coming round with her stern to the wind, and as she did so +the canoe came up on the top of a sea and struck her with a crash. Frank +had, however, no thought to spare for her. He was dragging at the +mainsheet as the big boom tilted up into the darkness above his head, +while the sloop rolled heavily. Then the upper part of the bagging sail +swung over with a bang and he whipped the rope around something as the +heavy spar followed it. The sloop rolled at the same time until half her +deck was in the sea, the sheet was torn furiously through his hands, and +the canoe hit her with another heavy thud as she swayed up again. Then +it drove astern, and Frank had space to gather his breath and look about +him as they swept on into smoother water. + +Harry was edging in toward the low black ridge of the island, and there +was a higher mass on the opposite side crested with what appeared to be +rows of pines, with a dark gap between them. They could now hear the +surf on the weather side of the island, which told them that they were +already behind it. Four or five minutes later the channel twisted, and +as they swept around a black rock two or three lights blinked out ahead, +with a low red blaze behind them, apparently on the opposite beach. + +"There she is; ready to clear at the shortest notice," said Harry, +stretching out a pointing hand. "They've kept the boom-foresail and most +of the mainsail on her, though I guess the anchor's down. We'll get the +centerboard up." + +They were drawing nearer the lights rapidly, but it was two or three +minutes before Frank, who heaved the board up into its case, could make +out a black mass of fluttering canvas against the sky. Then Harry spoke +again: + +"There's a shingle bank runs out not far ahead and there can't be much +water over it now the tide's nearly run out. I'm afraid I'll have to +pass on the other hand of the schooner." + +Frank could understand why he did not want to do this, since the channel +was narrow and they must pass between the lights of the vessel and the +fire upon the beach. It seemed to him that it would be singularly +awkward if they met a boat coming from or going to the latter, which, +however, was precisely what befell them. + +Harry ran the sloop off as far as he dared, and Frank was watching the +schooner's black hull rise higher when he made out a dim shape that +moved between her and the beach. + +"A boat, sure!" cried Harry. "Get the mainsheet in. We'll have to take +our chances of the shoal." + +He helped Frank with one hand, but the task was almost beyond their +strength, and while they dragged at the rope the half-seen boat and the +schooner seemed to be flying toward them. Then as they made the rope +fast and the sloop headed in toward the island a pale gleam from a light +on the vessel fell upon her. It seemed impossible to Frank that they +should not be seen, but nobody hailed them, and while he listened, +expecting every moment to hear a shout, a clatter of blocks broke +through the splash of approaching oars. Even behind the island, the +water was rather broken and the men seemed to be pulling hard. + +A moment later the light faded off the sloop, though Frank could see the +schooner comparatively plainly. Her tall, shadowy canvas was fluttering +athwart the light, and beneath it a cluster of indistinct figures rose +and fell as they heaved up something with a tackle. He could hear their +voices clearly, and he was glad to remember that the dusky ridge of the +island rose behind the sloop, though he wished his companion would run +closer in with it. He had seen all he wanted and only desired to get +away as soon as possible. + +It became evident by and by that Harry had run in closer than was +advisable, for there was a crash and the sloop suddenly stopped. Almost +immediately afterward she lay over with her boom and most of her deck on +one side in the water, while the tide, twisting her bows around, +threatened to pour into her over the depressed coaming. As she had come +up nearly head to wind, her mainsail thrashed furiously, jerking the +boom up out of the sea every now and then and letting it splash in +again, while the flapping jib seemed likely to snap off the head of her +rattling mast. Loose ropes appeared to be flying everywhere and Frank +clung stupidly to the coaming, uncertain what to do. They were aground +unfortunately close to the schooner, and, he feared, within sight of the +men on board her. Harry's voice, however, roused him to make an effort. + +"Jump forward with the big oar! We must get her off," he said. "The +tide's still falling." + +Frank trod upon and fell over the dog, who fortunately was unable to see +anything over the coaming. He scarcely heard it yelping as he scrambled +along the steeply slanted deck dragging the heavy oar. They got it over +and thrust upon it in desperate haste in an attempt to cant her bow off, +but as the tide swung her farther around her side came up against the +oar, threatening to break it or pitch the boys over the rail, and for a +while they strained every muscle in vain. Then she suddenly swung back +in the midst of a furious swirl, and Frank fell down on something that +seemed unpleasantly hard. Harry, flinging the oar upon the deck, dropped +close by, feeling for a rope. + +"Get up and get hold!" he cried breathlessly. "We must box her round +with the jib. You can lie down afterward." + +Frank scrambled up and pulled in a frenzy, and the boat swung farther +around. Then the mainsail ceased fluttering, and jumping aft they fell +into the well, where Frank fancied that he trod upon the dog again. +Harry immediately seized the tiller, thrusting it to weather, and the +sloop commenced to move slowly through the water, though there was a +harsh grinding beneath her. By and by she suddenly shot forward again. + +"She's off!" exclaimed Harry. "Give her sheet!" + +Frank let the mainsheet run and afterward leaned breathlessly upon the +coaming with a thrill of relief as they drove out into the deeper water; +but it appeared that his companion was not satisfied yet. + +"She should run over to the opposite side without bringing the boom +across," he said. "There seems to be a big rock yonder and we could +heave her to in the gloom of it. If I remember, it's good water." + +"What for?" asked Frank, who was anxious to get out of the channel. + +"Well," said Harry, "we've seen the schooner, a boat, and a fire upon +the beach, but, after all, that's not a great deal to go upon. We want +to make sure what she's putting ashore." + +The boom lifted ominously as he ran her off and Frank fancied that +somebody would certainly hear the crash if he jibed it over. She +stretched across, however, and, rounding her up close beneath a dark +rock, they hauled the jib to windward and waited. Though they were in +deep shadow, a stream of flickering radiance fell upon the water not far +away and lighted up a narrow strip of beach. A few minutes passed and +then Harry touched his companion, who saw several men cross the shingle +with loads upon their shoulders. Their figures showed black against the +light, and Frank fancied that they were carrying square wooden cases. +After them came several more figures, but these carried nothing and were +dressed differently. They looked like Chinamen and they had evidently +just got out of an unseen boat. + +"Now," said Harry, "I guess that will do. If you'll trim the jib over +I'll get way on her." + +Frank was glad to do it. He felt that he had seen quite enough and it +would be wiser to get away before any misadventure befell them. They ran +out of the channel and were thrashing close-hauled into a rather steep +head sea when Harry spoke again. + +"There were four cases in the last lot, and another boat went ashore," +he observed. "It looks as if they would swamp the market. Dope's dear, +and a little of it goes a mighty long way." + +"Perhaps there was something else in some of the cases," suggested +Frank. + +"It's possible, though from the little I know of the tariff I haven't an +idea of what it could be. Anyway, that's a proposition we can leave to +Barclay. They were certainly Chinamen and passengers who landed." + +"How do you know they were passengers?" Frank inquired. + +Harry laughed. "If they'd been anything else they'd have had to carry +those boxes. As a general thing, an American doesn't work while a +Chinaman watches him." + +Nothing more was said, and half an hour later when pale moonlight once +more streamed down upon the water the schooner swept out of the gloom +astern of them. After that they went about and clung to the shadow along +the land until they lost sight of her shortly before they ran into the +cove. + +It was very late when they reached the ranch, but they merely informed +Miss Oliver that they had had some trouble through the canoe going +adrift and had been compelled to beat back against a strong head wind. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CACHE + + +Mr. Oliver came home soon after the boys' visit to the island, and when +he had heard Harry's narration of their adventures he made him tell it +over again in the presence of Mr. Barclay, whom he had brought back with +him. They were sitting in the log-walled kitchen in the evening with +their chairs drawn up about the stove, and Mr. Barclay, holding his pipe +in his hand, listened gravely. + +"Well," he said, when Harry had finished, "you seem to be considerably +more fortunate in these matters than I am. You have seen the schooner +several times, and other interesting things, while I haven't even had a +glimpse of the man with the high shoulder yet. I suppose I'll have to +admit at last that I've been upon his trail for some time and have made +some progress." + +"You might as well have admitted it in the beginning," retorted Harry. +"Some folks progress slow." + +Mr. Barclay's eyes twinkled. "As a rule, it's difficult to hustle the +Government of the United States, and I'm inclined to think the same +thing applies to that of other countries. However, as I said, we have +got ahead a little at the other end. For example, we have a tolerably +accurate notion where the dope goes." + +"Then why don't you corral everybody who has anything to do with it?" + +Mr. Barclay's gesture seemed to beg the boy's forbearance. + +"It's a sensible question. For one thing, strictly speaking, it's not my +particular business which is really to sit in an office and dictate +instructions most of the time. To some extent, these jaunts I've had +with your father have been undertaken by way of innocent relaxation, +although they may prove useful in case certain gentlemen send me along a +list of peremptory questions on which they want reports. They do things +of that kind now and then." + +"I didn't think it was your business to take a smuggler by the neck and +haul him along to the sheriff," said Harry with a reproachful air. +"Still, you could call out your subordinates and send them off to round +up the dope crowd, couldn't you? There must be some official machinery +for doing that kind of thing." + +"There is," assented Mr. Barclay, refilling his pipe. "The trouble is +that it makes a certain amount of commotion, and when silence is +important you have to be careful how you set it to work. As a rule, it's +wiser to have everything ready first. The most careful plans fail +sometimes if your assistants are more keen than judicious. That"--and he +smiled at the boys--"is why I was dubious about taking you into my +confidence before." + +"Thank you, sir," said Harry with ironical courtesy. "Do you mind making +what you mean to do a little plainer?" + +"I'll try. In the first place, smuggling doesn't seem to be considered a +crime unless you're caught at it. In fact, a Government of any kind is +generally looked upon as fair game, and few people think much the worse +of a man who succeeds in doing it out of part of its revenue. How far +that idea's right or wrong doesn't concern me. What I must do is to +prevent it from being acted on too often, and, taking the notion for +granted; we don't want to put the laugh upon ourselves if it can be +avoided." + +Harry made a sign of comprehension. "Still, if you sent your people down +here they should be able to corral part of the gang." + +"I agree with you," Barclay answered dryly. "It's possible, anyway--but +what would the result be? Three or four persons of no importance might +be seized, the rest would get away with a warning, and our plans would +all be sprung." Then the stout, good-humored man seemed to change, for +his expression suddenly hardened and a look which the boys had never +noticed there before crept into his eyes. "No, sir. We want them all, +and when we move we expect to gather in the whole rascally combination." + +"How can we butt in?" + +"With your father's permission, you might, in the first place, invite me +to an evening's flight shooting." + +"Wouldn't it be better to go across the island in the daytime with the +dog and Jake and a couple of spades?" + +"No," replied Mr. Barclay. "If my opinion's of any value, I don't think +it would be wise. Besides, I understand that the best time for getting a +shot at flighting ducks is in the twilight." + +Miss Oliver laughed softly. "Enterprise is a good thing, and so is +self-confidence," she broke in. "On the other hand, I fancy that one can +have too much of them, and a headstrong impatience is one of the faults +of the young West." + +Mr. Oliver looked at Harry, who grew a trifle red. + +"There's truth in that," he remarked. "On the whole it might be better +to leave all arrangements to the man in charge and just do what he +suggests." + +"Sure," assented Harry, and as he offered no more suggestions the matter +was decided with a few more words. + +Late in the next afternoon the boys set out with Mr. Barclay in the +sloop, and as what wind there was blew off the land they crept along +close in with the beach, which was high and rocky and shrouded with +thick timber. When they drew abreast of the island the tide was higher +than it had been on the last occasion, but Mr. Barclay said that they +had better leave the sloop in the little bay in front of them and cross +the channel in the canoe. He was a heavy man, and when he cautiously +dropped into the craft her stern sank ominously near the water. + +"You'll have to get farther forward and sit quite still," said Harry in +a tone of authority, but with an amused look. + +He took his place astern with Frank, who picked up the other paddle, in +the bow, and a stroke or two drove them out into the rippling tide. It +was growing dark, though the sky overhead was softly blue and there was +a glimmer of pale saffron around part of the horizon. To the eastward +the moon was just appearing above a bank of cloud. The wind, which had +freshened, blew very cold, and Frank shivered until the paddling warmed +him and he found that he could spare no thought for anything else. The +tide was running over the shallows with a ripple that splashed +perilously high about the side of the deeply loaded canoe, and now and +then whirling eddies drove them off their course. Once, too, they ran +aground, and Harry had to get in knee-deep to shove the craft off, while +when they approached the end of the island they had to struggle hard for +several minutes against the stream which broke into little frothing +waves, during which the canoe got very wet. They came through, however, +and reaching smoother water ran the canoe in and pulled her out, after +which Frank was about to walk off up the beach when Harry stopped him. + +"One learns by experience, and I don't feel like swimming," he observed. +"We'll carry her right up and hide her in the bushes." + +They did so with some difficulty and Harry afterward waited until Mr. +Barclay spoke. + +"We came out shooting," said the latter. "I don't see any reason why we +shouldn't get a duck." + +He turned to Harry, as if to ascertain whether he objected to this, but +the boy laughed. + +"If you don't know of any, I needn't bother about the thing," he +answered. "There's a moderate breeze right off the beach and the guns +couldn't be heard far to windward." + +"I'm not sure I'd mind them being heard if anybody chanced to be about. +It might save the inquisitive stranger from wondering what we were doing +here, and the excuse strikes me as a nicer one than going swimming late +at night in front of a Siwash rancherie." + +Harry chuckled. "Wait until you fall over your boot tops into a pool, or +follow a crippled duck through the water." + +"I shall endeavor to avoid the first thing," said Mr. Barclay. "There's +a remedy for the other, so long as I've two assistants." + +They went back to the beach and waited there some time until Frank heard +a regular beat of wings, and a drawn-out wedge of dusky bodies appeared +above the trees dotted upon the sky. He was farthest from them and he +watched Mr. Barclay, who had brought a gun with him, standing, an +indistinct, half-seen figure thirty or forty yards away. At last the man +threw up his arms, there was a quick yellow flash, a crash, and then a +second streak of flame leaping from the smoke. After that there followed +two distinct and unmistakable thuds, and Frank pitched up his gun as +Harry fired. He heard two jarring reports and running forward saw Mr. +Barclay pick up a bird that had fallen almost at his feet. + +"There's another over yonder," the latter remarked. + +Harry found it in a minute or two and handed it to him. + +"One with each barrel!" he said, and added with a rueful laugh, "I don't +see any more about." + +"Then I think we'll take a look around the island," Mr. Barclay +answered. + +He left the beach with the boys, but they dropped behind him and let him +take the lead when they reached the scrubby firs which were scattered +more or less thickly about the rocky ground. Frank fancied that Harry +had some reason for doing this and the supposition was confirmed when +Mr. Barclay stopped a moment beside a brake of withered fern and then, +after stooping down, carefully skirted it as he went on again. The sky +was clear, and though the moon was in its first quarter it shed a faint +elusive light. + +"That man can shoot, and it looks as if he was quite as smart at picking +up a trail," said Harry in a low tone. "Anyway, if I'd been looking for +a stranger's tracks I'd have tried yonder fern and I'd have been as +particular not to smash any of it down as he was. I've an idea he must +have chuckled sometimes when I got guying him." He paused and added +thoughtfully, "It's the kind of fool thing you're apt to do unless +you're careful." + +After this they spent a considerable time wandering up and down a +portion of the island, though Frank fancied that Mr. Barclay, who asked +Harry a question now and then, had some purpose that guided him. The +moonlight was too dim and the shadows among the trees too dense for him +to follow a trail steadily, but he seemed to be prospecting for likely +places where footprints or broken-down undergrowth might be found. At +length they reached a little stony hollow, with a rock that rose some +six or seven feet on one side and dark firs clustering close about it. +Here Mr. Barclay stopped and looked about him before he turned to Harry. + +"Now," he said, "this is a spot that could be easily described and +located by anybody who happened to be told about it. That rock would +make a first-class mark. If you had anything to bury for somebody else +to dig up, where would you put it?" + +Harry walked about the place, stepping carefully upon the stones and +avoiding the scattered underbrush, until he reached a clump of withered +fern. + +"Right here," he replied, and kneeling down pulled some of the yellow +fronds about. Then he looked up sharply. "This stuff's very dead and +it's lying flat," he exclaimed. "Farther on the stems aren't broken and +some of them don't seem quite dried up yet." + +Frank acknowledged that these were things he would not have noticed, but +Mr. Barclay nodded. + +"Somebody else may have fixed on the same spot as you have done," he +said. "It's possible, though I don't think it's more than that. There +might be half a dozen similar places on the island, but if you'll handle +the fern carefully it wouldn't do any harm to make a hole." + +They had brought a light spade with them, and after Harry had cleared +the ground Frank set to work with it. He had taken out only a few +shovelfuls of soil and shingle when he gave a cry of surprise as he +struck something that seemed more solid. + +Harry and Mr. Barclay stooped down beside him. The latter struck a match +and lighted a piece of paper he took from his pocket, and before it went +out Frank had cleared the soil away from the top of a small wooden case. + +"It's rather more than I could have reasonably expected," said Mr. +Barclay, "but when you haven't much to act upon it's wise to make the +most of what you've got and leave the rest to chance. Now you may as +well shovel that dirt back." + +"Aren't you going to take the thing out?" Frank asked in astonishment. + +"No," replied Mr. Barclay, "I don't think it's necessary. It wouldn't be +the first time I'd seen opium and we don't want to leave too plain a +trail behind us. As we have spent some time on the island already, +hadn't you better get to work?" + +Frank flung back the soil and when he had finished Harry replaced the +loose fern which he had carefully laid aside. He did not, however, seem +satisfied with the way he had arranged it and when he looked up at Mr. +Barclay his manner was diffident. + +"I'm afraid I can't do any better in the dark," he said. + +"It will probably be dark when the next man comes along," Mr. Barclay +answered. "Anyway, the first breeze of wind or heavy rain will +straighten things up. In the meanwhile we'll get back to the sloop." + +They turned away, but they had scarcely gone a hundred yards when Mr. +Barclay put his hand into his pocket and stopped. + +"I've dropped my pipe," he said. "It was rather a good one." + +"Then I know where it is," Frank broke in. "You must have pulled it out +with the paper. I heard something fall, but I was too interested to +bother about it. If you'll wait, I'll go back and get it." + +The others sat down when he left them, but he spent some minutes +scrambling about near the fern before the faint gleam of a silver band +upon the pipe caught his eye. Picking it up he turned back to rejoin his +companions, and a few moments later he reached an opening between the +firs by which they had left the hollow. The trees rose in black and +shadowy masses on either side, but their ragged tops cut sharply against +the sky, and a faint, uncertain light shone down into the gap between +them. Soon after he strode into it Frank stopped abruptly, for there was +a crackle of dry twigs and a soft rustle somewhere in front of him, and +he could think of no reason why Harry or Mr. Barclay should come back. +If they had wanted him to do anything they could have called him. + +He felt his nerves tingle as he stood and listened. The sound had ceased +and he could only hear the wind among the firs whose tops rustled +eerily. But presently the unmistakable fall of a heavy foot came out of +the shadows. Then he shrank back instinctively a pace or two into deeper +gloom, for there was no doubt that somebody was approaching, and while +he waited a black figure appeared in the opening not far in front of +him. The faint light was behind the man and he showed up against it dim +and indistinct, but Frank realized that he was not Mr. Barclay. He +looked taller and less heavily built. Then the boy dropped noiselessly +and held his breath, for a brittle branch had cracked under him. The +stranger stopped and seemed to be gazing about him. + +He moved on again, however, and Frank turned his face toward the ground, +fearing that it might show white in the gloom, but it was only by a +determined effort that he held himself still and mastered the desire to +crawl back farther into the shadow. He knew that if he yielded to it he +would be on his feet in another moment and might break away into the +bush or do something else which he would afterward regret. He realized +that Mr. Barclay and Harry must have seen the stranger and had for some +reason kept out of sight and let him go by. + +In the meanwhile the man was drawing nearer and Frank made out that he +was carrying something. It seemed almost impossible that he could pass +without seeing the boy, and the effort it cost the latter to lie still +became more arduous. It would have been an unspeakable relief even to +spring up and face the stranger with empty hands. Then he drew level, +and once more Frank set his lips as he listened to the footsteps. At +every moment he expected them suddenly to stop. They continued, however, +and although, since he dared not turn, he could not see the man now, it +was clear that he had passed. + +Frank waited a minute or two longer and then rose softly with a gasp of +fervent relief. He was annoyed to feel that he was still quivering with +the tension and he stood still a few moments to regain his composure +before he went quietly back toward his companions. As he neared the spot +where he had left them Mr. Barclay stepped out from behind a tree. + +"You met that man?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Frank, "that is, I saw him coming and kept out of the way. +He walked close by me and I think he was carrying a spade." + +"He was," Mr. Barclay assented. "I was afraid he might surprise you, but +we couldn't shout and warn you without alarming him, which I didn't want +to do for one or two reasons. We'll wait here until he's through with +the business that brought him." + +He drew Frank farther back among the trees and soon after they sat down +a faint rustling followed by a clatter of stones reached them from the +hollow. There was no doubt that the man was digging up the case. Harry, +who was lying near Frank's feet, moved restlessly and at length he rose. + +"That fellow's certainly one of the gang," he said. "I don't see why we +shouldn't get him. Frank and I could work around behind the hollow and +head him off while you walk in." + +"Well," said Mr. Barclay dryly, "what would follow?" + +"You could have him sent up." + +"I daresay I could. What would be the use of it?" + +"You'd have got one of them, anyway." + +"Sure," said Mr. Barclay, "and I'd have scared off all the rest. I +suppose I must be greedy, but I wouldn't be content with one bush +chopper who probably only takes a hand in now and then. As I believe I +told you, I'm after the whole gang." + +Harry said nothing further for a while, and then he stopped and +listened. + +"He's coming back," he whispered. + +The sound of footsteps came out of the shadow, and presently Frank saw +a dusky figure pass among the trees carrying something upon its shoulder +besides the spade. They waited until there was silence again and then +moved quietly back to the beach, from which they saw a canoe cross the +channel. Half an hour later they paddled across and duly reached the +sloop. + +"If that man had known she was here he would probably not have gone," +Mr. Barclay observed. "As he didn't see her when there was a little +light left, it's reasonable to suppose he couldn't have noticed her +coming back in the dark, and on the whole I'm satisfied with the result +of the trip. But it might be better if you went somewhere else for your +flight shooting after this." + +Then they set the mainsail and started back for the cove, keeping close +in along the beach. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MR. WEBSTER'S SLASHING + + +A month passed, which the boys spent quietly in grubbing up stumps and +chopping. Then Mr. Oliver suggested that they go over to Mr. Webster's +ranch and burn off his slashing, as he had promised its absent owner to +send them. He added that they could camp there for the night and get a +little hunting when they had done the work. There was a nipping air when +they started early in the morning, each with a packet of provisions and +a blanket upon his shoulder, and the newly turned clods in the clearing +were iron-hard. The Pacific Slope is warmer in winter than the Atlantic +coast, but there are times when the cold snaps are sharp enough in its +northern part, and the boys were glad to plunge into the shelter of the +woods where the frost was less stinging. + +They reached the ranch without much trouble, and when they stopped at +the slip rails Frank, who had not been there before, looked about him. +The bush clearings are much alike, but this one was smaller than Mr. +Oliver's. A little, very rudely built log house stood at one end with +thick timber creeping close up behind it. There was also an unusual +quantity of underbrush among the stumps near the door, which Frank had +occasion to notice more particularly later. In the meanwhile it struck +him that the place had an uncared-for look and Harry seemed to share his +opinion. + +"Webster's a very ordinary rancher," he remarked. "He can't stay with a +thing and finish it. When he's about halfway through he lets up and +starts something else. Any other man would have grubbed out all that +withered stuff about the house and chopped back the bush behind it. It's +not safe to have big trees growing so close." + +"Why?" asked Frank. + +"Because of the fires. They come along every now and then. It's lucky +there's no wind to speak of, because I wouldn't put a light to this +slashing if there was." + +Frank glanced at the belt of fallen timber behind the fence on one side +of the clearing. It had been badly cut and some of the trees lay across +each other, while only a few of the branches had been sawed off and the +undergrowth had not been mowed. If the fall had not been a dry one it +would have been difficult to burn the slashing. Then he glanced up at +the leaden-gray sky above the pine tops and fancied that it looked +threatening. The dense wall of somber sprays seemed unusually harsh of +aspect, and there was something curious about the light. Everything was +gray and raw-edged, and he shivered, for the faint wind had blown across +a wilderness of snowy mountains. + +"It's not the kind of day for hanging round," he said. "Let's get to +work." + +Entering the house they found a can of coal oil and plenty of rags, for +a heap of worn-out clothing lay in a corner. + +"They'll hold oil and that's about all they're good for," Harry +remarked. "I expect it's months since Webster pitched them there with +the idea that he might mend them sometime." + +Frank carried out one or two of the duck garments, and when they had +torn them up and soaked them in coal oil he and Harry set about lighting +fires here and there in the slashing, after which they stood near the +door of the house and watched the conflagration. The fires spread +rapidly, and one side of the clearing was soon wrapped in crackling +flame that worked backward from the neighborhood of the fence, licking +up branches and undergrowth as it neared the bush. That did not stop it, +for the fire had flung out advance guards which leaped forward swiftly +through the withered fern and hurled themselves in crimson waves upon +the standing trunks. They seemed to splash upon them, flinging up +fountains of blazing brands and sparks that seized upon the lower sprays +and sprang aloft until each assaulted tree was wrapped in fire from base +to summit. The conflagration made the draught it needed, and by and by +it roared in what seemed to Frank malicious triumph as it pressed onward +into the forest under a cloud of rolling smoke. Where it would stop he +did not know, but he was almost uncomfortably impressed by the +spectacle. + +"It's a full-power burn," said Harry approvingly. "Guess it's going to +clean up this slashing. And now we'll look around and see if Webster's +left anything we can make our dinner in." + +There was a stove in the house, but they soon discovered that it did not +burn well, and Harry glanced disgustedly at the spider Frank discovered. + +"A hole in the bottom of it!" he said contemptuously. "That's the kind +of thing Webster uses. I'll be astonished if you don't find another hole +in the kettle. You had better go along to the well and fill it." + +In a few minutes Frank came back with the kettle, which fortunately did +not leak, and Harry set it on the stove and laid a piece of pork in the +spider, which he tilted on one side. + +"It's going to be about an hour before that kettle boils, and, though I +feel like doing it, there's no use in straightening up this shack in the +meanwhile because the man would muss it up again as soon as he comes +back. There's a slough beyond the rise yonder, and as it lies to +windward we might get a shot at something. We could be back before +dinner's ready." + +Frank would have preferred to stay where he was, as he had already done +a good morning's work. He assented, however, and accompanied Harry up a +steep and very rough slope and down the opposite side of it. When they +reached the bottom they plunged into a waste of tall grass and +half-decayed vegetation among the roots of which the frost had not +penetrated. As the result of this they sank to the knees here and there, +and Frank more than once fell down. He soon had enough of it, but he was +beginning to realize that there was very little worth doing in the bush +which could be accomplished, so to speak, with one's gloves on. The +small rancher and hunter must expect to get wet and ragged, as well as +weary and dirty, and must face the unpleasantness cheerfully and mend +his clothes afterward. The only other course was to stay in the cities. + +Presently Harry discovered the tracks of a deer leading out of the +valley and pointed them out to his companion. + +"You won't mind waiting for your dinner?" he asked. + +"No--not very much," Frank answered dubiously. + +This satisfied Harry, who led the way up the hillside, and it seemed to +Frank that they scrambled over fallen logs and branches and through +thick undergrowth for the greater part of an hour before they crept +carefully down again to another hollow. Though they floundered all +around it there was no sign of the deer, and Frank was relieved when his +companion intimated that they might as well go back to the ranch. Dinner +was the first thought in both their minds when they reached it, but it +struck Frank that the fire had become a tremendous conflagration and he +noticed that a dense cloud of smoke was blowing across the clearing. + +"It's a real fierce burn and there's more wind than there was, but +we'll get a meal before we look around," Harry remarked. + +There were, however, one or two difficulties in the way of their doing +this. The kettle had boiled nearly dry, and the pork had disappeared +through the burned-out bottom of the spider. Harry said that he could +manage to fry another piece on the rim of it if Frank would refill the +kettle, and eventually they sat down to dinner and spent a long while +over it. Then Harry got up reluctantly. + +"I guess we had better see what the fire's doing," he observed. + +Frank was almost appalled when he reached the doorway. The whole +clearing was thick with smoke, out of which there shot up a furious wall +of fire that rose and fell with a crackle resembling volleys of riflery +and a roaring even more disconcerting. What was worse, it seemed to be +creeping into the thick bush behind the house, and Harry, running a few +paces toward the corner of the building, stopped aghast with the red +light flickering on his dismayed face. + +"Dad promised he'd get Webster's slashing burned, but it wasn't in the +contract that we'd burn off his house," he said. "We'll have to hustle. +See if there's an ax and grubhoe in that woodshed." + +Frank found the tools, and while he attacked the larger bushes near the +back of the house, Harry began to cut down the undergrowth in front of +it. By and by Frank came back and they dragged the brush away toward the +clearing where it could burn harmlessly, but the smoke grew more +blinding and every now and then a shower of sparks fell about the boys. +Fires sprang up among the underbrush, and falling upon them with the ax +and spade they savagely thrashed them out. Frank burned his hands in +doing so, but there was no time to trouble about that and he toiled on, +coughing and choking, until at last they were forced to stop for +breath. + +They stood close in front of the house, with a mass of withered fern and +half-burned brush smoldering in front of them, while a sheet of fire +rose and fell amidst dense clouds of smoke behind the building. The +daylight appeared to be dying out, but Frank could not be sure of that, +because it was almost dark one moment as the smoke rolled about them and +the next they stood dazzled by a flood of radiance. + +"We have done 'most all we can," said Harry wearily. "It was the wind +getting up that made the trouble--I should have noticed it--but if it +stands for the next half hour we ought to save the house. The fire's +eating back into the bush all the while." + +"Should we get any of the things out?" Frank asked. + +"I'm not smart at handling hot stoves, and there's mighty little else in +the place," Harry answered with a laugh. "I wouldn't bid a dollar for +Webster's pans and crockery, and he made the table and the two chairs. +Still, I don't know any reason why we shouldn't sling them out." + +Just then the smoke rolled down about the boys in a blinding cloud; +there was a great snapping and crackling, and a shower of blazing +fragments drove them back thirty or forty yards across the clearing. +Presently the smoke thinned, and a row of stripped trunks behind the +house was outlined against a tremendous sheet of flame. Frank took off +his hat and shook a few red embers from the crown of it. + +"When we were getting those rags I noticed a keg behind them," he said. + +"A keg?" said Harry sharply. + +"A little keg. It looked thick and strongly made." + +The red light struck full upon Harry's face, and Frank saw that +consternation was stamped upon it. + +"Then," he said, "it's full of coarse, tree-splitting powder. Some of +the ranchers use it for blowing out stumps. Did you notice whether it +had been opened?" + +"The head seemed loose and one of the hoops had been started." + +"Sure!" said Harry with dismay in his voice. Then he broke out in quick +anger: "It's just the kind of thing Webster would leave lying around +near his stove, without taking the trouble to head it up again. He'll +have some detonators lying loose, too--I've heard he uses giant powder. +We've got to bring them out." + +They looked at each other with set faces while the sparks whirled about +the house, and both were conscious of an almost uncontrollable impulse +to vacate the clearing with the greatest possible speed. It was to their +credit that they mastered it, and in a moment or two Harry spoke again: + +"The sparks shouldn't get at the keg if we put a jacket over it, and one +of us could carry all the detonators Webster's likely to have in his +pocket." + +Frank had heard that the big copper caps which are used to fire giant +powder will contain a tremendously powerful fulminate, and he was +conscious of a very natural reluctance to carry a number of them about +his person through the showers of fiery particles that fell about the +building. Indeed, he afterward confessed that if Harry had not been with +him nothing would have induced him to approach it. How he screwed up his +courage he did not know, but as the flame leaped up again the sight of a +strip of blazing fence had its effect. The rest of it had been +destroyed, and he felt they must make an effort to save the house. + +"It wouldn't take us long to get the powder out," he said with a note of +uncertainty in his voice. + +Harry sprang forward and Frank was glad that he did so. He realized that +this was not a matter for calm discussion, and vigorous action was a +relief. Another cloud of smoke met them as they drew near the house, +and the sparks that came flying out of it fell thick about them. The +heat scorched their faces and they gasped in the acrid vapor, while +Frank's eyes were smarting intolerably when he staggered into the +building. There was, however, less smoke inside it, and a fierce light +beat in through one window. Flinging the old clothes about they came +upon the keg and found that the head was lying loose. Working in +desperate haste they forced the top hoop upward and Harry wrapped a +woolen garment over the top of the keg. After that he flung everything +in a lidless wooden case out upon the floor and pounced upon a little +box that fell among the rest. + +"Detonators!" he shouted. "What's in the packet near you?" + +Frank tore the paper savagely. "It looks like thick black cord." + +"Fuse," said Harry. "It's harmless. I don't see any giant powder. Hold +on. I'll look around his sleeping room." + +He vanished through an inner door and Frank soon heard him throwing +things about. The suspense of the next few moments was almost +unbearable. A pulsating radiance alternately lighted up the room and +grew dim again, and the roar and crackle of the fire set his nerves +tingling. Then Harry ran back toward him. + +"I can't find any giant powder," he reported, and added, "get hold of +the keg. We'll carry it between us." + +Frank set his lips as they sprang out of the door with it. The keg was +not remarkably heavy, but it was an awkward shape and too big for either +of them to carry on his shoulder or beneath his arm. Indeed, Frank felt +his hands slipping from its rounded end and he was horribly afraid of +dropping it among the patches of smoldering undergrowth and glowing +fragments which lay all about him. A few moments later thick smoke +whirled about him, and he hardly breathed as he struggled through it +until it blew away again. Then, to his relief, he saw that the house was +some distance behind them and they were clear of the worst of the +sparks. They went on, however, to the opposite side of the clearing, +where they deposited the powder, and then dropped the detonators a +little farther on, after which Harry sat down on the frozen ground +panting heavily. + +"It's done and I want to get my breath," he said. "The next time I burn +a slashing I'll see there's no powder about the place before I begin." + +Frank made no answer. He was glad to sit still and recover, for the +strain had told on him. Indeed, he was almost sorry when his companion +stood up again. + +"Perhaps we had better get back and pitch some water on the roof," he +suggested. "I was too busy to think of that before." + +The wind seemed to be dropping and the sparks were not quite so bad when +they reached the house. They found a bucket, and after smashing more of +the ice upon the shallow well Frank climbed up on the woodshed which +reached to the low roof. The latter was covered with cedar shingles and +he wondered why it had not ignited, because the sparks were still +dropping upon it and there were several charred spots. This, however, +was not a question of much consequence, and Harry kept him busy during +the next half hour sluicing the roof with water which he passed up in +the bucket. Some of it went over Frank's hands and clothing and it was +icy cold, but they worked on steadily while the fire worked back farther +from them into the bush. It had burned most fiercely when it had the dry +branches in the slashing to supply it, but these were all licked up, and +though the small stuff blazed the great standing trunks would not burn. +There were already rows of them rising, charred and blackened columns, +behind the slashing. + +At last Harry called Frank down from the roof. + +"You can let up," he said. "It's hardly likely we'll have any more +trouble. There's a lamp and some canned stuff in the shack, and as we'll +have to camp here I'll make some coffee. It's quite dark now." + +Frank concluded that it had been dark some time, though he had not +noticed when dusk crept down. He was glad to find the stove still +burning when he entered the house, very wet, and aching in every limb. +The kettle was soon boiling, and, as there was no bottom in the spider, +Harry, who had found a bag of flour and a can of syrup, contrived to +make some flapjacks and what he called biscuit on the top of the stove. +He said that this would be no drawback because Mr. Webster never blacked +the thing, and Frank found no fault with the cakes when they ate them +hot with syrup. + +Then they filled up the stove with the full draught on and lounged +contentedly beside it while their clothing dried on them. They had had a +heavy day, but now that the danger was over they were no more than +comfortably weary and the thrill of the last stirring hours remained +with them. Frank felt that they had done something worth while that +afternoon. + +When he diffidently pointed it out Harry laughed. + +"Sure!" he agreed. "Still, it's quite likely that Webster will get +jumping mad when he sees his fence, though it won't take him many days +to split enough rails for a new one." + +A little later Frank walked across the room and opened the door. The +undergrowth on one side of the clearing gleamed white with frost. On the +other side a few big branches still snapped and glowed, and there was a +red glare behind the black rows of trunks, but it was now broken by +patches of darkness and he could see that the fire was rapidly dying +out. He came back with a shiver and sat down in his warm seat beside the +stove. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A NIGHT ON THE SANDS + + +There was a sprinkle of snow upon the ground, and the boys were working +in Mr. Oliver's slashing one afternoon a week after their visit to Mr. +Webster's ranch when Harry, who had just hauled up a log, stopped his +oxen and addressed his father. + +"It looks as if it would be a fine night," he remarked. + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver. "I've no fault to find with the weather. We'll +get most of the logs piled for burning if it lasts." + +Harry smiled at Frank. "Dad's slow to take a hint. I wasn't thinking of +the logs." + +"I can believe it," Mr. Oliver retorted. "Anyway, they have to be hauled +out, and it's easier to do it now than when the soil's soft and boggy." + +Frank, who had been heaving the sawed trunks on top of one another with +Jake, agreed with the rancher. The big masses of timber slid easily over +the snow and they were clean to handle, which was something to be +thankful for after the difficulty they had had in moving them when they +were foul with clotted mire. The frost, as he had discovered, seldom +lasted long in that country, but it was very cold and the firs towered +flecked with snow against a clear blue sky. + +"I was wondering if there was any reason why we shouldn't try to get a +duck to-night," said Harry. "We won't go near the island where the cache +is. There's a flat behind the other one to the southward." + +"I can think of one reason," his father answered. "You won't feel like +working to-morrow, and there's a good deal of log-hauling to be done." + +"We'll be ready to start as usual," persisted Harry. + +"Then you can go on that condition, but you'll have to stick to it. I +don't mind your getting a few hours' shooting now and then, but I expect +you to be ranchers first of all when there's work on hand." + +Harry repeated his assurance and Mr. Oliver made no more objections. +When they had heaved up the next log Jake turned to the boys. + +"There'll be a moon and I guess you're not going to do much on the +flats," he said. "You want to cut two very short paddles and put some +spruce brush that you can lie on in the canoe. Then if you keep quite +flat you might creep up on a flock of ducks in one of the channels. You +can't do it if you use the ordinary paddle kneeling." + +He split them two flat slabs off the butt of a cedar, but Mr. Oliver, +who was chopping nearby, looked around when Harry began to hack them +into shape. + +"What are those for?" he asked. + +"Paddles," Harry answered with some hesitation. + +"You're logging just now," said his father dryly. "I want another tier +put up before it's dark." + +Harry laid down the half-finished paddles and grinned at Frank. + +"I guess dad's quite right, but his way of staying with it gets riling +now and then." + +Frank laughed. One day when Harry had hurt his knee and there was no +work of any consequence on hand, Mr. Oliver had taken him out into the +bush, and the boy had a painful recollection of the journey they had +made together. No thicket was too dense or thorny for the rancher to +scramble through, and he prowled about the steepest slopes and amongst +the thickest tangles of fallen logs with the same unflagging persistency +until at the first shot he killed a deer. Mr. Oliver was, as his son +and Jake sometimes said, a stayer, one who invariably put through what +he took in hand. He was the kind of person Frank aspired to become, +though he was discovering that he was not likely to accomplish it by +taking things easily. Success, it seemed, could only be attained by +ceaseless effort and constant carefulness. + +He went on with the logging, though the work was remarkably heavy, and +it was an occupation he had no liking for, but he helped Harry to finish +the paddles after supper. Then they carried a bundle of spruce twigs +down to the canoe, and, though there was not much wind, tied a reef in +the sloop's mainsail, which Mr. Oliver had insisted on before they +loosed the moorings. + +An hour later and shortly before low water they let go the anchor in a +lane of water which wound into a stretch of sloppy sand. It was just +deep enough for the sloop to creep into with her centerboard up, and the +flats ran back from it into a thin mist on either side. It was very cold +and the deck glittered in the pale moonlight white with frost. Frank +stood up looking about him while Harry arranged the twigs in the canoe, +but there was very little to see. The sky was hazy, the moon was +encircled by a halo, and wet sand and winding water glimmered faintly. +At one point he could dimly make out the dark loom of an island, but +there was no sign of the beach in front of him. Though he could feel a +light wind on his face, it was very still, except for the ripple of +water and the occasional splash of undermined sand falling into the +channel, which seemed startlingly distinct. Once he heard a distant +calling of wildfowl, but it died away again. + +Dropping into the canoe when his companion was ready he took up one of +the longer paddles. The water was quite smooth and they made good +progress, but Harry did not seem satisfied. + +"If I'd had any sense I'd have brought a pole to shove her with," he +complained. "It's handier in shallow water and the ducks seem to be a +long way up. A creek that runs out on the beach makes this channel." + +Frank paddled on, watching the sloppy banks slide by and the palely +gleaming strip of water run back into the haze in front of him until at +last it forked off into two branches. + +"We'll try this one," said Harry. "I believe it works right around +behind the island. The flood should come up that end first, and it ought +to drive the feeding birds back over the sands to us." + +The water got deeper as they proceeded, for Frank could feel no bottom +when he sank his blade, but there was no sign of any duck until at last +they heard a faint quacking in the mist. Soon afterward there was a +shrill scream as a flock of some of the smaller waders wheeled above +their heads. + +"Now," said Harry, "we'll try Jake's idea. If the ducks aren't on the +water they'll be along the edge of it where the bank's soft. You don't +often find them feeding where the sand's dry and hard." + +They placed the guns handy, and lying down upon the spruce brush dipped +the short blades. Frank found the position a very uncomfortable one to +paddle in, and he could not keep his hands from getting wet, though the +water was icy cold. They were fast becoming swollen and tingled +painfully in the stinging frost. Still, the boys made some progress, and +at last looking up at a whisper from Harry, Frank saw a dark patch upon +the water some distance in front of him. Harry edged the canoe closer in +with the bank, which had a slope of two or three feet on that side. + +After that they crept on slowly, because they dared not use much force +for fear of splashing, and Frank's wet fingers were rapidly growing +useless. The ducks became a little more distinct and he could see other +birds moving about in the faint gleam on the opposite bank. Some of +them, standing out against the wet surface, looked extraordinarily +large, though he could not tell what they were. + +At last a sudden eerie screaming broke out close ahead and Frank started +and almost dropped his paddle as a second flock of waders rose from the +gloom of the bank. They flashed white in the moonlight as they turned +and wheeled on simultaneously slanted wings. Then they vanished for a +moment as their dusky upper plumage was turned toward the boys, gleamed +again more dimly, and the haze swallowed them. They had, however, given +the alarm, and the air was filled with the harsh clamor of startled +wildfowl. + +"Now!" cried Harry. "Before the ducks get up!" + +Frank flung in his paddle and pitched his gun to his shoulder, with the +barrel resting on the side of the canoe. It sparkled in the moonlight, +distracting his sight, and stung his wet hand, but he could see dark +bodies rising from the water ahead. As he pressed the trigger Harry's +gun blazed across the bows, and following the double crash there was an +outbreak of confused sound, the sharp splash of webbed feet that trailed +through water, a discordant screaming, and the beat of many wings. +Indistinct objects whirled across the moonlight and as Frank with +stiffened fingers snapped open the breach Harry's gun once more flung +out a train of yellow sparks. Then the smoke hung about them smelling +curiously acrid in the frosty air and they seized the paddles to drive +the canoe clear of it. When they had left it behind them the lane of +water was empty except for one small dark patch upon it, and the clamor +of the wildfowl was dying away. They had paddled a few yards when Frank +made out that something was stumbling away from them along the shadowy +bank, but they were almost abreast of it before he could get another +shell into the chamber. The bird lay still when he fired, and Harry +picked up the duck on the water, after which he ran the canoe ashore. + +"So far as I could see, the rest of them headed across the flat toward +the other channel," he said. "It looks soft here, but, as you'll have to +get out to pick up the duck yonder, it might be a good idea if you +followed them over the sand. I'll work along the creek and it's likely +that any birds I put up will fly over you." + +This seemed possible to Frank, who realized that the walk would warm +him, and he stepped out of the canoe into several inches of slushy sand. +Floundering through it, he picked up the duck and threw it to Harry, who +shoved the canoe out. + +"I won't go far and you had better head back toward the forks in half an +hour or so," he said. "I'll probably be waiting." + +The canoe slid away, and Frank felt sorry that he had left her when he +reached the harder top of the bank. The level flat which stretched away +before him into the mist looked very desolate, and the deep stillness +had a depressing effect on him. He also remembered that in another hour +or less the flood tide would come creeping back across the dreary waste. +He could, however, think of no reasonable excuse for rejoining his +companion, and turning his back on the channel he set out across the +sand. Nothing moved upon it as he plodded on, the silence seemed to be +growing deeper, and he had an idea that the haze was denser than it had +been. Still, he determined to make the round Harry had suggested and +quickened his pace. + +It was some time later when he heard a double report that sounded a long +way off and he stopped to listen, when the clamor of the wildfowl broke +out again. It died away, but he fancied that a faint, rhythmic sound +stole out of the silence that followed it. A minute later he was sure +that a flight of ducks was crossing the flat and, what was more, that +the birds were heading toward him. As yet he could see nothing of them, +for there was now no doubt that the mist was thicker. He crouched down +as the sound increased, as it occurred to him that he would be too +plainly visible standing up in the moonlight on the level flat. + +The sound drew nearer, growing in a steady crescendo until he wondered +that a duck's wing could make so much noise, and at last a number of +shadowy objects broke out of the mist, flying low and swiftly in regular +formation. The gun flashed, and the ducks swept on and vanished, all but +one which came slowly fluttering down out of the mist. + +Frank spent nearly a minute fumbling with stiffened fingers while he +crammed in another shell, and then saw that the duck was running across +the sand some way off. Closing the breach he set off after it, and had +got a little nearer when it rose, fluttered awkwardly, and fell again, +though it was able to make good progress on its feet. Twice he got +within sixty yards of it, but on one occasion it flew a little way, and +on the second it swam across a long pool which he had to run around. +Indeed, it led him a considerable distance before he brought it down. + +Picking it up he stopped and looked about him. It was pleasant to feel a +little warmer, but there was nothing to guide him toward the other fork +of the channel except the drift of the mist and the chill of the wind +upon one side of his face, and he could not be sure that the wounded +bird had led him straight. The flat was level and bare except for little +pools of water on which were glistening filaments of ice. It was, +however, too cold to stand still with wet feet and consider, and +deciding that the sooner he got down to the forks the sooner he would be +back on board the sloop, he set off briskly. He had had enough of +wandering about that desolate waste. + +At last, to his relief, he saw a faint silvery glimmer ahead in the +mist, and turning off he struck the channel a little lower down. There +was no sign of a duck or anything else, but he was by no means sorry +for this, for his one idea was to get back to the forks as soon as +possible, and the surest way of doing it was to follow the creek. It +appeared to be a considerable distance, though he walked as fast as he +could, splashing straight through shallow pools and slipping in +half-frozen mud, and when at last he reached the spot where the channels +branched off he could see nothing of Harry or the canoe. What troubled +him almost as much was the fact that the stream was now flowing inland, +and after a quick glance at it he shouted with all his might. His voice +rang along the water and level sand, but though he called again no +answer came out of the drifting mist. Then he slipped his hand into his +pocket to get a cartridge and drew it out again with an exclamation of +disgust, recollecting that he had only picked up three or four loose +shells in the canoe. + +For a moment he stood still considering, and it occurred to him that the +situation was not a pleasant one. The flood tide was making and he did +not know how far off the beach was, while he had no desire to spend the +night in the woods. He could not see the island, and in order to reach +it he would have to cross the main channel, which, as he remembered, was +moderately deep. On the whole it seemed wiser to wade through the +smaller fork and, if Harry did not overtake him in the meanwhile, try to +get on board the sloop. She would float in very shallow water with her +centerboard up, and he had touched bottom with the canoe paddle a few +yards away from her. + +When he had arrived at this decision he plunged into the water, which +immediately rose above the top of his long boots. It was horribly cold, +but this caused him less concern than the fact that it rippled strongly +against his legs, which made it clear that he must get down to the sloop +as fast as possible. He was over his knees before he got across, and +then he ran his hardest along the edge of the channel, which seemed to +be growing wider at every moment. The palely gleaming water was +perfectly smooth, but it was moving with an ominous speed. + +He grew breathless, but he did not slacken the pace. He went straight, +splashing through trickling water and into pools, while he strained his +eyes for the first glimpse of the sloop, but he could only see the mist +which hid the sand thirty or forty yards in front of him. At last he +made out a strip of something solid low down ahead and then what seemed +to be a mast, and a few moments later he stopped at the water's edge. +There was nothing but water in front of him and it was no longer quite +smooth. Little ripples ran along the sand, and one broke about his feet +while he gazed at them. It did not recede but splashed on, and when he +looked around there was at least a yard of water behind him. Then he +struggled with a paralyzing sense of dismay, and strove to keep his +head. It was necessary to think and think very hard. + +He could not wait where he was with the water deepening about him; +while, if he went back and did not find Harry before he reached it, the +creek, which he would no longer be able to cross, would head him off. If +he followed it up on the near side it would take him away from the +canoe, and he did not know how far off the beach was. There was +evidently only one thing to be done and that was to get on board the +sloop even if he had to swim. + +She seemed a horribly long way out, but he splashed in hurriedly, afraid +to wait a moment lest his resolution should melt away, and he was soon +waist-deep with a strong stream swirling around him. It was almost +impossible to keep his feet, the gun hampered him, and the coldness of +the water seemed to check his breathing and take the power out of his +limbs. He could not go back, however, and face a journey through the +mist across the waste of sand, and setting his lips he struggled on. +Twice he was almost swept away, but at last making a savage effort he +clutched the stern of the craft and scrambled up on to her deck. + +The first thing he did was to light the stove, and when a pleasant +warmth began to fill the cabin he was conscious of a strong desire to +sit still and dry his clothes. That, unfortunately, was out of the +question, and he reluctantly crawled out and stood up on deck. There was +nothing but water around him now. It stretched back on every side into +the mist, and the only sounds were the soft lap of the tide and the +ripple it made flowing over thinly covered sand. Then having already +decided that Harry would have some difficulty in paddling against the +stream, he set about getting sail upon the craft to go in search of the +canoe. + +The mainsail looked remarkably big and heavy, and he was thankful that +there was a reef in it, which made the task a little easier before he +got it up. Then he spent several minutes in very hard work heaving the +boat up to her anchor, and bruised his swollen hands in the determined +effort it cost him to break it out. After that he set the jib and the +sloop slid gently away with the wind abeam of her. He did not know +exactly where she was going, but he shouted as loudly as he could every +now and then, and at last there was a faint answering cry. + +He called again and the cry rose more clearly, after which he hauled the +sheet and changed his course, and by and by the canoe appeared out of +the haze close ahead. A few moments later Harry paddled alongside, and +handing up the ducks and his gun made the canoe fast before he turned to +Frank. + +"Do you know where you're heading for?" he asked. + +"No," Frank confessed. "I've only a notion that it's in toward the +land." + +"Then we'll drop the jib and pitch the anchor over. We'll have to wait +until the stream slackens before we get out again." + +They followed his suggestion and Frank was glad indeed to creep back +into the cozy cabin. + +"This is uncommonly nice," drawled Harry, sitting down with a smile of +content. "It was horribly cramping in the canoe and my hands were 'most +too cold to paddle." + +"What kept you?" inquired Frank. + +"I must have gone farther than I intended and when I turned back the +tide was running up so strong I could hardly make head against it. I was +getting scared about you when I reached the forks and saw how the water +was spreading on the sand. After that I didn't spare myself, but I was +mighty glad to hear your shout." + +"Did you get any more ducks?" + +"No," said Harry, "I had only one shot--a long one." + +Frank, who told him to make some coffee, stripped off part of his +clothes and dressed himself in an old blanket, after which they sat +beside the stove for an hour or so, until Harry crawled out and said +that there was a little more wind and the mist was thinning. + +Shortly after this they heaved the anchor and started again, but once +more the wind fell light and a couple of hours had passed and they were +almost frozen when they reached the cove below the ranch. The house was +dark when they crept into it and went straight to bed, while it cost +Frank a determined effort to get up before daylight next morning. His +clothes were still damp and he felt sore and aching, but he took his +place with the others when they sat down to breakfast. + +Logging seemed a particularly unpleasant task that day, but he had to go +on with it, and he fancied that Mr. Oliver, with whom it was necessary +to keep pace, worked harder than he usually did. Frank was completely +exhausted when as darkness fell they went back to the ranch. + +"Are you going out again after ducks to-night?" Mr. Oliver asked him. + +"No," said Frank ruefully, "I feel as if it would take me a week to get +over the last trip." + +"I'm not very much astonished," Mr. Oliver answered with a soft laugh. +"Still, I don't mind admitting that you stood up to your work to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ULTIMATUM + + +The frost soon broke up, and it was raining heavily one afternoon, when +the boys were at work in an excavation they had driven under a big fir +stump shortly after their shooting trip. Frank, very wet and dirty, lay +propped up on one elbow with his head and shoulders inside the hole, +chopping awkwardly at a root. His legs and feet were in a pool of water +outside and there was very little room to swing the ax, while at every +blow the saturated soil fell down on him. Grubbing out a stump in wet +weather is a singularly disagreeable task. + +Harry crouched close beside him where he was partly sheltered from the +rain by the network of roots which rose above his head. The boys had +spent most of the day cutting through those which ran along the surface +of the ground and digging to get at the rest, until they had been forced +to drive a tunnel to reach one or two which went vertically down, for it +was an unusually large stump. At last when his ax shoved through the +obstacle Frank paused for breath, and, as it was getting dark in the +excavation, Harry lighted a piece of candle. The light fell upon a +massive shaft of wet wood which sank into the ground. + +"Nobody fixed as we are could chop through that," he grumbled. "It's the +big taproot, and it would take most of another day's shoveling to make +room to get at it with the crosscut. It looks as if we'd have to put +some giant powder in. Where's that auger?" + +Frank reached out for the boring tool, which resembled a huge +corkscrew, only that instead of a handle it had a hole at its upper end +for the insertion of a short lever. + +"I'll bore while you get things ready, if you like," he suggested. "Do +you often use dynamite?" + +"We never fire a shot when we can help it, though there are ranchers who +get through a lot of the stuff. Giant powder's expensive, and, though +labor's expensive, too, you have to figure whether a shot's going to +pay. It's worth while if it will save you grubbing most of the day. +Slant the hole you bore a little upward while I go along for the +magazine." + +Harry crawled out of the excavation, and Frank slipped a crossbar +through the hole in the auger, driving the point of the latter into the +wood. It went in easily, but the work grew harder as he twisted it round +and round, kneeling with his shoulders against the roots, while the +candle flickered and big drops of water trickled down on him. The +position was a cramping one, and his wet hands slipped upon the +crossbar, but he had become accustomed to doing unpleasant things, and +it was evident that one could not clear a ranch without grubbing stumps. + +By and by Harry came back, and telling him to hold the light carefully, +produced what looked rather like a yellow candle, and a piece of black +cord with a copper cap nipped down on the end of it. + +"That's the detonator," he said, pointing to the cap. "You saw one or +two of them at Webster's ranch." + +"I didn't feel inclined to stop and examine them then," Frank answered +with a laugh. + +"They're very like the caps used for guns, only, as you see, they're +bigger, and it's wise to be careful how you pinch one down on the fuse. +The stuff they fill the end with is mighty powerful. So's giant powder, +but it's peculiar because it will only burn unless you fire it with +something that makes a bang. At least, that's what it does in a general +way. The trouble is you can never be quite sure of it." + +He worked the soft yellow substance over the detonator, after which he +thrust it gently into the auger hole and pressed a handful of soil down +on it. Frank was thankful when he had finished, for having heard of the +tremendous powers of the giant powder he did not care to be shut up with +it among that network of roots. Then Harry, straightening the strip of +black fuse which projected from the hole, took a quick glance about him. + +"We'll make sure we can get out before we light it," he remarked, taking +the candle and holding it to the fuse. "You don't want to stay around +once the fuse is burning. Crawl back and hold those roots up out of my +way." + +The candle was by this time sputtering and sparkling, and Frank swung +himself up out of the hole and set off madly across the clearing, +shouting to Mr. Oliver and Jake, who were at work not far away. His +companion, following close behind, stopped him presently. + +"Hold on!" he shouted with a laugh. "You needn't run right down to the +cove. Giant powder's kind of local in its action, and that charge isn't +going to turn the whole clearing upside down." + +They waited behind a neighboring stump, and a few minutes later Frank, +who had felt himself thrilled with expectation, was grievously +disappointed. He had looked for a spectacular result, but there was only +a dull, heavy thud, a sound of rending and splitting, and a wisp of +vapor out of which a little soil flew up. + +"Now," said Harry, "we'll go along and have a look, but we'll work +around the stump and come at it down the wind." + +"Why?" Frank asked. + +His companion snickered. "Only that it would probably knock you over, +I'd let you go and see. It's wise to keep clear of the gases after +firing giant powder. They haven't the same effect on everybody, but +most men who get a whiff of them want to lie down for the rest of the +day." + +They approached the stump cautiously on its windward side, but there was +not much to see. It appeared to have been split and was slightly raised, +but it had certainly not been blown to fragments, as Frank had expected. + +"Do you think the shot has cut the root?" he asked. + +"No," said Harry with a smile, "you couldn't call it cutting. It has +melted it, swallowed it, blotted it right out. You'll find very little +of that root to-morrow, and there won't be any pieces lying round +either." + +He broke off and grabbed Frank's arm as the latter moved toward the +other side of the stump. + +"Come back!" he warned. "The gas is hanging about yet." + +Frank noticed a rather unpleasant smell, and was conscious of a pain in +his head, but it passed off as they crossed the clearing together. As it +was getting too dark to work, Mr. Oliver and Jake joined them before +they reached the house. They changed their clothes when they went in, +and after toiling in the rain all day Frank was glad to sit down dressed +in dry things at the well-spread table. The room was very cozy with its +bright lamp and snapping stove, and the doleful wail of the wind and the +thrashing of the rain outside emphasized its cheerfulness. He felt +languidly content with himself and the simple, strenuous life he led. +For the most part, though they had occasional adventures, it was an +uneventful one, and some time had passed since they had heard anything +of the dope runners. He wondered what had become of them, or if they had +found smuggling unprofitable and had given it up. + +Supper was about half finished when there was a knock at the door and +the dog rose with a growl. Harry seized the animal's collar just as a +man appeared in the entrance. His clothes were black with water and a +trickle of it ran from the brim of the soft hat he held in one hand. He +was a young man and the paleness of his face suggested that he was from +the cities. + +"Is it far to Carthew Creek?" he inquired. + +"Eight or nine miles," Mr. Oliver replied. "The trail's very bad and +you'll have some trouble in keeping it on a night like this. Have you +any reason for going straight through?" + +"I believe a steamboat calls to-morrow and I thought of going back with +her. I've had about enough of these bush trails." + +"Then we'll put you up," said Mr. Oliver obligingly. "You can get on +again first thing in the morning. You're wet enough now, aren't you?" + +The stranger admitted that he was, but seemed to hesitate. + +"I don't want to trouble Miss Oliver," he said. "Still, as it happens, +I've a message for you." + +Mr. Oliver said that he would give him some dry clothes, and the two +withdrew to get them. They came back a few minutes later and sat down at +the table. The stranger made an excellent meal, and Mr. Oliver waited +until he had finished before he asked a question: + +"Have you walked in?" + +"From the settlement," the other answered. "As I expected to get back by +the steamboat, I left my hired horse with Porteous at the store." + +"Porteous doesn't keep the store." + +"The other fellow got hurt chopping a week or so ago. A log or a big +branch fell on him, and they sent him off to Seattle. Porteous is +running the business until he gets better." + +Frank fancied that Mr. Oliver was displeased at this, but there was no +change in his manner toward his visitor. + +"Is he running the post office, too?" he asked. + +"Oh, yes. I had to tell him something about a letter." + +"You mentioned that you had some business with me. I suppose you're +looking up orders for fruit trees?" + +The stranger smiled. "I'm a store clerk by profession. Out of a job at +present. Name's T. Graham Watkins. Now you know me." + +He turned to Miss Oliver with a bow, but she made no comment, and he +glanced toward the boys. + +"We've got to have a talk," he added, addressing Mr. Oliver. "I'm not +sure you'd want these young men or your sister to hear." + +"You can tell it here," said Mr. Oliver dryly. "I can make a guess at +your business, and if I'm right I've no objections to the others staying +where they are." + +"Then it's just this. The folks I represent aren't pleased with you. +They've a notion that you've been bucking against them for the last few +months and trying to find out things they'd rather keep dark." + +"I presume you're referring to the dope runners. Why didn't they come +themselves?" + +"That's easily answered," said Mr. Watkins. "I understand you haven't +seen one of them yet, and they don't want to give you an opportunity of +doing so." + +Harry grinned at Frank across the table unnoticed by the speaker. + +"In my case it doesn't matter," the latter added. "I've merely called to +give you a message." + +"Aren't you rather hanging fire with it?" Mr. Oliver asked. + +"I feel kind of diffident. I don't want to say anything that might alarm +your sister." + +Miss Oliver smiled. "You needn't hesitate. My brother generally takes me +into his confidence, and I don't think either of us is very easily +startled." + +"Won't you send the boys away, anyhow?" + +"No," said Mr. Oliver quietly, "I think I mentioned that I'd rather let +them stay." + +"Well," said the other, "this is the position. The gentlemen you +mentioned can land their stuff near here and get it away through the +bush easily; that is, if you'll lie by and take no hand against them. +There are other routes, but they're longer and more difficult, and my +friends would rather stick to this one if it's possible. The question is +how can they make it worth your while to shut your eyes and leave them +alone?" + +Harry suddenly straightened himself and Frank noticed the quick flush of +anger in his face, but Miss Oliver was smiling and the rancher's voice +was as tranquil as usual. + +"The answer's very simple," he said. "It can't be done." + +Mr. Watkins appeared astonished. + +"I want you to consider your position," he repeated. + +"I may tell you that I considered it carefully some months ago, but +there's a point I'd like to mention. Has it struck you that I might +promise to fall in with your friends' views and all the same give them +away?" + +"It was talked about," Mr. Watkins answered. "We decided it wouldn't be +in keeping with what we knew about your character, and you'd certainly +be sorry you had done it afterward." + +"Now we're coming to the second and more important half of the message," +said Mr. Oliver. + +"You're right," was the answer. "I'm to understand that when you say you +won't meet my friends' views it's your last word?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver firmly. + +"Then my message is a plain one. Let up, or look out. I want you to fix +your attention on the last part of it. You have quite a nice place here, +a high-class barn and homestead, and a good hay crop, and there's nobody +living within some miles of you except Webster." + +"Precisely!" said Mr. Oliver. "They cost me a good deal of very hard +work and I shall try to keep them. Now I suppose you've said your +piece?" + +Mr. Watkins raised his hand as if to beg his forbearance. + +"You've heard it all. I only want to add that I'm quite willing to start +right now for Carthew if you wish it." + +Mr. Oliver laughed naturally and easily. + +"No," he said, "you're my guest for the night. After this we'll change +the subject and talk about something else." He looked around. "Harry, +will you bring the cigar box out?" + +Mr. Watkins did not appear to be a brilliant conversationalist, but he +discussed politics and railroad extension with his host, and Frank found +himself wondering at and admiring the rancher's attitude. He had shown +no sign of anger and had never failed in courtesy. Threats had +apparently no effect on him, and he had received them with a quiet +amusement which appealed in particular to the boy's fancy. It seemed +ever so much finer than blustering indignation, but he thought that +there would be a striking change in Mr. Oliver's manner if he were ever +driven to action. + +Mr. Watkins took his departure after breakfast next morning, after which +Mr. Oliver wrote two letters before he called the boys. + +"I want you to take the sloop and go up to the settlement," he said. +"You will mail this letter there. It's to Barclay, though it isn't +directly addressed to him." + +Harry looked thoughtful. + +"Of course," he said hesitatingly, "I'll do that if you wish it, but +Porteous is a mean white, isn't he? Mightn't he open the thing?" + +"It's possible," Mr. Oliver answered with a smile. "As it happens, I've +no great objections to his reading it, and I'm mailing it with him as an +experiment. Don't put it into the box, but hand it to him. When you +have done that sail back along the beach and then head right across to +Bannington's, where you'll mail this other letter. As you can't be back +to-night, you had better take some provisions with you. Start as soon as +you can." + +The boys were off in half an hour, for the rain had stopped and there +was a clear sky and a moderate breeze. As they sailed out of the cove +Harry from his place at the helm glanced at his companion with a +chuckle. + +"When you come to understand him, dad's unique," he said. "Porteous will +open that letter. He's mean enough for anything, and it's been my +opinion all along that he's in with the gang." + +"But won't it give your father's plans away if he reads it?" + +"Not much!" said Harry. "Haven't you got hold yet? The letter's about +hunting, and there's most likely an order in it for Winchester shells or +something else that will put Porteous off the track. He's probably not +an expert at opening envelopes, and it won't take Barclay long to tell +whether anybody has been tampering with the letter. The other one will +go through without being interfered with. They're white at +Bannington's." + +"That won't get over much of the difficulty, after all," Frank objected. +"Won't your father's answer bring Watkins's friends down upon the +ranch?" + +"It's possible," said Harry. "I've a notion that when they come dad will +be ready for them, and I fancy Barclay's nearly through with his +trailing." + +"You expect he'll make a new move then?" + +Harry laughed. "Sure!" he said. "That little, fat man will get +everything fixed up without making the least fuss. Then he'll bring his +hand down once for all and smash the whole dope-running gang. I don't +mind allowing that I was quite wrong about him at the beginning." + +They said nothing more upon the subject, and they safely reached the +cove next day after a long, cold sail. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MR. OLIVER OUTWITS HIS WATCHERS + + +A day or two after they had got back to the ranch Mr. Oliver asked the +boys if they would like another trip, and as both of them preferred it +to grubbing stumps they paddled off to the canoe with him the same +evening. A fresh breeze sprang up as the sun went down, and they had a +fast and rather wet sail. Daylight was breaking across the scattered +pines when the party left the sloop and walked up a trail within sight +of a little lonely settlement. + +As they approached it a harsh clanking and the tolling of a bell rose +from behind the trees, and they had to wait while a locomotive and a +string of freight cars jolted across the trail into a neighboring side +track. When the train had passed Mr. Oliver and his companions crossed +the rails and entered a desolate flag station, which consisted of a +roughly boarded, iron-roofed shack and a big water tank. In front of it +was an open space strewn with fir stumps, and beyond the latter three or +four frame houses rose among the trees. The door of the shack was shut, +and while they stood outside it the sound of an approaching train grew +steadily louder and a jet of steam blew noisily from the valve of the +locomotive waiting in the side track. + +"A Seattle train," said Mr. Oliver. "They don't seem to be flagging her +and she probably won't stop." + +Frank stood looking about him with a curious stirring of his heart. +There was a gaudy poster pasted up on the shack announcing cheap tickets +to Seattle, with a line or two about a circus and some attraction at an +opera house. In the meanwhile the scream of a whistle came ringing +across the shadowy trees and the boy was troubled by the familiar sights +and sounds. The wet rails, the freight cars, and the brilliant poster +reminded him of the cities he had turned his back upon some time ago. + +Then, though the daylight was rapidly growing clearer, a big blazing +lamp broke out from among the firs with a cloud of steam streaming +behind it, and a locomotive and a row of clanging cars swept through the +depot. The lights from the windows flashed into Frank's face, flickered +upon the shack and rows of stumps, and grew dim again, after which the +din receded and came throbbing back fainter and fainter. As he listened +to it, a sudden fierce longing seized the boy. He wanted to hear the +clamor of the cities again, to see the big stores and the hurrying +crowds. Almost a year had elapsed since he had even seen a train, and a +journey of two or three hours would take him back to the stir and bustle +of civilization away from the constant monotonous toil with ax and saw +in the lonely bush. + +He wondered what his people were doing in Boston. In the winter season +there were festivities and gayety there, and he had once enjoyed them +with his old companions who had most likely forgotten him. Some had gone +into business, two were at Harvard, and another had entered the army; +but he stood, dressed in miry long boots and old well-mended garments +still damp with salt water, in a little desolate depot in the +wilderness. He fancied that he was justified in feeling rather sorry for +himself. + +Then with an effort he drove these thoughts away. After all, his place +was not in the cities. He had no money and there was nobody to give him +a fair start in life, while he admitted that it was very doubtful that +he had any talent for business. He might, perhaps, become a clerk or +something of the kind, but it once more occurred to him that he was +better off in the bush. Indeed, though he scarcely realized this, the +bush had already made a striking change in him, and it is possible that +his eastern friends would have had trouble in recognizing him as the +pale lad they had sent away to Minneapolis. His face was bronzed and +resolute, he was taller, tougher, and broader around the chest, and he +could now toil all day at a task which would once have broken him down +in a couple of hours. Then he started as he noticed that Mr. Oliver was +looking at him with a smile. + +"You seem to be thinking rather hard," the rancher remarked. + +"I was," Frank admitted hesitatingly. "It was the train that put the +ideas into my mind." + +"I fancied it might be something of that description," said Mr. Oliver. +"She'd soon have taken you up to Seattle, and nowadays it's a very short +run to Chicago, where you could get on to one of the Atlantic flyers. I +suppose you feel that you'd like to make the journey?" + +"I did--for a minute or two," Frank confessed with an embarrassed smile. +"Then, of course, I realized that it was impossible." + +Somewhat to his astonishment, Mr. Oliver laid a hand upon his shoulder. + +"The wish was very natural, but stay where you are, my lad. There's more +room out here in the Western bush, and you're making progress. This is +going to be a great country, and you won't be sorry you came out in a +few more years." + +"I'm not sorry now," Frank answered sturdily, with a flush in his face. + +Mr. Oliver turned away as the agent opened the door of his shack, and +they went into the little, untidy office. + +"I want to send a message south," said Mr. Oliver, writing something on +a form. "It's a code address. I suppose I could get an answer in an hour +or so?" + +"Oh, yes," said the agent. "They'll be beginning to move about in +Seattle now, and if the man's in his office there'll be no delay. In the +meanwhile they would give you a good breakfast at the hotel." + +Mr. Oliver thanked him, and as they left the depot two men whom they had +not noticed hitherto met them. Mr. Oliver glanced at them sharply, but +he did not speak, and a few minutes later they sat down to an excellent +meal in the primitive wooden hotel. When they had finished the +proprietor strolled in and sat down for a chat with them. + +"Is there much going on about the place?" Mr. Oliver asked, offering him +a cigar. + +"Yes," said the hotelkeeper, accepting the proffered cigar with +alacrity, "we've struck quite a boom. There's a man clearing a lot of +ground for a fruit ranch and putting up a smart frame house. Then +they're cutting a couple of new trails. The boys are making good wages +and they're all of them busy." + +"I saw two men just now who didn't seem to have much to do," said Mr. +Oliver carelessly, and Harry gave his companion a nudge with his elbow. + +"They don't belong here," was the answer. "One of them lives down the +beach and does some fishing with his boat. The other man came in from +the South yesterday on the cars, and I don't know what he's after. I +told him I could put him on to a job and he said he didn't want it." + +"As they're together, he's probably going in for fishing with the first +one," Mr. Oliver suggested. + +The hotelkeeper pursed his lips and looked as if he were solving a hard +problem. + +"It's a puzzle to me how Larry makes a living. It's only now and then he +sends a little fish away, and I can't see what he'd do with a partner." +Then he changed the subject. "You're thinking of buying land?" + +"No," said Mr. Oliver, "I sailed over in my boat to dispatch a wire. It +was much easier than riding a long way to the nearest office now that +the trails are soft." + +"They're bad, sure," assented his companion, and they continued to +discuss ranching until Mr. Oliver finally rose and said he would walk +across to the depot. The boys followed him a few paces behind. Harry +addressed his companion with a look of admiration for his father. + +"I guess you noticed how dad found out about those fellows without +letting the man think he was curious?" he said. + +Frank said that he had noticed it and added: + +"I wonder what the fellow came up from the South for?" + +"That," said Harry significantly, "is a point I expect dad's doing some +hard thinking on just now." + +They walked into the agent's office and sat down to wait as he told them +that he had as yet received no answer to the telegram. The door near +which Frank sat stood partly open, and he noticed that the two men were +lounging close outside it. He quietly touched Mr. Oliver's arm, +indicating them with a glance. The rancher knitted his brows and +presently spoke to the agent. + +"There are two men who seem to be waiting for you outside," he said. + +The agent walked across to the door. + +"Back again, Larry!" he said impatiently. "What's the matter now?" + +"When's that fish box of mine coming along?" the man inquired. + +"I don't know," said the agent. "Next freight, most likely, if it's been +delivered to us at the other end." + +"Won't you wire up the line about it?" + +"No," said the agent. "If you'll put up the stamps I'll wire to the fish +store you billed it to." + +The man looked indignant. "I tell you it's in the railroad's hands. Do +you think I've nothing better to do than hang about this depot every +time a freight comes through?" He paused a moment with his eyes on the +ground, then went on: "Anyway, now I'm on the spot I may as well wait +for the next one. She should be along in about an hour. Won't you let me +in?" + +The telegraph instrument began to click just then and the agent turned +toward him sharply. + +"There's no room. You can wait at the hotel." + +"Perhaps the message is about his box," broke in the other man. + +Frank glanced around at them. They were dressed like most of the bush +choppers in rough working clothes and there was nothing particularly +noticeable in their appearance, but he fancied that they had some reason +for wishing to get into the office. + +"No, sir," said the agent. "They don't wire about the delivery of an +empty box on this road. Get out! I want to shut the door." + +Frank noticed that one of the loungers had thrust his foot against the +post, but the agent, seeming to lose his temper, slammed the door on it. +The man withdrew it with an exclamation, and the agent turned toward the +instrument which was now clicking rapidly. He tapped an answering +signal, and then wrote upon a strip of paper which he handed Mr. Oliver. +The latter read the message and handed it to the boys. + + "_First route unsatisfactory second preferred_," it + ran. "_Meet me nine to-night Everett if possible._" + +Frank was puzzled, but he fancied that Harry understood the message +better than he did. + +"Thanks," said Mr. Oliver, addressing the agent. "Your two friends +outside seemed uncommonly anxious about that box." + +"That's a fact," said the agent. "Larry was worrying me about it before +it was light. I don't know the fellow who came along with him, but it +struck me that he was listening to the instrument as if he understood +it, though he couldn't have heard more than the depot call. Of course," +he added thoughtfully, "'most any one who had worked on a railroad would +know the code, but I can't figure why they should make so much fuss +about a box that's scarcely worth a dollar." + +"It's curious," Mr. Oliver answered indifferently. "You might lend me +your train schedule." + +The agent gave him the company's time bill, which also included the +coast steamboat sailings, and Mr. Oliver walked back with the boys to +the hotel. There was nobody in the general room when they reached it, +and they sat down near the stove. + +"Now," he began, "as we have taken you into our confidence and it's +probable that you can help, you may as well understand the situation +thoroughly. The message was, of course, from Barclay, though it bears a +clerk's name, and it means that Porteous has opened the letter you left +him. I fancy he'll regret it, but that is by the way. Barclay received +the second letter untampered with, and the rest is plain enough. The +only question is how I'm to keep the appointment without putting the +fellows at the depot on my track." + +"You believe they're in league with the smugglers?" Frank inquired. + +Mr. Oliver smiled. "It seems very likely. Here's a man who keeps a boat, +and, as you have heard, folks wonder how he makes a living by his +fishing. If the boat's moderately fast you can imagine how useful he +would be to the smugglers by taking messages from place to place and +communicating with the schooner. Then we have another man who seems able +to read the telegraph turning up and trying to hear Barclay's message." + +"But how could they have learned that you expected it?" Frank asked. + +"I'm not sure. Porteous may have suspected something and sent a mounted +man off to wire one of the gang. Besides, the fellow who has the boat +may have been across with her. It wouldn't be hard to surmise that I +would wire from here, though they may have had a man watching the +nearest office I could have reached by land on horseback." He paused a +moment and looked at the boys gravely. "All this points to the fact that +we're up against a big and remarkably well-organized gang." + +Frank had no doubt that Mr. Oliver was right, but he asked a question: + +"Why did Barclay choose Everett when it's so far from the field of their +operations?" + +"That's exactly why he fixed on it. There would be less probability of +somebody connected with the gang recognizing us, and I've met him there +already. The fact that he doesn't mention any particular hotel should +have told you that; but what we have to consider is how I'm to get there +without these fellows following me. It's important that I should be back +at the ranch as soon as possible, and you and Harry must manage to +arrive there the first thing to-morrow." + +Frank understood the necessity for this. The nights were long, the bush +was lonely, and Mr. Oliver's wooden house and barns, which had cost him +a good deal of money, would readily burn, while now, when there was only +Jake to take care of them, they would be more or less at the smugglers' +mercy. Then Harry, who in the meanwhile, had been examining the +schedule, looked up. + +"I've an idea," he said. "There's a train goes south in the afternoon, +and a steamboat which calls at Everett goes up the Sound this evening. +Well, suppose we order dinner here and start for Bannington's a little +before the cars come in. The steamboat would stop to pick up there if +she's signaled, and with this breeze we should get down shortly before +she passes." + +Mr. Oliver turned to Frank. + +"How does that strike you?" he asked. + +"The trouble is that the other men would follow us in their boat," the +boy objected. Then a light dawned upon him as he saw the twinkle in Mr. +Oliver's eyes. "You mean that's what Harry intended them to do?" + +"Exactly!" Harry broke in with a grin. "They raise brainy folks in +Boston, and you're getting hold. Those fellows will get after us as soon +as they can hoist sail on their boat and we'll give them a run for it. +The point is that while they're following us dad will be on the cars." + +"But how is he going to elude them?" + +"That," Harry admitted sagely, "wants some thinking out." + +They made their plans in the next half-hour, and some time after dinner +was over walked toward the beach. Nobody seemed to be following them, +though they could not be sure of this since the trail wound about +through the bush, but when they reached the canoe another boat which +they had not noticed on arriving lay moored a few hundred yards away. +They were obliged to carry the canoe down some distance over very rough +stones, and on reaching the water's edge Mr. Oliver took a quick glance +about him. + +"I'm afraid one plan's spoiled," he said. + +The boys glanced back toward the trail and Frank saw two figures saunter +out on to the beach. Harry frowned as he glanced at them. + +"You can't slip back into the bush without their seeing you," he warned. + +"No," said Mr. Oliver. "Still, I think there's a means of getting over +the difficulty. Shove the canoe in. They'll have to carry their boat +down, and our boat's lying nearer the head yonder than theirs is." + +Frank did not understand how the rancher intended to evade his pursuers +and fancied that Harry was not much wiser. They had soon launched the +canoe, however, and were paddling off to the sloop, running the mainsail +up in haste. Then the boys set the jib as she drew out from the beach, +and Frank noticed that the other men were hoisting sail upon their boat +as fast as they could manage it. The sloop, however, was already some +distance away from them, and it was not long before she picked up a +freshening breeze. Lying well over to it she gathered speed, and close +to lee of her Frank saw a low, rocky head, down the face of which +straggled stunted pines and underbrush. He fancied that she would be +hidden from their pursuers when she had sailed around the end of it, but +on glancing back as they approached the corner he saw that the other men +had started after them. They were three or four minutes behind, but he +had no idea yet how Mr. Oliver meant to elude them. He was still +wondering about it when the rancher spoke to him. + +"Get hold of the canoe painter," he ordered. "The moment we're around +the corner we'll haul her up and you'll put me ashore. You'll have to be +smart about it, because you must be back on board before the other boat +rounds the head." + +Harry had already taken the helm, and the sloop was sailing very fast, +with the canoe lurching and splashing over the short seas astern of her. +They broke in a broad fringe of foam upon the stony beach thirty or +forty yards to lee, and as the boat swept on the bay behind closed in +and the seaward face of the cliff opened out ahead. Frank could still +see the boat astern, but as he stood in the well with his hands clenched +upon a rope he knew that in another moment the rocks would shut her out. +Then, sure enough, she suddenly vanished, and shortly afterward he heard +Mr. Oliver's voice. + +"Haul!" he shouted. + +Harry flung loose the mainsheet, but the boat did not quicken her speed +immediately, and Frank found it desperately hard to drag up the canoe, +though Mr. Oliver had seized the rope behind him. Haste was, however, +necessary, if the rancher was to slip back to the depot unsuspected. At +last the canoe ran alongside with a bang and Mr. Oliver dropped on +board, while Frank nearly upset her as he followed him. Each of them +seized a paddle and the boy had a momentary glimpse of the sloop rolling +with her slackened mainsail thrashing to and fro, while Harry struggled +to haul the jib to weather. After that he looked ahead and swung his +paddle, and as the breeze was blowing on to the beach a few quick +strokes drove them in through the splashing surf. She struck the stones +violently, for they had no time to be careful, and Mr. Oliver jumped +ashore, running into the water to thrust her out. Frank contrived to +twist her around, though it taxed all his strength, after which he +hazarded a single glance behind him. Mr. Oliver had disappeared among +the several masses of fallen rock and clumps of small growth which were +scattered about the slope. + +So far the plan had succeeded, but Frank had still to reach the sloop, +which was a different matter from paddling ashore. There was a fresh +breeze ahead of him and a little splashing sea heaved up the canoe's +bows and checked her speed. In addition to this, it is a rather +difficult thing to keep a canoe on a straight course with a single-ended +paddle, which can only be dipped on the one side, and in order to do so +one must give the blade a back twist, which retards the craft unless it +is skillfully managed. Frank, who had hitherto practiced it only in +smooth water, found that the bows would blow around in spite of him. He +grew hot and breathless, and though he set his lips and strung up his +muscles he made very little progress. + +"Paddle!" shouted Harry, who had been watching his maneuvers. "Shove her +through it! Can't you get a move on? I can't run in any nearer without +getting her ashore." + +Frank made another desperate attempt, but a splashing sea broke about +the bows, driving the canoe off her course again, and while he savagely +swung the paddle Harry surveyed him contemptuously. + +"Culcha!" he jeered. "Guess you loaded that up in Boston, but what you +want is sand. Can't you get a bit of a hustle on? You're sure born +played-out back East." + +Frank felt a little more blood surge into his hot face. This was more +than he felt inclined to stand from any Westerner of his own weight, but +it was clear that he could not rebuke his reviler fittingly until he +reached the sloop and the veins swelled up on his forehead as he +furiously plied the paddle. Once more a sea broke about the bows and +this time part of it splashed in, while as he tried the back-feather +stroke the canoe lurched and began to swing around in spite of his +redoubled efforts. Harry spread out one hand resignedly. + +"Well," he said, "it's our own fault for letting you into the canoe. The +trouble was you couldn't be trusted alone with the sloop either. Pshaw! +We've no use for folks of your kind in this country." + +This was intolerable, because part of it was true, and Frank felt his +heart thumping painfully. But he made a last effort, and panting, +straining, taxing every muscle to the utmost, he drove the canoe ahead, +and eventually managed to grasp the sloop's lee rail. He could not +speak, and as he breathlessly crawled on board Harry snatched the rope +from him and made it fast. + +"Trim that jibsheet over," he commanded. + +Frank obeyed him and when they hauled on the mainsheet the sloop once +more gathered speed, while Frank glancing astern saw a strip of slanted +sail appear around the corner of the head. Then he glanced ashore, and +though he saw no sign of Mr. Oliver the slope to the beach was not +remarkably steep and he fancied that the rancher would not have much +trouble in ascending it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A FAST RUN + + +After they had trimmed sail Frank sat still for a while to recover his +breath and, if possible, his composure. He felt that it was necessary to +demand an explanation from his companion. Though they had once or twice +had a difference of opinion, this was the first time that Harry had been +insulting, and Frank found it impossible to pass over what he had said. +When he felt able to speak clearly he looked his companion in the eyes. + +"Now," he began, "I'll admit that you can shoot and sail a boat rather +better than I can, but that doesn't entitle you to talk as you did just +now." + +"I don't know if it matters, but I've a notion that I did shout," Harry +answered calmly. + +"That only makes it worse," Frank burst out warmly. "You couldn't call +it shouting either. I once heard a coyote on the prairie, and it had a +much sweeter voice than you have." + +To his astonishment, Harry grinned. + +"Oh, well," he said, "but won't you get down under the mainboom before +you go on? I don't want those fellows astern to see there are only two +of us on board the sloop." + +Frank did as he suggested, whereupon Harry waved his hand and smiled +graciously. + +"Now," he added, "you can go ahead." + +Frank found it harder than he had expected. His anger was beginning to +evaporate and Harry's good humor was embarrassing. Still, he made +another effort. + +"In the first place," he resumed, "there are just as smart and capable +folks in Massachusetts as there are anywhere else." + +"That's quite right," assented Harry. "I don't see why there shouldn't +be, but I suppose you're not through yet. You want to call me down?" + +"When you say things of that kind--you--" Frank stammered, and stopped +when he observed his companion still smiling. + +"Sure!" said Harry, "I ought to be pounded with the boathook if I'd +meant them." + +Frank gazed at him in bewilderment. "You didn't mean them?" + +"No," said Harry. "Not a word of it." + +"Then why did you say them?" + +"Well," replied his friend, "that's a reasonable question. Now it was +mighty important that you should get alongside before our friends astern +came into sight, and though you weren't making very much progress it +seemed to me you were doing all you knew." + +"I was," Frank assured him. + +"Still, I had an idea that if I could make you jumping mad you might do +a little more. It's hard to tell what you're capable of until you're +real savage, and I thought I'd whip you up a bit where you were most +likely to feel it." + +Frank's indignation vanished, and he changed the subject with a laugh. + +"Do you think those fellows suspected anything?" he asked. + +"No," said Harry. "They were too busy getting sail on her to notice +exactly how far ahead we were when we ran out of the bay, and it will +probably only strike them that they're not quite so far astern as they +expected. All we have to do now is to lead them along toward +Bannington's. I'd rather keep them sailing than have them prowling round +the depot asking questions and, perhaps, sending telegrams, and I've a +notion we can leave them when we like. She's drawing away from them now +and we've only a small jib on her." + +His surmise proved correct, for an hour later the other boat had +diminished to a dusky patch of sail far astern. Dusk soon commenced to +fall and the wind seemed to be freshening, but as they swept around a +rocky point Harry changed his course and told Frank to make a stout rope +fast to the bucket and pitch it over. + +"It will hold her back and let the other fellows come up," he said with +a grin. "They'll probably figure their boat's faster in any weight of +wind, and we don't want to run out of sight of them." + +It grew dark and for a while the sky was barred with heavy clouds until +the moon broke out, when they saw the pursuing craft sweeping up close +astern in the midst of a blaze of silvery radiance. She had now, +however, a mass of canvas swung out on either side of her, and Frank +wondered what sail she was carrying. + +"They've boomed out a jib as a spinnaker," Harry explained. "I don't see +why we shouldn't do the same, particularly as it will make them keener +on following us to Bannington's. One of them means to go south with the +steamer if dad gets on to her. Now we'll heave in that bucket, and when +it's done they'll open their eyes." + +It was not easy to haul in the bucket. Indeed, once or twice it was +nearly torn away from them, but at length they accomplished the task. + +"It's awkward running a boat with a spinnaker unless you have a crew," +remarked Harry with a somewhat puzzled look. "Still, I feel we ought to +give those fellows a run for their trouble and I can't get clear of them +with only the mainsail drawing. A jib set in the ordinary way is no use +when you're before the wind." + +The other boat had drawn almost level with them and came surging along +some forty yards away, rising and falling, with the foam piled up about +her bows, and a great spread of canvas that swung up and down as she +rolled on either side. + +"Hello!" shouted Harry. "Where are you going?" + +"North," was the laconic answer. + +Harry chuckled as he turned to Frank. "Well, as dad will be in Everett +by this time, I don't see why they shouldn't come along with us as far +as they like, but we'll let them draw ahead before we get up the +spinnaker. I'd rather they didn't notice I had to set it alone." + +The other boat forged past them, and she was growing dim ahead when +Harry pulled out a bundle of canvas from beneath the side deck. + +"It's an extra big jib we carry in light winds, but it makes a good +spinnaker," he said. "You'll have to keep her straight before the wind, +because it's a mighty awkward thing to set." + +Frank took the helm and watched his companion as he shook the big sail +out all over the boat, after which he led a rope fastened to one corner +of it through a block at the end of a long spar that lay along the deck. +He thrust this out over her side and made its inner end fast to the foot +of the mast. + +"A spinnaker boom always goes forward of the shrouds and you lead the +guy aft outside them," he said. "Get hold of it and stick fast. It's +easy so far, but in a minute the circus will begin. You want two pairs +of hands to set a spinnaker in a breeze of wind." + +Frank glanced at the short seas which surged by, glittering in the +moonlight flecked with wisps of snowy froth, and it struck him by the +way the boat swung over them with the foam boiling about her that she +was carrying sufficient canvas in her mainsail. Then Harry, calling to +him to mind his steering, hauled on a halliard and a mass of thrashing +canvas rose up the mast. It blew out like a half-filled balloon, lifting +up the boom, which was run out on the opposite side to the mainsail, and +seemed bent on soaring skyward over the masthead. After that the boom +swung forward with a crash, the mast strained and rattled, and Frank +feared that the great loose sail would tear it out of the boat. He saw +Harry lifted off his feet and flung upon the deck, after which the +forward part of the boat was swept by flying ropes and billowy folds of +canvas, among which his companion seemed to be futilely crawling to and +fro. Presently his voice reached Frank hoarse and breathless. + +"Haul on the guy!" he cried. "She'll pitch me over or whip the mast out +if this goes on." + +Frank dragged at the rope with all his might, but he could not get an +inch of it in, and he dared not take his right hand off the tiller for +fear of bringing the big mainboom over upon the spinnaker, which would +probably have caused a catastrophe. Indeed, he fancied that one was +inevitable already, since it seemed impossible that Harry could control +the big loose sail which was now wildly hurling itself aloft. + +"I can't move it!" he shouted. + +Harry came aft with a jump and grasped the guy. + +"Now," he said, "together! Get both hands upon it. Hold the tiller with +your elbow." + +For the next half minute there was a furious struggle, and as the boom +went up again Frank felt that they were beaten. His companion, however, +hung on desperately, panting hard, and by degrees the boom swung down +and back across the boat and the sail flattened out. + +"Make fast!" cried Harry breathlessly. "I can manage the sheet." + +He floundered forward to the foot of the mast, and when he came back the +spinnaker was drawing steadily and the sloop had changed her mode of +progress. She no longer rolled viciously or screwed up to windward as +she lifted on a sea, but swayed from side to side with a smooth and easy +swing, and Frank could steer her with a touch upon the tiller. In spite +of that, steering was ticklish work, for the mainboom and the spinnaker +boom went up and came down until they raked the glittering brine +alternately, and Frank realized that it would be singularly easy to +bring one crashing over upon the other. There was no doubt that the boat +was sailing very fast, and he hazarded one swift glance over his +shoulder at the canoe. She was surging along astern, hove up with her +forward half out of the water, and a seething mass of foam hiding the +rest of her. Harry, however, glanced forward somewhat anxiously. + +"That boom's lifting too much," he said. "One of us ought to sit on it. +Do you feel able to steer her?" + +Frank said that he believed he could manage it. + +"Well," said Harry, "if you jibe either sail across you'll either pitch +me in or break my leg, even if you don't roll the boat over. Sing out +the moment you feel her getting too hard upon the helm." + +Scrambling forward, he crawled out along the spinnaker boom, to which he +clung precariously, lifted up high one moment and the next swung down +until his feet were just above the foam. Sometimes they splashed in, and +Frank, bracing himself until every nerve was strung up, felt horribly +uneasy. In spite of that, the wild rush through the glittering water +which boiled about the boat was wonderfully exhilarating. She seemed a +mass of straining sail which swayed in the moonlight above an +insignificant strip of hull half buried in snowy foam. Over her black +mainsail peak dim wisps of clouds went streaming by, and from all around +there was a tumult of stirring sound--the clamor at the bows, the swish +of water as the canoe came charging up to her, and the splash of +tumbling seas. Everything ahead, however, was hidden by the sail, and he +was wondering where the other boat was when Harry called to him. + +"Slack the guy a foot or two and let her come up a little. Don't let it +get the run of you or you'll pitch me in." + +Frank was very cautious as he eased the rope out around a cleat, after +which, when the spinnaker boom had drawn forward, he found that he could +luff the boat. When she had swerved from her course a trifle he could +see the other boat close ahead, and it gave him some idea how fast both +craft were traveling. She seemed nothing but sail. Indeed, except for +the torn-up track of foam that marked her passage, she looked much less +like a boat than some wonderful phantom thing flying at an astonishing +speed across the sea. Swiftly as she sped, however, there was no doubt +that the sloop was creeping up on her, and Frank felt himself quivering +all through as the distance between them lessened yard by yard. Then +suddenly the contour of her canvas changed and she swung around from +leeward across the sloop's bows. Frank's heart gave a sudden leap as he +wondered what he must do and his nerve almost deserted him, until Harry +called again. + +"More guy!" he sang out. "They're trying to luff us. We must keep their +weather." + +Although fearful that it might overpower him, Frank slacked the guy out +inch by inch, and as the sloop came up a little farther he saw the whole +of the other boat again. The sloop's bowsprit was level with her +quarter. She was scarcely a dozen yards away, leaping, plunging, swaying +through a flung-up mass of foam, but they were steadily drawing up with +her, and the boy could have shouted in the fierce excitement of the +moment. Two or three minutes later they were clear ahead. He could no +longer see the other boat, and he dared not risk a glance back at her. +Indeed, it was a relief to him when Harry came scrambling aft. + +"We'll get that guy in again," he said. "Unless something gives out, +those folks won't catch us up." + +They had a desperate struggle with the guy, but Harry laughed gayly when +they had made it fast. + +"They'll follow us on to Bannington's, sure," he said. "We should be +there in half an hour, and I don't mind allowing that I'll be glad to +get some of this sail off her." + +After a while a black bank of cloud spread across the moon, and Frank +wondered anxiously how much of the half hour had gone. He had now only +the pull on the tiller to guide him as they drove on furiously, and the +strain of concentrating all his faculties on his task was beginning to +tell on his strength. Once or twice he imagined that he came perilously +near to bringing the mainboom over, and he would have called Harry to +the helm if he had felt certain that he could cling to the slender +lurching spar as well as his comrade could. He was getting nervous, and +the seething rush of water past the boat was becoming bewildering. + +At length, however, he made out a dark and hazy mass over the edge of +the mainsail, which he supposed was land, and in another few minutes a +blinking light appeared. He called to Harry, who merely twisted himself +around on the boom with the object of looking out beneath the sail and +then told him to keep her heading as she was. After that the land rose +rapidly, growing blacker, and a second light appeared. This was closer +to them and Frank, thinking he saw it move, noticed a green blink +beneath it. + +Presently both lights disappeared behind the sail, and some minutes +later Frank almost let go the tiller as the deep blast of a steamer's +whistle rang out close ahead. On the instant Harry swung himself down +from the boom. + +"Let go your guy!" he shouted. "Down helm; get the mainsheet in!" + +Frank could never clearly remember all that followed in the next two or +three minutes during which he was desperately busy. He let the spinnaker +guy run, and the big sail which heaved up the spar beneath it swung +wildly forward. Then he shoved down his helm, and the mainboom slashed +furiously as the boat came up toward the wind. The sheet blocks seemed +to be banging everywhere about him as he hauled at the rope, and he +could hear nothing but the savage thrashing of loosened canvas. Harry +was struggling forward with a mass of billowing sail that threatened to +sweep him off the narrow deck, while flying ropes whipped about him. +Presently, out of the din, there rose another sonorous blast of the +steamer's whistle. + +The next moment Frank saw her, heading, it seemed, straight for them, +blazing with tiers of lights, and in almost nerveless haste he pulled up +his tiller. The bolt fell off, he saw Harry flung down with the +spinnaker rolling about him, and he scarcely dared to breathe as the +rows of lights ahead lengthened and the black wedge of the steamer's +bows faded from his sight. It was now her side he was gazing at, and it +was evident that she was swinging around. In less than another minute +she had forged past them, and leaving the helm he scrambled forward to +aid his companion. For a moment they had a brief struggle with flying +ropes and billowing sail, and then they clambered back into the well, +where Frank sat down with a gasp of fervent satisfaction. + +"Well," he panted, "I'm glad that's over, and you had better take the +helm. I've had enough." + +Harry glanced toward the steamer, which was growing less distinct. + +"A close call!" he remarked. "It looked as if she was going slap over +us. I couldn't see her sooner because of the sail. She's running into +Bannington's." + +They heard her whistle a little later, but they were then close in with +a shadowy point of land, and looking back Frank made out a faint blur on +the water far behind them which he knew must be the other boat. When he +pointed it out Harry laughed. + +"They can't see us against the land, but I've an idea they'll be in soon +enough to learn the steamer didn't pick one of us up," he said. "That +will start them wondering why we drove her so hard and where we've gone. +Now you had better get the stove lighted and the supper on." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE UNITED STATES MAIL + + +The boys reached the ranch the next morning, and Mr. Oliver, who +followed by a different route a couple of days later, seemed satisfied +with the result of his journey. + +"If the dope men leave us alone for the next three weeks we're not +likely to be troubled with them afterward," he said. "Barclay expects +very shortly to be ready for what he calls his coup." + +"I suppose he didn't mention exactly when he would bring it off?" Harry +remarked. + +"No," said Mr. Oliver with a laugh. "Barclay usually waits until he's +certain before he moves, and he's not addicted to spoiling things by +haste. In the meanwhile you may as well keep your eyes sharply open." + +"Won't it be awkward to communicate with him if you have to go to +Bannington's every time you mail a letter?" Frank asked. + +"That's a point which naturally occurred to me," Mr. Oliver answered. +"There are, however, reasons for believing that Barclay will be able to +get over the difficulty." + +He said nothing further on the subject, but it cropped up again one +evening when Mr. Webster arrived at the ranch in time for supper. He +told them that he had finished the bridge he had gone away to build, and +when they sat about the stove after the meal was over he turned to Mr. +Oliver. + +"Have you heard that Porteous has been fired out of the store and +they've got a man down from Tacoma?" he asked. + +"No," replied Mr. Oliver indifferently. + +"Anyway, you don't seem much astonished." + +Mr. Oliver smiled at this. "I can't say I am. What was the trouble?" + +"It's generally believed Porteous was tampering with the mails, and that +brings up another thing I want to mention. I'm puzzled about it as well +as pleased." + +Harry, unobserved by Mr. Webster, grinned at Frank, looking solemn again +as his father caught his eye. + +"Well?" said the latter politely. + +"It's just this," said Mr. Webster. "When I came through the settlement +this morning the man who fills Porteous's place gave me a letter. It +requested me to send in a formal application if I was open to have my +place made a postoffice and carry the mails for this and the Carthew +district. They don't pay one very much, but it only means a journey once +a week." + +"Then what are you puzzled at?" + +"Well," said Mr. Webster, his eyes bent thoughtfully on the fire, "you +and the Carthew folks tried to have a mail carrier appointed some time +ago, and you heard that the authorities were considering your +representations. I guess that's about all they did. They're great on +considering, and as a rule they don't get much further. It strikes me as +curious that they should give you the postoffice now, considering that +they wouldn't do it when you worried them for it. The next point is that +although I applied the other time I don't know anybody in office or any +political boss who would speak for me." + +Frank noticed the smile broaden on Harry's face, but Mr. Webster was +intently watching Mr. Oliver, who answered carelessly. + +"It's a poor job, one that only a local man could undertake, and I don't +know any one else who wants it," he said. "What are you going to do +about it?" + +"Send in the application right away. That's partly what brought me over. +I'll have to get you and two of the boys at Carthew to vouch for me." + +"There'll be no trouble about that," Mr. Oliver assured him, after which +they changed the conversation. Before Mr. Webster went away he asked the +boys to spend a day or two with him and do some hunting. + +Mr. Oliver let them go at the end of the week, but he said that they had +better meet Mr. Webster at the settlement where Miss Oliver wanted them +to leave an order for some groceries, and that if any letters had +arrived for him one of them must bring them across to the ranch. They +reached the settlement Saturday evening, soon after the weekly mail had +come in. When they had finished their supper at the store Mr. Webster +bundled his mails promiscuously into a flour bag, which he fastened upon +his shoulders with a couple of straps. + +"There seems to be quite a lot of letters," remarked Harry as he lifted +up the bag. + +Mr. Webster frowned. "Letters!" he growled. "Most of the blamed stuff's +groceries. It strikes me I'm going to earn my dollars. The boys who run +short of sugar or yeast powder or any truck of that kind expect me to +pack it out. Give the thing a heave up. There's the corner of a meat can +working into my ribs." + +They set out shortly afterward, following a very bad trail driven like a +tunnel through the bush, and when they had gone a mile or two Mr. +Webster lighted a lantern which he gave to Frank. + +"Hold it up and look about," he said. "It's somewhere round here Jardine +has his letter box nailed up on a tree." + +Frank presently discovered an empty powder keg fixed to a big fir, and +Mr. Webster, wriggling out of the straps, dropped the bag with a thud. +As it happened, it descended in a patch of mud. + +"Hold the light so I can see to sort this truck," he said, and plunged +his hand into the bag. It was white when he brought it out. + +"Something's got adrift," he commented. "They never can tie a package +right in the store." + +With some difficulty he at last found the letters, though this +necessitated his spreading out most of the rest and the groceries on the +wet soil. Then he deposited those that belonged to Jardine in the keg +and went on again. + +Dense darkness filled the narrow rift in the bush and the feeble rays of +the lantern were more bewildering than useful, but they covered another +two miles before they stopped at a second keg, when Webster discovered +that a couple of letters he fished out were stuck together with +half-melted sugar. He tore them apart and rubbed them clean upon his +trousers, smearing out the address as he did so. + +"It's lucky I looked at them first, because I couldn't tell whose they +are now," he said. "Anyway, as I guess the stuff hasn't had time to get +inside, Steve will know they're his when he opens them." He raised the +bag a little and examined it. "This thing's surely wet." + +"I expect it is," said Harry. "The last time you stopped you dumped it +in the mud. Didn't they give you some sugar for this place at the +store?" + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Webster. "I was forgetting it. Hold the lantern +lower, Frank, while I look for it." + +He pulled the flour bag wider open and presently produced a big paper +package which seemed to have lost its shape. + +"Half the stuff's run out," he added. "That's what has been mussing up +the mail. Pitch this truck out and we'll skip the rest of the sugar out +of the bottom of the bag." + +It took them some time to deposit the various bundles of letters and +packets among the wineberry bushes beside the trail, after which Mr. +Webster shook a pound or two of loose wet sugar into the opened package. +It appeared to be mixed with flour and other substances, and Harry +smiled as he glanced at it. + +"It's off its color," he remarked. + +"That," said Mr. Webster, "will serve Steve right and save me trouble. +The next time he wants sugar he'll walk into the settlement and pack it +out himself. When you've put that truck back the mail will go ahead." + +They threw the things back into the bag, but while they were engaged in +this task Harry held up a bundle of letters to the light and separated +two of them from the rest. + +"These are dad's," he mused. "It strikes me they'd be safer in my +pocket." + +They saw no more powder kegs, but by and by they stopped at a ranch +where they delivered a newspaper and a pound of coffee, and then plodded +on in thick darkness which was only intensified by the patch of +uncertain radiance that flickered upon the trail a yard or two in front +of them. Even this failed them presently when Frank fell and dropped the +lantern. It went out, and neither he nor Harry, who struck a match, +could open it. + +"I'm afraid I've bent the catch," said Frank. + +"It's not going to matter much," Mr. Webster answered. "I guess we can +fix the thing when we reach my place, and there isn't another ranch +until we come to it." + +They trudged along in silence for another hour. The trail seemed darker +than ever, and it was oppressively still. Even the great trunks a few +yards away were invisible, and once or twice Frank walked into the +bushes that clustered among them. At last, however, the sound of running +water came out of the gloom and grew louder until the boy fancied that +there must be a rapid creek somewhere below them. Neither he nor Harry +had been that way before. As they expected to get some shooting, he was +carrying the double gun, which was beginning to feel heavy, while Harry +had brought a rifle. When the roar of water had grown so loud that they +could scarcely hear each other's footsteps, Mr. Webster stopped. + +"There's an awkward place close ahead, and you had better let me go in +front," he warned. "Keep a few yards behind and close to the bank on +your left side. The trail goes down a gulch, and there's a steep drop to +the creek." + +He moved on until the boys could just see his black and shadowy figure. +The hollow beneath them was filled with impenetrable gloom, and they +went down cautiously, trying to follow him and feeling with their feet +for the edge of the bank on one hand. They had gone some little way when +Mr. Webster seemed to stagger and suddenly disappear. Then there was a +crash amidst the underbrush, a sound which might have been made by a +heavy body rolling down a slope, and a hoarse cry which was almost +drowned by the clamor of the creek. + +The boys stopped abruptly, uncertain what to do. Mr. Webster had +evidently fallen down the declivity, but they could not tell where he +was in the darkness, or if it was possible to reach him. Frank fancied +that if he once moved out from the bank he would probably step over a +ledge and plunge down into the creek, which, it was evident, would be of +no service to Mr. Webster. By and by he was sincerely glad to hear a +sound below him which seemed to indicate that the man was endeavoring to +clamber up again. On recalling the incident afterward, he decided that +they had stood waiting about a quarter of a minute. + +"We must get down somehow," he said to Harry. + +His companion did not answer, but gripped his arm warningly. Then to +Frank's astonishment another sound rose up somewhere in front of them +and a voice followed it. + +"Is that you, Webster?" it asked. + +"Sure!" was the answer. "I've pitched right down the gulch." + +Frank would have scrambled forward, but Harry held him back. + +"Hold on!" he said softly. "He doesn't seem hurt." + +A crackling and snapping below them suggested that somebody was +cautiously scrambling through the undergrowth toward Mr. Webster, while +the latter was evidently crawling up the ascent. Frank wondered why +Harry had restrained him until a blaze of light suddenly broke out. It +showed a very steep bank with clumps of brush scattered about it +dropping to a foaming creek, Mr. Webster holding on by the stem of a +stunted pine, with the flour bag lying some distance higher up, and +another figure moving toward him. A third man stood on the brink of the +declivity holding a blazing pineknot. Where the boys stood, however, +there was deep shadow. + +Mr. Webster, so far as Frank could make out, was gazing at the man +nearest him in astonishment. + +"Well," he said sharply, "what do you want?" + +"The mail," answered the other. "Stop right where you are!" + +Then the meaning of the situation dawned on Frank. At that moment he saw +Mr. Webster scramble forward to intercept the man who was making for the +bag. The latter, however, was nearer it, and he had crept almost up to +it while Mr. Webster was still several yards away. Without a moment's +hesitation, Frank sprang out into the flickering light. + +"Keep back!" he shouted. "Don't touch that bag!" + +The radiance fell upon the barrel of his gun, and the next moment Harry +emerged from the gloom with his rifle thrust forward. They decided +afterward that the strangers could only have seen two indistinct figures +with weapons in their hands and that there was nothing to indicate that +they were not grown men. + +"Hold him up!" shouted Mr. Webster, scrambling forward furiously as if +to seize the man. + +The latter stooped swiftly and made a grab at the bag as Frank pitched +up his gun, though he kept the muzzle of it turned a little from the +bent figure, but just then Harry's rifle flashed behind him and there +was sudden darkness as the light fell into a thicket. Confused sounds +followed the detonation, but it became evident to Frank, now quivering +with excitement, that three separate persons were smashing through +scrubby undergrowth as fast as they could manage. Then one of them +stopped while the rest went on. + +"Have you got the bag?" cried Harry. + +"It's in my hand," said Mr. Webster. + +They heard him floundering toward them, while the other sounds grew +fainter, until he emerged from the gloom close beside Frank and threw +the bag at his feet. + +"Give me your gun," he said shortly. "Stop where you are!" + +He disappeared again, but in another moment they saw him raking in a +clump of brush from which a pale light still flickered, after which he +came back toward them with something blazing feebly in his hand. + +"Bring the bag, and be careful how you walk," he said. + +When they joined him he was stooping over a short strip of wire +stretched across the trail about a foot above the ground, holding the +pineknot so that the light fell upon it. + +"I guess that's the reason I fell down," he said. "You didn't touch that +fellow, Harry." + +"I didn't mean to," was the answer. "I wanted to scare him off, and I +was mighty thankful when I saw I'd done it." + +"Well," said Mr. Webster, "I expect that was wiser. It would have made +things worse for your father if you'd plugged him. Anyway, they've +cleared and we may as well get on." + +"Aren't you hurt?" Frank inquired. + +"There's a nasty rip on my leg and my arm feels mighty sore, but that's +all the damage. Seems to me I haven't much to complain of, considering +how far I fell." + +He flung the pineknot down into the ravine as he turned away, and they +had crossed the creek and were ascending the other side before one of +them spoke again. + +"Did you recognize either of the men?" Harry inquired. + +"No," said Mr. Webster. "On the whole I don't know that I'd want to do +it, though I'm kind of sorry I didn't get my hands upon the nearest +fellow. It was those two letters for your father he was after." + +"Yes," said Harry gravely, "you're right in that." + +The trail got narrower presently and when the boys fell a little behind +Harry laid a hand on Frank's arm. + +"I'm not sure that dad and Barclay would have had Webster made mail +carrier if they had expected this," he whispered. "There's no doubt the +dope men are growing bolder." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MR. BARCLAY LAYS HIS PLANS + + +It appeared that one of the letters which Harry had secured was from Mr. +Barclay, and shortly after the boys got back to the ranch Mr. Oliver +sent them off to Bannington's with the sloop. Mr. Barclay, he said, was +expected down by the next steamer and they must be there in time to take +him off. It proved to be an uneventful trip and they returned to the +cove with their passenger just as a gloomy day was dying out. Mr. Oliver +was shut up with his guest for an hour after supper that night, but at +length he called the boys into his room, where Mr. Barclay lay in a big +chair with a cigar in his hand. He looked up with a smile when they came +in. + +"No doubt you'll be pleased to hear that we expect to round up your +dope-running friends before the week is out," he said. "Anyway, I fancy +it was a relief to my host." + +"There's no doubt on that point," Mr. Oliver assured him. "I don't mind +admitting that the suspense and the uncertainty as to what they might do +were worrying me rather badly." + +Frank was surprised to hear it, for the rancher had certainly shown no +sign of uneasiness. + +"You mean you're going to break up the gang once for all and corral the +whole of them?" he asked. + +"Something like that," answered Mr. Barclay lazily. "If there's no hitch +in the proceedings, I don't expect many of them will be left at large +when our traps are sprung, though the affair will have to be managed +with a good deal of caution." + +Harry smiled. "There oughtn't to be any hitch. You have been a mighty +long while fixing up the thing." + +"That remark," said Mr. Barclay, "is to some extent justified. Over in +Europe they say 'slow and sure,' though I don't suppose it's a maxim +that's likely to appeal to young America. We'll paraphrase it into this +form: 'Don't move until you know exactly what you mean to do and how +you're going to set about it, and then get at it like a battering ram.'" + +"A battering ram must have been a clumsy, old-time contrivance," Harry +objected. + +"There are reasons for believing it could strike very hard," said his +father with a smile. + +"It would naturally take a long while to work the thing out," Frank +broke in, addressing Mr. Barclay. + +"It did," the little, stout man assented. "We had to get hold of a clue +here, and another there, and follow them up as far as possible without +giving anybody the least idea what we were after. It might have been +more difficult if one hadn't been purposely placed in our hands a week +ago." + +"Somebody has been giving the gang away?" asked Frank. + +"That doesn't quite describe it," Mr. Barclay answered. "To be precise, +somebody has sold them. It appears that one man a little smarter than +the rest discovered that the gang was being watched. That scared him, +and, as it happened, he'd had a difference of opinion with the bosses +about the share he claimed to be entitled to. He didn't point his +suspicions out to them, but when, as he said, they couldn't be induced +to do the square thing he came along to one of my subordinates, who sent +him to me. I'm not sure that I'd have got much information out of him +then if I hadn't been able to convince him that he and his partners +were already more or less in my hands." + +Frank was impressed by what he had heard. Indeed, he was conscious that +he was half afraid of the man who sprawled lazily in his chair smiling +at him. He appeared so easy-going and he had bantered Harry so +good-humoredly, but all the time he had been following up the smugglers' +trail with a deadly unwavering patience and a keenness which missed the +significance of no clue, however small. Now when at last the time for +action had come the boy felt that he would strike in the swiftest and +most effective manner. + +"If there's any small part you can give us--" he said hesitatingly. + +"There is," said Mr. Barclay, to the delight of Frank and his companion. +"It appears that they intend to land a parcel of dope and some Chinamen +at a place down the Straits of Fuca. It will be done at night--the moon +will be only in her first quarter next week--and the schooner will stand +out to the westward, keeping clear of the traffic to wait for the next +evening before going on to the place where she's to make another call. +The men and the dope will be seized soon after they're put ashore +without anybody on board the vessel being the wiser if our plans work +out right, but it's important that we should know as soon as possible if +anything has gone wrong and it will be your business to bring me on a +message. We'll have a small steamer and a posse hidden ready at this +end, and when the schooner runs in two nights later she'll fall into our +hands with the rest of the gang, who'll be waiting for what she brings." + +Frank looked at Mr. Oliver, who nodded his consent. + +"Yes," he said, "I've promised to let you go, though in this case you'll +have to take Jake along." + +Then Mr. Barclay spread out a chart upon the table and pointed first to +an inlet which appeared to lie at some distance from any settlement. + +"You'll run in here in the dark and lie close in with the beach until +you're hailed by a mounted messenger, which will probably be early on +the following morning. When he has given you his message you must manage +to deliver it to me here"--he laid his finger on another spot on the +chart--"at the latest by the second evening following. That's important, +as it's impossible for me to get the news by mail or wire." + +He gave them some further instructions, and half an hour had slipped by +before he seemed satisfied that they knew exactly what they were to do; +then he nodded. + +"I think you've got it right," he said. "The great thing is not to be +seen if you can help it, and if it's possible you must only run in at +either place in the dark." + +The boys spent the next two days in a state of eager anticipation, +which, however, became much less marked when one lowering afternoon +after a long, cold sail they beat the sloop out to the westward down the +Straits of Fuca. They had kept watch alternately with Jake during the +previous night, throughout most of which it had rained hard, and now +Frank, who admitted to himself that he had had enough sailing for a +while, was feeling rather limp and weary. He sat beneath the coaming, as +far as he could get out of the bitter wind. When at last he raised his +head to look about him, he saw nothing very cheerful in the prospect +before him. + +The light was dim, the low gray sky to windward looked hard and +threatening, and a long gray blur which he supposed to be land rose up +indistinctly over the port hand. Ahead dingy, formless slopes of water +heaved themselves up slowly one after another in dreary succession. They +were ridged and wrinkled here and there, and now and then a little wisp +of white appeared on one of them, for the long swell of the Pacific was +working in. The breeze was very moderate as yet, and each time the sloop +sluggishly swung up her bows and lurched over one of the undulations +her mainboom jerked and lifted amidst a harsh clatter of blocks, while +the water inside her went swishing to and fro. The noise presently +aroused Jake, who was sitting silently at the helm. + +"One of you had better get her pumped out," he said. "You haven't done +it since we started, and you won't find it easy by and by." + +"It doesn't look nice up yonder," said Harry, glancing windward. + +"It's either blowing hard in the Pacific or going to do it, and we'll +get it presently. I'd be better pleased if we were nearer that inlet. +It's eight or nine miles off, and the wind's dead ahead." + +"The dope men would rather have a black, wild night, wouldn't they?" +suggested Frank. + +"They're going to be gratified," Harry answered significantly. + +Frank, glad to do something to warm himself, set to work at the little +rotary pump, and a stream of water splashed and spread about the deck, +which slanted and straightened irregularly. He was still busy when Jake +called to him. + +"You can let up and get that jib off her. Strip it right off the stay. +We're not going to have any use for a sail of that kind. Get out the +small one, Harry." + +"There's no wind to speak of yet," Harry protested. + +"Well," said Jake grimly, "you'll have plenty before you're through." + +Harry dragged up the small sail, and when Frank had lowered the larger +one they proceeded to strip it off the stay. It took them some little +time, but Frank, glancing at the slowly heaving, leaden water, fancied +that there was no need for haste until as he and his companion bundled +the canvas off the deck Jake called to them. + +"Up with that jib!" he ordered. "Get a hustle!" + +They had the halliard in their hands, and the sail was half set, when it +blew out suddenly and there was a sharp creaking. The sloop slanted +over wildly and a curious humming, rippling sound broke out to windward. +Glancing around a moment Frank saw that the swell was growing white, and +a rush of cold wind nearly whipped his cap away. Then jamming his feet +against a ledge with the deck sloping away beneath him he struggled +furiously to hoist the jib, while disjointed cries reached him from the +helmsman. + +"Heave!" Jake roared. "I can do nothing with her until you have it set!" + +They got the sail up somehow, though by the time they had finished the +sloop's lee rail was in the sea, and then flung themselves upon the +mainsail. They were breathless with the effort before they had tied two +reefs in it, and Frank wondered at the change in their surroundings when +at length he sat down in the well. + +The sea, which had run in long and almost smooth undulations before they +began to reef, now splashed and seethed about the boat, and each big +slope of water was seamed with innumerable smaller ridges. Bitter spray +was flying thick in the air, water already sluiced about the deck, and +it was disconcerting to recollect that they were still eight miles from +the inlet. This would not have mattered so much had it not lain dead to +windward, which meant that they must fight for every yard they made. + +There was shelter to lee of them. They could put up the helm and run, +but though they were wet through in a few minutes they braced themselves +for the struggle, while the savage blast screamed about them and the +ominous sound Frank had noticed--the splash of waves that curled and +broke--came more loudly out of the gathering gloom ahead. Though his +physical nature shrank from the task before him Frank would not have +chosen to go back. It was a big thing they were taking a hand in, the +climax which all their previous adventures had led up to, and he +recognized that they must see it through at any cost. + +At last he was playing a man's part, acting in close coöperation with +the Government of his country, and Mr. Barclay, who had elaborated the +scheme with infinite patience and foresight, counted upon him and his +comrade. That they should fail him now was out of the question, but +Frank was glad that Jake sat at the tiller. Harry was quick and daring, +but he was young, and in this fight there was urgent need for the +instinctive skill which comes from long experience. The helmsman's +stolidness was more reassuring. He gazed up to windward, gripping the +tiller, with the spray upon his rugged face, ready for whatever action +might be necessary. Loud talking and an assertive manner were of no +service here; what was wanted was raw human valor and steadfast nerve. +It was fortunate that Jake, who was tranquil and good-humored, possessed +both. + +Darkness shut down on them suddenly as they thrashed her out to westward +full and by, lurching with flooded decks over the charging seas. Their +whitened tops broke over her, her canvas ran water, and every other +minute she plunged into a comber with buried bows. The combers, growing +rapidly higher, broke more angrily, and her progress changed into a +series of jerks and plunges, which at times threatened to shake the +spars out of her. Frank could see the black mainsail peak above him +swinging madly up and down, and it seemed at times that half her length +was out of the water, which was not improbably the case, for the foam +upon her hove-up deck poured aft in cascades over the low coaming and +splashed about their feet. By and by, for she was shallow-bodied like +most centerboard craft, it began to gather in a pool which washed to and +fro across the floorings in her lee bilge, and at a shout from Jake he +started the pump. It needed no priming, for as soon as he unscrewed the +covering plate the sea ran down, and there was now nothing to show what +water it flung out, because half the lee deck was buried in a rush of +gurgling foam and the combers' tops broke continuously over the bows. + +Still, the work roused and warmed him, and he toiled on, battered and +almost blinded by flying brine, while he wondered how long the boat +would stand the pressure of her largely reduced sail. He did not think +they could tie another reef in, because it seemed certain that something +must burst or break the moment a rope was started. Besides, even had it +been possible, reefing was out of the question. Their harbor lay to +weather, and a boat will not sail to windward in a vicious breeze unless +she is driven at a speed which is greater than the resistance of the +opposing seas. + +They thrashed her out for two anxious hours, since it appeared doubtful +that she would come round and a failure to stay her would be perilous in +the extreme, but at last Jake called to the boys. + +"We've got to do it somehow," he said. "Stand by your lee jibsheet and +tail on to the mainsheet the moment you let it run. Hold on till I tell +you. We'll wait for a smooth." + +A smooth, as it is termed by courtesy, is the interval that now and then +follows the onslaught of several unusually heavy seas, and at length as +the boat swung up with a little less water upon her deck Jake seemed +satisfied. + +"Now! Helm's a-lee!" he shouted. + +They let the jib fly, and jumping for the mainsheet hauled with all +their might, while Jake helped them with one hand as the boat came up to +the wind. Then as a comber fell upon her they sprang back to the +jibsheet and hauled upon it, while the spray flew all over them. It +struck Frank that if the boat did not come round there would very +speedily be an end of her. While he watched, holding his breath, the +bows swung around a little farther, and working in frantic haste they +let the sheet fly and made fast the opposite one, which was now to lee. +She forged ahead on the other tack--and the most imminent peril was +past. + +It was two hours later when they raised the land again, and though one +or the other of them had pumped continuously the water was splashing +high about their feet. Jake had, however, made a good shot of it, for he +recognized a ridge of higher ground marked upon the chart, and they +drove in toward it, battered, swept, and streaming. Frank felt strangely +limp when at length they ran into smoother water, and Jake made one +significant remark. + +"We're through," he said, "but if we'd had to make another tack it would +have finished her." + +The black land grew higher until they could make out masses of shadowy +pines, and eventually dropping the jib and peak they ran her in behind a +point with very thankful hearts and let go the anchor. Half of their +task was finished, and they could take their ease until morning broke. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE DERELICT + + +The wind freshened after they reached shelter and it blew very hard. For +a time Frank found sleep impossible, though he was glad to lie snug in +the warm cabin with the lamp burning above him and the stove snapping +cheerfully. The sloop lurched and rocked, drawing her chain tight now +and then with a bang, while a muffled uproar went on outside her. Frank +could distinguish the angry splash of water upon her bows and the +drumming and rapping of loose ropes against the mast, though these +sounds were partly drowned by the furious clamor of the ground sea +beyond the point and a great deep-toned roaring made, he supposed, by +long ranks of thrashing trees. Once or twice, when Jake, who crawled out +to see if the anchor was holding, left the slide open, the sound filled +the cabin with tremendous pulsating harmonies. + +Besides this, the boy's face smarted after the lashing of icy spray, and +he wondered whether Mr. Barclay's plans were working out successfully +and what fresh adventures awaited Harry and himself on the morrow, all +of which was sufficient to keep him in a state of restless expectation. +He envied his companion who presently went to sleep, but it was toward +morning when at last his own eyelids closed and he got a few snatches of +fitful slumber broken by fantastic dreams. He was awakened by a chill +upon his face, and looking around saw that Jake had gone out again into +the well. The roar of the wind did not seem so overwhelming as it had +been, though there was no doubt that it was still blowing hard. By and +by Jake called out. + +"You'd better get up," he said. "I've a notion that there's somebody +hailing us." + +Frank crawled out shivering, with Harry grumbling half asleep behind +him, and when he stood in the well found he could see a hazy loom of +trees across the little white waves that came splashing toward the boat. +They made a sharp, rippling sound, pitched in a different tone from the +din that rose all around. The latter swelled and sank, and he was +slightly surprised when he was able to hear what seemed to be a faint +shout. It rose again more clearly, and there was no longer any doubt +that somebody on the beach was hailing them. + +"Can we get ashore?" he asked. + +"You'll have to try," said Jake. "The man's to windward of us, and it +will be a stiff paddle, but if you can't manage it you'll blow across to +the beach on the other side of the inlet safe enough and he may be able +to get round to you. Anyway, I don't want to leave the sloop. She'd have +picked up her anchor once or twice if I hadn't given her more cable." + +"What time is it?" Harry inquired. + +"About seven o'clock," Jake answered. "We'll have daylight soon after +you're back." + +They hauled up the canoe and were not surprised to find that she was +full of water. It took them some time to bail her out, and Frank felt +anxious when at last they pushed her clear of the sloop. It was +difficult to tell how far off the beach was, and for the first few +moments they could make no progress against the blast. Then they won a +yard or two in a partial lull, and after that for a while barely held +their own by determined paddling. Thick rain drove into their faces and +the spray from the bows and splashing blades blew over them. Frank was +breathless when they reached the beach, and it cost him an effort to +scramble over the uneven stones as far as the edge of the bush, where a +shadowy figure stood beside a horse. Its head drooped and even in the +darkness, which was not very deep, its attitude was suggestive of +exhaustion. The man was dimly visible, and they felt sure that he was +the messenger they expected. + +"You're here on Barclay's business?" he said. + +"Yes," said Harry. "Have you a message for him?" + +The man fumbled in his pocket and took out an envelope. + +"That's from the boss. I guess it will explain the thing, but he said +I'd better let you know that we'd had trouble." + +"Then you didn't get the dope men?" + +"We corralled three of them; the rest broke away. One of the boys got a +bullet in him and he's been lying in the rain all night. I don't know +how we're going to pack him out." + +"Things went wrong?" said Frank. + +"They did," the man assented. "One of the boys got his pistol off by +accident just after the boat had come ashore, and that gave our plans +away. The boat's crew shoved off and several men who'd been landed broke +through in the dark. Anyhow, when the trouble was over we'd got one case +of dope, two whites of no account, and a Chinaman." + +"And the schooner?" + +"She was heading out to sea with mighty little sail on her when I left. +You'll be able to take word through to Barclay?" + +"I don't know," Harry answered dubiously. "It's too dark to tell what +the sea's like now. I suppose there's no other means of warning him?" + +"No," said the man. "Even if I could get a message on to the wire they +wouldn't be able to deliver it at the other end, but he has to be warned +somehow." + +"If you'll come off we'll give you breakfast. It should be light enough +to see what the weather's like by the time you had finished," Harry +suggested. + +"It can't be done," was the answer. "I've to go on for a doctor and +raise a crowd to run those fellows down. I've already stayed longer than +I should." + +"Your horse is played out," Frank objected. + +"I'll hire another. There's a ranch somewhere ahead. I'll say you have +taken that message." + +"We'll do it if it's any way possible," said Harry. + +The man turned away without another word and they heard him stumbling +through the wood beside his horse until the roar of the wind drowned the +sound, after which they went back to the canoe. They had no trouble in +reaching the sloop, for they were driven down upon her furiously, and on +clambering on board they found that Jake had breakfast ready. + +It was daylight when they crawled out of the cabin after the meal, but +the sky was hidden by low-flying vapor, and gazing seaward they could +see only a short stretch of big leader combers which rolled up out of +the haze crested with livid froth. Jake shook his head doubtfully at +Harry. + +"You'll have to stop a while," he said. "She wouldn't run for half an +hour before that sea. We couldn't start till after dinner if the wind +dropped right now, but it's falling and we might get away in the +afternoon." + +The morning dragged by while the boys chafed at the delay, though they +had no doubt that Jake was right and neither of them felt any keen +desire to face the sea that was tumbling in from the Pacific. Still, the +roar of the wind steadily diminished and the sloop rode more easily, and +at length Jake offered to make the venture after they had had a meal. + +They lashed three reefs down before they started, leaving only a small +triangular strip of mainsail set, but that proved quite enough, and +during the first few minutes Frank felt almost appalled as he glanced at +the great gray combers that heaved themselves up astern. Most of them +were hollow breasted, and their tops curled over, flinging up long wisps +of foam and roaring ominously. As a rule they broke, divided, on either +side of the boat, piling up in a snowy welter high about her shrouds, +but now and then one seemed to break all over her and most of her deck +was lost in a furious rush of water. Twice the canoe, which was too big +to stow on deck, charged up and struck her with a resounding crash, and +then broke adrift and disappeared. + +By degrees, however, Frank's uneasiness diminished. Somewhat to his +astonishment, the light and buoyant craft stood the buffeting, and by +the time dusk fell the seas were getting smaller. Still, they were big +enough, and the boat appeared to be driving before them at an +extraordinary speed. By eight o'clock in the evening they had shaken out +one reef, and soon afterward Frank lay down in the cabin, because Jake +said that he had no intention of entrusting either him or Harry with the +helm, which was on the whole a relief to both of them. To run a small +craft before a breaking sea in the dark is a very severe test of nerve, +and it is, perhaps, worse when the combers still come foaming after her +after the wind has somewhat fallen. + +In spite of the violent motion Frank managed to sleep until he was +awakened some time after midnight by a shout from Jake. Crawling out, +partly dazed, with his eyes half open, he saw that the sky had cleared +and that a crescent moon was shining down. Then, close ahead of them, he +saw the schooner. + +She was also running, for her stern was toward them, though for a moment +or two it was hidden by the white top of a sea, and Frank could only +make out the forward half of her sharply tilted deck. Her bowsprit and +two torn jibs above it were high in the air, and her black boom-foresail +all bunched up, with its gaff, which had swung down, jammed against the +foremast shrouds. She carried no after canvas, and the reason became +evident when, as her stern lurched up, Frank saw that her mainmast was +broken off short. She sank down again while a comber foamed high about +her rail, which was shattered on one quarter where the falling mast had +struck, and a mass of canvas and tangled gear trailed in the sea beneath +it. What struck the boy most, however, was the erratic manner in which +she was progressing, for her bows swung up to windward every now and +then until all her side was visible and she lumbered off at angle to her +course and then came lurching back again. She was herringboning, as it +is called at sea, in an extraordinary fashion, and she seemed low in the +water. + +In the meanwhile the sloop was coming up with her fast and Jake stood up +at the tiller to see more clearly. + +"They've been in trouble, sure," he said. "I could tell there was nobody +at her helm when I first saw her and that's why I ran up so close. Ease +the peak down, one of you; I don't want to run by until we've had a look +at her." + +Harry did so, and as they stood watching her the schooner slued round +until she was almost beam to wind. The sea streamed down her weather +side, which rose up like a wall, and Frank could see her wheel behind +the low deckhouse jerking to and fro. There was no sign of life anywhere +on board her. + +"Deserted!" Jake said shortly. "They must have jibed her and smashed her +mainmast. She seems a smart vessel. Seems to me she ought to fetch a +good many dollars." + +The sloop was sailing more slowly now with her peak swung down, keeping +pace with the schooner but a little behind her, and the boys gazed hard +at Jake. His rugged face looked very thoughtful in the moonlight. + +"It's a fair wind to the islands and she'd come up until it was abeam +with the foresail set if it was necessary," he said. "It wouldn't be +much trouble to sail her in and she could be beached somewhere in smooth +water. Anyhow, I'd like to get on board her." + +"If you ran up close alongside when she screws to windward one of us +could jump," Harry suggested eagerly. "There's a raffle of ropes over +her quarter." + +Jake seemed dubious. "It might be done and Barclay would be uncommonly +glad to get his hands on her, but I can't leave the sloop. Somebody has +to take that message." + +"Put us on board," urged Harry. "How far is it to the islands?" + +"With this wind and the whole sail on her she ought to fetch them by +daylight." Then Jake seemed to hesitate. "Looks as if there was water in +her, but one could wear her round and fetch the land to southward if she +was leaking very bad." + +The boys looked at each other and the same impulse seized upon both of +them. This was an adventure such as they had never dreamed of, and with +a fair wind they would only have to keep the vessel running until they +picked up the land. It would not be difficult, for she was under very +easy sail, and the only hazard would be in the attempt to get on board +her. Then Harry jumped forward and hauled up the peak. + +"Run alongside as quick as you can," he said. + +Jake put down his helm a little, and the boys stood up on the weather +deck with tense, set faces as the sloop crept in under the schooner's +lea. The latter slued to windward while the spray flew over her, rolling +until her deck on the side nearest them was level with the sea, and then +fell off again and sluggishly heaved her bows high above the foam. This +herringboning was the danger, since it would need nerve and skill to get +near her without wrecking the sloop. A blow from the big lurching hull +would probably send her to the bottom. + +Frank felt himself quivering all through as they closed with the +derelict yard by yard, until when she once more lumbered round to +windward Jake put down his helm a little farther. The sloop shot in +beneath the black hull, which broke the sea and partly sheltered her, +but as she swept forward amidst a long wash of foam Frank's courage +ebbed away from him. A great white swell lapped about the wall of wet +planking close in front of him, and the top of it was higher than his +head. It seemed impossible that he could spring out from the lurching +sloop and by any means clamber up. All his senses shrank from the +dangerous task, but with a determined effort he braced himself. If Harry +made the attempt he would do it, too, and he clenched his hands and set +his lips as the schooner's side came sinking down. + +"Don't jump unless you are sure you can reach her!" shouted Jake. + +They were now scarcely a fathom from the trailing wreckage, and the +schooner's rail was dipping lower. It seemed just possible to clutch it +by a desperate leap, and the next moment Harry launched himself out into +the air. Frank followed, struck the wet planking, and seizing a trailing +rope held on by it with his legs in the sea. Then he dragged himself up +clear of the water, and Harry, who was kneeling in the opening in the +broken rail, reached down to him. + +Frank clutched his hand, and in a few more seconds was almost astonished +to find himself, breathless and dripping, safe upon the schooner's deck. +A glance showed him the sloop abreast of her quarter and about a dozen +yards away. + +"Jake did that mighty smartly," Harry gasped. "I'll get to the wheel +while you look around her." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A GRIM DISCOVERY + + +Frank had some difficulty in getting about the vessel. She was rolling +wildly and loose ropes and blocks whipped blindly to and fro, but he +noticed that the boat had gone, and the cleanly severed shrouds +indicated that her mainmast had been cut loose after it had fallen over +the side. It was evident that the crew had made some attempt to save the +vessel before they abandoned her. The mainboom had disappeared, though +the broken gaff and part of the sail were still attached to the hull by +a mass of tangled gear. Scrambling forward he found the anchor lying +still hooked to a tackle and half secured with its arms upon the rail, +which suggested that the smugglers had sailed in haste and had been kept +too busy afterward to make it fast. It was reassuring to discover that +the anchor could be dropped without much trouble if this became +necessary. Then he came upon a lantern hooked beneath the forecastle +scuttle and went back to report to Harry. The latter, who was standing +at the wheel, listened to him attentively. + +"Well," he said at length, "I can't figure out the thing, and unless +some of the dope men explain it I don't think we're likely to be much +wiser. As Jake said, it looks as if they had jibed her by accident, +which would probably rip out the mainmast, but, although it's easy to +bring the mainboom over on a fore-and-aft rigged craft, it's mighty +seldom that a capable sailor does it. Then, as there's water in her, +they must have bumped her on a reef, though she could only have struck +once or twice before she drove over it. That's as far as I can get, and +the first thing is to find out what water there is below. It's fortunate +you have a lantern." + +Frank looked around. There was no doubt that the wind was falling, and +the schooner, having only part of her forward canvas set, steered +easily. The sloop, which had sheered off a little farther, was sailing +abreast of her with lowered peak about a hundred yards away, rising and +falling with the long combers which, however, broke less angrily. + +"Jake will stand by for three or four hours," Harry explained. "After +that he'll have to haul her up to make the inlet where we were to join +Barclay, but it will be close on daylight by then." + +Frank was glad to hear it. There would be some peril in getting on board +the sloop if that became necessary, but it was comforting to see her +close at hand. In the meanwhile he shrank from going below and made no +move to do so until Harry spoke again. + +"I'm anxious about that water and you had better get down," he said. "Go +in by the house; there'll probably be a lazaret below it with an opening +in the deck." + +Frank reluctantly scrambled forward around the house, the door of which +faced toward the bows, and being out of the wind there he contrived to +light the lantern, though he struck several matches in the attempt. The +house, which occupied most of the vessel's quarter, was low so that the +mainboom could swing over it, and it was evident that the cabin floor +was sunk some feet below the level of the deck. Frank thrust the door +open and then stood hesitating, holding up the lantern, which did not +burn well and only flung a faint light into the obscurity before him. He +could hear an ominous gurgle of water below when the schooner rolled and +made out three or four steps which seemed to lead down into it. As he +placed his foot on the first of them the vessel lurched wildly and he +went down with a bang, while the lantern flew out of his hand. For no +very evident reason, except that he was overstrung, he could have +shouted in alarm as he lay upon the wet flooring in the dark. He had +struck his knee in his fall and for a moment or two he feared to move +it. + +Then he noticed a pale reflection against what he supposed to be the +bottom of a seat, and as it was evident that the overturned lantern had +not quite gone out he crawled toward it. As he did so the splash and +gurgle of water seemed much louder than it had done on deck. He could +hear it surge against the sides of the vessel and the hollow sound +jarred upon his nerves. He longed to escape from the oppressive +obscurity and get out into the moonlight by his companion's side, but he +reflected that it would not be pleasant to tell Harry that he had run +away from the darkness and left the lantern. He determined to secure the +latter, and he was moving toward it on hands and knees when his fingers +struck something that felt like a pistol. He let it lie, however, and +stretched out his hand for the lantern, setting it upright. The +flickering flame grew brighter, and standing up he flung the uncertain +light about him. There was undoubtedly a revolver on the uncovered +floor, which was dripping wet, and he thought it curious that the +smugglers should have left the weapon lying in that position; but ever +since he had boarded the schooner he had been troubled by an +uncomfortable sense of strangeness. The fact that her crew had abandoned +her, apparently without a sufficient reason, suggested a mystery. Then +he raised his hand so that the radiance touched a little, clamped-down +table, and as it did so he started and came near dropping the lantern +again, for a man sat at the table with his head and shoulders resting +upon it as if he had suddenly fallen forward. + +Frank afterward confessed that his first impulse was to run toward the +door, and he was never quite certain why he did not do so, but he stood +still holding up the lantern, while his heart throbbed painfully and his +flesh seemed to creep. The bent figure was unnaturally still, but when +the schooner lurched and the table slanted it fell forward a little +farther, all in one piece--which was how he thought of it--and as a +heavy sack would have done. That was too much for Frank, and clambering +up the steps he ran back to Harry in breathless haste. + +"You look as if something had scared you," said the latter with a trace +of anxiety in his voice. + +Frank leaned against the house, and his face showed white and set in the +moonlight. + +"There's a man lying across the table in the cabin," he panted. + +Harry started, but he pulled up his helm a spoke or two. + +"She'll come up if I leave her, but that won't matter much," he said. +"We'll go back together." + +Frank felt a little easier now that he had a companion, and he was more +collected when he stood in the cabin holding up the light while Harry, +who called first and got no answer, walked cautiously toward the huddled +figure. Then he shrank back a pace or two. + +"The man's dead!" he said. + +After that neither of them moved for half a minute during which the deck +slanted wildly beneath them, and then Frank proceeded very reluctantly +toward the table. Harry followed him, and when they stooped over the +shadowy figure Frank caught a partial glimpse of a yellow face and saw +that the man wore a loose blue jacket. + +"Turn the light a little," said Harry in a low, hoarse voice, and when +Frank had done so he looked around at him. + +"It's the man we got dinner with the day we went up the creek. He's been +shot," he added. + +Once more the horror of the thing was almost too much for Frank, but +just then a furious thrashing of loose canvas and clatter of blocks +broke out above them and relieved the tension. + +"She's luffing with the sea on her quarter," said Harry. "I must get +back to the helm, but we'll wait a moment and look around first. Lower +your lantern. There's something on the floor--no, I don't mean the +pistol, though you can pick that up." + +He stooped down beside Frank, who held the lantern close to the wet +planking, and saw for the first time a broad wet stain upon it leading +toward the steps. That was enough for both of them, and saying nothing +further they scrambled toward the door. They did not stop until they +reached the wheel, and then Harry spent a few moments getting the vessel +before the wind again. + +"We're no wiser about the water yet," he said at length with a strained +laugh. + +"No," said Frank. "I didn't think about it--I only wanted to get out as +quick as I could." He broke off, and then added, "What do you make of +it?" + +Harry stretched out one hand for the pistol, opened it, and held it up +in the moonlight. + +"There's a shell still in," he said. "The man it belonged to must have +dropped it in a mighty hurry. It's clear that there was a row on board +her either before or after she lost her mast. That Chinaman had a bullet +through his head and somebody else was hurt, though he got out of the +house--the stains showed that. I wonder"--and he dropped his voice--"if +we ought to search the forecastle." + +"_I'm_ not going down," Frank answered decisively. + +"Well," said Harry, "I don't feel like it either. That's the simple +fact." + +Again there was silence for a while and both were glad that the solid +end of the house stood between them and what lay in the cabin. Then +Frank roused himself. + +"We've forgotten about the water, but the hatch is smashed," he said. "I +expect they dropped the boat upon it in heaving her out. I might get +down that way." + +"You had better try," said Harry, glancing around and pointing to the +sloop, which was now nearer them. "Jake must have edged her in when he +saw the schooner come up with no one at the helm," he added. "It's nice +to feel that he's about." + +Frank agreed with him. Once more he found the sight of the sloop +curiously reassuring, but he scrambled forward, and, wriggling through a +hole in the broken hatch, clambered partly down a beam. There was water +below him, but there was less than he expected, and he could not hear +any more pouring in, though he recognized that this would have been +difficult on account of the gurgling and splashing that was going on. +After listening for a minute or two he went back to Harry. + +"There's a good deal of water in her," he said. "Hadn't we better heave +some of it out?" + +"I don't think it would be worth while," was Harry's answer. "You could +hardly work the pump alone, and if I left the helm she'd keep running up +into the wind and yawing about. I'd rather shove her along steadily +toward the land." + +"Then can't we get the foresail properly set and drive her a little +faster?" Frank inquired. "She ought to bear it now the wind's dropping." + +It was not only the leak that troubled him. He wanted to escape as soon +as possible from the horror that seemed to pervade the vessel, and his +companion eagerly seized upon the suggestion. + +"Why, of course!" replied Harry. "I might have thought of it, but I've +been kind of dazed since we got out of the cabin." + +They went forward and led the halliards to the winch, but they would +have had trouble in setting the partly lowered sail if the schooner had +not come up into the wind and relieved the strain on it. By degrees +they heaved up the gaff and peaked it, after which they went aft, as the +vessel plowed faster over the falling sea. + +"Now," said Frank, "the question is, where are we heading for?" + +"I've been worrying over that while we set the sail," Harry responded. +"If we hauled her up right now we might, perhaps, fetch the inlet where +we arranged to join Barclay, but we'd have to jibe the foresail over, +and as I would have to keep the helm while I brought her round and you +wouldn't be able to check the sheet alone, it's very likely that +something would smash when the boom came across. Besides that, we'd have +a strip of rocky coast to lee of us presently, and we mightn't be able +to keep her off it with only the foresail set. On the other hand, so far +as I can recollect from looking at the chart, the islands are dead to +leeward and we'd only have to keep her running to reach them. There's a +sound where we'd find smooth water once we sailed her in. That would be +the wiser plan." + +Frank, concurring in this, sat down near the helm. He felt that he would +not like to go far away, and he remembered that night watch long +afterward. + +The moon crept on to the westward, getting lower, and now and then +flying clouds obscured the silvery light. The combers still came surging +after them crested with glittering froth, though they no longer broke +about the rail, and there was a constant gurgling and splashing of water +inside the lurching vessel. At last Jake jibed the sloop's mainsail over +and stood away from them. The moon was very low now and Frank grew +somewhat uneasy as he watched the boat's canvas fade into the creeping +gloom. Shortly afterward the moon dipped altogether and it was very +dark. + +"We can't be far off the land," said Harry. "I don't want to come up +with it before daylight, but with no after canvas on her I don't suppose +we could round her up and wait. If we did, I'm not sure we could get +her to fall off again--one of the jibs is torn to ribands and the +other's split. We'll have to keep her running." + +They drove on and presently a faint gray light crept across the water to +the east. A little later, when all the sky was flushed with red and +saffron, a long black smear cut sharply across the glow. + +"The first of the islands," announced Harry. "It's right abeam. We must +get some foresail sheet in." + +They had difficulty in doing so, though they led the sheet to the winch, +but the schooner came up closer afterward, and when the sun had climbed +above a bank of cloud the end of the island was rising before them and a +strip of water opening up beyond it. Half an hour later they ran in with +the foresail peak lowered down, and Frank gazed anxiously ahead as they +drove on more slowly up a broad channel. On one hand there were rocks +and scrubby pines, with larger trees behind, but he wondered what the +result would be if a reef or a jutting point lay in front of them. The +vessel's speed, however, grew slower still, the water became smoother, +and at last Harry looked around at him. + +"If you'll unhook the tackle and cut the lashing you ought to get the +anchor over," he remarked. "I'll luff her as far as possible and you'll +heave the thing off when I drop the foresail." + +There followed a clatter of blocks, and a furious rattle of running +chain, which presently stopped. Then as the swinging vessel drew her +cable out they toiled desperately at the windlass to heave up more of it +from below. The task was almost beyond their strength, but somehow they +managed it and Harry clapped on a chain stopper. + +"That should hold her," he said. "There's not much wind now. I'd be glad +to leave her if I could get ashore." + +This, however, was out of the question, since the canoe had gone, and +very much against their will they waited on board for several hours +until at length a trail of smoke arose above the pines. Then a little +steamer with foam about her bows appeared from behind a point and the +hoot of her whistle rang sharply across the water. + +"Barclay, sure!" said Harry. "I'm certainly glad to see him." + +A few minutes later Mr. Barclay climbed on board and went down into the +cabin and all over the vessel with them before he made any remarks. At +length he turned to the boys as they stood by the rail. + +"You have done a very smart thing and I don't think you'll have any +reason for regretting it," he said pointedly. "This is a good set-off +against the failure at the other end. Jake got in with the message and +we started as soon as I'd had a talk with him. Fortunately, we were able +to creep along through the sounds and it's scarcely likely that any of +the smugglers can have seen us." + +"But what has become of this vessel's crew?" Frank asked. + +"I don't know," replied Mr. Barclay. "We'll probably ascertain something +about them later." + +"Do you expect to corral the rest of them to-night?" Harry broke in. + +"It's possible," said Mr. Barclay with a trace of dryness. "The first +thing, however, is to beach this vessel, and then you and Jake must get +off in the sloop. There's a good deal to be done, and I want to run the +steamer back out of sight up the inlet as soon as it can be managed." + +He called some of his companions on board, and when Frank and Harry sat +down to an excellent meal in the steamer's cabin they heard the men +heaving the schooner's anchor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE RAID + + +Daylight was breaking when the boys ran into the cove near the ranch +after a quick passage and saw Mr. Oliver standing on the beach. + +"I've been looking out for you rather anxiously," he said when he had +shaken hands with them. "Has Barclay been successful?" + +"No," said Harry, "not altogether. Some of the dope men got away at the +first place where they landed." + +Mr. Oliver looked rather grave at this. "How many of them escaped?" + +"I don't know exactly. The messenger said several. Besides, the crew of +the schooner abandoned her, and it seems likely that they got ashore. +That would make two parties who may have joined each other." + +"Ah!" said Mr. Oliver; "it's a pity in various ways! How did Barclay get +on at the other end?" + +"I can't tell you. He didn't expect to make the seizure until night when +the dope men's friends would be waiting for the schooner to run in, and +he sent us off in the afternoon." + +"It was wise of him," Mr. Oliver answered. "In the meanwhile your aunt +hasn't cleared breakfast away, and as I expect you're ready for it we'll +go in at once." + +During the meal they gave him an outline of their adventures, to which +he listened thoughtfully. Then he said: + +"You had better lie down and get a sleep. We'll have another talk about +it later on." + +"I think I'd rather work," said Frank. "We got some sleep in turns last +night, and I don't feel like lying down. The fact is," he added +hesitatingly, "we've been doing something or other so hard since we went +away that I don't think I could leave off all at once. I feel strung up +yet and I'd rather keep busy." + +Mr. Oliver smiled understandingly. "That's sensible. There's nothing as +good as your regular work for cooling you off and helping you to get +calm again; but if you like you can take a note over to Webster and you +needn't hurry back if he asks you to have dinner with him. Then there +are two or three stumps you may as well grub out." + +They set out soon afterward and Frank, for one, was glad of the walk. He +had been cramped on board the sloop, and the excitement of the last few +days had told on him. He was nervously restless and felt that it would +be useless to lie down until he was physically worn out. When he +mentioned it to Harry the latter confessed to a similar sensation, and +added that they had not yet finished with the dope men. + +Mr. Webster was at work in his clearing when they reached it, but he +walked with them to his house, dropping Mr. Oliver's note into the stove +as soon as he read it. + +"You'll have dinner before you go back and tell your father I'll come +along," he said. "Would you like to take that single gun with you, +Frank? Harry still has the other one." + +Frank said that he would be very glad, but his companion broke in: + +"What did dad ask you to come over for?" + +"He wasn't very precise," answered Mr. Webster evasively. "He'll +probably tell me more when I'm at the ranch." + +As it was evident that he did not mean to be communicative, they ate +their dinner without asking any further questions, but when they were +walking home through the bush Harry smiled at his companion +significantly. + +"What do you make of the whole thing?" he asked. + +"I don't know," said Frank. "Your father looked troubled when he heard +the dope men had got away." + +"He did," assented Harry. "Then he sent over for Webster, who wouldn't +tell us what he was wanted for, though he made you take that gun along." + +Frank knitted his brows. + +"Well," he said thoughtfully, "it's only an idea of mine, but it's +possible that the fellows who escaped might make an attack upon the +ranch out of revenge. Now if we allow that the schooner had been driving +along before the wind for some time after she was abandoned--and several +things pointed to it--one would fancy that the men who left her must +have landed not very far from the spot where Barclay's men tried to +seize them. It seems to me the first thing they'd do would be to attempt +to join the rest so as to be strong enough to resist a posse sent out to +hunt them down. It would be clear that somebody had given them away and +they'd no doubt blame your father. Of course they suspected him +already." + +"You've hit it," said Harry, whose face grew stern. "If they come along +there'll be trouble, but we'll make some of it. I don't feel kind to the +dope men after that sight in the schooner's cabin." + +Frank thought that his companion wore very much the same look as his +father had done on the morning when he stood beside the fallen horse +with the smoking pistol in his hand. + +"I expect they'll be desperate now," he said, but Harry did not answer, +and they walked on a little faster. + +On arriving at the ranch they set about grubbing up the stumps and +managed to get one big one out during the few hours' daylight that +remained, but neither of them were sorry when Miss Oliver called them +in to supper. Frank, however, stood still a moment or two, glancing +about him and leaning upon his grubhoe. There was not a breath of wind +stirring, and the firs rose in dense shadowy masses against a soft gray +sky. The light was fading off the clearing, the rows of stumps had grown +blurred and dim, and it was impressively still. The whole surroundings +looked very peaceful; one could imagine them steeped in continual +tranquillity, but Frank remembered the broken mower and became vaguely +uneasy. Besides, he could not get the scene in the schooner's cabin, +where the dead man lay fallen forward across the table, out of his mind. +Then Miss Oliver called him again, and making an effort to throw off +this exceedingly unpleasant train of thought he strode quickly toward +the house. + +They sat about the stove after supper, and Frank fancied that Mr. Oliver +was listening for something now and then, but for a while no sound rose +from the clearing. He made the boys give him a few more particulars +about their adventures. + +"What do you suppose Barclay meant when he said that we would not be +sorry we had brought the schooner in?" asked Harry. + +"Well," his father replied, when he had considered a moment, "the vessel +was abandoned when you fell in with her. If she had been employed in a +legitimate trade you could have enforced a claim for your services and +you would have had no difficulty in getting a large share of her value. +The affair, however, is complicated by the fact that she was engaged in +smuggling, because, while I don't know much about these matters, I'm +inclined to believe that would warrant the revenue authorities in either +seizing her altogether or holding her as security for a heavy fine. +Still, even in this case, you should have a claim and I've no doubt that +Barclay will look after your interests." + +"Have you any idea what our share would be?" Frank asked eagerly. + +"I could only make a guess. As she seems to be a comparatively new +vessel and is probably in good repair except for the damage she received +on the night in question I think you could hold out for two thousand +dollars. It's quite possible that she only started a plank or two, and a +new mainmast wouldn't cost a great deal." + +"Two thousand dollars!" and Frank gasped with astonishment. + +"I believe the award depends upon the value of the services rendered and +the hazard incurred," Mr. Oliver answered with a smile. "There seems +very little doubt that the vessel would have gone to the bottom if you +hadn't fallen in with her, and I expect any arbitrator would admit that +in running alongside and getting on board her in a heavy sea you did a +dangerous thing. Jake, of course, would take a share, though his would +be a smaller one than yours; but Barclay will be able to tell you more +about it than I can. We must get his advice as soon as possible." + +Shortly afterward Mr. Webster arrived carrying a rifle, and Frank +observed that Mr. Oliver was glad to see him. They, however, only +discussed fruit growing and the price of stock, and when by and by the +boys became drowsy Mr. Oliver told them that they had better go to bed. + +The boys were about to withdraw to their room, when Harry had a sudden +thought. + +"Where's the dog?" he asked. + +"In the stable," said Mr. Oliver dryly. "We have kept him there the last +few nights." + +It occurred to Frank that this had been done as a precaution, since the +stable and barn stood close together at some little distance from the +house, but Harry made some careless answer and they turned away toward +their room. When they reached it Harry sat down on his bed and his face +looked grave in the lamplight. + +"Dad's expecting trouble," he said. "You noticed that all the guns were +laid handy and there was a lot of shot as well as rifle shells spread +out loose on the shelf." + +"Do you think the dope men will come to-night?" + +"I can't say. I wouldn't be astonished if they did. Anyhow, I'm dead +played out and we can go to sleep, because dad and Webster mean to sit +up all night. I don't know whether you noticed that the coffee pot was +on the stove and dad had his cigar box out." + +Frank had not noticed it, but he had already discovered that in some +matters his companion's eyes were sharper than his own. He, however, +made no comment, for a heavy weariness had seized him at last and he was +glad to get his clothes off and go to bed. He was soon asleep and some +hours had passed when he felt Harry's hand upon his shoulder. Raising +himself suddenly, he looked around. The room was very dark, and he could +hear nothing until a door latch clicked below and he fancied that he +heard stealthy footsteps outside the building. + +"You had better get up and dress as quick as you can," said Harry. +"That's Webster crossing the clearing. Dad slipped out a minute or two +before him." + +Frank scrambled into his clothes and followed Harry to the window, where +they leaned upon the ledge. There was no doubt that somebody was moving +away from the house, because they could hear the withered grass rustle +and now and then the faint crackle of a twig, but they could see nothing +except the leafless fruit trees and the black wall of bush shutting in +the clearing. + +Then a savage growl that sounded dulled and muffled broke out from the +stable, and Frank felt a little quiver run through him. The sound died +away and he found the heavy silence that followed it hard to bear, but +a few moments later the dog growled again and then broke into a series +of short, snapping barks. + +"If he gets loose somebody's going to be sorry," said Harry with a +harsh, strained laugh. Then he gripped Frank's arm hard. "Look yonder!" + +A yellow blaze suddenly leaped up beside the barn and grew brighter +rapidly, until Frank made out a man's black figure outlined against it. +He seemed to be throwing an armful of brush or withered twigs upon the +spreading fire, and Frank swung around toward his companion. + +"Hadn't we better shout or run down?" he asked. + +"Wait," said Harry shortly. "Dad's already on that fellow's trail." + +He was right, for while the figure bent over the fire a thin streak of +red sparks flashed out from among the fruit trees and the crash of a +rifle filled the clearing. The man leaped back from the fire, ran a few +paces at headlong speed, and vanished suddenly into the shadow. + +"He's not hurt," Frank said hoarsely. + +"Then it's because dad didn't mean to hit him," Harry answered. "That +was a warning." + +"He doesn't seem to be going to put out the fire." + +"No," said Harry with the same strained laugh, "dad knows too much for +that. Those logs are thick, they won't light easy, and it's only a +little pile of small stuff that's burning. Dad has no use for standing +out where those fellows can see him unless it's necessary. In the +meanwhile the dope men don't know where he is and that's going to worry +them." + +Frank could understand this. It seemed very likely that the small fire +would burn out before the logs caught, and it was clear that the men who +had made it could not run back into the light to throw on more brushwood +without incurring the hazard of being shot. On the other hand, Mr. +Oliver would have to face the same peril if he approached to put it +out. From this it seemed very probable that both he and the dope men +would wait to see what the result would be. + +In the meanwhile the crash of the rifle had had a curious effect on +Frank. It was the first time that he had ever seen a shot fired in anger +and he was sufficiently well acquainted with Mr. Oliver's character to +feel certain that if the warning failed to prove efficacious the next +bullet would not go wide. He felt his nerves tingle and caught his +breath more quickly, for it seemed highly probable that he might be +shortly called on to watch or, perhaps, take part in some horrible +thing. He did not mean to shirk it, but at the same time he was +conscious that he would have greatly preferred to be standing beside the +schooner's wheel while she lurched over the big foaming seas. + +The suspense became almost intolerable as he watched the fire, which +presently sank until at last only a feeble, flickering blaze was left. +Then a figure sprang out of the shadow and ran toward it carrying +something in its arms. The next moment there was another crash in a +different part of the clearing from where they had heard the first shot, +and the figure, dropping its burden, vanished suddenly. + +"That's Webster," said Harry dryly. "I'm not sure that he meant to +miss." + +In the meanwhile the savage barking of the dog, whom they had scarcely +noticed during the last few moments, once more forced itself upon their +attention. + +"Why doesn't your father let the dog get after them?" Frank asked. + +"I don't know," Harry answered. "It's possible he'd rather not have them +routed out from among the trees. If it were only daylight we could stand +them off! Have you your watch?" + +Frank took it from his pocket and rubbed a sulphur match in nervous +haste. It went out and he struck another with quivering fingers. A pale +glow of light sprang up and he held the watch close against it. + +"Only four o'clock!" he announced. "There'll be more than three hours' +darkness yet." + +Harry made no answer, and except for the barking of the dog there was +silence for a minute or two. It was Frank at last who broke it. + +"I can't stand any more of this," he said. "Let's go down." + +His companion seemed to hesitate. "It's not nice, but I don't know what +to do. Aunt's in the house, and though Jake's on the lookout somewhere +I've a notion that dad would call us if he meant us to come." He broke +off and added in a very suggestive tone, "I don't--want--to stay in." + +"We could go as far as the door, anyway," Frank persisted. + +They slipped out of the room and made for the kitchen very quietly, but +Frank was a little astonished when they reached it, because though there +was no lamp burning the front of the stove was open and the faint glow +which shone out fell upon Miss Oliver who was sitting close by. A rifle +lay upon the table at her side and Jake's shadowy figure showed up near +the open window. + +"Where are you going, Harry?" she asked. + +Harry stopped and leaned upon the table. "Out into the clearing a little +way. After that, I don't know. I don't want to spoil dad's plans by +butting in before it's necessary, but I wish he'd told us what to do. +You won't mind if we go?" + +"I've Jake--and this," Miss Oliver answered, quietly pointing to the +rifle. "On the whole I think I'd just as soon you tried to find out what +is going on, but keep out of sight while you're about it and be +cautious." + +They slipped out, and when they stopped at a short distance from the +house Frank touched his companion. + +"Can she shoot?" he asked. + +"It's my opinion that she'd beat you at it every time," said Harry +curtly. + +He raised his hand as though to demand silence, and they both stood +listening, but there was deep silence now, for the dog had ceased to +bark. It was difficult to imagine that somewhere in the shadowy clearing +there were a number of men watching with every sense alert. + +"I think the first shot came from the other side of the fruit trees. +We'll look in among them," said Harry. + +Treading very softly, they made for the trees, which were young and had +shed their leaves, but their trunks and branches, massed in long rows, +offered concealment. They would not entirely cover up the figure of any +one standing among them, but they would break its outline, which is +almost as effective since, as Frank had already learned, it is +singularly difficult to recognize an object when one can only see a part +of it. Besides, the sky was overcast and there was no moon visible. + +The boys walked a few steps and stopped again to consider. It was as +still as ever, and there was nothing to guide them in deciding where Mr. +Oliver or Mr. Webster might be, while they recognized that any noise +they made would probably be followed by a rifle shot. The smugglers and +ranchers would naturally be listening for the least sound that might +betray each other's presence. The first incautious movement would +therefore lay either party open to attack, and Frank could understand +the smuggler's hesitation in making another attempt to burn the barn, +since, apart from any noise they made, the figure of the man who started +the fire would be forced up clearly by the light. Indeed, he fancied +that so long as the two men kept still their opponents must do the same. + +In the meanwhile he found it singularly difficult to crouch in the grass +waiting and listening. It would have been much easier to move forward, +even at the hazard of drawing the smuggler's fire upon himself, but as +this was out of the question he restrained the desire to do so by an +effort of his will. To hasten an attack would interfere with Mr. +Oliver's plans, and there was no doubt that the odds against the rancher +were already heavy. Frank, however, could not keep his heart from +thumping painfully or his fingers from trembling upon the gun barrel. +Never had time seemed to pass so slowly. + +Several minutes dragged by and still no sound rose from the surrounding +fruit trees or shadowy clearing. It almost seemed as if Mr. Oliver and +his opponents meant to lie motionless until the morning, which Frank +realized was a good deal more than he could force himself to do. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE RELIEF OF THE RANCH + + +The silence was becoming unendurable when it was suddenly broken by two +sharp, ringing crashes in quick succession. Though Frank was afterward +ashamed of it, he fairly jumped and came very nearly dropping his gun. +While he was struggling with an impulse to fire at random into the +darkness there was an answering bang and he felt a tug at his elbow. + +"I think it was Webster who fired first," said Harry in a low, tense +voice. "If I'm wrong, it means that the dope men have got in between us +and the house, but that isn't likely. Dad would have heard them and made +a move if they'd tried it." + +Frank said nothing, and when the echoes died away among the woods there +was once more a nerve-trying silence, except for the savage barking of +the dog. It lasted a few minutes, and then Harry spoke again: + +"The shots will be quite enough to put dad on to those fellows' trail. I +expect he's crawling in on them now." + +The boy's whisper was hoarse with anxiety, but he made no attempt to +move and Frank wondered at his self-command. Shortly afterward there was +an unexpected change in the situation, for a faint flicker of light shot +up again from where Frank supposed the barn to be. This was puzzling, +because, while the light was rather high up and there seemed to be a +brighter blaze beneath it, Frank could not see the fire. Then the +explanation flashed upon him as the black shape of the building became +dimly visible against the uncertain glow. The smugglers had lighted a +second fire behind the barn, which now stood between them and Mr. +Oliver. Frank gasped with dismay as he realized that it was a simple and +effective trick. If the rancher moved forward hastily he must betray +himself to his enemies by the noise he made, while if he proceeded +slowly and cautiously the barn would probably take fire before he +reached a spot from which he could drive back the men, who were no doubt +piling up brushwood against the building. + +"It looks as if they'd got us!" he whispered. + +"No," said Harry sharply and aloud. "The thing didn't strike me, but +dad's not to be caught like that. Now, as any row we make will draw them +off him, we'll hurry up. Get up and run." + +Frank did so, but although he had been longing to do something of the +kind a few minutes earlier he found that he had no great liking for the +part Harry expected him to play. It was decidedly unpleasant to feel +that in all probability he was fixing upon himself the attention of +several men who could shoot very well. He had gone only a few paces, +however, when there was a shot from behind the barn and Harry laughed--a +breathless laugh. + +"That's dad. He's headed them off again!" he said. + +Frank ran on, but thrilling as he was with excitement it occurred to him +that this battle was a rather intricate one, in which he was right. +These bushmen were accustomed to hunting and trailing, and did not rush +at each other's throats, shouting and firing more or less at random. +Instead, they seemed to be maneuvering for positions from which they +could prevent their opponents from making another move. Nowadays, in any +battle large or small, in which men are engaged who can handle the +terrible modern rifle, the position is the one essential thing, since +it is only the most desperate courage that can drive home an attack upon +a well-covered firing line. + +Soon after the boys had heard the shot a shadowy figure slipped out from +among the fruit trees close in front of them and Frank called, +"Webster!" + +The man swung around, but instead of answering he sprang backward, and +Frank realized that he had almost run into the arms of one of the +smugglers. The boys did not see where he went, though he made some +noise, and they afterward concluded that he had mistaken them for grown +men. In the meanwhile they went on again more cautiously, until at +length they were stopped by a low cry and Mr. Oliver rose from the grass +a few feet away. They were on the other side of the barn now and could +see that the fire had got hold of it. There was no doubt that some of +the logs were burning and a pile of brushwood which had been laid +against them was burning fiercely. + +"It's spreading," said Harry. "Can't we put it out?" + +"No," said his father with grim quietness. "It would take time and at +least a dozen wet grain bags, while it wouldn't be safe for any one to +approach the light." + +There was something in his voice that startled Frank. + +"You have hit one of them?" he asked. + +"There's reason for believing it. Webster and I couldn't watch the four +sides of the barn, and they chose the one that seemed the most unlikely. +Still, as it happened, I got around quick enough." + +"Then what are we to do now?" Harry inquired. + +"Fall back on the house," replied Mr. Oliver. "I've sent Webster on, and +it's no use waiting for another of them to come out into the light." + +The boys turned back with him, moving quickly but making no more noise +than they could help, and on reaching the dwelling they found Mr. +Webster standing in the kitchen. The room was dark except for the faint +glow which shone out from the front of the stove, and Miss Oliver was +still sitting where the boys had last seen her, with an open box of +cartridges at her feet. There was, however, light enough outside, for a +red glare which grew steadily brighter streamed across the clearing. + +"Where's the dog?" Harry asked. + +"I don't know," said Mr. Webster. "I let him out before I came along. I +expect you're going to hear him presently." + +There was silence for the next six or seven minutes during which Frank +heard the ticking of a clock and the crackle of knotty pinewood in the +stove. He could see Mr. Oliver standing a little on one side of the open +window, an indistinct figure with face and hands that showed dimly +white. His pose indicated that he was holding a rifle level with his +breast, and presently as the red glow behind the fruit trees grew higher +and brighter the barrel twinkled in a ray of light. Then there was a +furious barking and Jake laughed at the sound. + +"Well," he said, "they don't mean to keep us waiting." + +Mr. Oliver turned to the boys. "Keep clear of this window and watch the +other one. You're not to fire a shot unless I tell you." + +The barking of the dog grew louder and it was evident that the animal +was following the smugglers toward the house, but Frank could see nobody +for a while. Then he made out two or three moving shadows among the +fruit trees, but they vanished again as the light sank, and he almost +wished that they would spring out from cover and make a rush upon the +building. He could imagine them creeping stealthily nearer and nearer, +and the strain of the forced inaction became nearly unbearable. He +learned that night that it is often a good deal easier to fight than to +wait. + +At last a harsh voice rose from the gloom. + +"You'll have to get out, Oliver," it said. "Clear out in your sloop with +the folks you have with you and we'll let you go. You're mighty lucky in +getting the option." + +"And what about the ranch?" Mr. Oliver asked. + +"We'll tend to it," another man answered pointedly. "Pitch your guns +through the window and come out right now!" + +"You're wasting time," replied Mr. Oliver, "I'm going to stay." + +"Then you'll certainly be sorry," some one else broke in. "We've had +about enough trouble right along with you and we've come to hand in the +bill. You headed us off a good trade, you brought the revenue folks in, +and we mean to get even before we leave. Just now we'll be satisfied +with your homestead, but that won't be enough after the next shot's +fired." + +It was a grim warning and what made it more impressive to Frank was the +fact that he could not see the man who uttered it. So far, the smugglers +had only revealed their presence by their voices. The next moment there +was a cry of pain or alarm and a rifle flashed. + +"Kill that blamed dog," somebody ordered with an oath. + +Then Mr. Oliver called to Harry, who had gone to the window across the +room. + +"Can you see anybody on that side?" he asked. + +"No," was the answer. "I think they're all in front." + +Mr. Oliver turned to Jake. "Slip out through the back window with the +boys and work around to the stumps. From there you'll have those fellows +clear against the light. Wait until the shooting starts--and then do +what you can." + +"Sure!" was the short answer, and Jake crossed the room. + +Harry had already dropped from the window, and Frank promptly followed +him, feeling relieved now that he had something definite to do. +Circling around through the fruit trees they reached the first row of +stumps, one end of which ran up rather close to the house. As Frank +crouched down among the roots of one he saw the smugglers. There were +six or seven of them visible along the edge of the trees, though he +fancied that there were more of them farther back in the shadows, which +grew thinner and then more dense again as the light rose and fell. +Still, before the men could reach the house they would have to cross a +clear space where the glow was brighter, which they were evidently +reluctant to do. Their hesitation was very natural, since they had +discovered that their opponent was unusually quicksighted and handy with +the rifle. + +A few moments after the boys reached the stumps a great blaze shot up as +part of the barn fell in, and Frank saw a man who seemed to be the +leader of the gang run forward, heading toward the back of the house. As +he did so Frank recognized him and Harry cried out softly, for one of +the runner's shoulders was higher than the other and he had a rather +curious gait. Then there was a shout from one of those behind. + +"Plug the brute! Look out for the dog!" + +A low and very swift shadow flashed across the open space behind the +man. Harry laughed hoarsely as the man went down and rolled over with an +indistinct object apparently on his back. He cried out, there was a +confused shouting, and some of his companions came running toward him, +showing black against the light. Frank held his breath as he watched. He +expected to see two flashes from the window, since Mr. Webster and Mr. +Oliver had now an easy mark, but they did not fire. The next moment he +shrank in sudden horror, for the cries grew sharper and suggested pain +and an extremity of fear. Then he felt that, regardless of the hazard, +he could almost have cheered the smugglers on as they ran toward the +prostrate man, who was struggling vainly with the furious dog. They +surged about him in a confused group, and just then, to Frank's +amazement, a pistol flashed among the firs on the edge of the bush. It +was followed by a sudden clamor, whereupon the group broke up, and +running men streamed out across the clearing. The smugglers vanished, +and Harry sprang out from among the stumps shouting wildly. + +"It's Barclay! He's brought a posse with him!" he cried. "Come on. We +must choke off the dog." + +When they reached the spot they tried with all their might to drag back +the furious animal. The man, who had flung his arms about his throat and +face, now lay still, with the big and powerful animal still tearing at +him. It was not until Jake arrived and partly stunned it with his rifle +butt that it let go, and then two or three breathless strangers came +running up to them. They dragged the smuggler to his feet and Frank saw +that his jacket was torn to pieces and that the back of his neck from +which it fell away was red. He did not seem capable of speaking and he +drew his breath in gasps, but the newcomers hustled him along between +them toward the house. + +"Stick to him," said Harry. "He's the boss of the gang." + +They thrust the man into the kitchen, where he fell into a chair and, +for the lamp was lighted now, gazed at Mr. Oliver stupidly. + +"Well," he said, "I'm corralled--my gun's in the clearing." He raised +his hand to his neck and brought it down smeared red before he added, +"It's mighty lucky he didn't get hold in front." + +Mr. Oliver, who made no answer, swung around and faced Mr. Barclay +standing hot and breathless in the doorway smiling at them. + +"It's fortunate I came along," he said, and striding forward glanced at +the man in the chair. "We've got you at last." + +"Sure!" admitted the other, still in a half-dazed manner. "I'll have to +face it--only keep off that dog." + +Mr. Barclay looked around at Mr. Oliver. "I expect the boys have also +got most of his partners. Before we broke cover I sent a party to head +them off." + +Harry suddenly called to Frank, who sprang toward the door, but when +they reached the bush they met the rest of the men coming back with +several prisoners. They reported that two or three had escaped and they +would have to wait for daylight before following their trail. + +Half an hour later the boys sat down again in the kitchen where Mr. +Oliver and Mr. Barclay, who had been out in the meanwhile, were talking +by the stove. + +"I'd an idea that these fellows might look you up, which was why I came +along as fast as I could manage," Mr. Barclay was explaining. "I think I +told you we got practically every man who was waiting for the schooner +at the inlet, and the two or three who escaped to-night won't count. In +the meanwhile I'd arranged at two or three different places to seize +everybody we suspected of having a hand in the thing, and if the boys I +left that work to have been as lucky as we are we can take it for +granted that we have put an end to the gang. There's enough against the +fellow the dog mauled to have him sent up for the rest of his life." He +broke off and turned to the boys. "The schooner will be sold by auction, +and if you are inclined to leave the matter in my hands you can give me +a written claim for salvage services." + +"How much should we put down?" Harry asked. + +"I would suggest three thousand dollars," responded Mr. Barclay with +twinkling eyes. "It doesn't follow that you'll be awarded the whole of +it, but it's generally admitted that one shouldn't be too modest in +sending in a claim. If you two become partners you could buy a ranch." + +Harry turned with a smile to Frank. "Well," he said, "if you're willing, +we might consider it in a year or two." + +Then one of the men came in to report that the prisoners had been +secured in the stable. Mr. Barclay soon dismissed him with a few brief +instructions and sat down again, lighting a cigar. + +"I don't know that there's much more to tell," he said. "When we were a +mile or two off the cove we saw the blaze of your barn, and that gave us +an idea of what was going on. We sent the steamer along as fast as she +could travel, but I broke my posse up to surround the clearing as soon +as we got ashore. Then we lay by and waited so as to get as many of the +gang as possible. They were too busy watching you to notice any little +noise the boys made, and on the whole I think we can be content with +this night's work." + +"Have you decided what led up to the shooting of that man in the +schooner's cabin?" Harry asked. + +"That," said Mr. Barclay, "is a matter for the criminal court, but I've +made a few investigations, and my notion is that the fellows lost their +nerve when it became evident that somebody had given them away. They +suspected one another, and that led to trouble, while I've no doubt that +the Chinaman held most of the secrets of the gang. He'd be a particular +object of suspicion, but from what I can gather there was a general row +during which she jibed and got ashore. There was, at least, one other +man badly hurt, but they seem to have gone off in the same boat. The +vessel probably struck on an outlying reef and came off almost +immediately on the rising tide." + +Frank went out soon afterward and sat down near the house. The fire had +almost burned out and a light wind which had sprung up drove the last of +the smoke the other way. The air that flowed about the boy was sweet and +scented with the fragrance of pine and cedar. All around him the bush +rose in somber masses and a faint elfin sighing fell from the tops of +the tall black trees. It was the song of the wilderness and the wild and +rugged land had steadily tightened its hold on him. As he sat and +listened he was certain at last that he would never leave it to go back +to the cities. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +FRANK BECOMES A RANCH OWNER + + +Three or four days had passed since the attack on the ranch when one +afternoon the boys stood on the deck of the sloop. Bright sunshine +streamed down on the cove and there was a brisk breeze. The boys had +gone down to hoist the mainsail so that it would dry, as it had been +rolled up damp when last used; and as Frank straightened himself after +stooping to coil up the gear he noticed that a man stood at the edge of +the water with a small camera in his hand. + +"Look, Harry!" he exclaimed softly, as his companion crawled from behind +the sail. + +"Hello!" called Harry. "What do you want?" + +"Keep still!" commanded the stranger sharply. Then he raised his hand. +"That's all right! Now you may move if you like." + +"So may you!" Harry answered with a chuckle. "In fact, I guess you +better had!" + +There was an ominous growl somewhere above the man and then a savage +barking, as the dog--who had followed the boys to the cove and afterward +wandered away--came scrambling furiously down the steep path. The man +seemed to watch its approach with anxiety, and when it came toward him +growling he stooped and picked up a big stone. + +"Hold on!" Harry shouted. "Put down that stone! He doesn't like +strangers, and you'd better not rile him." + +The man did as he was bidden, but when it looked as if the dog would +drive him into the water Frank dropped into the canoe. To his +astonishment, the stranger suddenly held the camera in front of him and +backed away a few paces, pointing it like a pistol at the growling dog, +who seemed too surprised to follow. Then Frank ran the canoe ashore and +told the man to get in while he drove off the dog. + +"He's young," explained Frank. "Somehow we haven't managed to tame him." + +He headed for the sloop, and the man got on board. + +"You seem stuck on taking photographs," Harry remarked. + +"I make a little out of them now and then," the stranger answered with a +smile. "You're Harry Oliver?" + +"That's my name." + +"Then your friend is Frank Whitney?" + +"Yes," replied Harry. "But you haven't answered my question yet." + +"I wanted to have a talk with your father; but I find that he's out." + +"He won't be back until to-night; and, while we'd be glad to give you +supper, it really wouldn't be worth while to wait. He doesn't want any +fruit trees--the last we bought from outsiders had been dug up too long. +He's full up with implements, and we're not open to buy anything." + +The stranger laughed good-humoredly. + +"Hadn't you better wait until you're asked? I'm not drumming up orders." +Then he changed the subject. "You've had trouble here lately, haven't +you? From what I gather, your father has done a smart and courageous +thing in holding off that opium gang." + +Harry thawed and fell into the trap. He was not addicted to saying much +about his own exploits, but he was proud of his father, and the man +discovered this from his hesitating answer. It was the latter's business +to draw people out, and sitting down in the shelter of the coaming he +cleverly led the boy on to talk. Frank tried to warn his companion once +or twice, but failed, and soon the stranger drew him also into the +conversation. Some time had slipped away when the man finally rose. + +"I'm sorry I missed your father," he said, "but as I want to catch the +steamer that calls at the settlement to-night, I must be getting back." + +Harry paddled him ashore, and when he returned with the dog Frank +grinned at him. + +"That fellow hasn't told you his business yet, and I've a pretty strong +suspicion that he's a newspaper man." + +Harry started and frowned. + +"Then if he prints all that stuff I've told him it's a sure thing that +dad will be jumping mad. Didn't you know enough to call me off?" + +"You wouldn't stop," Frank answered, laughing. "I kept on winking for +the first five minutes, and then somehow he gathered me in too. He's +smart at his business." + +"I guess we'd better not say anything about the thing," decided Harry +thoughtfully. "Anyway, not until we know whether you are right." + +They went ashore soon afterward; and a few days later Mr. Webster called +at the ranch. + +"Have you Barclay's address?" he asked Mr. Oliver. "I want to write +him." + +Mr. Oliver gave it to him, and Mr. Webster continued: + +"They're getting up a supper at the settlement, and the stewards would +like to have you and the boys come. They're asking everybody between +here and Carthew." + +"What do they want to get up a supper for?" + +Mr. Webster hesitated. + +"Well," he said, "among other things, the new man is opening his big +fruit ranch, and we've just heard that there's a steamboat wharf to be +built and a new wagon trail made. Things are looking up, and the boys +feel that they ought to have a celebration." + +"All right," assented Mr. Oliver, "the boys and I will be on hand." + +A few minutes later Mr. Webster started home, and then Frank opened a +letter he had brought him. He was astonished when he read it. + +"It's from Mr. Marston, who got me the position with the milling +company--he's a relative of ours," he informed Mr. Oliver. "It appears +that he is in Portland on business--shipping Walla wheat--and he says +that he promised my mother he'd look me up if he had time. He may be +here shortly." + +"We'd be glad to see him," Mr. Oliver answered cordially. "It isn't a +very long way to Portland." + +Frank, however, had no further word from Mr. Marston; and in due time +the evening of the supper arrived. Mr. Oliver and the boys sailed up to +the settlement. Landing in the darkness, they found the little hotel +blazing with light. The night was mild, and a hum of voices and bursts +of laughter drifted out from the open windows of the wooden building. On +entering the veranda, they were greeted by the man who had kept the +store when Frank first visited the settlement. + +"I'm glad to see that you're better," Mr. Oliver remarked. + +"Thanks!" replied the other. "I've just got down from Seattle--the +doctors have patched me up. It's time I was back at business--things +have been getting pretty mixed while I was away." Then he changed the +subject. "The boys would make me chairman of this affair, and they're +waiting. You're only just on time." + +"The wind fell light," said Mr. Oliver. "As there seems to be a good +many of them, they needn't have waited for my party if we hadn't come." + +"Oh," laughed the storekeeper, "they couldn't begin without--you." + +Mr. Oliver looked slightly astonished; but there was another surprise +in store for him and the boys when they entered the largest room in the +building. It was, for once, brilliantly lighted; and crossed fir +branches hung on the rudely match-boarded wall, with the azure and +silver and crimson of the flag gleaming here and there among them. Frank +could understand the attempt to decorate the place, because, as a matter +of fact, it needed it; but he did not see why the double row of men +standing about the long table should break out into an applauding murmur +as Mr. Oliver walked in. Most of them had lean, brown faces and +toil-hardened hands, and were dressed in duck with a cloth jacket over +it and with boots that reached to the knees, but there were two or three +in white shirts and neat cloth suits. + +"Boys," said the storekeeper, "our guest has now arrived. Though he +tells me the wind fell light, he's here on time, which is what we've +always found him to be in all his doings." He waved Mr. Oliver to the +head of the table. "That's your place. It's my duty to welcome you on +behalf of the assembled company." + +There was an outbreak of applause, and Mr. Oliver looked around with a +smile. + +"Thank you, boys," he beamed; "but I don't quite understand. I just came +here to talk to you and get my supper." + +Amid the laughter that followed there were many voices answering him. + +"You'll get it, sure! To-night we'll do the talking--Sproat's been +practicing speeches on the innocent trees all day, and Bentley's most as +good as a gramophone. We're mighty glad to have you! Sit right down!" + +The storekeeper raised his hand for silence. + +"You're our guest, Mr. Oliver, and that's all there is to it." He turned +to the others and lowered his voice confidentially. "I guess Webster +didn't explain the thing to him. Our friend's backward on some +occasions--he doesn't like a fuss--and it's quite likely that if he'd +known what to expect he wouldn't have come." + +There was another burst of laughter; and when Mr. Oliver had taken his +place, with the boys seated near him, Frank noticed for the first time +that Mr. Barclay occupied a chair close by. Then he also saw that Mr. +Marston, who had written to him, sat almost opposite across the table. + +"I got here this afternoon and was trying to hire a horse when I heard +that you were expected at this feast," the latter said. "Your people +were in first-rate health when I left them." + +It was difficult to carry on a conversation across the table, and Frank +turned his attention to the meal, which was the best he had sat down to +since he reached the bush. By and by the storekeeper stood up. + +"Now," he said, "as most of you have laid in a solid foundation, we can +talk over the dessert; and I want to remind you that we have several +reasons for celebrating this occasion. A start at growing fruit on a big +scale has just been made; we're to have a wharf; and there's a wagon +trail to be bridged and graded. All this brings you nearer the market. +You have held on and put up a good fight with rocks and trees, and now +when you'll have no trouble in turning your produce into money you're +going to reap the reward of it. But that's not our main business +to-night." + +There was an encouraging murmur, and he went on: + +"We had a few bad men round this settlement--toughs, who had no use for +work. Folks of their kind are like the fever--they're infectious--and +it's a kind of curious thing that for a while the bad man generally +comes out on top. His trouble is that he can't stay there, for something +big and heavy is surely going to fall on him sooner or later. Still, +those men had a big combine at the back of them and they got hold. +They'd have kept it longer, only that one man had a bigger head than +most of us. He'll tell you that the one straight way to get money is to +work for it, and that the folks who begin by robbing the Government end +by robbing everybody else. He found the combine up against him, but +while some of us backed down he stood fast. He wouldn't be fooled or +bullied, and, though he didn't go round saying so, when the time came +that big and well-handled combine went down. Now it's my pleasant duty +to offer your thanks to Mr. Oliver for freeing you from what would have +been the ugliest kind of tyranny." + +He sat down amid applause, and another man got up. + +"I'm glad to second that," he announced. "We were easy with the opium +gang when they began. It was pleasant to get a roll of bills now and +then for just leaving a team handy and saying nothing if we found a case +in the stable; but we didn't see where that led." He stopped and turned +to Mr. Barclay, who was smiling at him. "What'd you say, sir?" + +"It struck me that you were forgetting what my profession is," Mr. +Barclay answered dryly. "You're not compelled to give yourself and your +friends away." + +This remark was followed by laughter; then the speaker proceeded: + +"Anyhow, the dope boys began to change their tone. At first, they paid +and asked favors; but when they got folks so they couldn't go back on +them they ordered, and seldom paid at all. It was getting what my friend +calls tyranny, and the small man had to stand in and ask the gang for +leave to live. We'd have been in a mighty tight place now if one rancher +hadn't boldly stood out. That's why we're offering our best thanks to +Mr. Oliver, who got up and fought the gang." + +There was a shout that set the shingles rattling overhead, and when it +died away Mr. Oliver, who looked embarrassed, said a few simple words, +which were followed by riotous applause. Then Frank looking around saw +that a sheet of newspaper with three pictures on it was pinned to the +wall. + +"What's that thing?" he asked, leaning back to touch Harry. "You're +nearer it." + +One of the men took the paper down and handed it to him. + +"Well," he drawled, "I guess you ought to know your own likeness." + +Frank gasped as he took the paper, for the two portraits at the top of +it were of Harry and himself, and underneath them appeared the dog. +There was a conspicuous black heading over them. + +"_The modest salvors of the opium schooner, and their dog_," it read. + +Beneath this there was about a column dealing with Mr. Oliver's exploits +and their own. Frank glanced at parts of it with blank astonishment. + +"You never told him all that stuff," he declared, passing it to Harry. + +Mr. Oliver intercepted the paper, and his expression hinted at +half-disgusted amusement. + +"Didn't you know any better than to tell a story of this kind to a +newspaper man?" he asked. "Read a little of it!" + +Harry's face flushed as he read. + +"I didn't tell him half of it," he protested. "Besides, I didn't know +what he was." + +Mr. Oliver laughed at last; and just then another man got up and made a +speech about Mr. Barclay, who rose and looked down the table with a +quiet smile. + +"I appreciate what you have said of my doings, boys, and now I'll base +my few observations on one of the first speaker's remarks," he began. +"He stated that the man who began by robbing the Government would end by +robbing everybody else; but he was wrong. The man who robs the +Government _is_ robbing every other citizen. Each of us is part of a +system that's built up, we believe, on the rock of the constitution. +Otherwise, if you were merely individuals, doing just as you wished, +obeying nobody, you could live only like the Indians, holding your +ranches and cattle--if you had them--with the rifle. All commerce and +security is founded on the fact that we're not separate men, but a +nation. Well, the nation wants troops, and warships, judges, courts, +schools, and roads. It expects you to pay your share, since you get the +benefit, and every man who beats it out of one tax or duty is playing a +mean game on and stealing from the rest. That's the one point I want to +make clear." + +Then, to the confusion of Harry and Frank, they were commended; and +afterward the company broke up into groups to talk and smoke. Mr. Oliver +and the boys, Mr. Marston, Mr. Webster and Mr. Barclay still sat +together, and presently Mr. Barclay turned to the boys. + +"I've some news for you," he announced. "The schooner has been surveyed. +She's very little damaged, and the authorities, who have seized her, +have decided to allow your claim in full. As soon as she's sold, they'll +forward you a treasury order." + +"And we'll really get all that money?" Frank asked with a gasp. + +"It seems pretty certain." + +The blood rushed into Frank's face. + +"It would go a long way toward buying a small, half-cleared ranch," he +exclaimed joyfully. + +"I've one to sell," laughed Mr. Webster. "You can have it cheap." + +"Are you serious?" Mr. Oliver inquired. + +"Sure!" was the answer. "I never was much good at ranching, and the +place is too small to feed more than a few head of stock. It might pay +growing fruit; but if I did any planting now I'd have to wait three or +four years before I got any returns worth while, and I was always kind +of smart at carpentering. I could get contracts for building log bridges +and cutting wharf piles now, and I'd let the ranch go at a very moderate +price." + +"How much do you want?" + +When Mr. Webster told him, Mr. Oliver considered the matter for a few +moments. + +"I'll have to start Harry in another three or four years, and if we put +in a lot of young trees they'd be in good bearing by that time," he said +thoughtfully. "We could work the place from our own ranch in the +meanwhile; but I'm afraid I can't raise the price you ask. Would you let +part stand over on a mortgage?" + +"I can't do that," was the reply, "though I'd like to oblige you. You +see, if I'm to handle those contracts properly, I must have the money to +buy tools and to pay wages. But suppose we appoint two valuers to fix a +figure." + +The boys had been listening intently, and Frank broke in: + +"Harry and I have decided to go partners in a ranch some day, and +there's the salvage money." + +"It wouldn't be enough," said Mr. Oliver regretfully. + +Mr. Marston touched Mr. Oliver's shoulder. + +"I'd like a few words with you privately." + +They crossed the room, and after talking for a while in low tones Mr. +Marston beckoned Frank, who had been waiting in tense excitement. Mr. +Marston was a middle-aged business man, with keen eyes and a thoughtful +face, and he looked at Frank steadily. + +"Sit down and listen to me," he said. "Because I'm a relative of yours +and also because I had a great respect for your father, I meant from the +beginning to help you along. On the other hand, I've seen young men +spoiled by knowing that they had friends ready to give them a lift, and +I decided to let you make the best fight you could, for a year or two. +That's why I sent you to the flour mill, instead of putting you into +something easier; and I may say that I wasn't altogether pleased when +you left it." + +"I was turned out, sir," Frank corrected him with some color in his +face. + +Mr. Marston smiled. + +"We'll let it go at that. The main thing is that you didn't come back +for help. Instead, you made another start for yourself; and you seem to +have done well here. According to a newspaper which I've read, you have +even distinguished yourself lately." He laughed before he proceeded. +"Anyway, you have shown that one could have some confidence in you." + +"Thank you, sir." + +Mr. Marston raised his hand. + +"Let me finish. Before I left Boston I went over your mother's business +affairs, and by and by I think she could give you--we'll say a thousand +dollars; you have your share of the salvage payment; and Mr. Oliver is +willing to lay out some money on his son's account. Well, I'll find the +balance--on a mortgage--but you'll have to make the ranch pay, or"--and +he smiled--"I'll certainly foreclose and turn you out." + +Frank tried to thank him, but he could find very little to say in his +excitement. Then Mr. Marston called Harry. + +"I understand that you are anxious to take Mr. Webster's ranch with +Frank, and would be willing to work it under your father's direction +until the youngest of you is twenty-one. Is that correct?" + +Harry's face was glowing. + +"Yes, sir," he answered eagerly. "We'll do what we can." + +"Then if your father and Mr. Webster will go down to Seattle with me, +we'll get the transfer made and a deed drawn up to fix the thing." + +Frank could never remember what he said or did during the next few +minutes, but it was the proudest and happiest time he had spent in his +life. Then he turned to Mr. Marston and Mr. Oliver, who were standing +near. + +"I'll have very little time to spare after this," he said, "and I should +like to spend a little of the salvage money going back to Boston to see +my mother and the others before I begin." + +"Of course!" ejaculated Mr. Marston. "A very proper thing! You needn't +wait until Mr. Barclay sends you his order. I'll arrange your ticket." + +He moved away, and shortly afterward the company dispersed. + +A week later Frank and Harry and Jake sailed out in the sloop to +intercept the south-bound steamer. She came up, with side-wheels +churning a broad track of foam and her smoke trail streaming astern. +When her engines stopped, Frank and Harry dropped into the canoe and in +a few minutes they were alongside. Frank swung himself up on board and +then looked back at the canoe. + +"Have a good time!" cried Harry. "The best you can! You'll have to work +when you come back!" + +"You'll see me in six weeks," Frank answered with a wave of his hand; +and the canoe dropped astern as the engines started and the steamer +forged ahead. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected. + +In Chapter II, "the trail the followed" was changed to "the trail they +followed". + +In Chapter IX, "he an Jake set off" was changed to "he and Jake set +off". + +In Chapter X, a missing period was added after "against the beams". + +In Chapter XI, a missing period was added after "his little cloth cap". + +In Chapter XVII, "a lump of iron with a rope mast fast to it" was +changed to "a lump of iron with a rope made fast to it". + +In Chapter XIX, "I don't thing it would be wise" was changed to "I don't +think it would be wise". + +In Chapter XXIII, "the nearest office I coul have reached" was changed +to "the nearest office I could have reached". + +The word "postoffice" is spelled in the text both with and without a +hyphen. Each instance has been left as it appeared in the original text. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND *** + +***** This file should be named 38087-8.txt or 38087-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/0/8/38087/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: November 22, 2011 [EBook #38087] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 386px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="386" height="600" alt="cover of The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 103px;"> +<img src="images/spine.jpg" width="103" height="600" alt="spine of The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<h1>THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND</h1> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 385px;"> +<img src="images/image-1.jpg" width="385" height="575" alt=""'DESERTED!' JAKE SAID SHORTLY"—Page 282" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="caption">"'DESERTED!' JAKE SAID SHORTLY"—Page 282</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p class="center bigtext">THE BOY RANCHERS<br />OF PUGET SOUND</p> + +<p class="center">BY<br /><span class="bigtext">HAROLD BINDLOSS</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Author of "Alton of Somasco," "Winston of the Prairie," "Lorimer of the +Northwest," "Thurston of Orchard Valley," etc.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 115px;"> +<img src="images/tree.png" width="115" height="300" alt="tree logo" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center smalltext">NEW YORK<br /> +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY<br /> +PUBLISHERS</p> + +<p class="center smalltext">Copyright, 1910, By<br /> +<span class="smcap">Frederick A. Stokes Company</span></p> + +<p class="center smalltext"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/pubdate.png" width="300" height="83" alt="September, 1910" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table class="figcenter" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum smalltext">CHAPTER</td> +<td class="chapname smalltext"> </td> +<td class="chappage smalltext">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">I.</td> +<td class="chapname">Frank Goes West</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">II.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Bush</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">14</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">III.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Ranch</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">28</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IV.</td> +<td class="chapname">Target Practice</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">39</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">V.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Mysterious Schooner</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">51</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VI.</td> +<td class="chapname">At the Helm</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">62</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VII.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Warning</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">71</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Salmon Spearing</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">82</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IX.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Plain Hint</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">93</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">X.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Breeze of Wind</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">106</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Mr. Barclay Joins the Party</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">118</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Stranger</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">127</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Schooner Reappears</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">137</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Test of Endurance</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">148</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XV.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Midnight Visitor</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">157</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Frank Kills a Deer</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">166</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Mr. Webster's Guns</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">174</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Running a Cargo</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">184</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Caché</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">195</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Mr. Webster's Slashing</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">206</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Night on the Sands</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">216</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Ultimatum</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">228</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Mr. Oliver Outwits His Watchers</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">237</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Fast Run</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">249</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXV.</td> +<td class="chapname">The United States Mail</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">259</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Mr. Barclay Lays His Plans</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">268</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Derelict</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">277</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Grim Discovery</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">285</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Raid</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">294</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXX.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Relief of the Ranch</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">305</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Frank Becomes a Ranch Owner</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">315</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_BOY_RANCHERS_OF_PUGET_SOUND" id="THE_BOY_RANCHERS_OF_PUGET_SOUND"></a>THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND</h2> + +<h2 class="chapterone"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="smalltext">FRANK GOES WEST</span></h2> + + +<p>It was the middle of an afternoon in May. An old side-wheeler was +steaming south toward Puget Sound across the land-locked waters that lie +between Vancouver Island and the state of Washington. A little astern on +one hand Mount Baker lifted its heights of eternal snow. On the other, +and a little ahead, the Olympians rose white and majestic; and between, +vast, dim forests rolled down to the ruffled, blue water. It seemed to +Frank Whitney, sitting on the steamer's upper deck in the lee of her +smokestack, that it was a wild and wonderfully beautiful country he had +reached at last; for since leaving Vancouver, British Columbia, they had +steamed past endless rocks and woods, while island after island faded +into the smoke trail down the seething wake and great white mountains +opened out, changed their shapes, and closed in on one another as the +steamer went by. He had, however, not come there to admire the scenery, +and as he watched the wonderful panorama unroll itself he looked back +upon the troubles that had befallen him since he set out from Boston a +little less than a year ago.</p> + +<p>When he left that city he was but sixteen, and was, as he had cause to +realize during the following twelve months, merely an average American +boy, with a certain amount of alertness, self-reliance and common sense; +though he might, perhaps, have had more of these de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>sirable qualities, +had he not been a trifle spoiled by his widowed mother before he went to +Gorton school. He had, quite apart from his lessons, learned a few +useful things there which probably he would never have learned at home, +but he had been suddenly recalled, and his mother had informed him that +it was now impossible for him to enter the profession for which he had +been intended. Frank did not understand all the reasons for this, but he +knew that they were connected with the fall in value of some railroad +stock and the failure of a manufacturing company in which his mother +held shares. She had, as she pointed out, his two younger sisters to +provide for, and he must earn his living at once.</p> + +<p>Frank found this much harder than he had expected. The subjects in which +he excelled did not seem to be of the least use to business men, and the +fact that he could play several games moderately well did not seem to +count at all. There were people who were ready to give him a trial, but +they seemed singularly unwilling to pay him enough to live in a way that +he considered fitting; and this somewhat astonished as well as troubled +him. In the end, a relative, who said that a young man with any grit and +snap had better chances in the West, found him a position with a big +milling company in Minneapolis. Frank accepted the position, but soon +found it not much to his liking. The people he met were not like his +Boston friends. They were mostly Germans and Scandinavians, and their +ways were not those to which he had been accustomed. What was worse, +they hustled him in the milling company's offices, and instead of +teaching him the business kept him busy licking stamps, copying letters +and answering telephones, which did not seem to him a fitting occupation +for an intellectual lad.</p> + +<p>He bore it, nevertheless, because he had to, until one day there came a +climax, when a clerk who had bullied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> him all along assigned to him a +particularly disagreeable task which was really outside his duties. In +return, in a fit of very foolish anger, Frank screwed the clerk's new +hat down tight in a copying-press, and it happened that the secretary +came upon the scene during the trouble that followed. The secretary had +an unpleasant temper, and when he walked out of the general office Frank +sat down at his desk boiling with indignation and almost stupefied. +There was, however, not the least doubt that he was fired.</p> + +<p>He spent a very dismal evening afterward, for one thing, at least, was +clear—he could not go home to Boston and become a burden on his mother. +But the flour trade was bad in Minneapolis just then, and business in +St. Paul did not seem much better, so eventually he found employment in +the offices of a milling company in Winnipeg. He suffered from the +extreme cold during the winter there. The cold of Massachusetts, as he +discovered, is very different from the iron frost which shuts down on +the Canadian prairie and never slackens its grip for months together. +The clothing he had brought from Boston was not warm enough, and his +small earnings would only provide him with shelter in the cheapest +quarters. Still, he held on until trade grew slack in the early spring +and he was turned adrift again. This time he felt that he had had enough +of business. He had heard and read of men who burrowed for treasure in +the snow-clad ranges, broke wild horses, and cleared the forests, out in +the farthest West. There was a romance in that life surpassing anything +that seemed likely to be got out of the addition of flour invoices or +the licking of stamps, and he wrote a letter to an old friend of his +dead father, who lived on a ranch near Puget Sound. It was some time +before he got an answer telling him rather tersely to come along.</p> + +<p>Frank started the day after he received it, and was now, he supposed, +within a short distance of his journey's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> end. He had never seen his +father's friend, and knew nothing of what he would be required to do at +the ranch, though he fancied that all that was necessary could readily +be learned by an intelligent lad. In this, however, he was wrong.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the steamer's whistle hurled a great blast out across the +waters, and, looking around, Frank saw, not far ahead, a long point +strewn with rocks and streaked with wisps of pines. There was, however, +no sign of life on it, and he turned to a deck-hand who strode by.</p> + +<p>"Can that be Bannington's?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," the man informed him. "I guess that's just what it is."</p> + +<p>"But there's nobody about," objected Frank.</p> + +<p>The deck-hand grinned.</p> + +<p>"Did you expect it was like Seattle or Port Townsend? There's a store to +the place, and they've got a post-office back among the rocks. We lay +off and whistle, and if there's no sign of a shore boat she goes on +again."</p> + +<p>He went forward with a jump as a man came out of the pilot house with a +pair of glasses in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Run up slow," he ordered. "There's nothing coming yet."</p> + +<p>The big side-wheels beat more slowly and the whistle called again, but +there was still only the ruffled blue water with white flecks on it and +the rapidly rising pines. Frank watched them anxiously, for he had only +about two dollars in his pocket, and it seemed quite possible that he +might be carried on to Seattle, in which case he had not the faintest +notion as to how he was to get back. It was quite certain that he could +not pay any more steamboat fares.</p> + +<p>A minute or two later the man with the glasses raised his hand as a sail +crept out around the point, and the big wheels stopped. The strip of +canvas grew into a gaff mainsail and a jib; the hull beneath it emerged +at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> intervals from the little tumbling seas; and it became apparent to +Frank for the first time that it was blowing rather hard. The sail +seemed to be dripping and he could see the spray flying about the +shapeless figure at the helm. Then the steamboat officer motioned to +him.</p> + +<p>"Are you getting off here?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Frank answered rather dubiously that this was his intention.</p> + +<p>"Then you'd better get down on to the wheel-case bracings with your +grip. I don't know how they're going to take you off, but I guess +they'll shoot her up head to wind and you'll have to jump."</p> + +<p>Frank got out on the guard-framing on the after side of the wheel and +watched the boat drive by, swung up on a little sea some distance away. +Half of her hull seemed to be under water, though the fore part of it +was hove up streaming into the air. She rolled wildly with her big +mainsail squared right out and the jib, which hung slack, dripping +water. Then she came round and headed for the steamer, lying down all +slanted to one side, while the water sluiced along her lee deck, and +Frank made out a boy crouching under the sail with a rope in his hand. +It seemed to him that the boat must inevitably ram the steamer and smash +in her bows. Then a hail reached him.</p> + +<p>"Hello, pilot house! Shove her astern soon as we're clear of you!"</p> + +<p>Somebody shouted an answer, and the steamer swung out, lifting a row of +wet plates out of the water and burying them again with a gurgling +splash. A glance around showed Frank a deck-hand standing behind him +with a long, spiked pole and a crowd of passengers leaning over the +rails of the deck above. How he was to get into the boat he did not +know, for the thing was beginning to look difficult. Then there was +another shout from the figure at her helm:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>"That you, Whitney?"</p> + +<p>Frank waved his hand in answer, hastily grabbing up the small bag which +contained his few possessions. The wheel-casing sank again into a ridge +of frothing brine which swirled about his feet, and he felt that it +would be a good deal wiser to climb back to the deck above and go on to +Seattle. This, however, was out of the question, even if there had not +been so many passengers looking on, and it was comforting to remember +that he could swim a little. The next moment the deck-hand touched his +arm.</p> + +<p>"I'll sling your grip aboard her as she shoots," he said. "Then jump, +and stick to anything you get your hands on."</p> + +<p>The boat was now only seven or eight yards away, nearer the steamer's +stern, but as Frank gazed at her she suddenly swayed upright with a +frantic thrashing of canvas, and shot forward head to wind beneath the +vessel's side. The next moment his bag went hurtling through the air, +and he heard the deck-hand shout something in his ear. Then he set his +lips and jumped.</p> + +<p>He struck something hard with his knees, and was conscious of a sudden +chill as the brine washed over one leg, but he had his hands clenched +tight on a strip of wet wood, and somebody seized him by the shoulder. +Making a determined effort he dragged himself up on the narrow side +deck, and fell in a heap into the bottom of the boat. When he scrambled +to his feet again the big side-wheel was splashing amidst a welter of +churned-up foam as the steamer pushed away from them, and, in the boat, +the boy he had already noticed was tugging desperately at a rope.</p> + +<p>"Get hold and heave!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Frank did as the boy directed. Then the helmsman waved his hand.</p> + +<p>"Not too flat! Belay at that! Get down here aft, both of you!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>Frank staggered aft a pace or two, and sitting down breathless and +dripping gazed about him. The boat looked a good deal bigger than she +had appeared from the steamer, and, as a matter of fact, she was a +half-decked sloop of about twenty-four feet in length. Just then she was +slanted well down on one side, with the water foaming along her +depressed deck and showers of spray beating into her over her weather +bow, while the jib above her bowsprit every now and then plunged into +the short, white-topped seas. There seemed to be some water inside her, +for it washed up above the floorings at every heave. In a few moments +Frank had recovered his breath sufficiently to look around at his +companions. One was a boy of about his own age who smiled at him. He had +a bronzed skin and a kindly expression, and looked lean and wiry.</p> + +<p>"You're Frank Whitney?" asked the boy.</p> + +<p>Frank acknowledged that this was his name, and the other proceeded to +introduce himself and his companion.</p> + +<p>"I'm Harry Oliver, and, as you're going to stay with us, we've got to +hit it off together."</p> + +<p>Then he turned and indicated the ruddy-faced, red-haired man who held +the helm.</p> + +<p>"This is Jake, one of the smartest choppers and trailers on the Pacific +Slope. There aren't many of the boys who could have picked you off that +steamboat in a breeze of wind as he did."</p> + +<p>"Oh, pshaw!" said the helmsman with a grin.</p> + +<p>Neither of them had said anything striking in the way of welcome, but +Frank felt quickly at ease with them. As a rule, the new acquaintances +he had made in business farther east seemed to expect him to recognize +their superiority, or, at least, to understand that it was a privilege +to be admitted into their society. His present companions, however, +somehow made it plain that as long as he was willing to be commonly +civil there was no reason why they should not get on well together,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> for +which he was thankful, though he felt that any attempt to put on airs +with them would probably lead to trouble.</p> + +<p>"How far is it to your father's ranch?" he asked presently.</p> + +<p>"Twelve miles," responded Harry. "With a head wind like this one, it +means from eighteen to twenty-four miles' sailing. It depends, for one +thing, on Jake's steering."</p> + +<p>"Thirty, sure," broke in the helmsman, "if you had the tiller."</p> + +<p>"How's that?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"Know anything about sailing?"</p> + +<p>Frank confessed his ignorance, and Jake nodded to Harry.</p> + +<p>"Show him," he said. "He has got to learn and you can teach the fellow +who'll allow he doesn't know anything. The kind we've no use for is the +one that knows too much."</p> + +<p>Harry laid a wet finger on the hove-up weather deck.</p> + +<p>"Now," he began, "a boat or a ship under sail can go straight to the +place she's bound for as long as she has the wind anywhere from right +behind her to a little forward on her side. In fact, as she'll lie up +within a few points of the wind, there's only a small segment of the +circle you can't sail her straight into."</p> + +<p>He traced a circle on the deck and then placed his finger over about a +quarter of the circumference of it.</p> + +<p>"She won't go there."</p> + +<p>"But supposing you want to?"</p> + +<p>"Then, if the wind's ahead, you have to beat." He drew two lines across +the circle at right angles to each other and laid his finger at the end +of one. "Say we're here at north and the cove we're going to lies about +south. Well, you get your sheets in flat—same as we have them now—and +you sail up this way, at this angle to the wind." He ran a slanting line +across the circle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> until it touched the rim. "That brings you here; then +you come round, and go off at the same angle on the opposite tack, which +brings you right up to the cove. You can do it in two long tacks, +or—and it's the same thing—in a lot of little ones, each at the same +angle to the wind; but how many degrees there are in that angle and when +you get there depends on how your sails are cut and how smart you are at +steering her."</p> + +<p>Frank understood the gist of it, but there were one or two difficulties, +and he was not ashamed to ask a question:</p> + +<p>"What makes her go slantways against the wind? Why doesn't it blow her +back, or sideways?"</p> + +<p>"It does," Jake broke in dryly, "if you don't sail her right, or it +blows hard enough."</p> + +<p>"What makes a kite go up slantways against, or on, the wind, which is +the same thing in sailing?" continued Harry. "Because with the wind and +the string both pulling her, that's the line of least resistance." He +paused, and added deprecatingly, "I was at school at Tacoma and as I'd a +notion I might take up surveying, they pounded some facts into me that +made this kind of thing easier to get hold of. A boat goes ahead on the +wind because, considering the shape of her, it's the easiest way; and +this is what stops her going off sideways to lee." He kicked a high +narrow box which ran along the middle of the boat. "It holds the +centerboard—a big plate that's down deep in the water now. Before the +wind could shove her off sideways—and it does a little—it would have +to press that flat plate sideways through the water."</p> + +<p>Frank made a sign of comprehension.</p> + +<p>"That's about the size of it," said Jake. "Now I guess it would be more +useful if you got some of the water out of her."</p> + +<p>Harry, who explained that there was something wrong with the pump, +pulled up one of the flooring boards and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> invited Frank to dip a bucket +into the cavity and hand it up to him when it was full. Frank endeavored +to do so, but found it difficult, for the water which surged to and fro +as the sloop plunged left the bottom of the hole almost dry one moment +and the next came splashing back so rapidly that before he could get a +fair scoop with the bucket it had generally gone again. Besides, the +motion every now and then flung him off his knees; but he toiled on with +his head down for nearly half an hour, when a horrible nausea mastered +him and he staggered to the foam-swept lee coaming. For the next ten +minutes he felt desperately unhappy, and when he turned around again +there was a grin on the faces of his companions.</p> + +<p>"She'll do," said Harry. "You want to look to weather and get the wind +on your face. That's the best way to keep a hold on your dinner."</p> + +<p>Frank suddenly remembered that he had had no dinner. He had had only a +dollar or two left in his possession, and after considering the +steamboat tariff he had decided to dispense with the meal. In spite of +this fact and the unpleasant sensations he felt, he was conscious of a +certain satisfaction with his new surroundings. The seasickness would +pass, and grappling with the winds of heaven and the charging seas +seemed a finer thing than adding up the price of flour or sticking +stamps on letters. Here man's skill, nerve and quickness were pitted +against the variable elements, and Frank had a suspicion—which, as it +happened, was quite justified—that if Jake made a blunder the next +white-topped comber would come foaming across the bows of the craft. It +was only his cool judgment and ready hand on the tiller that swung her +safely over them.</p> + +<p>Raising himself a little he glanced ahead. The steamer and her smoke +trail had vanished some time ago, and the white Olympians had faded, +too. Evening was drawing on. The sky was now a dismal, dingy gray, and +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> leaden-blue water was streaked with flecks and curls of foam. It +seemed to him that the sea was steadily getting higher, and there was +not the least doubt that the sloop was slanting more sharply and +throwing the spray all over her.</p> + +<p>"It looks bad up yonder, doesn't it?" he queried in anxious tones.</p> + +<p>"I allow we might have more wind by and by," Jake answered laconically. +"Seems to me she has about all the sail she can stand up to on her now."</p> + +<p>He had scarcely finished speaking when a comber curled over at its top +rose up close ahead, and the boat went into it to the mast. Part of it +poured over the forward head ledge into the open well, and the rest +sluiced foaming down the slanted deck to lee, through which she lurched +clear, with the water splashing and gurgling inside her.</p> + +<p>"We'll heave another reef down right away," said Jake. "Get forward, +Harry, and claw that headsail off her."</p> + +<p>The boy seized a wet sail that lay in the well, and as he crawled +forward with it the sloop rose almost upright, with her mainsail banging +and thrashing furiously. When he loosed a rope the jib ran partly down +its stay, and then jammed, filling out and emptying with sudden shocks +that shook the stout spar beneath it and the reeling mast. Harry, +however, crawled out on the bowsprit with his feet braced against a +wire—a lean, dripping figure that dipped in the tumbling seas—and +Frank, seeing that he was struggling vainly with the sail, scrambled +forward to help him, sick as he was. Water flowed about his knees on the +plunging deck, flying ropes whipped him, and the spray was hurled into +his face, but he could think of no reason why the Western boy should do +more than he could. He crouched down, hauling savagely on a rope at +which Harry pointed, and by and by the sail fell upon both of them. They +dragged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> it in, made it fast, and set a smaller one in place of it, +after which they floundered aft to where Jake was struggling with the +mainsail.</p> + +<p>He had hauled down what Frank afterward learned was the leach of it, and +was now standing with his toes on the coaming and his chest upon the +boom, pulling down the hard, drenched canvas and tying the little bits +of rope that hung in a row from it around the boom.</p> + +<p>"Hustle!" he shouted. "Get those reef-points in!"</p> + +<p>Frank took his place with his companion, and tried not to look at the +frothing water close beneath him as he leaned out on the jerking boom. +For the most part, the big spar lay fairly quiet, but now and then the +canvas above it shook itself with a bang. It cost him a strenuous effort +to drag each handful of it down in turn, and he discovered afterward +that he had broken two of his nails. He lost his breath, the +perspiration started from every pore in his skin, and he was sick and +dizzy, but he managed to hold on. At last it was finished, and soon +afterward Jake, driving the sloop on her course again, turned to Harry.</p> + +<p>"She'll make nothing of it against this breeze," he said. "We'll up-helm +and look for shelter under Tourmalin."</p> + +<p>Harry, bracing himself against the strain, let a rope run through the +clattering blocks, the bow swung around, and the motion became a little +easier.</p> + +<p>"We'll be snug beneath the pines in an hour," said Jake, nodding +reassuringly.</p> + +<p>Frank found the time quite long enough. He was wet and dizzy, and the +way the big frothing ridges came tumbling up out of the growing darkness +was rather terrifying. They heaved themselves up above the boat, and +every time that one foamed about her she slanted alarmingly over to +leeward. At last, when it had grown quite dark, a shadowy blur that grew +into a wisp of tall pines rose up ahead, and a minute or two later +there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> was an almost bewildering change from the rolling and plunging as +the sloop ran into smooth water. Her sails dropped, the anchor chain +rattled out, and by and by they were all sitting in the little cabin, +which was scarcely three feet high, and Jake was cramming bark and +kerosene rags into the stove.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later Frank forced himself to eat a little canned beef and +drink some coffee, and then Harry told him he could lie down on what +seemed to be a moderately dry sail. He had scarcely done so when he fell +asleep. Jake, who had been watching him, turned the lantern so that the +light fell on his face.</p> + +<p>"He was mighty sick," he observed, a kindly smile lighting up his rugged +features, "but he stayed with it through the reefin'. Your father should +make something of him. I guess he'll do."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE BUSH</span></h2> + + +<p>Frank awoke a little before daylight, feeling considerably better. The +nausea and dizziness had gone, and the sloop seemed to be lying almost +still, which was a relief to him. Then he noticed by the light of a lamp +that his companions' places were empty, and presently he heard them +talking in the well. Crawling out through the narrow doorway, he stood +up shivering in the coldness of the dawn.</p> + +<p>There were dim black trees and shadowy rocks close in front of him, with +a white wash about the latter, for a smooth swell worked in around a +point from open water. He could hear the rumble of the surf upon the +reefs, and though he could scarcely feel a breath of wind upon his face +the wailing of the black pines suggested that it was blowing still. He +could smell the clean resinous scent of them and it seemed to him that +they were singing wild, barbaric songs. Afterward, when he knew them +better, he learned that the pines and their kin, the cedars and balsams +and redwoods, are never silent altogether. Even when their fragrance +steals out heavy and sweet as honey under the fierce sunshine of a +windless day, one can hear faint elfin whisperings high up among their +somber spires. Then he saw that Jake was standing on the side deck, +apparently gazing at the white surf about the end of the point.</p> + +<p>"No," he mused, "she wouldn't face it. The breeze hasn't fallen any, and +the sea'll be steeper. Guess you'd better leave me here, and take the +Indian trail."</p> + +<p>Harry agreed with this.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>"We'll get off as soon as we've had breakfast; and, as I did the cooking +yesterday, it's your turn this morning. There's still a little fire in +the stove."</p> + +<p>Jake disappeared into the cabin, and presently came out again and was +filling his pipe when Harry sprang up suddenly on the deck.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" he cried. "There's a schooner yonder!"</p> + +<p>It was growing a little clearer and Frank, turning around, saw a tall +black spire of canvas cutting against the sky. He made out a frothy +whiteness beneath it where the swell broke on the vessel's bows, and the +sight of her singularly stirred his imagination. She had appeared so +suddenly, probably from behind the point, and she looked ghostly in the +uncertain light. She ran in under her headsails and boom-foresail with +her mainmast bare, rising higher and growing clearer all the while. By +and by there was a splash, and a voice broke through the wailing of the +trees.</p> + +<p>"Three fathom," it said. "You can luff her in a little."</p> + +<p>Harry seemed about to hail her, but Jake gripped his arm, and they all +stood silent while the schooner crept up abreast of them. The little +sloop, lying with the shadowy land close behind her, had evidently not +been seen. Then the vessel commenced to fade again, and in a few minutes +she had vanished altogether.</p> + +<p>"It looks as if there might have been some truth in old Sandberg's +tale," Harry remarked thoughtfully. "It's kind of curious that halibut +fisherman from Bannington's said he saw her too."</p> + +<p>"He said she'd a white stripe round her. Sandberg allowed it was green," +objected Jake.</p> + +<p>"That wouldn't prove anything. They could soon paint the stripe another +color."</p> + +<p>"What would they want to do it for?"</p> + +<p>"What does a schooner want running in here? There's no freight to be +picked up nearer than Port Townsend."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>"That," said Jake dryly, "is just what I don't know. What's more, I +don't want to. She might have run in for bark for cooking, or maybe for +water."</p> + +<p>Harry laughed. "If she has come down from Seattle they'd get plenty +cordwood or, if they wanted it, stove coal there, and I guess a skipper +wouldn't waste a fair wind like this one to save two or three dollars. +The thing's mighty curious. That vessel's been seen twice, anyway, and +nobody seems to know where she comes from or where she goes."</p> + +<p>"Well," Jake observed stolidly, "she doesn't belong to you or me, and if +you want your breakfast it should be ready."</p> + +<p>They crawled into the cabin, and when they had made a meal Jake sculled +the sloop in near enough to the steep beach for them to jump. Then he +flung a small packet after them.</p> + +<p>"It's the most I can spare you, as I mayn't get a slant round the reefs +until to-morrow," he said. "Anyway, it will do you two meals, and you +ought to fetch the ranch by sundown. You want to head right up the +valley until you strike a big log that lies across the river. When you +get over, cross the neck of the ridge where it's lowest. You'll see the +clearing from the top of it."</p> + +<p>Harry said this was plain enough and moved away across the shingle, +Frank following him cautiously when they reached the fringe of driftwood +which divided beach from bush. Whitened logs and barked branches were +scattered about in tangled confusion where the water had left them, and +it was with difficulty that the lads scrambled over the barrier. Then +Frank stopped breathless, with one leg wet to the knee and a rent in his +trousers.</p> + +<p>"It's pretty rough going, if this is an average sample," he panted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>"You'll find it a good deal worse before we reach the ranch," Harry +answered with a laugh.</p> + +<p>He strode forward, and Frank looked around with wonder when they plunged +into the bush, for he had never seen a wood of that kind except in +pictures of the giant Californian Sequoia. There are, of course, pines +in the eastern states, but they seemed pigmies by comparison with these +tremendous conifers which were already tall and stately when Columbus +sailed from Spain. They ran up far above the boy in huge cylindrical +columns before they flung out their first great branches, which met and +crossed like the ribs of high-vaulted arches, holding up a roof of dusky +greenery. Beneath, there was a dim shadow, and a tangle of such +luxuriant vegetation as is seen, excepting in the tropics, probably only +upon the warm, damp Pacific Slope.</p> + +<p>There was another difference which struck Frank. The eastern woods that +he had seen were clear of wreckage, for lumber and fuel are valuable +there, and the ax had kept them clean, but this forest was strewn with +huge logs and branches, some of which evidently had fallen years ago. +Thickets of all kinds had sprung up between, and these were filled with +tufts of unrolling fern which Harry told him would grow six or eight +feet high. Through the midst of it all there twisted a narrow path which +Frank remembered Jake had mentioned as the Indian trail.</p> + +<p>"Have you Indians here?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Harry, "we have a few Siwashes, though there are more of +them up in Canada. They seem fond of Indians there."</p> + +<p>"Are they quiet?"</p> + +<p>Harry chuckled. "You don't want to get them mixed with the redskins of +the plains, though I suppose where they're not wiped out they're pretty +quiet too. These fellows are a different breed. Most of them are +sailors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> and fishermen, and they dress much the same as you and I do. +They come up these rivers now and then after the salmon, and they made +this trail. You can tell that by the looks of it."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"It goes in and out, and where there's an obstacle it winds around. +That's the difference between a white man's and an Indian's nature. The +Siwash strikes a big fir log, and he walks around it, if he has to keep +on doing it for months. It doesn't seem to worry him that he's wasting a +minute or two every time. Then the white man comes along and gets to +work with his ax. He goes right straight through. It's born in him."</p> + +<p>Frank had made a sign of understanding. He knew something of the history +of the old great nations as well as that of his own country, and he +remembered another dominant race that ages ago blazed its trails from +Rome across all Europe and far into Asia. It was characteristic of those +men that, turning aside for no obstacle, they went straight, and long +after their power had perished their roads remained, running, as the +crow flies, through morasses and over mountains and rivers. His own +people had done much the same, whittling west with the axes through the +eastern woods, and then pushing on with their wagons across the lonely +plains, until they drove the steel track through the snow-clad Rockies +and over the Sierras. They died in shoals on the journey, but it was the +march of a nation, and always more came on, the lumberman after the +trapper, the track-grader on the cowboy's heels, with ranches and farms +and factories growing up along the line. Now they had reached the +Pacific, and Frank wondered vaguely whether that would be the limit, or +where they were going then. It was, however, a question that seemed too +big for him.</p> + +<p>"This country's rough on one's clothes," he said ruefully, looking down +at a second tear in his trousers.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>Harry laughed. He was dressed in old duck overalls, long boots, and a +battered gray hat.</p> + +<p>"That's a fact. What you want to wear is leather. There were two sports +from back East came out to hunt last fall, and they had their things +made of some patent cloth warranted to turn water and resist any thorns. +Jake went along to cook for them." He paused with a chuckle and added, +"They were wearing their blankets because they hadn't any clothes left +when he brought them back."</p> + +<p>They went on for an hour or so until they came out upon the bank of a +frothing river which roared among the rocks in a shallow cañon. There +was no way of reaching the water, had they desired it, and, as Harry had +predicted, the trail they followed grew rapidly worse. In places it +wound perilously along narrow ledges beneath a dripping wall of rock, in +others it led over banks of stones which had slipped down from the +heights above. The boys made very slow progress until noon, when they +stopped for a meal from the package Jake had thrown them. While they ate +it Frank looked down again at his boots, which were already badly +ripped.</p> + +<p>"They were new just before I left Winnipeg," he said. "In some ways the +people in Europe are ahead of us. There are one or two countries where +they make their shoes of wood."</p> + +<p>Harry was too busy to make an answer, and when he had finished eating he +carefully tied up the packet, which was now considerably smaller, before +he turned to his companion.</p> + +<p>"We'd better be hitting the trail," he said. "Unless we can make the +ranch by sundown, we'll get mighty little supper."</p> + +<p>They pushed on for a couple of hours, still floundering and stumbling +among the rocks. Harry stopped for a moment where the bush was thinner +and pointed to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> big gap in a ridge of hillside three or four miles +away.</p> + +<p>"That's the neck," he said. "The log we cross the river on is somewhere +abreast of it. We surely can't have passed the thing."</p> + +<p>They went on a little farther, but there was no sign of the log. +Presently Harry stopped again with an exclamation, catching a glimpse of +a great branchless fir which rose out of a welter of foam in the bottom +of the cañon.</p> + +<p>"There she is," he exclaimed, "jammed in where we certainly can't get +down to her. It will be difficult to go straight this time, but we'll +have to try."</p> + +<p>Frank drew a pace or two nearer the edge of the cañon, and felt a creepy +shiver run through him as he looked down. The rock he stood upon arched +out a little over the shadowy hollow, through the bottom of which the +wild waters seethed and clamored. He supposed that he stood at least +sixty feet above them. The rock on the opposite side also projected, so +that the rift was wider at the bottom than at the top. In one place, +however, the crest of it had broken away and plunged into the gulf, +leaving a short slope down which stones and soil had slid. Its lower +edge lay about twelve feet beneath him, though the distance would have +been rather less if it could have been measured horizontally.</p> + +<p>"How are we to get across?" he asked hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"Jump," said Harry curtly. "Can't you do it?"</p> + +<p>"No," Frank answered with some reluctance.</p> + +<p>"Scared?" asked Harry, looking at him curiously.</p> + +<p>"I am, but it's not that altogether."</p> + +<p>"You didn't seem to want sand when you jumped into the boat."</p> + +<p>Frank stood silent a moment or two with a flush on his face. Had he been +forced to make the choice a year earlier, he probably would have jumped +and chanced it from shame of appearing afraid or of owning his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +inferiority to another, but he had learned a little sense since then.</p> + +<p>"It was different then," he explained. "I was scared—badly scared—but +I felt I could do the thing if I forced myself to it. Now I'm almost +certain that I can't."</p> + +<p>"Yes," owned Harry, thoughtfully, "that's quite right. One hasn't much +use for the fellow whose great idea is to keep himself from getting +hurt, but when a thing's too big for you it's best to own it." He +dismissed the subject with a wave of his hand. "The question is how +we're going to get across, and my notion is that we'd better head right +up into the bush. The river will be getting smaller, and it forks +somewhere. Each branch will probably be only half the size, and I guess +the cañon can't go on very far."</p> + +<p>It occurred to Frank that considering the nature of the country it would +be singularly inconvenient if the cañon went on for another league or +two, particularly as they had only a handful of provisions left, but he +followed his companion, and they stumbled and floundered forward all the +afternoon. There was now no trail to follow, and where they were not +forced to scramble over slippery rock, fallen trees and thorny brakes +barred their way. Still, there was nothing to indicate that the cañon +was dying out, and where they could have reached the water it either +foamed furiously between rocky ledges or spun round in horrible black +eddies on the verge of a wild, yeasty turmoil. They looked at these +spots and abandoned any thought of swimming.</p> + +<p>Evening came at length, and they sat down beneath a big cedar where the +roar of the river rang about them in deep pulsations. A chilly wind was +wailing in the tops of the pines, and trails of white mist commenced to +drift in and out among their trunks, which showed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> through it +spectrally. Harry gazed about him with a rueful grin on his face.</p> + +<p>"If I'd an ax, one or two matches, and a couple of blankets, I'd make +you quite snug. Then with a few groceries, a kettle, and a spider, we'd +have all any one could reasonably want."</p> + +<p>"You haven't got them," Frank commented. "Wouldn't it save time if you +wished for a furnished house?"</p> + +<p>"I'd 'most as soon have an ax. Then I could make a shelter that would, +anyway, keep us comfortable enough, and when I'd cut you a good layer of +spruce twigs you wouldn't want a better bed. If I'd a rifle I might get +a blue grouse for supper. Still"—and he laughed—"as you say, we +haven't got them, and we couldn't do any cooking without matches. +Curious, isn't it, what a lot of things you want, and that in most cases +you have to get another fellow to make them?"</p> + +<p>Frank agreed with this, but he had never realized the truth of it as he +did just then. It was clear that the man who made all he wanted must +live as the Indians or grosser savages did, and that it was only the +division of employments that provided one with the comforts of +civilization. Every man, it seemed, lived by the toil of another, for +while on the Pacific Slope they turned the forests into dressed lumber +and raised fruit and wheat, the clothes they wore, and their saws and +plows and axes, came from the East. One could clear a ranch on Puget +Sound only because a host of other men puddled liquid iron or pounded +white-hot steel in the forges of, for instance, Pennsylvania. Frank +would very much have liked to provide his companion with the fruit of +somebody else's labor in the shape of a few matches, which would have +made a cheerful fire possible.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile Harry had opened the packet and divided its contents +equally.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>"There's not enough to keep any over," he observed. "We have got to make +the ranch to-morrow."</p> + +<p>They ate the little that was left them, and then set to work to search +for a young spruce from which they might obtain a few branches, but they +failed to find one small enough even to climb. Coming back they lay down +among the cedar sprays, which seemed rather wet, and it was some time +before Frank could go to sleep. He was still hungry, and the roar of the +river and the strangeness of his surroundings had a peculiar effect on +him. The mist, which was getting thicker, rested clammily on his face, +and crawled in denser wreaths among the black trunks which stood out +here and there from the encircling gloom. Drops of moisture began to +fall upon him from the branches, and once or twice he cautiously moved +an elbow until it touched his companion. It was consoling to feel that +he was not alone.</p> + +<p>At length, however, he fell asleep, and awaking in the gray light of +dawn staggered to his feet when Harry called him, feeling very +miserable. He was chilled to the bone. His shoulders ached, his knees +ached, and one hip-joint ached worse than all, while his energy and +courage seemed to have melted out of him. As a matter of fact, nobody +unused to it feels very animated on getting up before sunrise from a bed +on the damp ground.</p> + +<p>"As we have to reach home to-night, we may as well get a move on," +announced Harry. "It's about four o'clock now, and it won't be dark +until after eight."</p> + +<p>The prospect of a sixteen hours' march with nothing to eat all the while +did not appeal to Frank. It was the first time in his life that he had +felt downright hungry, and this fast had made him the more sensitive to +an unpleasant pain in his left side.</p> + +<p>"If you're not sure about the way, wouldn't it be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> better if we went +back to Jake?" he suggested. "It seems a pity we didn't think of it +earlier."</p> + +<p>"I did," Harry answered smilingly. "The trouble is that Jake would clear +out the minute the wind dropped a little or shifted enough to let him +get round the head. Besides, he'd have mighty little to eat if he were +still lying behind the point when we got there. When your letter reached +us we'd hardly time to run down to Bannington's to meet the steamer, so +I just grabbed what I could find, and we sailed in a few minutes."</p> + +<p>Frank said nothing further, and they pushed on doggedly into the shadowy +bush. It was wrapped in a thick white mist, and every brake they smashed +through dripped with moisture. Except for the clamor of the river, +everything was wonderfully still—so still, indeed, that the heavy +silence was beginning to pall upon Frank, who suddenly turned to his +companion.</p> + +<p>"Isn't there anything alive besides ourselves in this bush?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"That," replied Harry, "is more than I can tell you. We have bears, and +a few timber wolves, besides two kinds of deer and several kinds of +grouse, and some of them are quite often about, but there are belts of +bush where for some reason you can't find one."</p> + +<p>They went on again, following up the river for an hour or two. In the +meanwhile the mist melted, and Frank could see the endless ranks of +mighty trees stretch away before him until they merged into a blurred +columnar mass. At last the cañon, which was growing shallower, forked +off into two branches, and they followed one branch until a broken rocky +slope led them down to the water. It was a dull greenish color and +foamed furiously past them among great stones. There was no means of +ascertaining how deep it was and the boys looked at each other dubiously +for a moment or two. Then Harry made a little gesture.</p> + +<p>"We have to get across," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>Frank, without waiting for his resolution to fail him, plunged in on the +instant, and a couple of steps took him well above his knees. The water +seemed icy cold. As a matter of fact, it was mostly melted snow, and the +drainage from the glaciers had given it the curious green color. The +gravel commenced to slide away beneath Frank's feet, and by the time the +foam was swirling round his waist he was gasping and struggling +savagely. There was a big, eddying pool not far away and, though he +could swim a little, he had no desire to be swept into it. A moment or +two later he was driven against a rock with a violence that shook all +the breath out of him. He clung to it desperately until Harry came +floundering by and held out his hand. They made a yard or two together +and then Harry slipped suddenly, jerking Frank off his feet as he rolled +over in the flood. Frank went down overhead and as he felt himself being +swept along toward the eddy he exerted all his energy in a struggle to +regain his footing. He clutched at a rock, but the swirling waters only +carried him past. Half dazed and breathless he was flung against another +rock. This time, with a great effort, he managed to hold on, and when he +stood up, gasping, he found that the water now reached only to his +knees. In another minute he and Harry were safe on dry land.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later they crossed the other creek, and soon afterward +Frank sat down limply in the warm sunlight, which at last came filtering +between the thinner trees.</p> + +<p>"I must have a rest," he gasped.</p> + +<p>"There's just this trouble," Harry pointed out. "If you rest any time +you won't want to get up again."</p> + +<p>"If I go on now I'll drop in another few hundred yards," declared Frank.</p> + +<p>It was probably no more than the truth. He had been clever at athletics +and open air games, but, as it happened, he had been able to learn them +easily. Be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>sides, he had been indulged by his mother and had been rather +a favorite at school, and as one result of it he fell short of the +hardihood usually acquired by the boy who has everything against him. +After all, an hour's exercise in a gymnasium or an hour and a half spent +over a game amidst applause and excitement is a very different thing +from the strain of unrelaxing effort that must be made all day when +there is nobody to cheer. He did not want to rest, but his worn-out body +rebelled and mastered him.</p> + +<p>"Aren't—you—played out?" he stammered weakly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," replied Harry with a grin. "Still, in this country you're +quite often dead played out and have to go on again."</p> + +<p>"But if you can't?"</p> + +<p>"Then," said Harry dryly, "you have to keep on trying until you're able +to."</p> + +<p>It struck Frank that this might be painful and his heart sank. After a +while he tried another question:</p> + +<p>"Don't people get lost in the bush every now and then?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," was the answer. "There was a man strayed off from a picnic +just outside one of the cities not long ago and they didn't find him +until a month or two afterward. He was lying dead not a mile from a +graded road."</p> + +<p>Frank shivered inwardly at this.</p> + +<p>"Still, I suppose you generally have something to guide you—the moss on +the north side of the trees? I've heard that people who don't know about +it walk around in rings."</p> + +<p>"I must have gone pretty straight the only time I was lost," laughed +Harry; "and it's mighty hard to find moss in some parts of the bush. In +others it's all around the trees. I'd rather have a big peak as a guide. +You have heard about people walking round, but I wonder whether you have +heard that when they're badly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> scared they'll walk right across a trail +without seeing it?"</p> + +<p>"Is that a fact?" Frank asked in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Sure!" said Harry. "A lost man will sometimes walk across a logging +road without the slightest idea that he's doing it. Anyway, I know where +the homestead lies. It's only a question of holding out until we reach +it."</p> + +<p>Frank was sincerely pleased to hear this, and by and by he rose with an +effort and they went on again.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE RANCH</span></h2> + + +<p>Dusk was not far away when the boys, stumbling down a low hillside, came +into sight of an oblong clearing in the forest with a wooden house +standing on one side of it. That was all Frank noticed, for he found it +difficult to keep himself on his feet, and his sight seemed hazy. +Indeed, he fell down once or twice in the steeper places, and had some +trouble in getting up; and after that he had only a confused +recollection of crossing an open space and entering a dwelling. A man +shook hands with him, and a woman in a print dress made him sit down in +a low chair before she set out a bountiful meal. Soon after he had eaten +a considerable share of it Harry led him into a very little room where a +bed like a shelf with a side to it was fixed against one wall. Five +minutes later he was blissfully unconscious of his recent painful +experience.</p> + +<p>The sun was streaming in through the window when he awoke, feeling +wonderfully refreshed, and, dressing himself in some overalls which had +been laid across the foot of his bed, he walked out into the larger +general room. It had uncovered walls of logs and a very roughly boarded +floor, and there seemed to be little in it besides a stove, a table and +several chairs.</p> + +<p>A brown-faced man with a little gray in his hair sat at one end of the +table and at the other end sat a woman resembling him and of about the +same age. Harry, sitting between them, was apparently engaged in +narrating their adventures. Frank, who took the place laid out for him, +found that his supper had not spoiled his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> breakfast, for he fell upon +the pork, potatoes, dried apricots, hot cakes and syrup with an +excellent appetite. When the meal was over, the man led Frank into +another room and filling his pipe asked him to sit down.</p> + +<p>"We'd better have a talk," he said. "You can take the chair yonder."</p> + +<p>Frank looked at him more closely when he sat down. Mr. Oliver, who was +dressed in duck overalls, was rather spare in figure, though he looked +wiry. His manner was quiet, and his voice was that of an educated man, +but he had somewhat piercing gray eyes.</p> + +<p>"I had a sincere regard for your father," he began. "On that account +alone I should be glad to have you here; but first of all we had better +understand each other. You mentioned that you had been in business in +Minneapolis and afterward in Winnipeg. Didn't you like it?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," replied Frank, who felt that it would be wiser to answer +carefully any questions this man might ask. "Still, that wasn't exactly +why I gave it up, though"—and he hesitated—"to say I gave it up isn't +quite correct."</p> + +<p>"If I remember, you called it being fired, in your letter," Mr. Oliver +suggested with a twinkle in his eyes. "What led up to that?"</p> + +<p>"Slack trade in the last case. I'd like to think it was only the grudge +a bullying clerk had against me in the other."</p> + +<p>"Then, if you had been allowed, you would have stayed with the milling +business, though you didn't care for it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded Frank. "Anyway, I'd have stayed until I could have got +hold of something I liked better."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver nodded in a way which suggested that he was pleased with the +answer.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "that brings us to the question why<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> you came out here. +Was it because you had heard that it was a good country for hunting and +fishing?"</p> + +<p>Frank's face flushed. "No, sir," he replied, "I wanted to earn a living, +and I understood that a"—he was going to say a live man, but thought +better of it—"any one who wasn't too particular could generally come +across something to do quickest in the West. In fact, I'd like to begin +at once. After buying my ticket and getting odd meals I've only two or +three dollars left."</p> + +<p>"Two-fifty, to be precise. My sister took your clothes away to mend. +Now, it's possible that I might manage to get you into the office of +some lumber or general trading company in one of the cities. How would +that do?"</p> + +<p>"I'd rather go on to the land. I'd like to be a rancher."</p> + +<p>"How much do you know about ranching?"</p> + +<p>"Very little, but I could soon learn."</p> + +<p>It was Frank's first blunder, and he realized it as he saw the gleam of +amusement in Mr. Oliver's eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's by no means certain," commented the latter. "There are men who +can't learn to use the ax in a lifetime. We'll let it go at that, and +say you're willing to learn. Have you any idea of making money by +ranching?"</p> + +<p>Frank thought a moment. "Well," he said finally, "I'd naturally wish to +make some, but I don't think that counts for most with me. I'd rather +have the kind of life I like."</p> + +<p>"The trouble with a good many men is that when they get it they find out +they like something else. Quite sure that hunting and fishing aren't +taking too prominent a place in your mind? If they are, I'd better tell +you that the favorite amusement in this country is chopping down big +trees. There's another fact that you must consider. It takes a good deal +of money to buy a ranch and, unless it's already cleared, you have to +wait a long while before you get any of the money back. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> place cost +me about nine thousand dollars, one way or another, and in all +probability there's not a business on the Pacific Slope in which I +wouldn't get twice as much as I'm getting here for the money, though +I've been here a good many years. Now what do you expect to do with two +dollars and a half?"</p> + +<p>What he had heard had been somewhat of a shock to Frank, and the +question was difficult to answer.</p> + +<p>"I might earn a little more by degrees, sir," he said hopefully.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver smiled at him encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"It's possible; and there's cheaper land than mine, while a smart man +used to the country can often get hold of a small contract of some kind. +Now I'll tell you what we'll do. Wait a month, and then if you find that +you like the life I'll hire you for what anybody else would give you."</p> + +<p>With that he arose, signifying that the discussion was over, and Frank +went out of doors and joined Harry in the clearing. The latter held a +big handspike with an arched iron hook hinged to it, and he invited +Frank to assist him in rolling logs.</p> + +<p>"It will give you some idea how a ranch is cleared," he said. "To begin +with, you had better take a look around."</p> + +<p>Frank did so and first of all noticed the rather rambling house, part of +which was built of logs notched into one another at the ends, though the +rest, which had evidently been added to it later, was of sawed lumber. +It was roofed with what he fancied were red cedar shingles. On the other +side of it, carefully fenced off with tall split rails, stood orderly +ranks of trees, some in delicate pink and white blossom. Harry told him +they were apples and prunes and peaches. Nearer him were one or two +fields of timothy grass and fresh green oats, and then more of the +latter growing among fern-engirdled stumps sawed off some six feet above +the ground. Beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> them, in turn, half-burned branches were strewn +among another stretch of stumps, then there was a narrow belt where +great trees lately chopped lay in tremendous ruin, and behind them again +the forest rose in an unbroken wall.</p> + +<p>"Now," explained Harry, "you have the whole thing in front of you, if +you'll begin at the bush and work back toward the house. First you chop +down the trees, then you burn them up and raise your first crop or two +round the stumps. Afterward by degrees you grub up the stumps and get +the clean, tilled land. When it's been worked a few years it will grow +almost anything."</p> + +<p>"But where's the stock?" Frank asked. "I had a notion that a ranch was a +place where you raised no end of horses or cattle."</p> + +<p>"That's on the plains," laughed Harry. "On this side of the Rockies it's +any piece of cleared land with a house on it. At quite a few of the +ranches they raise nothing but fruit. As you asked the question, though, +our cattle are in the bush. They run there and live on what they can +find until we round them up. Now we'll get to work."</p> + +<p>He turned away after a pair of brawny oxen that were plodding leisurely +across the clearing, and in a little while they halted on the edge of +what Harry called the slashing. This was a belt of fallen timber which +ran around most of the open space. As Frank gazed at the chaos of great +trunks and mighty branches he felt inclined to wonder how Mr. Oliver had +managed to get them down.</p> + +<p>"What will you do with these?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Saw or chop off the bigger branches," Harry answered. "Then we'll wait +until the trunks are good and dry in the fall and put a fire to them. It +will burn up all the small stuff, and leave them like this."</p> + +<p>He pointed to the rows of blackened and partly burned logs which lay +between the slashing and the half-cleared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> soil, and Frank noticed that +most of them had been sawed into several pieces.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't you sell them for lumber?" he inquired.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Harry. "For one thing, it's quite a long way to the +nearest mill and we'd have to build a skidway for a mile or two down to +the water. Besides, in a general way, it's only the redwood and red +cedar that the mills have much use for."</p> + +<p>Then he gave Frank a handspike that lay close by, and between them they +prized up one end of a log so that he could slip a chain sling under it. +The other end of the chain was attached to the yoke of the oxen, and +when he called them the big white and red beasts hauled the log away +until he stopped them and went back for another. Frank did not find much +difficulty in this, but it was different when they had drawn six or +seven of the logs together and laid them side by side. Harry said that +the next lot must go on top of the others, and Frank was wondering how +they were to get them there, when his companion laid two or three stout +skids some distance apart against the first of the row. These, it was +evident, would serve as short, slanting bridges, but Frank was still not +clear as to how the next log could be propelled up them.</p> + +<p>When Harry brought it up he slipped the chain along toward its middle, +though it cost the boys an effort to prize the mass up with their +handspikes, after which he made one end of the chain fast on the +opposite side of the row, around which he led the oxen. The other end he +hooked to their yoke, so that it now led doubled across the row and +around the trunk they wished to raise. He said that when the chain was +pulled the log would roll up it. He next shouted to the oxen, who +plodded forward straining at the yoke, while he and Frank slipped their +handspikes under opposite ends of the log.</p> + +<p>"Heave!" he cried. "Send her up!"</p> + +<p>Frank did his utmost, with the perspiration dripping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> from him and the +veins on his forehead swelling, but the ponderous mass rolled very +slowly up the skids, and several times he fancied it would drag the oxen +backward and slide down on him. Indeed, for about half a minute it hung +stationary, though Harry, who dared not draw out his handspike, shouted +frantic encouragement to the straining beasts. Then it moved another +inch or two, and one released skid shot up as though fired out of a gun +when the log rolled upon the first of the preceding ones. They worked it +well across them, and then freeing the chain went back for another, +though Frank's arms felt as if they had been almost pulled out of their +sockets.</p> + +<p>"You want somebody to keep the oxen up to it as well as two to heave, +when the logs are as big as these," said his companion. "Still, some of +the small ranchers do the whole thing alone."</p> + +<p>Frank could not help wondering what kind of men these were, but in the +meanwhile he was obliged to bend all his thought on his difficult task, +which grew heavier when, having ranged the logs in two layers, they +commenced the third. The skids were now too short to reach the top of +the second tier without making the slope rather steep and Harry said +that they must cut some new ones. A couple of axes lay close by, and +handing one to Frank he strode into the bush and stopped in front of a +young fir.</p> + +<p>"The butt ought to make a skid," he said. "I'll leave you to get it down +and I'll look for another. You do it like this."</p> + +<p>Spreading his feet apart and balancing himself lightly, he swung the +heavy, long-hafted ax above his head. The big blade, descending, buried +itself in the trunk, and rose with a flash when he wrenched it clear. +This time he struck horizontally and a neat wedge-shaped chip flew out.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>"Now," he said, handing the ax to Frank, "you can go ahead."</p> + +<p>He turned away and Frank swung the ax experimentally once or twice. The +thing looked easy. Whirling up the blade, he struck with all his might. +It came down into the notch Harry had made, but it was the flat of it +that struck, and, while the haft jarred his hands, the blade glanced and +just missed his leg. This appeared somewhat extraordinary, and he was a +little more cautious when he tried again. He hit the tree fairly this +time, but almost a foot above the cut, and he was commencing to feel +indignant when he dragged the steel out again, which in itself was not +particularly easy. He then struck horizontally, but the blade did not +seem to go in at all, and at the next attempt the ax buried itself in +the soil, just grazing his boot. This steadied him, for he had no desire +to lame himself for life. Shortening his hold upon the haft, he used it +after the manner of a domestic chopper, until at length, when his hands +were blistered and he was very hot, the tree went down with a crash. +Then turning around he saw Harry watching him with a look of amusement.</p> + +<p>"Have you got yours down?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," Harry replied, "and another. I've chopped them through for +skids." He pointed to the hacked and splintered log. "Looks as if +something had been eating it, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>Frank's face grew rather red. "You couldn't expect me to drop into it +all at once. Give me a week or two to pick up the swing and balance of +it."</p> + +<p>"A week or two!" Harry seemed to address the clustering firs. "They sure +raise smart folks back East."</p> + +<p>"How long were you learning?" retorted Frank.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry thoughtfully, "you could call it most of twelve +years. I used to go whittling with a toy tomahawk soon after I could +walk. Of course, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> confiscated the thing now and then. Once it was +after I'd just brought down a one-leg round table."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever cut yourself?"</p> + +<p>Harry rolled up his trousers and pointed to a big white mark below his +knee.</p> + +<p>"I could show you two or three more of them," he commented dryly. "There +are quite a few bush ranchers who haven't got all their toes on."</p> + +<p>He cut a skid from the butt of the log, and when they went back to the +pile the work which before had been hard now became more or less +dangerous. They had to prize and sometimes shoulder up the ponderous +masses of timber three-high, and Frank was far from feeling over the +effects of the previous two-days' march. Still, if his companion could +manage it, he was determined that he could, and he toiled on, soaked in +perspiration, straining and gasping over one of the heaviest tasks +connected with clearing land, until to his vast relief Miss Oliver +appeared in the doorway, jingling a cowbell as a signal that dinner was +ready.</p> + +<p>They went back to work after the meal, and Frank somehow held out until +the middle of the afternoon. It seemed very hot in the clearing and the +scorching sunrays beat down upon the back of his neck and shoulders. One +of his horribly blistered hands commenced to bleed, he was almost afraid +to straighten his back, and his arms were sore all over. At last as they +were heaving up a heavy log it stuck just on the edge of the tier and +Frank, who felt his breath failing him and his heart beating as though +it would burst, could hear the oxen scuffling furiously on the other +side of the pile.</p> + +<p>"Heave!" Harry shouted. "Another inch will land her!"</p> + +<p>"I can't!" Frank panted, with his hands slipping upon the lever.</p> + +<p>"Then look out!" warned Harry. "Let go of the thing and jump!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>Frank did not remember whether he let go or whether the handspike was +torn from his grasp, but he jumped backward as far as he could and +staggered a few paces farther when he saw the big log rolling down after +him. Then he fell headlong, there was a crash and a great trampling of +hoofs, and he wondered whether the log would crush the life out of him. +When he scrambled to his feet, however, it had stopped not far away; and +in a few moments Harry appeared from behind the pile.</p> + +<p>"It pulled the oxen backward right up to the logs," he explained. Then +he looked sharply at Frank. "We haven't done badly for one day, and Aunt +Sophy wants me to haul in some stovewood. You sit there and rest +yourself awhile."</p> + +<p>He went away with the oxen, and Frank was thankful to do as he was told, +for his heart was heavy and he was utterly worn out. His hands were torn +and blistered and the logs that he had partly lifted with his body had +bruised his breast and ribs. If this was ranching, it was horrible work, +and he felt that he would break down altogether if he attempted much +more of it. It was nothing like his dream of riding through the bush on +spirited horses after half-wild cattle. Then the troublesome question as +to what he should do if he gave it up had to be faced. He had found that +he had no aptitude for business, and he had a suspicion that work would +be quite as hard in a logging camp or in a sawmill. It was clear that he +could not go home, even if he had the money for his fare, which was not +the case, and he felt very forlorn and miserable.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the twigs he lay upon were pleasantly soft, and it was +cool and peaceful in the lengthening shadow of the firs. There was a +curious rhythmic drumming sound which he found most soothing and which +he afterward learned was made by a blue grouse not far away. The pungent +smell of withering fir and cedar sprays in the slashing dulled his +senses, until at last his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> troubles seemed to melt away and he fancied +that he was back in Boston where nobody had ever required him to heave +ponderous logs upon one another.</p> + +<p>It was a couple of hours later when Mr. Oliver, walking back that way +with Harry, stopped and looked at the pile.</p> + +<p>"You have put all those up since this morning?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Harry said that they had done so, and Mr. Oliver glanced down with a +little smile at Frank, who lay fast asleep.</p> + +<p>"It's rather more than I expected. The lad must have done his share, but +it might have been better if you had started him at something easier."</p> + +<p>"He stood it all right until a while ago, and I think he'd have seen me +through if it hadn't been for the walk yesterday. Shall we crosscut some +of those branches to-morrow instead?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Mr. Oliver after a moment's reflection. "It might be wiser +to let him see the worst of it. If he stands a week's logging there's no +doubt that he'll do." He paused a moment and looked down at Frank again. +"I don't think he'll back down on it. He's very much like his father, as +I remember him a good many years ago."</p> + +<p>Then he laid his hand on Frank's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Get up, boy. Supper's ready."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">TARGET PRACTICE</span></h2> + + +<p>The two boys spent most of the following week rolling logs and they were +busy among them one hot afternoon when Mr. Oliver walked out of the bush +nearby. As they did not immediately see him, he stopped and stood +watching them in the shadow for a few minutes. Frank was feeling more +cheerful by this time, though his hands were still very sore and, as a +good many of the logs were burned on the outside, he was more or less +blackened all over. He was getting used to the work, and Jake, who had +arrived with the sloop in the meanwhile, relieved him and his companion +of the heaviest part of it. Turning around presently at a sound, Frank +saw Mr. Oliver smiling at him.</p> + +<p>"If I were as grimy as you I think I'd go in for a swim," he said. "It's +hot enough, and there's a nice beach not far away. I dare say Harry will +go along with you while Jake and I put up these logs."</p> + +<p>Harry lost no time in throwing down his handspike, and they set out +together down a narrow trail through the woods, which led them out by +and by upon a head above the cove in which the sloop lay moored. +Standing on the edge of the crag, Frank looked down upon the clear, +green water which lapped smooth as oil upon a belt of milk-white shingle +and broke into little wisps of foam beneath the gray rocks at the mouth +of the cove. Beyond this the sea flashed silver in the sunlight like a +great mirror, except where a faint, fitful breeze traced dark blue +streaks across it. Dim smudges of islands and headlands broke the +gleaming surface here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> and there, and high above it all was a cold white +gleam of eternal snow.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes they had scrambled down a winding path, and Frank, +stripping off his clothes, waded into the water abreast of the sloop +which lay swinging gently about a dozen yards from the beach.</p> + +<p>"Can you swim off to her?" shouted Harry.</p> + +<p>Frank said that he thought he could, and set about it with a jerky +breast stroke, for he was not very proficient in the art. The water was +decidedly cold and he was glad when he reached the sloop. Clutching her +rail where it was lowest amidships he endeavored to pull himself out. To +his disgust he found that his feet would shoot forward under the bottom +of her, with the result that he sank back to the neck after each effort. +When he had made two or three attempts he heard a shout:</p> + +<p>"Hold on! You'll never do it that way."</p> + +<p>Harry shot toward him, his limbs gleaming curiously white through the +shining green water, though his face and neck showed a coffee-brown, as +did his lower arms, which he swung out above his head, rolling from side +to side at every stroke. He grasped Frank's shoulder and pushed him +toward the stern of the sloop.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said when he clutched it, "there are just two ways of getting +out of the water into a boat. If she has a flat stern you make for there +and get your hands on the top of it spread a little apart. Then you +heave yourself up by a handspring—though that isn't very easy."</p> + +<p>Frank smiled at these instructions, but said nothing. It was easy for +him, because he had learned the trick in a gymnasium. Suddenly jerking +down his elbows, which ever since he had grasped the stern were as high +as his head, he shot his body up until his hands were down at his hips. +Then, as his waist was level with the sloop's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> transom, he quietly +crawled on board. Harry, however, had to make two or three attempts +before he succeeded, and then he looked at his companion with +undisguised astonishment.</p> + +<p>"I've never done it right away yet," he said admiringly. "Say, do you +know how to dive?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Frank; "that is, I've scarcely tried."</p> + +<p>Harry led him forward where the boat's sheer was higher and he could +stand a couple of feet or so above the water.</p> + +<p>"You only get half the fun out of swimming unless you can dive," he +said. "Let's see what kind of a show you make."</p> + +<p>Frank stiffened himself and jumped. At least, that was what he meant to +do, but as it happened, he merely threw himself flat upon the water, and +the result was rather disconcerting. He felt as though all the breath +had been knocked out of him, and in addition to this all the front of +his body was smarting. He was about to swim toward the stern again when +Harry stopped him.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he called. "You may as well learn the other way of getting +out, and if she's a sailing craft with a bowsprit it's much the easiest +one. Swim forward to the bow."</p> + +<p>Frank did so and saw that a wire ran from the end of the bowsprit, +dipping a little below the water where it was attached to the boat. He +had no difficulty in getting his foot upon it, and after that it was a +simple matter to crawl on board. His chest and limbs were still smarting +and were very red when he joined Harry. The latter regarded him with a +look of amusement.</p> + +<p>"You'll get hurt every time, if you dive like that," he said. "Look +here," and he stood up on the boat's deck. "You want to get your weight +on the fore part of your feet all ready to shove off before you go. Then +you must shoot as far forward as you can—falling on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> it won't do—and +hollow your back and stiffen yourself once you're under. That is, when +you want to skim along just below the surface. Watch me."</p> + +<p>Leaning forward a little he sprang out from the boat, a lithe, tense +figure, with hands flung straight forward over his head. They struck the +water first, and he went in with an impetus which swept him along +scarcely a foot beneath the top. Then his speed slowly slackened and he +had stopped altogether about a length of the boat away when he raised +his head and swam back to her.</p> + +<p>"You don't want to try that in less than four feet until you're sure you +can do it right," he said when he had climbed on board. "The other kind +of diving's different." Then, taking up a galvanized pin, he threw it +in. "See whether you can fetch it. There's about eight or nine feet of +water here. You can open your eyes as soon as your head's in, and you +won't have any trouble in coming up again. Jump, and throw your legs +straight up as you go."</p> + +<p>Frank managed this time not to drop in a heap as he had done before. He +also opened his eyes under water for the first time and found it +perfectly easy to see. It was like looking through green glass. He could +make out the pin lying a long way down beneath him. It was, however, +impossible to reach it. The water seemed determined on forcing him back +to the top, and when he abandoned the struggle to get down he seemed to +reach the surface with a bound.</p> + +<p>"How far did I go?" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"About six feet. It's quite as far as I expected."</p> + +<p>Harry plunged, and Frank, who had climbed out in the meanwhile, saw him +striking upward with his feet until he turned and came up with a rush, +holding the pin in one hand. Flinging it on board he headed for the +beach and was standing on the shingle rubbing himself with his hands +when Frank joined him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>"I guess you had two towels when you went swimming back East?" he +laughed.</p> + +<p>Frank looked up inquiringly, acknowledging that he usually had taken +one.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry, "we have them at the homestead, but there are +ranches in this country where you wouldn't get even one."</p> + +<p>"No towels!" exclaimed Frank in some astonishment. "What do they use +instead?"</p> + +<p>"Some of them cut a very little bit off of a cotton flour bag. Those +bags are valuable because they keep them to mend their shirts with. I've +a notion that the other fellows sit in the sun."</p> + +<p>Frank laughed and scrambled into his clothes after rubbing himself with +his hands. He was commencing to realize that whether Harry was joking +with him or not it was unavoidable that they should have different ways +in different parts of so big a country. Indeed, now that he was some +four thousand miles from Boston, he felt that instead of its being +curious that the people were slightly different it was wonderful that +they were so much the same. If one measured four thousand miles across +Europe and Asia one would get Frenchmen at the one end and wild Cossacks +or nomad Tartars at the other, with perhaps a score of wholly different +nations, speaking different languages, between.</p> + +<p>They had an excellent appetite for supper when they went back to the +ranch, and after the meal was over, Mr. Oliver took down a rifle from +the wall.</p> + +<p>"You can bring yours along, Harry," he said, and then turned to Frank. +"In a general way, a rancher doesn't get much time for hunting, and he +seldom goes out for the fun of the thing, but an odd deer or grouse +comes in handy now and then. Anyway, before you can hunt at all you must +learn to shoot and you may as well begin."</p> + +<p>"Dad's a pot-hunter," chuckled Harry. "At least,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> that's what the two +smart sports we had round here last fall said he was."</p> + +<p>A gleam of amusement crept into his aunt's eyes, but Mr. Oliver's face +contracted into a slight frown.</p> + +<p>"Harry knows my views, but you had better hear them, too," he said to +Frank. "I'm certainly what those fellows called a pot-hunter, though +they very foolishly seemed to think that one ought to be ashamed of it. +Most of the ranchers in this district take down the rifle only when they +want something to eat, and that's the best excuse there is for shooting. +Is it a desirable thing to destroy a dozen harmless beasts for the mere +pleasure of killing, and leave them in the bush for the wolves and +eagles?"</p> + +<p>"Don't the game laws prevent that, sir?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"They limit a man to so many head of this and that, and in a general way +he brings no more out with him, but it doesn't by any means follow that +he hasn't killed a bear or a deer that he doesn't mention in some lonely +ravine. The sport who hasn't a conscience is as big a pest in a game +country as the horn and hide hunter used to be, and we have to thank him +for practically exterminating several of the finest beasts in North +America."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't the clearing of virgin country and the way the farms and +ranches spring up account for it?"</p> + +<p>"Only to some extent. It's my opinion that there are more deer and bears +about the smaller ranches than you could find anywhere else. All this is +no reason why you shouldn't learn to shoot; that is, to hit your game +just where you want to and kill it there and then."</p> + +<p>He walked out with his rifle and the boys followed him across the +clearing. Here Harry fixed a piece of white paper about two feet square +with a black dab in the middle of it on the trunk of a big fir, after +which he came back to where the others were standing.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>"How far do you make it?" his father asked.</p> + +<p>"About a hundred yards."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver now turned to Frank.</p> + +<p>"As I think you told me you couldn't shoot, I'll give you a short +lecture on the principles of the thing. When they're after birds most +men use a scatter gun. It will spread an ounce of shot—several hundred +pellets—over a six-foot circle at a distance of about forty yards; but +the rifle is the great weapon of western America. Take this one and open +the breach—now look up the barrel."</p> + +<p>"I can see little grooves twisting round it like a screw," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"That's the rifling. It serves two purposes. The bullet—you use only +one—has to screw round and round to get out, and that gives the +explosion time to act upon it. It increases the muzzle velocity. Then it +gives the bullet a rotary motion, and anything spinning on its axis +travels very much straighter than it would do otherwise. It's the +twisting motion that keeps a top from falling over."</p> + +<p>Frank could readily understand this, and he remembered what he had read +about the gyroscope.</p> + +<p>"Now," continued Mr. Oliver, "we have to consider the pull of the earth +upon the bullet, which would bring it down, and to counteract this you +have to direct it rather upward. The slight curve it makes before it +reaches its mark is called the trajectory, and it naturally varies with +the distance. You arrange it by the sights. There are two of them, one +on the muzzle and one near the breach. The last one slides up and down +like this. The farther off the mark is the higher it must go. As you +have to get them both in line, it's evident that pushing the back one up +will raise the muzzle. You can understand that?"</p> + +<p>Frank said that he could, and Mr. Oliver pushed the rearsight down and +snapped a lever.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>"It's cocked, though it hasn't a shell in it. At a hundred yards or less +the sight goes down about the limit." He handed Frank the rifle. "Stand +straight, left foot a little to the left and forward—that will do. Now +bring the rifle to your shoulder—left hand under the barrel near the +rearsight, elbow well down, right hand round the small of the butt, +thumb on the top. Try to hold it steady."</p> + +<p>Frank found it difficult. The rifle was heavy and the muzzle seemed to +want to drop, but Mr. Oliver stopped him when he let his left elbow fall +in toward his side.</p> + +<p>"Bring it down and wait a moment before you throw it up again," he +advised.</p> + +<p>Frank did so once or twice, and at length his instructor seemed +satisfied.</p> + +<p>"Now we'll aim," he said. "Drop your left cheek on the stock—you'd +better shut your left eye. Try to see the target through the hollow of +the rearsight, with the front one right in the middle of it."</p> + +<p>It seemed singularly difficult. The square of paper now looked +exceedingly small and the sights would wobble across it. After several +attempts, however, Frank got them comparatively steady.</p> + +<p>"Put your forefinger on the trigger," Mr. Oliver directed. "Don't pull, +but squeeze it slowly and steadily, holding your breath in the +meanwhile."</p> + +<p>This was worst of all, for Frank found that he pulled the sight off the +target when he tightened his forefinger. After he had made an attempt or +two, Mr. Oliver told him to put the rifle down.</p> + +<p>"See what you can do, Harry," he said.</p> + +<p>"Standing?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Oliver, turning to Frank again. "Standing's hardest, +kneeling easier, and lying down easiest of all, but when you're hunting +in thick bush you generally have to stand."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>Harry slipped a shell into his rifle, and pitched it to his shoulder. It +wobbled for a moment and then grew still. After that there was a +spitting of red sparks from the muzzle, which suddenly jerked, followed +by a sharp detonation. A second or two later there was a thud, and Harry +laughed as he stood gazing at the mark while a little blue smoke curled +out of the muzzle and the opened breach.</p> + +<p>"It's well up on the left top corner," he said.</p> + +<p>Frank was blankly astonished. He could certainly see the square of +paper, but it seemed impossible that anybody could tell whether there +was a mark on it. As a matter of fact, very few people who had not been +taught how to use their eyes could have done so.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Oliver took up his rifle, and Frank noticed that his whole body +and limbs seemed to fall into the best position for holding it steady +without any visible effort on the man's part. The blue barrel did not +seem to move at all until at length it jerked, and Harry grinned +exultantly at Frank when a thin streak of smoke drifted past them.</p> + +<p>"That's the pot-hunter's way. He's about two inches off the center."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver gave Frank the rifle, and this time he slipped in a shell.</p> + +<p>"If you can't get the sights right bring it down," he directed. "Don't +dwell too long on your aim."</p> + +<p>Frank held his breath and stiffened his muscles, but the foresight would +wobble and the target seemed to dance up and down in a most exasperating +manner. At length he pressed the trigger. He felt a sharp jar upon his +shoulder, but to his astonishment he heard no report. After what seemed +quite a long time there was a faint thud in the forest.</p> + +<p>"You've got something, but I guess it's the wrong tree," laughed Harry.</p> + +<p>After that Frank tried several shots, finally succeed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>ing in hitting the +tree a couple of feet above the mark. Mr. Oliver, who had taken out his +pipe in the meanwhile, nodded at him encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"You only need to practice steadily," he said. "For the rest, anything +that tends toward a healthy life will make you shoot well. Whisky and +tobacco most certainly won't."</p> + +<p>Harry's eyes twinkled as he glanced at his father's pipe.</p> + +<p>"One of them hasn't much effect on him. I don't know whether I told you +about the bag the two sports who were round here last fall nearly made. +I got the tale from Webster on the next ranch."</p> + +<p>Frank said that he would like to hear it, and Harry laughed.</p> + +<p>"Well," he began, "Webster was sitting on a log in the bush just outside +his slashing, looking around kind of sorrowful at the trees. It seemed +to him they looked so big and nice it would be a pity to spoil them. +When I've been chopping until my hands are sore I sometimes feel like +that."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't lead to riches," interrupted his father dryly.</p> + +<p>"By and by," Harry continued, "Webster heard a smashing in the +underbrush. It kept coming nearer, but it wasn't in the least like the +sound a bear makes or a jumping deer. You don't know they're around +unless they're badly scared. Anyway, Webster sat still wondering what it +could be, until he saw a man crawling on the ground. He was coming along +very cautiously, but you couldn't have heard him more than half a mile +away. By and by he disappeared behind a big tree, and as there hadn't +been a deer about for a week Webster wondered if the man was mad, until +there was a blaze of repeater firing in the bush. Then Fremont, his +logging ox, came out of it like a locomotive and headed for the range so +fast that Webster couldn't see how he went.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> He grabbed his logging +handspike, and found a sport abusing another for missing in the bush.</p> + +<p>"'What in the name of wonder are you after?' he asked.</p> + +<p>"'We've been trailing a deer two hours,' one of them declared. 'A mighty +big deer. Must have been an elk.'</p> + +<p>"'An elk, sure. I saw it,' added the other.</p> + +<p>"'There isn't a blamed elk in the country,' said Webster.</p> + +<p>"'You'll see,' persisted the other. 'I tell you I pumped the cylinder +full into him.'</p> + +<p>"'Quite sure of that?' Webster asked.</p> + +<p>"The other man said that he was, and Webster waved his handspike.</p> + +<p>"'Then it's going to cost you sixty dollars, and I'll take a deposit +now,' he said. 'It's my ox Fremont you've been after.'"</p> + +<p>"Did they give it to him?" Frank broke in.</p> + +<p>"Five dollars," Harry answered. "Webster looked big and savage, and they +compromised on that."</p> + +<p>"But had they hit the ox?"</p> + +<p>Harry chuckled. "Give a man who isn't a hunter a repeater and he'll +never hit anything—unless it's what he isn't shooting at."</p> + +<p>"Anyway, it's better to stick to the single shot at first," Mr. Oliver +remarked. "Then you take time and care, and it's more likely that when +you shoot you kill. No humane person has any use for the man who leaves +badly wounded beasts wandering about the woods."</p> + +<p>He rose, and shook out his pipe.</p> + +<p>"We'll be getting back," he added. "There's only one way of making it +easy to rise at sun-up."</p> + +<p>They walked toward the house together, and it seemed to Frank that there +was a good deal to be said for this rancher's views. He did not tell +tall stories and boast of what he had shot, but Frank had seen enough +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> realize that it was most unlikely that he left any sorely wounded +animal to die in misery. It was not often that Mr. Oliver molested the +beautiful wild creatures of the woods, but when he fixed the sights on +one of them he killed it clean.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE MYSTERIOUS SCHOONER</span></h2> + + +<p>Three or four weeks slipped by uneventfully, and Frank was commencing to +like the simple, laborious life at the ranch. He and Harry were standing +together one evening on the shingle down in the cove. It was close upon +high water and a long swell worked in, breaking noisily upon the +pebbles, while they could see the blue undulations burst into snowy +froth about the dark rocks at the entrance. The sun had just dipped; it +was wonderfully fresh and cool, and a sweet resinous smell drifted out +of the forest behind them.</p> + +<p>Harry glanced at a canoe which lay close by. It was about fourteen feet +long and just wide enough to sit in, and had been hollowed out of a +cedar log by a Siwash Indian. The bow, which swept sharply upward, had +been rudely cut into the likeness of a bird's head. The craft was kept +there so that anybody who wished to reach the sloop could go off in her.</p> + +<p>"I don't think it's quite high water yet, and the breeze is dropping," +Harry was saying. "There's just enough to take us a mile or two down the +beach over the tide with the spritsail set. Then we could lower the mast +and paddle home."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't she sail back?" Ray asked.</p> + +<p>"No," was the answer, "only with a fair wind. You can't beat a thing +like that to windward. There's not enough of her in the water."</p> + +<p>Frank said that he would like to go, and after running the canoe down +they lifted the short mast into place and set the little sail. It filled +when a few strokes of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> paddle had driven them out of the cove, and +they slid away, rising and falling smoothly, with the swell running +after them. Harry took hold of the rope that held the foot of the sail +fast to a peg.</p> + +<p>"You want to keep the sheet handy in a very small craft," he instructed. +"Then if a hard puff of wind strikes her you can slack it up, or let it +go altogether, when the sail will blow out loose. There's more weight in +this breeze than I expected."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Frank from the gurgle at the bows and the way the foam +slipped by them that they were sailing very fast, but for a while he +watched the rocky heads that dipped to the water open out one after +another and then close in again behind them. The woods that crept +between them down to the strips of shingle were rapidly growing shadowy, +and the ridges of water that followed them seemed to be getting darker, +though here and there one of them was flecked with bright wisps of +froth. At length Harry let the sheet go and brought the canoe around.</p> + +<p>"We'll have the mast down and get back," he said.</p> + +<p>They had no trouble in rolling up the sail and laying the mast in the +bottom of the craft, but when they dipped the paddles, Harry kneeling in +the stern and Frank toward the bow, the latter realized that their next +task would not be quite so easy. A chilly wind which seemed considerably +stronger than before they turned struck his face, the bows splashed +noisily, throwing up little spurts of spray, and now and then the narrow +craft lurched rather wildly over the top of a swell. He worked hard for +about twenty minutes, and then glancing astern was a little astonished +to see that a rock which had been opposite them was now a remarkably +small distance behind. Harry, who had evidently followed his glance, +scowled disapprovingly.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to paddle, that's a cold fact," he declared. "The tide seems +to have turned quite a while before it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> ought to have, and the breeze is +getting up again. We might find slacker water right inshore."</p> + +<p>They edged close in to the rocks, the sight of which did not add to +Frank's comfort, though the boat crept on a little faster. The swell +broke in long white swirls about their feet, and it was evident that any +attempt to land there was out of the question. Besides, even if they +managed to reach the bush, there was no trail to the ranch, and he had +no desire to struggle through the tangle of fallen branches and dense +thickets in the darkness. His knees and hands were getting sore, but he +toiled on patiently with the single-ended paddle, while the canoe +lurched more viciously and little showers of spray flew in over her bow. +It was becoming exceedingly hard work to drive the craft into the rising +head sea. The foam-girt rocks were, however, slowly crawling by, and at +length, after laboring, panting and breathless, around a somewhat larger +head, Harry suddenly stopped paddling.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he exclaimed. "Just keep her from swinging, and look yonder!"</p> + +<p>Frank, glad of a brief rest, gazed astern. It was neither light nor +dark, for a pale moon hung low in the sky, casting a faint silvery track +upon the water, which was now flecked with white froth a little off +shore. Across the sweep of radiance there moved a tall black spire of +slanting canvas, with the foam leaping up about the shadowy strip of +hull beneath.</p> + +<p>"The schooner!" said Harry significantly. "She's beating up over the +tide and she'll probably stand close in, but I don't think they could +see us against the land."</p> + +<p>He spoke as if he did not wish to be seen, and for no very clear reason +Frank felt glad that they lay in the shadow of a big black head. The +schooner was coming on very fast, rising, it seemed to him, bodily, +until he could make out the curl of piled-up water that flowed away +beneath her depressed side. The mass of strain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>ing sailcloth hid most of +her slanted deck, and he could see nobody on board her, but it seemed +curious that she carried no lights. Then it occurred to him that she was +heading straight for them, and he was about to dip his paddle when Harry +stopped him.</p> + +<p>"Keep still!" he commanded. "They'll have to come round before they +reach us."</p> + +<p>Frank could now hear the roar of water about the bow of the vessel, and +in a minute or two she swayed suddenly upright and there was a great +thrashing of canvas as, shooting forward, she came round. She was very +near them and as her boom-foresail and mainsail swung across, leaving +clear the side of the deck they had shrouded, he saw two or three +shadowy figures busy forward. They became more distinct as she drove +back into the moonlight, which fell upon the form of her helmsman. Frank +could see him clearly, and there was, he fancied, something peculiar +about the man.</p> + +<p>The splashing top of a sea slopped into the canoe as they got way on +her, and they taxed their strength to the utmost during the next hour. +The craft bucked and jumped as they laboriously drove her over the +confused swell, which was rapidly getting higher, and there was already +a good deal of water washing about inside her. Once or twice Frank held +his breath as a threatening mass of water heaved up ahead, but in each +case she lurched across it safely, and presently they found smoother +water under another crag. He gave a sigh of relief when at length they +reached the cove and beached her upon the shingle. They turned her over +to empty before they ran her up, and then Harry sat down upon a boulder. +Frank already had discovered that he seldom talked of anything they had +done as though it were an exploit.</p> + +<p>"I'm quite puzzled about that schooner," he said presently.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>"Why?"</p> + +<p>Harry paused and thought a moment. "Well, it's a sure thing she's the +vessel that crept past us the morning we were lying beneath the point, +and though she's been seen three or four times now there's no notice in +the papers of any arrival that seems to fit her. She has the look of +being built for the Canadian sealing trade, and most of the craft in +that business are mighty smart vessels."</p> + +<p>"Doesn't a ship have to carry papers saying where she's from and where +she's going?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," assented Harry. "Still, she might clear from somewhere in +Canada, say for the halibut fishing—I've heard they're trying to start +it there—or something that would keep her out a month or so. Then, as +there is no end of quiet inlets in British Columbia and a good many +here, she could run up and down from one to another and go back with a +few fish, and there'd be nothing to show what she had been doing in the +meanwhile."</p> + +<p>"You think it's something illegal?"</p> + +<p>"If it is anything honest I don't see why she was beating up without her +lights in the strength of the tide, when she'd have slacker water over +toward the other side, only there'd be a chance of her being seen from +the Seattle boat if she ran across yonder. Now it's a general idea that +there's a good deal of dope—that's opium—smuggled into this country, +and now and then Chinamen, too. Our people won't have any more of them, +but though they have no trouble in getting into Canada, they seem to +like the States better. I guess wages are higher."</p> + +<p>"Have you talked to your father about it?"</p> + +<p>"I told him what we'd seen the other time and he looked kind of amused, +or as if he didn't want to be bothered about the thing; though that may +not have been it, either. Unless he tells you right out, you can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> never +figure on what he's thinking. Anyway, I'll say nothing more to him +unless there's some particular reason."</p> + +<p>Harry was afterward sorry that he had arrived at this decision, and, for +that matter, so was his father, but it was the next morning before this +came about. In the meanwhile the boys went back to the ranch, and soon +afterward retired to rest in the room they now shared. Frank went to +sleep at once, and it was some time later when, awaking suddenly, he +fancied that Harry had left his bed, which was fixed against the +opposite wall. A faint light from outside crept into the room, and Frank +made out a black figure standing by the open window. Slipping softly to +the floor he moved toward it and Harry raised his hand warningly when he +joined him.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here?" Frank inquired.</p> + +<p>"Well," answered Harry, "since you ask me, I don't quite know, but I +fancied I heard somebody about the ranch. Keep still and listen."</p> + +<p>He spoke in a low and rather strained voice, and Frank, who was uneasily +impressed by it, leaned out of the window. There was a moon somewhere in +the sky, but it was obscured by clouds, and only a dim, uncertain light +filtered down. It showed the great black firs which rose, a rampart of +impenetrable darkness, beyond the rather less shadowy clearing, across +part of which the fruit trees stretched. Then ran back, in regular rows, +little clumps of deeper obscurity which presently grew blurred and faded +into one another. The wind had apparently dropped again, for it was +impressively still.</p> + +<p>"I can't hear anything," whispered Frank.</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure that I did," rejoined Harry. "It may be that seeing that +schooner put the thing into my head, but we'll wait a little now that +we're up."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>For a couple of minutes they waited in silence. Then Harry suddenly +gripped his companion's arm.</p> + +<p>"Look!" he whispered. "Across the clearing—yonder!"</p> + +<p>Frank fancied that he could make out a shadowy object in the open space +between the fruit trees and the forest. It was very dim and indistinct, +and he realized that he would not have noticed it only that it moved. +Shortly afterward it disappeared and a faint rattle like that made by +two pieces of wood jarring together came out of the deep gloom beneath +the firs.</p> + +<p>"The fence," suggested Harry. "It sounded like the top rails going +down."</p> + +<p>The fence was made of split rails interlocked together in the usual +manner without the use of nails, and it seemed to Frank very probable +that anybody climbing over it in the darkness would be apt to knock one +or two of them down. The question was who would be likely to climb over +it, since there was no one living within some miles of the ranch. Then +he caught another sound which seemed farther off. It suggested the +crackle of rotten branches or torn-down undergrowth, but it ceased +almost immediately.</p> + +<p>"Slip on your things," whispered Harry. "I'm going down."</p> + +<p>In a few moments they crept softly down the stairway barefooted, and +Harry opened the outer door very cautiously. He picked up an ax outside, +and they moved silently around the house, stopping now and then to +listen. There was only a deep stillness. Nothing seemed to move; though +Frank wished that he had at least a good thick stick in his hand. He had +an uncomfortable feeling that they might come upon a man hiding in some +strip of deeper gloom as they slowly crept along the wall. When at +length they had satisfied themselves that there was nobody about, Harry +sat down.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>"I can't figure out this thing," he mused. "It seems to me that whoever +those strangers were they haven't been near the house, and it's a quiet +country, anyway." He glanced down at his bare feet. "I'd go along and +look around the barn and stables only that I'd certainly stub my toes, +and it wouldn't be any use. Nobody steals horses around here. They +couldn't get rid of them if they did."</p> + +<p>The outbuildings stood at some little distance from the house, and +Frank, who remembered that they had strewn the trail to them with broken +twigs in dragging some branches from the slashing, agreed with his +companion that it would not be wise to traverse it in the darkness with +unprotected feet.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't you slip into the kitchen and get our boots?" he suggested.</p> + +<p>"Not without waking dad," answered Harry. "He's in the next room, and he +sleeps lightly. I'm not anxious to bring him out if no harm's been +done."</p> + +<p>"He'd get angry?"</p> + +<p>"No, he'd only smile; and somehow that makes you feel quite cheap and +small. Besides"—and he hesitated—"there was another time, when I +roused them for nothing; and I don't want to do it again. You wouldn't +either, if you had stood as much about it from Jake as I've had to ever +since."</p> + +<p>They decided to say nothing about the matter unless some reason for +doing so appeared in the morning, and creeping back through the house as +silently as possible they went to bed. They awoke a little later than +usual, and going down found Mr. Oliver standing at one side of the +kitchen table rather grave of face, with Jake, who also looked +thoughtful, opposite him. A strip of paper with some writing on it lay +between them. Mr. Oliver looked around as the boys came in.</p> + +<p>"Did either of you hear anything suspicious last night?" he asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>"Yes," said Harry hesitatingly. "In fact, we came down."</p> + +<p>He briefly related why they had done so, and Jake broke in:</p> + +<p>"Then why in the name of wonder didn't you call somebody?"</p> + +<p>"It's a reasonable question," said Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p>Harry explained with some diffidence that they were afraid of being +laughed at, and Frank felt a little uncomfortable under the rancher's +steady gaze.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the latter dryly, "I suppose your idea was natural, and +we'll let it go at that. It's perhaps scarcely worth while to point out +that most people get laughed at now and then, and there's no reason for +believing that it hurts them. I wonder if you will be surprised to hear +that my team has gone?"</p> + +<p>They were certainly somewhat startled.</p> + +<p>"I found this stuck up on the stable door," said Jake, pushing the strip +of paper across toward them.</p> + +<p>The boys read the straggling writing: "<i>If you want your team back keep +your mouth shut.</i>"</p> + +<p>For a moment they looked at each other in silence, and then Mr. Oliver +turned to them.</p> + +<p>"It's all we know in the meanwhile. Have you anything more to tell us?"</p> + +<p>Harry diffidently mentioned the schooner, and his father drew down his +brows.</p> + +<p>"Whether her appearance has any connection with the matter is more than +I can say, but I'll sail up to the settlement this morning. You and +Frank can go on with the drain cutting while I am away."</p> + +<p>Just then Miss Oliver came in to get breakfast ready, and when the meal +was finished the two boys made for the clearing where they were cutting +a trench. When they reached their destination Harry sat down and pushed +back his hat.</p> + +<p>"This thing isn't very clear to me, but I'm beginning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> to get the drift +of it," he announced. "It's quite likely that dad knows a good deal more +about it than I do, but until he has it all worked out he won't tell. +First of all, we'll allow that they're smugglers on that schooner. They +borrowed two of our horses and that fixes it."</p> + +<p>"You couldn't smuggle a great deal on two horses," Frank pointed out.</p> + +<p>"Sure," admitted Harry. "Still, they might have picked up another team +somewhere else, and you want to remember that it only pays to smuggle +things that are valuable and can be easily moved. Now one packhorse load +of dope would be worth a good many dollars, and you can't move anything +much easier than a man. He's got feet."</p> + +<p>This was incontestable, but Frank considered the matter.</p> + +<p>"If you turned a number of Chinamen loose in the bush wouldn't they be +recognized as strangers at any settlement they reached and have to give +an account of themselves to somebody?"</p> + +<p>"The trouble is that, although I believe they have to carry papers of +some kind, it's mighty hard to tell one Chinaman from another and they +all work into each other's hands."</p> + +<p>"Your idea is that the smugglers have confederates?"</p> + +<p>"They have them, sure," said Harry. "There's some diking being done on a +salt marsh not far away, and the last time I was there it struck me +there were some hard-looking white toughs on the workings. Then there's +a small Chinese colony behind the settlement, and it's thick bush with +only a few ranches for some leagues beyond. Just the kind of country for +running dope through."</p> + +<p>"Are the ranchers likely to stand in?"</p> + +<p>"No, not in a general way, but it's possible that a man here and there +living by himself in the bush would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> say nothing if they borrowed a +horse or two. It's not nice to have a gang of toughs up against you."</p> + +<p>"Your father doesn't seem inclined to look at it that way."</p> + +<p>Harry laughed. "I'll allow that there's a good deal of sense in dad. It +would be clear to him that he couldn't well give them away afterward if +he did nothing this time. They'd certainly have got him; and dad's not +the man to let a gang of dope runners order him round." He paused a +moment, and added significantly: "If they try any bluffing in this case +there'll be trouble."</p> + +<p>Frank asked no further questions and they set about the trenching.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AT THE HELM</span></h2> + + +<p>Mr. Oliver did not come back until nightfall. He said nothing about his +visit to the settlement and several days passed before the boys heard +anything further of the matter. In the meanwhile they went on with the +drain they were cutting across a swampy strip of clearing, and one +afternoon they stood in the bottom of the four-foot trench. Harry was +then busy with a grubhoe, cutting through the roots and breaking up the +wet soil, which his companion flung out with a long-handled shovel. It +was unpleasantly hot, and the flies were troublesome. Frank's hands were +too muddy to brush them away and they crawled about his face and into +his ears. He had already decided that draining was about the last +occupation he would have chosen for a scorching afternoon, had the +choice been open to him.</p> + +<p>He stood, stripped to shirt and trousers, in about a foot of water, and +because he had not learned the trick of pitching out the soil, part of +every shovelful fell back upon him. His shirt was spattered all over, +and patches of sticky mire glued it to his skin. There was no doubt that +ranching was considerably less romantic than he had supposed it to be, +and logging and ditching struck him as particularly uninteresting and +somewhat barbarous work, but he was beginning to realize that all the +agricultural prosperity of his country was founded on toil of a very +similar kind. The wheat and the fruit trees would not grow until man +with patient labor had prepared the soil for them, and, what was more +significant, Mr. Oliver had made it plain that their yield<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> varied in +direct proportion with the work bestowed on them. Nature's alchemy, it +seemed, could transmute the effort of straining muscle into golden +sheaves, glowing-tinted apples, and velvet-skinned peaches and prunes.</p> + +<p>It was clear to Frank that if he meant to become a rancher he must make +up his mind to face a good many unpleasant tasks, and he swung up the +mire shovelful by shovelful, though his back and limbs were aching and +he had to work in a horribly cramped position. He was young, and though +there were times when the work seemed almost too much for him, it was +consoling to feel when he laid down his tools at night that he was +growing harder and tougher with every day's toil, for his muscles were +now beginning to obey instead of mastering him. He could go on for +several hours after they commenced to ache, without its costing him any +great effort.</p> + +<p>By and by, however, there was an interruption, and Frank was by no means +sorry when Mr. Oliver came up with a stranger and called them out of the +trench.</p> + +<p>"This is Mr. Barclay whose business is connected with the collection of +the United States revenue," he said. "I believe he would like a little +talk with you."</p> + +<p>He walked away and left them with the stranger, who sat down on a log +and took out a cigar. He was a little man and rather stout, dressed +carelessly in store clothes, with a big soft hat and a white shirt which +bulged up above the opening in his half-buttoned vest. It occurred to +Frank that he looked like a country doctor. From out rather bushy +eyebrows shone a pair of whimsical, twinkling eyes. When he had lighted +his cigar he indicated the trench with a large, plump hand.</p> + +<p>"Been making all that hole yourselves?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," replied Harry.</p> + +<p>"Interesting work?"</p> + +<p>"That depends on how you look at it," said Harry flippantly. "Would you +like to try?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>Mr. Barclay waved his hand. "It isn't necessary. Did something of the +same kind years ago—only, if I remember, it was rather wetter."</p> + +<p>"Where was that?" Harry inquired with an air of languid politeness, at +which Frank felt inclined to chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Place called Forks Butte Creek. It was a twenty-foot trench."</p> + +<p>Harry seemed astonished and his manner suddenly changed.</p> + +<p>"You were with the boys at Forks Butte when they swung the creek?"</p> + +<p>"Sure," assented Mr. Barclay with a laugh. "I didn't expect you'd have +heard of it. You certainly weren't ranching then."</p> + +<p>"I've heard of it lots of times," declared Harry, turning excitedly to +Frank. "It was one of the biggest things ever done by a few men this +side of the Cascades. The old-timers talk about it yet. A mining +row—there were about a dozen of them working some alluvial claims on a +disputed location. I don't know the whole of it, but the thing turned +upon the frontage, and they stood off a swarm of jumpers while they +shifted the creek."</p> + +<p>"Something like that," said Mr. Barclay. "In those days they interpreted +the mining laws with a certain amount of sentiment, which—and in some +respects it's a pity—they don't do now." He paused and flicked the ash +from his cigar. "I understand you have been seeing a mysterious +schooner."</p> + +<p>His tone was sufficiently ironical to put Harry on his mettle, and he +furnished a full and particular account of the vessel. When he had +finished Mr. Barclay glanced at him with amusement in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"You have an idea there might be smugglers on board of her?" he +suggested.</p> + +<p>"It's more than an idea. I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if you could tell me why?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>It was rather difficult to answer, but Harry made the attempt, +furnishing his questioner with half a dozen reasons which did not seem +to have much effect on him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he persisted, "you're convinced she had opium and Chinamen on +board her?"</p> + +<p>"Aren't you?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay looked up with a smile. "At the present moment I can't form +an opinion. After all, it's possible."</p> + +<p>He rose, and as he was strolling away toward the house Harry's face +contracted into an indignant frown.</p> + +<p>"That man must have been cooking, or something of the kind, at Forks +Butte," he broke out contemptuously. "Anyway, it was the last time he +ever did anything worth talking about. Did you ever run up against such +a stuffed image?"</p> + +<p>Frank was far from certain that this description was altogether +applicable to the stranger, but Harry seemed so much annoyed that he did +not express his opinion, and they got down into the trench again. When +they went back to the ranch an hour later they heard that Mr. Oliver and +Mr. Barclay had gone to a neighboring ranch and intended to make a +journey into the bush if they could borrow horses. When the boys were +eating breakfast the next morning Miss Oliver turned to Harry.</p> + +<p>"We have run out of pork, and the flour is almost gone," she said. "I +meant to ask your father to bring some when he went up to the +settlement, but I forgot it, and Jake must bring in those steers +to-day."</p> + +<p>"We'll go," broke in Harry quickly. "There's a nice sailing breeze."</p> + +<p>His aunt looked doubtful. "You have never been so far with the sloop +unless Jake was with you; and isn't there a nasty tide-rip somewhere? +Still, I don't know what I shall do unless I get the flour."</p> + +<p>She yielded when Harry insisted; and shortly afterward the boys paddled +off to the sloop and made the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> canoe fast astern. They set the big gaff +mainsail and Harry sculled her out of the cove before he hoisted the +jib. Then he made Frank take the helm.</p> + +<p>"It's a head wind until we're round the point yonder, but you'll have to +learn to sail her sometime," he said. "The first thing to remember is +that she'll only lie up at an angle to the wind and if you make it too +small she won't go through the water. You want to feel a slight strain +on the tiller."</p> + +<p>He hauled the sheets in until the boom hung just over the boat's +quarter, and while Frank grasped the tiller she slid out into open +water. Bright sunshine smote the little tumbling green ridges that had +here and there crests of snowy foam, and she bounded over them with a +spray cloud flying at her bows. She seemed to be making an excellent +pace, but Harry shook his head.</p> + +<p>"No," he objected, "you're letting her fall off. That is, the angle +you're sailing her at is too big. She'll go faster that way, but she +won't go so far to windward. Don't pull so much on your tiller and +she'll come up closer."</p> + +<p>Frank tried it, but the boat sailed more slowly, and presently her +mainsail flapped.</p> + +<p>"Now you're too close," warned Harry. "You're trying to head her right +into the wind. Pull your helm up again."</p> + +<p>Frank did so, and when the boat gathered speed he ventured a question.</p> + +<p>"If you keep her too close to the wind she won't sail, and if you let +her fall off she's not going where you want. How do you find out the +exact angle she ought to make?"</p> + +<p>Harry laughed. "It depends on the boat, the cut of her sails, and how +smart you are at the helm. One man would shove her to windward a point +closer than another could and keep her sailing faster, too. It's a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +thing that takes time to learn, and there are men you couldn't teach to +sail a boat at all."</p> + +<p>Frank found that it became easier by degrees, though his companion did +not appear altogether satisfied. The sloop had dipped her lee rail just +level with the water now, and she rushed along, bounding with a lurch +and splash over the small froth-tipped seas. He began to understand how +one arrived at the proper angle by the slant at which the wind struck +his face as well as by watching the direction of the seas which came +charging down to meet her in regular formation. Then Harry said that as +they had stretched out far enough to clear the point they would go about +upon the other tack.</p> + +<p>"Shove your helm down—that's to lee—not too hard!" he ordered, and as +Frank obeyed him there was a sharp banging of sail cloth and the boat, +swinging around, swayed upright.</p> + +<p>In another moment the wind was on her opposite side, and she was heading +off at an angle to her previous course, while Harry with one foot braced +against the lee coaming struggled to flatten in the sheet on the jib. +The big mainboom had swung over of its own accord amidst a great clatter +of blocks. By and by when the point slid away to lee of them Harry told +Frank to pull his helm up, and then he pointed to a confused mass of +gray rocks and trees rising above the glistening water several miles +away.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "she'll go there straight, and all you have to do is to +keep her bowsprit on yonder head. It's a fair wind, and when you've got +that you want to slack out the sheets until the sails are as far +outboard as they'll go and still keep full. If your sheets are too +tight, you'll know it by the weight on the tiller."</p> + +<p>He let a couple of ropes run out through the clattering blocks, and the +sloop, slanting over a little farther, seemed to leap forward. The +sparkling green ridges which came tumbling up on one side of her swung +her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> aloft with the foam boiling along the edge of her lee deck, and +then surged away in turn and let her drop while another came rolling up. +Instead of being a mere thing of wood and canvas she seemed to become +animate, charged with vitality. The springy way she rushed along was +strangely exhilarating. Frank became fascinated watching her bows go up +and the snowy, straining sail sweep across the dazzling blue at every +lurch, while he became conscious of a sense of control and mastery as he +gripped the tiller. He felt that he could do what he wanted with this +wonderful rushing thing.</p> + +<p>For she was certainly wonderful. There was no doubt of that, because +among all of man's works and inventions there is none that more nearly +approaches the simplicity of perfection and adaptability to its purpose +than the modern sailboat. It has taken centuries to evolve her, each +builder adding a little to the work of those who went before, and +balancing in her making, often without knowing it, the great natural +forces one against another, until at last science justified what man +did, so that with this frail creation one may brave the untrammeled +winds of heaven and the onslaught of the seas.</p> + +<p>By and by the headland they had been nearing thrust them off their +course, and outside it lay a nest of islets, with a strong stream +running up between. As it ran to windward it broke up the regular, +breeze-driven waves into short, foaming combers with hollowed breasts +and tumbling tops which flung up wisps of spray. Frank glanced at this +tumult with some anxiety, and it was a relief to him when his companion +offered to take the tiller.</p> + +<p>"You had better let me have her," Harry said. "She wants handling in a +jump like that. I'd heave a reef down to reduce the sail, only that it +would take us some time to tie it in and there'll be smoother water once +we're past the islands. As we'll have to beat through, you can get the +sheets in."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>Frank found this no easy task, for he had no idea that the sails could +pull so hard, and Harry had to help him with one hand. Then the latter's +face became intent as they plunged into the turmoil. The seas looked big +and angry now. In fact, as usually happens, they looked a good deal +bigger than they really were, but they were breaking in a threatening +manner and came on to meet the sloop in white-topped phalanxes. She went +over some with a disconcerting plunge and swoop, but she rammed a few of +the rest, driving her jib and bows in and flinging the brine all over +her when she swung them up. Her deck was sluicing, and every now and +then a green and white cascade came frothing over the coaming into the +well. Frank, however, noticed that, instead of letting the boat meet the +combers, his companion occasionally pulled his tiller up, so that, +swinging round a little, she brought the ridge of frothing water farther +on her side as she plunged over it.</p> + +<p>"I thought you had to face a nasty sea head-on," he said.</p> + +<p>"Did you?" Harry responded. "Then watch that smaller one."</p> + +<p>A slope of water came tumbling on some yards ahead, and as the boy eased +his helm down an inch or two the bows came up to meet the sea. They +struck it full in its hollowed breast, and the next moment there was a +shock and half the deck was lost in a rush of foam.</p> + +<p>"Like me to plug another?" laughed Harry.</p> + +<p>Frank begged him not to do it. The result of the experiment was rather +alarming, and Harry let her fall off a little to dodge the onslaught of +the succeeding combers, until at last they grew smaller as the stream +spread itself out in open water. Then he gave Frank some further +instruction.</p> + +<p>"If you were pulling or paddling a small craft it would be safer to +bring her head-on, because you have to remember that she'd be going +mighty slow, but when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> you're sailing a boat that's carrying her speed +it's evident that you don't want to ram her right at a comber. If you +do, she's bound to go bang into it. When you see one that looks +threatening you let her fall off slightly and she goes over slanting." +He broke off for a moment with a laugh. "Seems to me I'm always on the +'teach.' You come here and take the tiller while I get some of the water +out of her. You can head for that point to starboard."</p> + +<p>He busied himself with the bucket while Frank steered the boat, and an +hour or so later they ran into a little sheltered inlet where they +brought her head to wind and pitched the anchor over. After that they +bailed out the half-swamped canoe, and, dropping into her, paddled +ashore.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A WARNING</span></h2> + + +<p>Frank looked about him with some curiosity when they reached the +settlement, which struck him as a singularly unattractive place. In a +hole chopped out of the forest that crept close to the edge of the water +stood a few small log houses and several roughly boarded shacks. Tall +fir stumps surrounded them, and here and there provision cans and old +boots lay among the fern, in which a few lean hogs were rooting. Farther +on, however, there was an opening in the bush, for the boy could catch +the gleam of water between the trees, and in one place the great +columnar trunks cut against the soft green of a meadow. The grass was +bright with sunshine, but dim shadow hung over the forest-shrouded +settlement.</p> + +<p>"A forlorn spot," said Harry. "I don't know why the folks first pitched +here, but they raise a little fruit, and now and then a Seattle boat +comes along. It's thin gravel soil on this strip, and that's probably +the reason they haven't done any more chopping—there are salt meadows +farther along—but if they'd any hustlers among them they'd have got out +their axes and let a little daylight in." He waved his hand +contemptuously. "They're a mean crowd, anyway, except the storekeeper, +and I've wondered how he makes a living out of them. Now we'll go along +and get that flour."</p> + +<p>They moved on down the trail, which was torn up by the passage of jumper +sledges, until they reached a frame building which Frank had not noticed +at first. It stood back a little and was larger and neater than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> any of +the rest. A veranda ran along the front of it and in one window small +flour bags and more provision cans were displayed. A couple of men in +blue shirts and overalls lounged smoking on the veranda in a manner +which suggested that they had never hurried themselves in their lives, +and they seemed to be the only inhabitants of the place. As the boys +walked up the stairway Harry pointed to a notice pasted up in the +window. Frank stopped and read it aloud.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>Twenty dollars will be paid to any one identifying +the man who recently drove a pair of horses off the +Oliver ranch.</i>"</p></div> + +<p>With a laugh Harry looked up defiantly at the lounging men. "That's +Oliver's answer," he said. "They told him to keep his mouth shut."</p> + +<p>One of the men grinned. "Seems to me it was good advice. Do you figure +any one round here is going to earn those twenty dollars?"</p> + +<p>Harry shook his head. "I don't," he answered. "Still, my only reason for +believing it is that the money isn't big enough. Anyway, that notice +will serve its purpose. It makes it clear that we mean to fight."</p> + +<p>The lounger grinned again and Harry, marching past him with his head up, +entered the store. A man who was sitting behind the counter rose when +the boys came in and raised his hand in a manner which seemed to +indicate that caution was desirable.</p> + +<p>"You're wanting some groceries?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Flour," Harry answered. "A seventy-pound bag, if you've got it. Some +pork, too—you know the piece we take. You might send them down to the +beach, if there's anybody in the place who's not afraid of carrying a +flour bag."</p> + +<p>The storekeeper smiled and strolled casually toward the window. Coming +back he leaned upon the counter.</p> + +<p>"Your aunt's mighty particular about her pork," he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> said, raising his +voice a little. "Better come along into the back store and see what I've +got."</p> + +<p>They followed him into a smaller room, where he first of all threw +several big slabs of pork down upon a board, making, it seemed to Frank, +as much noise as possible.</p> + +<p>"Twelve pounds in this lot," he said loudly, then lowering his voice: +"Those fellows outside haven't gone and I don't want them to hear. You +haven't found your horses yet?"</p> + +<p>Harry admitted that they had not done so, and the man nodded gravely.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I guess they'll turn up presently. I couldn't tell +your father that because there were other folks in the store when he +handed me the notice. What I want to say is that he's not wise in +bluffing the boys. You had better tell him that's my opinion."</p> + +<p>"How much do you know about the thing?" Harry asked directly.</p> + +<p>"Very little, but I can guess a good deal. Quite enough, anyway, to +convince me that you folks had better lie quiet, and let the boys +alone."</p> + +<p>Harry glanced scornfully toward the veranda.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" he growled. "We don't want to meddle, but it's another matter +to let those slouches drive off our team. That's my view, though I don't +know what my father means to do about it. He hasn't told me."</p> + +<p>"He never does tell folks," the storekeeper answered with a trace of +dryness. "I guess he'll wait, and kick when he's ready, but you tell him +from me that he's up against quite a big thing." He raised his voice: +"Well, I'll send that pork and flour along."</p> + +<p>The boys went out and met one of the loungers strolling casually across +the store, though Frank had a suspicion that he had come in softly some +time earlier. As they were walking down to the beach Harry glanced up +the strip of sheltered water.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>"There's a Chinese camp a little way up the creek," he said. "Nothing +much to see there, but we may as well take a look at it."</p> + +<p>They paddled across a strip of shadow where the reflections of spreading +cedar and towering fir floated inverted in the still, green water until +the ripple from the bows broke across and banished them. After that they +slid out into the sunlight where a narrow belt of cultivated land ran +back on either hand. On one side it was partly hidden by a bank of soil, +at the end of which three or four men were leisurely working. They +merely looked down as the canoe slid past.</p> + +<p>"Hard cases!" said Harry presently. "If I was sheriff I'd clean this +hole right out. There are decent folks here, but the curious thing is +that when you let two or three toughs into a place they seem to get on +top."</p> + +<p>Frank made no comment, and soon they were once more paddling into the +shadow of the forest. The creek was growing smaller, and at length they +ran the canoe ashore and struck into a narrow trail through the bush.</p> + +<p>It was now getting on into the afternoon and Frank felt sorry that they +had not eaten the lunch Miss Oliver had prepared for them before they +left the sloop. It was very hot, and very still, except when now and +then the drumming of a blue grouse came sharply out of the shadows. By +and by, however, the wood became a little thinner, and Harry pointed +toward an opening between the trees.</p> + +<p>"That's the place," he said. "Not much to look at, but it's good land. +You can see the maples yonder—that's always a favorable sign—and +somebody with money has lately bought quite a piece of it to start a +fruit ranch on. The Chows have taken the contract for clearing it, and +if any dope has been landed in the neighborhood they're probably mixed +up with the thing."</p> + +<p>Frank glanced toward the opening, and sitting, as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> was, in dim +shadow, the open space he looked out upon seemed flooded with dazzling +brightness. In the background, and some distance away, little, blue-clad +figures were toiling with axes that flashed as they swung amidst a +confusion of branches and fallen logs, the staccato chunk of the blades +ripping through the heavy stillness. Nothing else, however, seemed to +move, and the air was filled with a languorous, resinous smell. Rows of +stumps stretched out from the spot on which the Chinamen were working, +breaking off before a cluster of bark and split-board shacks that stood +beneath the edge of the forest. A man dressed in loose, blue garments +was seated motionless outside one of the shacks, before two logs, from +between which a little smoke curled straight up into the air. Presently +the man stood up, and just then Harry seized Frank's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Look round a little—to the left," he whispered.</p> + +<p>Frank did so and was astonished to see another man slip quietly out of +the forest and approach the shack. His face was not discernible, but +there was something peculiar in the way he walked, and his dress made it +evident that he was a white man.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen him before?" Harry asked softly.</p> + +<p>"I can't locate him, but I've an idea that he's not quite a stranger," +said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry, "I'm open to make a guess at him. Just as the +schooner went about that night I had a look at her helmsman. He had his +back to me, but it was moonlight, and I could see that one shoulder +hunched up in a kind of curious manner."</p> + +<p>Frank looked again and it seemed to him that there was something unusual +in the way the man held his shoulder. It was somewhat higher than the +other, though it hardly amounted to a deformity.</p> + +<p>"Slip in behind that tree," whispered Harry, pointing toward the bush. +"We'll creep up through the shadow if he goes into the shack."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>They spent some minutes moving forward in and out among the trees, and +in the meanwhile Frank saw the stranger enter the shack and the Chinaman +follow him. Then he and Harry walked out of the bush scarcely a score of +yards from the rude building, and headed straight for it. As they +approached, the Chinaman became visible in the doorway, where he stood +waiting for them. He appeared to be an old man, for his face was lined +and seamed, but it was absolutely expressionless, an impassive yellow +mask, and Frank felt baffled and repelled by it. As soon as it was +evident that the boys intended to enter his dwelling, he moved aside, +and when they stood in the little, shadowy room Frank was astonished to +see that there was nobody else in it. This seemed incomprehensible, for +there was only one door in the place. In the meanwhile the Chinaman was +looking at them quietly.</p> + +<p>"It's quite hot," observed Harry.</p> + +<p>"Velly hot," assented the other, who did not seem in any way disturbed +by the fact that they had so unceremoniously marched in.</p> + +<p>Harry appeared embarrassed after this, as though he did not know what to +say next, until he was evidently seized by an inspiration.</p> + +<p>"Got any chow, John?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Velly good chow," answered the Chinaman. "Lice, blue glouse, smokee +fishee."</p> + +<p>"Blue grouse!" said Harry disgustedly aside to Frank. "It's the nesting +season, but I guess that wouldn't count for much with them." He turned +to his host. "I'm not a heathen. Savvy cook American? Got any flour you +can make biscuits or flapjacks of?"</p> + +<p>"You leavee chow to me," said the other. "Cookee all same big hotel +Seattle, Tacoma, San F'lisco."</p> + +<p>"It's quite likely," said Harry, looking round at Frank. "You can trust +a Chinaman to turn out a decent meal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> I'll walk round a bit in the +meanwhile; you can sit here and rest."</p> + +<p>Frank did not particularly wish to rest, but he fancied that his +companion had given him a hint, and while the Chinaman busied himself +with his pots and pans he sat down outside the shack. He had been up +early that morning, and after the steady, arduous work at the ranch it +was pleasant to sit still in the strip of shadow and let his eyes wander +idly about the clearing. Among other things, he noticed that a little +trickle of water flowed across it, and that the soil was quaggy in the +neighborhood. He concluded that the stranger, who had so mysteriously +disappeared, must have crossed the wet place.</p> + +<p>It was some little time before Harry came back and the Chinaman then set +out their dinner. Frank had no idea what some of it consisted of and his +companion was unable to enlighten him, but it was excellent. When they +had finished, the man turned to Harry.</p> + +<p>"One dolla," he said gravely.</p> + +<p>Harry handed it over readily and smiled at Frank when they strolled back +into the bush.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't what I'd figured on when I first walked in, but I had to make +some excuse," he said. "Just now I'd very much like to know how far it +went with him." He paused and looked thoughtful. "I guess it wasn't a +very long way. The image is ahead of us by a dollar."</p> + +<p>Frank laughed. "You had some reason for going for that walk?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," replied Harry. "I wanted to make sure of things, and the +ground was soft. There were some footprints in it—going from the +shack—and they'd been made quite lately by a white man's boot. John +sticks to his slipper things in a general way. Anyhow, it was the man we +saw who left those tracks."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>"There were a lot of others about, but they'd been made earlier. The +water had got into them, but there was very little in those I was +interested in."</p> + +<p>Frank was conscious that this was a point which would probably have +escaped his notice, but he had not lived in the bush and learned to use +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's very curious how the fellow got out of the shack without our +seeing him," he said.</p> + +<p>"It looks curious until you begin to think. Now, though I tried to keep +my eye on it all the while, the trees kept getting between me and the +shack as we made for it, and what I couldn't see you couldn't see +either. You were close behind me, which, in one way, was where we were +wrong. If we had crept in well apart, the same tree wouldn't have +bothered both of us, though if we'd done that it would have doubled the +chances of our being seen."</p> + +<p>"A tree isn't such a very big thing," Frank objected.</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry. "The point is that it will shut an object a good deal +bigger than itself out of your sight." He stopped a moment and pointed +toward a neighboring cedar. "We'll say that one's three feet in +diameter, but, as you're standing, it will shut off a good deal more +than a track three feet wide through the bush. You want to run a line +from your eye to both edges of the trunk and then carry them out behind +it. The farther you run them, the farther they get apart, and as you +can't see round a corner, everything in the wedge they enclose is shut +out from view. Got that into you? It will come in useful when you're +trailing a deer."</p> + +<p>It was quite clear to Frank now that it had been explained, but his +companion went on.</p> + +<p>"Well," he added, "it wouldn't have taken that fellow more than a few +seconds to slip out of the shack and in behind it. Then if he kept it +between him and us he'd be hidden until he reached the bush."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>"Yes," said Frank. "It must mean that he saw us, and didn't want us to +see him."</p> + +<p>"You're getting quite smart," said Harry with a grin. "I don't know if +you noticed it, but you trod on a rotten branch that smashed. He didn't +want us to know him again, but I'd pick that fellow anywhere by his back +and walk. Now why was he so anxious that we shouldn't see him talking to +the Chinaman?"</p> + +<p>It was a suggestive question, but Frank could not answer it, and Harry +said nothing further. Reaching the canoe they paddled down the creek +until they came abreast of the sloop and saw the provisions lying upon +the shingle some little distance from the water, for the tide had ebbed +since their arrival. When they had run the canoe in Frank assisted Harry +in getting the flour bag on his back, but gave a sudden cry of dismay as +a white cloud flew all over him.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he cried. "Put it down. It's running out!"</p> + +<p>Harry dropped the bag and drew down his brows as he gazed at the little +pile of flour which lay at his feet. Then he suddenly stooped down.</p> + +<p>"The bag seemed a sound one," Frank suggested.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Harry shortly. "There's only one thing the matter with +it. See here," and he laid his finger on a long slit. "Somebody has +stuck a knife into it."</p> + +<p>"A mean trick!" Frank broke out wrathfully.</p> + +<p>Harry stood up with a flash in his eyes. "It's rather more than that. +It's a hint. Anyway, if you'll get hold of the other end we'll pack the +bag down with the cut uppermost."</p> + +<p>In spite of this precaution they spilled a good deal of the flour before +they got it on board the sloop, but Harry said no more about the matter, +and hoisting sail they slid out of the inlet with a faint breeze abeam +of them. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> found it fair and the breeze only a little stronger when +they had left the woods behind, and Frank sat at the tiller while the +sloop glided rapidly through the smooth blue water with no more than a +drowsy gurgle beneath her bows. The tide was running down with them now +and it was only when he glanced toward the beach that he realized how +fast they were going.</p> + +<p>A pleasant salt odor of drying weed was mingled with the scent of the +firs. In front of them a wonderful vista of white snow mountains emerged +from fleecy cloud, and far beneath the silvery vapor appeared the faint +and shadowy blurs of distant hillsides clothed with mighty forest. +Overhead the big white sail swayed languidly to and fro, cutting sharply +into the blue, and Frank felt that he would like to sail on like this +for hours, lounging at the helm, and listening to the water as it +slipped along the sides. With a light fair wind he could guide the boat +wherever he wished by the slightest touch of the tiller, and it was +pleasant to see how steadily he could keep her bowsprit pointing to a +low rocky head that rose, a patch of soft blue shadow, against the +evening light.</p> + +<p>The voyage, however, came to an end almost too soon, and the rocks and +firs were growing dim when they ran into the cove and picked up their +mooring buoy. After they had stowed and covered the sails they went +ashore, and both boys were very tired and warm when they reached the +homestead. Harry's clothes were covered with flour, which had left a +white trail along the way. Miss Oliver was standing in the lamplight +when they came in and noticed the white patches on their clothes.</p> + +<p>"You have let him give you a burst bag!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Harry looked meaningly at Frank. "No," he said, "I think it was all +right when it left the store and I don't think we have spilled more than +a few pounds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> Perhaps we had better skip it into the barrel. It will +save the stuff from running out when you move it."</p> + +<p>They managed to carry it away between them; and when they had emptied it +Harry turned to Frank.</p> + +<p>"If she starts talking about that bag, head her off on to something +else," he said. "I don't want her to get imagining trouble every time we +leave the ranch."</p> + +<p>When Miss Oliver resumed the subject at supper Frank attempted to divert +her attention, and fancied that he succeeded, though he wondered why she +smiled at times. When the boys had gone to their room she picked up the +bag and stretched it out under the light. Then her face grew grave as +she saw the slit in it. Being a clever woman, however, she decided not +to mention her suspicions.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">SALMON SPEARING</span></h2> + + +<p>When the boys came in for breakfast next morning Jake was standing in +the kitchen, and Miss Oliver sat opposite him looking unusually +thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" Harry asked.</p> + +<p>Jake turned toward him slowly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that there's anything very wrong," he said. "Leader's come +back."</p> + +<p>Leader was the name of one of the missing horses, and Frank started as +he remembered what the storekeeper had said, but feeling Miss Oliver's +eyes upon him, turned his head and looked out into the clearing.</p> + +<p>"Where's Tillicum?" inquired Harry.</p> + +<p>"That," replied Jake, "is more than I can tell. Leader was standing +outside the stable when I went along and I can't make out why the other +horse wasn't with him. He'd have come with Leader if anybody had turned +them into the trail together."</p> + +<p>Harry called to Frank and went out of the door. Jake followed them to +the stable, where they found the horse looking rather jaded, but except +for that very little the worse. Jake nodded reassuringly when Harry had +felt him over.</p> + +<p>"No sign of anything wrong," he said. "There was a good deal of dried +mud on him before I fixed him up, and he seemed mighty keen on his corn. +They hadn't given him very much."</p> + +<p>"What do you make of it?" Harry asked.</p> + +<p>"About as much as you do," answered Jake. "They turned him loose on the +trail when they'd done with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> him, and that's all there is to it. I guess +the question is what they've done with Tillicum. One thing's certain. If +he doesn't turn up, your father's going to be mighty mad."</p> + +<p>Harry agreed that this would be very probable, though he did not think +his father would show it. As there was nothing more to be said they went +back to the house, where, somewhat to their relief, Miss Oliver made no +allusion to the affair, and they proceeded quietly to eat breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Are there any spring salmon in the river?" she asked presently, looking +across at Harry.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he responded, "there are a few coming up."</p> + +<p>"Then you might take Frank with you this morning and try to get me one. +I dare say Jake will smoke it." Miss Oliver smiled at Frank. "You don't +get salmon prepared that way back East."</p> + +<p>"We have it canned," said Frank. "I've an idea I've seen some smoked, +but I can't remember. Is it very nice? I thought you didn't care for +salmon here."</p> + +<p>"Fresh salmon," Jake said curtly, "is only good for hogs, and if you +keep it long enough, for growing potatoes with. Still," he added +thoughtfully, "I don't know that you call it fresh then."</p> + +<p>Miss Oliver laughed. "Wait until you try it smoked—as Jake does it. He +can prepare it as some of the Siwash do. I believe they taught him in +British Columbia."</p> + +<p>Jake shook his head solemnly. "No," he said, "I can't cure salmon as +some of the Indians do. You'd get nothing like it in a New York hotel, +but I guess I can dress it 'most as well as any white man. You go along +and get me a fish, Harry. I'd try the pool by the big fall."</p> + +<p>They set out a few minutes later, taking with them a pole which had a +big iron hook lashed to it and a long Indian salmon spear. There was a +small fork at one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> end of the latter on which were placed two nicely +made bone barbs attached to the haft by strips of sinew. Harry removed +them to show Frank that they would slip off their sockets easily. +Leaving the clearing, they struck into a narrow trail through the bush, +and after half an hour's scramble over fallen logs and through thick +fern they reached the river.</p> + +<p>It poured frothing out of shadowy forest and leaped over a rock ledge in +a thundering fall, beneath which it swirled around a deep basin, and +then after sweeping down a white rapid, spread out over a wide belt of +stones. There were rocks on either side of it, and, as the trees could +find no hold on them, warm sunlight streamed down upon the foaming +water. Harry sat down on a ledge above the pool with the spear beside +him and pointed to a great bird wheeling on slanted wings above the +shallow.</p> + +<p>"A fish eagle," he said. "Here are salmon making up."</p> + +<p>Frank watched the circling of the majestic bird, which did not seem much +afraid of them. It had a white head and a cruel beak, and once when it +swept over him he noticed the fixed gaze of its cold, impassive eye. +Splendid as it was, he somehow shrank from the thing. It looked so +powerful and utterly merciless. When it stopped in the air, dropped, and +struck, he saw a splash as a writhing, silvery creature was snatched up +in its talons.</p> + +<p>"Got him wrong!" cried Harry. "You watch. He'll have to let go again."</p> + +<p>So far as Frank could see, the eagle had seized the salmon by the middle +of its back, the fish twisting itself crossways as it was carried up +into the air. The next moment there was a splash in the water and the +bird swooped down again. When it rose it held its prey differently, and +Frank fancied he could see one wicked claw gripping the fish close by +the back of its neck, while the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> other was spread out toward its tail. +In any case, the salmon did not seem able to wriggle now, and the eagle +flew off with it and vanished among the tops of the black firs.</p> + +<p>"Not a big fish, but I've a notion the eagle could lift a thing as heavy +as itself," said Harry. "They're mighty powerful. It might be the one he +dropped, though I think it's another."</p> + +<p>Frank had no idea how much an eagle weighed, but he realized something +of the capabilities of a bird that could carry off this fish apparently +without an effort, and, what was more astonishing, drag the tremendously +muscular creature out of the water which was its home. Then his +companion touched his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Watch those two fellows in the eddy," said he. "They're going to rush +the fall."</p> + +<p>Frank saw two slim shadows shoot out beneath a wreath of circling foam +and flash—which seemed the best word for it—through the crystal depths +of the slacker part of the pool. They were lost in the snowy turmoil +near the foot of the fall, and a few minutes passed before he saw them +again. Then one shot out of the water like a bow that had suddenly +straightened itself, gleamed resplendent with silver, and plunged into +the foam again. Harry pointed him out the other, and though it was a +moment or two before he could see it he marveled when he did. It had its +dusky back toward him, for now and then the dorsal fin rose clear, and +it was swimming up a thin cascade which poured down a steep slope of +stone. That any creature should have strength enough to stem that rush +of water seemed incredible, but there was no doubt that the fish was +ascending inch by inch. Then it found a momentary harbor in a little +pool just outside the main leap of the fall, and shot out of it again +with its curious uncurving spring. Frank watched it eagerly when it +dropped into the fall, and it was with a sense of sympathy that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> saw +its gallant efforts wasted as it was suddenly swept down. Before +reaching the bottom, however, it had evidently rallied all its powers, +for it flashed clear into the sunlight, and had recovered a fathom when +he lost sight of it once more.</p> + +<p>After that he glanced back toward the shallows and saw that other birds +had appeared. He did not know what they were, and Harry could only tell +him that they were fishhawks of some kind. As he watched them wheeling +or stooping, dropping upon the sparkling stream, and screaming now and +then, the boy began to form some idea of the desperate battle for +existence that is fought daily and hourly by the lower creation.</p> + +<p>"There don't seem to be a great many salmon," he remarked.</p> + +<p>"It's a thin run," said Harry. "There'll probably be more of them in the +next one. Once upon a time, as I expect you've heard, these rivers were +so thick with fish that you could walk across their backs, though I'll +allow I've never seen anything of that kind."</p> + +<p>Frank was not astonished at the last admission. This brown-skinned, +clear-eyed boy, who could sail a boat and hold the rifle straight, was +not one to talk of the wonderful things he had seen and done. He left +that to the whisky-faced sports of the saloons who were probably capable +of butchering a crippled deer at fifty yards with the repeater.</p> + +<p>"I suppose the salmon have plenty enemies," he suggested.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Harry. "In the sea the seals and porpoises get their +share of them. Then, as they head for the rivers, there are the fish +traps, and in Canada the seine-net boats along the shore. After that +when they're in fresh water they have to run the gauntlet of the +Indians, birds, and bears."</p> + +<p>"Bears?" Frank interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Sure," said Harry. "They're quite smart fishers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> Even the little minks +get some of the salmon stranded in the shallow pools. The Indians set +long baskets, narrow end downward, for them near the top of the falls. +These, of course, are fresh from salt-water—you can see they're +silvery—but they lose that brightness as they go up the larger rivers, +and on the Columbia and Fraser they push on hundreds of miles, up +tremendous cañons, up falls and rapids, toward the Rockies. Those that +fetch headwaters are scarred and battered, with the bright scales and +most of their fins and tails worn right off them. Once they're through +with the spawning they die."</p> + +<p>"Then they go straight to the place where they spawn?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the salmon's really a seafish. It's born in fresh water, but it +goes down to the ocean as soon as it's big enough, and it's generally +believed that it stays there three or four years, though it's a fact +that we know mighty little about the salmon yet. Then it comes back to +the same place and spawns and dies. You see, there's a constant +succession coming up." He broke off with a laugh. "Now we'll try to get +one. There are three or four big fellows yonder. All you have to do is +to slash at them with the hook."</p> + +<p>Frank perched himself upon a jutting shelf of rock, and presently two or +three swift shadows flitted by. He swung up the pole and made a sudden +sweep at them, only to see the hook splash two or three feet behind the +last one's tail. Incidentally, he came very near to going headforemost +into the pool. Then another fish swept toward him, and this time he +landed the hook some inches in front of its nose, after which he made +several more attempts, succeeding only in splashing himself all over. He +was beginning to discover that his hands and eyes needed a good deal of +training. One, it seemed, must judge speed and distance and strike +simultaneously, but the trouble was that he needed a second<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> or two to +think, and, naturally, while he thought the fish got away.</p> + +<p>By and by he turned and watched Harry, who had not struck once yet. He +stood upon a ledge, alert, strung-up, and steady-eyed, but absolutely +motionless, with the long spear running up above his shoulder. At last, +however, he drove his right arm down and the beautiful, straight shaft +sank into the pool. It stopped suddenly for a second, quivering, and +then bent and twisted upward in the boy's clenched hands.</p> + +<p>Frank ran toward him, wondering that the slender shaft did not +immediately break, when he observed that one barb had slipped off its +socket and that the fish, struck by it, was now held by the short length +of sinew. A moment or two later Harry jerked it out upon the bank by a +quick vertical movement and knocked it on the head. It lay still after +this, a beautiful creature of some seven or eight pounds, with the +sunlight gleaming on its silver scales. Frank glanced once more at the +long spear. It occurred to him that this was also perfect in its way and +could not have been better adapted to its purpose.</p> + +<p>"It's curious that an Indian should be able to make a thing like that," +he remarked. "I don't think a white man could turn out anything as +handy, unless, of course, he had one to copy."</p> + +<p>"The point is that it took the Siwash a mighty long while to make the +salmon spear," said Harry. "It's quite likely they spent two hundred +years over it. Their spears are all on the same pattern, so are their +traps and canoes." Seeing a puzzled look cross Frank's face, he smiled. +"An Indian is no smarter than a white man—in fact, when you stop to +think of it, he's not half as smart, though most everything he makes is +excellent. It's this way. If we want a saw for a new purpose or a +different kind of wood, we write to the Disston people or somebody of +the kind and they set their boss designer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> to work. He considers, and +then because he knows all about the physical sciences he draws the thing +on paper and sends it to the forges or grinding shops. In a general way, +that saw does its work, though I guess if the designer had to use it for +a year or two he'd make the next one better."</p> + +<p>"Of course," agreed Frank.</p> + +<p>"It's different with the Indians," Harry continued. "One fellow made a +fish spear ever so long ago and found that it wouldn't do. He made the +next one different and was satisfied with it, but his son made it a +little longer and thinner. Then his grandson altered the barb, and his +son added another one. After that each fellow made it a little handier, +until nothing more could be done to it, and they stuck to the pattern." +He turned and glanced at the spear. "This thing is the product of the +skill of ever so many generations."</p> + +<p>It was simple but convincing, for it explained the efficiency of the +Indian's tools, and also why he had not progressed. He worked along the +same line, sticking to one simple implement until he had perfected it, +and, though this was his greatest disadvantage, the man who killed the +fish generally made the spear. He got so far and stopped, content, and +incapable of going any farther. The white man, on the other hand, +changed his methods continually with his changing needs and, what +counted more than all, he very seldom made the tools he used, because he +had discovered that somebody who did nothing else could make them +better. When the Americans of the Pacific Slope wanted salmon they did +not whittle spears, but sent east to the cordage factories, whose owners +brought in fibers from all over the world and spun the netting with +which to build gigantic fish traps.</p> + +<p>"We could do with another fish," ventured Harry. "Let's see if you can +get one."</p> + +<p>Frank took up his pole again. It was a heavy and clumsy affair, but +Harry had told him that he would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> probably break the Indian spear. They +waited awhile until another swift shadow swept around with the eddy +beneath their feet.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" cried Harry. "Wait till the stream heads him and then strike +as quick as you can."</p> + +<p>The fish's speed was checked for a moment as it entered the furious rush +beneath the fall, and Frank, who could just see its dusky back amidst +the foam, swung his pole. There was a splash and then a curious shock +which sent a thrill through him, and the haft jerked sharply in his +hands.</p> + +<p>"Heave him out!" cried Harry. "That thing won't break."</p> + +<p>Frank tugged with all his might and the salmon flew up over his +shoulder. The next moment he had seized it and was almost reluctant to +let it go when his companion clubbed it on the head.</p> + +<p>"Two's as many as we have any use for and we'll go along," said the +latter. "We haven't made much of a show at that draining lately."</p> + +<p>Frank would have preferred to stay where he was, but he followed Harry +toward the bush, and soon after they struck a cleared trail to the +ranch, which was, however, not the way they had come. A little later +they were somewhat astonished to see a group of figures among the trees, +and hurrying forward they found Mr. Oliver and Mr. Barclay talking to +Jake, who apparently had been driving home two or three steers.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver, looking unusually grave, nodded to the boys. "We have just +met Jake," he said. "He tells me Tillicum's back a little way up the +trail with a broken leg."</p> + +<p>"I guess he's done," murmured Jake, adding significantly, "I wouldn't +have left him like that if I'd had a gun."</p> + +<p>"Go on with the steers," said Mr. Oliver. "We'll turn back."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>The boys accompanied him and Mr. Barclay, and leaving the trail by and +by where the bush was thinner they stopped before a pitiable sight. It +was Tillicum who stood awkwardly before them, his head lowered and one +leg that seemed distorted out of its usual shape hanging limp. Caked +mire was spattered about the poor animal, its coat was foul, and every +line of its body seemed expressive of pain and exhaustion. As it raised +its drooping head and looked at them pitifully, Frank felt a thrill of +hot anger against the outlaws who were responsible for its condition. +Mr. Oliver stepped up to the horse and gently felt of its injured limb, +after which he turned abruptly toward Mr. Barclay and Frank noticed that +his face was set.</p> + +<p>"There's only one thing to be done," he said. "Have you a pistol?"</p> + +<p>"Haven't <i>you</i>?" his companion asked with a slight trace of astonishment +in his tone.</p> + +<p>"If I'd had one would I have wanted to borrow yours?" retorted Mr. +Oliver.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Barclay, "it's seldom I carry one, but in this case it +seemed advisable." He put his hand into his pocket. "Here you are. It's +a big caliber."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver took the weapon and held it behind him, and turning back +toward the horse, gently stroked its head. Then there was a flash and +detonation, and the beast dropped like a stone. After a moment the +rancher turned around with a very curious look in his eyes, with the +smoking weapon clenched hard in his hand.</p> + +<p>"I've had that faithful animal six years," he said in a harsh voice. +"We'll get away."</p> + +<p>They walked on in silence for a while, and then Mr. Barclay spoke.</p> + +<p>"The breaking of its leg was probably an accident," he suggested.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Oliver. "It's possible he broke it after they turned him +loose, but that doesn't seem to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> affect the case." He paused and looked +around at his companion. "You understand that I'm with you right through +this thing."</p> + +<p>Nothing more was said until they approached the ranch, when Mr. Oliver +turned to the boys.</p> + +<p>"I'll take the fish," he said. "You can go on with whatever you were +doing."</p> + +<p>They moved away toward the drain, and when they reached it Harry stood +still a moment or two.</p> + +<p>"It's a long while since I've seen dad look half so mad," he said. "When +he sets his face that way it's sure to mean trouble. Anyway, when I saw +Tillicum I felt kind of boiling over—as well as sorry."</p> + +<p>"Did you notice what Mr. Barclay said about the pistol?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course," said Harry thoughtfully. "Now I don't know what +they've been after, but it's plain enough that there was some danger in +the thing. Mr. Barclay doesn't seem extra smart, but there's something +in his look that suggests he wouldn't be easy scared, and he took a +pistol along." Then he laughed in a significant manner and jumped down +into the trench. "It's my idea those dope fellows are going to be sorry +before dad gets through with them, and now we'll go on with the +draining."</p> + +<p>He fell to with the grubhoe and for the next half hour worked furiously, +after which Jake appeared and called them in to dinner.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A PLAIN HINT</span></h2> + + +<p>Mr. Oliver bought another horse from one of his scattered neighbors, and +a few days afterward he and Jake set off for an inlet along the coast +near which a few ranchers lived. Harry explained to Frank that as they +clubbed together and bought their supplies from Seattle a little steamer +from the latter place called at the inlet now and then to deliver the +goods, and his father had ordered a mower which was to be sent down by +her.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver did not come back until late in the evening a couple of days +later, but as soon as he arrived he and Jake set to work to put the +machine together, and it was getting dusk when at last they left it +standing beneath the trees near the edge of a ravine. Early on the +following morning the boys went back with them to see if it would work +satisfactorily in cutting a little green timothy, but as they crossed +the clearing Jake, who was leading the team a little distance in front +of his companions, stopped suddenly.</p> + +<p>"You didn't go back and move that machine after we left it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Mr. Oliver. "What made you think I did?"</p> + +<p>Jake looked at his employer rather curiously. "Well," he said, "somebody +must have moved it. The thing's gone."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver broke into a run and the rest followed. When they reached the +clump of trees they could discover no sign of the mower, except for the +track of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> wheels among the withered needles and undergrowth. This led +toward the ravine, at the bottom of which a little water flowed, and +Frank saw Mr. Oliver's face harden as he followed this guide. A minute +later they stood on the brink of the declivity and saw the mower lying +upon its side among the stones thirty or forty feet below them. The +slope was almost precipitous, but Mr. Oliver went down sliding amidst a +rush of loosened soil, and Frank and Harry with some difficulty +scrambled down after him. A glance was sufficient to show them that the +implement was not likely to be of the least use to its owner. Mr. Oliver +examined it quietly and then clambered back up the side of the ravine, +after which he sat down and took out his pipe before he turned to Jake.</p> + +<p>"Every bit of cast-iron in it is smashed," he said. "The pinion wheels +are broken, and the other parts are bent. I'll have to order another +one."</p> + +<p>Jake made a gesture of sympathy.</p> + +<p>"If I could get hold of the folks who did the thing it would be a +consolation, but I haven't the least notion how to trail them."</p> + +<p>"One man couldn't have moved it," said Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p>"There were three of them. The question is, what brought them here? I +guess they didn't come just to smash the machine."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver seemed lost a moment in contemplation.</p> + +<p>"I think you're right," he said at length. "They probably came because +this is the easiest way of getting through to the settlements in the +Basker district and the beach behind the head makes a handy landing. +We'll go along and look around. I don't think they'd try the cove. It's +too near the house."</p> + +<p>They turned into a bush trail together, and when they reached the beach +a little while later Jake, stooping over a furrow in the smooth shingle +by the water's edge, looked up at Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>"A sea canoe grounded here soon after last high water," he said. "You +can see where they ran her down when it had ebbed a little."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver, who was still quietly smoking, nodded.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "it's very much as I expected. With a sheltered landing +here and as good a trail inland as they could find, it's not difficult +to understand why those fellows were anxious that I should stand in with +them, or, at least, leave them alone. This thing, of course, was meant +as a warning." Then he addressed the boys: "You needn't wait. You can +get some more of those branches sawed off in the slashing."</p> + +<p>They moved away and left him talking to Jake, and it was not until they +had reached the bush that Harry made any observation.</p> + +<p>"I've a notion that we're up against the meanest kind of toughs, but in +the long run I'll back dad," he said. "It's quite likely that if we lie +low you and I may get a hand in later on."</p> + +<p>Frank made no answer, though the prospect his companion suggested was +not unpleasant to him. Going back to their work they sawed up branches +until nightfall. On the following afternoon they were still engaged at +the same task at some distance from the house when they saw Jake, who +had set out for a neighboring ranch in the morning, enter the clearing, +dragging a big and evidently very unwilling animal after him. He sat +down upon a log, and Harry dropped his ax.</p> + +<p>"It's Webster's dog," he said to Frank. "I heard that somebody had given +him one. We'll go along and look at him."</p> + +<p>They found Jake rather breathless and very red in face, holding the end +of a chain fastened to the collar of the dog, who crouched close by +watching him with wicked eyes and white fangs bared. A serviceable club +lay beside Jake, but it seemed to Frank that he had got as far away from +the animal as the chain permitted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> The lad was, however, not astonished +at this, for he fancied he had never seen as intractable and generally +unprepossessing a dog as this one.</p> + +<p>"Dad's borrowed him from Webster?" Harry suggested.</p> + +<p>"It seemed to me Webster was mighty glad to get rid of him and didn't +want him back," said Jake. "Guess if he was mine I wouldn't be anxious +to keep him either."</p> + +<p>Frank moved a pace or two nearer the dog, holding out his hand, but +speedily retired when it growled at him savagely. After that Jake turned +to Harry.</p> + +<p>"You're fond of dogs," he suggested. "Wouldn't you like to pat him?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry, edging away. "I wouldn't try it for five dollars. What +kind of a brute is he?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jake, "I figure that fellow has a considerable mixture of +ancestors, though there's a strain of the bull in him. That's where he +got his stylish mouth from. He's about as amiable as a timber-wolf, and +he has the gait of a bear, while it's my opinion there's more sense in a +plow ox than there is in him."</p> + +<p>"When did you leave Webster's?" Harry next inquired.</p> + +<p>"Soon as dinner was over," responded Jake dryly.</p> + +<p>"And supper will be ready soon. What in the name of wonder have you been +doing?" Harry looked around at Frank. "It's about three miles."</p> + +<p>Jake grinned. "Coming along—and resting. This fellow kind of decided +he'd sit down every now and then, and I let him. He's a dog that's been +accustomed to doing just what he wants."</p> + +<p>"Did you have to cross the creek?" asked Frank, who noticed that the +man's long boots and part of his trousers were wet.</p> + +<p>"No," said Jake curtly. "The critter took a notion he'd like to go in, +and as I couldn't let him loose, I had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> to go in, too. We splashed +around in it for quite a few minutes."</p> + +<p>Harry broke into a burst of laughter and Jake handed him the club. "I +want to get in by supper. Suppose you put a move on him."</p> + +<p>He stood up and jerked the chain, but the dog bared his teeth again and +declined to stir. Harry, getting behind him, tapped him with the club, +and he swung round savagely, straining at the chain.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Jake, "I know how we'll fix him. You make him mad and then +head for the ranch while he gets after you, and I'll try to hold him."</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry decisively, "I don't think we'll try that way. Go on +and lead him."</p> + +<p>The animal moved off at last and shambled toward the house, looking +bigger and considerably more clumsy than the largest bulldog Frank had +ever seen. He walked into the kitchen docilely, but when Miss Oliver +approached him Harry cried out in dismay.</p> + +<p>"Keep away!" he warned. "He isn't safe."</p> + +<p>"Loose the chain," said Miss Oliver, and to their vast astonishment the +dog walked up to her, wagging his disreputable tail, and crouching down, +licked her hands. She patted his great head gently and then turned +smilingly to the boys.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid Webster has been rough with him," she said. "It's clear that +he's a woman's dog."</p> + +<p>"A woman's dog?" echoed Harry scathingly. "Well, the man who gave that +beast to a woman must have been crazy."</p> + +<p>During the next few days the dog made himself at home at the ranch, +though with the exception of Miss Oliver he still eyed its inhabitants +suspiciously. Jake said that though almost fully grown he was young and +had no sense yet. Then the dog commenced to follow the boys about at a +distance, and once fell upon and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> destroyed their overall jackets which +they had taken off when they went to work. They found him sitting upon +the tatters, evidently feeling proud of himself, for he wagged his tail +and barked delightedly when they approached. As a rule, he did not make +much noise, but his growl was deep and ominous, with something in it +that discouraged any attempt at undue familiarity.</p> + +<p>While they were ruefully inspecting their ruined garments Jake came up +and leaned against a neighboring tree.</p> + +<p>"He wants training, Harry," he observed. "If he was my dog, I'd break +him in."</p> + +<p>"The question," retorted Harry indignantly, "is how it's to be done. +I'll own up that I know very little about training dogs, and that's not +the kind of one I'd like to begin on." He turned to Frank. "Considering +that a good many of the ranchers live almost alone, it's rather a +curious thing that there are very few dogs in this part of the country."</p> + +<p>Jake fixed his eyes dubiously upon the animal, who trotted up a little +nearer and growled at him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "he's sure a daisy, but I guess he can be taught, and +the first thing is to let him see you're not afraid of him."</p> + +<p>Harry snickered. "Then suppose you try to prove it. Haul him up by the +ear and teach him he's not to eat my jacket."</p> + +<p>Jake judiciously disregarded this suggestion. "There's one trick most +dogs learn quite easy. It's to guard. You put down some of your clothes, +for instance, and make him see that nobody's to touch them until you +come back. Then he'll sit tight until you do, and I guess in this +fellow's case there'd be mighty little wrong with the nerves of the man +who'd put a hand on them."</p> + +<p>"If it's to be clothes they'll have to be somebody else's," said Harry. +"Anyway, I'll mention it to my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> aunt. It's my opinion she's the only +person who could teach him anything."</p> + +<p>How Miss Oliver taught the dog they did not know, but she succeeded, for +when the boys walked up to the house at supper time one evening a week +or two later Harry, who reached the door first, came out hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"The brute won't let me in," he explained. "I confess it sounds kind of +silly, but perhaps you'd like to try."</p> + +<p>Frank approached the door cautiously and stopped when he reached it. The +dog crouched near the center of the kitchen floor, with a woman's straw +hat in front of him from which there trailed a couple of chewed-up +feathers. He looked up at Frank with a low, warning growl which said +very plainly, "Come no farther!"</p> + +<p>They called him endearing names, which, so far as they could see, had +not the least effect, but neither of them felt equal to entering the +kitchen until Miss Oliver walked in by another door. Then the dog let +her take the hat, wagging his tail with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"He's a good deal more intelligent than you seem to think," she said. +"Give him your hat, Harry, and then go out and wait for a few minutes +before you come back for it."</p> + +<p>Harry did so, and the dog made no trouble when he picked up the hat, but +he would not let Frank go near it in the meanwhile. After that they +tried two or three more experiments of the same kind, though Frank took +no part in them, which was a thing he regretted when he went for a swim +an evening or two later.</p> + +<p>On this occasion the tide was almost full, the water in the cove was +pleasantly warm and bright sunlight streamed down upon it, showing the +white shingle a fathom beneath the surface. Now and then Frank went down +toward it, for he had learned to swim under water and look about him +while he did so, but by and by he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> headed for the entrance to the cove +with the overhand side stroke which Harry had taught him. Swinging his +left arm forward over his head, his face dipped under and then rose in +the midst of a ripple as his hollowed palm swept backward under his +crooked elbow to his thigh, while his legs swung across each other like +a pair of scissors. The brine gleamed and sparkled as it slipped past +him, and when he reached the entrance to the cove he slid up and down +the smooth, green undulations with a pleasant lift and fall. It was so +exhilarating that he went farther than he had intended, and he was +feeling a little breathless when at last he turned back, but when he +reached the spot where he had undressed trouble awaited him.</p> + +<p>The dog was seated upon his clothing, watching him with suspicious eyes, +and it growled when he stood up knee-deep. Frank hesitated. The dog did +not look amiable, but he was beginning to feel cold, and he walked +slowly forward a pace or two. Then the creature raised itself on its +forepaws, with white fangs bare, and once more broke into a deep, +ominous growl. There was no doubt that it intended to guard his clothes.</p> + +<p>He threw a piece of shingle at it and was glad on the whole that he had +not succeeded in hitting it when it stood up with bristling hair and a +most determined look in its eyes. Frank floundered back into the water, +wondering uneasily if it was coming in after him, and then standing +still up to his waist considered what he should do. It was evident that +he could not stay where he was much longer, and the dog showed no sign +of going away. It was equally impossible for him to walk back to the +ranch without his clothes, and in the meanwhile he was growing +unpleasantly chilly. Then he noticed that although the shadow of the +crags above rested upon the spot where he stood the sunshine fell upon a +boulder which rose out of the water not far away. Swimming to it he +crawled out and found it a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> warmer there, but this brought him no +nearer to finding a way out of the difficulty.</p> + +<p>He did not remember how long he lay shivering upon the stone, but the +shadow had crept across it and the tall firs above him showed up more +blackly against the evening light, when at last Harry came clattering +over the shingle and stopped in astonishment on seeing him.</p> + +<p>"Whatever are you doing there?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Waiting until your dog goes home," said Frank. "He won't let me have my +clothes. If you hadn't come I expect I'd have to stay here until +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Harry couldn't help grinning when he observed the resolute animal. +"Wouldn't it have been easier to come out and whack him off?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Frank decidedly. "If you were in my place you wouldn't want +to try."</p> + +<p>Harry walked up to the creature and picked up the clothes, whereat it +rose immediately and wagged its tail as though satisfied in having done +its duty.</p> + +<p>"He doesn't seem to mind me," Harry observed dryly. "Anyway, there's no +reason why you shouldn't come out now unless, of course, you're happier +where you are."</p> + +<p>Frank swam across, dressed, and ran all the way to the ranch, but it was +half an hour before he was moderately warm again. The next day he set +about teaching the dog to guard. It occurred to him that it was not +desirable that Harry and Miss Oliver should be the only ones to whom the +animal would give any stray article of clothing he might come across.</p> + +<p>A week or two later Miss Oliver went away on a visit to Tacoma, and Mr. +Oliver, who had bought a new mower, commenced to cut his timothy hay. +The machine could only work on the cleared land, and where the stumps +were thick he set the boys to mow with the scythe. Frank found it +troublesome work, for the big roots ran along the surface of the ground. +The fern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> had grown up among these roots, and it was their task to cut +and pick it out from the grass, while every few minutes the scythe point +struck a root and sometimes stuck in it. In places it struck gravel, +which made dents in it, and the blade often got entangled among shooting +willows and young fir saplings. Frank decided that while it was +evidently a costly and difficult thing to clear a ranch, it must be +almost as hard for its owner to keep what he had won, since the forest +persistently crept back again.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you left this place alone for a couple of years?" he asked, +stopping to whet his dinted scythe.</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't know it again," Harry answered with a smile. "It would be +a waste of willows, with young firs growing up between them. You +couldn't tell it from the bush, only that the trees all round would be +higher."</p> + +<p>Frank dropped his scythe blade and leaned upon the haft. He had been +mowing since sunrise, and the shadows were now rapidly lengthening. His +back ached and his hands were sore, and he found it a relief to stand +still a moment and look about him. On one side of the clearing the +slanting sunrays struck deep into the forest, forcing up great columnar +trunks out of the shadow. On the other, the fretted pinnacles of the +firs cut sharp against the sky, and between stretched long swathes of +fallen timothy and fern already turning yellow. Not far away, Mr. +Oliver, sitting in the mower's saddle, was guiding his team along the +edge of the grass which fell beneath the rasping knife, and the clink +and rattle of the machine rang sharply through the still, evening air. +Frank, stripped to blue shirt and trousers, found everything his eyes +rested on pleasant, and he felt that, after all, he had done wisely when +he left the cities.</p> + +<p>Then he noticed Jake, who had been to the settlement, crossing the +clearing with some letters in his hand. He gave them to Mr. Oliver, who +pulled his team up and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> sat still for some minutes reading them. After +that he stepped out and walked toward the boys.</p> + +<p>"You might take the team along, Harry, and put the kettle on the stove," +he said. "We'll have supper as soon as it's ready."</p> + +<p>Harry moved away and Mr. Oliver leaned against a neighboring stump with +his eyes fixed thoughtfully on Frank.</p> + +<p>"I've a letter from your mother," he said. "She wants to know if I'm +satisfied with you." He paused a moment and added with a smile: "That's +a question I think I can answer in the affirmative."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Then," Mr. Oliver continued, "she goes into one or two other matters on +which she seems to want my opinion. In the first place, somebody has +offered to find you an opening in the office of a Philadelphia business +firm. You'll have to decide about it, and it seems to me that the choice +is rather a big one. You see, if you stay out here ranching two or three +years it will probably spoil you for a business life in the eastern +cities."</p> + +<p>Frank thought hard for a minute or two. There was no doubt that +ranching, when it included clearing land, as it generally seemed to do, +was remarkably arduous work. In the case of a man with little money it +evidently meant almost incessant toil, for it was only by persistent +effort that one could chop and saw up the great trees and grub the +stumps out. Still, he was growing fond of it, and, what was more, he was +conscious that he was gaining a resolution and muscular vigor that in +all probability he would never have acquired in the crowded cities.</p> + +<p>Finally he looked up. "I don't think I would care to go back to them +now," he said.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver nodded gravely. "Your mother doesn't seem to think a great +deal of this opening, but, on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> other hand, you want to bear in mind +that if you expect to make money in ranching you must be able to invest +it. Raising cattle and fruit for sale is a trade, and a trader gets no +more than a certain interest on his money and the wages which an equally +capable managing clerk or foreman in the same profession would receive. +There are few respectable businesses in which that interest is a very +big one. As the result of this, the trader must be content with a little +unless he has the money to earn him more."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Frank somewhat ruefully, "that's clear. I'm afraid I can +hardly count on much."</p> + +<p>"Your mother mentions that when you are three or four years older she +might perhaps be able to raise you about two thousand dollars."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that wouldn't go very far, sir?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly wouldn't buy you a ranch anywhere near a city, but you +might get land enough to make a small one back in the bush. If you +bought such a place, you would probably have to go out and work at one +of the sawmills or logging camps now and then. It would be several years +before you could make much of a living, because it would cost you so +much to bring your stock to market."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Frank. "I suppose that is why the land would be cheap?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver made a sign of assent. "It's a difficulty which is, however, +usually got over in this country. You hold on and cultivate your land, +and by and by the market comes to you. Somebody starts a sawmill or a +pulp mill in the locality, or, if there's ore about, a smelter. New +trails are cut, settlements spring up, and presently a branch railroad +comes along, and the rancher can sell everything he can raise." He broke +off for a moment, and smiled rather dryly. "In such a case you may get +big prices, but if you average them out over the years of working and +waiting, you'll find you have earned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> them, and that, after all, the +stuff you sell is mighty cheap."</p> + +<p>Then he handed Frank the letter. "I'd consider it carefully. The mail +won't leave for the next three days, and now we'll go along to supper."</p> + +<p>Harry had managed to prepare a meal, and when it was over Mr. Oliver +turned to the boys.</p> + +<p>"A friend of mine in Victoria has written asking me to look at a big +piece of bush land he thinks of buying on the west coast of Vancouver +Island. He offers to pay my expenses and a fee, and I've an idea that we +might run across in the sloop if we get moderately fine weather after +the hay is in. I wonder if you would like to go with me?"</p> + +<p>There was no doubt that the prospect appealed to them and Mr. Oliver +smiled his approval.</p> + +<p>"Then," he said, "you had better hustle that hay in. We'll start as soon +as we're through with it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A BREEZE OF WIND</span></h2> + + +<p>The hay was almost in when Frank and Harry stood one evening close under +the apex of the roof in the log barn. The crop was heavy and because the +barn was small it had been their business during the afternoon to spread +and trample down the grass Jake flung up to them. They had been working +at high pressure at one task or another since soon after daylight that +morning, and now the confined space was very hot, though the sun was +low. Its slanting rays smote the cedar shingles above their bent heads, +and the dust that rose from the grass floated about them in a cloud and +clung to their dripping faces. Frank felt that the veins on his forehead +were swollen when they paused a moment for breath, leaning on their +forks.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we could get a couple more loads in, and there can't be more +than that," said Harry dubiously. "I wouldn't mind a great deal if the +next jumperful upset."</p> + +<p>Frank devoutly wished it would, for he felt that he must get out into +the open air, but a few moments later they heard the plodding oxen's +feet and the groaning of the clumsy sled. The sounds ceased abruptly and +Jake's voice reached them.</p> + +<p>"Tramp it down good!" he called. "You've got to squeeze in this lot and +another."</p> + +<p>Frank choked down the answer which rose to his lips. But the hay must be +got in, and the boys fell with their forks upon the first of the +crackling grass Jake flung up to them. There seemed to be more dust in +it than usual,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> and before the jumper was half unloaded they were +panting heavily. When at last the oxen hauled the sled away they stood +doubled up knee-deep in the hay with their backs close against the roof.</p> + +<p>"I can't see how we're to make room for the last lot," Harry gasped. +"Still, I guess it has to be done."</p> + +<p>They set to work again, packing the hay into corners and stamping it +down, and his occupation reminded Frank of what he had heard about +mining in a thin seam of coal. It seemed hotter than ever, the dust was +choking, and at every incautious move he bumped his head or shoulders +against the beams. The last sled arrived before they were ready for it, +and they crawled about half buried, dragging the grass here and there +with their hands and ramming it with their feet and knees into any odd +spaces left. At length the work was finished, and wriggling toward the +opening in the wall, Harry caught at the edge of it and finding a +foothold on a log beneath boldly leaped down. Frank was, however, less +fortunate when he followed his companion, for some of the hay slipped +away beneath him, and, without the least intention of leaving the barn +in that undignified fashion, he suddenly shot out through the hole. He +felt the air rush past him, and then, somewhat to his astonishment, +found himself on the ground, none the worse except for the jar of the +fall.</p> + +<p>"If I'd tried to do that it's very likely I'd have broken my leg," he +panted.</p> + +<p>He sat down and threw off his hat. It was delightful to feel the breeze +upon his dripping face and to be out in the fresh air again. He had been +at work for fourteen hours, and was aching all over, but that did not +trouble him. The hay was safely in, and there was some satisfaction in +the feeling that he had done his part in a heavy piece of work. Looking +about him he noticed that the shadow of the firs had crept half across +the clearing, and that thin wisps of fleecy cloud were stream<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>ing by +high above their tall black tops. Then he heard Harry speaking to his +father.</p> + +<p>"There's a smart southerly breeze, and the tide is running ebb," he was +saying. "What's the matter with starting for Victoria right away?"</p> + +<p>"Haven't you done enough for to-day?" Mr. Oliver asked with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I don't feel as fresh as I did this morning," Harry admitted. "Anyway, +when we've got a fair wind and three or four hours' ebb going with us, +it would be a pity not to make the most of them."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver looked doubtful. "I'm anxious to get away, because, as I've +arranged to meet a man in Victoria, we'll have to take the steamer +unless we can slip across very shortly. I've an idea that we may get +more wind than we'll have any use for before sun-up. Still, we could run +in behind the point at Bannington's, if it was necessary."</p> + +<p>Then Jake broke in: "If you're going, I'll get supper and pack some +bread and pork along to the sloop."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver assented, and an hour later they paddled off to the sloop. +The dog jumped into the canoe with them, and when they got on board he +quietly sat down on the floorings while Jake helped the boys to hoist +the mainsail. When they came to the jib Mr. Oliver stood up on the deck +looking about him.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better have the smaller one," he advised.</p> + +<p>They were ready at length, and Jake, who was to stay behind, called the +dog as he was about to jump into the canoe. Harry was busy forward just +then with the mooring chain in his hand and the loose jib thrashing +about him, while the big mainboom jerked over Mr. Oliver's head as he +sat at the helm. The dog, however, showed no signs of moving.</p> + +<p>"Give him a shove," said Jake, addressing Frank. "When he gets up on +deck, pitch him in."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>Frank turned toward the dog, and then stopped abruptly when it showed +its teeth and growled.</p> + +<p>"It looks as if he meant to go along," Jake remarked with a grin. "Prod +him with the boathook if he won't move."</p> + +<p>Frank was dubious, as he imagined the dog might resent the prodding. At +that moment Harry, who had been too busy to notice what was going on, +hauled up the weather sheet of the jib.</p> + +<p>"I'm clear," he called to his father. "I'll cant her head to lee when +you're ready."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver put the helm up as the bows swung around, and when the sloop +slanted over Jake made a futile grab at the dog. Then shouting to Frank, +he dropped into the canoe and clutched the rail as the sloop forged +ahead, but the boy was busy with the mainsheet and did not look up. In +another moment Jake let go. Almost immediately afterward the sloop came +round, and when she stretched away toward the mouth of the cove the +canoe dropped astern.</p> + +<p>"Stand by your jibsheets," called Mr. Oliver. "We'll have to come round +again."</p> + +<p>They were very busy during the next few minutes, for the cove was narrow +and the wind was blowing in. When at length they swept out into the open +water the dog crawled up to Harry and licked his hands. Harry looked at +his father, who made a little sign of assent.</p> + +<p>"I suppose he'll have to stay," he sighed. "When that dog decides on +doing anything it's wise to let him do it. Now we'll square off the +mainboom."</p> + +<p>They let the sheet run until the big mainsail swung right out, and the +sloop drove away, rolling viciously. Short, foam-flecked seas came +tumbling after her, but as the tide was running the same way under them, +lessening the resistance, very few broke angrily. Frank had learned +enough by this time, however, to realize that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> it would probably be +different when the stream turned. In the meanwhile the boat was sailing +very fast, with a little ridge of frothing water washing by on either +side when she lifted, and a thin shower of spray blowing all over her. +Now and then the great sail with the heavy boom beneath it swung upward +in an alarming fashion. Frank noticed that Mr. Oliver's eyes were gazing +intently before him, and that his hands were clenched tightly upon the +tiller.</p> + +<p>"She seems rather bad to steer," he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Oliver, without looking up. "You have to be careful when +you're running before a fresh breeze. It's remarkably easy to bring the +mainsail over with a bang if you let her fall off too much, and the +result of that would probably be to tear the mast out of her. It's +considerably worse when there's a big sea coming along behind."</p> + +<p>Frank glanced astern. The sun had gone and the sky was strewn with ranks +of hurrying clouds, while the sea was flecked with smears of white.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you pressing her a little?" Harry asked. "She'd be easier on the +helm if we lowered the peak or tied a reef in."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to pick up the Hootalquin reef before it's dark," answered Mr. +Oliver. "I'm not sure we'll get very much farther to-night. You wanted a +sail, and I fancy you're going to be gratified."</p> + +<p>During the next hour Frank had to admit that this remark was warranted. +The breeze steadily freshened, and there was no doubt that the sea was +rising. It frothed in a white hillock on either side of the boat, and +little trails of foam swirled about her deck. Frank could see that she +was overburdened by the sail she was carrying, but Mr. Oliver still sat +with a set face at the tiller and showed no desire to leave his post. In +the meanwhile it was getting dark. Forest and beach had faded to a +faint, shadowy blur and there was only a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> steadily narrowing stretch of +foaming water in front of them. Frank was very wet and the spray beat +upon him continually. At length, when the light had almost gone, a dusky +patch of something grew out of the gathering gloom ahead, and fancying +it to be a rocky point, he felt considerably relieved, because there +would be shelter behind it. A minute or two later Mr. Oliver called to +the boys.</p> + +<p>"Get forward and ease the peak down," he ordered. "Then back the jib. +We'll tie two reefs in."</p> + +<p>"Aren't we going in here?" Harry asked.</p> + +<p>His father shook his head. "No, it's too dark. I could take her through +in the daylight, but there are one or two rocks in the channel. We'll +have to try for Bannington's."</p> + +<p>Frank felt a twinge of disappointment. Bannington's was still a good way +off, and it seemed to him that the gale was increasing every moment. He +scrambled forward with Harry, however, and when they loosened the rope +the tall peak of the sail swung down. Soon after they had done this Mr. +Oliver put down his helm, causing the mainboom to jerk and thrash to and +fro furiously, while as the boat came up head to wind a white sea struck +her side and foamed on board her.</p> + +<p>"Handy with the throat!" shouted Mr. Oliver. "I don't want to leave the +helm."</p> + +<p>They slacked another rope, making the gaff sink farther down, after +which they tied up about a yard of the inner bottom corner of the sail +to the foot of the mast. This was comparatively easy, but it was +different when, standing in the water on the lee deck, they grabbed the +tackle beneath the boom and endeavored to pull the leach, or outer edge, +of the mainsail down. It would not come, and the heavy spar struck them +as it jerked in board, flinging Frank off into the well.</p> + +<p>"Get another pull on your topping lift," ordered Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>They jumped forward to do it, but it proved no easy task, for they had +to raise the outer end of the heavy boom. They were struggling with the +tackle again when Mr. Oliver laid both hands on the rope.</p> + +<p>"Now," he shouted, "heave, and bowse her down!"</p> + +<p>They succeeded this time, and afterward hung out over the water while +they knotted the reef-points beneath the spar. Then when they had +trimmed the jib over Mr. Oliver put up his helm and the sloop drove on +again into the darkness with shortened sail.</p> + +<p>The boys sat down as far under the side deck as they could get, out of +the worst of the spray, with the dog crouching in the water which washed +about the floorings at their feet.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't your father help us more than he did?" Frank asked +presently.</p> + +<p>"He couldn't leave the tiller for more than a moment or two," said +Harry. "When Jake and I reefed her the day we took you off the steamer +there wasn't as much wind. Of course, there are boats in which you can +lash the helm, but that's not always possible. If dad had let go the +tiller she'd have fallen off and started sailing, which would have +dragged the tackle from our hands or pitched us in, and then she'd have +come up again banging and shaking. He kept her heading so that the +mainsail was lifting slack with no weight in it."</p> + +<p>Frank was commencing to realize that the handling of a sailboat was +rather a fine art. It is as much of a machine as a steamer, but it is +also of the kind whose efficiency depends directly upon the human eye, +hand and brain. Man has evolved a number of such instruments, and in the +right hands they are far more wonderful than the others. Any one, for +instance, can learn the pianola, but to extract fine music from a +Cremona violin is a very different matter.</p> + +<p>It blew steadily harder, and there was, as Frank noticed, a difference +in the sea, for the flood stream was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> now setting up against them and +was growing shorter and more turbulent. There was a smaller interval +between the waves, which seemed to become steeper and less regular. They +curled over and broke about the boat with a sound that reacted +unpleasantly upon Frank's nerves, and he was thankful that he could, +after all, see very little of them. The sloop's motion also changed. One +moment she seemed to be moving almost slowly, and the next she swung up +in a quick, savage rush, with her bows in the air and the white foam +boiling high about her. Sometimes, too, there was a thud and a splash +astern, and the decks were swept by a deluge of seething water.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the boys had contrived to light a lamp in a little box +which held a compass, and they laid it on the thwart before Mr. Oliver, +though, as he explained in a word or two, it was particularly difficult +to steer an exact course in a sea of that kind. It was on the boat's +quarter, that is, she was traveling with the wind almost behind her at a +long slant across the course of the waves, but each time an extra big +wave foamed up astern Mr. Oliver let her fall off and run right down +wind with it to prevent its breaking on board.</p> + +<p>Frank wondered how he did it, for the seas were following them and it +was quite dark, but Mr. Oliver had no need to look around. He had for +guides the sound of the oncoming seas, the pull of the tiller, and the +motion of the boat, and, besides, from long experience his brain worked +sub-consciously. He did not pause to consider when the bows climbed out +and the stern sank down in a rush of foam, and had he done so, in all +probability he would have brought the big mainboom smashing over. To run +a fore-and-aft rigged craft, and a sloop in particular, before a badly +breaking sea, is a difficult and somewhat perilous thing, and the +ability to do it comes only from long acquaintance with the water, and, +perhaps, from something in the helmsman's nature.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>The boat sped on furiously, though they presently lowered the peak down +to reduce the sail further, and by degrees Frank became conscious of an +unpleasant nervous tension that seemed to sap away his hardihood. There +was nothing to do in the meanwhile, but he felt that if he were called +upon for any difficult or hazardous service he would find himself +incapable of it. He was drenched and shivering, and he did not want to +move. He only wished to cower beside Harry under the partial shelter of +the coaming. This was, however, a feeling that other folks occasionally +experience who go to sea in small vessels, which they have to grapple +with and overcome. It is when there is no particular call on him, and he +can only stand by and watch, that terror gets its strongest hold on the +heart of a man.</p> + +<p>At length Mr. Oliver called to the boys. "We must be close abreast of +Bannington's," he said. "The end of the point should be to leeward. Get +forward, Harry, where you can see out beneath the jib."</p> + +<p>Frank followed his companion as he crawled up on the little deck. He did +not want to seem afraid, but he held on tight with one hand when they +knelt in the water that splashed about them. He could see the frothy +seas beneath the black curve of the jib, but for what seemed a very long +while there was nothing else. Then Harry suddenly raised his voice.</p> + +<p>"Point's right ahead!" he sang out, and the next moment jumped to his +feet. "There's a black patch a little to weather."</p> + +<p>"Up peak for your lives!" cried Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p>He left the helm with a bound, and all three struggled desperately with +a rope, while as the bagged mainsail extended and straightened out a sea +broke on board the boat. Then they floundered aft and dragged in the +mainsheet with all their might, after which Mr. Oliver jumped for the +helm again, while the boys flattened in the jib.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>"We're the wrong side of the point," gasped Harry. "I'm not sure she'll +beat round it."</p> + +<p>There was no difficulty in imagining what was likely to happen if she +failed to do so, and Frank, who did not think she would last long if she +washed up among the boulders before the sea that was running, clung to +the coaming in a state of tense suspense. What seemed to be a continuous +sheet of spray whirled about him, the boat slanted over at an alarming +angle with half her lee deck in the sea, and the tops of the confused +breaking waves through which she plunged washed all over her. This was +sailing with a vengeance, and a very different thing from lounging at +the tiller while she swung smoothly across the water before a fair wind. +She was now thrashing to windward for her life, with the full weight of +the sea on her weather bow and a foam-swept reef lying in wait close to +lee of her, and whether she would claw off it or not depended largely +upon her helmsman's skill.</p> + +<p>Frank could see him dimly, a black shape gripping the tiller, and he was +unpleasantly aware of the fact that there would speedily be an end of +them all if he lost his nerve for a moment or made a blunder. It happens +now and then at sea that the safety of crew and vessel hangs upon the +brute strength of human muscle and the simple valor which enables a man +to do what is required of him on the moment without flinching; empty +assurance and a consequential air are of uncommonly little service then. +Such occasions are a very grim test of manhood, and, as a rule, it is +not the loud talker who best stands that strain.</p> + +<p>Frank admitted afterward that he was badly scared, which was not in the +least unnatural. It was more important that he should nevertheless +realize that it was his business to trim the jib over when this was +necessary. His companion, who was gazing to leeward, presently raised +his voice.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>"Broken water close ahead," he announced.</p> + +<p>"Stand by your jib!" shouted Mr. Oliver. "We must try to heave her +around."</p> + +<p>Frank let the lee sheet run, groping deep in the water for it as Mr. +Oliver put down the helm, and with a frantic thrashing of canvas the +sloop came up into the wind. There was a moment of suspense during which +she seemed to stop, and the boy felt his heart thumping furiously. He +knew that if she fell off again on the previous tack nothing could save +her from going ashore. Suddenly he heard Harry call to him.</p> + +<p>"Haul it up!" he shouted. "We have to box her off."</p> + +<p>Frank hauled with all his might, and the thrashing of the head sail +ceased. It caught the wind, and a sea fell upon the boat as the bows +swung around. Then they jumped to the opposite side of her and struggled +desperately to haul the lee sheet in as she forged ahead again, after +which there was nothing to do but wait and wonder if she was driving in +toward the shore or working out toward open water. They stood on for +half an hour, seeing nothing, and then came round half-swamped, only to +stagger away on the opposite tack, running once more into horribly +broken water. As they did so Harry shouted that there were boulders, the +end of the point, he fancied, close to lee.</p> + +<p>"She won't come about in the rabble," said Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p>It was evident that they must now either scrape around the point on that +tack or go ashore, and Frank felt his nerves tingle as he gazed into the +spray. He fancied that there was something black and solid beyond it, +but could distinguish nothing further. Then the blackness faded, the sea +seemed to become a little more regular, and Harry cried out hoarsely, +"We're round!"</p> + +<p>"Down peak!" called Mr. Oliver. "We'll have to jibe her."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>Frank had learned that to jibe a boat is to turn her around stern to +wind, instead of head-on, which is the usual way, and scrambling forward +with Harry he helped lower the peak. After that they again floundered +aft, leaving the mainsail reduced in size, and grabbed the sheet as Mr. +Oliver put up his helm. The bows swung around as the boat went up with a +sea, and the big boom tilted high up into the darkness above the boys. +They struggled savagely with the sheet, which slightly restrained it, +until the boat rolled suddenly down upon her side as the sail jerked +over and the rope was torn swiftly through their hands. There was a +crash and a bang, and Frank was conscious that the water was pouring +over the coaming. He clung to the sheet, however, and while Mr. Oliver +helped them with one hand they got a little of it in, after which the +sloop, rising somewhat, drove forward. A few minutes later the sea +suddenly became smoother, the wind seemed cut off, and Frank made out a +black mass of rock rising close above them. They ran on beneath it until +Mr. Oliver, rounding the boat up, bade them pitch the anchor over.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">MR. BARCLAY JOINS THE PARTY</span></h2> + + +<p>When the boat brought up to her anchor the boys spent some time +straightening up her gear and pumping her out. The work put a little +warmth into them, but they were glad to crawl into the cabin when it was +done. There was scarcely room in it to sit upright, and with the +moisture standing beaded everywhere it looked rather like the inside of +a well. Mr. Oliver had lighted the stove and a lamp was burning. By and +by he took off a hissing kettle, and when they had made a meal they lay +down in their wet clothes amidst a raffle of more or less dripping ropes +and sails. Fortunately, the place was warm, and Frank was thankful to +stretch himself out along the side of the boat. He was discovering that +mental strain of the kind he had undergone during the last few hours is +as fatiguing as bodily labor.</p> + +<p>But he did not immediately go to sleep. The craft rocked upon the long +swell which worked in round the point, with now and then a sharp rattle +as she plucked hard at her cable. Sometimes she swung suddenly around +upon it as an eddying blast swept down from the rocks above, and the +drumming of the halliards against the mast broke continuously through +the moan of the wind among the trees ashore and the deeper rumble of the +ground sea. At last, however, he fell into a heavy slumber, and it was +daylight and Harry had put the spider on the stove when he awoke again. +He made his breakfast before he went out on deck, to find that the wind +had dropped a little and it was rain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>ing hard. The dim, slate-green +water lapped noisily upon the wall of rock close by, and glancing +seaward he saw nothing but a leaden haze and a short stretch of tumbling +combers. Mr. Oliver had gone out earlier and was standing on the deck +looking about him.</p> + +<p>"There's no great weight in the wind, though the sea's still rather +high," he said presently. "I think we can push on for Victoria."</p> + +<p>Frank, who fancied they would not get there before that night, was by no +means so keen about the sail as he had been on the previous day. He felt +that it would be considerably pleasanter to remain in the shelter of the +point until the sun came out or the wind went down, and it seemed to him +that Harry shared his opinion. The dog also looked very draggled and +miserable and had evidently had enough of the voyage. They, however, set +the mainsail, leaving the reefs in, hauled up the anchor, and hoisted +the jib as the sloop stretched out across the waste of tumbling water, +after which the boys went below to straighten up the breakfast things. +Frank once or twice felt a little sick as he did so, and he noticed that +Harry wore a somewhat anxious look.</p> + +<p>"It's not blowing as hard as it was when we ran in, but I don't think +dad would have gone unless he'd some particular reason," Harry said at +length. "I wonder who the man is he expects to meet in Victoria, because +I'm inclined to believe it's not the one who wants him to look at the +land. The worst of dad is that he keeps such a lot to himself."</p> + +<p>They crawled out again shortly afterward and found the seas getting +longer and bigger. Once or twice a blur of something went by that might +have been the end of an island, and Mr. Oliver changed his course a +little, but after that the dim, green water stretched away before them +empty and only broken by smears of snowy froth, and the sloop drove on +before the combers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> which came up out of the haze astern of her in long +succession.</p> + +<p>It was toward noon, and Mr. Oliver had gone into the cabin to get dinner +ready, leaving Harry at the helm, when, glancing around, Frank saw an +indistinct mass of something break out of the mist. It grew into the +shadowy shape of a steamer while he watched it.</p> + +<p>"There's a big vessel close by," he said, touching his companion's arm.</p> + +<p>Harry glanced over his shoulder. "Sure," he nodded. "What's more, she's +coming right along our track. Get in some mainsheet while I luff her."</p> + +<p>He changed the sloop's course a trifle, but in the meanwhile the steamer +was growing in size and distinctness with a marvelous rapidity. Her +great bow seemed to be rising out of the water like a headland, over +which Frank could just see the tiers of white deckhouses, one mast, and +the tall smokestack. Then he glanced forward at the sloop's wet deck and +the low strip of her double-reefed mainsail, looking very small among +the tumbling seas, and it occurred to him that it would probably be +difficult for the steamer's lookout to see them. He felt rather anxious +when he glanced back astern.</p> + +<p>"She still seems to be coming right down on us," he said.</p> + +<p>Harry called his father, who hurried out and glanced at the vessel.</p> + +<p>"Shall we get up and yell?" the boy asked.</p> + +<p>"No," said Mr. Oliver curtly, "they couldn't hear you to windward. Let +her come up farther."</p> + +<p>Frank helped drag some more mainsheet and then looked around again with +a very unpleasant thrill of apprehension. The black bow seemed almost +above them, and the sea leaped against a wall of plates as the great +mass of iron swung slowly out of it and sank down again. Then from +somewhere beside the smoke<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>stack a streak of white steam blew out and a +great reverberatory roar came hurtling about them. Mr. Oliver's anxious +face relaxed.</p> + +<p>"They've seen us," he said. "Her helm's going over."</p> + +<p>The bow drew out and lengthened into an increasing strip of side. +Another mast became visible, with a double row of white deckhouses and a +tier of boats between. Here and there a cluster of diminutive figures +showed up among them, and then the great ship sped by with the whole of +her size revealed. The sloop plunged madly on her screw-torn wake, but +in another minute or two she had drawn away and was melting into the +haze again.</p> + +<p>"A big boat," said Mr. Oliver. "She was very close to us. You had better +keep your eyes open while I get dinner."</p> + +<p>The rest of the dismal day passed uneventfully, but toward evening the +haze commenced to roll aside and they saw blurred black pines looming up +ahead of them. A little later they ran into Victoria harbor, and, hiring +a Siwash to take them ashore, walked through the streets of what struck +Frank as a very handsome city until they reached a hotel. Here they +ordered supper, and after the meal was over the boys, who had changed +their clothes, sat with Mr. Oliver in the almost deserted smoking room. +He seemed to be expecting somebody, which somewhat astonished Frank, but +he noticed that Harry smiled meaningly when Mr. Barclay walked in. He +was dressed in light-colored sporting garments, with a belt around his +waist and a leather patch on one shoulder, and there were gaudy trout +flies stuck in his little cloth cap. He threw the cap on the table +before he shook hands with Mr. Oliver and the boys, smiling as he caught +Harry's eye.</p> + +<p>"Well," he asked, indicating the flies, "what do you think of them?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>Harry grinned again as he laid his finger on one.</p> + +<p>"You're not going to get many trout with that fellow, unless they've +different habits in British Columbia. They won't come on for quite a +while."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay removed the fly and put it into a wallet.</p> + +<p>"Thanks," he said. "It's some time since I did any fishing." Then he +seemed to notice the manner in which the boy was surveying his clothing. +"It's a sport's get-up, but are you acquainted with any reason why a +United States citizen shouldn't get a little innocent amusement catching +Canadian trout?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," answered Harry coolly. "Still, there are quite a few trout in +the rivers on the American side of the boundary. It makes one wonder if +you had anything else in view besides fishing in coming to British +Columbia."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay regarded him with an air of ironical reproof.</p> + +<p>"In a general way, young man, it's most unwise to blurt the thing right +out when you have a suspicion in your mind. It's better to let it stay +there until you have good cause to act on it." He turned to Mr. Oliver. +"I'm inclined to doubt the advisability of leaving your sloop lying +where she is in full view of the wharf."</p> + +<p>"Then you recognized her?"</p> + +<p>"At a glance. The trouble is that there are one or two acquaintances of +yours who might do the same."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver looked thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"I've been considering that, but it was getting dark when we ran in, and +we had better move the first thing to-morrow. Now with this unsettled +weather I'm not very keen on sailing up the west coast, which is open to +the Pacific, and the place we are bound for is rather a long way."</p> + +<p>"Then go east," advised Mr. Barclay. "There are a number of inlets on +that side of the island within easy reach of the railroad, and you ought +to reach the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> nearest of them in a few hours. I'll go on with the cars +to-morrow, and if you don't get in at one of the way stations, I'll wait +for you at Wellington. Then we could cross to the west coast by the +Alberni stage and hire a couple of Indians and a sea canoe. It wouldn't +be a long run from there."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver agreed to this, and getting up early next morning, they +slipped out of the harbor, and some hours afterward crept into a +forest-girt inlet, where they left the sloop. There was a depot nearby, +and getting on board the cars when the next train came in, they found +Mr. Barclay awaiting them. Early in the afternoon they alighted at a +little wooden, colliery town, and next day they crossed the island in +the stage over a very rough trail which led through tremendous forests. +Once they passed a wonderful blue lake lying deep-sunk between steep +walls of hills. Then they crossed a divide and came winding down into a +valley with water flashing at the foot of it. It was evening when they +arrived at a straggling settlement on the banks of a riband of salt +water twisting away among the forest-shrouded hills, and found several +Indians there who had come up in their sea canoes.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver hired a couple of them, and they started after they had +purchased a few stores. A light, pine-scented breeze was blowing down +the valley when they thrust the canoe off from the shingle. They had no +sooner done so, however, when the dog arose with a deep growl which +indicated that he objected to the Indians going with them. As his +actions did not seem to have the desired effect he seized the nearest +Indian by the leg, and it was only when Harry belabored him with a +paddle that he could be induced to let go. Then he barked at them +savagely until Frank drew him down upon his knee with a hand about his +neck, while the Siwash raised two little masts. In the meanwhile the boy +watched the men with interest, and decided that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> they had very little in +common with the prairie Indians he had seen in pictures and from the +cars.</p> + +<p>They were dressed neatly in clothes which had evidently been purchased +at a store, and though their faces were brown and their hair rather +coarse and dark there was nothing else unusual about them. They talked +with Mr. Oliver and Mr. Barclay freely in what Harry said was Chinook, a +readily learned lingua-franca in use on parts of the Pacific Slope. Then +Frank fixed his attention upon the canoe, a long, narrow, and +beautifully shaped craft with the usual tall, bird's-head bow. She was +rather shallow, but Harry said that this made her paddle fast. He added +that though these canoes would sail reasonably well when the breeze was +fair the Indians usually drove them to windward with the paddle unless +the sea was too heavy, in which case they generally made for the beach +and pulled the craft out.</p> + +<p>Frank remembered that this, or something like it, was the ancient +practice, and that it was only by slow degrees that man had discovered +he could still make the wind propel his vessel to its destination when +it blew from ahead. Greek and Roman triremes, Alexandrian wheat ships, +and Viking galleys, had made wonderful voyages, and they all carried +sail, but they set it only when the wind was fair. When it drew ahead +they stowed their canvas and thrashed the lean hull through the seas +with their long oars. Now, after perfecting his vessel's under-water +body, inventing the center board, and learning how to make flat-setting +sails, man was going back to the old-time plan, only that instead of +relying upon the muscle of close-packed rowers he used improved +propellers, tri-compound reciprocators and turbines.</p> + +<p>One of the Siwash shook out the two spritsails which sat on a pole +stretching up to the peak from the foot of the mast, and when he had led +the sheets aft his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> companion knelt astern with a paddle held over the +gunwale. Slanting gently down to the faint breeze, the craft slid away +through the smooth, green water with a long ripple running back behind +her. The log houses dropped astern and were lost among the trees, a +valley filled with somber forest, and a rampart of tall hillside, +slipped by, and as they crept on from point to point the strip of still +water stretched away before them between somber ranks of climbing trees.</p> + +<p>Frank had no idea how far they had gone when the light began to fail, +though he fancied that the shallow craft, now slipping forward so +smoothly, was sailing a good deal faster than she seemed to be. At +length one of the Siwash loosened the sheets and stowed the sails, while +his companion turned the bows toward the beach. She slid in and grounded +gently on a bank of shingle in a little cove, where a gigantic forest +crept down to the water. They got out and ran her up, filled their +kettle at a tinkling creek, hewed resinous chips from a fallen fir, and +built a fire. Then they cut armfuls of thin spruce branches with which +to make their beds, and presently sat down to an ample supper.</p> + +<p>When it was over the Indians went down to the canoe, and Mr. Oliver and +Mr. Barclay drew a little apart from the boys. Frank, lying near Harry +beneath a big cedar, raised himself up on one elbow and watched the +firelight flicker upon the mighty trunks. On the one hand they were lost +in the gloom of the dense mass of dusky foliage, but on the other their +great branches cut against the sky, which was still softly blue, and a +blaze of silver radiance stretched across the water, for a half-moon had +just sailed up above the opposite hill. Out of the silence there stole a +faint whispering from the tops of the taller trees and the languid +lapping of water among the stones, but there was no other sound, and +once more Frank was glad that he had not exchanged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> the stillness of the +wilderness for the turmoil of the cities. He had now definitely decided +to become a rancher.</p> + +<p>It grew colder by and by, and wrapping his blanket around him, he +wriggled down closer among the yielding spruce twigs. The great trunks +grew dimmer and the smoke wisps which drifted among them became less +distinct. By degrees they all grew mixed together—a confusion of +sliding vapor and spectral trees—and he was conscious of nothing more.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE STRANGER</span></h2> + + +<p>A couple of days later the party pitched their camp in the depths of a +lonely valley sloping to the Pacific, which was not far away. It was +filled with great redwoods, balsams and cedars, and as Frank gazed at +the endless rows of towering trunks it struck him as curious that Mr. +Oliver's friend should think of buying this tract of giant forest for +ranching land. He said so to Harry, who laughed.</p> + +<p>"There's no rock or gravel on it and that counts for a good deal," said +his companion. "If the soil looks as if it would grow things, it's about +all the average man expects on this side of the Rockies. A few trees +more or less don't matter. It's the same with us right down the Pacific +Slope; the only difference is that on this island the firs seem just a +little bigger." He appeared to admit the latter fact reluctantly, +adding, "I guess that's because it's wetter in Canada."</p> + +<p>They were standing outside a little tent of the kind most often used in +the Western bush. It was supported by a ridge pole resting at either end +upon two more, which were spread well apart at the bottom and crossed +near the top. A short branch stay stretched back from each pair, and a +few turns of cord lashing held the whole frame together. They had cut +the poles in five minutes in the bush, and had brought the light cotton +cover with them rolled up in a bundle. A good many men in that country +live in such shelters during most of the year. Mr. Barclay sat on one of +the hearth logs which were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> rolled close together in front of the tent +and Mr. Oliver stood in the entrance.</p> + +<p>"But the place must be such a tremendous way from a market," said Frank +in response to Harry's last remark.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver smiled. "It's not long since I tried to explain that a good +many of the bush ranchers have to wait until the market comes to them. +They stake their dollars and a number of years of hard work on the +future of the country."</p> + +<p>"Some of them get badly left now and then," said Mr. Barclay dryly. +"You'll find laid-out townsites that have never grown up all along the +Pacific Slope. There are stores and hotels falling to pieces in one or +two I've struck." Then changing the subject: "Are you boys coming across +with me to the river for some fishing to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>They said that they would be glad to do so, and Mr. Barclay turned to +Mr. Oliver. "We'll give you another two days to finish your surveying, +and then we'll meet you at the rancherie on the inlet we spoke of. We +can camp in the bush outside the tent for a couple of nights."</p> + +<p>They started early the next morning, taking one Indian with them to pack +their provisions, and the dog, who insisted on accompanying them. They +were plodding along a hillside toward noon when Mr. Barclay, who was +walking in front with their guide, looked back at the boys.</p> + +<p>"Get hold of the dog as soon as we stop and keep him quiet," he +cautioned.</p> + +<p>After that they moved forward in silence for some minutes while the +trees grew thinner ahead of them, until Mr. Barclay stopped behind a +brake of undergrowth. The dog broke into a short, throaty bark and then +growled hoarsely until Frank knelt beside him and laid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> a hand upon his +collar. When he had quieted the animal, who by degrees had become +attached to him, he arose and found he could look down upon a narrow +slit of valley into which the sunlight poured. A creek swirled through +the bottom of it, and he was astonished to see a swarm of blue-clad +figures toiling with grubhoe and shovel upon its banks, and a cluster of +bark shelters in the widest part of the hollow.</p> + +<p>"Chinamen!" he said. "What can they be doing? One never would have +expected to find a colony of them here."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay smiled in a somewhat curious fashion.</p> + +<p>"They're washing gold. It's a remarkably simple process, if you're +willing to work hard enough. You shovel out the soil and sand and keep +on washing it until it's all washed away. Any gold there is remains in +the bottom of the pan."</p> + +<p>"But if there's gold in that creek, how is it there are no white men +about?"</p> + +<p>"Probably because they couldn't make wages. There's a little gold in a +number of the creeks right down the Slope, but where the quantity's very +small nobody but a Chinaman finds it worth while to look for it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay sat down and spent some minutes apparently carefully +watching the blue-clad figures toiling in the sunlight below, after +which he got up and signaled for them to go on again. The boys, however, +dropped a little behind, and presently Harry gave his companion a nudge.</p> + +<p>"I guess you noticed that when you said one wouldn't have expected to +find those Chinamen here Barclay didn't answer it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Frank thoughtfully. "I suppose you mean he wasn't astonished +when he saw them?"</p> + +<p>"You've hit it, first time," Harry assented. "That man's on the trail, +and though I can't tell you exactly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> who he's getting after, I've my +ideas." He paused with a chuckle. "I'm not sure now he's quite so much +of a stuffed image as he seemed to be."</p> + +<p>Frank said nothing in answer to this. A few minutes later Harry touched +his arm as Mr. Barclay, turning suddenly, shouted:</p> + +<p>"Get hold of the dog!"</p> + +<p>Frank grabbed at the animal's collar but missed it, and the next moment +the dog had vanished. Then there was a crash in the bush, and a +beautiful slender creature with long legs and little horns shot out from +behind a thicket and flung itself high into the air. It fell again, this +time with scarcely a sound, into a clump of fern, rose out of it, and in +a wonderful bound cleared a fallen trunk with broken branches projecting +from it. Then it was lost in another thicket and the dog's harsh barking +rang through the silence of the woods. Once or twice again Frank caught +a momentary glimpse of a marvelously agile creature rising and falling +among the undergrowth, and then there was only the yelping of the dog +which became fainter and fainter and finally broke out at irregular +intervals. Mr. Barclay sat down upon the fallen trees.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we'll have to wait until that amiable pet of yours comes +back," he said. "On the whole it's fortunate the deer broke out now +instead of a quarter of an hour earlier."</p> + +<p>They waited a considerable time before the dog crept up to them wagging +his ragged tail in a disappointed manner. Harry shook his fishing rod at +him threateningly.</p> + +<p>"I'd lay into you good, only it wouldn't be any use," he said. "The more +you're whacked, the worse you get."</p> + +<p>The dog wagged his tail again and jumped upon Frank, who patted him +before they resumed the march.</p> + +<p>"It's rather curious, but that's the first deer I've seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> since I've +been in the country," he said. "Do they always jump like that?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry, "in a general way they are quite hard to see, and +you can walk right past one without noticing it when it's standing +still. Their colors match the trunks and the fern, and, what's more +important, it's not often you can see the whole of them. In fact, I've +struck as many deer by accident as I've done when I've been trailing +them. Now and then you almost walk right up to one, though I haven't the +least notion how it is they don't hear you, because as a rule the one +you're trailing will leave you out of sight in a few moments if you snap +a twig. Anyway, a scared deer goes over whatever lies in front of him. +There are very few things he can't jump, and he comes down almost +without a sound."</p> + +<p>The rest of the journey proved uneventful, and early in the evening they +made camp on the banks of a frothing river which swept out of the shadow +crystal clear. In this it differed, as Harry explained, from most of the +larger ones on the Pacific Slope, which are usually fed by melted snow +and stained a faint green. Mr. Barclay, whose boots and clothes were +already considerably the worse for wear, sat down beside a swirling pool +and took out his pipe.</p> + +<p>"There's no use pitching a fly across it yet, I suppose," he said. "We +may as well get supper before we start."</p> + +<p>The Siwash prepared the meal and remained behind with Mr. Barclay when +it was over, while the two boys went down stream with a rod he had lent +them which Harry insisted Frank should take. There were, he urged, +plenty of trout in the river near his father's ranch, though it was very +seldom he had leisure to go after them. They wandered on some distance +beside the water, which ran almost west toward the Pacific,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> and +wherever the forest was a little thinner the slanting sunrays streaming +between the serried trunks smote along it. Frank, who had, as it +happened, once or twice got a week or two's fishing in the East, kept +his eyes open, but it was only twice that he fancied he noticed the +faint dimple made by a short-rising trout.</p> + +<p>"I'd have expected to find a river of this kind thick with fish," he +said.</p> + +<p>"There's sure to be a good many in it," answered Harry. "You wait about +another half hour."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with starting now?" urged Frank. "Isn't that one +rising in the slack yonder?"</p> + +<p>"See if you can get him," said Harry, smiling.</p> + +<p>Frank swung the rod, straining every effort to make a neat, clean cast, +and he succeeded. The flies dropped lightly about a foot above the +dimple made by the fish, and swept down stream across the spot where he +had reason to suppose it was waiting. There was no response, however, +and nothing broke the rippling surface when the flies floated down a +second time. Frank laid down the rod.</p> + +<p>"It's curious," he murmured.</p> + +<p>Harry laughed. "Hold on a little. You've seen three fish rising now, and +that's quite out of the common."</p> + +<p>Frank sat down again, and waited until the sunlight faded off the river +and the firs about it suddenly grew blacker. Soon afterward what seemed +an almost solid cloud of tiny insects drifted along the surface of the +water, which was immediately broken by multitudinous splashes.</p> + +<p>"Now you can begin," said Harry.</p> + +<p>Frank, clambering to a ledge of rock, swung his rod, and as the flies +swept across an eddy there was a splash and a swirl and a sudden +tightening of the line. He got the butt down as the winch commenced to +clink, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> Harry waded out into the stream lower down, holding his wide +hat.</p> + +<p>"Let him run, but keep a strain on," he cried. "You've got a big one."</p> + +<p>The fish fought for three or four minutes, gleaming, a streak of silver, +through the shadowy flood, as it showed its side, then sprang clear and +changed again to a half-seen dusky shape that drove violently here and +there. Then it came up toward the bending point of the rod, and at +length Harry, slipping his hat beneath it, lifted it out.</p> + +<p>"Nearly three quarters of a pound," he said. "Your trace is clear now. +Try again, and never mind about the slack and eddies. Pitch your flies +anywhere."</p> + +<p>Frank did so, and they had scarcely fallen when there was a second rush, +but this fish seemed smaller and he dragged it out unceremoniously upon +the shingle. It was the same the next cast, and for a while he was kept +desperately busy. When at length he laid the rod down Harry announced +that they had a dozen fish.</p> + +<p>"We'll try the next pool now," he added. "Some of these trout aren't +half a pound and I'd like you to get a real big one."</p> + +<p>The next pool proved to be some distance away and there was nothing but +rock and foaming water between, but when they reached a slacker place +where the current circled around a deep basin Frank had four or five +more minutes' fishing, during which he landed several trout. Then the +flies seemed to vanish and there was scarcely a splash on the shadowy +water.</p> + +<p>"You may as well put the rod up," Harry advised. "It's a sure thing you +won't get another."</p> + +<p>Frank tried for a few minutes, but finding his companion's prediction +justified, sat down near him among the roots of a big fir. At the foot +of the pool where he had been fishing the stream swept furiously +between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> big scattered boulders in a wild white rapid. It was narrower +there, and a ledge of rock, slightly hollowed out underneath, rose above +it on the side on which they sat a little more than a hundred yards +away. The woods were now darkening fast, and the chill of the dew was in +the air, which was heavy with the scent of redwood and cedar. In places +the water still glimmered faintly, and except for the roar it made, +everything was very still.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Harry pointed to the dog, who was lying near Frank.</p> + +<p>"Get hold of him," he said in a low voice. "If nothing else will keep +him quiet, we'll roll your jacket round his head."</p> + +<p>Frank, who had taken off his jacket, which was badly torn, when he began +fishing, laid his hand on the dog as it arose with a low growl. Then as +it tried to break away from him he seized its collar and held on with +all his might while Harry flung the jacket over it. Though the thing +cost them an effort they managed to hold the animal still between them. +In the meanwhile there was a crackle of undergrowth and Frank saw a man +who walked in a rather curious manner move out from the shadow. Even +when he was clear of the overhanging branches it was impossible to see +him distinctly, but Frank recognized him with a start. There was +something wrong with one of the dark figure's shoulders.</p> + +<p>The man moved on away from them, until he stopped at the edge of the +overhanging rock, where he stood for a moment or two. Then he leaped out +suddenly and alighted on the top of a boulder about which the white +froth whirled. Frank fancied that only a very powerful person could have +safely made such a leap, and there was no doubt that whatever it was +that had caused the man's unusual gait, it had not affected his agility. +The next moment, he jumped again, and, coming down rather more than +knee-deep in the rapid,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> floundered through it and vanished into the +shadow beneath the trees. Then Harry looked around at his companion with +a smile.</p> + +<p>"I'll own up that Barclay's smart, after all," he said. "He's sure on +the trail. Anyway, perhaps we'd better head back to camp in case some +more of them come along."</p> + +<p>It was quite dark when they reached the fire the Siwash had made and +found Mr. Barclay, who now seemed rather wet as well as ragged, sitting +beside it with his pipe in his hand. When they had compared their fish +with those he had killed they lay down among the withered needles on the +opposite side of the fire.</p> + +<p>"It's good fishing, sir, but you must be very keen to come so far for +it," said Harry, looking up innocently at Mr. Barclay.</p> + +<p>The red light of the fire was on Mr. Barclay's face and Frank saw that +he glanced thoughtfully at Harry.</p> + +<p>"It certainly is," he answered. "I believe you have already said +something very much like your last remark. Still, you see, I don't +propose to come often."</p> + +<p>Frank suppressed a chuckle. If Harry had intended to surprise the man +into some admission he had not succeeded yet.</p> + +<p>"And we go on to the rancherie in a couple of days," Harry added. "From +what the Indians told me I don't think we'd get any fishing there. +Wouldn't it be better to stay here a little longer?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mr. Barclay, "quite apart from the difficulty of sending your +father word, what you suggest doesn't strike me as advisable, for one or +two reasons."</p> + +<p>Harry seemed to realize that he was making no progress, and, looking +meaningly at Frank, suddenly changed his tactics.</p> + +<p>"There's something I should perhaps have told you, sir, though I don't +know whether it will interest you. Anyway, not long ago Frank and I were +up at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> Chinese colony behind the settlement near our ranch. Perhaps +you have been there?"</p> + +<p>"I've heard of it," said Barclay dryly.</p> + +<p>Then in a few words Harry described how the man they had endeavored to +trail had vanished at the Chinaman's shack, and Frank saw a look of +eager interest cross Mr. Barclay's usually stolid face.</p> + +<p>"You suggest that the fellow didn't want you to see him?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"That was certainly how it struck me."</p> + +<p>"And he walked rather curiously and one shoulder seemed a little higher +than the other? I think you mentioned that?"</p> + +<p>"I did," repeated Harry.</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay seemed to reflect, but there was now sign of deeper interest +in his expression.</p> + +<p>"Did you notice whether he had red hair and gray eyes?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry with a grin, "though I can't be sure about it, I've a +notion that his hair was dark. As it happened, I only saw his back, but +I'd know the man again." He paused impressively. "In fact, I hadn't the +least trouble about it when I saw him half an hour ago."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay started and there was no doubt that he was astonished at +this.</p> + +<p>"You ran up against him here!"</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry, "I only watched him from behind a fir. He crossed the +creek heading south and didn't notice us."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay settled back again and seemed lost in thought. "After all," +he said shortly, "it's possible."</p> + +<p>Then he changed the subject and they talked about fishing until the fire +died down, when they spread their blankets upon their couches of soft +spruce twigs.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE SCHOONER REAPPEARS</span></h2> + + +<p>It was early in the evening when after a toilsome march Mr. Barclay and +the boys reached a Siwash rancherie built just above high-water mark on +the pebbly beach of a sheltered inlet. Frank had already discovered that +the northern part of the Pacific Slope is a land of majestic beauty, but +he had so far seen nothing quite so wild and rugged as the surroundings +of the Indian dwelling. Behind it, a great rock fell almost sheer, +leaving only room for a breadth of shingle between its feet and the +strip of clear green water. On the opposite side mighty firs climbed the +face of a towering hill so steep that Frank wondered how they clung to +it, and at the head of the tremendous chasm a crystal stream came +splashing out of eternal shadow. Seaward a wet reef guarded the inlet's +mouth, with its outer edge hidden by spouts of snowy foam, upon which +the big Pacific rollers broke continually, ranging up in tall green +walls and crumbling upon the stony barrier with a deep vibratory roar +which rang in long pulsations across the stately pines.</p> + +<p>The rancherie was a long and rather ramshackle, single-storied, wooden +building not unlike a frame barn, only lower, and Frank discovered that +although it was inhabited by the whole Siwash colony there were no +divisions in it, but each inmate or family claimed its allotted space +upon the floor. A tall pole rudely carved with grotesque figures stood +in front of it, and it occurred to Frank as he inspected them that he +was face to face with the rudiments of heraldry. The nobles of ancient<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +Europe, he remembered, blazoned devices of this kind upon their shields, +and their descendants still painted their lions and griffins and eagles +upon their carriages and stamped them upon their note paper. He was +probably right in his surmises, though there are different views upon +the subject of totem poles, and the Siwash, who ought to know most about +them, seem singularly unwilling to supply inquirers with any reliable +information.</p> + +<p>A group of brown-faced, black-haired men and women dressed much as white +folks stood about the rancherie, and near them were ranged rows of +shallow trays of bark containing drying berries. Frank noticed that the +woods were full of the latter—hat berries, salmon berries, and splendid +black and yellow raspberries. Several big sea canoes were drawn up at +the edge of the water, and Mr. Oliver sat near one of them with another +cluster of Siwash gathered about him. They had spread a number of +peltries out upon the stones, which Mr. Oliver explained were seal +skins. Frank examined one, and found it difficult to believe that this +coarse, greasy, and nastily smelling hair was the material out of which +the beautiful glossy furs were made. He confided his views to Harry.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the latter, "they're not much to look at now. They have to +go through quite a lot of dressing, and I've heard that in the first +place all the long outside hair is plucked out. There's an inner coat." +He looked at the men. "It's done in England, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay smiled. "A good deal of it is, anyway." Then he addressed +Mr. Oliver. "You're buying some of these peltries?"</p> + +<p>"One or two," was the answer. "We want an excuse for this visit."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay made a sign of assent, and after chaffering with the Indians +for a few moments Mr. Oliver broke in again: "They're cheap, that's +sure. I suppose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> these fellows would rather sell them on the spot for +dollars down than pack them along down to Alberni or some other place +where they'd probably have to take grocery stores in payment. If you're +open to make a deal we'll take two or three between us. We ought to get +our money back with something over in Victoria."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver kept up the bargaining for a while, and then explained that +he and his companion did not care for the rest of the skins, which were +inferior to those they had chosen. One of the Siwash thereupon informed +him that more canoes were expected in a day or two, adding that he would +probably be able to show them further peltries if they could wait their +arrival.</p> + +<p>"Tell him we'll stay," said Mr. Barclay. "At the same time you had +better ask him if there's any likelihood of our getting down to Victoria +by water. You can say we've had about enough crawling through the +bush—it's a fact that <i>I</i> have—and lead up to the question naturally."</p> + +<p>Frank, observing a twinkle in Harry's eyes, watched the Indians' faces +when Mr. Oliver addressed them, but they remained perfectly +expressionless.</p> + +<p>"I can't get anything out of them about the schooner," Mr. Oliver +reported at length. "This fellow says the easiest way would be to send +our Indians back for the canoe, which I'll do. It's possible that we may +chance upon a little more information later on."</p> + +<p>"Where do they get the skins?" Frank asked presently, when the Indians +had left them.</p> + +<p>"That's a point they don't seem much inclined to talk about," Mr. +Barclay answered. "They probably follow them in their canoes as they +work up north, though it's only odd seals they pick up in that way. The +principal supply comes from the Pribyloff Islands up in the Bering Sea. +It's supposed that with the exception of a few which frequent some reefs +lying nearer Russian Asia practically all the seals in the North<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +Pacific haul out there for two or three months every year. The American +lessees club them on the land, but the crews of the Canadian schooners +kill a number in open water outside our limit. They claim that although +the seals are born on American beaches we don't own them when they're in +the sea, but, as it's suggested that they're not always very particular +about their exact distance from the islands, their proceedings make +trouble every now and then. I'm talking about the fur seals; there are +several other kinds which are more or less common everywhere."</p> + +<p>He broke off and sat smoking silently for a while, looking at the skins.</p> + +<p>"They seem to have taken your fancy," Mr. Oliver observed presently.</p> + +<p>"It's a fact," Mr. Barclay assented. "I was just thinking I'd like to +take that big one and the other yonder home with me. My daughter Minnie +visits East in the winter now and then, and she's fond of furs, though +so far I haven't been able to buy her any particularly smart ones. +There's a man I know in Portland who can fix up a skin as well as any +one in London. He was a good many years in Alaska trading furs for the +A. C. C., and some of the Russians who stayed behind there taught him to +dress them."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver laughed. "I suppose the thing is quite out of the question?"</p> + +<p>"It is," said Mr. Barclay dryly. "You ought to know that the United +States charges a big duty on foreign furs."</p> + +<p>"On foreign ones!" broke in Harry, nudging Frank. "A seal born on an +American beach could certainly be considered an American seal."</p> + +<p>"When you import goods into the United States you require a certificate +of origin, young man."</p> + +<p>"That fixes the thing," said Harry. "On your own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> showing, those seals +originated on the Pribyloffs. They're American."</p> + +<p>"Ingenious!" exclaimed Mr. Barclay, with a longing glance at the skins. +"There's some reason in that contention, but won't you go on? You don't +seem to have got through yet."</p> + +<p>"In case you felt justified in taking a skin or two," continued Harry +thoughtfully, "I'd like to point out that, as a rule, the Customs +fellows don't trouble about a sloop the size of ours. We just run up to +our moorings when we come back from a yachting trip, and there's a nice +little nook forward which would just hold a bundle of those peltries. +It's hidden beneath the second cable."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay picked up a piece of shingle and flung it at him.</p> + +<p>"You can stop right now before you get yourself into difficulties. What +do you mean by proposing a smuggling deal to a man connected with the +United States revenue?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," Harry answered with a chuckle. "I should have waited until +the rest had gone."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay regarded him severely, though his eyes twinkled.</p> + +<p>"Your smartness is going to make trouble for you by and by," he said. +"Go and see what that Siwash is doing about our supper."</p> + +<p>Harry moved away, but presently came back to announce that the meal was +ready. When it was over the boys strolled off toward the reef, leaving +the men sitting smoking on the beach.</p> + +<p>"That boy of yours told me what seemed a rather curious thing last +night," said Mr. Barclay, and he briefly ran over what Harry had related +about the man with the peculiar shoulder.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver listened in evident astonishment.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>"It's the first time I've heard of the matter," he exclaimed. "What do +you make of it?"</p> + +<p>"In the meanwhile I don't quite know what to think. If that man is boss +of the gang it explains a good deal that has been puzzling me, but I +must own it's considerably more than I expected. The general idea was +that he'd cleared out of the country, which would have been a very +natural course in view of the fact that he'd probably have been +sandbagged if he'd show himself after dark on any wharf of two of the +coast states. Anyway, your son's description was quite straight. He +seemed sure of him."</p> + +<p>"Harry's eyes are as good as yours or mine," said Mr. Oliver with a +smile. Mr. Barclay wrinkled his brow.</p> + +<p>"There's a point that struck me—though I can't say if it explains the +thing. The boy's only young yet, he has imagination and, it's possible, +a fondness for detective literature, like the rest of them. Now we'll +assume that he had heard of a certain sensational case—a particularly +grewsome crime on board an American ship—and the arrest of the rascal +accused of it. I needn't point out that the fellow only escaped on a +technical point of law and that his picture figured in some of the +papers. Isn't that the kind of thing that's likely to make a marked +impression on the youthful mind?"</p> + +<p>"I can see two objections," responded Mr. Oliver. "In the first place, +Harry was away in Idaho while the case was going on. The second one's +more important. Harry might try to put the laugh on you, as he did not +long ago, but when he makes a concise statement it's to be relied upon. +In such a case I've never known him to let his imagination run away with +him."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay spread his hands out in a deprecatory manner.</p> + +<p>"Then we'll take the thing for granted, and it certainly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> simplifies the +affair. I'd no trouble in finding the Chinese colony, and though I've no +idea how they get the dope, that doesn't matter. The point is that it's +very seldom anybody is likely to disturb them in this part of the bush, +and there are two inlets handy. A schooner could slip in here a dozen +times without being noticed by anybody except the Siwash. Then we have +the fact that a notorious rascal who has evidently a hand in the thing +was seen heading for the Chinese colony. It seems to me decisive."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do about it?" Mr. Oliver asked.</p> + +<p>"Wait and keep my eyes open. If it appears advisable I may communicate +with the Canadian authorities later on, though, of course, we must +contrive to get our hands on the fellows in American waters. I've an +idea it can be done."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver said nothing further, and by and by, when a thin haze rolled +down from the hillside and night closed in, they strolled toward the +rancherie, where they were given a strip of floor space not far from the +entrance. The boys came in a little later and lay down apart from them +and nearer the door, but Frank did not go to sleep. The rancherie was +hot and the dull roar of the combers on the reef came throbbing in and +made him restless. He lay still for what seemed a considerable time, and +at last there was a low sound which might have been made by somebody +rising stealthily, after which a dim black object flitted out of the +door. Then Harry, who lay close to him, touched his arm.</p> + +<p>"Are you asleep?" he asked very softly.</p> + +<p>"No," answered Frank. "Where's that fellow going?"</p> + +<p>"Get out as quietly as you can," was Harry's reply.</p> + +<p>Frank had kept his shirt and trousers on, and after feeling for his +boots he arose cautiously, holding them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> in his hand. In another moment +or two he had slipped out into the cool night air and was crossing the +shingle in his stockinged feet. Once or twice a stone rattled, but he +supposed the sound was lost in the clamor of the reef, for nobody seemed +to hear it. When they had left the rancherie some distance behind they +sat down.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Harry, "I'll tell you my idea. They're expecting the +schooner and don't want her to run in while we're about. They've +probably had a man on the lookout down by the entrance, and I expect the +fellow who went out has been sent by the boss or Tyee to learn if the +other one has seen her."</p> + +<p>"It's curious some of them didn't hear us," Frank observed thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure that they didn't," Harry admitted. "Anyway, they couldn't +stop us without some excuse, and, if I'm right, they certainly wouldn't +want to tell us why they wished us to stay in. Of course," he added, "it +might make them suspicious, but I don't know any reason why we should +point that out to Barclay. The great thing is to keep out of sight in +case they follow us."</p> + +<p>They put on their boots and crept along in the gloom beneath the rock, +heading toward the reefs. A little breeze blew down the hollow, setting +the dark firs to sighing, and part of the inlet lay black in their +shadow. The rest sparkled in the light of a half-moon which had just +risen above the crest of the hill. They could hear the soft splash and +tinkle of water rippling among the stones, but now and then this sound +was drowned as the roar of the reef grew louder and deeper. Presently a +dim, filmy whiteness in front of them resolved itself into a glimmering +spray cloud and fountains of spouting foam, and when at length they +stopped among a cluster of wet boulders they could see a black ridge of +rock thrusting itself out, half buried, into a mad turmoil of frothing +water. It lay in the shadow of the rock, and there was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> no moonlight on +the ghostly combers which came seething down upon it. A little outshore, +however, the sea sparkled with a silvery radiance except where the +shadow of a black head fell upon it. There was not more than a moderate +breeze, but the Pacific surge breaks upon and roars about those reefs +continually.</p> + +<p>A little thrill ran through Frank as he leaned upon one of the wet +boulders. It was the first time he had trodden a Pacific beach, and he +realized that he had now reached the outermost verge of the West. He +could go no farther. The ocean barred his progress, and beyond it lay +different lands, whose dark-skinned peoples spoke in other tongues. The +white man's civilization stopped short where he stood. Then as he +watched the ceaseless shoreward rush of the big combers and looked up at +black rock and climbing pines, a strange delight in the new life he led +crept into his heart. Dusky shadow and silvery moonlight seemed filled +with glamour, and he was learning to love the wilderness as he could +never have loved the cities. Besides, he was there to watch for the +mysterious schooner, and that alone was sufficient to stir him and put a +tension on his nerves. It was more than possible that there were other +watchers hidden somewhere in the gloom.</p> + +<p>He did not know how long they waited, with the salt spray stinging their +faces and the diapason of the surf in their ears, but at last she came, +breaking upon his sight suddenly and strangely, as he felt it was most +fitting that she should do. Her black headsails swept out of the shadow +of the neighboring head, the tall boom-foresail followed, and a second +later he saw the greater spread of her after canvas. She drove on, +growing larger, into a strip of moonlight, when, for the wind was off +the shore, he saw her hull hove up on the side toward him, with the +water flashing beneath it and frothing white at her bows.</p> + +<p>"She's close-hauled," said Harry. "They'll stretch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> across to the other +side and then put the helm down and let her reach in. It's a mighty +awkward place to make when the wind's blowing out."</p> + +<p>She plunged once more into the shadow, but Frank could still see her +more or less plainly—a tall, slanted mass of canvas flitting swiftly +through the dusky blueness of the night. She edged close in with the +reef, still carrying everything except her main gaff-topsail, and then +as her headsails swept across the entrance the splash of a paddle +reached the boys faintly through the clamor of the surf and they heard a +hoarse shout.</p> + +<p>"There's a canoe yonder," announced Harry. "The Siwash in her is hailing +them. They've heard him. Her peak's coming down."</p> + +<p>A clatter of blocks broke out and the upper half of the tall mainsail +suddenly collapsed. Then the schooner's bows swung around a little until +they pointed to the seething froth upon the opposite beach.</p> + +<p>"What are they doing?" Frank asked. "She's going straight ashore."</p> + +<p>Harry laughed excitedly. "No," he said, "that Siwash has told them to +clear out again, and it will want smart work to get her round in this +narrow water. They've dropped the mainsail peak because she wouldn't +fall off fast enough."</p> + +<p>Frank watched her eagerly for the next moment or two. Her bows were +swinging around, but they were swinging slowly, and the beach with the +white surf upon it seemed ominously close ahead. He saw two black +figures go scrambling forward and haul the staysail to windward, but she +was still forging across the inlet. Then her bows fell off a little +farther, the trailing gaff swung out with a bang, and Frank saw the +masts fall into line with him and a bent figure behind the deckhouse +struggling with the wheel. In another moment her mainsail came over with +a crash and she was flitting out to sea again.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>"Now," cried Harry, "back up the beach for your life! We're going in +swimming!"</p> + +<p>"You can do what you like," grunted Frank. "I'm heading straight for the +rancherie."</p> + +<p>"After the swim," urged Harry. "Get a move on and loose your things as +you run. I'll explain later."</p> + +<p>He ran on, flinging off his clothes, and plunged into the water when +they drew near the rancherie. In another moment or two Frank waded in +after him and was glad he had done so when he heard the soft splash of a +canoe paddle somewhere in the gloom. He fancied that the Siwash would +see them, which, as he realized, was what Harry had desired. They were +some distance from the mouth of the inlet and he did not think the +schooner would have been visible from the spot, which led him to believe +that if the Indians had noticed their absence their present occupation +might serve as an excuse for it.</p> + +<p>He did not see the canoe reach the beach, but in two or three minutes +Harry suggested that they might as well go out, and putting on some of +their clothes they made for the rancherie. Creeping into it softly, they +lay down and soon afterward went to sleep.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A TEST OF ENDURANCE</span></h2> + + +<p>The boys were sitting on the beach next morning after breakfast when Mr. +Oliver looked across at Harry, who had not yet said anything about their +adventures.</p> + +<p>"What were you two doing last night?" he asked casually.</p> + +<p>Harry started. "Then you heard us?"</p> + +<p>"I did," said his father. "You were out of the door before I quite +realized what was going on, and it didn't seem altogether wise to +commence talking when you came back, but that's not the point. You +haven't answered my question."</p> + +<p>"We went in swimming," Harry informed him with a grin.</p> + +<p>"Considering that most people would prefer to swim in daylight, I wonder +if you had any particular reason for choosing the middle of the night?" +mused Mr. Oliver thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," was Harry's answer. "I've a notion it was rather a good one. +I wanted the Siwash to see us in the water, because it would explain the +thing. There were at least two of them about the beach, though only one +left the rancherie after we came into it."</p> + +<p>"Then the fellow must have gone out a good deal more quietly than you +did, because I didn't hear him. I suppose you felt you had to get after +him and see what he was doing?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay smiled and waved his hand.</p> + +<p>"Sure," he broke in. "The temptation would be irre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>sistible. What else +would you expect from two enterprising youngsters like these, who have +no doubt been studying detective literature and the exploits of other +young men in the brave old jayhawking days?"</p> + +<p>A flush crept into Harry's face, but he answered quietly:</p> + +<p>"Well, it's perhaps as well we went, because I can tell you what the +Siwash were watching for. We saw the schooner."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay gave a sudden start and cast a significant glance at Mr. +Oliver.</p> + +<p>"The dramatic climax! There's no doubt you have sprung it upon us +smartly, but now you have worked it off you can go ahead with the tale."</p> + +<p>Harry told him what they had seen and when he had finished Mr. Barclay +seemed to be considering the matter ponderously. Then he turned to Mr. +Oliver.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me there's nothing more to keep us here."</p> + +<p>"No," said the rancher. "On the other hand, it might, perhaps, be better +if we waited until those canoes arrive—if it's only for the look of the +thing."</p> + +<p>His companion made a sign of agreement and neither one said anything +further on the subject. The boys lounged about the beach and gathered +delicious berries in the woods most of the day, and on the following day +two more canoes ran in. Their crews had, however, traded off their +peltries somewhere else, and shortly after their arrival Mr. Oliver and +his party left the inlet in the canoe which he had sent the Indians back +to bring. The weather had changed in the night, and when they paddled +down the strip of sheltered water their ears were filled with the clamor +of the surf, and the hillsides were lost in thin drizzle and sliding +mist. A filmy spray cloud hung about the entrance, and beyond it big, +gray combers tipped with froth came rolling up in long succession. The +sight of them affected Frank disagreeably, and he was not astonished +when Mr. Oliver, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> spoke to one of the Indians, suggested that he and +Harry had better help with the spare paddles until they were far enough +off shore to get the masts up.</p> + +<p>Frank found it hard enough work, for the sea was almost ahead and the +canoe lurched viciously, pitching her bows out. The crag beyond the +inlet, however, still slightly sheltered them, and straining at the +paddle with the rain in their faces they made shift to drive her over +the big, gray-sided ridges, though every now and then the frothing top +of one came splashing in. At length one of the Siwash lifted the short +mast forward into its place, and thrusting in the sprit, shook loose the +sail. His companion, who knelt aft gripping a long-bladed paddle, seized +the sheet, and the craft, gathering speed, headed out toward the point +to lee of them. When she had cleared it the Siwash raised a second mast +farther aft, and setting the sail upon it, slacked both sheets, after +which the canoe drove away at what seemed to Frank an astonishing pace. +As a matter of fact, she was traveling very fast, for a narrow, +shallow-bodied craft of that kind is very speedy so long as the wind is +more or less behind her.</p> + +<p>Sitting with his back against her hove-up weather side he noticed rather +uneasily that the opposite one was almost level with the brine. Then he +glanced astern at the combers that followed them, and was by no means +comforted by the sight. They were unlike the short, tumbling waves he +had seen already in land-locked water, for they were larger and longer, +and swept up with a kind of stately swing until they broke into seething +foam. Their rise and fall seemed measured, and they rolled on in their +ceaseless march in well-ordered ranks. It struck him that the canoe was +carrying a dangerous press of sail, but nobody else appeared disturbed, +and he admitted that the Indians probably knew how much it was safe to +spread.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>"Isn't she making a great pace?" he asked of Mr. Oliver, who sat nearest +him.</p> + +<p>"Yes," was the answer, "I've made two or three trips in these canoes, +but I never saw one driven quite so hard. These fellows are probably +afraid the breeze will freshen up, and want to get as far as possible +before it does."</p> + +<p>They ran on for a couple of hours, seeing nothing but the ranks of +tumbling combers, except at intervals when the haze thinned a little and +they made out a shadowy mass which might have been high and rocky land +over the port side. In the meanwhile the seas were steadily getting +bigger, and a good deal of water came in at irregular intervals. By and +by, the boys were kept busy bailing it out, and the Indian who was not +steering held the sheet of the larger sail.</p> + +<p>At length, when the tops of two or three seas splashed in over the +foam-washed stern in quick succession, the helmsman raised his hand and +there was a wild thrashing as his companion loosened the after-sheet. +Rolling the sail together he flung the mast down, and the canoe ran on +with only the forward one set, which seemed to Frank quite sufficient. +The sea was on her quarter, and each comber that came up boiled about +her in a great surge of foam, and heaved her up before it left her to +sink dizzily into the hollow. Each time she did so Frank was conscious +of a curious and unpleasant feeling in his interior.</p> + +<p>He had, however, no difficulty in eating his share of the crackers and +canned provisions Mr. Oliver presently handed around, and after that he +was kept too busy bailing to notice anything until late in the afternoon +when he heard the two Indians muttering to one another. The result of +the discussion was that one of them pulled the sprit out, and folding +down the peak left only a small three-cornered strip of sail. Frank +under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>stood the cause for this when he glanced at the seas, which looked +alarmingly big. It was disconcerting to realize that they could take no +more sail off the canoe unless they lowered the mast altogether, and +where the beach was he could not tell. He had seen no sign of it for the +last two hours, and it was now raining viciously hard.</p> + +<p>Nobody seemed inclined to talk, and there was only the roar and splash +of the combers behind them as they drove wildly on, until when dusk was +close at hand the dim shadow of a hill rose up suddenly on one side of +them. Then the Indian hauled the sheet, and presently when the water +became smoother, called to his companion, who thrust the sprit up again. +After that the canoe put her lee side in every now and then, but very +soon a foam-fringed point stretched out ahead. They swept around it, and +after skirting a half-seen, rocky beach ran with spritsail thrashing +into a little basin down to which there crept rows of mist-wrapped +trees.</p> + +<p>Frank was thankful to get out when the helmsman ran her ashore, and the +work of assisting the Indians to chop branches and make a fire put a +little warmth into him. They made supper when darkness closed down, and +afterward the Indians erected a rude branch-and-bark shelter, while the +white men and the boys huddled together in the tent. It was better than +sitting in the foam-swept canoe, but Frank longed for the sloop's +low-roofed cabin.</p> + +<p>He went to sleep, however, wet as he was, and after an early breakfast +next morning they started again, with both spritsails up in torrential +rain. The water was comparatively smooth, though the doleful moaning of +the firs fell from the half-seen hills, and Mr. Oliver announced that +the entrance to the canal they had come down was not far away. Frank had +learned that on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> the Pacific Slope canal generally means a natural arm +of the sea.</p> + +<p>They reached its entrance presently, sailing close-hauled, and on +stretching across it the canoe plunged viciously on a short, +white-topped sea. The wind was blowing straight down the deep rift in +the hills, and Frank remembered with regret that Alberni stood a long +way up at the head of the inlet. They came back on the other tack, +making almost nothing, and the Siwash pulled the masts down before one +of them spoke to Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p>"I suppose they can't get the canoe to windward?" suggested Mr. Barclay.</p> + +<p>"He says we'll have to paddle," Mr. Oliver answered. "There seem to be +four paddles in her and that will leave two of us to relieve the rest in +turn."</p> + +<p>Harry and Frank took the first spell with the Indians, and they had had +enough of it before an hour had passed. The wind was dead ahead of them, +and though they crept in close with the beach they were met by little, +spiteful seas. It was necessary to fight for every fathom, thrashing her +slowly ahead by sheer force of muscle. Frank's hands were soon sore and +one knee raw from pressing it against the craft's bottom. He got hot and +breathless, the rain was in his face, and his side began to ache, and it +was a vast relief to him when Mr. Oliver finally took his place.</p> + +<p>The mists were thinning when he sat down limply in the bottom of the +craft, and great rocky hills and dusky firs crawled slowly by, except +when now and then a fiercer gust swept down, whitening all the inlet, +and they barely held their own by desperate paddling. Then as it dropped +a little they forged ahead again. It was dreary as well as very arduous +work, but there was no avoiding it, for their provisions were almost +gone and there was no trail of any kind through the bush. Frank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> felt +that even paddling into a strong head wind was better than smashing +through continuous thorny brakes and floundering over great fallen logs.</p> + +<p>One hand commenced to bleed when he next took his turn, but that was, as +he realized, not a matter of much importance. They had to reach Alberni +sometime next day, and his chief concern was how it could be done. Then +the pain in his side set in again and became rapidly worse, and he set +his lips tight as he swung gasping with each stroke of the splashing +blade. They won a foot or so each time the paddles came down, and it was +somewhat consoling to recognize it. He felt that if he had been called +upon to do this kind of thing after sleeping wet through upon the ground +when he first came out he would have immediately collapsed, but he was +steadily acquiring the power to disregard bodily fatigue.</p> + +<p>There was no change as the day slipped by. It rained pitilessly, and the +wind continually headed them as they labored on wearily with set, wet +faces and straining muscles. The stroke must not slacken, for the moment +it grew feebler the canoe would drive astern. They kept it up until +nightfall, and then beaching the canoe lay down once more in the tent, +which strained in the wind. They were aching all over when they rose +next morning, and the work was still the same, but they reached Alberni, +worn out, early in the evening. It was a very small place then, though +it afterward sprang up into a mining town. Two or three ranch houses +stood in their clearings beside a crystal river, and a few more +buildings clustered at the head of the inlet half hidden in the bush. +There was a store and a frame hotel among them, and Mr. Oliver, who took +up quarters in the latter, told the boys that the stage would start on +the following morning. The Indians were given shelter in one of the +outbuildings, and the hotelkeeper insisted on locking up the dog, who +growled at everybody about the place.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>"I'm not scared of dogs," he explained, "but that one of yours won't let +me get about my own house. Besides, I guess he'd eat some of those +Chinamen before morning if you leave him loose."</p> + +<p>They were standing near a window, and Mr. Oliver glanced at one or two +blue-clad figures lounging under the dripping trees.</p> + +<p>"You seem to have a number of them about," he remarked. "I saw another +lot as I came in. What are they doing here?"</p> + +<p>"Stopping for the night," was the answer. "They're camping in a barn of +mine and going on to the gold creek at sun-up, though they may start +earlier if the rain stops. Quite a few of them have come in over the +trail lately."</p> + +<p>"Then there must be a regular colony in the bush," broke in Mr. Barclay, +who had strolled up.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the hotelkeeper, "that's the curious thing. They keep on +coming in by threes and fours, but Blake from the ranch higher up the +river was through that way not long ago, and he said he didn't see many +of them yonder. About two dozen, he figured, but more than that have +come through here to my certain knowledge."</p> + +<p>"It looks as if the gold-washing didn't pay and the rest had gone on +somewhere," Mr. Barclay suggested carelessly.</p> + +<p>The hotelkeeper looked bewildered. "Well," he said, "this is the only +trail to the settlements, and they certainly haven't come back this way. +It's mighty rough traveling through the bush, as you ought to know."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay smiled ruefully as he glanced down at his torn clothing and +badly damaged boots. "That's a sure thing. Besides, they'd have their +truck to pack along, which would make it more difficult. Those fellows +generally bring a lot of odds and ends with them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," assented the hotelkeeper. "Most of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> have their slung +baskets on poles. Anyway, I've no fault to find with them. They make no +trouble."</p> + +<p>He walked off, and when Mr. Barclay and Mr. Oliver went out, Harry gave +a triumphant glance at Frank.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "you see what our friend has found out without giving +himself away. The question is, where do those Chinamen who don't stay +with the gold-washing get to?"</p> + +<p>Frank laughed. "I expect Barclay could give you an answer. There's +another thing he could probably guess at, and that's what they've got in +some of those slung baskets."</p> + +<p>Then they moved back toward the lighted stove, for the rain drove +against the frame walls and it was damp and chilly in the big bare +room.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A MIDNIGHT VISITOR</span></h2> + + +<p>It was getting dark when the boys retired to their room, in which two +beds were standing at opposite corners. Harry chose the one nearest the +door, and they left the window open. The room was, as usual in such +places, very scantily furnished, but it appeared very comfortable after +their camps in the dripping bush, and Frank found it a luxury to get his +clothes off and lie down upon a comparatively soft mattress.</p> + +<p>A draught blew in at intervals through the window, and the door, which +would not shut, swung to and fro. It was raining as hard as ever, for +Frank could hear a muffled roar upon the shingled roof, and the pines +outside were wailing dolefully. He soon went to sleep, however, but was +awakened later by the sound of voices and a soft patter of feet below. +The rain seemed to have stopped at last, though he could hear a heavy +splashing from the branches of the firs close by, and he fancied that +the Chinamen must be starting. There was, however, no sign of morning +when he glanced toward the window, which showed only as a faintly +lighter square in the surrounding obscurity. In fact, it seemed +unusually dark, which struck him as curious, since there was a moon, but +the hotel stood in a valley shrouded by giant trees and he supposed that +the sky was thick with cloud.</p> + +<p>He heard the voices grow fainter and the footsteps gradually recede +until they were lost in the moaning of the pines, and he felt that he +did not envy the Chinamen their journey. He wondered why they had not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +waited until sunrise before starting, and then remembered that a rancher +he had met had told him that a trail led out of the settlement for some +distance. He supposed it would be light before the Chinamen should reach +the end of it and plunge into the forest. About a quarter of an hour had +slipped away when, lying half asleep, he thought that he heard some one +in the room. He could see nothing but the window, and could hear little +else than the sound of the wind among the trees, but raising himself +very cautiously on one elbow he distinctly heard a faint sound that +suggested a stealthy movement. This seemed very curious, for he felt +almost certain that if his companion had had any idea of trying to find +out something about the Chinamen he would have told him, besides which, +the Chinamen had gone.</p> + +<p>While he lay still listening with tingling nerves there was a soft +scraping and presently a very pale blue flame broke out, showing a +shadowy figure in a loose robe bending over Harry's bed with a light in +its hand. Frank did not pause to consider what the stranger's intentions +might be, but reached for his boot, which was a heavy one, and flung it +with all his might at the shadowy object's head. It struck the boarded +wall with a startling crash, the light suddenly went out, and he sprang +from his bed in the darkness with a cry of "Harry!"</p> + +<p>"Well," said his companion drowsily, "what's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Where's the Chinaman?" shouted Frank, darting toward the door.</p> + +<p>He ran out into a passage with Harry blundering half awake behind him, +and noticed that there was an open window near the door which had been +shut when he had last seen it. On reaching it he espied what seemed to +be the roof of a low outbuilding not far below, but there was very +little else to be seen except the loom of the dusky pines which were +beginning to stand out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> against the sky. Then he heard a rush of +pattering feet and a yelp on the stairway close by, and a furry body +flung itself against his knee. He recognized the dog, who almost +immediately darted into the room. It came out again, sprang to the +window ledge, and bounded to the roof beneath. He heard a soft thud on +the shingles and a bark that sounded farther off, and then for a moment +or two there was silence again.</p> + +<p>It was broken by the sound of a door flung open, and Mr. Barclay came +along the passage very lightly dressed, with a lamp in his hand. Telling +them to follow, he walked into the boys' room, and placed the lamp on a +bureau before he sat down on the nearest bed.</p> + +<p>"Now," he asked, "what's the cause of this commotion?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Harry. "Perhaps Frank can tell you. He seems to +have been throwing his boots about."</p> + +<p>Frank, a little nettled, narrated what he had seen. Mr. Barclay smiled.</p> + +<p>"You say the man was standing by Harry's bed," he observed. "Did you +notice if he had a big knife in his hand?"</p> + +<p>"He'd nothing but a match," Frank answered shortly.</p> + +<p>"Now that's curious," said Mr. Barclay. "Do you suppose he meant to set +the bed on fire, or have you any idea what he was doing?"</p> + +<p>Frank heard a slight sound and looking around saw Mr. Oliver standing in +the doorway, while just then a shout came down the passage, apparently +from the hotelkeeper.</p> + +<p>"What's the trouble? Is there anything wrong?"</p> + +<p>"We're trying to find out," Mr. Barclay replied. "It doesn't seem to be +serious, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll put a few clothes on before I come along," said the voice, +and a door banged.</p> + +<p>"He seemed to be looking down at Harry's face,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> said Frank, who saw +that Mr. Barclay was waiting an answer.</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay now turned and favored Harry with a critical gaze.</p> + +<p>"I can't understand what the fellow wanted to do that for." Then he +smiled back at Frank. "These are decadent days. He wouldn't have got +away with his scalp on if he'd come creeping into the room of the James +boys."</p> + +<p>Harry flushed. "I suppose you mean to hint that Frank imagined it all, +sir? Well, he told you the man struck a match, and though sulphur +matches don't give much light they make a considerable smell. Do you +notice any particular odor in this room?" Then he stooped suddenly and +picked up a half-burned match. "What do you make of this? I haven't +struck one."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay examined the match with an abstracted expression, and while +he did so the dog pattered into the room wagging his tail in a +deprecatory manner, as if to excuse himself for not overtaking the +intruder. He jumped distractedly around the boys for a moment and then +crouched down upon the floor with a short length of broken cord trailing +from his collar. Mr. Oliver pointed to it with an amused smile.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me the dog must have imagined something of the same kind as +Frank did," he observed.</p> + +<p>By this time the hotelkeeper arrived and gazed on with astonishment +while Mr. Barclay briefly explained the cause of the commotion.</p> + +<p>"I've never heard anything like this since I've been in the place," he +declared. "The Chinamen are out on the trail now. Better see if you have +lost anything."</p> + +<p>The couple of dollars that Frank had brought with him proved to be still +in his pocket, and Harry fished out the dollar which belonged to him. +His cheap watch was safe beneath his pillow, and Frank declared that he +had left his silver one at the ranch. This appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> to make the matter +more inexplicable to the hotelkeeper.</p> + +<p>"If the fellow had gone off with something, I could have understood it," +he said in a puzzled way.</p> + +<p>"It's most likely that Frank saw him almost immediately after he came +in," said Mr. Oliver. "As he pitched his boot at him, the man was +probably startled and got out without wasting any time in looking round. +Then the dog broke loose and went after him."</p> + +<p>The hotelkeeper agreed with this and shortly afterward Mr. Oliver, +telling the boys not to trouble themselves any further about the matter, +followed him out with Mr. Barclay. They turned into the latter's room, +where Mr. Oliver sat down.</p> + +<p>"I imagine that Frank's notion is correct," he said. "As Harry told you, +he and Frank once paid a visit to the Chinese camp near our ranch where +he saw the man with the high shoulder and followed him to a shack from +which he disappeared. If the Chinaman who crept into the room chanced to +have been about the camp when the boys were there, it's quite possible +that he did wish to see Harry's face."</p> + +<p>"That," Mr. Barclay admitted, "is my own opinion, though it seemed wiser +not to impress it on the boys. I don't suppose you want them to get to +making any investigations on their own account?"</p> + +<p>"No," rejoined Mr. Oliver. "On the other hand, they've taken a certain +part in the matter already. In fact, it might have been better if I'd +left them behind. The trouble is that if the Chinaman recognized Harry +it would probably give him some idea as to why we made this visit."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay nodded his head. "Yes," he said. "It's a pity, but, after +all, I'm rather glad I made this trip. It's going to prove worth while."</p> + +<p>Nothing further was said on the subject and silence settled down again +on the hotel. There was bright sunshine when the party started with the +stage next<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> morning, and after spending the night at a little colliery +town they took the train south. Getting off at a small station they +found the sloop safe in the cove where they had left her. Mr. Barclay, +however, went on with the peltries to Victoria, which was not far away, +and there managed to dispose of them, after which he hired a horse and +rode back to the inlet. They set sail as soon as he arrived, and after +two days of light winds duly reached the cove near the ranch.</p> + +<p>A few months slipped by peacefully. The smugglers showed no sign of +further activity, and Mr. Oliver got his oat crop in undisturbed. One +way or another he kept the boys busy from morning until night, but at +last when the maple leaves were beginning to turn he told them to take +their rifles and go hunting, and they set off one morning after +breakfast.</p> + +<p>It was a still, clear morning, and now that the fall was drawing on +there was a change in the bush. Here and there a maple leaf caught a ray +of sunshine and burned like a crimson lamp, the fern was growing yellow, +and the undergrowth was splashed and spattered with flecks of varying +color. Even the light in the openings seemed different. It was at once +softer and clearer than the glare of summer, and the shadows seemed +thinner and bluer than they had been. But there was no difference in the +great black firs. They lifted their fretted spires high against the sky, +as they had done for centuries, and they would remain the same until the +white man's ax should sweep the wilderness away.</p> + +<p>The boys were floundering waist-deep in withered fern and tangled +undergrowth when they heard a rustling and scurrying somewhere near +their feet, and Harry, breaking off a rotten branch from a fallen fir, +hurled it into a neighboring thicket.</p> + +<p>"A fool hen!" he shouted. "Jump round this bush, and try to put it up."</p> + +<p>Frank fell into the thicket in his haste, but he still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> heard the +scurrying in front of him when he scrambled to his feet. He kicked a +clump of fern, and there was no doubt that something rushed away from +underneath it, after which he plunged through the brake with Harry some +yards away on one side of him, but there was nothing visible. They +hunted the unseen creature for what he supposed was about ten minutes +with no better result. Then a plainly colored bird about the size of a +pigeon rose from almost under his feet and flew to a fir branch some +twenty yards away, where it perched and looked down at its pursuers +unconcernedly.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't seem scared now," said Frank in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"It isn't," Harry answered with a laugh. "The thing feels quite safe +once it's on a branch. I guess that's why it's called the fool hen, +though its proper name is the willow grouse. Walk up and try a shot at +it—only you must cut its head off."</p> + +<p>Frank crept up nearer with a caution which was wholly unnecessary, for +the bird did not seem to mind him in the least when he stopped close +beneath it and pitched his rifle to his shoulder, but as he gazed at it +over the half-moon of the rearsight it seemed to him that its neck was +exceedingly small. He could not keep the forebead fixed on it, and +bringing the rifle down he rested before he tried it again. Then he felt +the butt thump his shoulder and the barrel jerk, and a little wisp of +smoke drifted across his eyes and hung about the bushes. When it +cleared, the grouse, to his astonishment, was sitting on the branch as +calmly as ever.</p> + +<p>"It likes it," said Harry. "Try again—only at its neck."</p> + +<p>Trying again, Frank succeeded in inducing the bird to move to a +neighboring branch, after which he braced himself with desperate +determination for the third attempt. This time the jar upon his shoulder +was fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>lowed by a soft thud, and he understood why he had been warned +to shoot only at its neck when he picked up his victim. The big .44 +bullet had horribly shattered it.</p> + +<p>"Could <i>you</i> have shot its head off?" he asked after he had thrown it +down in disgust.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," said Harry. "Anyway, I can generally manage it if the thing +sits still. Most of the bush ranchers could do it every time."</p> + +<p>He made this good presently when they found another bird, for it dropped +at his first shot without its head. Half an hour later they saw a blue +grouse perched rather high up in a cedar.</p> + +<p>"This fellow won't sit to be fired at," Harry explained. "Better try it +kneeling where you are, if you can get the foresight up enough."</p> + +<p>Frank knelt with his right foot tucked under him and his left elbow on +his knee. It steadied the rifle considerably, but he had to cramp +himself a little to raise the muzzle. Holding his breath he squeezed the +trigger when a part of the bird filled up the curve of the rearsight, +but he was mildly astonished when Harry walked toward him with the +grouse in his hand.</p> + +<p>"I guess this one could be cooked," he said dubiously. "We'll take it +along."</p> + +<p>Frank surveyed his victim with a thrill of pride. It was larger than the +willow grouse. In fact, it seemed to him a remarkably big and handsome +bird in spite of the hole in it, and he thrust it into the flour bag on +his back with unalloyed satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Is this the thing that makes the drumming in the spring?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Harry said that it was, and they scrambled through the bush for a couple +of hours without seeing anything further, until they approached a swampy +hollow with a steep hillside over which the undergrowth hung unusually +thick.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>"There ought to be a black bear yonder; they like the wild cabbage," +said Harry. "We'll try to crawl in. It's a pity there isn't a little +wind ahead of us."</p> + +<p>They spent half an hour over the operation, and Frank realized that +trailing had its drawbacks when he found that it entailed burrowing +among thorny thickets and crawling across quaggy places on his hands and +knees. In spite of his caution sticks would snap and it seemed to his +strung-up imagination that he was making a prodigious noise. At last, +however, there was another sound some distance in front of him which +suddenly became louder.</p> + +<p>"A bear, sure," cried Harry excitedly. "Going off up hill. Shoot if you +can see it."</p> + +<p>Frank gazed intently ahead, but could see absolutely nothing, though he +could hear a smashing and crashing which presently died away again on +the slope. Then Harry brought down his rifle and turned away.</p> + +<p>"You can generally hear a black bear," he said. "He goes straight and +rips right through the things a deer would jump. He's a kind of harmless +beast, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Could we find a deer?" Frank asked, his hopes still high.</p> + +<p>"We'll try when we've had dinner," replied his companion. "I haven't +seen any lately, though that doesn't count for much, because it would be +possible not to notice one if the woods were full of them. Still, they +seem to have a way of clearing right out of the country every now and +then for no particular reason. The bear and the timber wolves do the +same thing."</p> + +<p>They ate their dinner sitting among the roots of a big cedar, while a +gorgeous green and red woodpecker climbed about a neighboring trunk. +Then Harry stood up and shouldered his rifle.</p> + +<p>"After this we'll leave the birds alone," he announced. "You don't want +to make a noise when you're trailing deer."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">FRANK KILLS A DEER</span></h2> + + +<p>They plodded through the bush for an hour or two without seeing any +living thing except a few pigeons, and Harry began to look doubtful.</p> + +<p>"If it was early morning, I'd try one of the rock outcrops where nothing +grows," he observed. "The deer get up on to those places out of the dew +then. As it's afternoon, I don't know which way to head."</p> + +<p>Frank glanced at his clothes. Keen as he was on hunting, he would not +have been sorry to head for home, for his duck trousers were badly torn +and one of his boots which had been rather the worse for wear when he +started was almost dropping off his foot. They trudged on, however, and +accident favored them, as it often does when one is hunting, for at last +when they were in very thick bush Harry dropped suddenly behind a patch +of withered fern.</p> + +<p>"Look there!" he said softly. "Right ahead of you yonder."</p> + +<p>Frank gazed ahead with straining eyes, but he could only see the great +trunks stretching back in serried ranks. He had heard somewhat to his +astonishment that it is not often that a novice can see a deer in the +bush even when it is pointed out to him, but now, it seemed, the thing +was true. He could have declared that there was not a deer anywhere +within the range of his vision.</p> + +<p>"Right in front," whispered Harry, impatiently. "About seventy yards +off. Oh, look yonder!"</p> + +<p>He stretched his hand out and at last Frank noticed what seemed to be a +very slightly different colored strip<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> of something behind a narrow +opening in a thicket. It might have been withering fern, or a cluster of +fading leaves, but he would never have imagined it to be a portion of a +deer. Then his doubts vanished, for it suddenly moved.</p> + +<p>"Where shall I shoot?" he asked beneath his breath.</p> + +<p>"At the bottom of the bit you can see," was the low answer.</p> + +<p>Frank threw up his rifle. He was too eager to kneel or lie down, and it +scarcely seemed probable that the deer would wait until he was +comfortably ready. He lined the sights on a twig immediately in front of +the object, and though his hands had quivered he found them growing +steadier as he squeezed the trigger. He heard no report, but there was a +crash in the thicket as the smoke came drifting back, and Harry ran +forward with a shout.</p> + +<p>"Come on!" he cried. "You've hit it!"</p> + +<p>Frank ran his fastest, though running of any kind was extraordinarily +difficult. In places the withered fern was higher than his head and +there seemed to be innumerable bushes in his way, while when he +endeavored to avoid them he generally came upon a giant tree which had +to be scrambled around. Still, there was no doubt that the deer was not +far off, for he could hear it floundering through the brakes and fern, +and by and by he came upon a trail of red splashes scattered here and +there upon the leaves.</p> + +<p>"It's hit bad," panted Harry. "If we can hold out we'll get it yet."</p> + +<p>They did their utmost for the next half hour, but they never once saw +the deer, which by the decreasing sound seemed to be drawing away from +them, and Frank felt that it would be impossible for him to keep up the +pace many minutes longer. He was breathless, and dripping with +perspiration, and his clothes were torn all over. Indeed, eager as he +was, it was almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> a relief when the sound in front of him gradually +died away, and Harry stopped, gasping, and leaned against a fir.</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do about it now?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"Trail that deer," was the breathless answer. "It's not going very far. +You can tell by the noise it made that it was hit too bad to jump."</p> + +<p>Frank was of the opinion that it had gone quite far enough already, but +he silently watched Harry, who began to walk up and down, looking +carefully about him.</p> + +<p>"It went through this bush," he said at length. "After that it must have +crossed the fern yonder." Then scrambling forward he waved his hand. +"Come on! The trail's quite plain."</p> + +<p>Frank followed him with some trouble and once more saw the red splashes +on the leaves. Now and then they lost them for a little while and the +undergrowth did not seem to have been disturbed, but on each occasion +Harry contrived to find the spots again. He traced them from place to +place, moving more slowly and cautiously, while Frank painfully broke +through the thickets in his wake. They were both nearly exhausted when +an hour after the shot was fired they came to a little creek.</p> + +<p>"It lay down here," said Harry. "We'll stop a minute or two. Guess that +deer's 'most as played out as we are."</p> + +<p>This seemed very probable to Frank as he glanced at the broad red smear +upon the damp soil, and for the first time he was troubled by a sense of +compunction as he realized that there were two sides to hunting. The +pursuers' labor was severe enough, but he could imagine what the flight +must have cost the sorely wounded creature who had so far managed to +keep in front of them. He was scratched and torn and exhausted, but at +least he was sound in limb, while the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> deer must have staggered on in +anguished terror with its life steadily draining from the cruel bullet +hole. Somewhere in his mind there was now a wish that he had not made so +good a shot.</p> + +<p>"Do you think we're far behind it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't, but that doesn't count," answered Harry. "We have to follow +it, anyway. I remember when I got my first deer. Dad was with me, and +before I fired he asked if I thought I could hit it where I wanted. I +said I did, and he told me to make sure, because if the beast got away +with a bullet in it I'd have to trail it until it dropped." He stopped +with a significant laugh. "As it happened, we followed it close on three +hours, through the thickest kind of bush, and—I wasn't so big then—it +was mighty hard work to get back to the ranch afterward."</p> + +<p>Frank fancied that in the present case he might drop before the deer +did, though he realized that Mr. Oliver's rule was in one way a merciful +one and undoubtedly calculated to encourage careful shooting. When he +had recovered his breath a little they started again, but it was half an +hour later when they caught a glimpse of the deer painfully laboring +through a clump of fern on the slope of a steep rise. Harry pitched up +his rifle, and though the animal disappeared again immediately after +they fired, they knew it was still going on by the snapping of twigs and +the rustling in the fern.</p> + +<p>Harry was sure that he had hit it, and making a last effort, they broke +into a run which Frank remembered for a considerable time afterward. The +slope seemed to be getting remarkably steep, he could scarcely see a +dozen yards in front of him through the undergrowth, and several times +he stuck fast for a moment or two in tangled thickets. Then he fell into +a horrible tangle of rotting branches, dropping his rifle and bruising +himself cruelly, and he only succeeded in forcing himself along because +his companion shouted breathlessly that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> the deer was rapidly flagging. +Frank could hear it very plainly now.</p> + +<p>At last when they reached the summit of the rise it came out into open +view for a moment. The bush was thinner there, with less growth between +the trees, and he saw the animal limp out from a thicket, dragging an +injured limb. He flung up his rifle, and Harry who was a little in front +fired almost as he did. The deer staggered, made a feeble bound, and +vanished as if the earth had opened under it. A moment or two later +Harry stopped with a hoarse, gasping shout.</p> + +<p>Frank stumbled forward and found him standing on the brink of what +seemed to be a very deep ravine, the almost precipitous sides of which +were shrouded in young firs and densely growing bushes. Harry was gazing +dubiously into the gully.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know how we're going to get down, but we'll have to try," +he said. "The deer's at the bottom done for, and I don't feel like going +home and telling dad we left it. Besides, it's quite likely he might +send us back for it."</p> + +<p>"Then if it has to be done, we may as well get about it," said Frank +wearily.</p> + +<p>Slinging his rifle, he crawled over the edge and went sliding and +slipping down for about a dozen yards until he fell into the branches of +a young fir. After that he plunged into several bushes before he could +stop again, and eventually lowered himself foot by foot, clutching at +whatever seemed strong enough to hold him, until he alighted knee-deep +in a splashing creek. Nearby the deer lay motionless where it had fallen +upon the stones. It was a beautifully symmetrical creature, but it +seemed to Frank smaller than he had expected.</p> + +<p>"A young black-tail," said Harry. "Anyway, that's what we call them, +though I believe it's really the mule-deer. There's another black-tail. +We've got the deer names kind of mixed up on the Pacific Slope."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>Frank regarded the animal dubiously. "It seems to me the most important +question is how we're going to get it home."</p> + +<p>"Pack it," answered Harry. "But I'd better open it up first. You can sit +down while I do it, if you'd rather."</p> + +<p>Frank would very much have preferred to sit down out of sight while the +deer was dressed, but it occurred to him that it would scarcely be +fitting to leave the disagreeable part of the work to his companion.</p> + +<p>"No," he persisted, "I'll help as much as I can."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry dryly, "if you want to go hunting it's a thing you'll +have to learn."</p> + +<p>The operations that followed were singularly unpleasant, and Frank felt +a good deal less enthusiastic about hunting when he washed his hands and +the sleeves of his jacket in the creek after they were over.</p> + +<p>"I don't know if I'll eat any of that deer," he said.</p> + +<p>"You'll get over it," Harry assured him with a smile. "Anyway, in my +opinion deer meat isn't much of a delicacy. It's that stringy you could +'most make lariats of it, unless you keep it until it's bad."</p> + +<p>Frank felt inclined later to agree with this statement, but in the +meanwhile Harry got the deer, which he had not yet skinned, upon his +shoulders with its fore legs pulled over in front of him, and they +started back for the ranch. It was, however, some time before they could +find a way out of the gulch, and then they only gained the summit by an +arduous scramble. After that they found themselves in exceedingly thick +bush, with nothing that Frank could see to guide them. There was +probably not much light at any time down among those great trunks whose +branches met and crossed high overhead, and what there was seemed to be +getting dim.</p> + +<p>"If we keep on going down we'll strike something by and by," urged +Harry. "The slope's naturally toward the beach."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>The first thing they struck was a remarkably steep hillside, up which +they struggled, Frank now carrying the deer, which he found heavy enough +before he reached the top. Then a narrow valley opened up before them, +which did not seem to be what Harry had expected. There were one or two +ponds in the bottom of it, and he gazed at them thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"We might get a duck," he mused. "They ought to be coming down from +Alaska now. It's freezing up there."</p> + +<p>They floundered down the declivity, and, though Frank would have +preferred to push on straight for home, Harry insisted on creeping +through the long harsh grass about the edge of the water. They tried one +of the ponds with no result, but at last Harry dropped suddenly behind a +tall clump of grass.</p> + +<p>"Look!" he said. "There are two or three ducks yonder. You take the +nearest. Keep the foresight as fine as you can."</p> + +<p>Frank saw one or two small objects floating just outside the grass +across the pond. They seemed to be a very long way off, and though he +feared that he could not keep the sights upon any of them standing, the +ground looked horribly quaggy to kneel in. This could not be helped, +however, for it seemed that getting wet and torn did not count when one +was hunting, and he pressed his right knee down into the mire. He could +just see one of the ducks when he closed his left eye, and he had +misgivings as to the result when he squeezed the trigger. Harry's rifle +flashed immediately after his, there was a rattle of wings and a +startled quacking, and he saw two ducks with long necks stretched out +fly off above the trees. Another seemed to be lying on the water, and +remembering the size of the bullet, he had no fear of that one getting +away.</p> + +<p>"The next thing is to get it," said Harry. "It's not going to be easy."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>He was perfectly right. They spent a long while struggling around the +pond, into which they had to wade nearly waist-deep before Harry +contrived to rake the duck in toward him with the muzzle of his rifle. +It did not look a sightly object when he had secured it, but he decided +that there was enough of it left to eat.</p> + +<p>"Is it the one you shot at?" he asked with a grin.</p> + +<p>"I can't say," Frank answered. "I shouldn't be surprised if it wasn't."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry, "we're not going to quarrel about the thing. What we +have to do is to make a bee-line home. We'll come along again in a week +or two. The ponds are full of ducks for a little in the spring and +fall."</p> + +<p>"Only then?"</p> + +<p>"They're not so plentiful between-whiles," Harry answered. "Of course, +our worst winters aren't marked by the cold snaps you have back East, +and quite a few of the ducks stay with us, while some put in the summer, +too; but in a general way every swimming bird of any size heads north to +the tundra marshes by the Polar Sea in spring. In the fall they come +back again, how far I don't know—lower California, Mexico, perhaps, +right away to Bolivia and Peru. Going and coming, the big flocks stop +around here to rest a while." He smiled at his companion. "A mallard +duck's a little thing, but he covers a considerable sweep of country."</p> + +<p>He picked up the deer and they went on again, but darkness overtook them +before they reached the ranch, utterly worn out, with most of their +garments rent to tatters; and Frank, who had carried the deer the last +mile or two, gave a gasp of relief when he laid it down.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">MR. WEBSTER'S GUNS</span></h2> + + +<p>It was about a week after the boys' hunting trip when Mr. Oliver's +nearest neighbor, Mr. Webster, drove up to the ranch in a dilapidated +wagon. It was dark when he arrived, for the days were rapidly getting +shorter. When Jake had taken his horse away he laid what appeared to be +a small armory on the kitchen table and sat down by the stove. He was a +young man with a careless, good-humored expression, and Harry aside +informed Frank that his ranch was not much of a place.</p> + +<p>"I've brought you my guns along," said Mr. Webster, addressing Mr. +Oliver, and then looked down at the dog, who had walked up to him in the +meanwhile and now stood regarding him with its head on one side. +"Hello!" he added, patting it, "I'd 'most forgotten you. You have +managed to put up with him, Miss Oliver?"</p> + +<p>Miss Oliver said that she had grown fond of him, and the dog, after +standing up with a paw upon the man's knee, dropped down on all fours at +the sound of her voice and trotted back to her without waiting for +another pat.</p> + +<p>"I always had a notion he was an ungrateful as well as an ordinary +beast," said Mr. Webster. "Would you have fancied my dog would leave me +like that after all I've done for him? I guess I've laid into him with +'most everything about the ranch from the grubhoe handle to the riding +quirt."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver laughed. "But why have you brought your guns?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>"For you to take care of. My place gets damp in winter without the stove +on and I'm going away for a month or two. I've taken on a log-bridge +contract with a fellow I used to work with, on one of the new settlement +roads. The man who's been clearing land up the creek took the few head +of stock I had off my hands and the fruit trees will grow along all +right without worrying anybody until I get back again. If one hadn't to +do so much cutting every now and then, they'd be a long sight handier +than raising stock."</p> + +<p>"Well," Mr. Oliver assured, "I think we can promise to look after the +guns. I didn't know you had so many of them."</p> + +<p>Mr. Webster arose and walked toward the table. "Though I never was a +great shot, guns are rather a hobby of mine. I needn't say anything +about these two—single-shot Marlin, Winchester repeater—but the +old-timers seem to have a notion that a man must excuse himself for +keeping a scatter gun. This"—and he picked up what seemed to Frank a +handsome single barrel—"is a thing I bought for a few dollars last time +I was in Portland. I allowed she would do to keep the pigeons off my +oats. Not much of a gun, but she throws out the shell." Then he took up +a double gun with the brown rubbed off the barrels, leaving bright +patches. "This one's different; there's some tone about her. A sport I +once had boarding with me gave her to me when he went away. Said I'd +given him a great time, and as he was fixed, it might be two or three +years before he could get out into the woods again."</p> + +<p>He sat down on the table and looked over with a smile at the boys. "I +don't know any reason why you two shouldn't have those guns until I come +back; they'll keep better if they're used and rubbed out once in a +while, and there's a box of shells in the wagon. You can't call yourself +a sport until you can drop a flying bird with the scatter gun, and +there's considerably more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> to it than most of the old-timers who can +only plug a deer with a rifle seem to think."</p> + +<p>He evidently noticed the interest in Frank's face, for he proceeded to +demonstrate, standing up with the double gun held across him a little +above his waist.</p> + +<p>"Now," he added, "you don't want to aim, poking the gun about. You keep +it down and your eyes on the bird, until you're ready, and then pitch it +up right on the spot first time—it's better with both eyes open, if you +can manage it." The gun went in to his shoulder and Frank heard the +striker click, after which the man swung the muzzle half a foot or so. +"Say you missed. You've still got the second barrel—"</p> + +<p>They heard no more, for there was an appalling crash, a short cry from +Miss Oliver, and a yelp from the dog who jumped into the air, while a +filmy cloud of smoke drifted about the room. When it cleared Mr. +Webster, who had opened the door, sat down on the table looking very +sheepish and turned toward Miss Oliver.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry—dreadful sorry," he observed contritely. "I hadn't the least +notion there was anything in the thing."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver glanced at the ragged hole high up in the log wall and then +looked at Mr. Webster with ironical amusement in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Your instructions were good as far as they went, but you have forgotten +one rather important point." He turned to the boys. "It's this. Never +bring a gun of any kind into a house without first opening the magazine +or breach, and if there's a shell in it, immediately take it out. It's a +precaution that's as simple as it's effective, and though there was +perhaps some excuse for an accident in the old days when a man couldn't +readily empty his gun unless he fired off the charge, there's none now."</p> + +<p>"Sure," agreed Mr. Webster, who seemed to be get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>ting over his +confusion, for he addressed the boys again. "With winter coming on, the +best sport I know with a scatter gun is shooting flighting duck, and +there's plenty of them along the beach. They've a way of moving around +in flocks between the light and dark, which is the best time, though you +can get them through the night if there's not too bright a moon. A good +place would be those patches of sand and mud behind the islands, +especially when the tide's just leaving the flats. Take the sloop or +canoe along sometime and try it."</p> + +<p>The boys thanked him and Frank's eyes glistened as he handled the light +single gun.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with your team?" asked Mr. Oliver, changing +the subject.</p> + +<p>"Anson down by Nare's Hill will take them for their keep, but I might +have made a few dollars out of them if I'd been staying on."</p> + +<p>"How's that?"</p> + +<p>"Well," in a significant tone, "a man came along three or four nights +ago. I don't know where he came from, and I don't know where he went—he +just walked in with the lamp lit when I was getting supper. He wanted to +know if I was open to hire him a team for a night or two."</p> + +<p>"What kind of a man?"</p> + +<p>"A stranger. He looked like a sailor and seemed liberal. Said he wanted +the team particularly, and if I'd have them handy when he turned up we +needn't quarrel about the figure. That must have meant I could charge +most what I liked."</p> + +<p>"What did you say?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Webster smiled. "I just told him the horses were promised and I +couldn't make the deal. Anyway"—and he added this in a different +voice—"I'd no notion of going back on you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Mr. Oliver quietly, and they talked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> about other matters +until Webster, making a few more excuses to Miss Oliver, drove away. +When he had gone she looked at her brother and laughed softly.</p> + +<p>"I was startled but not very much astonished when the gun went off," she +said. "The little incident was so characteristic of the man."</p> + +<p>The next day the boys commenced practicing at flung-up meat cans with +the cartridges he had given them and in a week they could hit one every +now and then at thirty yards. Soon afterward Mr. Oliver went away. He +only told the boys that he was going to Tacoma, but Harry thought it +possible that he wanted to see Mr. Barclay, since Mr. Webster's story +made it clear that the dope runners were about again. He announced +ingenuously that they had better try the flight-shooting while his +father was away, because if they came back all right with several ducks +he would probably not object to their going another time. Miss Oliver +seemed doubtful when they casually mentioned the project to her, but as +she did not actually forbid it they set out with the sloop late one +afternoon, taking the dog with them.</p> + +<p>It was falling dusk and the tide had been running ebb two or three hours +when they beat in under the lee side of one of the islands they had +passed on a previous occasion on their way to the settlement. After +anchoring the sloop where she would lie afloat at low water some +distance off the beach they got into the canoe and paddling ashore +crossed the island, which was small and narrow. It was covered with thin +underbrush and dwarf firs, and on its opposite side a broad stretch of +wet sand and shingle with pools and creeks in it stretched back toward +the channel, which cut it off from the mainland.</p> + +<p>To the eastward, the pale silver sickle of a crescent moon hung low in +the sky, but westward a wide band of flaring crimson and saffron still +burned beneath dusky masses of ragged cloud and the uncovered sands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +gleamed blood-red in the fading glow. A cold wind stirred the pines to +an eerie sighing, and the splash of a tiny surf came up faintly from the +outer edge of the sands. The whole scene struck Frank as very forbidding +and desolate, and he fancied that there was a threat of wind in the sky. +Something in the loneliness troubled him, and for no particular reason +he felt half sorry that he had come. He realized that it would have been +much more cozy in the sloop's cabin than upon that dreary beach, and he +said something about the weather to Harry.</p> + +<p>"We'll be sheltered here if the breeze does come up, and this looks just +the place where we ought to get a duck," his companion answered. "There +aren't many spots like it around this part of the coast, where we've +generally deeper water. Perhaps we'd better move on a little nearer +yonder clump of firs. They'll hide us from any birds that come sailing +down to the flats."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with the dog?" Frank asked. "What's he snuffing at?"</p> + +<p>The animal was trotting about with his nose upon the ground and would +not come when they called him.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Harry carelessly. "Perhaps somebody's been across +the island lately, though I don't think it's often a white man lands +here."</p> + +<p>They took up their stations a little apart from each other among some +very rough boulders, with the nearest of the firs on a rocky ridge some +thirty or forty yards away from them. Their ragged branches cut in a +sharp ebony pattern against the sky, which was duskily blue. It was very +cold and the wind seemed fresher, for the trees were rustling and +moaning, and the calling of distant wildfowl came up through the +increasing murmur of the surf.</p> + +<p>Frank's boots had suffered from hard wear in the bush, and, as he had +stumbled into a pool, his feet were very wet, but he crouched behind a +boulder, clutching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> the single-barreled gun with cold fingers, and +watching the sky beyond the fir tops, for what seemed a considerable +time. Nothing moved across it except a long wisp of torn-edged cloud, +and he was commencing to wonder whether it would not be better to go +back to the sloop when Harry called softly, and he heard a new sound in +the darkness somewhere beyond the firs. It suggested the regular +movement of a row of fans, which was the best comparison that occurred +to him, for there was a kind of measured beat in it, and in another few +moments he recognized it as the rhythmic stroke of wings. Then a double +line of dark bodies spreading out from a point in the shape of a wedge +appeared close above him against the sky.</p> + +<p>He saw that they had long necks, but that was all, for they were coming +on with an extraordinary swiftness. There was a crash as Harry's gun +flung a streak of red fire into the darkness. Then Frank pitched up the +single barrel, pulling hard upon the trigger as the butt struck his +shoulder. He felt the jar of it and saw a whirling blaze, after which he +swung around when Harry's gun flashed again.</p> + +<p>The wedge, which had scattered, was reuniting. He could just see it +dotted upon the sky, but he fancied that one dark object had come +whirling down and struck the flats outshore of him a few seconds +earlier.</p> + +<p>"One, sure!" cried Harry. "I've an idea there's a cripple, too, trailing +on the ground. Where's that dog? I wonder if he'd hunt it up?"</p> + +<p>They called, but there was no sign of the animal.</p> + +<p>"He'd probably sit down and eat it, if he got it," said Frank, laughing. +"As he isn't here, we'd better get after the birds."</p> + +<p>They soon picked up the dead one, a mallard, Harry said; but it was some +minutes before they saw the other fluttering across a patch of wet sand. +Breaking into a run they were astonished to find that they did not get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +much nearer, and it must be admitted that Frank fired again without +stopping it. After that, it led them through several pools and runlets +of water, until at a flash of Harry's gun it lay still, but they were +almost up to their knees in a little channel before they retrieved it.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how long we'll have to wait before some more ducks come," said +Harry as they made their way back to the boulders. Then he suddenly +looked about him. "Where can that dog have gone?"</p> + +<p>They called a second time, but there was still no answer, and while they +listened it struck Frank that the sound of the surf was growing more +distinct.</p> + +<p>"He seemed to be trailing something when I last saw him," he answered. +"I don't feel keen on going after him. The top of the island's rough. +Perhaps, we'd better wait here until he comes."</p> + +<p>They waited for about ten minutes and then a succession of quick barks +reached them, apparently from across the island. There was something +startling in the sound and Frank turned sharply toward his companion.</p> + +<p>"He doesn't bark like that for nothing. Hadn't we better go along?" he +suggested.</p> + +<p>They started on the moment, stumbling among the boulders and splashing +into pools. The going was no easier when they reached the firs, but they +broke through them somehow, and when at length they approached the +beach, which was steep on that side, the dog came bounding toward them +and then ran back with a growl to the edge of the water. Looking around +with strained attention, Frank made out the sloop, a dim, dark shape +upon the water, for the moon was covered now. After that he ran down +toward the edge of the tide, but there was nothing unusual to be seen, +though the dog again yelped savagely. As he stopped close beside the +animal Harry's voice reached him.</p> + +<p>"Where's the canoe?" he cried.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>It was a moment or two before Frank saw her, and then he started and +cast a quick glance at the strip of beach left uncovered by the ebbing +tide. The breeze was off the shore, and on arriving they had thrown over +a lump of iron with a rope made fast to it and then paddled the canoe +ashore and shoved her out again to drift off as far as the rope would +allow her, in order to avoid dragging her down over the rough stones +when they went away. Now she seemed farther off than she should have +been, and in another moment he realized that she was moving.</p> + +<p>"She's adrift!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>"Then we will have to get her," Harry answered.</p> + +<p>Frank laid down his gun and threw off his jacket. Harry could swim +better than he could, but Harry was some distance back and the beach was +very rough, while it was clear that every moment would increase the +distance between it and the canoe. He struck his knees against something +which hurt as he floundered into the water stumbling among the stones, +but that did not matter then, and as soon as it was deep enough he flung +himself down. A horrible chill struck through him as he swung his left +arm out, and he was badly hampered by his boots and clothes, and though +he swam savagely the canoe was still some way in front of him when at +length he turned breathlessly upon his breast. What was worse, she was +steadily drifting farther off shore.</p> + +<p>Chilled and anxious as he was, he thought quickly. He was far from +certain that he could get back to the beach, and even if he did so, he +would have to spend the night wet through without any means of making a +shelter. The sloop was lying a good way out and he did not think that +Harry could swim so far in that cold water. He was quite sure that he +could not, and it was evident that there was nothing for it but to +overtake the canoe.</p> + +<p>For what seemed a very long time he swam desper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>ately, and then just as +he was almost alongside the craft something came up behind him and +seized his arm. Turning his head with a half-choked cry, he saw that it +was the dog, who apparently intended to stick fast to him. The animal, +however, hampered him terribly, and flinging it off he made a last +effort and contrived to clutch the canoe before it seized him again. +Holding on by the low stern he tried to recover his breath, while he +wondered if he could manage to lift himself in. It seemed to him that if +he failed to do it at that moment he could not expect to succeed +afterward, in which case he would in all probability have to let go +before very long. Setting his lips he made the attempt, and falling +headforemost into the canoe he lay still for a few moments gasping, +until he rose and pulled the dog on board. Then he hauled up the iron, +which was still attached to the rope, though it was not upon the bottom, +and found a paddle. Two or three minutes later he was back at the beach, +and Harry got in.</p> + +<p>"Make for the sloop as fast as you can," he said.</p> + +<p>Frank, now chilled to the bone, was glad to paddle, and they were soon +alongside. Harry handed him up the birds and guns when he got on board, +and then made the painter fast.</p> + +<p>"I'll start the stove first thing while you tie two reefs in the +mainsail," he said. "I guess we'll want them, and the work will warm +you."</p> + +<p>He disappeared below, and before he came out again Frank had managed to +get the tack and leach down, which was not so difficult now that the +sail lay along the boom.</p> + +<p>Harry gave him a quick look.</p> + +<p>"Go in and strip yourself," he said. "There's a blanket forward and some +coffee in the can. I'll be down by the time you have wrung out your +things."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">RUNNING A CARGO</span></h2> + + +<p>On crawling into the cabin Frank found the stove burning fiercely with +the register open full blast. He was sitting near it wrapped in a thick +blanket from which his bare legs and arms protruded when Harry joined +him.</p> + +<p>"This should thaw you out," the latter said. "The place would do for +drying fruit in. Got any coffee left?"</p> + +<p>Frank gave him some, and when he had drunk it Harry examined some of the +garments which were hanging about the stove.</p> + +<p>"They'll be getting fairly dry in half an hour or so and then we'll pull +out for home," he added. "It's breezing up quite smart now and I'd lie +here until morning only aunt would get badly scared. She wouldn't say +anything, but if Jake got to talking it would probably make trouble when +dad comes home."</p> + +<p>"How did the canoe get adrift?" Frank inquired sleepily.</p> + +<p>"That," said Harry with an excellent imitation of Mr. Barclay's manner, +"is a point I have been investigating. To begin with, the killick had +been hauled up since we pitched it over, and let go again—only on the +last occasion it was made fast so it wouldn't quite fetch the bottom." +He raised his hand in protest as Frank was about to speak. "It's a sure +thing. One strand was chafed where I took a turn with the rope, and that +frayed bit had got moved a fathom or two along. I felt about until I +struck it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>Frank started, for this confirmed a hazy suspicion which had already +been in his mind, but he stooped to pat the dog, who was licking his +uncovered foot.</p> + +<p>"Hold on. Your tongue's rough," he said before he looked up at his +companion. "What do you make of the thing?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry, "the man who did it wanted it to look as if the +canoe had gone adrift by accident. He was on the island when we came +along and the dog got after him. It's most likely he went off in a boat +or canoe while we were making for the beach after we'd heard the +barking. Seems to me he'd some reason for wanting to keep us here."</p> + +<p>"You think he was one of the dope men?" suggested Frank.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't be greatly astonished if we saw the schooner on our way +home," Harry answered with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>There was some excuse for his amusement, because Frank looked somewhat +ludicrous as he sat thinking hard with his brows wrinkled down and the +blanket falling away from him.</p> + +<p>"I've an idea," he announced at length. "The question, of course, is why +should the man who set the canoe adrift have landed on a desolate place +like this? I expect it's just its desolateness that brought him here. +Now the smugglers probably find it difficult to get hold of the dope in +Canada, and they may have to save it up in small parcels until it's +worth while to send the schooner through. She couldn't come often with +only a case or two, because it wouldn't pay and it would increase the +chances of somebody's seeing her. On the other hand, they may not be +able to get rid of the stuff immediately when she brings a big lot, and +in that case they'd be likely to make a cache of part of it where nobody +would be likely to strike it and their friends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> could come for it later. +This island ought to be just the place."</p> + +<p>Harry made a sign of assent.</p> + +<p>"I guess you've hit it first time, but I'll go up and get the mainsail +on her. I can manage it alone with two reefs in, and you can stay where +you are until your clothes are a little drier, unless I call you."</p> + +<p>He went out, and Frank heard a clatter of blocks and flutter of canvas. +After that there was a sharp rattling as Harry hauled in the anchor +chain, and then the boat suddenly slanted over with a jerk which flung +Frank backward against the side of her. As he got up he heard the water +splash about her bows. A few minutes later they began to swing sharply +up and down, and the thuds against them made it evident that the sloop +was plunging close-hauled through a short, head sea. By and by the +plunges grew more violent, and struggling into his clothes, which were +partly dry, Frank put out the lamp and crawled out into the well. For a +minute or two he could see nothing as he held on by the weather coaming, +though he felt the buffeting of the wind and the sting of the spray upon +his face. Then by degrees he made out that the sloop was lying down on +one side, with the small black strip of her double-reefed mainsail +slanting sharply above her, and a filmy white cloud flying at her bows. +Suddenly the frothing water began to glitter, and on looking up he saw +that the moon, which had grown brighter, had just emerged from behind a +bank of flying cloud. Then Harry who sat at the helm called to him.</p> + +<p>"Look yonder! Just over the bowsprit end," he cried.</p> + +<p>Frank, gazing where his companion told him, saw a bright red twinkle low +down above the sea and apparently two or three miles away.</p> + +<p>"A fire!" he exclaimed. "On the island by the point, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"A signal," Harry assented. "Guess it's to show the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> schooner men the +bush gang are ready." He broke into a laugh which reached Frank faintly. +"They're figuring we're safe on the island out of the way. You couldn't +see that fire from the beach we were left upon."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?"</p> + +<p>"Stand right on to where the fire is. We have to make a long leg on this +tack, anyway. When we're close up with the point we'll consider. Get a +little more head sheet in if you can."</p> + +<p>It cost Frank an effort, though the sloop was carrying her smallest jib, +and when he had made the rope fast he crouched beside his comrade in the +partial shelter of the coaming with the dog at his feet. It was blowing +moderately fresh, and the sloop was very wet, for the tide was running +with her and she thrashed on at a great pace pitching the water all +over, while the red twinkle ahead grew steadily higher and brighter. It +was the only thing that Frank could see, because the moon had +disappeared again.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile he wondered what his companion meant to do, for he +fancied that Harry had something in his mind. The latter was like his +father in some respects, since he did not, as a rule, explain what his +intentions were until he was reasonably sure that he could carry them +out. One result of this was that while each seldom did less than he said +he would he not infrequently did a good deal more. Folks of this kind, +Frank reflected, inspired one with confidence.</p> + +<p>At last, when the fire was large and bright, a head loomed up above it +with the wavering glow falling upon its rocky face. On one side of the +crag there was a strip of darkness, which Frank supposed was water, and +a little nearer him a long shadowy patch, which he knew to be an island. +He turned to Harry, who was just then glancing up at the sky.</p> + +<p>"We'll run right into the light if you stand on much longer," he pointed +out.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>He had hardly spoken when the red blaze sank down amidst an upward rush +of sparks, and as it died away Harry laughed.</p> + +<p>"That means one of two things," he said. "Either they've given the +schooner up, or she has her anchor down inside and they've no more use +for a light that might set folks wondering, though I don't know that +anybody would be likely to see it."</p> + +<p>"Anyway, you'll go ashore if you stand on," persisted Frank.</p> + +<p>"It's not my intention that we should stand on," said Harry, glancing up +again at the cloud-barred sky. "We can just weather the island as she's +lying, and when that's done I could put up my helm and run through the +sound behind it. I'll do it if the moon keeps in. If the schooner's +inside yonder we ought to see her."</p> + +<p>Frank was rather staggered by the boldness of the idea. The strait +seemed narrow and he fancied that it would be further contracted by +shallows now that the tide was getting low, while it appeared very +probable that if they saw the schooner her crew would see them. If she +were landing cargo there would be boats about, and he did not think it +would be pleasant to fall in with them, after the pains somebody had +taken in setting the canoe adrift. Still, though he was very dubious +about its wisdom, the prospect of the adventure appealed to him and +Harry seemed to take his consent for granted.</p> + +<p>"We'll carry a fair wind through," the latter announced. "If it's +necessary we could lower the peak down and that would leave very little +canvas to be seen. You had better shorten the canoe up while I luff. +She's half full and towing heavily."</p> + +<p>The mainsail thrashed and the speed slackened when he put down his helm, +and Frank, hauling with all his might, dragged the canoe up a little +closer astern and made her fast with a shorter rope, after which Harry +got way on the boat again. It seemed to Frank to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> blowing harder, and +she swayed down farther, plunging furiously through the short seas with +a white belt of surf which had shadowy rocks behind it to lee of her. +The moon was still hidden, but it was evident that they were very close +to the end of the island. By and by the white line to lee suddenly +vanished and they stretched out into the dark water, with a high, black +mass not far ahead.</p> + +<p>"We've got to jibe her," said Harry. "Get the peak down."</p> + +<p>The deck was horribly slanted and slippery, but Frank made his way +forward along it while the seas which seemed steeper there drenched him +with showers of cold brine. He found the halliard and let it go, and +scrambling aft as the head of the sail swung down, helped his companion, +who was struggling with a rope, while he jammed the tiller over with his +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Handy!" cried Harry. "You must check the boom as it comes over."</p> + +<p>The craft was coming round with her stern to the wind, and as she did so +the canoe came up on the top of a sea and struck her with a crash. Frank +had, however, no thought to spare for her. He was dragging at the +mainsheet as the big boom tilted up into the darkness above his head, +while the sloop rolled heavily. Then the upper part of the bagging sail +swung over with a bang and he whipped the rope around something as the +heavy spar followed it. The sloop rolled at the same time until half her +deck was in the sea, the sheet was torn furiously through his hands, and +the canoe hit her with another heavy thud as she swayed up again. Then +it drove astern, and Frank had space to gather his breath and look about +him as they swept on into smoother water.</p> + +<p>Harry was edging in toward the low black ridge of the island, and there +was a higher mass on the opposite side crested with what appeared to be +rows of pines, with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> dark gap between them. They could now hear the +surf on the weather side of the island, which told them that they were +already behind it. Four or five minutes later the channel twisted, and +as they swept around a black rock two or three lights blinked out ahead, +with a low red blaze behind them, apparently on the opposite beach.</p> + +<p>"There she is; ready to clear at the shortest notice," said Harry, +stretching out a pointing hand. "They've kept the boom-foresail and most +of the mainsail on her, though I guess the anchor's down. We'll get the +centerboard up."</p> + +<p>They were drawing nearer the lights rapidly, but it was two or three +minutes before Frank, who heaved the board up into its case, could make +out a black mass of fluttering canvas against the sky. Then Harry spoke +again:</p> + +<p>"There's a shingle bank runs out not far ahead and there can't be much +water over it now the tide's nearly run out. I'm afraid I'll have to +pass on the other hand of the schooner."</p> + +<p>Frank could understand why he did not want to do this, since the channel +was narrow and they must pass between the lights of the vessel and the +fire upon the beach. It seemed to him that it would be singularly +awkward if they met a boat coming from or going to the latter, which, +however, was precisely what befell them.</p> + +<p>Harry ran the sloop off as far as he dared, and Frank was watching the +schooner's black hull rise higher when he made out a dim shape that +moved between her and the beach.</p> + +<p>"A boat, sure!" cried Harry. "Get the mainsheet in. We'll have to take +our chances of the shoal."</p> + +<p>He helped Frank with one hand, but the task was almost beyond their +strength, and while they dragged at the rope the half-seen boat and the +schooner seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> to be flying toward them. Then as they made the rope +fast and the sloop headed in toward the island a pale gleam from a light +on the vessel fell upon her. It seemed impossible to Frank that they +should not be seen, but nobody hailed them, and while he listened, +expecting every moment to hear a shout, a clatter of blocks broke +through the splash of approaching oars. Even behind the island, the +water was rather broken and the men seemed to be pulling hard.</p> + +<p>A moment later the light faded off the sloop, though Frank could see the +schooner comparatively plainly. Her tall, shadowy canvas was fluttering +athwart the light, and beneath it a cluster of indistinct figures rose +and fell as they heaved up something with a tackle. He could hear their +voices clearly, and he was glad to remember that the dusky ridge of the +island rose behind the sloop, though he wished his companion would run +closer in with it. He had seen all he wanted and only desired to get +away as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>It became evident by and by that Harry had run in closer than was +advisable, for there was a crash and the sloop suddenly stopped. Almost +immediately afterward she lay over with her boom and most of her deck on +one side in the water, while the tide, twisting her bows around, +threatened to pour into her over the depressed coaming. As she had come +up nearly head to wind, her mainsail thrashed furiously, jerking the +boom up out of the sea every now and then and letting it splash in +again, while the flapping jib seemed likely to snap off the head of her +rattling mast. Loose ropes appeared to be flying everywhere and Frank +clung stupidly to the coaming, uncertain what to do. They were aground +unfortunately close to the schooner, and, he feared, within sight of the +men on board her. Harry's voice, however, roused him to make an effort.</p> + +<p>"Jump forward with the big oar! We must get her off," he said. "The +tide's still falling."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>Frank trod upon and fell over the dog, who fortunately was unable to see +anything over the coaming. He scarcely heard it yelping as he scrambled +along the steeply slanted deck dragging the heavy oar. They got it over +and thrust upon it in desperate haste in an attempt to cant her bow off, +but as the tide swung her farther around her side came up against the +oar, threatening to break it or pitch the boys over the rail, and for a +while they strained every muscle in vain. Then she suddenly swung back +in the midst of a furious swirl, and Frank fell down on something that +seemed unpleasantly hard. Harry, flinging the oar upon the deck, dropped +close by, feeling for a rope.</p> + +<p>"Get up and get hold!" he cried breathlessly. "We must box her round +with the jib. You can lie down afterward."</p> + +<p>Frank scrambled up and pulled in a frenzy, and the boat swung farther +around. Then the mainsail ceased fluttering, and jumping aft they fell +into the well, where Frank fancied that he trod upon the dog again. +Harry immediately seized the tiller, thrusting it to weather, and the +sloop commenced to move slowly through the water, though there was a +harsh grinding beneath her. By and by she suddenly shot forward again.</p> + +<p>"She's off!" exclaimed Harry. "Give her sheet!"</p> + +<p>Frank let the mainsheet run and afterward leaned breathlessly upon the +coaming with a thrill of relief as they drove out into the deeper water; +but it appeared that his companion was not satisfied yet.</p> + +<p>"She should run over to the opposite side without bringing the boom +across," he said. "There seems to be a big rock yonder and we could +heave her to in the gloom of it. If I remember, it's good water."</p> + +<p>"What for?" asked Frank, who was anxious to get out of the channel.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry, "we've seen the schooner, a boat, and a fire upon +the beach, but, after all, that's not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> a great deal to go upon. We want +to make sure what she's putting ashore."</p> + +<p>The boom lifted ominously as he ran her off and Frank fancied that +somebody would certainly hear the crash if he jibed it over. She +stretched across, however, and, rounding her up close beneath a dark +rock, they hauled the jib to windward and waited. Though they were in +deep shadow, a stream of flickering radiance fell upon the water not far +away and lighted up a narrow strip of beach. A few minutes passed and +then Harry touched his companion, who saw several men cross the shingle +with loads upon their shoulders. Their figures showed black against the +light, and Frank fancied that they were carrying square wooden cases. +After them came several more figures, but these carried nothing and were +dressed differently. They looked like Chinamen and they had evidently +just got out of an unseen boat.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Harry, "I guess that will do. If you'll trim the jib over +I'll get way on her."</p> + +<p>Frank was glad to do it. He felt that he had seen quite enough and it +would be wiser to get away before any misadventure befell them. They ran +out of the channel and were thrashing close-hauled into a rather steep +head sea when Harry spoke again.</p> + +<p>"There were four cases in the last lot, and another boat went ashore," +he observed. "It looks as if they would swamp the market. Dope's dear, +and a little of it goes a mighty long way."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps there was something else in some of the cases," suggested +Frank.</p> + +<p>"It's possible, though from the little I know of the tariff I haven't an +idea of what it could be. Anyway, that's a proposition we can leave to +Barclay. They were certainly Chinamen and passengers who landed."</p> + +<p>"How do you know they were passengers?" Frank inquired.</p> + +<p>Harry laughed. "If they'd been anything else they'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> have had to carry +those boxes. As a general thing, an American doesn't work while a +Chinaman watches him."</p> + +<p>Nothing more was said, and half an hour later when pale moonlight once +more streamed down upon the water the schooner swept out of the gloom +astern of them. After that they went about and clung to the shadow along +the land until they lost sight of her shortly before they ran into the +cove.</p> + +<p>It was very late when they reached the ranch, but they merely informed +Miss Oliver that they had had some trouble through the canoe going +adrift and had been compelled to beat back against a strong head wind.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE CACHE</span></h2> + + +<p>Mr. Oliver came home soon after the boys' visit to the island, and when +he had heard Harry's narration of their adventures he made him tell it +over again in the presence of Mr. Barclay, whom he had brought back with +him. They were sitting in the log-walled kitchen in the evening with +their chairs drawn up about the stove, and Mr. Barclay, holding his pipe +in his hand, listened gravely.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, when Harry had finished, "you seem to be considerably +more fortunate in these matters than I am. You have seen the schooner +several times, and other interesting things, while I haven't even had a +glimpse of the man with the high shoulder yet. I suppose I'll have to +admit at last that I've been upon his trail for some time and have made +some progress."</p> + +<p>"You might as well have admitted it in the beginning," retorted Harry. +"Some folks progress slow."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay's eyes twinkled. "As a rule, it's difficult to hustle the +Government of the United States, and I'm inclined to think the same +thing applies to that of other countries. However, as I said, we have +got ahead a little at the other end. For example, we have a tolerably +accurate notion where the dope goes."</p> + +<p>"Then why don't you corral everybody who has anything to do with it?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay's gesture seemed to beg the boy's forbearance.</p> + +<p>"It's a sensible question. For one thing, strictly speaking, it's not my +particular business which is really<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> to sit in an office and dictate +instructions most of the time. To some extent, these jaunts I've had +with your father have been undertaken by way of innocent relaxation, +although they may prove useful in case certain gentlemen send me along a +list of peremptory questions on which they want reports. They do things +of that kind now and then."</p> + +<p>"I didn't think it was your business to take a smuggler by the neck and +haul him along to the sheriff," said Harry with a reproachful air. +"Still, you could call out your subordinates and send them off to round +up the dope crowd, couldn't you? There must be some official machinery +for doing that kind of thing."</p> + +<p>"There is," assented Mr. Barclay, refilling his pipe. "The trouble is +that it makes a certain amount of commotion, and when silence is +important you have to be careful how you set it to work. As a rule, it's +wiser to have everything ready first. The most careful plans fail +sometimes if your assistants are more keen than judicious. That"—and he +smiled at the boys—"is why I was dubious about taking you into my +confidence before."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir," said Harry with ironical courtesy. "Do you mind making +what you mean to do a little plainer?"</p> + +<p>"I'll try. In the first place, smuggling doesn't seem to be considered a +crime unless you're caught at it. In fact, a Government of any kind is +generally looked upon as fair game, and few people think much the worse +of a man who succeeds in doing it out of part of its revenue. How far +that idea's right or wrong doesn't concern me. What I must do is to +prevent it from being acted on too often, and, taking the notion for +granted; we don't want to put the laugh upon ourselves if it can be +avoided."</p> + +<p>Harry made a sign of comprehension. "Still, if you sent your people down +here they should be able to corral part of the gang."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>"I agree with you," Barclay answered dryly. "It's possible, anyway—but +what would the result be? Three or four persons of no importance might +be seized, the rest would get away with a warning, and our plans would +all be sprung." Then the stout, good-humored man seemed to change, for +his expression suddenly hardened and a look which the boys had never +noticed there before crept into his eyes. "No, sir. We want them all, +and when we move we expect to gather in the whole rascally combination."</p> + +<p>"How can we butt in?"</p> + +<p>"With your father's permission, you might, in the first place, invite me +to an evening's flight shooting."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be better to go across the island in the daytime with the +dog and Jake and a couple of spades?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Mr. Barclay. "If my opinion's of any value, I don't think +it would be wise. Besides, I understand that the best time for getting a +shot at flighting ducks is in the twilight."</p> + +<p>Miss Oliver laughed softly. "Enterprise is a good thing, and so is +self-confidence," she broke in. "On the other hand, I fancy that one can +have too much of them, and a headstrong impatience is one of the faults +of the young West."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver looked at Harry, who grew a trifle red.</p> + +<p>"There's truth in that," he remarked. "On the whole it might be better +to leave all arrangements to the man in charge and just do what he +suggests."</p> + +<p>"Sure," assented Harry, and as he offered no more suggestions the matter +was decided with a few more words.</p> + +<p>Late in the next afternoon the boys set out with Mr. Barclay in the +sloop, and as what wind there was blew off the land they crept along +close in with the beach, which was high and rocky and shrouded with +thick timber. When they drew abreast of the island the tide was higher +than it had been on the last occasion, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> Mr. Barclay said that they +had better leave the sloop in the little bay in front of them and cross +the channel in the canoe. He was a heavy man, and when he cautiously +dropped into the craft her stern sank ominously near the water.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to get farther forward and sit quite still," said Harry in +a tone of authority, but with an amused look.</p> + +<p>He took his place astern with Frank, who picked up the other paddle, in +the bow, and a stroke or two drove them out into the rippling tide. It +was growing dark, though the sky overhead was softly blue and there was +a glimmer of pale saffron around part of the horizon. To the eastward +the moon was just appearing above a bank of cloud. The wind, which had +freshened, blew very cold, and Frank shivered until the paddling warmed +him and he found that he could spare no thought for anything else. The +tide was running over the shallows with a ripple that splashed +perilously high about the side of the deeply loaded canoe, and now and +then whirling eddies drove them off their course. Once, too, they ran +aground, and Harry had to get in knee-deep to shove the craft off, while +when they approached the end of the island they had to struggle hard for +several minutes against the stream which broke into little frothing +waves, during which the canoe got very wet. They came through, however, +and reaching smoother water ran the canoe in and pulled her out, after +which Frank was about to walk off up the beach when Harry stopped him.</p> + +<p>"One learns by experience, and I don't feel like swimming," he observed. +"We'll carry her right up and hide her in the bushes."</p> + +<p>They did so with some difficulty and Harry afterward waited until Mr. +Barclay spoke.</p> + +<p>"We came out shooting," said the latter. "I don't see any reason why we +shouldn't get a duck."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>He turned to Harry, as if to ascertain whether he objected to this, but +the boy laughed.</p> + +<p>"If you don't know of any, I needn't bother about the thing," he +answered. "There's a moderate breeze right off the beach and the guns +couldn't be heard far to windward."</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure I'd mind them being heard if anybody chanced to be about. +It might save the inquisitive stranger from wondering what we were doing +here, and the excuse strikes me as a nicer one than going swimming late +at night in front of a Siwash rancherie."</p> + +<p>Harry chuckled. "Wait until you fall over your boot tops into a pool, or +follow a crippled duck through the water."</p> + +<p>"I shall endeavor to avoid the first thing," said Mr. Barclay. "There's +a remedy for the other, so long as I've two assistants."</p> + +<p>They went back to the beach and waited there some time until Frank heard +a regular beat of wings, and a drawn-out wedge of dusky bodies appeared +above the trees dotted upon the sky. He was farthest from them and he +watched Mr. Barclay, who had brought a gun with him, standing, an +indistinct, half-seen figure thirty or forty yards away. At last the man +threw up his arms, there was a quick yellow flash, a crash, and then a +second streak of flame leaping from the smoke. After that there followed +two distinct and unmistakable thuds, and Frank pitched up his gun as +Harry fired. He heard two jarring reports and running forward saw Mr. +Barclay pick up a bird that had fallen almost at his feet.</p> + +<p>"There's another over yonder," the latter remarked.</p> + +<p>Harry found it in a minute or two and handed it to him.</p> + +<p>"One with each barrel!" he said, and added with a rueful laugh, "I don't +see any more about."</p> + +<p>"Then I think we'll take a look around the island," Mr. Barclay +answered.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>He left the beach with the boys, but they dropped behind him and let him +take the lead when they reached the scrubby firs which were scattered +more or less thickly about the rocky ground. Frank fancied that Harry +had some reason for doing this and the supposition was confirmed when +Mr. Barclay stopped a moment beside a brake of withered fern and then, +after stooping down, carefully skirted it as he went on again. The sky +was clear, and though the moon was in its first quarter it shed a faint +elusive light.</p> + +<p>"That man can shoot, and it looks as if he was quite as smart at picking +up a trail," said Harry in a low tone. "Anyway, if I'd been looking for +a stranger's tracks I'd have tried yonder fern and I'd have been as +particular not to smash any of it down as he was. I've an idea he must +have chuckled sometimes when I got guying him." He paused and added +thoughtfully, "It's the kind of fool thing you're apt to do unless +you're careful."</p> + +<p>After this they spent a considerable time wandering up and down a +portion of the island, though Frank fancied that Mr. Barclay, who asked +Harry a question now and then, had some purpose that guided him. The +moonlight was too dim and the shadows among the trees too dense for him +to follow a trail steadily, but he seemed to be prospecting for likely +places where footprints or broken-down undergrowth might be found. At +length they reached a little stony hollow, with a rock that rose some +six or seven feet on one side and dark firs clustering close about it. +Here Mr. Barclay stopped and looked about him before he turned to Harry.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "this is a spot that could be easily described and +located by anybody who happened to be told about it. That rock would +make a first-class mark. If you had anything to bury for somebody else +to dig up, where would you put it?"</p> + +<p>Harry walked about the place, stepping carefully upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> the stones and +avoiding the scattered underbrush, until he reached a clump of withered +fern.</p> + +<p>"Right here," he replied, and kneeling down pulled some of the yellow +fronds about. Then he looked up sharply. "This stuff's very dead and +it's lying flat," he exclaimed. "Farther on the stems aren't broken and +some of them don't seem quite dried up yet."</p> + +<p>Frank acknowledged that these were things he would not have noticed, but +Mr. Barclay nodded.</p> + +<p>"Somebody else may have fixed on the same spot as you have done," he +said. "It's possible, though I don't think it's more than that. There +might be half a dozen similar places on the island, but if you'll handle +the fern carefully it wouldn't do any harm to make a hole."</p> + +<p>They had brought a light spade with them, and after Harry had cleared +the ground Frank set to work with it. He had taken out only a few +shovelfuls of soil and shingle when he gave a cry of surprise as he +struck something that seemed more solid.</p> + +<p>Harry and Mr. Barclay stooped down beside him. The latter struck a match +and lighted a piece of paper he took from his pocket, and before it went +out Frank had cleared the soil away from the top of a small wooden case.</p> + +<p>"It's rather more than I could have reasonably expected," said Mr. +Barclay, "but when you haven't much to act upon it's wise to make the +most of what you've got and leave the rest to chance. Now you may as +well shovel that dirt back."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to take the thing out?" Frank asked in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Mr. Barclay, "I don't think it's necessary. It wouldn't be +the first time I'd seen opium and we don't want to leave too plain a +trail behind us. As we have spent some time on the island already, +hadn't you better get to work?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>Frank flung back the soil and when he had finished Harry replaced the +loose fern which he had carefully laid aside. He did not, however, seem +satisfied with the way he had arranged it and when he looked up at Mr. +Barclay his manner was diffident.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I can't do any better in the dark," he said.</p> + +<p>"It will probably be dark when the next man comes along," Mr. Barclay +answered. "Anyway, the first breeze of wind or heavy rain will +straighten things up. In the meanwhile we'll get back to the sloop."</p> + +<p>They turned away, but they had scarcely gone a hundred yards when Mr. +Barclay put his hand into his pocket and stopped.</p> + +<p>"I've dropped my pipe," he said. "It was rather a good one."</p> + +<p>"Then I know where it is," Frank broke in. "You must have pulled it out +with the paper. I heard something fall, but I was too interested to +bother about it. If you'll wait, I'll go back and get it."</p> + +<p>The others sat down when he left them, but he spent some minutes +scrambling about near the fern before the faint gleam of a silver band +upon the pipe caught his eye. Picking it up he turned back to rejoin his +companions, and a few moments later he reached an opening between the +firs by which they had left the hollow. The trees rose in black and +shadowy masses on either side, but their ragged tops cut sharply against +the sky, and a faint, uncertain light shone down into the gap between +them. Soon after he strode into it Frank stopped abruptly, for there was +a crackle of dry twigs and a soft rustle somewhere in front of him, and +he could think of no reason why Harry or Mr. Barclay should come back. +If they had wanted him to do anything they could have called him.</p> + +<p>He felt his nerves tingle as he stood and listened. The sound had ceased +and he could only hear the wind among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> the firs whose tops rustled +eerily. But presently the unmistakable fall of a heavy foot came out of +the shadows. Then he shrank back instinctively a pace or two into deeper +gloom, for there was no doubt that somebody was approaching, and while +he waited a black figure appeared in the opening not far in front of +him. The faint light was behind the man and he showed up against it dim +and indistinct, but Frank realized that he was not Mr. Barclay. He +looked taller and less heavily built. Then the boy dropped noiselessly +and held his breath, for a brittle branch had cracked under him. The +stranger stopped and seemed to be gazing about him.</p> + +<p>He moved on again, however, and Frank turned his face toward the ground, +fearing that it might show white in the gloom, but it was only by a +determined effort that he held himself still and mastered the desire to +crawl back farther into the shadow. He knew that if he yielded to it he +would be on his feet in another moment and might break away into the +bush or do something else which he would afterward regret. He realized +that Mr. Barclay and Harry must have seen the stranger and had for some +reason kept out of sight and let him go by.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the man was drawing nearer and Frank made out that he +was carrying something. It seemed almost impossible that he could pass +without seeing the boy, and the effort it cost the latter to lie still +became more arduous. It would have been an unspeakable relief even to +spring up and face the stranger with empty hands. Then he drew level, +and once more Frank set his lips as he listened to the footsteps. At +every moment he expected them suddenly to stop. They continued, however, +and although, since he dared not turn, he could not see the man now, it +was clear that he had passed.</p> + +<p>Frank waited a minute or two longer and then rose softly with a gasp of +fervent relief. He was annoyed to feel that he was still quivering with +the tension and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> he stood still a few moments to regain his composure +before he went quietly back toward his companions. As he neared the spot +where he had left them Mr. Barclay stepped out from behind a tree.</p> + +<p>"You met that man?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Frank, "that is, I saw him coming and kept out of the way. +He walked close by me and I think he was carrying a spade."</p> + +<p>"He was," Mr. Barclay assented. "I was afraid he might surprise you, but +we couldn't shout and warn you without alarming him, which I didn't want +to do for one or two reasons. We'll wait here until he's through with +the business that brought him."</p> + +<p>He drew Frank farther back among the trees and soon after they sat down +a faint rustling followed by a clatter of stones reached them from the +hollow. There was no doubt that the man was digging up the case. Harry, +who was lying near Frank's feet, moved restlessly and at length he rose.</p> + +<p>"That fellow's certainly one of the gang," he said. "I don't see why we +shouldn't get him. Frank and I could work around behind the hollow and +head him off while you walk in."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Barclay dryly, "what would follow?"</p> + +<p>"You could have him sent up."</p> + +<p>"I daresay I could. What would be the use of it?"</p> + +<p>"You'd have got one of them, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Sure," said Mr. Barclay, "and I'd have scared off all the rest. I +suppose I must be greedy, but I wouldn't be content with one bush +chopper who probably only takes a hand in now and then. As I believe I +told you, I'm after the whole gang."</p> + +<p>Harry said nothing further for a while, and then he stopped and +listened.</p> + +<p>"He's coming back," he whispered.</p> + +<p>The sound of footsteps came out of the shadow, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> presently Frank saw +a dusky figure pass among the trees carrying something upon its shoulder +besides the spade. They waited until there was silence again and then +moved quietly back to the beach, from which they saw a canoe cross the +channel. Half an hour later they paddled across and duly reached the +sloop.</p> + +<p>"If that man had known she was here he would probably not have gone," +Mr. Barclay observed. "As he didn't see her when there was a little +light left, it's reasonable to suppose he couldn't have noticed her +coming back in the dark, and on the whole I'm satisfied with the result +of the trip. But it might be better if you went somewhere else for your +flight shooting after this."</p> + +<p>Then they set the mainsail and started back for the cove, keeping close +in along the beach.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">MR. WEBSTER'S SLASHING</span></h2> + + +<p>A month passed, which the boys spent quietly in grubbing up stumps and +chopping. Then Mr. Oliver suggested that they go over to Mr. Webster's +ranch and burn off his slashing, as he had promised its absent owner to +send them. He added that they could camp there for the night and get a +little hunting when they had done the work. There was a nipping air when +they started early in the morning, each with a packet of provisions and +a blanket upon his shoulder, and the newly turned clods in the clearing +were iron-hard. The Pacific Slope is warmer in winter than the Atlantic +coast, but there are times when the cold snaps are sharp enough in its +northern part, and the boys were glad to plunge into the shelter of the +woods where the frost was less stinging.</p> + +<p>They reached the ranch without much trouble, and when they stopped at +the slip rails Frank, who had not been there before, looked about him. +The bush clearings are much alike, but this one was smaller than Mr. +Oliver's. A little, very rudely built log house stood at one end with +thick timber creeping close up behind it. There was also an unusual +quantity of underbrush among the stumps near the door, which Frank had +occasion to notice more particularly later. In the meanwhile it struck +him that the place had an uncared-for look and Harry seemed to share his +opinion.</p> + +<p>"Webster's a very ordinary rancher," he remarked. "He can't stay with a +thing and finish it. When he's about halfway through he lets up and +starts something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> else. Any other man would have grubbed out all that +withered stuff about the house and chopped back the bush behind it. It's +not safe to have big trees growing so close."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"Because of the fires. They come along every now and then. It's lucky +there's no wind to speak of, because I wouldn't put a light to this +slashing if there was."</p> + +<p>Frank glanced at the belt of fallen timber behind the fence on one side +of the clearing. It had been badly cut and some of the trees lay across +each other, while only a few of the branches had been sawed off and the +undergrowth had not been mowed. If the fall had not been a dry one it +would have been difficult to burn the slashing. Then he glanced up at +the leaden-gray sky above the pine tops and fancied that it looked +threatening. The dense wall of somber sprays seemed unusually harsh of +aspect, and there was something curious about the light. Everything was +gray and raw-edged, and he shivered, for the faint wind had blown across +a wilderness of snowy mountains.</p> + +<p>"It's not the kind of day for hanging round," he said. "Let's get to +work."</p> + +<p>Entering the house they found a can of coal oil and plenty of rags, for +a heap of worn-out clothing lay in a corner.</p> + +<p>"They'll hold oil and that's about all they're good for," Harry +remarked. "I expect it's months since Webster pitched them there with +the idea that he might mend them sometime."</p> + +<p>Frank carried out one or two of the duck garments, and when they had +torn them up and soaked them in coal oil he and Harry set about lighting +fires here and there in the slashing, after which they stood near the +door of the house and watched the conflagration. The fires spread +rapidly, and one side of the clearing was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> soon wrapped in crackling +flame that worked backward from the neighborhood of the fence, licking +up branches and undergrowth as it neared the bush. That did not stop it, +for the fire had flung out advance guards which leaped forward swiftly +through the withered fern and hurled themselves in crimson waves upon +the standing trunks. They seemed to splash upon them, flinging up +fountains of blazing brands and sparks that seized upon the lower sprays +and sprang aloft until each assaulted tree was wrapped in fire from base +to summit. The conflagration made the draught it needed, and by and by +it roared in what seemed to Frank malicious triumph as it pressed onward +into the forest under a cloud of rolling smoke. Where it would stop he +did not know, but he was almost uncomfortably impressed by the +spectacle.</p> + +<p>"It's a full-power burn," said Harry approvingly. "Guess it's going to +clean up this slashing. And now we'll look around and see if Webster's +left anything we can make our dinner in."</p> + +<p>There was a stove in the house, but they soon discovered that it did not +burn well, and Harry glanced disgustedly at the spider Frank discovered.</p> + +<p>"A hole in the bottom of it!" he said contemptuously. "That's the kind +of thing Webster uses. I'll be astonished if you don't find another hole +in the kettle. You had better go along to the well and fill it."</p> + +<p>In a few minutes Frank came back with the kettle, which fortunately did +not leak, and Harry set it on the stove and laid a piece of pork in the +spider, which he tilted on one side.</p> + +<p>"It's going to be about an hour before that kettle boils, and, though I +feel like doing it, there's no use in straightening up this shack in the +meanwhile because the man would muss it up again as soon as he comes +back. There's a slough beyond the rise yonder, and as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> it lies to +windward we might get a shot at something. We could be back before +dinner's ready."</p> + +<p>Frank would have preferred to stay where he was, as he had already done +a good morning's work. He assented, however, and accompanied Harry up a +steep and very rough slope and down the opposite side of it. When they +reached the bottom they plunged into a waste of tall grass and +half-decayed vegetation among the roots of which the frost had not +penetrated. As the result of this they sank to the knees here and there, +and Frank more than once fell down. He soon had enough of it, but he was +beginning to realize that there was very little worth doing in the bush +which could be accomplished, so to speak, with one's gloves on. The +small rancher and hunter must expect to get wet and ragged, as well as +weary and dirty, and must face the unpleasantness cheerfully and mend +his clothes afterward. The only other course was to stay in the cities.</p> + +<p>Presently Harry discovered the tracks of a deer leading out of the +valley and pointed them out to his companion.</p> + +<p>"You won't mind waiting for your dinner?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No—not very much," Frank answered dubiously.</p> + +<p>This satisfied Harry, who led the way up the hillside, and it seemed to +Frank that they scrambled over fallen logs and branches and through +thick undergrowth for the greater part of an hour before they crept +carefully down again to another hollow. Though they floundered all +around it there was no sign of the deer, and Frank was relieved when his +companion intimated that they might as well go back to the ranch. Dinner +was the first thought in both their minds when they reached it, but it +struck Frank that the fire had become a tremendous conflagration and he +noticed that a dense cloud of smoke was blowing across the clearing.</p> + +<p>"It's a real fierce burn and there's more wind than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> there was, but +we'll get a meal before we look around," Harry remarked.</p> + +<p>There were, however, one or two difficulties in the way of their doing +this. The kettle had boiled nearly dry, and the pork had disappeared +through the burned-out bottom of the spider. Harry said that he could +manage to fry another piece on the rim of it if Frank would refill the +kettle, and eventually they sat down to dinner and spent a long while +over it. Then Harry got up reluctantly.</p> + +<p>"I guess we had better see what the fire's doing," he observed.</p> + +<p>Frank was almost appalled when he reached the doorway. The whole +clearing was thick with smoke, out of which there shot up a furious wall +of fire that rose and fell with a crackle resembling volleys of riflery +and a roaring even more disconcerting. What was worse, it seemed to be +creeping into the thick bush behind the house, and Harry, running a few +paces toward the corner of the building, stopped aghast with the red +light flickering on his dismayed face.</p> + +<p>"Dad promised he'd get Webster's slashing burned, but it wasn't in the +contract that we'd burn off his house," he said. "We'll have to hustle. +See if there's an ax and grubhoe in that woodshed."</p> + +<p>Frank found the tools, and while he attacked the larger bushes near the +back of the house, Harry began to cut down the undergrowth in front of +it. By and by Frank came back and they dragged the brush away toward the +clearing where it could burn harmlessly, but the smoke grew more +blinding and every now and then a shower of sparks fell about the boys. +Fires sprang up among the underbrush, and falling upon them with the ax +and spade they savagely thrashed them out. Frank burned his hands in +doing so, but there was no time to trouble about that and he toiled on, +coughing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> and choking, until at last they were forced to stop for +breath.</p> + +<p>They stood close in front of the house, with a mass of withered fern and +half-burned brush smoldering in front of them, while a sheet of fire +rose and fell amidst dense clouds of smoke behind the building. The +daylight appeared to be dying out, but Frank could not be sure of that, +because it was almost dark one moment as the smoke rolled about them and +the next they stood dazzled by a flood of radiance.</p> + +<p>"We have done 'most all we can," said Harry wearily. "It was the wind +getting up that made the trouble—I should have noticed it—but if it +stands for the next half hour we ought to save the house. The fire's +eating back into the bush all the while."</p> + +<p>"Should we get any of the things out?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"I'm not smart at handling hot stoves, and there's mighty little else in +the place," Harry answered with a laugh. "I wouldn't bid a dollar for +Webster's pans and crockery, and he made the table and the two chairs. +Still, I don't know any reason why we shouldn't sling them out."</p> + +<p>Just then the smoke rolled down about the boys in a blinding cloud; +there was a great snapping and crackling, and a shower of blazing +fragments drove them back thirty or forty yards across the clearing. +Presently the smoke thinned, and a row of stripped trunks behind the +house was outlined against a tremendous sheet of flame. Frank took off +his hat and shook a few red embers from the crown of it.</p> + +<p>"When we were getting those rags I noticed a keg behind them," he said.</p> + +<p>"A keg?" said Harry sharply.</p> + +<p>"A little keg. It looked thick and strongly made."</p> + +<p>The red light struck full upon Harry's face, and Frank saw that +consternation was stamped upon it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>"Then," he said, "it's full of coarse, tree-splitting powder. Some of +the ranchers use it for blowing out stumps. Did you notice whether it +had been opened?"</p> + +<p>"The head seemed loose and one of the hoops had been started."</p> + +<p>"Sure!" said Harry with dismay in his voice. Then he broke out in quick +anger: "It's just the kind of thing Webster would leave lying around +near his stove, without taking the trouble to head it up again. He'll +have some detonators lying loose, too—I've heard he uses giant powder. +We've got to bring them out."</p> + +<p>They looked at each other with set faces while the sparks whirled about +the house, and both were conscious of an almost uncontrollable impulse +to vacate the clearing with the greatest possible speed. It was to their +credit that they mastered it, and in a moment or two Harry spoke again:</p> + +<p>"The sparks shouldn't get at the keg if we put a jacket over it, and one +of us could carry all the detonators Webster's likely to have in his +pocket."</p> + +<p>Frank had heard that the big copper caps which are used to fire giant +powder will contain a tremendously powerful fulminate, and he was +conscious of a very natural reluctance to carry a number of them about +his person through the showers of fiery particles that fell about the +building. Indeed, he afterward confessed that if Harry had not been with +him nothing would have induced him to approach it. How he screwed up his +courage he did not know, but as the flame leaped up again the sight of a +strip of blazing fence had its effect. The rest of it had been +destroyed, and he felt they must make an effort to save the house.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't take us long to get the powder out," he said with a note of +uncertainty in his voice.</p> + +<p>Harry sprang forward and Frank was glad that he did so. He realized that +this was not a matter for calm discussion, and vigorous action was a +relief. Another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> cloud of smoke met them as they drew near the house, +and the sparks that came flying out of it fell thick about them. The +heat scorched their faces and they gasped in the acrid vapor, while +Frank's eyes were smarting intolerably when he staggered into the +building. There was, however, less smoke inside it, and a fierce light +beat in through one window. Flinging the old clothes about they came +upon the keg and found that the head was lying loose. Working in +desperate haste they forced the top hoop upward and Harry wrapped a +woolen garment over the top of the keg. After that he flung everything +in a lidless wooden case out upon the floor and pounced upon a little +box that fell among the rest.</p> + +<p>"Detonators!" he shouted. "What's in the packet near you?"</p> + +<p>Frank tore the paper savagely. "It looks like thick black cord."</p> + +<p>"Fuse," said Harry. "It's harmless. I don't see any giant powder. Hold +on. I'll look around his sleeping room."</p> + +<p>He vanished through an inner door and Frank soon heard him throwing +things about. The suspense of the next few moments was almost +unbearable. A pulsating radiance alternately lighted up the room and +grew dim again, and the roar and crackle of the fire set his nerves +tingling. Then Harry ran back toward him.</p> + +<p>"I can't find any giant powder," he reported, and added, "get hold of +the keg. We'll carry it between us."</p> + +<p>Frank set his lips as they sprang out of the door with it. The keg was +not remarkably heavy, but it was an awkward shape and too big for either +of them to carry on his shoulder or beneath his arm. Indeed, Frank felt +his hands slipping from its rounded end and he was horribly afraid of +dropping it among the patches of smoldering undergrowth and glowing +fragments which lay all about him. A few moments later thick smoke +whirled about him, and he hardly breathed as he struggled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> through it +until it blew away again. Then, to his relief, he saw that the house was +some distance behind them and they were clear of the worst of the +sparks. They went on, however, to the opposite side of the clearing, +where they deposited the powder, and then dropped the detonators a +little farther on, after which Harry sat down on the frozen ground +panting heavily.</p> + +<p>"It's done and I want to get my breath," he said. "The next time I burn +a slashing I'll see there's no powder about the place before I begin."</p> + +<p>Frank made no answer. He was glad to sit still and recover, for the +strain had told on him. Indeed, he was almost sorry when his companion +stood up again.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we had better get back and pitch some water on the roof," he +suggested. "I was too busy to think of that before."</p> + +<p>The wind seemed to be dropping and the sparks were not quite so bad when +they reached the house. They found a bucket, and after smashing more of +the ice upon the shallow well Frank climbed up on the woodshed which +reached to the low roof. The latter was covered with cedar shingles and +he wondered why it had not ignited, because the sparks were still +dropping upon it and there were several charred spots. This, however, +was not a question of much consequence, and Harry kept him busy during +the next half hour sluicing the roof with water which he passed up in +the bucket. Some of it went over Frank's hands and clothing and it was +icy cold, but they worked on steadily while the fire worked back farther +from them into the bush. It had burned most fiercely when it had the dry +branches in the slashing to supply it, but these were all licked up, and +though the small stuff blazed the great standing trunks would not burn. +There were already rows of them rising, charred and blackened columns, +behind the slashing.</p> + +<p>At last Harry called Frank down from the roof.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>"You can let up," he said. "It's hardly likely we'll have any more +trouble. There's a lamp and some canned stuff in the shack, and as we'll +have to camp here I'll make some coffee. It's quite dark now."</p> + +<p>Frank concluded that it had been dark some time, though he had not +noticed when dusk crept down. He was glad to find the stove still +burning when he entered the house, very wet, and aching in every limb. +The kettle was soon boiling, and, as there was no bottom in the spider, +Harry, who had found a bag of flour and a can of syrup, contrived to +make some flapjacks and what he called biscuit on the top of the stove. +He said that this would be no drawback because Mr. Webster never blacked +the thing, and Frank found no fault with the cakes when they ate them +hot with syrup.</p> + +<p>Then they filled up the stove with the full draught on and lounged +contentedly beside it while their clothing dried on them. They had had a +heavy day, but now that the danger was over they were no more than +comfortably weary and the thrill of the last stirring hours remained +with them. Frank felt that they had done something worth while that +afternoon.</p> + +<p>When he diffidently pointed it out Harry laughed.</p> + +<p>"Sure!" he agreed. "Still, it's quite likely that Webster will get +jumping mad when he sees his fence, though it won't take him many days +to split enough rails for a new one."</p> + +<p>A little later Frank walked across the room and opened the door. The +undergrowth on one side of the clearing gleamed white with frost. On the +other side a few big branches still snapped and glowed, and there was a +red glare behind the black rows of trunks, but it was now broken by +patches of darkness and he could see that the fire was rapidly dying +out. He came back with a shiver and sat down in his warm seat beside the +stove.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A NIGHT ON THE SANDS</span></h2> + + +<p>There was a sprinkle of snow upon the ground, and the boys were working +in Mr. Oliver's slashing one afternoon a week after their visit to Mr. +Webster's ranch when Harry, who had just hauled up a log, stopped his +oxen and addressed his father.</p> + +<p>"It looks as if it would be a fine night," he remarked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Oliver. "I've no fault to find with the weather. We'll +get most of the logs piled for burning if it lasts."</p> + +<p>Harry smiled at Frank. "Dad's slow to take a hint. I wasn't thinking of +the logs."</p> + +<p>"I can believe it," Mr. Oliver retorted. "Anyway, they have to be hauled +out, and it's easier to do it now than when the soil's soft and boggy."</p> + +<p>Frank, who had been heaving the sawed trunks on top of one another with +Jake, agreed with the rancher. The big masses of timber slid easily over +the snow and they were clean to handle, which was something to be +thankful for after the difficulty they had had in moving them when they +were foul with clotted mire. The frost, as he had discovered, seldom +lasted long in that country, but it was very cold and the firs towered +flecked with snow against a clear blue sky.</p> + +<p>"I was wondering if there was any reason why we shouldn't try to get a +duck to-night," said Harry. "We won't go near the island where the cache +is. There's a flat behind the other one to the southward."</p> + +<p>"I can think of one reason," his father answered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> "You won't feel like +working to-morrow, and there's a good deal of log-hauling to be done."</p> + +<p>"We'll be ready to start as usual," persisted Harry.</p> + +<p>"Then you can go on that condition, but you'll have to stick to it. I +don't mind your getting a few hours' shooting now and then, but I expect +you to be ranchers first of all when there's work on hand."</p> + +<p>Harry repeated his assurance and Mr. Oliver made no more objections. +When they had heaved up the next log Jake turned to the boys.</p> + +<p>"There'll be a moon and I guess you're not going to do much on the +flats," he said. "You want to cut two very short paddles and put some +spruce brush that you can lie on in the canoe. Then if you keep quite +flat you might creep up on a flock of ducks in one of the channels. You +can't do it if you use the ordinary paddle kneeling."</p> + +<p>He split them two flat slabs off the butt of a cedar, but Mr. Oliver, +who was chopping nearby, looked around when Harry began to hack them +into shape.</p> + +<p>"What are those for?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Paddles," Harry answered with some hesitation.</p> + +<p>"You're logging just now," said his father dryly. "I want another tier +put up before it's dark."</p> + +<p>Harry laid down the half-finished paddles and grinned at Frank.</p> + +<p>"I guess dad's quite right, but his way of staying with it gets riling +now and then."</p> + +<p>Frank laughed. One day when Harry had hurt his knee and there was no +work of any consequence on hand, Mr. Oliver had taken him out into the +bush, and the boy had a painful recollection of the journey they had +made together. No thicket was too dense or thorny for the rancher to +scramble through, and he prowled about the steepest slopes and amongst +the thickest tangles of fallen logs with the same unflagging persistency +until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> at the first shot he killed a deer. Mr. Oliver was, as his son +and Jake sometimes said, a stayer, one who invariably put through what +he took in hand. He was the kind of person Frank aspired to become, +though he was discovering that he was not likely to accomplish it by +taking things easily. Success, it seemed, could only be attained by +ceaseless effort and constant carefulness.</p> + +<p>He went on with the logging, though the work was remarkably heavy, and +it was an occupation he had no liking for, but he helped Harry to finish +the paddles after supper. Then they carried a bundle of spruce twigs +down to the canoe, and, though there was not much wind, tied a reef in +the sloop's mainsail, which Mr. Oliver had insisted on before they +loosed the moorings.</p> + +<p>An hour later and shortly before low water they let go the anchor in a +lane of water which wound into a stretch of sloppy sand. It was just +deep enough for the sloop to creep into with her centerboard up, and the +flats ran back from it into a thin mist on either side. It was very cold +and the deck glittered in the pale moonlight white with frost. Frank +stood up looking about him while Harry arranged the twigs in the canoe, +but there was very little to see. The sky was hazy, the moon was +encircled by a halo, and wet sand and winding water glimmered faintly. +At one point he could dimly make out the dark loom of an island, but +there was no sign of the beach in front of him. Though he could feel a +light wind on his face, it was very still, except for the ripple of +water and the occasional splash of undermined sand falling into the +channel, which seemed startlingly distinct. Once he heard a distant +calling of wildfowl, but it died away again.</p> + +<p>Dropping into the canoe when his companion was ready he took up one of +the longer paddles. The water was quite smooth and they made good +progress, but Harry did not seem satisfied.</p> + +<p>"If I'd had any sense I'd have brought a pole to shove<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> her with," he +complained. "It's handier in shallow water and the ducks seem to be a +long way up. A creek that runs out on the beach makes this channel."</p> + +<p>Frank paddled on, watching the sloppy banks slide by and the palely +gleaming strip of water run back into the haze in front of him until at +last it forked off into two branches.</p> + +<p>"We'll try this one," said Harry. "I believe it works right around +behind the island. The flood should come up that end first, and it ought +to drive the feeding birds back over the sands to us."</p> + +<p>The water got deeper as they proceeded, for Frank could feel no bottom +when he sank his blade, but there was no sign of any duck until at last +they heard a faint quacking in the mist. Soon afterward there was a +shrill scream as a flock of some of the smaller waders wheeled above +their heads.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Harry, "we'll try Jake's idea. If the ducks aren't on the +water they'll be along the edge of it where the bank's soft. You don't +often find them feeding where the sand's dry and hard."</p> + +<p>They placed the guns handy, and lying down upon the spruce brush dipped +the short blades. Frank found the position a very uncomfortable one to +paddle in, and he could not keep his hands from getting wet, though the +water was icy cold. They were fast becoming swollen and tingled +painfully in the stinging frost. Still, the boys made some progress, and +at last looking up at a whisper from Harry, Frank saw a dark patch upon +the water some distance in front of him. Harry edged the canoe closer in +with the bank, which had a slope of two or three feet on that side.</p> + +<p>After that they crept on slowly, because they dared not use much force +for fear of splashing, and Frank's wet fingers were rapidly growing +useless. The ducks became a little more distinct and he could see other +birds moving about in the faint gleam on the opposite bank. Some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> of +them, standing out against the wet surface, looked extraordinarily +large, though he could not tell what they were.</p> + +<p>At last a sudden eerie screaming broke out close ahead and Frank started +and almost dropped his paddle as a second flock of waders rose from the +gloom of the bank. They flashed white in the moonlight as they turned +and wheeled on simultaneously slanted wings. Then they vanished for a +moment as their dusky upper plumage was turned toward the boys, gleamed +again more dimly, and the haze swallowed them. They had, however, given +the alarm, and the air was filled with the harsh clamor of startled +wildfowl.</p> + +<p>"Now!" cried Harry. "Before the ducks get up!"</p> + +<p>Frank flung in his paddle and pitched his gun to his shoulder, with the +barrel resting on the side of the canoe. It sparkled in the moonlight, +distracting his sight, and stung his wet hand, but he could see dark +bodies rising from the water ahead. As he pressed the trigger Harry's +gun blazed across the bows, and following the double crash there was an +outbreak of confused sound, the sharp splash of webbed feet that trailed +through water, a discordant screaming, and the beat of many wings. +Indistinct objects whirled across the moonlight and as Frank with +stiffened fingers snapped open the breach Harry's gun once more flung +out a train of yellow sparks. Then the smoke hung about them smelling +curiously acrid in the frosty air and they seized the paddles to drive +the canoe clear of it. When they had left it behind them the lane of +water was empty except for one small dark patch upon it, and the clamor +of the wildfowl was dying away. They had paddled a few yards when Frank +made out that something was stumbling away from them along the shadowy +bank, but they were almost abreast of it before he could get another +shell into the chamber. The bird lay still when he fired, and Harry +picked up the duck on the water, after which he ran the canoe ashore.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>"So far as I could see, the rest of them headed across the flat toward +the other channel," he said. "It looks soft here, but, as you'll have to +get out to pick up the duck yonder, it might be a good idea if you +followed them over the sand. I'll work along the creek and it's likely +that any birds I put up will fly over you."</p> + +<p>This seemed possible to Frank, who realized that the walk would warm +him, and he stepped out of the canoe into several inches of slushy sand. +Floundering through it, he picked up the duck and threw it to Harry, who +shoved the canoe out.</p> + +<p>"I won't go far and you had better head back toward the forks in half an +hour or so," he said. "I'll probably be waiting."</p> + +<p>The canoe slid away, and Frank felt sorry that he had left her when he +reached the harder top of the bank. The level flat which stretched away +before him into the mist looked very desolate, and the deep stillness +had a depressing effect on him. He also remembered that in another hour +or less the flood tide would come creeping back across the dreary waste. +He could, however, think of no reasonable excuse for rejoining his +companion, and turning his back on the channel he set out across the +sand. Nothing moved upon it as he plodded on, the silence seemed to be +growing deeper, and he had an idea that the haze was denser than it had +been. Still, he determined to make the round Harry had suggested and +quickened his pace.</p> + +<p>It was some time later when he heard a double report that sounded a long +way off and he stopped to listen, when the clamor of the wildfowl broke +out again. It died away, but he fancied that a faint, rhythmic sound +stole out of the silence that followed it. A minute later he was sure +that a flight of ducks was crossing the flat and, what was more, that +the birds were heading toward him. As yet he could see nothing of them, +for there was now no doubt that the mist was thicker. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> crouched down +as the sound increased, as it occurred to him that he would be too +plainly visible standing up in the moonlight on the level flat.</p> + +<p>The sound drew nearer, growing in a steady crescendo until he wondered +that a duck's wing could make so much noise, and at last a number of +shadowy objects broke out of the mist, flying low and swiftly in regular +formation. The gun flashed, and the ducks swept on and vanished, all but +one which came slowly fluttering down out of the mist.</p> + +<p>Frank spent nearly a minute fumbling with stiffened fingers while he +crammed in another shell, and then saw that the duck was running across +the sand some way off. Closing the breach he set off after it, and had +got a little nearer when it rose, fluttered awkwardly, and fell again, +though it was able to make good progress on its feet. Twice he got +within sixty yards of it, but on one occasion it flew a little way, and +on the second it swam across a long pool which he had to run around. +Indeed, it led him a considerable distance before he brought it down.</p> + +<p>Picking it up he stopped and looked about him. It was pleasant to feel a +little warmer, but there was nothing to guide him toward the other fork +of the channel except the drift of the mist and the chill of the wind +upon one side of his face, and he could not be sure that the wounded +bird had led him straight. The flat was level and bare except for little +pools of water on which were glistening filaments of ice. It was, +however, too cold to stand still with wet feet and consider, and +deciding that the sooner he got down to the forks the sooner he would be +back on board the sloop, he set off briskly. He had had enough of +wandering about that desolate waste.</p> + +<p>At last, to his relief, he saw a faint silvery glimmer ahead in the +mist, and turning off he struck the channel a little lower down. There +was no sign of a duck or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> anything else, but he was by no means sorry +for this, for his one idea was to get back to the forks as soon as +possible, and the surest way of doing it was to follow the creek. It +appeared to be a considerable distance, though he walked as fast as he +could, splashing straight through shallow pools and slipping in +half-frozen mud, and when at last he reached the spot where the channels +branched off he could see nothing of Harry or the canoe. What troubled +him almost as much was the fact that the stream was now flowing inland, +and after a quick glance at it he shouted with all his might. His voice +rang along the water and level sand, but though he called again no +answer came out of the drifting mist. Then he slipped his hand into his +pocket to get a cartridge and drew it out again with an exclamation of +disgust, recollecting that he had only picked up three or four loose +shells in the canoe.</p> + +<p>For a moment he stood still considering, and it occurred to him that the +situation was not a pleasant one. The flood tide was making and he did +not know how far off the beach was, while he had no desire to spend the +night in the woods. He could not see the island, and in order to reach +it he would have to cross the main channel, which, as he remembered, was +moderately deep. On the whole it seemed wiser to wade through the +smaller fork and, if Harry did not overtake him in the meanwhile, try to +get on board the sloop. She would float in very shallow water with her +centerboard up, and he had touched bottom with the canoe paddle a few +yards away from her.</p> + +<p>When he had arrived at this decision he plunged into the water, which +immediately rose above the top of his long boots. It was horribly cold, +but this caused him less concern than the fact that it rippled strongly +against his legs, which made it clear that he must get down to the sloop +as fast as possible. He was over his knees before he got across, and +then he ran his hardest along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> the edge of the channel, which seemed to +be growing wider at every moment. The palely gleaming water was +perfectly smooth, but it was moving with an ominous speed.</p> + +<p>He grew breathless, but he did not slacken the pace. He went straight, +splashing through trickling water and into pools, while he strained his +eyes for the first glimpse of the sloop, but he could only see the mist +which hid the sand thirty or forty yards in front of him. At last he +made out a strip of something solid low down ahead and then what seemed +to be a mast, and a few moments later he stopped at the water's edge. +There was nothing but water in front of him and it was no longer quite +smooth. Little ripples ran along the sand, and one broke about his feet +while he gazed at them. It did not recede but splashed on, and when he +looked around there was at least a yard of water behind him. Then he +struggled with a paralyzing sense of dismay, and strove to keep his +head. It was necessary to think and think very hard.</p> + +<p>He could not wait where he was with the water deepening about him; +while, if he went back and did not find Harry before he reached it, the +creek, which he would no longer be able to cross, would head him off. If +he followed it up on the near side it would take him away from the +canoe, and he did not know how far off the beach was. There was +evidently only one thing to be done and that was to get on board the +sloop even if he had to swim.</p> + +<p>She seemed a horribly long way out, but he splashed in hurriedly, afraid +to wait a moment lest his resolution should melt away, and he was soon +waist-deep with a strong stream swirling around him. It was almost +impossible to keep his feet, the gun hampered him, and the coldness of +the water seemed to check his breathing and take the power out of his +limbs. He could not go back, however, and face a journey through the +mist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> across the waste of sand, and setting his lips he struggled on. +Twice he was almost swept away, but at last making a savage effort he +clutched the stern of the craft and scrambled up on to her deck.</p> + +<p>The first thing he did was to light the stove, and when a pleasant +warmth began to fill the cabin he was conscious of a strong desire to +sit still and dry his clothes. That, unfortunately, was out of the +question, and he reluctantly crawled out and stood up on deck. There was +nothing but water around him now. It stretched back on every side into +the mist, and the only sounds were the soft lap of the tide and the +ripple it made flowing over thinly covered sand. Then having already +decided that Harry would have some difficulty in paddling against the +stream, he set about getting sail upon the craft to go in search of the +canoe.</p> + +<p>The mainsail looked remarkably big and heavy, and he was thankful that +there was a reef in it, which made the task a little easier before he +got it up. Then he spent several minutes in very hard work heaving the +boat up to her anchor, and bruised his swollen hands in the determined +effort it cost him to break it out. After that he set the jib and the +sloop slid gently away with the wind abeam of her. He did not know +exactly where she was going, but he shouted as loudly as he could every +now and then, and at last there was a faint answering cry.</p> + +<p>He called again and the cry rose more clearly, after which he hauled the +sheet and changed his course, and by and by the canoe appeared out of +the haze close ahead. A few moments later Harry paddled alongside, and +handing up the ducks and his gun made the canoe fast before he turned to +Frank.</p> + +<p>"Do you know where you're heading for?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," Frank confessed. "I've only a notion that it's in toward the +land."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll drop the jib and pitch the anchor over.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> We'll have to wait +until the stream slackens before we get out again."</p> + +<p>They followed his suggestion and Frank was glad indeed to creep back +into the cozy cabin.</p> + +<p>"This is uncommonly nice," drawled Harry, sitting down with a smile of +content. "It was horribly cramping in the canoe and my hands were 'most +too cold to paddle."</p> + +<p>"What kept you?" inquired Frank.</p> + +<p>"I must have gone farther than I intended and when I turned back the +tide was running up so strong I could hardly make head against it. I was +getting scared about you when I reached the forks and saw how the water +was spreading on the sand. After that I didn't spare myself, but I was +mighty glad to hear your shout."</p> + +<p>"Did you get any more ducks?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry, "I had only one shot—a long one."</p> + +<p>Frank, who told him to make some coffee, stripped off part of his +clothes and dressed himself in an old blanket, after which they sat +beside the stove for an hour or so, until Harry crawled out and said +that there was a little more wind and the mist was thinning.</p> + +<p>Shortly after this they heaved the anchor and started again, but once +more the wind fell light and a couple of hours had passed and they were +almost frozen when they reached the cove below the ranch. The house was +dark when they crept into it and went straight to bed, while it cost +Frank a determined effort to get up before daylight next morning. His +clothes were still damp and he felt sore and aching, but he took his +place with the others when they sat down to breakfast.</p> + +<p>Logging seemed a particularly unpleasant task that day, but he had to go +on with it, and he fancied that Mr. Oliver, with whom it was necessary +to keep pace, worked harder than he usually did. Frank was completely +ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>hausted when as darkness fell they went back to the ranch.</p> + +<p>"Are you going out again after ducks to-night?" Mr. Oliver asked him.</p> + +<p>"No," said Frank ruefully, "I feel as if it would take me a week to get +over the last trip."</p> + +<p>"I'm not very much astonished," Mr. Oliver answered with a soft laugh. +"Still, I don't mind admitting that you stood up to your work to-day."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE ULTIMATUM</span></h2> + + +<p>The frost soon broke up, and it was raining heavily one afternoon, when +the boys were at work in an excavation they had driven under a big fir +stump shortly after their shooting trip. Frank, very wet and dirty, lay +propped up on one elbow with his head and shoulders inside the hole, +chopping awkwardly at a root. His legs and feet were in a pool of water +outside and there was very little room to swing the ax, while at every +blow the saturated soil fell down on him. Grubbing out a stump in wet +weather is a singularly disagreeable task.</p> + +<p>Harry crouched close beside him where he was partly sheltered from the +rain by the network of roots which rose above his head. The boys had +spent most of the day cutting through those which ran along the surface +of the ground and digging to get at the rest, until they had been forced +to drive a tunnel to reach one or two which went vertically down, for it +was an unusually large stump. At last when his ax shoved through the +obstacle Frank paused for breath, and, as it was getting dark in the +excavation, Harry lighted a piece of candle. The light fell upon a +massive shaft of wet wood which sank into the ground.</p> + +<p>"Nobody fixed as we are could chop through that," he grumbled. "It's the +big taproot, and it would take most of another day's shoveling to make +room to get at it with the crosscut. It looks as if we'd have to put +some giant powder in. Where's that auger?"</p> + +<p>Frank reached out for the boring tool, which resem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>bled a huge +corkscrew, only that instead of a handle it had a hole at its upper end +for the insertion of a short lever.</p> + +<p>"I'll bore while you get things ready, if you like," he suggested. "Do +you often use dynamite?"</p> + +<p>"We never fire a shot when we can help it, though there are ranchers who +get through a lot of the stuff. Giant powder's expensive, and, though +labor's expensive, too, you have to figure whether a shot's going to +pay. It's worth while if it will save you grubbing most of the day. +Slant the hole you bore a little upward while I go along for the +magazine."</p> + +<p>Harry crawled out of the excavation, and Frank slipped a crossbar +through the hole in the auger, driving the point of the latter into the +wood. It went in easily, but the work grew harder as he twisted it round +and round, kneeling with his shoulders against the roots, while the +candle flickered and big drops of water trickled down on him. The +position was a cramping one, and his wet hands slipped upon the +crossbar, but he had become accustomed to doing unpleasant things, and +it was evident that one could not clear a ranch without grubbing stumps.</p> + +<p>By and by Harry came back, and telling him to hold the light carefully, +produced what looked rather like a yellow candle, and a piece of black +cord with a copper cap nipped down on the end of it.</p> + +<p>"That's the detonator," he said, pointing to the cap. "You saw one or +two of them at Webster's ranch."</p> + +<p>"I didn't feel inclined to stop and examine them then," Frank answered +with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"They're very like the caps used for guns, only, as you see, they're +bigger, and it's wise to be careful how you pinch one down on the fuse. +The stuff they fill the end with is mighty powerful. So's giant powder, +but it's peculiar because it will only burn unless you fire it with +something that makes a bang. At least, that's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> what it does in a general +way. The trouble is you can never be quite sure of it."</p> + +<p>He worked the soft yellow substance over the detonator, after which he +thrust it gently into the auger hole and pressed a handful of soil down +on it. Frank was thankful when he had finished, for having heard of the +tremendous powers of the giant powder he did not care to be shut up with +it among that network of roots. Then Harry, straightening the strip of +black fuse which projected from the hole, took a quick glance about him.</p> + +<p>"We'll make sure we can get out before we light it," he remarked, taking +the candle and holding it to the fuse. "You don't want to stay around +once the fuse is burning. Crawl back and hold those roots up out of my +way."</p> + +<p>The candle was by this time sputtering and sparkling, and Frank swung +himself up out of the hole and set off madly across the clearing, +shouting to Mr. Oliver and Jake, who were at work not far away. His +companion, following close behind, stopped him presently.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he shouted with a laugh. "You needn't run right down to the +cove. Giant powder's kind of local in its action, and that charge isn't +going to turn the whole clearing upside down."</p> + +<p>They waited behind a neighboring stump, and a few minutes later Frank, +who had felt himself thrilled with expectation, was grievously +disappointed. He had looked for a spectacular result, but there was only +a dull, heavy thud, a sound of rending and splitting, and a wisp of +vapor out of which a little soil flew up.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Harry, "we'll go along and have a look, but we'll work +around the stump and come at it down the wind."</p> + +<p>"Why?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>His companion snickered. "Only that it would probably knock you over, +I'd let you go and see. It's wise to keep clear of the gases after +firing giant powder.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> They haven't the same effect on everybody, but +most men who get a whiff of them want to lie down for the rest of the +day."</p> + +<p>They approached the stump cautiously on its windward side, but there was +not much to see. It appeared to have been split and was slightly raised, +but it had certainly not been blown to fragments, as Frank had expected.</p> + +<p>"Do you think the shot has cut the root?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry with a smile, "you couldn't call it cutting. It has +melted it, swallowed it, blotted it right out. You'll find very little +of that root to-morrow, and there won't be any pieces lying round +either."</p> + +<p>He broke off and grabbed Frank's arm as the latter moved toward the +other side of the stump.</p> + +<p>"Come back!" he warned. "The gas is hanging about yet."</p> + +<p>Frank noticed a rather unpleasant smell, and was conscious of a pain in +his head, but it passed off as they crossed the clearing together. As it +was getting too dark to work, Mr. Oliver and Jake joined them before +they reached the house. They changed their clothes when they went in, +and after toiling in the rain all day Frank was glad to sit down dressed +in dry things at the well-spread table. The room was very cozy with its +bright lamp and snapping stove, and the doleful wail of the wind and the +thrashing of the rain outside emphasized its cheerfulness. He felt +languidly content with himself and the simple, strenuous life he led. +For the most part, though they had occasional adventures, it was an +uneventful one, and some time had passed since they had heard anything +of the dope runners. He wondered what had become of them, or if they had +found smuggling unprofitable and had given it up.</p> + +<p>Supper was about half finished when there was a knock at the door and +the dog rose with a growl. Harry seized the animal's collar just as a +man appeared in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> entrance. His clothes were black with water and a +trickle of it ran from the brim of the soft hat he held in one hand. He +was a young man and the paleness of his face suggested that he was from +the cities.</p> + +<p>"Is it far to Carthew Creek?" he inquired.</p> + +<p>"Eight or nine miles," Mr. Oliver replied. "The trail's very bad and +you'll have some trouble in keeping it on a night like this. Have you +any reason for going straight through?"</p> + +<p>"I believe a steamboat calls to-morrow and I thought of going back with +her. I've had about enough of these bush trails."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll put you up," said Mr. Oliver obligingly. "You can get on +again first thing in the morning. You're wet enough now, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>The stranger admitted that he was, but seemed to hesitate.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to trouble Miss Oliver," he said. "Still, as it happens, +I've a message for you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver said that he would give him some dry clothes, and the two +withdrew to get them. They came back a few minutes later and sat down at +the table. The stranger made an excellent meal, and Mr. Oliver waited +until he had finished before he asked a question:</p> + +<p>"Have you walked in?"</p> + +<p>"From the settlement," the other answered. "As I expected to get back by +the steamboat, I left my hired horse with Porteous at the store."</p> + +<p>"Porteous doesn't keep the store."</p> + +<p>"The other fellow got hurt chopping a week or so ago. A log or a big +branch fell on him, and they sent him off to Seattle. Porteous is +running the business until he gets better."</p> + +<p>Frank fancied that Mr. Oliver was displeased at this, but there was no +change in his manner toward his visitor.</p> + +<p>"Is he running the post office, too?" he asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>"Oh, yes. I had to tell him something about a letter."</p> + +<p>"You mentioned that you had some business with me. I suppose you're +looking up orders for fruit trees?"</p> + +<p>The stranger smiled. "I'm a store clerk by profession. Out of a job at +present. Name's T. Graham Watkins. Now you know me."</p> + +<p>He turned to Miss Oliver with a bow, but she made no comment, and he +glanced toward the boys.</p> + +<p>"We've got to have a talk," he added, addressing Mr. Oliver. "I'm not +sure you'd want these young men or your sister to hear."</p> + +<p>"You can tell it here," said Mr. Oliver dryly. "I can make a guess at +your business, and if I'm right I've no objections to the others staying +where they are."</p> + +<p>"Then it's just this. The folks I represent aren't pleased with you. +They've a notion that you've been bucking against them for the last few +months and trying to find out things they'd rather keep dark."</p> + +<p>"I presume you're referring to the dope runners. Why didn't they come +themselves?"</p> + +<p>"That's easily answered," said Mr. Watkins. "I understand you haven't +seen one of them yet, and they don't want to give you an opportunity of +doing so."</p> + +<p>Harry grinned at Frank across the table unnoticed by the speaker.</p> + +<p>"In my case it doesn't matter," the latter added. "I've merely called to +give you a message."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you rather hanging fire with it?" Mr. Oliver asked.</p> + +<p>"I feel kind of diffident. I don't want to say anything that might alarm +your sister."</p> + +<p>Miss Oliver smiled. "You needn't hesitate. My brother generally takes me +into his confidence, and I don't think either of us is very easily +startled."</p> + +<p>"Won't you send the boys away, anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mr. Oliver quietly, "I think I mentioned that I'd rather let +them stay."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>"Well," said the other, "this is the position. The gentlemen you +mentioned can land their stuff near here and get it away through the +bush easily; that is, if you'll lie by and take no hand against them. +There are other routes, but they're longer and more difficult, and my +friends would rather stick to this one if it's possible. The question is +how can they make it worth your while to shut your eyes and leave them +alone?"</p> + +<p>Harry suddenly straightened himself and Frank noticed the quick flush of +anger in his face, but Miss Oliver was smiling and the rancher's voice +was as tranquil as usual.</p> + +<p>"The answer's very simple," he said. "It can't be done."</p> + +<p>Mr. Watkins appeared astonished.</p> + +<p>"I want you to consider your position," he repeated.</p> + +<p>"I may tell you that I considered it carefully some months ago, but +there's a point I'd like to mention. Has it struck you that I might +promise to fall in with your friends' views and all the same give them +away?"</p> + +<p>"It was talked about," Mr. Watkins answered. "We decided it wouldn't be +in keeping with what we knew about your character, and you'd certainly +be sorry you had done it afterward."</p> + +<p>"Now we're coming to the second and more important half of the message," +said Mr. Oliver.</p> + +<p>"You're right," was the answer. "I'm to understand that when you say you +won't meet my friends' views it's your last word?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Oliver firmly.</p> + +<p>"Then my message is a plain one. Let up, or look out. I want you to fix +your attention on the last part of it. You have quite a nice place here, +a high-class barn and homestead, and a good hay crop, and there's nobody +living within some miles of you except Webster."</p> + +<p>"Precisely!" said Mr. Oliver. "They cost me a good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> deal of very hard +work and I shall try to keep them. Now I suppose you've said your +piece?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Watkins raised his hand as if to beg his forbearance.</p> + +<p>"You've heard it all. I only want to add that I'm quite willing to start +right now for Carthew if you wish it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver laughed naturally and easily.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "you're my guest for the night. After this we'll change +the subject and talk about something else." He looked around. "Harry, +will you bring the cigar box out?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Watkins did not appear to be a brilliant conversationalist, but he +discussed politics and railroad extension with his host, and Frank found +himself wondering at and admiring the rancher's attitude. He had shown +no sign of anger and had never failed in courtesy. Threats had +apparently no effect on him, and he had received them with a quiet +amusement which appealed in particular to the boy's fancy. It seemed +ever so much finer than blustering indignation, but he thought that +there would be a striking change in Mr. Oliver's manner if he were ever +driven to action.</p> + +<p>Mr. Watkins took his departure after breakfast next morning, after which +Mr. Oliver wrote two letters before he called the boys.</p> + +<p>"I want you to take the sloop and go up to the settlement," he said. +"You will mail this letter there. It's to Barclay, though it isn't +directly addressed to him."</p> + +<p>Harry looked thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he said hesitatingly, "I'll do that if you wish it, but +Porteous is a mean white, isn't he? Mightn't he open the thing?"</p> + +<p>"It's possible," Mr. Oliver answered with a smile. "As it happens, I've +no great objections to his reading it, and I'm mailing it with him as an +experiment. Don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> put it into the box, but hand it to him. When you +have done that sail back along the beach and then head right across to +Bannington's, where you'll mail this other letter. As you can't be back +to-night, you had better take some provisions with you. Start as soon as +you can."</p> + +<p>The boys were off in half an hour, for the rain had stopped and there +was a clear sky and a moderate breeze. As they sailed out of the cove +Harry from his place at the helm glanced at his companion with a +chuckle.</p> + +<p>"When you come to understand him, dad's unique," he said. "Porteous will +open that letter. He's mean enough for anything, and it's been my +opinion all along that he's in with the gang."</p> + +<p>"But won't it give your father's plans away if he reads it?"</p> + +<p>"Not much!" said Harry. "Haven't you got hold yet? The letter's about +hunting, and there's most likely an order in it for Winchester shells or +something else that will put Porteous off the track. He's probably not +an expert at opening envelopes, and it won't take Barclay long to tell +whether anybody has been tampering with the letter. The other one will +go through without being interfered with. They're white at +Bannington's."</p> + +<p>"That won't get over much of the difficulty, after all," Frank objected. +"Won't your father's answer bring Watkins's friends down upon the +ranch?"</p> + +<p>"It's possible," said Harry. "I've a notion that when they come dad will +be ready for them, and I fancy Barclay's nearly through with his +trailing."</p> + +<p>"You expect he'll make a new move then?"</p> + +<p>Harry laughed. "Sure!" he said. "That little, fat man will get +everything fixed up without making the least fuss. Then he'll bring his +hand down once for all and smash the whole dope-running gang. I don't +mind allowing that I was quite wrong about him at the beginning."</p> + +<p>They said nothing more upon the subject, and they safely reached the +cove next day after a long, cold sail.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">MR. OLIVER OUTWITS HIS WATCHERS</span></h2> + + +<p>A day or two after they had got back to the ranch Mr. Oliver asked the +boys if they would like another trip, and as both of them preferred it +to grubbing stumps they paddled off to the canoe with him the same +evening. A fresh breeze sprang up as the sun went down, and they had a +fast and rather wet sail. Daylight was breaking across the scattered +pines when the party left the sloop and walked up a trail within sight +of a little lonely settlement.</p> + +<p>As they approached it a harsh clanking and the tolling of a bell rose +from behind the trees, and they had to wait while a locomotive and a +string of freight cars jolted across the trail into a neighboring side +track. When the train had passed Mr. Oliver and his companions crossed +the rails and entered a desolate flag station, which consisted of a +roughly boarded, iron-roofed shack and a big water tank. In front of it +was an open space strewn with fir stumps, and beyond the latter three or +four frame houses rose among the trees. The door of the shack was shut, +and while they stood outside it the sound of an approaching train grew +steadily louder and a jet of steam blew noisily from the valve of the +locomotive waiting in the side track.</p> + +<p>"A Seattle train," said Mr. Oliver. "They don't seem to be flagging her +and she probably won't stop."</p> + +<p>Frank stood looking about him with a curious stirring of his heart. +There was a gaudy poster pasted up on the shack announcing cheap tickets +to Seattle, with a line or two about a circus and some attraction at an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +opera house. In the meanwhile the scream of a whistle came ringing +across the shadowy trees and the boy was troubled by the familiar sights +and sounds. The wet rails, the freight cars, and the brilliant poster +reminded him of the cities he had turned his back upon some time ago.</p> + +<p>Then, though the daylight was rapidly growing clearer, a big blazing +lamp broke out from among the firs with a cloud of steam streaming +behind it, and a locomotive and a row of clanging cars swept through the +depot. The lights from the windows flashed into Frank's face, flickered +upon the shack and rows of stumps, and grew dim again, after which the +din receded and came throbbing back fainter and fainter. As he listened +to it, a sudden fierce longing seized the boy. He wanted to hear the +clamor of the cities again, to see the big stores and the hurrying +crowds. Almost a year had elapsed since he had even seen a train, and a +journey of two or three hours would take him back to the stir and bustle +of civilization away from the constant monotonous toil with ax and saw +in the lonely bush.</p> + +<p>He wondered what his people were doing in Boston. In the winter season +there were festivities and gayety there, and he had once enjoyed them +with his old companions who had most likely forgotten him. Some had gone +into business, two were at Harvard, and another had entered the army; +but he stood, dressed in miry long boots and old well-mended garments +still damp with salt water, in a little desolate depot in the +wilderness. He fancied that he was justified in feeling rather sorry for +himself.</p> + +<p>Then with an effort he drove these thoughts away. After all, his place +was not in the cities. He had no money and there was nobody to give him +a fair start in life, while he admitted that it was very doubtful that +he had any talent for business. He might, perhaps, become a clerk or +something of the kind, but it once more occurred to him that he was +better off in the bush.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> Indeed, though he scarcely realized this, the +bush had already made a striking change in him, and it is possible that +his eastern friends would have had trouble in recognizing him as the +pale lad they had sent away to Minneapolis. His face was bronzed and +resolute, he was taller, tougher, and broader around the chest, and he +could now toil all day at a task which would once have broken him down +in a couple of hours. Then he started as he noticed that Mr. Oliver was +looking at him with a smile.</p> + +<p>"You seem to be thinking rather hard," the rancher remarked.</p> + +<p>"I was," Frank admitted hesitatingly. "It was the train that put the +ideas into my mind."</p> + +<p>"I fancied it might be something of that description," said Mr. Oliver. +"She'd soon have taken you up to Seattle, and nowadays it's a very short +run to Chicago, where you could get on to one of the Atlantic flyers. I +suppose you feel that you'd like to make the journey?"</p> + +<p>"I did—for a minute or two," Frank confessed with an embarrassed smile. +"Then, of course, I realized that it was impossible."</p> + +<p>Somewhat to his astonishment, Mr. Oliver laid a hand upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"The wish was very natural, but stay where you are, my lad. There's more +room out here in the Western bush, and you're making progress. This is +going to be a great country, and you won't be sorry you came out in a +few more years."</p> + +<p>"I'm not sorry now," Frank answered sturdily, with a flush in his face.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver turned away as the agent opened the door of his shack, and +they went into the little, untidy office.</p> + +<p>"I want to send a message south," said Mr. Oliver, writing something on +a form. "It's a code address. I suppose I could get an answer in an hour +or so?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said the agent. "They'll be beginning to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> move about in +Seattle now, and if the man's in his office there'll be no delay. In the +meanwhile they would give you a good breakfast at the hotel."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver thanked him, and as they left the depot two men whom they had +not noticed hitherto met them. Mr. Oliver glanced at them sharply, but +he did not speak, and a few minutes later they sat down to an excellent +meal in the primitive wooden hotel. When they had finished the +proprietor strolled in and sat down for a chat with them.</p> + +<p>"Is there much going on about the place?" Mr. Oliver asked, offering him +a cigar.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the hotelkeeper, accepting the proffered cigar with +alacrity, "we've struck quite a boom. There's a man clearing a lot of +ground for a fruit ranch and putting up a smart frame house. Then +they're cutting a couple of new trails. The boys are making good wages +and they're all of them busy."</p> + +<p>"I saw two men just now who didn't seem to have much to do," said Mr. +Oliver carelessly, and Harry gave his companion a nudge with his elbow.</p> + +<p>"They don't belong here," was the answer. "One of them lives down the +beach and does some fishing with his boat. The other man came in from +the South yesterday on the cars, and I don't know what he's after. I +told him I could put him on to a job and he said he didn't want it."</p> + +<p>"As they're together, he's probably going in for fishing with the first +one," Mr. Oliver suggested.</p> + +<p>The hotelkeeper pursed his lips and looked as if he were solving a hard +problem.</p> + +<p>"It's a puzzle to me how Larry makes a living. It's only now and then he +sends a little fish away, and I can't see what he'd do with a partner." +Then he changed the subject. "You're thinking of buying land?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mr. Oliver, "I sailed over in my boat to dispatch a wire. It +was much easier than riding a long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> way to the nearest office now that +the trails are soft."</p> + +<p>"They're bad, sure," assented his companion, and they continued to +discuss ranching until Mr. Oliver finally rose and said he would walk +across to the depot. The boys followed him a few paces behind. Harry +addressed his companion with a look of admiration for his father.</p> + +<p>"I guess you noticed how dad found out about those fellows without +letting the man think he was curious?" he said.</p> + +<p>Frank said that he had noticed it and added:</p> + +<p>"I wonder what the fellow came up from the South for?"</p> + +<p>"That," said Harry significantly, "is a point I expect dad's doing some +hard thinking on just now."</p> + +<p>They walked into the agent's office and sat down to wait as he told them +that he had as yet received no answer to the telegram. The door near +which Frank sat stood partly open, and he noticed that the two men were +lounging close outside it. He quietly touched Mr. Oliver's arm, +indicating them with a glance. The rancher knitted his brows and +presently spoke to the agent.</p> + +<p>"There are two men who seem to be waiting for you outside," he said.</p> + +<p>The agent walked across to the door.</p> + +<p>"Back again, Larry!" he said impatiently. "What's the matter now?"</p> + +<p>"When's that fish box of mine coming along?" the man inquired.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said the agent. "Next freight, most likely, if it's been +delivered to us at the other end."</p> + +<p>"Won't you wire up the line about it?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the agent. "If you'll put up the stamps I'll wire to the fish +store you billed it to."</p> + +<p>The man looked indignant. "I tell you it's in the railroad's hands. Do +you think I've nothing better to do than hang about this depot every +time a freight comes through?" He paused a moment with his eyes on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +ground, then went on: "Anyway, now I'm on the spot I may as well wait +for the next one. She should be along in about an hour. Won't you let me +in?"</p> + +<p>The telegraph instrument began to click just then and the agent turned +toward him sharply.</p> + +<p>"There's no room. You can wait at the hotel."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the message is about his box," broke in the other man.</p> + +<p>Frank glanced around at them. They were dressed like most of the bush +choppers in rough working clothes and there was nothing particularly +noticeable in their appearance, but he fancied that they had some reason +for wishing to get into the office.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said the agent. "They don't wire about the delivery of an +empty box on this road. Get out! I want to shut the door."</p> + +<p>Frank noticed that one of the loungers had thrust his foot against the +post, but the agent, seeming to lose his temper, slammed the door on it. +The man withdrew it with an exclamation, and the agent turned toward the +instrument which was now clicking rapidly. He tapped an answering +signal, and then wrote upon a strip of paper which he handed Mr. Oliver. +The latter read the message and handed it to the boys.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>First route unsatisfactory second preferred</i>," it +ran. "<i>Meet me nine to-night Everett if possible.</i>"</p></div> + +<p>Frank was puzzled, but he fancied that Harry understood the message +better than he did.</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Mr. Oliver, addressing the agent. "Your two friends +outside seemed uncommonly anxious about that box."</p> + +<p>"That's a fact," said the agent. "Larry was worrying me about it before +it was light. I don't know the fellow who came along with him, but it +struck me that he was listening to the instrument as if he understood +it, though he couldn't have heard more than the depot call. Of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> course," +he added thoughtfully, "'most any one who had worked on a railroad would +know the code, but I can't figure why they should make so much fuss +about a box that's scarcely worth a dollar."</p> + +<p>"It's curious," Mr. Oliver answered indifferently. "You might lend me +your train schedule."</p> + +<p>The agent gave him the company's time bill, which also included the +coast steamboat sailings, and Mr. Oliver walked back with the boys to +the hotel. There was nobody in the general room when they reached it, +and they sat down near the stove.</p> + +<p>"Now," he began, "as we have taken you into our confidence and it's +probable that you can help, you may as well understand the situation +thoroughly. The message was, of course, from Barclay, though it bears a +clerk's name, and it means that Porteous has opened the letter you left +him. I fancy he'll regret it, but that is by the way. Barclay received +the second letter untampered with, and the rest is plain enough. The +only question is how I'm to keep the appointment without putting the +fellows at the depot on my track."</p> + +<p>"You believe they're in league with the smugglers?" Frank inquired.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver smiled. "It seems very likely. Here's a man who keeps a boat, +and, as you have heard, folks wonder how he makes a living by his +fishing. If the boat's moderately fast you can imagine how useful he +would be to the smugglers by taking messages from place to place and +communicating with the schooner. Then we have another man who seems able +to read the telegraph turning up and trying to hear Barclay's message."</p> + +<p>"But how could they have learned that you expected it?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure. Porteous may have suspected something and sent a mounted +man off to wire one of the gang. Besides, the fellow who has the boat +may have been across with her. It wouldn't be hard to surmise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> that I +would wire from here, though they may have had a man watching the +nearest office I could have reached by land on horseback." He paused a +moment and looked at the boys gravely. "All this points to the fact that +we're up against a big and remarkably well-organized gang."</p> + +<p>Frank had no doubt that Mr. Oliver was right, but he asked a question:</p> + +<p>"Why did Barclay choose Everett when it's so far from the field of their +operations?"</p> + +<p>"That's exactly why he fixed on it. There would be less probability of +somebody connected with the gang recognizing us, and I've met him there +already. The fact that he doesn't mention any particular hotel should +have told you that; but what we have to consider is how I'm to get there +without these fellows following me. It's important that I should be back +at the ranch as soon as possible, and you and Harry must manage to +arrive there the first thing to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Frank understood the necessity for this. The nights were long, the bush +was lonely, and Mr. Oliver's wooden house and barns, which had cost him +a good deal of money, would readily burn, while now, when there was only +Jake to take care of them, they would be more or less at the smugglers' +mercy. Then Harry, who in the meanwhile, had been examining the +schedule, looked up.</p> + +<p>"I've an idea," he said. "There's a train goes south in the afternoon, +and a steamboat which calls at Everett goes up the Sound this evening. +Well, suppose we order dinner here and start for Bannington's a little +before the cars come in. The steamboat would stop to pick up there if +she's signaled, and with this breeze we should get down shortly before +she passes."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver turned to Frank.</p> + +<p>"How does that strike you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"The trouble is that the other men would follow us in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> their boat," the +boy objected. Then a light dawned upon him as he saw the twinkle in Mr. +Oliver's eyes. "You mean that's what Harry intended them to do?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly!" Harry broke in with a grin. "They raise brainy folks in +Boston, and you're getting hold. Those fellows will get after us as soon +as they can hoist sail on their boat and we'll give them a run for it. +The point is that while they're following us dad will be on the cars."</p> + +<p>"But how is he going to elude them?"</p> + +<p>"That," Harry admitted sagely, "wants some thinking out."</p> + +<p>They made their plans in the next half-hour, and some time after dinner +was over walked toward the beach. Nobody seemed to be following them, +though they could not be sure of this since the trail wound about +through the bush, but when they reached the canoe another boat which +they had not noticed on arriving lay moored a few hundred yards away. +They were obliged to carry the canoe down some distance over very rough +stones, and on reaching the water's edge Mr. Oliver took a quick glance +about him.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid one plan's spoiled," he said.</p> + +<p>The boys glanced back toward the trail and Frank saw two figures saunter +out on to the beach. Harry frowned as he glanced at them.</p> + +<p>"You can't slip back into the bush without their seeing you," he warned.</p> + +<p>"No," said Mr. Oliver. "Still, I think there's a means of getting over +the difficulty. Shove the canoe in. They'll have to carry their boat +down, and our boat's lying nearer the head yonder than theirs is."</p> + +<p>Frank did not understand how the rancher intended to evade his pursuers +and fancied that Harry was not much wiser. They had soon launched the +canoe, however, and were paddling off to the sloop, running the mainsail +up in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> haste. Then the boys set the jib as she drew out from the beach, +and Frank noticed that the other men were hoisting sail upon their boat +as fast as they could manage it. The sloop, however, was already some +distance away from them, and it was not long before she picked up a +freshening breeze. Lying well over to it she gathered speed, and close +to lee of her Frank saw a low, rocky head, down the face of which +straggled stunted pines and underbrush. He fancied that she would be +hidden from their pursuers when she had sailed around the end of it, but +on glancing back as they approached the corner he saw that the other men +had started after them. They were three or four minutes behind, but he +had no idea yet how Mr. Oliver meant to elude them. He was still +wondering about it when the rancher spoke to him.</p> + +<p>"Get hold of the canoe painter," he ordered. "The moment we're around +the corner we'll haul her up and you'll put me ashore. You'll have to be +smart about it, because you must be back on board before the other boat +rounds the head."</p> + +<p>Harry had already taken the helm, and the sloop was sailing very fast, +with the canoe lurching and splashing over the short seas astern of her. +They broke in a broad fringe of foam upon the stony beach thirty or +forty yards to lee, and as the boat swept on the bay behind closed in +and the seaward face of the cliff opened out ahead. Frank could still +see the boat astern, but as he stood in the well with his hands clenched +upon a rope he knew that in another moment the rocks would shut her out. +Then, sure enough, she suddenly vanished, and shortly afterward he heard +Mr. Oliver's voice.</p> + +<p>"Haul!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>Harry flung loose the mainsheet, but the boat did not quicken her speed +immediately, and Frank found it desperately hard to drag up the canoe, +though Mr. Oliver had seized the rope behind him. Haste was, however,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +necessary, if the rancher was to slip back to the depot unsuspected. At +last the canoe ran alongside with a bang and Mr. Oliver dropped on +board, while Frank nearly upset her as he followed him. Each of them +seized a paddle and the boy had a momentary glimpse of the sloop rolling +with her slackened mainsail thrashing to and fro, while Harry struggled +to haul the jib to weather. After that he looked ahead and swung his +paddle, and as the breeze was blowing on to the beach a few quick +strokes drove them in through the splashing surf. She struck the stones +violently, for they had no time to be careful, and Mr. Oliver jumped +ashore, running into the water to thrust her out. Frank contrived to +twist her around, though it taxed all his strength, after which he +hazarded a single glance behind him. Mr. Oliver had disappeared among +the several masses of fallen rock and clumps of small growth which were +scattered about the slope.</p> + +<p>So far the plan had succeeded, but Frank had still to reach the sloop, +which was a different matter from paddling ashore. There was a fresh +breeze ahead of him and a little splashing sea heaved up the canoe's +bows and checked her speed. In addition to this, it is a rather +difficult thing to keep a canoe on a straight course with a single-ended +paddle, which can only be dipped on the one side, and in order to do so +one must give the blade a back twist, which retards the craft unless it +is skillfully managed. Frank, who had hitherto practiced it only in +smooth water, found that the bows would blow around in spite of him. He +grew hot and breathless, and though he set his lips and strung up his +muscles he made very little progress.</p> + +<p>"Paddle!" shouted Harry, who had been watching his maneuvers. "Shove her +through it! Can't you get a move on? I can't run in any nearer without +getting her ashore."</p> + +<p>Frank made another desperate attempt, but a splashing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> sea broke about +the bows, driving the canoe off her course again, and while he savagely +swung the paddle Harry surveyed him contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Culcha!" he jeered. "Guess you loaded that up in Boston, but what you +want is sand. Can't you get a bit of a hustle on? You're sure born +played-out back East."</p> + +<p>Frank felt a little more blood surge into his hot face. This was more +than he felt inclined to stand from any Westerner of his own weight, but +it was clear that he could not rebuke his reviler fittingly until he +reached the sloop and the veins swelled up on his forehead as he +furiously plied the paddle. Once more a sea broke about the bows and +this time part of it splashed in, while as he tried the back-feather +stroke the canoe lurched and began to swing around in spite of his +redoubled efforts. Harry spread out one hand resignedly.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "it's our own fault for letting you into the canoe. The +trouble was you couldn't be trusted alone with the sloop either. Pshaw! +We've no use for folks of your kind in this country."</p> + +<p>This was intolerable, because part of it was true, and Frank felt his +heart thumping painfully. But he made a last effort, and panting, +straining, taxing every muscle to the utmost, he drove the canoe ahead, +and eventually managed to grasp the sloop's lee rail. He could not +speak, and as he breathlessly crawled on board Harry snatched the rope +from him and made it fast.</p> + +<p>"Trim that jibsheet over," he commanded.</p> + +<p>Frank obeyed him and when they hauled on the mainsheet the sloop once +more gathered speed, while Frank glancing astern saw a strip of slanted +sail appear around the corner of the head. Then he glanced ashore, and +though he saw no sign of Mr. Oliver the slope to the beach was not +remarkably steep and he fancied that the rancher would not have much +trouble in ascending it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A FAST RUN</span></h2> + + +<p>After they had trimmed sail Frank sat still for a while to recover his +breath and, if possible, his composure. He felt that it was necessary to +demand an explanation from his companion. Though they had once or twice +had a difference of opinion, this was the first time that Harry had been +insulting, and Frank found it impossible to pass over what he had said. +When he felt able to speak clearly he looked his companion in the eyes.</p> + +<p>"Now," he began, "I'll admit that you can shoot and sail a boat rather +better than I can, but that doesn't entitle you to talk as you did just +now."</p> + +<p>"I don't know if it matters, but I've a notion that I did shout," Harry +answered calmly.</p> + +<p>"That only makes it worse," Frank burst out warmly. "You couldn't call +it shouting either. I once heard a coyote on the prairie, and it had a +much sweeter voice than you have."</p> + +<p>To his astonishment, Harry grinned.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," he said, "but won't you get down under the mainboom before +you go on? I don't want those fellows astern to see there are only two +of us on board the sloop."</p> + +<p>Frank did as he suggested, whereupon Harry waved his hand and smiled +graciously.</p> + +<p>"Now," he added, "you can go ahead."</p> + +<p>Frank found it harder than he had expected. His anger was beginning to +evaporate and Harry's good humor was embarrassing. Still, he made +another effort.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>"In the first place," he resumed, "there are just as smart and capable +folks in Massachusetts as there are anywhere else."</p> + +<p>"That's quite right," assented Harry. "I don't see why there shouldn't +be, but I suppose you're not through yet. You want to call me down?"</p> + +<p>"When you say things of that kind—you—" Frank stammered, and stopped +when he observed his companion still smiling.</p> + +<p>"Sure!" said Harry, "I ought to be pounded with the boathook if I'd +meant them."</p> + +<p>Frank gazed at him in bewilderment. "You didn't mean them?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry. "Not a word of it."</p> + +<p>"Then why did you say them?"</p> + +<p>"Well," replied his friend, "that's a reasonable question. Now it was +mighty important that you should get alongside before our friends astern +came into sight, and though you weren't making very much progress it +seemed to me you were doing all you knew."</p> + +<p>"I was," Frank assured him.</p> + +<p>"Still, I had an idea that if I could make you jumping mad you might do +a little more. It's hard to tell what you're capable of until you're +real savage, and I thought I'd whip you up a bit where you were most +likely to feel it."</p> + +<p>Frank's indignation vanished, and he changed the subject with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Do you think those fellows suspected anything?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry. "They were too busy getting sail on her to notice +exactly how far ahead we were when we ran out of the bay, and it will +probably only strike them that they're not quite so far astern as they +expected. All we have to do now is to lead them along toward +Bannington's. I'd rather keep them sailing than have them prowling round +the depot asking questions and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> perhaps, sending telegrams, and I've a +notion we can leave them when we like. She's drawing away from them now +and we've only a small jib on her."</p> + +<p>His surmise proved correct, for an hour later the other boat had +diminished to a dusky patch of sail far astern. Dusk soon commenced to +fall and the wind seemed to be freshening, but as they swept around a +rocky point Harry changed his course and told Frank to make a stout rope +fast to the bucket and pitch it over.</p> + +<p>"It will hold her back and let the other fellows come up," he said with +a grin. "They'll probably figure their boat's faster in any weight of +wind, and we don't want to run out of sight of them."</p> + +<p>It grew dark and for a while the sky was barred with heavy clouds until +the moon broke out, when they saw the pursuing craft sweeping up close +astern in the midst of a blaze of silvery radiance. She had now, +however, a mass of canvas swung out on either side of her, and Frank +wondered what sail she was carrying.</p> + +<p>"They've boomed out a jib as a spinnaker," Harry explained. "I don't see +why we shouldn't do the same, particularly as it will make them keener +on following us to Bannington's. One of them means to go south with the +steamer if dad gets on to her. Now we'll heave in that bucket, and when +it's done they'll open their eyes."</p> + +<p>It was not easy to haul in the bucket. Indeed, once or twice it was +nearly torn away from them, but at length they accomplished the task.</p> + +<p>"It's awkward running a boat with a spinnaker unless you have a crew," +remarked Harry with a somewhat puzzled look. "Still, I feel we ought to +give those fellows a run for their trouble and I can't get clear of them +with only the mainsail drawing. A jib set in the ordinary way is no use +when you're before the wind."</p> + +<p>The other boat had drawn almost level with them and came surging along +some forty yards away, rising and falling, with the foam piled up about +her bows, and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> great spread of canvas that swung up and down as she +rolled on either side.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" shouted Harry. "Where are you going?"</p> + +<p>"North," was the laconic answer.</p> + +<p>Harry chuckled as he turned to Frank. "Well, as dad will be in Everett +by this time, I don't see why they shouldn't come along with us as far +as they like, but we'll let them draw ahead before we get up the +spinnaker. I'd rather they didn't notice I had to set it alone."</p> + +<p>The other boat forged past them, and she was growing dim ahead when +Harry pulled out a bundle of canvas from beneath the side deck.</p> + +<p>"It's an extra big jib we carry in light winds, but it makes a good +spinnaker," he said. "You'll have to keep her straight before the wind, +because it's a mighty awkward thing to set."</p> + +<p>Frank took the helm and watched his companion as he shook the big sail +out all over the boat, after which he led a rope fastened to one corner +of it through a block at the end of a long spar that lay along the deck. +He thrust this out over her side and made its inner end fast to the foot +of the mast.</p> + +<p>"A spinnaker boom always goes forward of the shrouds and you lead the +guy aft outside them," he said. "Get hold of it and stick fast. It's +easy so far, but in a minute the circus will begin. You want two pairs +of hands to set a spinnaker in a breeze of wind."</p> + +<p>Frank glanced at the short seas which surged by, glittering in the +moonlight flecked with wisps of snowy froth, and it struck him by the +way the boat swung over them with the foam boiling about her that she +was carrying sufficient canvas in her mainsail. Then Harry, calling to +him to mind his steering, hauled on a halliard and a mass of thrashing +canvas rose up the mast. It blew out like a half-filled balloon, lifting +up the boom, which was run out on the opposite side to the mainsail, and +seemed bent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> on soaring skyward over the masthead. After that the boom +swung forward with a crash, the mast strained and rattled, and Frank +feared that the great loose sail would tear it out of the boat. He saw +Harry lifted off his feet and flung upon the deck, after which the +forward part of the boat was swept by flying ropes and billowy folds of +canvas, among which his companion seemed to be futilely crawling to and +fro. Presently his voice reached Frank hoarse and breathless.</p> + +<p>"Haul on the guy!" he cried. "She'll pitch me over or whip the mast out +if this goes on."</p> + +<p>Frank dragged at the rope with all his might, but he could not get an +inch of it in, and he dared not take his right hand off the tiller for +fear of bringing the big mainboom over upon the spinnaker, which would +probably have caused a catastrophe. Indeed, he fancied that one was +inevitable already, since it seemed impossible that Harry could control +the big loose sail which was now wildly hurling itself aloft.</p> + +<p>"I can't move it!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>Harry came aft with a jump and grasped the guy.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "together! Get both hands upon it. Hold the tiller with +your elbow."</p> + +<p>For the next half minute there was a furious struggle, and as the boom +went up again Frank felt that they were beaten. His companion, however, +hung on desperately, panting hard, and by degrees the boom swung down +and back across the boat and the sail flattened out.</p> + +<p>"Make fast!" cried Harry breathlessly. "I can manage the sheet."</p> + +<p>He floundered forward to the foot of the mast, and when he came back the +spinnaker was drawing steadily and the sloop had changed her mode of +progress. She no longer rolled viciously or screwed up to windward as +she lifted on a sea, but swayed from side to side with a smooth and easy +swing, and Frank could steer her with a touch upon the tiller. In spite +of that, steering was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> ticklish work, for the mainboom and the spinnaker +boom went up and came down until they raked the glittering brine +alternately, and Frank realized that it would be singularly easy to +bring one crashing over upon the other. There was no doubt that the boat +was sailing very fast, and he hazarded one swift glance over his +shoulder at the canoe. She was surging along astern, hove up with her +forward half out of the water, and a seething mass of foam hiding the +rest of her. Harry, however, glanced forward somewhat anxiously.</p> + +<p>"That boom's lifting too much," he said. "One of us ought to sit on it. +Do you feel able to steer her?"</p> + +<p>Frank said that he believed he could manage it.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry, "if you jibe either sail across you'll either pitch +me in or break my leg, even if you don't roll the boat over. Sing out +the moment you feel her getting too hard upon the helm."</p> + +<p>Scrambling forward, he crawled out along the spinnaker boom, to which he +clung precariously, lifted up high one moment and the next swung down +until his feet were just above the foam. Sometimes they splashed in, and +Frank, bracing himself until every nerve was strung up, felt horribly +uneasy. In spite of that, the wild rush through the glittering water +which boiled about the boat was wonderfully exhilarating. She seemed a +mass of straining sail which swayed in the moonlight above an +insignificant strip of hull half buried in snowy foam. Over her black +mainsail peak dim wisps of clouds went streaming by, and from all around +there was a tumult of stirring sound—the clamor at the bows, the swish +of water as the canoe came charging up to her, and the splash of +tumbling seas. Everything ahead, however, was hidden by the sail, and he +was wondering where the other boat was when Harry called to him.</p> + +<p>"Slack the guy a foot or two and let her come up a little. Don't let it +get the run of you or you'll pitch me in."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>Frank was very cautious as he eased the rope out around a cleat, after +which, when the spinnaker boom had drawn forward, he found that he could +luff the boat. When she had swerved from her course a trifle he could +see the other boat close ahead, and it gave him some idea how fast both +craft were traveling. She seemed nothing but sail. Indeed, except for +the torn-up track of foam that marked her passage, she looked much less +like a boat than some wonderful phantom thing flying at an astonishing +speed across the sea. Swiftly as she sped, however, there was no doubt +that the sloop was creeping up on her, and Frank felt himself quivering +all through as the distance between them lessened yard by yard. Then +suddenly the contour of her canvas changed and she swung around from +leeward across the sloop's bows. Frank's heart gave a sudden leap as he +wondered what he must do and his nerve almost deserted him, until Harry +called again.</p> + +<p>"More guy!" he sang out. "They're trying to luff us. We must keep their +weather."</p> + +<p>Although fearful that it might overpower him, Frank slacked the guy out +inch by inch, and as the sloop came up a little farther he saw the whole +of the other boat again. The sloop's bowsprit was level with her +quarter. She was scarcely a dozen yards away, leaping, plunging, swaying +through a flung-up mass of foam, but they were steadily drawing up with +her, and the boy could have shouted in the fierce excitement of the +moment. Two or three minutes later they were clear ahead. He could no +longer see the other boat, and he dared not risk a glance back at her. +Indeed, it was a relief to him when Harry came scrambling aft.</p> + +<p>"We'll get that guy in again," he said. "Unless something gives out, +those folks won't catch us up."</p> + +<p>They had a desperate struggle with the guy, but Harry laughed gayly when +they had made it fast.</p> + +<p>"They'll follow us on to Bannington's, sure," he said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> "We should be +there in half an hour, and I don't mind allowing that I'll be glad to +get some of this sail off her."</p> + +<p>After a while a black bank of cloud spread across the moon, and Frank +wondered anxiously how much of the half hour had gone. He had now only +the pull on the tiller to guide him as they drove on furiously, and the +strain of concentrating all his faculties on his task was beginning to +tell on his strength. Once or twice he imagined that he came perilously +near to bringing the mainboom over, and he would have called Harry to +the helm if he had felt certain that he could cling to the slender +lurching spar as well as his comrade could. He was getting nervous, and +the seething rush of water past the boat was becoming bewildering.</p> + +<p>At length, however, he made out a dark and hazy mass over the edge of +the mainsail, which he supposed was land, and in another few minutes a +blinking light appeared. He called to Harry, who merely twisted himself +around on the boom with the object of looking out beneath the sail and +then told him to keep her heading as she was. After that the land rose +rapidly, growing blacker, and a second light appeared. This was closer +to them and Frank, thinking he saw it move, noticed a green blink +beneath it.</p> + +<p>Presently both lights disappeared behind the sail, and some minutes +later Frank almost let go the tiller as the deep blast of a steamer's +whistle rang out close ahead. On the instant Harry swung himself down +from the boom.</p> + +<p>"Let go your guy!" he shouted. "Down helm; get the mainsheet in!"</p> + +<p>Frank could never clearly remember all that followed in the next two or +three minutes during which he was desperately busy. He let the spinnaker +guy run, and the big sail which heaved up the spar beneath it swung +wildly forward. Then he shoved down his helm, and the main<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>boom slashed +furiously as the boat came up toward the wind. The sheet blocks seemed +to be banging everywhere about him as he hauled at the rope, and he +could hear nothing but the savage thrashing of loosened canvas. Harry +was struggling forward with a mass of billowing sail that threatened to +sweep him off the narrow deck, while flying ropes whipped about him. +Presently, out of the din, there rose another sonorous blast of the +steamer's whistle.</p> + +<p>The next moment Frank saw her, heading, it seemed, straight for them, +blazing with tiers of lights, and in almost nerveless haste he pulled up +his tiller. The bolt fell off, he saw Harry flung down with the +spinnaker rolling about him, and he scarcely dared to breathe as the +rows of lights ahead lengthened and the black wedge of the steamer's +bows faded from his sight. It was now her side he was gazing at, and it +was evident that she was swinging around. In less than another minute +she had forged past them, and leaving the helm he scrambled forward to +aid his companion. For a moment they had a brief struggle with flying +ropes and billowing sail, and then they clambered back into the well, +where Frank sat down with a gasp of fervent satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Well," he panted, "I'm glad that's over, and you had better take the +helm. I've had enough."</p> + +<p>Harry glanced toward the steamer, which was growing less distinct.</p> + +<p>"A close call!" he remarked. "It looked as if she was going slap over +us. I couldn't see her sooner because of the sail. She's running into +Bannington's."</p> + +<p>They heard her whistle a little later, but they were then close in with +a shadowy point of land, and looking back Frank made out a faint blur on +the water far behind them which he knew must be the other boat. When he +pointed it out Harry laughed.</p> + +<p>"They can't see us against the land, but I've an idea they'll be in soon +enough to learn the steamer didn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> pick one of us up," he said. "That +will start them wondering why we drove her so hard and where we've gone. +Now you had better get the stove lighted and the supper on."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE UNITED STATES MAIL</span></h2> + + +<p>The boys reached the ranch the next morning, and Mr. Oliver, who +followed by a different route a couple of days later, seemed satisfied +with the result of his journey.</p> + +<p>"If the dope men leave us alone for the next three weeks we're not +likely to be troubled with them afterward," he said. "Barclay expects +very shortly to be ready for what he calls his coup."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he didn't mention exactly when he would bring it off?" Harry +remarked.</p> + +<p>"No," said Mr. Oliver with a laugh. "Barclay usually waits until he's +certain before he moves, and he's not addicted to spoiling things by +haste. In the meanwhile you may as well keep your eyes sharply open."</p> + +<p>"Won't it be awkward to communicate with him if you have to go to +Bannington's every time you mail a letter?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"That's a point which naturally occurred to me," Mr. Oliver answered. +"There are, however, reasons for believing that Barclay will be able to +get over the difficulty."</p> + +<p>He said nothing further on the subject, but it cropped up again one +evening when Mr. Webster arrived at the ranch in time for supper. He +told them that he had finished the bridge he had gone away to build, and +when they sat about the stove after the meal was over he turned to Mr. +Oliver.</p> + +<p>"Have you heard that Porteous has been fired out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> of the store and +they've got a man down from Tacoma?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Mr. Oliver indifferently.</p> + +<p>"Anyway, you don't seem much astonished."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver smiled at this. "I can't say I am. What was the trouble?"</p> + +<p>"It's generally believed Porteous was tampering with the mails, and that +brings up another thing I want to mention. I'm puzzled about it as well +as pleased."</p> + +<p>Harry, unobserved by Mr. Webster, grinned at Frank, looking solemn again +as his father caught his eye.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said the latter politely.</p> + +<p>"It's just this," said Mr. Webster. "When I came through the settlement +this morning the man who fills Porteous's place gave me a letter. It +requested me to send in a formal application if I was open to have my +place made a postoffice and carry the mails for this and the Carthew +district. They don't pay one very much, but it only means a journey once +a week."</p> + +<p>"Then what are you puzzled at?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Webster, his eyes bent thoughtfully on the fire, "you +and the Carthew folks tried to have a mail carrier appointed some time +ago, and you heard that the authorities were considering your +representations. I guess that's about all they did. They're great on +considering, and as a rule they don't get much further. It strikes me as +curious that they should give you the postoffice now, considering that +they wouldn't do it when you worried them for it. The next point is that +although I applied the other time I don't know anybody in office or any +political boss who would speak for me."</p> + +<p>Frank noticed the smile broaden on Harry's face, but Mr. Webster was +intently watching Mr. Oliver, who answered carelessly.</p> + +<p>"It's a poor job, one that only a local man could undertake, and I don't +know any one else who wants it," he said. "What are you going to do +about it?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>"Send in the application right away. That's partly what brought me over. +I'll have to get you and two of the boys at Carthew to vouch for me."</p> + +<p>"There'll be no trouble about that," Mr. Oliver assured him, after which +they changed the conversation. Before Mr. Webster went away he asked the +boys to spend a day or two with him and do some hunting.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver let them go at the end of the week, but he said that they had +better meet Mr. Webster at the settlement where Miss Oliver wanted them +to leave an order for some groceries, and that if any letters had +arrived for him one of them must bring them across to the ranch. They +reached the settlement Saturday evening, soon after the weekly mail had +come in. When they had finished their supper at the store Mr. Webster +bundled his mails promiscuously into a flour bag, which he fastened upon +his shoulders with a couple of straps.</p> + +<p>"There seems to be quite a lot of letters," remarked Harry as he lifted +up the bag.</p> + +<p>Mr. Webster frowned. "Letters!" he growled. "Most of the blamed stuff's +groceries. It strikes me I'm going to earn my dollars. The boys who run +short of sugar or yeast powder or any truck of that kind expect me to +pack it out. Give the thing a heave up. There's the corner of a meat can +working into my ribs."</p> + +<p>They set out shortly afterward, following a very bad trail driven like a +tunnel through the bush, and when they had gone a mile or two Mr. +Webster lighted a lantern which he gave to Frank.</p> + +<p>"Hold it up and look about," he said. "It's somewhere round here Jardine +has his letter box nailed up on a tree."</p> + +<p>Frank presently discovered an empty powder keg fixed to a big fir, and +Mr. Webster, wriggling out of the straps, dropped the bag with a thud. +As it happened, it descended in a patch of mud.</p> + +<p>"Hold the light so I can see to sort this truck," he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> said, and plunged +his hand into the bag. It was white when he brought it out.</p> + +<p>"Something's got adrift," he commented. "They never can tie a package +right in the store."</p> + +<p>With some difficulty he at last found the letters, though this +necessitated his spreading out most of the rest and the groceries on the +wet soil. Then he deposited those that belonged to Jardine in the keg +and went on again.</p> + +<p>Dense darkness filled the narrow rift in the bush and the feeble rays of +the lantern were more bewildering than useful, but they covered another +two miles before they stopped at a second keg, when Webster discovered +that a couple of letters he fished out were stuck together with +half-melted sugar. He tore them apart and rubbed them clean upon his +trousers, smearing out the address as he did so.</p> + +<p>"It's lucky I looked at them first, because I couldn't tell whose they +are now," he said. "Anyway, as I guess the stuff hasn't had time to get +inside, Steve will know they're his when he opens them." He raised the +bag a little and examined it. "This thing's surely wet."</p> + +<p>"I expect it is," said Harry. "The last time you stopped you dumped it +in the mud. Didn't they give you some sugar for this place at the +store?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," said Mr. Webster. "I was forgetting it. Hold the lantern +lower, Frank, while I look for it."</p> + +<p>He pulled the flour bag wider open and presently produced a big paper +package which seemed to have lost its shape.</p> + +<p>"Half the stuff's run out," he added. "That's what has been mussing up +the mail. Pitch this truck out and we'll skip the rest of the sugar out +of the bottom of the bag."</p> + +<p>It took them some time to deposit the various bundles of letters and +packets among the wineberry bushes beside the trail, after which Mr. +Webster shook a pound or two of loose wet sugar into the opened package. +It appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> to be mixed with flour and other substances, and Harry +smiled as he glanced at it.</p> + +<p>"It's off its color," he remarked.</p> + +<p>"That," said Mr. Webster, "will serve Steve right and save me trouble. +The next time he wants sugar he'll walk into the settlement and pack it +out himself. When you've put that truck back the mail will go ahead."</p> + +<p>They threw the things back into the bag, but while they were engaged in +this task Harry held up a bundle of letters to the light and separated +two of them from the rest.</p> + +<p>"These are dad's," he mused. "It strikes me they'd be safer in my +pocket."</p> + +<p>They saw no more powder kegs, but by and by they stopped at a ranch +where they delivered a newspaper and a pound of coffee, and then plodded +on in thick darkness which was only intensified by the patch of +uncertain radiance that flickered upon the trail a yard or two in front +of them. Even this failed them presently when Frank fell and dropped the +lantern. It went out, and neither he nor Harry, who struck a match, +could open it.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I've bent the catch," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"It's not going to matter much," Mr. Webster answered. "I guess we can +fix the thing when we reach my place, and there isn't another ranch +until we come to it."</p> + +<p>They trudged along in silence for another hour. The trail seemed darker +than ever, and it was oppressively still. Even the great trunks a few +yards away were invisible, and once or twice Frank walked into the +bushes that clustered among them. At last, however, the sound of running +water came out of the gloom and grew louder until the boy fancied that +there must be a rapid creek somewhere below them. Neither he nor Harry +had been that way before. As they expected to get some shooting, he was +carrying the double gun, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> was beginning to feel heavy, while Harry +had brought a rifle. When the roar of water had grown so loud that they +could scarcely hear each other's footsteps, Mr. Webster stopped.</p> + +<p>"There's an awkward place close ahead, and you had better let me go in +front," he warned. "Keep a few yards behind and close to the bank on +your left side. The trail goes down a gulch, and there's a steep drop to +the creek."</p> + +<p>He moved on until the boys could just see his black and shadowy figure. +The hollow beneath them was filled with impenetrable gloom, and they +went down cautiously, trying to follow him and feeling with their feet +for the edge of the bank on one hand. They had gone some little way when +Mr. Webster seemed to stagger and suddenly disappear. Then there was a +crash amidst the underbrush, a sound which might have been made by a +heavy body rolling down a slope, and a hoarse cry which was almost +drowned by the clamor of the creek.</p> + +<p>The boys stopped abruptly, uncertain what to do. Mr. Webster had +evidently fallen down the declivity, but they could not tell where he +was in the darkness, or if it was possible to reach him. Frank fancied +that if he once moved out from the bank he would probably step over a +ledge and plunge down into the creek, which, it was evident, would be of +no service to Mr. Webster. By and by he was sincerely glad to hear a +sound below him which seemed to indicate that the man was endeavoring to +clamber up again. On recalling the incident afterward, he decided that +they had stood waiting about a quarter of a minute.</p> + +<p>"We must get down somehow," he said to Harry.</p> + +<p>His companion did not answer, but gripped his arm warningly. Then to +Frank's astonishment another sound rose up somewhere in front of them +and a voice followed it.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Webster?" it asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>"Sure!" was the answer. "I've pitched right down the gulch."</p> + +<p>Frank would have scrambled forward, but Harry held him back.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he said softly. "He doesn't seem hurt."</p> + +<p>A crackling and snapping below them suggested that somebody was +cautiously scrambling through the undergrowth toward Mr. Webster, while +the latter was evidently crawling up the ascent. Frank wondered why +Harry had restrained him until a blaze of light suddenly broke out. It +showed a very steep bank with clumps of brush scattered about it +dropping to a foaming creek, Mr. Webster holding on by the stem of a +stunted pine, with the flour bag lying some distance higher up, and +another figure moving toward him. A third man stood on the brink of the +declivity holding a blazing pineknot. Where the boys stood, however, +there was deep shadow.</p> + +<p>Mr. Webster, so far as Frank could make out, was gazing at the man +nearest him in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said sharply, "what do you want?"</p> + +<p>"The mail," answered the other. "Stop right where you are!"</p> + +<p>Then the meaning of the situation dawned on Frank. At that moment he saw +Mr. Webster scramble forward to intercept the man who was making for the +bag. The latter, however, was nearer it, and he had crept almost up to +it while Mr. Webster was still several yards away. Without a moment's +hesitation, Frank sprang out into the flickering light.</p> + +<p>"Keep back!" he shouted. "Don't touch that bag!"</p> + +<p>The radiance fell upon the barrel of his gun, and the next moment Harry +emerged from the gloom with his rifle thrust forward. They decided +afterward that the strangers could only have seen two indistinct figures +with weapons in their hands and that there was nothing to indicate that +they were not grown men.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>"Hold him up!" shouted Mr. Webster, scrambling forward furiously as if +to seize the man.</p> + +<p>The latter stooped swiftly and made a grab at the bag as Frank pitched +up his gun, though he kept the muzzle of it turned a little from the +bent figure, but just then Harry's rifle flashed behind him and there +was sudden darkness as the light fell into a thicket. Confused sounds +followed the detonation, but it became evident to Frank, now quivering +with excitement, that three separate persons were smashing through +scrubby undergrowth as fast as they could manage. Then one of them +stopped while the rest went on.</p> + +<p>"Have you got the bag?" cried Harry.</p> + +<p>"It's in my hand," said Mr. Webster.</p> + +<p>They heard him floundering toward them, while the other sounds grew +fainter, until he emerged from the gloom close beside Frank and threw +the bag at his feet.</p> + +<p>"Give me your gun," he said shortly. "Stop where you are!"</p> + +<p>He disappeared again, but in another moment they saw him raking in a +clump of brush from which a pale light still flickered, after which he +came back toward them with something blazing feebly in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Bring the bag, and be careful how you walk," he said.</p> + +<p>When they joined him he was stooping over a short strip of wire +stretched across the trail about a foot above the ground, holding the +pineknot so that the light fell upon it.</p> + +<p>"I guess that's the reason I fell down," he said. "You didn't touch that +fellow, Harry."</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean to," was the answer. "I wanted to scare him off, and I +was mighty thankful when I saw I'd done it."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Webster, "I expect that was wiser. It would have made +things worse for your father if you'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> plugged him. Anyway, they've +cleared and we may as well get on."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you hurt?" Frank inquired.</p> + +<p>"There's a nasty rip on my leg and my arm feels mighty sore, but that's +all the damage. Seems to me I haven't much to complain of, considering +how far I fell."</p> + +<p>He flung the pineknot down into the ravine as he turned away, and they +had crossed the creek and were ascending the other side before one of +them spoke again.</p> + +<p>"Did you recognize either of the men?" Harry inquired.</p> + +<p>"No," said Mr. Webster. "On the whole I don't know that I'd want to do +it, though I'm kind of sorry I didn't get my hands upon the nearest +fellow. It was those two letters for your father he was after."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Harry gravely, "you're right in that."</p> + +<p>The trail got narrower presently and when the boys fell a little behind +Harry laid a hand on Frank's arm.</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure that dad and Barclay would have had Webster made mail +carrier if they had expected this," he whispered. "There's no doubt the +dope men are growing bolder."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">MR. BARCLAY LAYS HIS PLANS</span></h2> + + +<p>It appeared that one of the letters which Harry had secured was from Mr. +Barclay, and shortly after the boys got back to the ranch Mr. Oliver +sent them off to Bannington's with the sloop. Mr. Barclay, he said, was +expected down by the next steamer and they must be there in time to take +him off. It proved to be an uneventful trip and they returned to the +cove with their passenger just as a gloomy day was dying out. Mr. Oliver +was shut up with his guest for an hour after supper that night, but at +length he called the boys into his room, where Mr. Barclay lay in a big +chair with a cigar in his hand. He looked up with a smile when they came +in.</p> + +<p>"No doubt you'll be pleased to hear that we expect to round up your +dope-running friends before the week is out," he said. "Anyway, I fancy +it was a relief to my host."</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt on that point," Mr. Oliver assured him. "I don't mind +admitting that the suspense and the uncertainty as to what they might do +were worrying me rather badly."</p> + +<p>Frank was surprised to hear it, for the rancher had certainly shown no +sign of uneasiness.</p> + +<p>"You mean you're going to break up the gang once for all and corral the +whole of them?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Something like that," answered Mr. Barclay lazily. "If there's no hitch +in the proceedings, I don't expect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> many of them will be left at large +when our traps are sprung, though the affair will have to be managed +with a good deal of caution."</p> + +<p>Harry smiled. "There oughtn't to be any hitch. You have been a mighty +long while fixing up the thing."</p> + +<p>"That remark," said Mr. Barclay, "is to some extent justified. Over in +Europe they say 'slow and sure,' though I don't suppose it's a maxim +that's likely to appeal to young America. We'll paraphrase it into this +form: 'Don't move until you know exactly what you mean to do and how +you're going to set about it, and then get at it like a battering ram.'"</p> + +<p>"A battering ram must have been a clumsy, old-time contrivance," Harry +objected.</p> + +<p>"There are reasons for believing it could strike very hard," said his +father with a smile.</p> + +<p>"It would naturally take a long while to work the thing out," Frank +broke in, addressing Mr. Barclay.</p> + +<p>"It did," the little, stout man assented. "We had to get hold of a clue +here, and another there, and follow them up as far as possible without +giving anybody the least idea what we were after. It might have been +more difficult if one hadn't been purposely placed in our hands a week +ago."</p> + +<p>"Somebody has been giving the gang away?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't quite describe it," Mr. Barclay answered. "To be precise, +somebody has sold them. It appears that one man a little smarter than +the rest discovered that the gang was being watched. That scared him, +and, as it happened, he'd had a difference of opinion with the bosses +about the share he claimed to be entitled to. He didn't point his +suspicions out to them, but when, as he said, they couldn't be induced +to do the square thing he came along to one of my subordinates, who sent +him to me. I'm not sure that I'd have got much information out of him +then if I hadn't been able to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> convince him that he and his partners +were already more or less in my hands."</p> + +<p>Frank was impressed by what he had heard. Indeed, he was conscious that +he was half afraid of the man who sprawled lazily in his chair smiling +at him. He appeared so easy-going and he had bantered Harry so +good-humoredly, but all the time he had been following up the smugglers' +trail with a deadly unwavering patience and a keenness which missed the +significance of no clue, however small. Now when at last the time for +action had come the boy felt that he would strike in the swiftest and +most effective manner.</p> + +<p>"If there's any small part you can give us—" he said hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"There is," said Mr. Barclay, to the delight of Frank and his companion. +"It appears that they intend to land a parcel of dope and some Chinamen +at a place down the Straits of Fuca. It will be done at night—the moon +will be only in her first quarter next week—and the schooner will stand +out to the westward, keeping clear of the traffic to wait for the next +evening before going on to the place where she's to make another call. +The men and the dope will be seized soon after they're put ashore +without anybody on board the vessel being the wiser if our plans work +out right, but it's important that we should know as soon as possible if +anything has gone wrong and it will be your business to bring me on a +message. We'll have a small steamer and a posse hidden ready at this +end, and when the schooner runs in two nights later she'll fall into our +hands with the rest of the gang, who'll be waiting for what she brings."</p> + +<p>Frank looked at Mr. Oliver, who nodded his consent.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "I've promised to let you go, though in this case you'll +have to take Jake along."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Barclay spread out a chart upon the table and pointed first to +an inlet which appeared to lie at some distance from any settlement.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>"You'll run in here in the dark and lie close in with the beach until +you're hailed by a mounted messenger, which will probably be early on +the following morning. When he has given you his message you must manage +to deliver it to me here"—he laid his finger on another spot on the +chart—"at the latest by the second evening following. That's important, +as it's impossible for me to get the news by mail or wire."</p> + +<p>He gave them some further instructions, and half an hour had slipped by +before he seemed satisfied that they knew exactly what they were to do; +then he nodded.</p> + +<p>"I think you've got it right," he said. "The great thing is not to be +seen if you can help it, and if it's possible you must only run in at +either place in the dark."</p> + +<p>The boys spent the next two days in a state of eager anticipation, +which, however, became much less marked when one lowering afternoon +after a long, cold sail they beat the sloop out to the westward down the +Straits of Fuca. They had kept watch alternately with Jake during the +previous night, throughout most of which it had rained hard, and now +Frank, who admitted to himself that he had had enough sailing for a +while, was feeling rather limp and weary. He sat beneath the coaming, as +far as he could get out of the bitter wind. When at last he raised his +head to look about him, he saw nothing very cheerful in the prospect +before him.</p> + +<p>The light was dim, the low gray sky to windward looked hard and +threatening, and a long gray blur which he supposed to be land rose up +indistinctly over the port hand. Ahead dingy, formless slopes of water +heaved themselves up slowly one after another in dreary succession. They +were ridged and wrinkled here and there, and now and then a little wisp +of white appeared on one of them, for the long swell of the Pacific was +working in. The breeze was very moderate as yet, and each time the sloop +sluggishly swung up her bows and lurched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> over one of the undulations +her mainboom jerked and lifted amidst a harsh clatter of blocks, while +the water inside her went swishing to and fro. The noise presently +aroused Jake, who was sitting silently at the helm.</p> + +<p>"One of you had better get her pumped out," he said. "You haven't done +it since we started, and you won't find it easy by and by."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't look nice up yonder," said Harry, glancing windward.</p> + +<p>"It's either blowing hard in the Pacific or going to do it, and we'll +get it presently. I'd be better pleased if we were nearer that inlet. +It's eight or nine miles off, and the wind's dead ahead."</p> + +<p>"The dope men would rather have a black, wild night, wouldn't they?" +suggested Frank.</p> + +<p>"They're going to be gratified," Harry answered significantly.</p> + +<p>Frank, glad to do something to warm himself, set to work at the little +rotary pump, and a stream of water splashed and spread about the deck, +which slanted and straightened irregularly. He was still busy when Jake +called to him.</p> + +<p>"You can let up and get that jib off her. Strip it right off the stay. +We're not going to have any use for a sail of that kind. Get out the +small one, Harry."</p> + +<p>"There's no wind to speak of yet," Harry protested.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jake grimly, "you'll have plenty before you're through."</p> + +<p>Harry dragged up the small sail, and when Frank had lowered the larger +one they proceeded to strip it off the stay. It took them some little +time, but Frank, glancing at the slowly heaving, leaden water, fancied +that there was no need for haste until as he and his companion bundled +the canvas off the deck Jake called to them.</p> + +<p>"Up with that jib!" he ordered. "Get a hustle!"</p> + +<p>They had the halliard in their hands, and the sail was half set, when it +blew out suddenly and there was a sharp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> creaking. The sloop slanted +over wildly and a curious humming, rippling sound broke out to windward. +Glancing around a moment Frank saw that the swell was growing white, and +a rush of cold wind nearly whipped his cap away. Then jamming his feet +against a ledge with the deck sloping away beneath him he struggled +furiously to hoist the jib, while disjointed cries reached him from the +helmsman.</p> + +<p>"Heave!" Jake roared. "I can do nothing with her until you have it set!"</p> + +<p>They got the sail up somehow, though by the time they had finished the +sloop's lee rail was in the sea, and then flung themselves upon the +mainsail. They were breathless with the effort before they had tied two +reefs in it, and Frank wondered at the change in their surroundings when +at length he sat down in the well.</p> + +<p>The sea, which had run in long and almost smooth undulations before they +began to reef, now splashed and seethed about the boat, and each big +slope of water was seamed with innumerable smaller ridges. Bitter spray +was flying thick in the air, water already sluiced about the deck, and +it was disconcerting to recollect that they were still eight miles from +the inlet. This would not have mattered so much had it not lain dead to +windward, which meant that they must fight for every yard they made.</p> + +<p>There was shelter to lee of them. They could put up the helm and run, +but though they were wet through in a few minutes they braced themselves +for the struggle, while the savage blast screamed about them and the +ominous sound Frank had noticed—the splash of waves that curled and +broke—came more loudly out of the gathering gloom ahead. Though his +physical nature shrank from the task before him Frank would not have +chosen to go back. It was a big thing they were taking a hand in, the +climax which all their previous adventures had led up to, and he +recognized that they must see it through at any cost.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>At last he was playing a man's part, acting in close coöperation with +the Government of his country, and Mr. Barclay, who had elaborated the +scheme with infinite patience and foresight, counted upon him and his +comrade. That they should fail him now was out of the question, but +Frank was glad that Jake sat at the tiller. Harry was quick and daring, +but he was young, and in this fight there was urgent need for the +instinctive skill which comes from long experience. The helmsman's +stolidness was more reassuring. He gazed up to windward, gripping the +tiller, with the spray upon his rugged face, ready for whatever action +might be necessary. Loud talking and an assertive manner were of no +service here; what was wanted was raw human valor and steadfast nerve. +It was fortunate that Jake, who was tranquil and good-humored, possessed +both.</p> + +<p>Darkness shut down on them suddenly as they thrashed her out to westward +full and by, lurching with flooded decks over the charging seas. Their +whitened tops broke over her, her canvas ran water, and every other +minute she plunged into a comber with buried bows. The combers, growing +rapidly higher, broke more angrily, and her progress changed into a +series of jerks and plunges, which at times threatened to shake the +spars out of her. Frank could see the black mainsail peak above him +swinging madly up and down, and it seemed at times that half her length +was out of the water, which was not improbably the case, for the foam +upon her hove-up deck poured aft in cascades over the low coaming and +splashed about their feet. By and by, for she was shallow-bodied like +most centerboard craft, it began to gather in a pool which washed to and +fro across the floorings in her lee bilge, and at a shout from Jake he +started the pump. It needed no priming, for as soon as he unscrewed the +covering plate the sea ran down, and there was now nothing to show what +water it flung out, because half the lee deck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> was buried in a rush of +gurgling foam and the combers' tops broke continuously over the bows.</p> + +<p>Still, the work roused and warmed him, and he toiled on, battered and +almost blinded by flying brine, while he wondered how long the boat +would stand the pressure of her largely reduced sail. He did not think +they could tie another reef in, because it seemed certain that something +must burst or break the moment a rope was started. Besides, even had it +been possible, reefing was out of the question. Their harbor lay to +weather, and a boat will not sail to windward in a vicious breeze unless +she is driven at a speed which is greater than the resistance of the +opposing seas.</p> + +<p>They thrashed her out for two anxious hours, since it appeared doubtful +that she would come round and a failure to stay her would be perilous in +the extreme, but at last Jake called to the boys.</p> + +<p>"We've got to do it somehow," he said. "Stand by your lee jibsheet and +tail on to the mainsheet the moment you let it run. Hold on till I tell +you. We'll wait for a smooth."</p> + +<p>A smooth, as it is termed by courtesy, is the interval that now and then +follows the onslaught of several unusually heavy seas, and at length as +the boat swung up with a little less water upon her deck Jake seemed +satisfied.</p> + +<p>"Now! Helm's a-lee!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>They let the jib fly, and jumping for the mainsheet hauled with all +their might, while Jake helped them with one hand as the boat came up to +the wind. Then as a comber fell upon her they sprang back to the +jibsheet and hauled upon it, while the spray flew all over them. It +struck Frank that if the boat did not come round there would very +speedily be an end of her. While he watched, holding his breath, the +bows swung around a little farther, and working in frantic haste they +let the sheet fly and made fast the opposite one, which was now to lee. +She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> forged ahead on the other tack—and the most imminent peril was +past.</p> + +<p>It was two hours later when they raised the land again, and though one +or the other of them had pumped continuously the water was splashing +high about their feet. Jake had, however, made a good shot of it, for he +recognized a ridge of higher ground marked upon the chart, and they +drove in toward it, battered, swept, and streaming. Frank felt strangely +limp when at length they ran into smoother water, and Jake made one +significant remark.</p> + +<p>"We're through," he said, "but if we'd had to make another tack it would +have finished her."</p> + +<p>The black land grew higher until they could make out masses of shadowy +pines, and eventually dropping the jib and peak they ran her in behind a +point with very thankful hearts and let go the anchor. Half of their +task was finished, and they could take their ease until morning broke.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE DERELICT</span></h2> + + +<p>The wind freshened after they reached shelter and it blew very hard. For +a time Frank found sleep impossible, though he was glad to lie snug in +the warm cabin with the lamp burning above him and the stove snapping +cheerfully. The sloop lurched and rocked, drawing her chain tight now +and then with a bang, while a muffled uproar went on outside her. Frank +could distinguish the angry splash of water upon her bows and the +drumming and rapping of loose ropes against the mast, though these +sounds were partly drowned by the furious clamor of the ground sea +beyond the point and a great deep-toned roaring made, he supposed, by +long ranks of thrashing trees. Once or twice, when Jake, who crawled out +to see if the anchor was holding, left the slide open, the sound filled +the cabin with tremendous pulsating harmonies.</p> + +<p>Besides this, the boy's face smarted after the lashing of icy spray, and +he wondered whether Mr. Barclay's plans were working out successfully +and what fresh adventures awaited Harry and himself on the morrow, all +of which was sufficient to keep him in a state of restless expectation. +He envied his companion who presently went to sleep, but it was toward +morning when at last his own eyelids closed and he got a few snatches of +fitful slumber broken by fantastic dreams. He was awakened by a chill +upon his face, and looking around saw that Jake had gone out again into +the well. The roar of the wind did not seem so overwhelming as it had +been, though there was no doubt that it was still blowing hard. By and +by Jake called out.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>"You'd better get up," he said. "I've a notion that there's somebody +hailing us."</p> + +<p>Frank crawled out shivering, with Harry grumbling half asleep behind +him, and when he stood in the well found he could see a hazy loom of +trees across the little white waves that came splashing toward the boat. +They made a sharp, rippling sound, pitched in a different tone from the +din that rose all around. The latter swelled and sank, and he was +slightly surprised when he was able to hear what seemed to be a faint +shout. It rose again more clearly, and there was no longer any doubt +that somebody on the beach was hailing them.</p> + +<p>"Can we get ashore?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to try," said Jake. "The man's to windward of us, and it +will be a stiff paddle, but if you can't manage it you'll blow across to +the beach on the other side of the inlet safe enough and he may be able +to get round to you. Anyway, I don't want to leave the sloop. She'd have +picked up her anchor once or twice if I hadn't given her more cable."</p> + +<p>"What time is it?" Harry inquired.</p> + +<p>"About seven o'clock," Jake answered. "We'll have daylight soon after +you're back."</p> + +<p>They hauled up the canoe and were not surprised to find that she was +full of water. It took them some time to bail her out, and Frank felt +anxious when at last they pushed her clear of the sloop. It was +difficult to tell how far off the beach was, and for the first few +moments they could make no progress against the blast. Then they won a +yard or two in a partial lull, and after that for a while barely held +their own by determined paddling. Thick rain drove into their faces and +the spray from the bows and splashing blades blew over them. Frank was +breathless when they reached the beach, and it cost him an effort to +scramble over the uneven stones as far as the edge of the bush, where a +shadowy figure stood beside a horse. Its head drooped and even in the +dark<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>ness, which was not very deep, its attitude was suggestive of +exhaustion. The man was dimly visible, and they felt sure that he was +the messenger they expected.</p> + +<p>"You're here on Barclay's business?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Harry. "Have you a message for him?"</p> + +<p>The man fumbled in his pocket and took out an envelope.</p> + +<p>"That's from the boss. I guess it will explain the thing, but he said +I'd better let you know that we'd had trouble."</p> + +<p>"Then you didn't get the dope men?"</p> + +<p>"We corralled three of them; the rest broke away. One of the boys got a +bullet in him and he's been lying in the rain all night. I don't know +how we're going to pack him out."</p> + +<p>"Things went wrong?" said Frank.</p> + +<p>"They did," the man assented. "One of the boys got his pistol off by +accident just after the boat had come ashore, and that gave our plans +away. The boat's crew shoved off and several men who'd been landed broke +through in the dark. Anyhow, when the trouble was over we'd got one case +of dope, two whites of no account, and a Chinaman."</p> + +<p>"And the schooner?"</p> + +<p>"She was heading out to sea with mighty little sail on her when I left. +You'll be able to take word through to Barclay?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Harry answered dubiously. "It's too dark to tell what +the sea's like now. I suppose there's no other means of warning him?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the man. "Even if I could get a message on to the wire they +wouldn't be able to deliver it at the other end, but he has to be warned +somehow."</p> + +<p>"If you'll come off we'll give you breakfast. It should be light enough +to see what the weather's like by the time you had finished," Harry +suggested.</p> + +<p>"It can't be done," was the answer. "I've to go on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> for a doctor and +raise a crowd to run those fellows down. I've already stayed longer than +I should."</p> + +<p>"Your horse is played out," Frank objected.</p> + +<p>"I'll hire another. There's a ranch somewhere ahead. I'll say you have +taken that message."</p> + +<p>"We'll do it if it's any way possible," said Harry.</p> + +<p>The man turned away without another word and they heard him stumbling +through the wood beside his horse until the roar of the wind drowned the +sound, after which they went back to the canoe. They had no trouble in +reaching the sloop, for they were driven down upon her furiously, and on +clambering on board they found that Jake had breakfast ready.</p> + +<p>It was daylight when they crawled out of the cabin after the meal, but +the sky was hidden by low-flying vapor, and gazing seaward they could +see only a short stretch of big leader combers which rolled up out of +the haze crested with livid froth. Jake shook his head doubtfully at +Harry.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to stop a while," he said. "She wouldn't run for half an +hour before that sea. We couldn't start till after dinner if the wind +dropped right now, but it's falling and we might get away in the +afternoon."</p> + +<p>The morning dragged by while the boys chafed at the delay, though they +had no doubt that Jake was right and neither of them felt any keen +desire to face the sea that was tumbling in from the Pacific. Still, the +roar of the wind steadily diminished and the sloop rode more easily, and +at length Jake offered to make the venture after they had had a meal.</p> + +<p>They lashed three reefs down before they started, leaving only a small +triangular strip of mainsail set, but that proved quite enough, and +during the first few minutes Frank felt almost appalled as he glanced at +the great gray combers that heaved themselves up astern. Most of them +were hollow breasted, and their tops curled over, flinging up long wisps +of foam and roaring ominously.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> As a rule they broke, divided, on either +side of the boat, piling up in a snowy welter high about her shrouds, +but now and then one seemed to break all over her and most of her deck +was lost in a furious rush of water. Twice the canoe, which was too big +to stow on deck, charged up and struck her with a resounding crash, and +then broke adrift and disappeared.</p> + +<p>By degrees, however, Frank's uneasiness diminished. Somewhat to his +astonishment, the light and buoyant craft stood the buffeting, and by +the time dusk fell the seas were getting smaller. Still, they were big +enough, and the boat appeared to be driving before them at an +extraordinary speed. By eight o'clock in the evening they had shaken out +one reef, and soon afterward Frank lay down in the cabin, because Jake +said that he had no intention of entrusting either him or Harry with the +helm, which was on the whole a relief to both of them. To run a small +craft before a breaking sea in the dark is a very severe test of nerve, +and it is, perhaps, worse when the combers still come foaming after her +after the wind has somewhat fallen.</p> + +<p>In spite of the violent motion Frank managed to sleep until he was +awakened some time after midnight by a shout from Jake. Crawling out, +partly dazed, with his eyes half open, he saw that the sky had cleared +and that a crescent moon was shining down. Then, close ahead of them, he +saw the schooner.</p> + +<p>She was also running, for her stern was toward them, though for a moment +or two it was hidden by the white top of a sea, and Frank could only +make out the forward half of her sharply tilted deck. Her bowsprit and +two torn jibs above it were high in the air, and her black boom-foresail +all bunched up, with its gaff, which had swung down, jammed against the +foremast shrouds. She carried no after canvas, and the reason became +evident when, as her stern lurched up, Frank saw that her mainmast was +broken off short. She sank down again while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> a comber foamed high about +her rail, which was shattered on one quarter where the falling mast had +struck, and a mass of canvas and tangled gear trailed in the sea beneath +it. What struck the boy most, however, was the erratic manner in which +she was progressing, for her bows swung up to windward every now and +then until all her side was visible and she lumbered off at angle to her +course and then came lurching back again. She was herringboning, as it +is called at sea, in an extraordinary fashion, and she seemed low in the +water.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the sloop was coming up with her fast and Jake stood up +at the tiller to see more clearly.</p> + +<p>"They've been in trouble, sure," he said. "I could tell there was nobody +at her helm when I first saw her and that's why I ran up so close. Ease +the peak down, one of you; I don't want to run by until we've had a look +at her."</p> + +<p>Harry did so, and as they stood watching her the schooner slued round +until she was almost beam to wind. The sea streamed down her weather +side, which rose up like a wall, and Frank could see her wheel behind +the low deckhouse jerking to and fro. There was no sign of life anywhere +on board her.</p> + +<p>"Deserted!" Jake said shortly. "They must have jibed her and smashed her +mainmast. She seems a smart vessel. Seems to me she ought to fetch a +good many dollars."</p> + +<p>The sloop was sailing more slowly now with her peak swung down, keeping +pace with the schooner but a little behind her, and the boys gazed hard +at Jake. His rugged face looked very thoughtful in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>"It's a fair wind to the islands and she'd come up until it was abeam +with the foresail set if it was necessary," he said. "It wouldn't be +much trouble to sail her in and she could be beached somewhere in smooth +water. Anyhow, I'd like to get on board her."</p> + +<p>"If you ran up close alongside when she screws to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> windward one of us +could jump," Harry suggested eagerly. "There's a raffle of ropes over +her quarter."</p> + +<p>Jake seemed dubious. "It might be done and Barclay would be uncommonly +glad to get his hands on her, but I can't leave the sloop. Somebody has +to take that message."</p> + +<p>"Put us on board," urged Harry. "How far is it to the islands?"</p> + +<p>"With this wind and the whole sail on her she ought to fetch them by +daylight." Then Jake seemed to hesitate. "Looks as if there was water in +her, but one could wear her round and fetch the land to southward if she +was leaking very bad."</p> + +<p>The boys looked at each other and the same impulse seized upon both of +them. This was an adventure such as they had never dreamed of, and with +a fair wind they would only have to keep the vessel running until they +picked up the land. It would not be difficult, for she was under very +easy sail, and the only hazard would be in the attempt to get on board +her. Then Harry jumped forward and hauled up the peak.</p> + +<p>"Run alongside as quick as you can," he said.</p> + +<p>Jake put down his helm a little, and the boys stood up on the weather +deck with tense, set faces as the sloop crept in under the schooner's +lea. The latter slued to windward while the spray flew over her, rolling +until her deck on the side nearest them was level with the sea, and then +fell off again and sluggishly heaved her bows high above the foam. This +herringboning was the danger, since it would need nerve and skill to get +near her without wrecking the sloop. A blow from the big lurching hull +would probably send her to the bottom.</p> + +<p>Frank felt himself quivering all through as they closed with the +derelict yard by yard, until when she once more lumbered round to +windward Jake put down his helm a little farther. The sloop shot in +beneath the black hull, which broke the sea and partly sheltered her, +but as she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> swept forward amidst a long wash of foam Frank's courage +ebbed away from him. A great white swell lapped about the wall of wet +planking close in front of him, and the top of it was higher than his +head. It seemed impossible that he could spring out from the lurching +sloop and by any means clamber up. All his senses shrank from the +dangerous task, but with a determined effort he braced himself. If Harry +made the attempt he would do it, too, and he clenched his hands and set +his lips as the schooner's side came sinking down.</p> + +<p>"Don't jump unless you are sure you can reach her!" shouted Jake.</p> + +<p>They were now scarcely a fathom from the trailing wreckage, and the +schooner's rail was dipping lower. It seemed just possible to clutch it +by a desperate leap, and the next moment Harry launched himself out into +the air. Frank followed, struck the wet planking, and seizing a trailing +rope held on by it with his legs in the sea. Then he dragged himself up +clear of the water, and Harry, who was kneeling in the opening in the +broken rail, reached down to him.</p> + +<p>Frank clutched his hand, and in a few more seconds was almost astonished +to find himself, breathless and dripping, safe upon the schooner's deck. +A glance showed him the sloop abreast of her quarter and about a dozen +yards away.</p> + +<p>"Jake did that mighty smartly," Harry gasped. "I'll get to the wheel +while you look around her."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A GRIM DISCOVERY</span></h2> + + +<p>Frank had some difficulty in getting about the vessel. She was rolling +wildly and loose ropes and blocks whipped blindly to and fro, but he +noticed that the boat had gone, and the cleanly severed shrouds +indicated that her mainmast had been cut loose after it had fallen over +the side. It was evident that the crew had made some attempt to save the +vessel before they abandoned her. The mainboom had disappeared, though +the broken gaff and part of the sail were still attached to the hull by +a mass of tangled gear. Scrambling forward he found the anchor lying +still hooked to a tackle and half secured with its arms upon the rail, +which suggested that the smugglers had sailed in haste and had been kept +too busy afterward to make it fast. It was reassuring to discover that +the anchor could be dropped without much trouble if this became +necessary. Then he came upon a lantern hooked beneath the forecastle +scuttle and went back to report to Harry. The latter, who was standing +at the wheel, listened to him attentively.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said at length, "I can't figure out the thing, and unless +some of the dope men explain it I don't think we're likely to be much +wiser. As Jake said, it looks as if they had jibed her by accident, +which would probably rip out the mainmast, but, although it's easy to +bring the mainboom over on a fore-and-aft rigged craft, it's mighty +seldom that a capable sailor does it. Then, as there's water in her, +they must have bumped her on a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> reef, though she could only have struck +once or twice before she drove over it. That's as far as I can get, and +the first thing is to find out what water there is below. It's fortunate +you have a lantern."</p> + +<p>Frank looked around. There was no doubt that the wind was falling, and +the schooner, having only part of her forward canvas set, steered +easily. The sloop, which had sheered off a little farther, was sailing +abreast of her with lowered peak about a hundred yards away, rising and +falling with the long combers which, however, broke less angrily.</p> + +<p>"Jake will stand by for three or four hours," Harry explained. "After +that he'll have to haul her up to make the inlet where we were to join +Barclay, but it will be close on daylight by then."</p> + +<p>Frank was glad to hear it. There would be some peril in getting on board +the sloop if that became necessary, but it was comforting to see her +close at hand. In the meanwhile he shrank from going below and made no +move to do so until Harry spoke again.</p> + +<p>"I'm anxious about that water and you had better get down," he said. "Go +in by the house; there'll probably be a lazaret below it with an opening +in the deck."</p> + +<p>Frank reluctantly scrambled forward around the house, the door of which +faced toward the bows, and being out of the wind there he contrived to +light the lantern, though he struck several matches in the attempt. The +house, which occupied most of the vessel's quarter, was low so that the +mainboom could swing over it, and it was evident that the cabin floor +was sunk some feet below the level of the deck. Frank thrust the door +open and then stood hesitating, holding up the lantern, which did not +burn well and only flung a faint light into the obscurity before him. He +could hear an ominous gurgle of water below when the schooner rolled and +made out three or four steps which seemed to lead down into it. As he +placed his foot on the first of them the vessel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> lurched wildly and he +went down with a bang, while the lantern flew out of his hand. For no +very evident reason, except that he was overstrung, he could have +shouted in alarm as he lay upon the wet flooring in the dark. He had +struck his knee in his fall and for a moment or two he feared to move +it.</p> + +<p>Then he noticed a pale reflection against what he supposed to be the +bottom of a seat, and as it was evident that the overturned lantern had +not quite gone out he crawled toward it. As he did so the splash and +gurgle of water seemed much louder than it had done on deck. He could +hear it surge against the sides of the vessel and the hollow sound +jarred upon his nerves. He longed to escape from the oppressive +obscurity and get out into the moonlight by his companion's side, but he +reflected that it would not be pleasant to tell Harry that he had run +away from the darkness and left the lantern. He determined to secure the +latter, and he was moving toward it on hands and knees when his fingers +struck something that felt like a pistol. He let it lie, however, and +stretched out his hand for the lantern, setting it upright. The +flickering flame grew brighter, and standing up he flung the uncertain +light about him. There was undoubtedly a revolver on the uncovered +floor, which was dripping wet, and he thought it curious that the +smugglers should have left the weapon lying in that position; but ever +since he had boarded the schooner he had been troubled by an +uncomfortable sense of strangeness. The fact that her crew had abandoned +her, apparently without a sufficient reason, suggested a mystery. Then +he raised his hand so that the radiance touched a little, clamped-down +table, and as it did so he started and came near dropping the lantern +again, for a man sat at the table with his head and shoulders resting +upon it as if he had suddenly fallen forward.</p> + +<p>Frank afterward confessed that his first impulse was to run toward the +door, and he was never quite certain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> why he did not do so, but he stood +still holding up the lantern, while his heart throbbed painfully and his +flesh seemed to creep. The bent figure was unnaturally still, but when +the schooner lurched and the table slanted it fell forward a little +farther, all in one piece—which was how he thought of it—and as a +heavy sack would have done. That was too much for Frank, and clambering +up the steps he ran back to Harry in breathless haste.</p> + +<p>"You look as if something had scared you," said the latter with a trace +of anxiety in his voice.</p> + +<p>Frank leaned against the house, and his face showed white and set in the +moonlight.</p> + +<p>"There's a man lying across the table in the cabin," he panted.</p> + +<p>Harry started, but he pulled up his helm a spoke or two.</p> + +<p>"She'll come up if I leave her, but that won't matter much," he said. +"We'll go back together."</p> + +<p>Frank felt a little easier now that he had a companion, and he was more +collected when he stood in the cabin holding up the light while Harry, +who called first and got no answer, walked cautiously toward the huddled +figure. Then he shrank back a pace or two.</p> + +<p>"The man's dead!" he said.</p> + +<p>After that neither of them moved for half a minute during which the deck +slanted wildly beneath them, and then Frank proceeded very reluctantly +toward the table. Harry followed him, and when they stooped over the +shadowy figure Frank caught a partial glimpse of a yellow face and saw +that the man wore a loose blue jacket.</p> + +<p>"Turn the light a little," said Harry in a low, hoarse voice, and when +Frank had done so he looked around at him.</p> + +<p>"It's the man we got dinner with the day we went up the creek. He's been +shot," he added.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>Once more the horror of the thing was almost too much for Frank, but +just then a furious thrashing of loose canvas and clatter of blocks +broke out above them and relieved the tension.</p> + +<p>"She's luffing with the sea on her quarter," said Harry. "I must get +back to the helm, but we'll wait a moment and look around first. Lower +your lantern. There's something on the floor—no, I don't mean the +pistol, though you can pick that up."</p> + +<p>He stooped down beside Frank, who held the lantern close to the wet +planking, and saw for the first time a broad wet stain upon it leading +toward the steps. That was enough for both of them, and saying nothing +further they scrambled toward the door. They did not stop until they +reached the wheel, and then Harry spent a few moments getting the vessel +before the wind again.</p> + +<p>"We're no wiser about the water yet," he said at length with a strained +laugh.</p> + +<p>"No," said Frank. "I didn't think about it—I only wanted to get out as +quick as I could." He broke off, and then added, "What do you make of +it?"</p> + +<p>Harry stretched out one hand for the pistol, opened it, and held it up +in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>"There's a shell still in," he said. "The man it belonged to must have +dropped it in a mighty hurry. It's clear that there was a row on board +her either before or after she lost her mast. That Chinaman had a bullet +through his head and somebody else was hurt, though he got out of the +house—the stains showed that. I wonder"—and he dropped his voice—"if +we ought to search the forecastle."</p> + +<p>"<i>I'm</i> not going down," Frank answered decisively.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Harry, "I don't feel like it either. That's the simple +fact."</p> + +<p>Again there was silence for a while and both were glad that the solid +end of the house stood between them and what lay in the cabin. Then +Frank roused himself.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>"We've forgotten about the water, but the hatch is smashed," he said. "I +expect they dropped the boat upon it in heaving her out. I might get +down that way."</p> + +<p>"You had better try," said Harry, glancing around and pointing to the +sloop, which was now nearer them. "Jake must have edged her in when he +saw the schooner come up with no one at the helm," he added. "It's nice +to feel that he's about."</p> + +<p>Frank agreed with him. Once more he found the sight of the sloop +curiously reassuring, but he scrambled forward, and, wriggling through a +hole in the broken hatch, clambered partly down a beam. There was water +below him, but there was less than he expected, and he could not hear +any more pouring in, though he recognized that this would have been +difficult on account of the gurgling and splashing that was going on. +After listening for a minute or two he went back to Harry.</p> + +<p>"There's a good deal of water in her," he said. "Hadn't we better heave +some of it out?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think it would be worth while," was Harry's answer. "You could +hardly work the pump alone, and if I left the helm she'd keep running up +into the wind and yawing about. I'd rather shove her along steadily +toward the land."</p> + +<p>"Then can't we get the foresail properly set and drive her a little +faster?" Frank inquired. "She ought to bear it now the wind's dropping."</p> + +<p>It was not only the leak that troubled him. He wanted to escape as soon +as possible from the horror that seemed to pervade the vessel, and his +companion eagerly seized upon the suggestion.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course!" replied Harry. "I might have thought of it, but I've +been kind of dazed since we got out of the cabin."</p> + +<p>They went forward and led the halliards to the winch, but they would +have had trouble in setting the partly lowered sail if the schooner had +not come up into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> wind and relieved the strain on it. By degrees +they heaved up the gaff and peaked it, after which they went aft, as the +vessel plowed faster over the falling sea.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Frank, "the question is, where are we heading for?"</p> + +<p>"I've been worrying over that while we set the sail," Harry responded. +"If we hauled her up right now we might, perhaps, fetch the inlet where +we arranged to join Barclay, but we'd have to jibe the foresail over, +and as I would have to keep the helm while I brought her round and you +wouldn't be able to check the sheet alone, it's very likely that +something would smash when the boom came across. Besides that, we'd have +a strip of rocky coast to lee of us presently, and we mightn't be able +to keep her off it with only the foresail set. On the other hand, so far +as I can recollect from looking at the chart, the islands are dead to +leeward and we'd only have to keep her running to reach them. There's a +sound where we'd find smooth water once we sailed her in. That would be +the wiser plan."</p> + +<p>Frank, concurring in this, sat down near the helm. He felt that he would +not like to go far away, and he remembered that night watch long +afterward.</p> + +<p>The moon crept on to the westward, getting lower, and now and then +flying clouds obscured the silvery light. The combers still came surging +after them crested with glittering froth, though they no longer broke +about the rail, and there was a constant gurgling and splashing of water +inside the lurching vessel. At last Jake jibed the sloop's mainsail over +and stood away from them. The moon was very low now and Frank grew +somewhat uneasy as he watched the boat's canvas fade into the creeping +gloom. Shortly afterward the moon dipped altogether and it was very +dark.</p> + +<p>"We can't be far off the land," said Harry. "I don't want to come up +with it before daylight, but with no after canvas on her I don't suppose +we could round her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> up and wait. If we did, I'm not sure we could get +her to fall off again—one of the jibs is torn to ribands and the +other's split. We'll have to keep her running."</p> + +<p>They drove on and presently a faint gray light crept across the water to +the east. A little later, when all the sky was flushed with red and +saffron, a long black smear cut sharply across the glow.</p> + +<p>"The first of the islands," announced Harry. "It's right abeam. We must +get some foresail sheet in."</p> + +<p>They had difficulty in doing so, though they led the sheet to the winch, +but the schooner came up closer afterward, and when the sun had climbed +above a bank of cloud the end of the island was rising before them and a +strip of water opening up beyond it. Half an hour later they ran in with +the foresail peak lowered down, and Frank gazed anxiously ahead as they +drove on more slowly up a broad channel. On one hand there were rocks +and scrubby pines, with larger trees behind, but he wondered what the +result would be if a reef or a jutting point lay in front of them. The +vessel's speed, however, grew slower still, the water became smoother, +and at last Harry looked around at him.</p> + +<p>"If you'll unhook the tackle and cut the lashing you ought to get the +anchor over," he remarked. "I'll luff her as far as possible and you'll +heave the thing off when I drop the foresail."</p> + +<p>There followed a clatter of blocks, and a furious rattle of running +chain, which presently stopped. Then as the swinging vessel drew her +cable out they toiled desperately at the windlass to heave up more of it +from below. The task was almost beyond their strength, but somehow they +managed it and Harry clapped on a chain stopper.</p> + +<p>"That should hold her," he said. "There's not much wind now. I'd be glad +to leave her if I could get ashore."</p> + +<p>This, however, was out of the question, since the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> canoe had gone, and +very much against their will they waited on board for several hours +until at length a trail of smoke arose above the pines. Then a little +steamer with foam about her bows appeared from behind a point and the +hoot of her whistle rang sharply across the water.</p> + +<p>"Barclay, sure!" said Harry. "I'm certainly glad to see him."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later Mr. Barclay climbed on board and went down into the +cabin and all over the vessel with them before he made any remarks. At +length he turned to the boys as they stood by the rail.</p> + +<p>"You have done a very smart thing and I don't think you'll have any +reason for regretting it," he said pointedly. "This is a good set-off +against the failure at the other end. Jake got in with the message and +we started as soon as I'd had a talk with him. Fortunately, we were able +to creep along through the sounds and it's scarcely likely that any of +the smugglers can have seen us."</p> + +<p>"But what has become of this vessel's crew?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," replied Mr. Barclay. "We'll probably ascertain something +about them later."</p> + +<p>"Do you expect to corral the rest of them to-night?" Harry broke in.</p> + +<p>"It's possible," said Mr. Barclay with a trace of dryness. "The first +thing, however, is to beach this vessel, and then you and Jake must get +off in the sloop. There's a good deal to be done, and I want to run the +steamer back out of sight up the inlet as soon as it can be managed."</p> + +<p>He called some of his companions on board, and when Frank and Harry sat +down to an excellent meal in the steamer's cabin they heard the men +heaving the schooner's anchor.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE RAID</span></h2> + + +<p>Daylight was breaking when the boys ran into the cove near the ranch +after a quick passage and saw Mr. Oliver standing on the beach.</p> + +<p>"I've been looking out for you rather anxiously," he said when he had +shaken hands with them. "Has Barclay been successful?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry, "not altogether. Some of the dope men got away at the +first place where they landed."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver looked rather grave at this. "How many of them escaped?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know exactly. The messenger said several. Besides, the crew of +the schooner abandoned her, and it seems likely that they got ashore. +That would make two parties who may have joined each other."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Mr. Oliver; "it's a pity in various ways! How did Barclay get +on at the other end?"</p> + +<p>"I can't tell you. He didn't expect to make the seizure until night when +the dope men's friends would be waiting for the schooner to run in, and +he sent us off in the afternoon."</p> + +<p>"It was wise of him," Mr. Oliver answered. "In the meanwhile your aunt +hasn't cleared breakfast away, and as I expect you're ready for it we'll +go in at once."</p> + +<p>During the meal they gave him an outline of their adventures, to which +he listened thoughtfully. Then he said:</p> + +<p>"You had better lie down and get a sleep. We'll have another talk about +it later on."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>"I think I'd rather work," said Frank. "We got some sleep in turns last +night, and I don't feel like lying down. The fact is," he added +hesitatingly, "we've been doing something or other so hard since we went +away that I don't think I could leave off all at once. I feel strung up +yet and I'd rather keep busy."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver smiled understandingly. "That's sensible. There's nothing as +good as your regular work for cooling you off and helping you to get +calm again; but if you like you can take a note over to Webster and you +needn't hurry back if he asks you to have dinner with him. Then there +are two or three stumps you may as well grub out."</p> + +<p>They set out soon afterward and Frank, for one, was glad of the walk. He +had been cramped on board the sloop, and the excitement of the last few +days had told on him. He was nervously restless and felt that it would +be useless to lie down until he was physically worn out. When he +mentioned it to Harry the latter confessed to a similar sensation, and +added that they had not yet finished with the dope men.</p> + +<p>Mr. Webster was at work in his clearing when they reached it, but he +walked with them to his house, dropping Mr. Oliver's note into the stove +as soon as he read it.</p> + +<p>"You'll have dinner before you go back and tell your father I'll come +along," he said. "Would you like to take that single gun with you, +Frank? Harry still has the other one."</p> + +<p>Frank said that he would be very glad, but his companion broke in:</p> + +<p>"What did dad ask you to come over for?"</p> + +<p>"He wasn't very precise," answered Mr. Webster evasively. "He'll +probably tell me more when I'm at the ranch."</p> + +<p>As it was evident that he did not mean to be communicative, they ate +their dinner without asking any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> further questions, but when they were +walking home through the bush Harry smiled at his companion +significantly.</p> + +<p>"What do you make of the whole thing?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Frank. "Your father looked troubled when he heard +the dope men had got away."</p> + +<p>"He did," assented Harry. "Then he sent over for Webster, who wouldn't +tell us what he was wanted for, though he made you take that gun along."</p> + +<p>Frank knitted his brows.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said thoughtfully, "it's only an idea of mine, but it's +possible that the fellows who escaped might make an attack upon the +ranch out of revenge. Now if we allow that the schooner had been driving +along before the wind for some time after she was abandoned—and several +things pointed to it—one would fancy that the men who left her must +have landed not very far from the spot where Barclay's men tried to +seize them. It seems to me the first thing they'd do would be to attempt +to join the rest so as to be strong enough to resist a posse sent out to +hunt them down. It would be clear that somebody had given them away and +they'd no doubt blame your father. Of course they suspected him +already."</p> + +<p>"You've hit it," said Harry, whose face grew stern. "If they come along +there'll be trouble, but we'll make some of it. I don't feel kind to the +dope men after that sight in the schooner's cabin."</p> + +<p>Frank thought that his companion wore very much the same look as his +father had done on the morning when he stood beside the fallen horse +with the smoking pistol in his hand.</p> + +<p>"I expect they'll be desperate now," he said, but Harry did not answer, +and they walked on a little faster.</p> + +<p>On arriving at the ranch they set about grubbing up the stumps and +managed to get one big one out during the few hours' daylight that +remained, but neither of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> were sorry when Miss Oliver called them +in to supper. Frank, however, stood still a moment or two, glancing +about him and leaning upon his grubhoe. There was not a breath of wind +stirring, and the firs rose in dense shadowy masses against a soft gray +sky. The light was fading off the clearing, the rows of stumps had grown +blurred and dim, and it was impressively still. The whole surroundings +looked very peaceful; one could imagine them steeped in continual +tranquillity, but Frank remembered the broken mower and became vaguely +uneasy. Besides, he could not get the scene in the schooner's cabin, +where the dead man lay fallen forward across the table, out of his mind. +Then Miss Oliver called him again, and making an effort to throw off +this exceedingly unpleasant train of thought he strode quickly toward +the house.</p> + +<p>They sat about the stove after supper, and Frank fancied that Mr. Oliver +was listening for something now and then, but for a while no sound rose +from the clearing. He made the boys give him a few more particulars +about their adventures.</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose Barclay meant when he said that we would not be +sorry we had brought the schooner in?" asked Harry.</p> + +<p>"Well," his father replied, when he had considered a moment, "the vessel +was abandoned when you fell in with her. If she had been employed in a +legitimate trade you could have enforced a claim for your services and +you would have had no difficulty in getting a large share of her value. +The affair, however, is complicated by the fact that she was engaged in +smuggling, because, while I don't know much about these matters, I'm +inclined to believe that would warrant the revenue authorities in either +seizing her altogether or holding her as security for a heavy fine. +Still, even in this case, you should have a claim and I've no doubt that +Barclay will look after your interests."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>"Have you any idea what our share would be?" Frank asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"I could only make a guess. As she seems to be a comparatively new +vessel and is probably in good repair except for the damage she received +on the night in question I think you could hold out for two thousand +dollars. It's quite possible that she only started a plank or two, and a +new mainmast wouldn't cost a great deal."</p> + +<p>"Two thousand dollars!" and Frank gasped with astonishment.</p> + +<p>"I believe the award depends upon the value of the services rendered and +the hazard incurred," Mr. Oliver answered with a smile. "There seems +very little doubt that the vessel would have gone to the bottom if you +hadn't fallen in with her, and I expect any arbitrator would admit that +in running alongside and getting on board her in a heavy sea you did a +dangerous thing. Jake, of course, would take a share, though his would +be a smaller one than yours; but Barclay will be able to tell you more +about it than I can. We must get his advice as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>Shortly afterward Mr. Webster arrived carrying a rifle, and Frank +observed that Mr. Oliver was glad to see him. They, however, only +discussed fruit growing and the price of stock, and when by and by the +boys became drowsy Mr. Oliver told them that they had better go to bed.</p> + +<p>The boys were about to withdraw to their room, when Harry had a sudden +thought.</p> + +<p>"Where's the dog?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"In the stable," said Mr. Oliver dryly. "We have kept him there the last +few nights."</p> + +<p>It occurred to Frank that this had been done as a precaution, since the +stable and barn stood close together at some little distance from the +house, but Harry made some careless answer and they turned away toward +their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> room. When they reached it Harry sat down on his bed and his face +looked grave in the lamplight.</p> + +<p>"Dad's expecting trouble," he said. "You noticed that all the guns were +laid handy and there was a lot of shot as well as rifle shells spread +out loose on the shelf."</p> + +<p>"Do you think the dope men will come to-night?"</p> + +<p>"I can't say. I wouldn't be astonished if they did. Anyhow, I'm dead +played out and we can go to sleep, because dad and Webster mean to sit +up all night. I don't know whether you noticed that the coffee pot was +on the stove and dad had his cigar box out."</p> + +<p>Frank had not noticed it, but he had already discovered that in some +matters his companion's eyes were sharper than his own. He, however, +made no comment, for a heavy weariness had seized him at last and he was +glad to get his clothes off and go to bed. He was soon asleep and some +hours had passed when he felt Harry's hand upon his shoulder. Raising +himself suddenly, he looked around. The room was very dark, and he could +hear nothing until a door latch clicked below and he fancied that he +heard stealthy footsteps outside the building.</p> + +<p>"You had better get up and dress as quick as you can," said Harry. +"That's Webster crossing the clearing. Dad slipped out a minute or two +before him."</p> + +<p>Frank scrambled into his clothes and followed Harry to the window, where +they leaned upon the ledge. There was no doubt that somebody was moving +away from the house, because they could hear the withered grass rustle +and now and then the faint crackle of a twig, but they could see nothing +except the leafless fruit trees and the black wall of bush shutting in +the clearing.</p> + +<p>Then a savage growl that sounded dulled and muffled broke out from the +stable, and Frank felt a little quiver run through him. The sound died +away and he found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> the heavy silence that followed it hard to bear, but +a few moments later the dog growled again and then broke into a series +of short, snapping barks.</p> + +<p>"If he gets loose somebody's going to be sorry," said Harry with a +harsh, strained laugh. Then he gripped Frank's arm hard. "Look yonder!"</p> + +<p>A yellow blaze suddenly leaped up beside the barn and grew brighter +rapidly, until Frank made out a man's black figure outlined against it. +He seemed to be throwing an armful of brush or withered twigs upon the +spreading fire, and Frank swung around toward his companion.</p> + +<p>"Hadn't we better shout or run down?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Wait," said Harry shortly. "Dad's already on that fellow's trail."</p> + +<p>He was right, for while the figure bent over the fire a thin streak of +red sparks flashed out from among the fruit trees and the crash of a +rifle filled the clearing. The man leaped back from the fire, ran a few +paces at headlong speed, and vanished suddenly into the shadow.</p> + +<p>"He's not hurt," Frank said hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"Then it's because dad didn't mean to hit him," Harry answered. "That +was a warning."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't seem to be going to put out the fire."</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry with the same strained laugh, "dad knows too much for +that. Those logs are thick, they won't light easy, and it's only a +little pile of small stuff that's burning. Dad has no use for standing +out where those fellows can see him unless it's necessary. In the +meanwhile the dope men don't know where he is and that's going to worry +them."</p> + +<p>Frank could understand this. It seemed very likely that the small fire +would burn out before the logs caught, and it was clear that the men who +had made it could not run back into the light to throw on more brushwood +without incurring the hazard of being shot. On the other hand, Mr. +Oliver would have to face the same peril<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> if he approached to put it +out. From this it seemed very probable that both he and the dope men +would wait to see what the result would be.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the crash of the rifle had had a curious effect on +Frank. It was the first time that he had ever seen a shot fired in anger +and he was sufficiently well acquainted with Mr. Oliver's character to +feel certain that if the warning failed to prove efficacious the next +bullet would not go wide. He felt his nerves tingle and caught his +breath more quickly, for it seemed highly probable that he might be +shortly called on to watch or, perhaps, take part in some horrible +thing. He did not mean to shirk it, but at the same time he was +conscious that he would have greatly preferred to be standing beside the +schooner's wheel while she lurched over the big foaming seas.</p> + +<p>The suspense became almost intolerable as he watched the fire, which +presently sank until at last only a feeble, flickering blaze was left. +Then a figure sprang out of the shadow and ran toward it carrying +something in its arms. The next moment there was another crash in a +different part of the clearing from where they had heard the first shot, +and the figure, dropping its burden, vanished suddenly.</p> + +<p>"That's Webster," said Harry dryly. "I'm not sure that he meant to +miss."</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the savage barking of the dog, whom they had scarcely +noticed during the last few moments, once more forced itself upon their +attention.</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't your father let the dog get after them?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Harry answered. "It's possible he'd rather not have them +routed out from among the trees. If it were only daylight we could stand +them off! Have you your watch?"</p> + +<p>Frank took it from his pocket and rubbed a sulphur match in nervous +haste. It went out and he struck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> another with quivering fingers. A pale +glow of light sprang up and he held the watch close against it.</p> + +<p>"Only four o'clock!" he announced. "There'll be more than three hours' +darkness yet."</p> + +<p>Harry made no answer, and except for the barking of the dog there was +silence for a minute or two. It was Frank at last who broke it.</p> + +<p>"I can't stand any more of this," he said. "Let's go down."</p> + +<p>His companion seemed to hesitate. "It's not nice, but I don't know what +to do. Aunt's in the house, and though Jake's on the lookout somewhere +I've a notion that dad would call us if he meant us to come." He broke +off and added in a very suggestive tone, "I don't—want—to stay in."</p> + +<p>"We could go as far as the door, anyway," Frank persisted.</p> + +<p>They slipped out of the room and made for the kitchen very quietly, but +Frank was a little astonished when they reached it, because though there +was no lamp burning the front of the stove was open and the faint glow +which shone out fell upon Miss Oliver who was sitting close by. A rifle +lay upon the table at her side and Jake's shadowy figure showed up near +the open window.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going, Harry?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Harry stopped and leaned upon the table. "Out into the clearing a little +way. After that, I don't know. I don't want to spoil dad's plans by +butting in before it's necessary, but I wish he'd told us what to do. +You won't mind if we go?"</p> + +<p>"I've Jake—and this," Miss Oliver answered, quietly pointing to the +rifle. "On the whole I think I'd just as soon you tried to find out what +is going on, but keep out of sight while you're about it and be +cautious."</p> + +<p>They slipped out, and when they stopped at a short distance from the +house Frank touched his companion.</p> + +<p>"Can she shoot?" he asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>"It's my opinion that she'd beat you at it every time," said Harry +curtly.</p> + +<p>He raised his hand as though to demand silence, and they both stood +listening, but there was deep silence now, for the dog had ceased to +bark. It was difficult to imagine that somewhere in the shadowy clearing +there were a number of men watching with every sense alert.</p> + +<p>"I think the first shot came from the other side of the fruit trees. +We'll look in among them," said Harry.</p> + +<p>Treading very softly, they made for the trees, which were young and had +shed their leaves, but their trunks and branches, massed in long rows, +offered concealment. They would not entirely cover up the figure of any +one standing among them, but they would break its outline, which is +almost as effective since, as Frank had already learned, it is +singularly difficult to recognize an object when one can only see a part +of it. Besides, the sky was overcast and there was no moon visible.</p> + +<p>The boys walked a few steps and stopped again to consider. It was as +still as ever, and there was nothing to guide them in deciding where Mr. +Oliver or Mr. Webster might be, while they recognized that any noise +they made would probably be followed by a rifle shot. The smugglers and +ranchers would naturally be listening for the least sound that might +betray each other's presence. The first incautious movement would +therefore lay either party open to attack, and Frank could understand +the smuggler's hesitation in making another attempt to burn the barn, +since, apart from any noise they made, the figure of the man who started +the fire would be forced up clearly by the light. Indeed, he fancied +that so long as the two men kept still their opponents must do the same.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile he found it singularly difficult to crouch in the grass +waiting and listening. It would have been much easier to move forward, +even at the hazard of drawing the smuggler's fire upon himself,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> but as +this was out of the question he restrained the desire to do so by an +effort of his will. To hasten an attack would interfere with Mr. +Oliver's plans, and there was no doubt that the odds against the rancher +were already heavy. Frank, however, could not keep his heart from +thumping painfully or his fingers from trembling upon the gun barrel. +Never had time seemed to pass so slowly.</p> + +<p>Several minutes dragged by and still no sound rose from the surrounding +fruit trees or shadowy clearing. It almost seemed as if Mr. Oliver and +his opponents meant to lie motionless until the morning, which Frank +realized was a good deal more than he could force himself to do.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE RELIEF OF THE RANCH</span></h2> + + +<p>The silence was becoming unendurable when it was suddenly broken by two +sharp, ringing crashes in quick succession. Though Frank was afterward +ashamed of it, he fairly jumped and came very nearly dropping his gun. +While he was struggling with an impulse to fire at random into the +darkness there was an answering bang and he felt a tug at his elbow.</p> + +<p>"I think it was Webster who fired first," said Harry in a low, tense +voice. "If I'm wrong, it means that the dope men have got in between us +and the house, but that isn't likely. Dad would have heard them and made +a move if they'd tried it."</p> + +<p>Frank said nothing, and when the echoes died away among the woods there +was once more a nerve-trying silence, except for the savage barking of +the dog. It lasted a few minutes, and then Harry spoke again:</p> + +<p>"The shots will be quite enough to put dad on to those fellows' trail. I +expect he's crawling in on them now."</p> + +<p>The boy's whisper was hoarse with anxiety, but he made no attempt to +move and Frank wondered at his self-command. Shortly afterward there was +an unexpected change in the situation, for a faint flicker of light shot +up again from where Frank supposed the barn to be. This was puzzling, +because, while the light was rather high up and there seemed to be a +brighter blaze beneath it, Frank could not see the fire. Then the +explanation flashed upon him as the black shape of the building<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> became +dimly visible against the uncertain glow. The smugglers had lighted a +second fire behind the barn, which now stood between them and Mr. +Oliver. Frank gasped with dismay as he realized that it was a simple and +effective trick. If the rancher moved forward hastily he must betray +himself to his enemies by the noise he made, while if he proceeded +slowly and cautiously the barn would probably take fire before he +reached a spot from which he could drive back the men, who were no doubt +piling up brushwood against the building.</p> + +<p>"It looks as if they'd got us!" he whispered.</p> + +<p>"No," said Harry sharply and aloud. "The thing didn't strike me, but +dad's not to be caught like that. Now, as any row we make will draw them +off him, we'll hurry up. Get up and run."</p> + +<p>Frank did so, but although he had been longing to do something of the +kind a few minutes earlier he found that he had no great liking for the +part Harry expected him to play. It was decidedly unpleasant to feel +that in all probability he was fixing upon himself the attention of +several men who could shoot very well. He had gone only a few paces, +however, when there was a shot from behind the barn and Harry laughed—a +breathless laugh.</p> + +<p>"That's dad. He's headed them off again!" he said.</p> + +<p>Frank ran on, but thrilling as he was with excitement it occurred to him +that this battle was a rather intricate one, in which he was right. +These bushmen were accustomed to hunting and trailing, and did not rush +at each other's throats, shouting and firing more or less at random. +Instead, they seemed to be maneuvering for positions from which they +could prevent their opponents from making another move. Nowadays, in any +battle large or small, in which men are engaged who can handle the +terrible modern rifle, the position is the one essential<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> thing, since +it is only the most desperate courage that can drive home an attack upon +a well-covered firing line.</p> + +<p>Soon after the boys had heard the shot a shadowy figure slipped out from +among the fruit trees close in front of them and Frank called, +"Webster!"</p> + +<p>The man swung around, but instead of answering he sprang backward, and +Frank realized that he had almost run into the arms of one of the +smugglers. The boys did not see where he went, though he made some +noise, and they afterward concluded that he had mistaken them for grown +men. In the meanwhile they went on again more cautiously, until at +length they were stopped by a low cry and Mr. Oliver rose from the grass +a few feet away. They were on the other side of the barn now and could +see that the fire had got hold of it. There was no doubt that some of +the logs were burning and a pile of brushwood which had been laid +against them was burning fiercely.</p> + +<p>"It's spreading," said Harry. "Can't we put it out?"</p> + +<p>"No," said his father with grim quietness. "It would take time and at +least a dozen wet grain bags, while it wouldn't be safe for any one to +approach the light."</p> + +<p>There was something in his voice that startled Frank.</p> + +<p>"You have hit one of them?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"There's reason for believing it. Webster and I couldn't watch the four +sides of the barn, and they chose the one that seemed the most unlikely. +Still, as it happened, I got around quick enough."</p> + +<p>"Then what are we to do now?" Harry inquired.</p> + +<p>"Fall back on the house," replied Mr. Oliver. "I've sent Webster on, and +it's no use waiting for another of them to come out into the light."</p> + +<p>The boys turned back with him, moving quickly but making no more noise +than they could help, and on reaching the dwelling they found Mr. +Webster standing in the kitchen. The room was dark except for the faint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +glow which shone out from the front of the stove, and Miss Oliver was +still sitting where the boys had last seen her, with an open box of +cartridges at her feet. There was, however, light enough outside, for a +red glare which grew steadily brighter streamed across the clearing.</p> + +<p>"Where's the dog?" Harry asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Mr. Webster. "I let him out before I came along. I +expect you're going to hear him presently."</p> + +<p>There was silence for the next six or seven minutes during which Frank +heard the ticking of a clock and the crackle of knotty pinewood in the +stove. He could see Mr. Oliver standing a little on one side of the open +window, an indistinct figure with face and hands that showed dimly +white. His pose indicated that he was holding a rifle level with his +breast, and presently as the red glow behind the fruit trees grew higher +and brighter the barrel twinkled in a ray of light. Then there was a +furious barking and Jake laughed at the sound.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "they don't mean to keep us waiting."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver turned to the boys. "Keep clear of this window and watch the +other one. You're not to fire a shot unless I tell you."</p> + +<p>The barking of the dog grew louder and it was evident that the animal +was following the smugglers toward the house, but Frank could see nobody +for a while. Then he made out two or three moving shadows among the +fruit trees, but they vanished again as the light sank, and he almost +wished that they would spring out from cover and make a rush upon the +building. He could imagine them creeping stealthily nearer and nearer, +and the strain of the forced inaction became nearly unbearable. He +learned that night that it is often a good deal easier to fight than to +wait.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>At last a harsh voice rose from the gloom.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to get out, Oliver," it said. "Clear out in your sloop with +the folks you have with you and we'll let you go. You're mighty lucky in +getting the option."</p> + +<p>"And what about the ranch?" Mr. Oliver asked.</p> + +<p>"We'll tend to it," another man answered pointedly. "Pitch your guns +through the window and come out right now!"</p> + +<p>"You're wasting time," replied Mr. Oliver, "I'm going to stay."</p> + +<p>"Then you'll certainly be sorry," some one else broke in. "We've had +about enough trouble right along with you and we've come to hand in the +bill. You headed us off a good trade, you brought the revenue folks in, +and we mean to get even before we leave. Just now we'll be satisfied +with your homestead, but that won't be enough after the next shot's +fired."</p> + +<p>It was a grim warning and what made it more impressive to Frank was the +fact that he could not see the man who uttered it. So far, the smugglers +had only revealed their presence by their voices. The next moment there +was a cry of pain or alarm and a rifle flashed.</p> + +<p>"Kill that blamed dog," somebody ordered with an oath.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Oliver called to Harry, who had gone to the window across the +room.</p> + +<p>"Can you see anybody on that side?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," was the answer. "I think they're all in front."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver turned to Jake. "Slip out through the back window with the +boys and work around to the stumps. From there you'll have those fellows +clear against the light. Wait until the shooting starts—and then do +what you can."</p> + +<p>"Sure!" was the short answer, and Jake crossed the room.</p> + +<p>Harry had already dropped from the window, and Frank promptly followed +him, feeling relieved now that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> he had something definite to do. +Circling around through the fruit trees they reached the first row of +stumps, one end of which ran up rather close to the house. As Frank +crouched down among the roots of one he saw the smugglers. There were +six or seven of them visible along the edge of the trees, though he +fancied that there were more of them farther back in the shadows, which +grew thinner and then more dense again as the light rose and fell. +Still, before the men could reach the house they would have to cross a +clear space where the glow was brighter, which they were evidently +reluctant to do. Their hesitation was very natural, since they had +discovered that their opponent was unusually quicksighted and handy with +the rifle.</p> + +<p>A few moments after the boys reached the stumps a great blaze shot up as +part of the barn fell in, and Frank saw a man who seemed to be the +leader of the gang run forward, heading toward the back of the house. As +he did so Frank recognized him and Harry cried out softly, for one of +the runner's shoulders was higher than the other and he had a rather +curious gait. Then there was a shout from one of those behind.</p> + +<p>"Plug the brute! Look out for the dog!"</p> + +<p>A low and very swift shadow flashed across the open space behind the +man. Harry laughed hoarsely as the man went down and rolled over with an +indistinct object apparently on his back. He cried out, there was a +confused shouting, and some of his companions came running toward him, +showing black against the light. Frank held his breath as he watched. He +expected to see two flashes from the window, since Mr. Webster and Mr. +Oliver had now an easy mark, but they did not fire. The next moment he +shrank in sudden horror, for the cries grew sharper and suggested pain +and an extremity of fear. Then he felt that, regardless of the hazard, +he could almost have cheered the smugglers on as they ran toward the +prostrate man, who was struggling vainly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> with the furious dog. They +surged about him in a confused group, and just then, to Frank's +amazement, a pistol flashed among the firs on the edge of the bush. It +was followed by a sudden clamor, whereupon the group broke up, and +running men streamed out across the clearing. The smugglers vanished, +and Harry sprang out from among the stumps shouting wildly.</p> + +<p>"It's Barclay! He's brought a posse with him!" he cried. "Come on. We +must choke off the dog."</p> + +<p>When they reached the spot they tried with all their might to drag back +the furious animal. The man, who had flung his arms about his throat and +face, now lay still, with the big and powerful animal still tearing at +him. It was not until Jake arrived and partly stunned it with his rifle +butt that it let go, and then two or three breathless strangers came +running up to them. They dragged the smuggler to his feet and Frank saw +that his jacket was torn to pieces and that the back of his neck from +which it fell away was red. He did not seem capable of speaking and he +drew his breath in gasps, but the newcomers hustled him along between +them toward the house.</p> + +<p>"Stick to him," said Harry. "He's the boss of the gang."</p> + +<p>They thrust the man into the kitchen, where he fell into a chair and, +for the lamp was lighted now, gazed at Mr. Oliver stupidly.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I'm corralled—my gun's in the clearing." He raised +his hand to his neck and brought it down smeared red before he added, +"It's mighty lucky he didn't get hold in front."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver, who made no answer, swung around and faced Mr. Barclay +standing hot and breathless in the doorway smiling at them.</p> + +<p>"It's fortunate I came along," he said, and striding forward glanced at +the man in the chair. "We've got you at last."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>"Sure!" admitted the other, still in a half-dazed manner. "I'll have to +face it—only keep off that dog."</p> + +<p>Mr. Barclay looked around at Mr. Oliver. "I expect the boys have also +got most of his partners. Before we broke cover I sent a party to head +them off."</p> + +<p>Harry suddenly called to Frank, who sprang toward the door, but when +they reached the bush they met the rest of the men coming back with +several prisoners. They reported that two or three had escaped and they +would have to wait for daylight before following their trail.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later the boys sat down again in the kitchen where Mr. +Oliver and Mr. Barclay, who had been out in the meanwhile, were talking +by the stove.</p> + +<p>"I'd an idea that these fellows might look you up, which was why I came +along as fast as I could manage," Mr. Barclay was explaining. "I think I +told you we got practically every man who was waiting for the schooner +at the inlet, and the two or three who escaped to-night won't count. In +the meanwhile I'd arranged at two or three different places to seize +everybody we suspected of having a hand in the thing, and if the boys I +left that work to have been as lucky as we are we can take it for +granted that we have put an end to the gang. There's enough against the +fellow the dog mauled to have him sent up for the rest of his life." He +broke off and turned to the boys. "The schooner will be sold by auction, +and if you are inclined to leave the matter in my hands you can give me +a written claim for salvage services."</p> + +<p>"How much should we put down?" Harry asked.</p> + +<p>"I would suggest three thousand dollars," responded Mr. Barclay with +twinkling eyes. "It doesn't follow that you'll be awarded the whole of +it, but it's generally admitted that one shouldn't be too modest in +sending in a claim. If you two become partners you could buy a ranch."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>Harry turned with a smile to Frank. "Well," he said, "if you're willing, +we might consider it in a year or two."</p> + +<p>Then one of the men came in to report that the prisoners had been +secured in the stable. Mr. Barclay soon dismissed him with a few brief +instructions and sat down again, lighting a cigar.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that there's much more to tell," he said. "When we were a +mile or two off the cove we saw the blaze of your barn, and that gave us +an idea of what was going on. We sent the steamer along as fast as she +could travel, but I broke my posse up to surround the clearing as soon +as we got ashore. Then we lay by and waited so as to get as many of the +gang as possible. They were too busy watching you to notice any little +noise the boys made, and on the whole I think we can be content with +this night's work."</p> + +<p>"Have you decided what led up to the shooting of that man in the +schooner's cabin?" Harry asked.</p> + +<p>"That," said Mr. Barclay, "is a matter for the criminal court, but I've +made a few investigations, and my notion is that the fellows lost their +nerve when it became evident that somebody had given them away. They +suspected one another, and that led to trouble, while I've no doubt that +the Chinaman held most of the secrets of the gang. He'd be a particular +object of suspicion, but from what I can gather there was a general row +during which she jibed and got ashore. There was, at least, one other +man badly hurt, but they seem to have gone off in the same boat. The +vessel probably struck on an outlying reef and came off almost +immediately on the rising tide."</p> + +<p>Frank went out soon afterward and sat down near the house. The fire had +almost burned out and a light wind which had sprung up drove the last of +the smoke the other way. The air that flowed about the boy was sweet and +scented with the fragrance of pine and cedar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> All around him the bush +rose in somber masses and a faint elfin sighing fell from the tops of +the tall black trees. It was the song of the wilderness and the wild and +rugged land had steadily tightened its hold on him. As he sat and +listened he was certain at last that he would never leave it to go back +to the cities.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">FRANK BECOMES A RANCH OWNER</span></h2> + + +<p>Three or four days had passed since the attack on the ranch when one +afternoon the boys stood on the deck of the sloop. Bright sunshine +streamed down on the cove and there was a brisk breeze. The boys had +gone down to hoist the mainsail so that it would dry, as it had been +rolled up damp when last used; and as Frank straightened himself after +stooping to coil up the gear he noticed that a man stood at the edge of +the water with a small camera in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Look, Harry!" he exclaimed softly, as his companion crawled from behind +the sail.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" called Harry. "What do you want?"</p> + +<p>"Keep still!" commanded the stranger sharply. Then he raised his hand. +"That's all right! Now you may move if you like."</p> + +<p>"So may you!" Harry answered with a chuckle. "In fact, I guess you +better had!"</p> + +<p>There was an ominous growl somewhere above the man and then a savage +barking, as the dog—who had followed the boys to the cove and afterward +wandered away—came scrambling furiously down the steep path. The man +seemed to watch its approach with anxiety, and when it came toward him +growling he stooped and picked up a big stone.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" Harry shouted. "Put down that stone! He doesn't like +strangers, and you'd better not rile him."</p> + +<p>The man did as he was bidden, but when it looked as if the dog would +drive him into the water Frank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> dropped into the canoe. To his +astonishment, the stranger suddenly held the camera in front of him and +backed away a few paces, pointing it like a pistol at the growling dog, +who seemed too surprised to follow. Then Frank ran the canoe ashore and +told the man to get in while he drove off the dog.</p> + +<p>"He's young," explained Frank. "Somehow we haven't managed to tame him."</p> + +<p>He headed for the sloop, and the man got on board.</p> + +<p>"You seem stuck on taking photographs," Harry remarked.</p> + +<p>"I make a little out of them now and then," the stranger answered with a +smile. "You're Harry Oliver?"</p> + +<p>"That's my name."</p> + +<p>"Then your friend is Frank Whitney?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Harry. "But you haven't answered my question yet."</p> + +<p>"I wanted to have a talk with your father; but I find that he's out."</p> + +<p>"He won't be back until to-night; and, while we'd be glad to give you +supper, it really wouldn't be worth while to wait. He doesn't want any +fruit trees—the last we bought from outsiders had been dug up too long. +He's full up with implements, and we're not open to buy anything."</p> + +<p>The stranger laughed good-humoredly.</p> + +<p>"Hadn't you better wait until you're asked? I'm not drumming up orders." +Then he changed the subject. "You've had trouble here lately, haven't +you? From what I gather, your father has done a smart and courageous +thing in holding off that opium gang."</p> + +<p>Harry thawed and fell into the trap. He was not addicted to saying much +about his own exploits, but he was proud of his father, and the man +discovered this from his hesitating answer. It was the latter's business +to draw people out, and sitting down in the shelter of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> the coaming he +cleverly led the boy on to talk. Frank tried to warn his companion once +or twice, but failed, and soon the stranger drew him also into the +conversation. Some time had slipped away when the man finally rose.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I missed your father," he said, "but as I want to catch the +steamer that calls at the settlement to-night, I must be getting back."</p> + +<p>Harry paddled him ashore, and when he returned with the dog Frank +grinned at him.</p> + +<p>"That fellow hasn't told you his business yet, and I've a pretty strong +suspicion that he's a newspaper man."</p> + +<p>Harry started and frowned.</p> + +<p>"Then if he prints all that stuff I've told him it's a sure thing that +dad will be jumping mad. Didn't you know enough to call me off?"</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't stop," Frank answered, laughing. "I kept on winking for +the first five minutes, and then somehow he gathered me in too. He's +smart at his business."</p> + +<p>"I guess we'd better not say anything about the thing," decided Harry +thoughtfully. "Anyway, not until we know whether you are right."</p> + +<p>They went ashore soon afterward; and a few days later Mr. Webster called +at the ranch.</p> + +<p>"Have you Barclay's address?" he asked Mr. Oliver. "I want to write +him."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver gave it to him, and Mr. Webster continued:</p> + +<p>"They're getting up a supper at the settlement, and the stewards would +like to have you and the boys come. They're asking everybody between +here and Carthew."</p> + +<p>"What do they want to get up a supper for?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Webster hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "among other things, the new man is opening his big +fruit ranch, and we've just heard that there's a steamboat wharf to be +built and a new wagon trail made. Things are looking up, and the boys +feel that they ought to have a celebration."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>"All right," assented Mr. Oliver, "the boys and I will be on hand."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later Mr. Webster started home, and then Frank opened a +letter he had brought him. He was astonished when he read it.</p> + +<p>"It's from Mr. Marston, who got me the position with the milling +company—he's a relative of ours," he informed Mr. Oliver. "It appears +that he is in Portland on business—shipping Walla wheat—and he says +that he promised my mother he'd look me up if he had time. He may be +here shortly."</p> + +<p>"We'd be glad to see him," Mr. Oliver answered cordially. "It isn't a +very long way to Portland."</p> + +<p>Frank, however, had no further word from Mr. Marston; and in due time +the evening of the supper arrived. Mr. Oliver and the boys sailed up to +the settlement. Landing in the darkness, they found the little hotel +blazing with light. The night was mild, and a hum of voices and bursts +of laughter drifted out from the open windows of the wooden building. On +entering the veranda, they were greeted by the man who had kept the +store when Frank first visited the settlement.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to see that you're better," Mr. Oliver remarked.</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" replied the other. "I've just got down from Seattle—the +doctors have patched me up. It's time I was back at business—things +have been getting pretty mixed while I was away." Then he changed the +subject. "The boys would make me chairman of this affair, and they're +waiting. You're only just on time."</p> + +<p>"The wind fell light," said Mr. Oliver. "As there seems to be a good +many of them, they needn't have waited for my party if we hadn't come."</p> + +<p>"Oh," laughed the storekeeper, "they couldn't begin without—you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver looked slightly astonished; but there was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> another surprise +in store for him and the boys when they entered the largest room in the +building. It was, for once, brilliantly lighted; and crossed fir +branches hung on the rudely match-boarded wall, with the azure and +silver and crimson of the flag gleaming here and there among them. Frank +could understand the attempt to decorate the place, because, as a matter +of fact, it needed it; but he did not see why the double row of men +standing about the long table should break out into an applauding murmur +as Mr. Oliver walked in. Most of them had lean, brown faces and +toil-hardened hands, and were dressed in duck with a cloth jacket over +it and with boots that reached to the knees, but there were two or three +in white shirts and neat cloth suits.</p> + +<p>"Boys," said the storekeeper, "our guest has now arrived. Though he +tells me the wind fell light, he's here on time, which is what we've +always found him to be in all his doings." He waved Mr. Oliver to the +head of the table. "That's your place. It's my duty to welcome you on +behalf of the assembled company."</p> + +<p>There was an outbreak of applause, and Mr. Oliver looked around with a +smile.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, boys," he beamed; "but I don't quite understand. I just came +here to talk to you and get my supper."</p> + +<p>Amid the laughter that followed there were many voices answering him.</p> + +<p>"You'll get it, sure! To-night we'll do the talking—Sproat's been +practicing speeches on the innocent trees all day, and Bentley's most as +good as a gramophone. We're mighty glad to have you! Sit right down!"</p> + +<p>The storekeeper raised his hand for silence.</p> + +<p>"You're our guest, Mr. Oliver, and that's all there is to it." He turned +to the others and lowered his voice confidentially. "I guess Webster +didn't explain the thing to him. Our friend's backward on some +occasions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>—he doesn't like a fuss—and it's quite likely that if he'd +known what to expect he wouldn't have come."</p> + +<p>There was another burst of laughter; and when Mr. Oliver had taken his +place, with the boys seated near him, Frank noticed for the first time +that Mr. Barclay occupied a chair close by. Then he also saw that Mr. +Marston, who had written to him, sat almost opposite across the table.</p> + +<p>"I got here this afternoon and was trying to hire a horse when I heard +that you were expected at this feast," the latter said. "Your people +were in first-rate health when I left them."</p> + +<p>It was difficult to carry on a conversation across the table, and Frank +turned his attention to the meal, which was the best he had sat down to +since he reached the bush. By and by the storekeeper stood up.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "as most of you have laid in a solid foundation, we can +talk over the dessert; and I want to remind you that we have several +reasons for celebrating this occasion. A start at growing fruit on a big +scale has just been made; we're to have a wharf; and there's a wagon +trail to be bridged and graded. All this brings you nearer the market. +You have held on and put up a good fight with rocks and trees, and now +when you'll have no trouble in turning your produce into money you're +going to reap the reward of it. But that's not our main business +to-night."</p> + +<p>There was an encouraging murmur, and he went on:</p> + +<p>"We had a few bad men round this settlement—toughs, who had no use for +work. Folks of their kind are like the fever—they're infectious—and +it's a kind of curious thing that for a while the bad man generally +comes out on top. His trouble is that he can't stay there, for something +big and heavy is surely going to fall on him sooner or later. Still, +those men had a big combine at the back of them and they got hold. +They'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> have kept it longer, only that one man had a bigger head than +most of us. He'll tell you that the one straight way to get money is to +work for it, and that the folks who begin by robbing the Government end +by robbing everybody else. He found the combine up against him, but +while some of us backed down he stood fast. He wouldn't be fooled or +bullied, and, though he didn't go round saying so, when the time came +that big and well-handled combine went down. Now it's my pleasant duty +to offer your thanks to Mr. Oliver for freeing you from what would have +been the ugliest kind of tyranny."</p> + +<p>He sat down amid applause, and another man got up.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to second that," he announced. "We were easy with the opium +gang when they began. It was pleasant to get a roll of bills now and +then for just leaving a team handy and saying nothing if we found a case +in the stable; but we didn't see where that led." He stopped and turned +to Mr. Barclay, who was smiling at him. "What'd you say, sir?"</p> + +<p>"It struck me that you were forgetting what my profession is," Mr. +Barclay answered dryly. "You're not compelled to give yourself and your +friends away."</p> + +<p>This remark was followed by laughter; then the speaker proceeded:</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, the dope boys began to change their tone. At first, they paid +and asked favors; but when they got folks so they couldn't go back on +them they ordered, and seldom paid at all. It was getting what my friend +calls tyranny, and the small man had to stand in and ask the gang for +leave to live. We'd have been in a mighty tight place now if one rancher +hadn't boldly stood out. That's why we're offering our best thanks to +Mr. Oliver, who got up and fought the gang."</p> + +<p>There was a shout that set the shingles rattling overhead, and when it +died away Mr. Oliver, who looked embarrassed, said a few simple words, +which were fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>lowed by riotous applause. Then Frank looking around saw +that a sheet of newspaper with three pictures on it was pinned to the +wall.</p> + +<p>"What's that thing?" he asked, leaning back to touch Harry. "You're +nearer it."</p> + +<p>One of the men took the paper down and handed it to him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he drawled, "I guess you ought to know your own likeness."</p> + +<p>Frank gasped as he took the paper, for the two portraits at the top of +it were of Harry and himself, and underneath them appeared the dog. +There was a conspicuous black heading over them.</p> + +<p>"<i>The modest salvors of the opium schooner, and their dog</i>," it read.</p> + +<p>Beneath this there was about a column dealing with Mr. Oliver's exploits +and their own. Frank glanced at parts of it with blank astonishment.</p> + +<p>"You never told him all that stuff," he declared, passing it to Harry.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver intercepted the paper, and his expression hinted at +half-disgusted amusement.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you know any better than to tell a story of this kind to a +newspaper man?" he asked. "Read a little of it!"</p> + +<p>Harry's face flushed as he read.</p> + +<p>"I didn't tell him half of it," he protested. "Besides, I didn't know +what he was."</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver laughed at last; and just then another man got up and made a +speech about Mr. Barclay, who rose and looked down the table with a +quiet smile.</p> + +<p>"I appreciate what you have said of my doings, boys, and now I'll base +my few observations on one of the first speaker's remarks," he began. +"He stated that the man who began by robbing the Government would end by +robbing everybody else; but he was wrong. The man who robs the +Government <i>is</i> robbing every other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> citizen. Each of us is part of a +system that's built up, we believe, on the rock of the constitution. +Otherwise, if you were merely individuals, doing just as you wished, +obeying nobody, you could live only like the Indians, holding your +ranches and cattle—if you had them—with the rifle. All commerce and +security is founded on the fact that we're not separate men, but a +nation. Well, the nation wants troops, and warships, judges, courts, +schools, and roads. It expects you to pay your share, since you get the +benefit, and every man who beats it out of one tax or duty is playing a +mean game on and stealing from the rest. That's the one point I want to +make clear."</p> + +<p>Then, to the confusion of Harry and Frank, they were commended; and +afterward the company broke up into groups to talk and smoke. Mr. Oliver +and the boys, Mr. Marston, Mr. Webster and Mr. Barclay still sat +together, and presently Mr. Barclay turned to the boys.</p> + +<p>"I've some news for you," he announced. "The schooner has been surveyed. +She's very little damaged, and the authorities, who have seized her, +have decided to allow your claim in full. As soon as she's sold, they'll +forward you a treasury order."</p> + +<p>"And we'll really get all that money?" Frank asked with a gasp.</p> + +<p>"It seems pretty certain."</p> + +<p>The blood rushed into Frank's face.</p> + +<p>"It would go a long way toward buying a small, half-cleared ranch," he +exclaimed joyfully.</p> + +<p>"I've one to sell," laughed Mr. Webster. "You can have it cheap."</p> + +<p>"Are you serious?" Mr. Oliver inquired.</p> + +<p>"Sure!" was the answer. "I never was much good at ranching, and the +place is too small to feed more than a few head of stock. It might pay +growing fruit; but if I did any planting now I'd have to wait three or +four years before I got any returns worth while, and I was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> always kind +of smart at carpentering. I could get contracts for building log bridges +and cutting wharf piles now, and I'd let the ranch go at a very moderate +price."</p> + +<p>"How much do you want?"</p> + +<p>When Mr. Webster told him, Mr. Oliver considered the matter for a few +moments.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to start Harry in another three or four years, and if we put +in a lot of young trees they'd be in good bearing by that time," he said +thoughtfully. "We could work the place from our own ranch in the +meanwhile; but I'm afraid I can't raise the price you ask. Would you let +part stand over on a mortgage?"</p> + +<p>"I can't do that," was the reply, "though I'd like to oblige you. You +see, if I'm to handle those contracts properly, I must have the money to +buy tools and to pay wages. But suppose we appoint two valuers to fix a +figure."</p> + +<p>The boys had been listening intently, and Frank broke in:</p> + +<p>"Harry and I have decided to go partners in a ranch some day, and +there's the salvage money."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be enough," said Mr. Oliver regretfully.</p> + +<p>Mr. Marston touched Mr. Oliver's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I'd like a few words with you privately."</p> + +<p>They crossed the room, and after talking for a while in low tones Mr. +Marston beckoned Frank, who had been waiting in tense excitement. Mr. +Marston was a middle-aged business man, with keen eyes and a thoughtful +face, and he looked at Frank steadily.</p> + +<p>"Sit down and listen to me," he said. "Because I'm a relative of yours +and also because I had a great respect for your father, I meant from the +beginning to help you along. On the other hand, I've seen young men +spoiled by knowing that they had friends ready to give them a lift, and +I decided to let you make the best fight you could, for a year or two. +That's why I sent you to the flour mill, instead of putting you into +something easier;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> and I may say that I wasn't altogether pleased when +you left it."</p> + +<p>"I was turned out, sir," Frank corrected him with some color in his +face.</p> + +<p>Mr. Marston smiled.</p> + +<p>"We'll let it go at that. The main thing is that you didn't come back +for help. Instead, you made another start for yourself; and you seem to +have done well here. According to a newspaper which I've read, you have +even distinguished yourself lately." He laughed before he proceeded. +"Anyway, you have shown that one could have some confidence in you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir."</p> + +<p>Mr. Marston raised his hand.</p> + +<p>"Let me finish. Before I left Boston I went over your mother's business +affairs, and by and by I think she could give you—we'll say a thousand +dollars; you have your share of the salvage payment; and Mr. Oliver is +willing to lay out some money on his son's account. Well, I'll find the +balance—on a mortgage—but you'll have to make the ranch pay, or"—and +he smiled—"I'll certainly foreclose and turn you out."</p> + +<p>Frank tried to thank him, but he could find very little to say in his +excitement. Then Mr. Marston called Harry.</p> + +<p>"I understand that you are anxious to take Mr. Webster's ranch with +Frank, and would be willing to work it under your father's direction +until the youngest of you is twenty-one. Is that correct?"</p> + +<p>Harry's face was glowing.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he answered eagerly. "We'll do what we can."</p> + +<p>"Then if your father and Mr. Webster will go down to Seattle with me, +we'll get the transfer made and a deed drawn up to fix the thing."</p> + +<p>Frank could never remember what he said or did during the next few +minutes, but it was the proudest and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> happiest time he had spent in his +life. Then he turned to Mr. Marston and Mr. Oliver, who were standing +near.</p> + +<p>"I'll have very little time to spare after this," he said, "and I should +like to spend a little of the salvage money going back to Boston to see +my mother and the others before I begin."</p> + +<p>"Of course!" ejaculated Mr. Marston. "A very proper thing! You needn't +wait until Mr. Barclay sends you his order. I'll arrange your ticket."</p> + +<p>He moved away, and shortly afterward the company dispersed.</p> + +<p>A week later Frank and Harry and Jake sailed out in the sloop to +intercept the south-bound steamer. She came up, with side-wheels +churning a broad track of foam and her smoke trail streaming astern. +When her engines stopped, Frank and Harry dropped into the canoe and in +a few minutes they were alongside. Frank swung himself up on board and +then looked back at the canoe.</p> + +<p>"Have a good time!" cried Harry. "The best you can! You'll have to work +when you come back!"</p> + +<p>"You'll see me in six weeks," Frank answered with a wave of his hand; +and the canoe dropped astern as the engines started and the steamer +forged ahead.</p> + + +<p class="theend">THE END</p> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected.</p> + +<p>In Chapter II, "the trail the followed" was changed to "the trail they +followed".</p> + +<p>In Chapter IX, "he an Jake set off" was changed to "he and Jake set +off".</p> + +<p>In Chapter X, a missing period was added after "against the beams".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XI, a missing period was added after "his little cloth cap".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XVII, "a lump of iron with a rope mast fast to it" was +changed to "a lump of iron with a rope made fast to it".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XIX, "I don't thing it would be wise" was changed to "I don't +think it would be wise".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXIII, "the nearest office I coul have reached" was changed +to "the nearest office I could have reached".</p> + +<p>The word "postoffice" is spelled in the text both with and without a +hyphen. Each instance has been left as it appeared in the original text.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND *** + +***** This file should be named 38087-h.htm or 38087-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/0/8/38087/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: November 22, 2011 [EBook #38087] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND + + + + +[Illustration: "'DESERTED!' JAKE SAID SHORTLY"--Page 282] + + + + +THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND + +BY HAROLD BINDLOSS + +Author of "Alton of Somasco," "Winston of the Prairie," "Lorimer of the +Northwest," "Thurston of Orchard Valley," etc. + +[Illustration] + + NEW YORK + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + +Copyright, 1910, By +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + +_All rights reserved_ + +_September, 1910_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. FRANK GOES WEST 1 + II. THE BUSH 14 + III. THE RANCH 28 + IV. TARGET PRACTICE 39 + V. THE MYSTERIOUS SCHOONER 51 + VI. AT THE HELM 62 + VII. A WARNING 71 + VIII. SALMON SPEARING 82 + IX. A PLAIN HINT 93 + X. A BREEZE OF WIND 106 + XI. MR. BARCLAY JOINS THE PARTY 118 + XII. THE STRANGER 127 + XIII. THE SCHOONER REAPPEARS 137 + XIV. A TEST OF ENDURANCE 148 + XV. A MIDNIGHT VISITOR 157 + XVI. FRANK KILLS A DEER 166 + XVII. MR. WEBSTER'S GUNS 174 + XVIII. RUNNING A CARGO 184 + XIX. THE CACHE 195 + XX. MR. WEBSTER'S SLASHING 206 + XXI. A NIGHT ON THE SANDS 216 + XXII. THE ULTIMATUM 228 + XXIII. MR. OLIVER OUTWITS HIS WATCHERS 237 + XXIV. A FAST RUN 249 + XXV. THE UNITED STATES MAIL 259 + XXVI. MR. BARCLAY LAYS HIS PLANS 268 + XXVII. THE DERELICT 277 + XXVIII. A GRIM DISCOVERY 285 + XXIX. THE RAID 294 + XXX. THE RELIEF OF THE RANCH 305 + XXXI. FRANK BECOMES A RANCH OWNER 315 + + + + +THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FRANK GOES WEST + + +It was the middle of an afternoon in May. An old side-wheeler was +steaming south toward Puget Sound across the land-locked waters that lie +between Vancouver Island and the state of Washington. A little astern on +one hand Mount Baker lifted its heights of eternal snow. On the other, +and a little ahead, the Olympians rose white and majestic; and between, +vast, dim forests rolled down to the ruffled, blue water. It seemed to +Frank Whitney, sitting on the steamer's upper deck in the lee of her +smokestack, that it was a wild and wonderfully beautiful country he had +reached at last; for since leaving Vancouver, British Columbia, they had +steamed past endless rocks and woods, while island after island faded +into the smoke trail down the seething wake and great white mountains +opened out, changed their shapes, and closed in on one another as the +steamer went by. He had, however, not come there to admire the scenery, +and as he watched the wonderful panorama unroll itself he looked back +upon the troubles that had befallen him since he set out from Boston a +little less than a year ago. + +When he left that city he was but sixteen, and was, as he had cause to +realize during the following twelve months, merely an average American +boy, with a certain amount of alertness, self-reliance and common sense; +though he might, perhaps, have had more of these desirable qualities, +had he not been a trifle spoiled by his widowed mother before he went to +Gorton school. He had, quite apart from his lessons, learned a few +useful things there which probably he would never have learned at home, +but he had been suddenly recalled, and his mother had informed him that +it was now impossible for him to enter the profession for which he had +been intended. Frank did not understand all the reasons for this, but he +knew that they were connected with the fall in value of some railroad +stock and the failure of a manufacturing company in which his mother +held shares. She had, as she pointed out, his two younger sisters to +provide for, and he must earn his living at once. + +Frank found this much harder than he had expected. The subjects in which +he excelled did not seem to be of the least use to business men, and the +fact that he could play several games moderately well did not seem to +count at all. There were people who were ready to give him a trial, but +they seemed singularly unwilling to pay him enough to live in a way that +he considered fitting; and this somewhat astonished as well as troubled +him. In the end, a relative, who said that a young man with any grit and +snap had better chances in the West, found him a position with a big +milling company in Minneapolis. Frank accepted the position, but soon +found it not much to his liking. The people he met were not like his +Boston friends. They were mostly Germans and Scandinavians, and their +ways were not those to which he had been accustomed. What was worse, +they hustled him in the milling company's offices, and instead of +teaching him the business kept him busy licking stamps, copying letters +and answering telephones, which did not seem to him a fitting occupation +for an intellectual lad. + +He bore it, nevertheless, because he had to, until one day there came a +climax, when a clerk who had bullied him all along assigned to him a +particularly disagreeable task which was really outside his duties. In +return, in a fit of very foolish anger, Frank screwed the clerk's new +hat down tight in a copying-press, and it happened that the secretary +came upon the scene during the trouble that followed. The secretary had +an unpleasant temper, and when he walked out of the general office Frank +sat down at his desk boiling with indignation and almost stupefied. +There was, however, not the least doubt that he was fired. + +He spent a very dismal evening afterward, for one thing, at least, was +clear--he could not go home to Boston and become a burden on his mother. +But the flour trade was bad in Minneapolis just then, and business in +St. Paul did not seem much better, so eventually he found employment in +the offices of a milling company in Winnipeg. He suffered from the +extreme cold during the winter there. The cold of Massachusetts, as he +discovered, is very different from the iron frost which shuts down on +the Canadian prairie and never slackens its grip for months together. +The clothing he had brought from Boston was not warm enough, and his +small earnings would only provide him with shelter in the cheapest +quarters. Still, he held on until trade grew slack in the early spring +and he was turned adrift again. This time he felt that he had had enough +of business. He had heard and read of men who burrowed for treasure in +the snow-clad ranges, broke wild horses, and cleared the forests, out in +the farthest West. There was a romance in that life surpassing anything +that seemed likely to be got out of the addition of flour invoices or +the licking of stamps, and he wrote a letter to an old friend of his +dead father, who lived on a ranch near Puget Sound. It was some time +before he got an answer telling him rather tersely to come along. + +Frank started the day after he received it, and was now, he supposed, +within a short distance of his journey's end. He had never seen his +father's friend, and knew nothing of what he would be required to do at +the ranch, though he fancied that all that was necessary could readily +be learned by an intelligent lad. In this, however, he was wrong. + +Suddenly the steamer's whistle hurled a great blast out across the +waters, and, looking around, Frank saw, not far ahead, a long point +strewn with rocks and streaked with wisps of pines. There was, however, +no sign of life on it, and he turned to a deck-hand who strode by. + +"Can that be Bannington's?" he asked. + +"Yes," the man informed him. "I guess that's just what it is." + +"But there's nobody about," objected Frank. + +The deck-hand grinned. + +"Did you expect it was like Seattle or Port Townsend? There's a store to +the place, and they've got a post-office back among the rocks. We lay +off and whistle, and if there's no sign of a shore boat she goes on +again." + +He went forward with a jump as a man came out of the pilot house with a +pair of glasses in his hand. + +"Run up slow," he ordered. "There's nothing coming yet." + +The big side-wheels beat more slowly and the whistle called again, but +there was still only the ruffled blue water with white flecks on it and +the rapidly rising pines. Frank watched them anxiously, for he had only +about two dollars in his pocket, and it seemed quite possible that he +might be carried on to Seattle, in which case he had not the faintest +notion as to how he was to get back. It was quite certain that he could +not pay any more steamboat fares. + +A minute or two later the man with the glasses raised his hand as a sail +crept out around the point, and the big wheels stopped. The strip of +canvas grew into a gaff mainsail and a jib; the hull beneath it emerged +at intervals from the little tumbling seas; and it became apparent to +Frank for the first time that it was blowing rather hard. The sail +seemed to be dripping and he could see the spray flying about the +shapeless figure at the helm. Then the steamboat officer motioned to +him. + +"Are you getting off here?" he asked. + +Frank answered rather dubiously that this was his intention. + +"Then you'd better get down on to the wheel-case bracings with your +grip. I don't know how they're going to take you off, but I guess +they'll shoot her up head to wind and you'll have to jump." + +Frank got out on the guard-framing on the after side of the wheel and +watched the boat drive by, swung up on a little sea some distance away. +Half of her hull seemed to be under water, though the fore part of it +was hove up streaming into the air. She rolled wildly with her big +mainsail squared right out and the jib, which hung slack, dripping +water. Then she came round and headed for the steamer, lying down all +slanted to one side, while the water sluiced along her lee deck, and +Frank made out a boy crouching under the sail with a rope in his hand. +It seemed to him that the boat must inevitably ram the steamer and smash +in her bows. Then a hail reached him. + +"Hello, pilot house! Shove her astern soon as we're clear of you!" + +Somebody shouted an answer, and the steamer swung out, lifting a row of +wet plates out of the water and burying them again with a gurgling +splash. A glance around showed Frank a deck-hand standing behind him +with a long, spiked pole and a crowd of passengers leaning over the +rails of the deck above. How he was to get into the boat he did not +know, for the thing was beginning to look difficult. Then there was +another shout from the figure at her helm: + +"That you, Whitney?" + +Frank waved his hand in answer, hastily grabbing up the small bag which +contained his few possessions. The wheel-casing sank again into a ridge +of frothing brine which swirled about his feet, and he felt that it +would be a good deal wiser to climb back to the deck above and go on to +Seattle. This, however, was out of the question, even if there had not +been so many passengers looking on, and it was comforting to remember +that he could swim a little. The next moment the deck-hand touched his +arm. + +"I'll sling your grip aboard her as she shoots," he said. "Then jump, +and stick to anything you get your hands on." + +The boat was now only seven or eight yards away, nearer the steamer's +stern, but as Frank gazed at her she suddenly swayed upright with a +frantic thrashing of canvas, and shot forward head to wind beneath the +vessel's side. The next moment his bag went hurtling through the air, +and he heard the deck-hand shout something in his ear. Then he set his +lips and jumped. + +He struck something hard with his knees, and was conscious of a sudden +chill as the brine washed over one leg, but he had his hands clenched +tight on a strip of wet wood, and somebody seized him by the shoulder. +Making a determined effort he dragged himself up on the narrow side +deck, and fell in a heap into the bottom of the boat. When he scrambled +to his feet again the big side-wheel was splashing amidst a welter of +churned-up foam as the steamer pushed away from them, and, in the boat, +the boy he had already noticed was tugging desperately at a rope. + +"Get hold and heave!" he cried. + +Frank did as the boy directed. Then the helmsman waved his hand. + +"Not too flat! Belay at that! Get down here aft, both of you!" + +Frank staggered aft a pace or two, and sitting down breathless and +dripping gazed about him. The boat looked a good deal bigger than she +had appeared from the steamer, and, as a matter of fact, she was a +half-decked sloop of about twenty-four feet in length. Just then she was +slanted well down on one side, with the water foaming along her +depressed deck and showers of spray beating into her over her weather +bow, while the jib above her bowsprit every now and then plunged into +the short, white-topped seas. There seemed to be some water inside her, +for it washed up above the floorings at every heave. In a few moments +Frank had recovered his breath sufficiently to look around at his +companions. One was a boy of about his own age who smiled at him. He had +a bronzed skin and a kindly expression, and looked lean and wiry. + +"You're Frank Whitney?" asked the boy. + +Frank acknowledged that this was his name, and the other proceeded to +introduce himself and his companion. + +"I'm Harry Oliver, and, as you're going to stay with us, we've got to +hit it off together." + +Then he turned and indicated the ruddy-faced, red-haired man who held +the helm. + +"This is Jake, one of the smartest choppers and trailers on the Pacific +Slope. There aren't many of the boys who could have picked you off that +steamboat in a breeze of wind as he did." + +"Oh, pshaw!" said the helmsman with a grin. + +Neither of them had said anything striking in the way of welcome, but +Frank felt quickly at ease with them. As a rule, the new acquaintances +he had made in business farther east seemed to expect him to recognize +their superiority, or, at least, to understand that it was a privilege +to be admitted into their society. His present companions, however, +somehow made it plain that as long as he was willing to be commonly +civil there was no reason why they should not get on well together, for +which he was thankful, though he felt that any attempt to put on airs +with them would probably lead to trouble. + +"How far is it to your father's ranch?" he asked presently. + +"Twelve miles," responded Harry. "With a head wind like this one, it +means from eighteen to twenty-four miles' sailing. It depends, for one +thing, on Jake's steering." + +"Thirty, sure," broke in the helmsman, "if you had the tiller." + +"How's that?" asked Frank. + +"Know anything about sailing?" + +Frank confessed his ignorance, and Jake nodded to Harry. + +"Show him," he said. "He has got to learn and you can teach the fellow +who'll allow he doesn't know anything. The kind we've no use for is the +one that knows too much." + +Harry laid a wet finger on the hove-up weather deck. + +"Now," he began, "a boat or a ship under sail can go straight to the +place she's bound for as long as she has the wind anywhere from right +behind her to a little forward on her side. In fact, as she'll lie up +within a few points of the wind, there's only a small segment of the +circle you can't sail her straight into." + +He traced a circle on the deck and then placed his finger over about a +quarter of the circumference of it. + +"She won't go there." + +"But supposing you want to?" + +"Then, if the wind's ahead, you have to beat." He drew two lines across +the circle at right angles to each other and laid his finger at the end +of one. "Say we're here at north and the cove we're going to lies about +south. Well, you get your sheets in flat--same as we have them now--and +you sail up this way, at this angle to the wind." He ran a slanting line +across the circle until it touched the rim. "That brings you here; then +you come round, and go off at the same angle on the opposite tack, which +brings you right up to the cove. You can do it in two long tacks, +or--and it's the same thing--in a lot of little ones, each at the same +angle to the wind; but how many degrees there are in that angle and when +you get there depends on how your sails are cut and how smart you are at +steering her." + +Frank understood the gist of it, but there were one or two difficulties, +and he was not ashamed to ask a question: + +"What makes her go slantways against the wind? Why doesn't it blow her +back, or sideways?" + +"It does," Jake broke in dryly, "if you don't sail her right, or it +blows hard enough." + +"What makes a kite go up slantways against, or on, the wind, which is +the same thing in sailing?" continued Harry. "Because with the wind and +the string both pulling her, that's the line of least resistance." He +paused, and added deprecatingly, "I was at school at Tacoma and as I'd a +notion I might take up surveying, they pounded some facts into me that +made this kind of thing easier to get hold of. A boat goes ahead on the +wind because, considering the shape of her, it's the easiest way; and +this is what stops her going off sideways to lee." He kicked a high +narrow box which ran along the middle of the boat. "It holds the +centerboard--a big plate that's down deep in the water now. Before the +wind could shove her off sideways--and it does a little--it would have +to press that flat plate sideways through the water." + +Frank made a sign of comprehension. + +"That's about the size of it," said Jake. "Now I guess it would be more +useful if you got some of the water out of her." + +Harry, who explained that there was something wrong with the pump, +pulled up one of the flooring boards and invited Frank to dip a bucket +into the cavity and hand it up to him when it was full. Frank endeavored +to do so, but found it difficult, for the water which surged to and fro +as the sloop plunged left the bottom of the hole almost dry one moment +and the next came splashing back so rapidly that before he could get a +fair scoop with the bucket it had generally gone again. Besides, the +motion every now and then flung him off his knees; but he toiled on with +his head down for nearly half an hour, when a horrible nausea mastered +him and he staggered to the foam-swept lee coaming. For the next ten +minutes he felt desperately unhappy, and when he turned around again +there was a grin on the faces of his companions. + +"She'll do," said Harry. "You want to look to weather and get the wind +on your face. That's the best way to keep a hold on your dinner." + +Frank suddenly remembered that he had had no dinner. He had had only a +dollar or two left in his possession, and after considering the +steamboat tariff he had decided to dispense with the meal. In spite of +this fact and the unpleasant sensations he felt, he was conscious of a +certain satisfaction with his new surroundings. The seasickness would +pass, and grappling with the winds of heaven and the charging seas +seemed a finer thing than adding up the price of flour or sticking +stamps on letters. Here man's skill, nerve and quickness were pitted +against the variable elements, and Frank had a suspicion--which, as it +happened, was quite justified--that if Jake made a blunder the next +white-topped comber would come foaming across the bows of the craft. It +was only his cool judgment and ready hand on the tiller that swung her +safely over them. + +Raising himself a little he glanced ahead. The steamer and her smoke +trail had vanished some time ago, and the white Olympians had faded, +too. Evening was drawing on. The sky was now a dismal, dingy gray, and +the leaden-blue water was streaked with flecks and curls of foam. It +seemed to him that the sea was steadily getting higher, and there was +not the least doubt that the sloop was slanting more sharply and +throwing the spray all over her. + +"It looks bad up yonder, doesn't it?" he queried in anxious tones. + +"I allow we might have more wind by and by," Jake answered laconically. +"Seems to me she has about all the sail she can stand up to on her now." + +He had scarcely finished speaking when a comber curled over at its top +rose up close ahead, and the boat went into it to the mast. Part of it +poured over the forward head ledge into the open well, and the rest +sluiced foaming down the slanted deck to lee, through which she lurched +clear, with the water splashing and gurgling inside her. + +"We'll heave another reef down right away," said Jake. "Get forward, +Harry, and claw that headsail off her." + +The boy seized a wet sail that lay in the well, and as he crawled +forward with it the sloop rose almost upright, with her mainsail banging +and thrashing furiously. When he loosed a rope the jib ran partly down +its stay, and then jammed, filling out and emptying with sudden shocks +that shook the stout spar beneath it and the reeling mast. Harry, +however, crawled out on the bowsprit with his feet braced against a +wire--a lean, dripping figure that dipped in the tumbling seas--and +Frank, seeing that he was struggling vainly with the sail, scrambled +forward to help him, sick as he was. Water flowed about his knees on the +plunging deck, flying ropes whipped him, and the spray was hurled into +his face, but he could think of no reason why the Western boy should do +more than he could. He crouched down, hauling savagely on a rope at +which Harry pointed, and by and by the sail fell upon both of them. They +dragged it in, made it fast, and set a smaller one in place of it, +after which they floundered aft to where Jake was struggling with the +mainsail. + +He had hauled down what Frank afterward learned was the leach of it, and +was now standing with his toes on the coaming and his chest upon the +boom, pulling down the hard, drenched canvas and tying the little bits +of rope that hung in a row from it around the boom. + +"Hustle!" he shouted. "Get those reef-points in!" + +Frank took his place with his companion, and tried not to look at the +frothing water close beneath him as he leaned out on the jerking boom. +For the most part, the big spar lay fairly quiet, but now and then the +canvas above it shook itself with a bang. It cost him a strenuous effort +to drag each handful of it down in turn, and he discovered afterward +that he had broken two of his nails. He lost his breath, the +perspiration started from every pore in his skin, and he was sick and +dizzy, but he managed to hold on. At last it was finished, and soon +afterward Jake, driving the sloop on her course again, turned to Harry. + +"She'll make nothing of it against this breeze," he said. "We'll up-helm +and look for shelter under Tourmalin." + +Harry, bracing himself against the strain, let a rope run through the +clattering blocks, the bow swung around, and the motion became a little +easier. + +"We'll be snug beneath the pines in an hour," said Jake, nodding +reassuringly. + +Frank found the time quite long enough. He was wet and dizzy, and the +way the big frothing ridges came tumbling up out of the growing darkness +was rather terrifying. They heaved themselves up above the boat, and +every time that one foamed about her she slanted alarmingly over to +leeward. At last, when it had grown quite dark, a shadowy blur that grew +into a wisp of tall pines rose up ahead, and a minute or two later +there was an almost bewildering change from the rolling and plunging as +the sloop ran into smooth water. Her sails dropped, the anchor chain +rattled out, and by and by they were all sitting in the little cabin, +which was scarcely three feet high, and Jake was cramming bark and +kerosene rags into the stove. + +Half an hour later Frank forced himself to eat a little canned beef and +drink some coffee, and then Harry told him he could lie down on what +seemed to be a moderately dry sail. He had scarcely done so when he fell +asleep. Jake, who had been watching him, turned the lantern so that the +light fell on his face. + +"He was mighty sick," he observed, a kindly smile lighting up his rugged +features, "but he stayed with it through the reefin'. Your father should +make something of him. I guess he'll do." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BUSH + + +Frank awoke a little before daylight, feeling considerably better. The +nausea and dizziness had gone, and the sloop seemed to be lying almost +still, which was a relief to him. Then he noticed by the light of a lamp +that his companions' places were empty, and presently he heard them +talking in the well. Crawling out through the narrow doorway, he stood +up shivering in the coldness of the dawn. + +There were dim black trees and shadowy rocks close in front of him, with +a white wash about the latter, for a smooth swell worked in around a +point from open water. He could hear the rumble of the surf upon the +reefs, and though he could scarcely feel a breath of wind upon his face +the wailing of the black pines suggested that it was blowing still. He +could smell the clean resinous scent of them and it seemed to him that +they were singing wild, barbaric songs. Afterward, when he knew them +better, he learned that the pines and their kin, the cedars and balsams +and redwoods, are never silent altogether. Even when their fragrance +steals out heavy and sweet as honey under the fierce sunshine of a +windless day, one can hear faint elfin whisperings high up among their +somber spires. Then he saw that Jake was standing on the side deck, +apparently gazing at the white surf about the end of the point. + +"No," he mused, "she wouldn't face it. The breeze hasn't fallen any, and +the sea'll be steeper. Guess you'd better leave me here, and take the +Indian trail." + +Harry agreed with this. + +"We'll get off as soon as we've had breakfast; and, as I did the cooking +yesterday, it's your turn this morning. There's still a little fire in +the stove." + +Jake disappeared into the cabin, and presently came out again and was +filling his pipe when Harry sprang up suddenly on the deck. + +"Hello!" he cried. "There's a schooner yonder!" + +It was growing a little clearer and Frank, turning around, saw a tall +black spire of canvas cutting against the sky. He made out a frothy +whiteness beneath it where the swell broke on the vessel's bows, and the +sight of her singularly stirred his imagination. She had appeared so +suddenly, probably from behind the point, and she looked ghostly in the +uncertain light. She ran in under her headsails and boom-foresail with +her mainmast bare, rising higher and growing clearer all the while. By +and by there was a splash, and a voice broke through the wailing of the +trees. + +"Three fathom," it said. "You can luff her in a little." + +Harry seemed about to hail her, but Jake gripped his arm, and they all +stood silent while the schooner crept up abreast of them. The little +sloop, lying with the shadowy land close behind her, had evidently not +been seen. Then the vessel commenced to fade again, and in a few minutes +she had vanished altogether. + +"It looks as if there might have been some truth in old Sandberg's +tale," Harry remarked thoughtfully. "It's kind of curious that halibut +fisherman from Bannington's said he saw her too." + +"He said she'd a white stripe round her. Sandberg allowed it was green," +objected Jake. + +"That wouldn't prove anything. They could soon paint the stripe another +color." + +"What would they want to do it for?" + +"What does a schooner want running in here? There's no freight to be +picked up nearer than Port Townsend." + +"That," said Jake dryly, "is just what I don't know. What's more, I +don't want to. She might have run in for bark for cooking, or maybe for +water." + +Harry laughed. "If she has come down from Seattle they'd get plenty +cordwood or, if they wanted it, stove coal there, and I guess a skipper +wouldn't waste a fair wind like this one to save two or three dollars. +The thing's mighty curious. That vessel's been seen twice, anyway, and +nobody seems to know where she comes from or where she goes." + +"Well," Jake observed stolidly, "she doesn't belong to you or me, and if +you want your breakfast it should be ready." + +They crawled into the cabin, and when they had made a meal Jake sculled +the sloop in near enough to the steep beach for them to jump. Then he +flung a small packet after them. + +"It's the most I can spare you, as I mayn't get a slant round the reefs +until to-morrow," he said. "Anyway, it will do you two meals, and you +ought to fetch the ranch by sundown. You want to head right up the +valley until you strike a big log that lies across the river. When you +get over, cross the neck of the ridge where it's lowest. You'll see the +clearing from the top of it." + +Harry said this was plain enough and moved away across the shingle, +Frank following him cautiously when they reached the fringe of driftwood +which divided beach from bush. Whitened logs and barked branches were +scattered about in tangled confusion where the water had left them, and +it was with difficulty that the lads scrambled over the barrier. Then +Frank stopped breathless, with one leg wet to the knee and a rent in his +trousers. + +"It's pretty rough going, if this is an average sample," he panted. + +"You'll find it a good deal worse before we reach the ranch," Harry +answered with a laugh. + +He strode forward, and Frank looked around with wonder when they plunged +into the bush, for he had never seen a wood of that kind except in +pictures of the giant Californian Sequoia. There are, of course, pines +in the eastern states, but they seemed pigmies by comparison with these +tremendous conifers which were already tall and stately when Columbus +sailed from Spain. They ran up far above the boy in huge cylindrical +columns before they flung out their first great branches, which met and +crossed like the ribs of high-vaulted arches, holding up a roof of dusky +greenery. Beneath, there was a dim shadow, and a tangle of such +luxuriant vegetation as is seen, excepting in the tropics, probably only +upon the warm, damp Pacific Slope. + +There was another difference which struck Frank. The eastern woods that +he had seen were clear of wreckage, for lumber and fuel are valuable +there, and the ax had kept them clean, but this forest was strewn with +huge logs and branches, some of which evidently had fallen years ago. +Thickets of all kinds had sprung up between, and these were filled with +tufts of unrolling fern which Harry told him would grow six or eight +feet high. Through the midst of it all there twisted a narrow path which +Frank remembered Jake had mentioned as the Indian trail. + +"Have you Indians here?" he asked. + +"Oh, yes," said Harry, "we have a few Siwashes, though there are more of +them up in Canada. They seem fond of Indians there." + +"Are they quiet?" + +Harry chuckled. "You don't want to get them mixed with the redskins of +the plains, though I suppose where they're not wiped out they're pretty +quiet too. These fellows are a different breed. Most of them are +sailors and fishermen, and they dress much the same as you and I do. +They come up these rivers now and then after the salmon, and they made +this trail. You can tell that by the looks of it." + +"How?" + +"It goes in and out, and where there's an obstacle it winds around. +That's the difference between a white man's and an Indian's nature. The +Siwash strikes a big fir log, and he walks around it, if he has to keep +on doing it for months. It doesn't seem to worry him that he's wasting a +minute or two every time. Then the white man comes along and gets to +work with his ax. He goes right straight through. It's born in him." + +Frank had made a sign of understanding. He knew something of the history +of the old great nations as well as that of his own country, and he +remembered another dominant race that ages ago blazed its trails from +Rome across all Europe and far into Asia. It was characteristic of those +men that, turning aside for no obstacle, they went straight, and long +after their power had perished their roads remained, running, as the +crow flies, through morasses and over mountains and rivers. His own +people had done much the same, whittling west with the axes through the +eastern woods, and then pushing on with their wagons across the lonely +plains, until they drove the steel track through the snow-clad Rockies +and over the Sierras. They died in shoals on the journey, but it was the +march of a nation, and always more came on, the lumberman after the +trapper, the track-grader on the cowboy's heels, with ranches and farms +and factories growing up along the line. Now they had reached the +Pacific, and Frank wondered vaguely whether that would be the limit, or +where they were going then. It was, however, a question that seemed too +big for him. + +"This country's rough on one's clothes," he said ruefully, looking down +at a second tear in his trousers. + +Harry laughed. He was dressed in old duck overalls, long boots, and a +battered gray hat. + +"That's a fact. What you want to wear is leather. There were two sports +from back East came out to hunt last fall, and they had their things +made of some patent cloth warranted to turn water and resist any thorns. +Jake went along to cook for them." He paused with a chuckle and added, +"They were wearing their blankets because they hadn't any clothes left +when he brought them back." + +They went on for an hour or so until they came out upon the bank of a +frothing river which roared among the rocks in a shallow canon. There +was no way of reaching the water, had they desired it, and, as Harry had +predicted, the trail they followed grew rapidly worse. In places it +wound perilously along narrow ledges beneath a dripping wall of rock, in +others it led over banks of stones which had slipped down from the +heights above. The boys made very slow progress until noon, when they +stopped for a meal from the package Jake had thrown them. While they ate +it Frank looked down again at his boots, which were already badly +ripped. + +"They were new just before I left Winnipeg," he said. "In some ways the +people in Europe are ahead of us. There are one or two countries where +they make their shoes of wood." + +Harry was too busy to make an answer, and when he had finished eating he +carefully tied up the packet, which was now considerably smaller, before +he turned to his companion. + +"We'd better be hitting the trail," he said. "Unless we can make the +ranch by sundown, we'll get mighty little supper." + +They pushed on for a couple of hours, still floundering and stumbling +among the rocks. Harry stopped for a moment where the bush was thinner +and pointed to a big gap in a ridge of hillside three or four miles +away. + +"That's the neck," he said. "The log we cross the river on is somewhere +abreast of it. We surely can't have passed the thing." + +They went on a little farther, but there was no sign of the log. +Presently Harry stopped again with an exclamation, catching a glimpse of +a great branchless fir which rose out of a welter of foam in the bottom +of the canon. + +"There she is," he exclaimed, "jammed in where we certainly can't get +down to her. It will be difficult to go straight this time, but we'll +have to try." + +Frank drew a pace or two nearer the edge of the canon, and felt a creepy +shiver run through him as he looked down. The rock he stood upon arched +out a little over the shadowy hollow, through the bottom of which the +wild waters seethed and clamored. He supposed that he stood at least +sixty feet above them. The rock on the opposite side also projected, so +that the rift was wider at the bottom than at the top. In one place, +however, the crest of it had broken away and plunged into the gulf, +leaving a short slope down which stones and soil had slid. Its lower +edge lay about twelve feet beneath him, though the distance would have +been rather less if it could have been measured horizontally. + +"How are we to get across?" he asked hesitatingly. + +"Jump," said Harry curtly. "Can't you do it?" + +"No," Frank answered with some reluctance. + +"Scared?" asked Harry, looking at him curiously. + +"I am, but it's not that altogether." + +"You didn't seem to want sand when you jumped into the boat." + +Frank stood silent a moment or two with a flush on his face. Had he been +forced to make the choice a year earlier, he probably would have jumped +and chanced it from shame of appearing afraid or of owning his +inferiority to another, but he had learned a little sense since then. + +"It was different then," he explained. "I was scared--badly scared--but +I felt I could do the thing if I forced myself to it. Now I'm almost +certain that I can't." + +"Yes," owned Harry, thoughtfully, "that's quite right. One hasn't much +use for the fellow whose great idea is to keep himself from getting +hurt, but when a thing's too big for you it's best to own it." He +dismissed the subject with a wave of his hand. "The question is how +we're going to get across, and my notion is that we'd better head right +up into the bush. The river will be getting smaller, and it forks +somewhere. Each branch will probably be only half the size, and I guess +the canon can't go on very far." + +It occurred to Frank that considering the nature of the country it would +be singularly inconvenient if the canon went on for another league or +two, particularly as they had only a handful of provisions left, but he +followed his companion, and they stumbled and floundered forward all the +afternoon. There was now no trail to follow, and where they were not +forced to scramble over slippery rock, fallen trees and thorny brakes +barred their way. Still, there was nothing to indicate that the canon +was dying out, and where they could have reached the water it either +foamed furiously between rocky ledges or spun round in horrible black +eddies on the verge of a wild, yeasty turmoil. They looked at these +spots and abandoned any thought of swimming. + +Evening came at length, and they sat down beneath a big cedar where the +roar of the river rang about them in deep pulsations. A chilly wind was +wailing in the tops of the pines, and trails of white mist commenced to +drift in and out among their trunks, which showed through it +spectrally. Harry gazed about him with a rueful grin on his face. + +"If I'd an ax, one or two matches, and a couple of blankets, I'd make +you quite snug. Then with a few groceries, a kettle, and a spider, we'd +have all any one could reasonably want." + +"You haven't got them," Frank commented. "Wouldn't it save time if you +wished for a furnished house?" + +"I'd 'most as soon have an ax. Then I could make a shelter that would, +anyway, keep us comfortable enough, and when I'd cut you a good layer of +spruce twigs you wouldn't want a better bed. If I'd a rifle I might get +a blue grouse for supper. Still"--and he laughed--"as you say, we +haven't got them, and we couldn't do any cooking without matches. +Curious, isn't it, what a lot of things you want, and that in most cases +you have to get another fellow to make them?" + +Frank agreed with this, but he had never realized the truth of it as he +did just then. It was clear that the man who made all he wanted must +live as the Indians or grosser savages did, and that it was only the +division of employments that provided one with the comforts of +civilization. Every man, it seemed, lived by the toil of another, for +while on the Pacific Slope they turned the forests into dressed lumber +and raised fruit and wheat, the clothes they wore, and their saws and +plows and axes, came from the East. One could clear a ranch on Puget +Sound only because a host of other men puddled liquid iron or pounded +white-hot steel in the forges of, for instance, Pennsylvania. Frank +would very much have liked to provide his companion with the fruit of +somebody else's labor in the shape of a few matches, which would have +made a cheerful fire possible. + +In the meanwhile Harry had opened the packet and divided its contents +equally. + +"There's not enough to keep any over," he observed. "We have got to make +the ranch to-morrow." + +They ate the little that was left them, and then set to work to search +for a young spruce from which they might obtain a few branches, but they +failed to find one small enough even to climb. Coming back they lay down +among the cedar sprays, which seemed rather wet, and it was some time +before Frank could go to sleep. He was still hungry, and the roar of the +river and the strangeness of his surroundings had a peculiar effect on +him. The mist, which was getting thicker, rested clammily on his face, +and crawled in denser wreaths among the black trunks which stood out +here and there from the encircling gloom. Drops of moisture began to +fall upon him from the branches, and once or twice he cautiously moved +an elbow until it touched his companion. It was consoling to feel that +he was not alone. + +At length, however, he fell asleep, and awaking in the gray light of +dawn staggered to his feet when Harry called him, feeling very +miserable. He was chilled to the bone. His shoulders ached, his knees +ached, and one hip-joint ached worse than all, while his energy and +courage seemed to have melted out of him. As a matter of fact, nobody +unused to it feels very animated on getting up before sunrise from a bed +on the damp ground. + +"As we have to reach home to-night, we may as well get a move on," +announced Harry. "It's about four o'clock now, and it won't be dark +until after eight." + +The prospect of a sixteen hours' march with nothing to eat all the while +did not appeal to Frank. It was the first time in his life that he had +felt downright hungry, and this fast had made him the more sensitive to +an unpleasant pain in his left side. + +"If you're not sure about the way, wouldn't it be better if we went +back to Jake?" he suggested. "It seems a pity we didn't think of it +earlier." + +"I did," Harry answered smilingly. "The trouble is that Jake would clear +out the minute the wind dropped a little or shifted enough to let him +get round the head. Besides, he'd have mighty little to eat if he were +still lying behind the point when we got there. When your letter reached +us we'd hardly time to run down to Bannington's to meet the steamer, so +I just grabbed what I could find, and we sailed in a few minutes." + +Frank said nothing further, and they pushed on doggedly into the shadowy +bush. It was wrapped in a thick white mist, and every brake they smashed +through dripped with moisture. Except for the clamor of the river, +everything was wonderfully still--so still, indeed, that the heavy +silence was beginning to pall upon Frank, who suddenly turned to his +companion. + +"Isn't there anything alive besides ourselves in this bush?" he asked. + +"That," replied Harry, "is more than I can tell you. We have bears, and +a few timber wolves, besides two kinds of deer and several kinds of +grouse, and some of them are quite often about, but there are belts of +bush where for some reason you can't find one." + +They went on again, following up the river for an hour or two. In the +meanwhile the mist melted, and Frank could see the endless ranks of +mighty trees stretch away before him until they merged into a blurred +columnar mass. At last the canon, which was growing shallower, forked +off into two branches, and they followed one branch until a broken rocky +slope led them down to the water. It was a dull greenish color and +foamed furiously past them among great stones. There was no means of +ascertaining how deep it was and the boys looked at each other dubiously +for a moment or two. Then Harry made a little gesture. + +"We have to get across," he said. + +Frank, without waiting for his resolution to fail him, plunged in on the +instant, and a couple of steps took him well above his knees. The water +seemed icy cold. As a matter of fact, it was mostly melted snow, and the +drainage from the glaciers had given it the curious green color. The +gravel commenced to slide away beneath Frank's feet, and by the time the +foam was swirling round his waist he was gasping and struggling +savagely. There was a big, eddying pool not far away and, though he +could swim a little, he had no desire to be swept into it. A moment or +two later he was driven against a rock with a violence that shook all +the breath out of him. He clung to it desperately until Harry came +floundering by and held out his hand. They made a yard or two together +and then Harry slipped suddenly, jerking Frank off his feet as he rolled +over in the flood. Frank went down overhead and as he felt himself being +swept along toward the eddy he exerted all his energy in a struggle to +regain his footing. He clutched at a rock, but the swirling waters only +carried him past. Half dazed and breathless he was flung against another +rock. This time, with a great effort, he managed to hold on, and when he +stood up, gasping, he found that the water now reached only to his +knees. In another minute he and Harry were safe on dry land. + +Half an hour later they crossed the other creek, and soon afterward +Frank sat down limply in the warm sunlight, which at last came filtering +between the thinner trees. + +"I must have a rest," he gasped. + +"There's just this trouble," Harry pointed out. "If you rest any time +you won't want to get up again." + +"If I go on now I'll drop in another few hundred yards," declared Frank. + +It was probably no more than the truth. He had been clever at athletics +and open air games, but, as it happened, he had been able to learn them +easily. Besides, he had been indulged by his mother and had been rather +a favorite at school, and as one result of it he fell short of the +hardihood usually acquired by the boy who has everything against him. +After all, an hour's exercise in a gymnasium or an hour and a half spent +over a game amidst applause and excitement is a very different thing +from the strain of unrelaxing effort that must be made all day when +there is nobody to cheer. He did not want to rest, but his worn-out body +rebelled and mastered him. + +"Aren't--you--played out?" he stammered weakly. + +"Oh, yes," replied Harry with a grin. "Still, in this country you're +quite often dead played out and have to go on again." + +"But if you can't?" + +"Then," said Harry dryly, "you have to keep on trying until you're able +to." + +It struck Frank that this might be painful and his heart sank. After a +while he tried another question: + +"Don't people get lost in the bush every now and then?" + +"Why, yes," was the answer. "There was a man strayed off from a picnic +just outside one of the cities not long ago and they didn't find him +until a month or two afterward. He was lying dead not a mile from a +graded road." + +Frank shivered inwardly at this. + +"Still, I suppose you generally have something to guide you--the moss on +the north side of the trees? I've heard that people who don't know about +it walk around in rings." + +"I must have gone pretty straight the only time I was lost," laughed +Harry; "and it's mighty hard to find moss in some parts of the bush. In +others it's all around the trees. I'd rather have a big peak as a guide. +You have heard about people walking round, but I wonder whether you have +heard that when they're badly scared they'll walk right across a trail +without seeing it?" + +"Is that a fact?" Frank asked in astonishment. + +"Sure!" said Harry. "A lost man will sometimes walk across a logging +road without the slightest idea that he's doing it. Anyway, I know where +the homestead lies. It's only a question of holding out until we reach +it." + +Frank was sincerely pleased to hear this, and by and by he rose with an +effort and they went on again. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE RANCH + + +Dusk was not far away when the boys, stumbling down a low hillside, came +into sight of an oblong clearing in the forest with a wooden house +standing on one side of it. That was all Frank noticed, for he found it +difficult to keep himself on his feet, and his sight seemed hazy. +Indeed, he fell down once or twice in the steeper places, and had some +trouble in getting up; and after that he had only a confused +recollection of crossing an open space and entering a dwelling. A man +shook hands with him, and a woman in a print dress made him sit down in +a low chair before she set out a bountiful meal. Soon after he had eaten +a considerable share of it Harry led him into a very little room where a +bed like a shelf with a side to it was fixed against one wall. Five +minutes later he was blissfully unconscious of his recent painful +experience. + +The sun was streaming in through the window when he awoke, feeling +wonderfully refreshed, and, dressing himself in some overalls which had +been laid across the foot of his bed, he walked out into the larger +general room. It had uncovered walls of logs and a very roughly boarded +floor, and there seemed to be little in it besides a stove, a table and +several chairs. + +A brown-faced man with a little gray in his hair sat at one end of the +table and at the other end sat a woman resembling him and of about the +same age. Harry, sitting between them, was apparently engaged in +narrating their adventures. Frank, who took the place laid out for him, +found that his supper had not spoiled his breakfast, for he fell upon +the pork, potatoes, dried apricots, hot cakes and syrup with an +excellent appetite. When the meal was over, the man led Frank into +another room and filling his pipe asked him to sit down. + +"We'd better have a talk," he said. "You can take the chair yonder." + +Frank looked at him more closely when he sat down. Mr. Oliver, who was +dressed in duck overalls, was rather spare in figure, though he looked +wiry. His manner was quiet, and his voice was that of an educated man, +but he had somewhat piercing gray eyes. + +"I had a sincere regard for your father," he began. "On that account +alone I should be glad to have you here; but first of all we had better +understand each other. You mentioned that you had been in business in +Minneapolis and afterward in Winnipeg. Didn't you like it?" + +"No, sir," replied Frank, who felt that it would be wiser to answer +carefully any questions this man might ask. "Still, that wasn't exactly +why I gave it up, though"--and he hesitated--"to say I gave it up isn't +quite correct." + +"If I remember, you called it being fired, in your letter," Mr. Oliver +suggested with a twinkle in his eyes. "What led up to that?" + +"Slack trade in the last case. I'd like to think it was only the grudge +a bullying clerk had against me in the other." + +"Then, if you had been allowed, you would have stayed with the milling +business, though you didn't care for it?" + +"Yes," responded Frank. "Anyway, I'd have stayed until I could have got +hold of something I liked better." + +Mr. Oliver nodded in a way which suggested that he was pleased with the +answer. + +"Well," he said, "that brings us to the question why you came out here. +Was it because you had heard that it was a good country for hunting and +fishing?" + +Frank's face flushed. "No, sir," he replied, "I wanted to earn a living, +and I understood that a"--he was going to say a live man, but thought +better of it--"any one who wasn't too particular could generally come +across something to do quickest in the West. In fact, I'd like to begin +at once. After buying my ticket and getting odd meals I've only two or +three dollars left." + +"Two-fifty, to be precise. My sister took your clothes away to mend. +Now, it's possible that I might manage to get you into the office of +some lumber or general trading company in one of the cities. How would +that do?" + +"I'd rather go on to the land. I'd like to be a rancher." + +"How much do you know about ranching?" + +"Very little, but I could soon learn." + +It was Frank's first blunder, and he realized it as he saw the gleam of +amusement in Mr. Oliver's eyes. + +"It's by no means certain," commented the latter. "There are men who +can't learn to use the ax in a lifetime. We'll let it go at that, and +say you're willing to learn. Have you any idea of making money by +ranching?" + +Frank thought a moment. "Well," he said finally, "I'd naturally wish to +make some, but I don't think that counts for most with me. I'd rather +have the kind of life I like." + +"The trouble with a good many men is that when they get it they find out +they like something else. Quite sure that hunting and fishing aren't +taking too prominent a place in your mind? If they are, I'd better tell +you that the favorite amusement in this country is chopping down big +trees. There's another fact that you must consider. It takes a good deal +of money to buy a ranch and, unless it's already cleared, you have to +wait a long while before you get any of the money back. This place cost +me about nine thousand dollars, one way or another, and in all +probability there's not a business on the Pacific Slope in which I +wouldn't get twice as much as I'm getting here for the money, though +I've been here a good many years. Now what do you expect to do with two +dollars and a half?" + +What he had heard had been somewhat of a shock to Frank, and the +question was difficult to answer. + +"I might earn a little more by degrees, sir," he said hopefully. + +Mr. Oliver smiled at him encouragingly. + +"It's possible; and there's cheaper land than mine, while a smart man +used to the country can often get hold of a small contract of some kind. +Now I'll tell you what we'll do. Wait a month, and then if you find that +you like the life I'll hire you for what anybody else would give you." + +With that he arose, signifying that the discussion was over, and Frank +went out of doors and joined Harry in the clearing. The latter held a +big handspike with an arched iron hook hinged to it, and he invited +Frank to assist him in rolling logs. + +"It will give you some idea how a ranch is cleared," he said. "To begin +with, you had better take a look around." + +Frank did so and first of all noticed the rather rambling house, part of +which was built of logs notched into one another at the ends, though the +rest, which had evidently been added to it later, was of sawed lumber. +It was roofed with what he fancied were red cedar shingles. On the other +side of it, carefully fenced off with tall split rails, stood orderly +ranks of trees, some in delicate pink and white blossom. Harry told him +they were apples and prunes and peaches. Nearer him were one or two +fields of timothy grass and fresh green oats, and then more of the +latter growing among fern-engirdled stumps sawed off some six feet above +the ground. Beyond them, in turn, half-burned branches were strewn +among another stretch of stumps, then there was a narrow belt where +great trees lately chopped lay in tremendous ruin, and behind them again +the forest rose in an unbroken wall. + +"Now," explained Harry, "you have the whole thing in front of you, if +you'll begin at the bush and work back toward the house. First you chop +down the trees, then you burn them up and raise your first crop or two +round the stumps. Afterward by degrees you grub up the stumps and get +the clean, tilled land. When it's been worked a few years it will grow +almost anything." + +"But where's the stock?" Frank asked. "I had a notion that a ranch was a +place where you raised no end of horses or cattle." + +"That's on the plains," laughed Harry. "On this side of the Rockies it's +any piece of cleared land with a house on it. At quite a few of the +ranches they raise nothing but fruit. As you asked the question, though, +our cattle are in the bush. They run there and live on what they can +find until we round them up. Now we'll get to work." + +He turned away after a pair of brawny oxen that were plodding leisurely +across the clearing, and in a little while they halted on the edge of +what Harry called the slashing. This was a belt of fallen timber which +ran around most of the open space. As Frank gazed at the chaos of great +trunks and mighty branches he felt inclined to wonder how Mr. Oliver had +managed to get them down. + +"What will you do with these?" he asked. + +"Saw or chop off the bigger branches," Harry answered. "Then we'll wait +until the trunks are good and dry in the fall and put a fire to them. It +will burn up all the small stuff, and leave them like this." + +He pointed to the rows of blackened and partly burned logs which lay +between the slashing and the half-cleared soil, and Frank noticed that +most of them had been sawed into several pieces. + +"Couldn't you sell them for lumber?" he inquired. + +"No," replied Harry. "For one thing, it's quite a long way to the +nearest mill and we'd have to build a skidway for a mile or two down to +the water. Besides, in a general way, it's only the redwood and red +cedar that the mills have much use for." + +Then he gave Frank a handspike that lay close by, and between them they +prized up one end of a log so that he could slip a chain sling under it. +The other end of the chain was attached to the yoke of the oxen, and +when he called them the big white and red beasts hauled the log away +until he stopped them and went back for another. Frank did not find much +difficulty in this, but it was different when they had drawn six or +seven of the logs together and laid them side by side. Harry said that +the next lot must go on top of the others, and Frank was wondering how +they were to get them there, when his companion laid two or three stout +skids some distance apart against the first of the row. These, it was +evident, would serve as short, slanting bridges, but Frank was still not +clear as to how the next log could be propelled up them. + +When Harry brought it up he slipped the chain along toward its middle, +though it cost the boys an effort to prize the mass up with their +handspikes, after which he made one end of the chain fast on the +opposite side of the row, around which he led the oxen. The other end he +hooked to their yoke, so that it now led doubled across the row and +around the trunk they wished to raise. He said that when the chain was +pulled the log would roll up it. He next shouted to the oxen, who +plodded forward straining at the yoke, while he and Frank slipped their +handspikes under opposite ends of the log. + +"Heave!" he cried. "Send her up!" + +Frank did his utmost, with the perspiration dripping from him and the +veins on his forehead swelling, but the ponderous mass rolled very +slowly up the skids, and several times he fancied it would drag the oxen +backward and slide down on him. Indeed, for about half a minute it hung +stationary, though Harry, who dared not draw out his handspike, shouted +frantic encouragement to the straining beasts. Then it moved another +inch or two, and one released skid shot up as though fired out of a gun +when the log rolled upon the first of the preceding ones. They worked it +well across them, and then freeing the chain went back for another, +though Frank's arms felt as if they had been almost pulled out of their +sockets. + +"You want somebody to keep the oxen up to it as well as two to heave, +when the logs are as big as these," said his companion. "Still, some of +the small ranchers do the whole thing alone." + +Frank could not help wondering what kind of men these were, but in the +meanwhile he was obliged to bend all his thought on his difficult task, +which grew heavier when, having ranged the logs in two layers, they +commenced the third. The skids were now too short to reach the top of +the second tier without making the slope rather steep and Harry said +that they must cut some new ones. A couple of axes lay close by, and +handing one to Frank he strode into the bush and stopped in front of a +young fir. + +"The butt ought to make a skid," he said. "I'll leave you to get it down +and I'll look for another. You do it like this." + +Spreading his feet apart and balancing himself lightly, he swung the +heavy, long-hafted ax above his head. The big blade, descending, buried +itself in the trunk, and rose with a flash when he wrenched it clear. +This time he struck horizontally and a neat wedge-shaped chip flew out. + +"Now," he said, handing the ax to Frank, "you can go ahead." + +He turned away and Frank swung the ax experimentally once or twice. The +thing looked easy. Whirling up the blade, he struck with all his might. +It came down into the notch Harry had made, but it was the flat of it +that struck, and, while the haft jarred his hands, the blade glanced and +just missed his leg. This appeared somewhat extraordinary, and he was a +little more cautious when he tried again. He hit the tree fairly this +time, but almost a foot above the cut, and he was commencing to feel +indignant when he dragged the steel out again, which in itself was not +particularly easy. He then struck horizontally, but the blade did not +seem to go in at all, and at the next attempt the ax buried itself in +the soil, just grazing his boot. This steadied him, for he had no desire +to lame himself for life. Shortening his hold upon the haft, he used it +after the manner of a domestic chopper, until at length, when his hands +were blistered and he was very hot, the tree went down with a crash. +Then turning around he saw Harry watching him with a look of amusement. + +"Have you got yours down?" Frank asked. + +"Oh, yes," Harry replied, "and another. I've chopped them through for +skids." He pointed to the hacked and splintered log. "Looks as if +something had been eating it, doesn't it?" + +Frank's face grew rather red. "You couldn't expect me to drop into it +all at once. Give me a week or two to pick up the swing and balance of +it." + +"A week or two!" Harry seemed to address the clustering firs. "They sure +raise smart folks back East." + +"How long were you learning?" retorted Frank. + +"Well," said Harry thoughtfully, "you could call it most of twelve +years. I used to go whittling with a toy tomahawk soon after I could +walk. Of course, they confiscated the thing now and then. Once it was +after I'd just brought down a one-leg round table." + +"Did you ever cut yourself?" + +Harry rolled up his trousers and pointed to a big white mark below his +knee. + +"I could show you two or three more of them," he commented dryly. "There +are quite a few bush ranchers who haven't got all their toes on." + +He cut a skid from the butt of the log, and when they went back to the +pile the work which before had been hard now became more or less +dangerous. They had to prize and sometimes shoulder up the ponderous +masses of timber three-high, and Frank was far from feeling over the +effects of the previous two-days' march. Still, if his companion could +manage it, he was determined that he could, and he toiled on, soaked in +perspiration, straining and gasping over one of the heaviest tasks +connected with clearing land, until to his vast relief Miss Oliver +appeared in the doorway, jingling a cowbell as a signal that dinner was +ready. + +They went back to work after the meal, and Frank somehow held out until +the middle of the afternoon. It seemed very hot in the clearing and the +scorching sunrays beat down upon the back of his neck and shoulders. One +of his horribly blistered hands commenced to bleed, he was almost afraid +to straighten his back, and his arms were sore all over. At last as they +were heaving up a heavy log it stuck just on the edge of the tier and +Frank, who felt his breath failing him and his heart beating as though +it would burst, could hear the oxen scuffling furiously on the other +side of the pile. + +"Heave!" Harry shouted. "Another inch will land her!" + +"I can't!" Frank panted, with his hands slipping upon the lever. + +"Then look out!" warned Harry. "Let go of the thing and jump!" + +Frank did not remember whether he let go or whether the handspike was +torn from his grasp, but he jumped backward as far as he could and +staggered a few paces farther when he saw the big log rolling down after +him. Then he fell headlong, there was a crash and a great trampling of +hoofs, and he wondered whether the log would crush the life out of him. +When he scrambled to his feet, however, it had stopped not far away; and +in a few moments Harry appeared from behind the pile. + +"It pulled the oxen backward right up to the logs," he explained. Then +he looked sharply at Frank. "We haven't done badly for one day, and Aunt +Sophy wants me to haul in some stovewood. You sit there and rest +yourself awhile." + +He went away with the oxen, and Frank was thankful to do as he was told, +for his heart was heavy and he was utterly worn out. His hands were torn +and blistered and the logs that he had partly lifted with his body had +bruised his breast and ribs. If this was ranching, it was horrible work, +and he felt that he would break down altogether if he attempted much +more of it. It was nothing like his dream of riding through the bush on +spirited horses after half-wild cattle. Then the troublesome question as +to what he should do if he gave it up had to be faced. He had found that +he had no aptitude for business, and he had a suspicion that work would +be quite as hard in a logging camp or in a sawmill. It was clear that he +could not go home, even if he had the money for his fare, which was not +the case, and he felt very forlorn and miserable. + +In the meanwhile the twigs he lay upon were pleasantly soft, and it was +cool and peaceful in the lengthening shadow of the firs. There was a +curious rhythmic drumming sound which he found most soothing and which +he afterward learned was made by a blue grouse not far away. The pungent +smell of withering fir and cedar sprays in the slashing dulled his +senses, until at last his troubles seemed to melt away and he fancied +that he was back in Boston where nobody had ever required him to heave +ponderous logs upon one another. + +It was a couple of hours later when Mr. Oliver, walking back that way +with Harry, stopped and looked at the pile. + +"You have put all those up since this morning?" he asked. + +Harry said that they had done so, and Mr. Oliver glanced down with a +little smile at Frank, who lay fast asleep. + +"It's rather more than I expected. The lad must have done his share, but +it might have been better if you had started him at something easier." + +"He stood it all right until a while ago, and I think he'd have seen me +through if it hadn't been for the walk yesterday. Shall we crosscut some +of those branches to-morrow instead?" + +"No," replied Mr. Oliver after a moment's reflection. "It might be wiser +to let him see the worst of it. If he stands a week's logging there's no +doubt that he'll do." He paused a moment and looked down at Frank again. +"I don't think he'll back down on it. He's very much like his father, as +I remember him a good many years ago." + +Then he laid his hand on Frank's shoulder. + +"Get up, boy. Supper's ready." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TARGET PRACTICE + + +The two boys spent most of the following week rolling logs and they were +busy among them one hot afternoon when Mr. Oliver walked out of the bush +nearby. As they did not immediately see him, he stopped and stood +watching them in the shadow for a few minutes. Frank was feeling more +cheerful by this time, though his hands were still very sore and, as a +good many of the logs were burned on the outside, he was more or less +blackened all over. He was getting used to the work, and Jake, who had +arrived with the sloop in the meanwhile, relieved him and his companion +of the heaviest part of it. Turning around presently at a sound, Frank +saw Mr. Oliver smiling at him. + +"If I were as grimy as you I think I'd go in for a swim," he said. "It's +hot enough, and there's a nice beach not far away. I dare say Harry will +go along with you while Jake and I put up these logs." + +Harry lost no time in throwing down his handspike, and they set out +together down a narrow trail through the woods, which led them out by +and by upon a head above the cove in which the sloop lay moored. +Standing on the edge of the crag, Frank looked down upon the clear, +green water which lapped smooth as oil upon a belt of milk-white shingle +and broke into little wisps of foam beneath the gray rocks at the mouth +of the cove. Beyond this the sea flashed silver in the sunlight like a +great mirror, except where a faint, fitful breeze traced dark blue +streaks across it. Dim smudges of islands and headlands broke the +gleaming surface here and there, and high above it all was a cold white +gleam of eternal snow. + +In a few minutes they had scrambled down a winding path, and Frank, +stripping off his clothes, waded into the water abreast of the sloop +which lay swinging gently about a dozen yards from the beach. + +"Can you swim off to her?" shouted Harry. + +Frank said that he thought he could, and set about it with a jerky +breast stroke, for he was not very proficient in the art. The water was +decidedly cold and he was glad when he reached the sloop. Clutching her +rail where it was lowest amidships he endeavored to pull himself out. To +his disgust he found that his feet would shoot forward under the bottom +of her, with the result that he sank back to the neck after each effort. +When he had made two or three attempts he heard a shout: + +"Hold on! You'll never do it that way." + +Harry shot toward him, his limbs gleaming curiously white through the +shining green water, though his face and neck showed a coffee-brown, as +did his lower arms, which he swung out above his head, rolling from side +to side at every stroke. He grasped Frank's shoulder and pushed him +toward the stern of the sloop. + +"Now," he said when he clutched it, "there are just two ways of getting +out of the water into a boat. If she has a flat stern you make for there +and get your hands on the top of it spread a little apart. Then you +heave yourself up by a handspring--though that isn't very easy." + +Frank smiled at these instructions, but said nothing. It was easy for +him, because he had learned the trick in a gymnasium. Suddenly jerking +down his elbows, which ever since he had grasped the stern were as high +as his head, he shot his body up until his hands were down at his hips. +Then, as his waist was level with the sloop's transom, he quietly +crawled on board. Harry, however, had to make two or three attempts +before he succeeded, and then he looked at his companion with +undisguised astonishment. + +"I've never done it right away yet," he said admiringly. "Say, do you +know how to dive?" + +"No," replied Frank; "that is, I've scarcely tried." + +Harry led him forward where the boat's sheer was higher and he could +stand a couple of feet or so above the water. + +"You only get half the fun out of swimming unless you can dive," he +said. "Let's see what kind of a show you make." + +Frank stiffened himself and jumped. At least, that was what he meant to +do, but as it happened, he merely threw himself flat upon the water, and +the result was rather disconcerting. He felt as though all the breath +had been knocked out of him, and in addition to this all the front of +his body was smarting. He was about to swim toward the stern again when +Harry stopped him. + +"Hold on!" he called. "You may as well learn the other way of getting +out, and if she's a sailing craft with a bowsprit it's much the easiest +one. Swim forward to the bow." + +Frank did so and saw that a wire ran from the end of the bowsprit, +dipping a little below the water where it was attached to the boat. He +had no difficulty in getting his foot upon it, and after that it was a +simple matter to crawl on board. His chest and limbs were still smarting +and were very red when he joined Harry. The latter regarded him with a +look of amusement. + +"You'll get hurt every time, if you dive like that," he said. "Look +here," and he stood up on the boat's deck. "You want to get your weight +on the fore part of your feet all ready to shove off before you go. Then +you must shoot as far forward as you can--falling on it won't do--and +hollow your back and stiffen yourself once you're under. That is, when +you want to skim along just below the surface. Watch me." + +Leaning forward a little he sprang out from the boat, a lithe, tense +figure, with hands flung straight forward over his head. They struck the +water first, and he went in with an impetus which swept him along +scarcely a foot beneath the top. Then his speed slowly slackened and he +had stopped altogether about a length of the boat away when he raised +his head and swam back to her. + +"You don't want to try that in less than four feet until you're sure you +can do it right," he said when he had climbed on board. "The other kind +of diving's different." Then, taking up a galvanized pin, he threw it +in. "See whether you can fetch it. There's about eight or nine feet of +water here. You can open your eyes as soon as your head's in, and you +won't have any trouble in coming up again. Jump, and throw your legs +straight up as you go." + +Frank managed this time not to drop in a heap as he had done before. He +also opened his eyes under water for the first time and found it +perfectly easy to see. It was like looking through green glass. He could +make out the pin lying a long way down beneath him. It was, however, +impossible to reach it. The water seemed determined on forcing him back +to the top, and when he abandoned the struggle to get down he seemed to +reach the surface with a bound. + +"How far did I go?" he gasped. + +"About six feet. It's quite as far as I expected." + +Harry plunged, and Frank, who had climbed out in the meanwhile, saw him +striking upward with his feet until he turned and came up with a rush, +holding the pin in one hand. Flinging it on board he headed for the +beach and was standing on the shingle rubbing himself with his hands +when Frank joined him. + +"I guess you had two towels when you went swimming back East?" he +laughed. + +Frank looked up inquiringly, acknowledging that he usually had taken +one. + +"Well," said Harry, "we have them at the homestead, but there are +ranches in this country where you wouldn't get even one." + +"No towels!" exclaimed Frank in some astonishment. "What do they use +instead?" + +"Some of them cut a very little bit off of a cotton flour bag. Those +bags are valuable because they keep them to mend their shirts with. I've +a notion that the other fellows sit in the sun." + +Frank laughed and scrambled into his clothes after rubbing himself with +his hands. He was commencing to realize that whether Harry was joking +with him or not it was unavoidable that they should have different ways +in different parts of so big a country. Indeed, now that he was some +four thousand miles from Boston, he felt that instead of its being +curious that the people were slightly different it was wonderful that +they were so much the same. If one measured four thousand miles across +Europe and Asia one would get Frenchmen at the one end and wild Cossacks +or nomad Tartars at the other, with perhaps a score of wholly different +nations, speaking different languages, between. + +They had an excellent appetite for supper when they went back to the +ranch, and after the meal was over, Mr. Oliver took down a rifle from +the wall. + +"You can bring yours along, Harry," he said, and then turned to Frank. +"In a general way, a rancher doesn't get much time for hunting, and he +seldom goes out for the fun of the thing, but an odd deer or grouse +comes in handy now and then. Anyway, before you can hunt at all you must +learn to shoot and you may as well begin." + +"Dad's a pot-hunter," chuckled Harry. "At least, that's what the two +smart sports we had round here last fall said he was." + +A gleam of amusement crept into his aunt's eyes, but Mr. Oliver's face +contracted into a slight frown. + +"Harry knows my views, but you had better hear them, too," he said to +Frank. "I'm certainly what those fellows called a pot-hunter, though +they very foolishly seemed to think that one ought to be ashamed of it. +Most of the ranchers in this district take down the rifle only when they +want something to eat, and that's the best excuse there is for shooting. +Is it a desirable thing to destroy a dozen harmless beasts for the mere +pleasure of killing, and leave them in the bush for the wolves and +eagles?" + +"Don't the game laws prevent that, sir?" Frank asked. + +"They limit a man to so many head of this and that, and in a general way +he brings no more out with him, but it doesn't by any means follow that +he hasn't killed a bear or a deer that he doesn't mention in some lonely +ravine. The sport who hasn't a conscience is as big a pest in a game +country as the horn and hide hunter used to be, and we have to thank him +for practically exterminating several of the finest beasts in North +America." + +"Wouldn't the clearing of virgin country and the way the farms and +ranches spring up account for it?" + +"Only to some extent. It's my opinion that there are more deer and bears +about the smaller ranches than you could find anywhere else. All this is +no reason why you shouldn't learn to shoot; that is, to hit your game +just where you want to and kill it there and then." + +He walked out with his rifle and the boys followed him across the +clearing. Here Harry fixed a piece of white paper about two feet square +with a black dab in the middle of it on the trunk of a big fir, after +which he came back to where the others were standing. + +"How far do you make it?" his father asked. + +"About a hundred yards." + +Mr. Oliver now turned to Frank. + +"As I think you told me you couldn't shoot, I'll give you a short +lecture on the principles of the thing. When they're after birds most +men use a scatter gun. It will spread an ounce of shot--several hundred +pellets--over a six-foot circle at a distance of about forty yards; but +the rifle is the great weapon of western America. Take this one and open +the breach--now look up the barrel." + +"I can see little grooves twisting round it like a screw," said Frank. + +"That's the rifling. It serves two purposes. The bullet--you use only +one--has to screw round and round to get out, and that gives the +explosion time to act upon it. It increases the muzzle velocity. Then it +gives the bullet a rotary motion, and anything spinning on its axis +travels very much straighter than it would do otherwise. It's the +twisting motion that keeps a top from falling over." + +Frank could readily understand this, and he remembered what he had read +about the gyroscope. + +"Now," continued Mr. Oliver, "we have to consider the pull of the earth +upon the bullet, which would bring it down, and to counteract this you +have to direct it rather upward. The slight curve it makes before it +reaches its mark is called the trajectory, and it naturally varies with +the distance. You arrange it by the sights. There are two of them, one +on the muzzle and one near the breach. The last one slides up and down +like this. The farther off the mark is the higher it must go. As you +have to get them both in line, it's evident that pushing the back one up +will raise the muzzle. You can understand that?" + +Frank said that he could, and Mr. Oliver pushed the rearsight down and +snapped a lever. + +"It's cocked, though it hasn't a shell in it. At a hundred yards or less +the sight goes down about the limit." He handed Frank the rifle. "Stand +straight, left foot a little to the left and forward--that will do. Now +bring the rifle to your shoulder--left hand under the barrel near the +rearsight, elbow well down, right hand round the small of the butt, +thumb on the top. Try to hold it steady." + +Frank found it difficult. The rifle was heavy and the muzzle seemed to +want to drop, but Mr. Oliver stopped him when he let his left elbow fall +in toward his side. + +"Bring it down and wait a moment before you throw it up again," he +advised. + +Frank did so once or twice, and at length his instructor seemed +satisfied. + +"Now we'll aim," he said. "Drop your left cheek on the stock--you'd +better shut your left eye. Try to see the target through the hollow of +the rearsight, with the front one right in the middle of it." + +It seemed singularly difficult. The square of paper now looked +exceedingly small and the sights would wobble across it. After several +attempts, however, Frank got them comparatively steady. + +"Put your forefinger on the trigger," Mr. Oliver directed. "Don't pull, +but squeeze it slowly and steadily, holding your breath in the +meanwhile." + +This was worst of all, for Frank found that he pulled the sight off the +target when he tightened his forefinger. After he had made an attempt or +two, Mr. Oliver told him to put the rifle down. + +"See what you can do, Harry," he said. + +"Standing?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver, turning to Frank again. "Standing's hardest, +kneeling easier, and lying down easiest of all, but when you're hunting +in thick bush you generally have to stand." + +Harry slipped a shell into his rifle, and pitched it to his shoulder. It +wobbled for a moment and then grew still. After that there was a +spitting of red sparks from the muzzle, which suddenly jerked, followed +by a sharp detonation. A second or two later there was a thud, and Harry +laughed as he stood gazing at the mark while a little blue smoke curled +out of the muzzle and the opened breach. + +"It's well up on the left top corner," he said. + +Frank was blankly astonished. He could certainly see the square of +paper, but it seemed impossible that anybody could tell whether there +was a mark on it. As a matter of fact, very few people who had not been +taught how to use their eyes could have done so. + +Then Mr. Oliver took up his rifle, and Frank noticed that his whole body +and limbs seemed to fall into the best position for holding it steady +without any visible effort on the man's part. The blue barrel did not +seem to move at all until at length it jerked, and Harry grinned +exultantly at Frank when a thin streak of smoke drifted past them. + +"That's the pot-hunter's way. He's about two inches off the center." + +Mr. Oliver gave Frank the rifle, and this time he slipped in a shell. + +"If you can't get the sights right bring it down," he directed. "Don't +dwell too long on your aim." + +Frank held his breath and stiffened his muscles, but the foresight would +wobble and the target seemed to dance up and down in a most exasperating +manner. At length he pressed the trigger. He felt a sharp jar upon his +shoulder, but to his astonishment he heard no report. After what seemed +quite a long time there was a faint thud in the forest. + +"You've got something, but I guess it's the wrong tree," laughed Harry. + +After that Frank tried several shots, finally succeeding in hitting the +tree a couple of feet above the mark. Mr. Oliver, who had taken out his +pipe in the meanwhile, nodded at him encouragingly. + +"You only need to practice steadily," he said. "For the rest, anything +that tends toward a healthy life will make you shoot well. Whisky and +tobacco most certainly won't." + +Harry's eyes twinkled as he glanced at his father's pipe. + +"One of them hasn't much effect on him. I don't know whether I told you +about the bag the two sports who were round here last fall nearly made. +I got the tale from Webster on the next ranch." + +Frank said that he would like to hear it, and Harry laughed. + +"Well," he began, "Webster was sitting on a log in the bush just outside +his slashing, looking around kind of sorrowful at the trees. It seemed +to him they looked so big and nice it would be a pity to spoil them. +When I've been chopping until my hands are sore I sometimes feel like +that." + +"It doesn't lead to riches," interrupted his father dryly. + +"By and by," Harry continued, "Webster heard a smashing in the +underbrush. It kept coming nearer, but it wasn't in the least like the +sound a bear makes or a jumping deer. You don't know they're around +unless they're badly scared. Anyway, Webster sat still wondering what it +could be, until he saw a man crawling on the ground. He was coming along +very cautiously, but you couldn't have heard him more than half a mile +away. By and by he disappeared behind a big tree, and as there hadn't +been a deer about for a week Webster wondered if the man was mad, until +there was a blaze of repeater firing in the bush. Then Fremont, his +logging ox, came out of it like a locomotive and headed for the range so +fast that Webster couldn't see how he went. He grabbed his logging +handspike, and found a sport abusing another for missing in the bush. + +"'What in the name of wonder are you after?' he asked. + +"'We've been trailing a deer two hours,' one of them declared. 'A mighty +big deer. Must have been an elk.' + +"'An elk, sure. I saw it,' added the other. + +"'There isn't a blamed elk in the country,' said Webster. + +"'You'll see,' persisted the other. 'I tell you I pumped the cylinder +full into him.' + +"'Quite sure of that?' Webster asked. + +"The other man said that he was, and Webster waved his handspike. + +"'Then it's going to cost you sixty dollars, and I'll take a deposit +now,' he said. 'It's my ox Fremont you've been after.'" + +"Did they give it to him?" Frank broke in. + +"Five dollars," Harry answered. "Webster looked big and savage, and they +compromised on that." + +"But had they hit the ox?" + +Harry chuckled. "Give a man who isn't a hunter a repeater and he'll +never hit anything--unless it's what he isn't shooting at." + +"Anyway, it's better to stick to the single shot at first," Mr. Oliver +remarked. "Then you take time and care, and it's more likely that when +you shoot you kill. No humane person has any use for the man who leaves +badly wounded beasts wandering about the woods." + +He rose, and shook out his pipe. + +"We'll be getting back," he added. "There's only one way of making it +easy to rise at sun-up." + +They walked toward the house together, and it seemed to Frank that there +was a good deal to be said for this rancher's views. He did not tell +tall stories and boast of what he had shot, but Frank had seen enough +to realize that it was most unlikely that he left any sorely wounded +animal to die in misery. It was not often that Mr. Oliver molested the +beautiful wild creatures of the woods, but when he fixed the sights on +one of them he killed it clean. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE MYSTERIOUS SCHOONER + + +Three or four weeks slipped by uneventfully, and Frank was commencing to +like the simple, laborious life at the ranch. He and Harry were standing +together one evening on the shingle down in the cove. It was close upon +high water and a long swell worked in, breaking noisily upon the +pebbles, while they could see the blue undulations burst into snowy +froth about the dark rocks at the entrance. The sun had just dipped; it +was wonderfully fresh and cool, and a sweet resinous smell drifted out +of the forest behind them. + +Harry glanced at a canoe which lay close by. It was about fourteen feet +long and just wide enough to sit in, and had been hollowed out of a +cedar log by a Siwash Indian. The bow, which swept sharply upward, had +been rudely cut into the likeness of a bird's head. The craft was kept +there so that anybody who wished to reach the sloop could go off in her. + +"I don't think it's quite high water yet, and the breeze is dropping," +Harry was saying. "There's just enough to take us a mile or two down the +beach over the tide with the spritsail set. Then we could lower the mast +and paddle home." + +"Wouldn't she sail back?" Ray asked. + +"No," was the answer, "only with a fair wind. You can't beat a thing +like that to windward. There's not enough of her in the water." + +Frank said that he would like to go, and after running the canoe down +they lifted the short mast into place and set the little sail. It filled +when a few strokes of the paddle had driven them out of the cove, and +they slid away, rising and falling smoothly, with the swell running +after them. Harry took hold of the rope that held the foot of the sail +fast to a peg. + +"You want to keep the sheet handy in a very small craft," he instructed. +"Then if a hard puff of wind strikes her you can slack it up, or let it +go altogether, when the sail will blow out loose. There's more weight in +this breeze than I expected." + +It seemed to Frank from the gurgle at the bows and the way the foam +slipped by them that they were sailing very fast, but for a while he +watched the rocky heads that dipped to the water open out one after +another and then close in again behind them. The woods that crept +between them down to the strips of shingle were rapidly growing shadowy, +and the ridges of water that followed them seemed to be getting darker, +though here and there one of them was flecked with bright wisps of +froth. At length Harry let the sheet go and brought the canoe around. + +"We'll have the mast down and get back," he said. + +They had no trouble in rolling up the sail and laying the mast in the +bottom of the craft, but when they dipped the paddles, Harry kneeling in +the stern and Frank toward the bow, the latter realized that their next +task would not be quite so easy. A chilly wind which seemed considerably +stronger than before they turned struck his face, the bows splashed +noisily, throwing up little spurts of spray, and now and then the narrow +craft lurched rather wildly over the top of a swell. He worked hard for +about twenty minutes, and then glancing astern was a little astonished +to see that a rock which had been opposite them was now a remarkably +small distance behind. Harry, who had evidently followed his glance, +scowled disapprovingly. + +"We'll have to paddle, that's a cold fact," he declared. "The tide seems +to have turned quite a while before it ought to have, and the breeze is +getting up again. We might find slacker water right inshore." + +They edged close in to the rocks, the sight of which did not add to +Frank's comfort, though the boat crept on a little faster. The swell +broke in long white swirls about their feet, and it was evident that any +attempt to land there was out of the question. Besides, even if they +managed to reach the bush, there was no trail to the ranch, and he had +no desire to struggle through the tangle of fallen branches and dense +thickets in the darkness. His knees and hands were getting sore, but he +toiled on patiently with the single-ended paddle, while the canoe +lurched more viciously and little showers of spray flew in over her bow. +It was becoming exceedingly hard work to drive the craft into the rising +head sea. The foam-girt rocks were, however, slowly crawling by, and at +length, after laboring, panting and breathless, around a somewhat larger +head, Harry suddenly stopped paddling. + +"Hold on!" he exclaimed. "Just keep her from swinging, and look yonder!" + +Frank, glad of a brief rest, gazed astern. It was neither light nor +dark, for a pale moon hung low in the sky, casting a faint silvery track +upon the water, which was now flecked with white froth a little off +shore. Across the sweep of radiance there moved a tall black spire of +slanting canvas, with the foam leaping up about the shadowy strip of +hull beneath. + +"The schooner!" said Harry significantly. "She's beating up over the +tide and she'll probably stand close in, but I don't think they could +see us against the land." + +He spoke as if he did not wish to be seen, and for no very clear reason +Frank felt glad that they lay in the shadow of a big black head. The +schooner was coming on very fast, rising, it seemed to him, bodily, +until he could make out the curl of piled-up water that flowed away +beneath her depressed side. The mass of straining sailcloth hid most of +her slanted deck, and he could see nobody on board her, but it seemed +curious that she carried no lights. Then it occurred to him that she was +heading straight for them, and he was about to dip his paddle when Harry +stopped him. + +"Keep still!" he commanded. "They'll have to come round before they +reach us." + +Frank could now hear the roar of water about the bow of the vessel, and +in a minute or two she swayed suddenly upright and there was a great +thrashing of canvas as, shooting forward, she came round. She was very +near them and as her boom-foresail and mainsail swung across, leaving +clear the side of the deck they had shrouded, he saw two or three +shadowy figures busy forward. They became more distinct as she drove +back into the moonlight, which fell upon the form of her helmsman. Frank +could see him clearly, and there was, he fancied, something peculiar +about the man. + +The splashing top of a sea slopped into the canoe as they got way on +her, and they taxed their strength to the utmost during the next hour. +The craft bucked and jumped as they laboriously drove her over the +confused swell, which was rapidly getting higher, and there was already +a good deal of water washing about inside her. Once or twice Frank held +his breath as a threatening mass of water heaved up ahead, but in each +case she lurched across it safely, and presently they found smoother +water under another crag. He gave a sigh of relief when at length they +reached the cove and beached her upon the shingle. They turned her over +to empty before they ran her up, and then Harry sat down upon a boulder. +Frank already had discovered that he seldom talked of anything they had +done as though it were an exploit. + +"I'm quite puzzled about that schooner," he said presently. + +"Why?" + +Harry paused and thought a moment. "Well, it's a sure thing she's the +vessel that crept past us the morning we were lying beneath the point, +and though she's been seen three or four times now there's no notice in +the papers of any arrival that seems to fit her. She has the look of +being built for the Canadian sealing trade, and most of the craft in +that business are mighty smart vessels." + +"Doesn't a ship have to carry papers saying where she's from and where +she's going?" + +"Oh, yes," assented Harry. "Still, she might clear from somewhere in +Canada, say for the halibut fishing--I've heard they're trying to start +it there--or something that would keep her out a month or so. Then, as +there is no end of quiet inlets in British Columbia and a good many +here, she could run up and down from one to another and go back with a +few fish, and there'd be nothing to show what she had been doing in the +meanwhile." + +"You think it's something illegal?" + +"If it is anything honest I don't see why she was beating up without her +lights in the strength of the tide, when she'd have slacker water over +toward the other side, only there'd be a chance of her being seen from +the Seattle boat if she ran across yonder. Now it's a general idea that +there's a good deal of dope--that's opium--smuggled into this country, +and now and then Chinamen, too. Our people won't have any more of them, +but though they have no trouble in getting into Canada, they seem to +like the States better. I guess wages are higher." + +"Have you talked to your father about it?" + +"I told him what we'd seen the other time and he looked kind of amused, +or as if he didn't want to be bothered about the thing; though that may +not have been it, either. Unless he tells you right out, you can never +figure on what he's thinking. Anyway, I'll say nothing more to him +unless there's some particular reason." + +Harry was afterward sorry that he had arrived at this decision, and, for +that matter, so was his father, but it was the next morning before this +came about. In the meanwhile the boys went back to the ranch, and soon +afterward retired to rest in the room they now shared. Frank went to +sleep at once, and it was some time later when, awaking suddenly, he +fancied that Harry had left his bed, which was fixed against the +opposite wall. A faint light from outside crept into the room, and Frank +made out a black figure standing by the open window. Slipping softly to +the floor he moved toward it and Harry raised his hand warningly when he +joined him. + +"What are you doing here?" Frank inquired. + +"Well," answered Harry, "since you ask me, I don't quite know, but I +fancied I heard somebody about the ranch. Keep still and listen." + +He spoke in a low and rather strained voice, and Frank, who was uneasily +impressed by it, leaned out of the window. There was a moon somewhere in +the sky, but it was obscured by clouds, and only a dim, uncertain light +filtered down. It showed the great black firs which rose, a rampart of +impenetrable darkness, beyond the rather less shadowy clearing, across +part of which the fruit trees stretched. Then ran back, in regular rows, +little clumps of deeper obscurity which presently grew blurred and faded +into one another. The wind had apparently dropped again, for it was +impressively still. + +"I can't hear anything," whispered Frank. + +"I'm not sure that I did," rejoined Harry. "It may be that seeing that +schooner put the thing into my head, but we'll wait a little now that +we're up." + +For a couple of minutes they waited in silence. Then Harry suddenly +gripped his companion's arm. + +"Look!" he whispered. "Across the clearing--yonder!" + +Frank fancied that he could make out a shadowy object in the open space +between the fruit trees and the forest. It was very dim and indistinct, +and he realized that he would not have noticed it only that it moved. +Shortly afterward it disappeared and a faint rattle like that made by +two pieces of wood jarring together came out of the deep gloom beneath +the firs. + +"The fence," suggested Harry. "It sounded like the top rails going +down." + +The fence was made of split rails interlocked together in the usual +manner without the use of nails, and it seemed to Frank very probable +that anybody climbing over it in the darkness would be apt to knock one +or two of them down. The question was who would be likely to climb over +it, since there was no one living within some miles of the ranch. Then +he caught another sound which seemed farther off. It suggested the +crackle of rotten branches or torn-down undergrowth, but it ceased +almost immediately. + +"Slip on your things," whispered Harry. "I'm going down." + +In a few moments they crept softly down the stairway barefooted, and +Harry opened the outer door very cautiously. He picked up an ax outside, +and they moved silently around the house, stopping now and then to +listen. There was only a deep stillness. Nothing seemed to move; though +Frank wished that he had at least a good thick stick in his hand. He had +an uncomfortable feeling that they might come upon a man hiding in some +strip of deeper gloom as they slowly crept along the wall. When at +length they had satisfied themselves that there was nobody about, Harry +sat down. + +"I can't figure out this thing," he mused. "It seems to me that whoever +those strangers were they haven't been near the house, and it's a quiet +country, anyway." He glanced down at his bare feet. "I'd go along and +look around the barn and stables only that I'd certainly stub my toes, +and it wouldn't be any use. Nobody steals horses around here. They +couldn't get rid of them if they did." + +The outbuildings stood at some little distance from the house, and +Frank, who remembered that they had strewn the trail to them with broken +twigs in dragging some branches from the slashing, agreed with his +companion that it would not be wise to traverse it in the darkness with +unprotected feet. + +"Couldn't you slip into the kitchen and get our boots?" he suggested. + +"Not without waking dad," answered Harry. "He's in the next room, and he +sleeps lightly. I'm not anxious to bring him out if no harm's been +done." + +"He'd get angry?" + +"No, he'd only smile; and somehow that makes you feel quite cheap and +small. Besides"--and he hesitated--"there was another time, when I +roused them for nothing; and I don't want to do it again. You wouldn't +either, if you had stood as much about it from Jake as I've had to ever +since." + +They decided to say nothing about the matter unless some reason for +doing so appeared in the morning, and creeping back through the house as +silently as possible they went to bed. They awoke a little later than +usual, and going down found Mr. Oliver standing at one side of the +kitchen table rather grave of face, with Jake, who also looked +thoughtful, opposite him. A strip of paper with some writing on it lay +between them. Mr. Oliver looked around as the boys came in. + +"Did either of you hear anything suspicious last night?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Harry hesitatingly. "In fact, we came down." + +He briefly related why they had done so, and Jake broke in: + +"Then why in the name of wonder didn't you call somebody?" + +"It's a reasonable question," said Mr. Oliver. + +Harry explained with some diffidence that they were afraid of being +laughed at, and Frank felt a little uncomfortable under the rancher's +steady gaze. + +"Well," said the latter dryly, "I suppose your idea was natural, and +we'll let it go at that. It's perhaps scarcely worth while to point out +that most people get laughed at now and then, and there's no reason for +believing that it hurts them. I wonder if you will be surprised to hear +that my team has gone?" + +They were certainly somewhat startled. + +"I found this stuck up on the stable door," said Jake, pushing the strip +of paper across toward them. + +The boys read the straggling writing: "_If you want your team back keep +your mouth shut._" + +For a moment they looked at each other in silence, and then Mr. Oliver +turned to them. + +"It's all we know in the meanwhile. Have you anything more to tell us?" + +Harry diffidently mentioned the schooner, and his father drew down his +brows. + +"Whether her appearance has any connection with the matter is more than +I can say, but I'll sail up to the settlement this morning. You and +Frank can go on with the drain cutting while I am away." + +Just then Miss Oliver came in to get breakfast ready, and when the meal +was finished the two boys made for the clearing where they were cutting +a trench. When they reached their destination Harry sat down and pushed +back his hat. + +"This thing isn't very clear to me, but I'm beginning to get the drift +of it," he announced. "It's quite likely that dad knows a good deal more +about it than I do, but until he has it all worked out he won't tell. +First of all, we'll allow that they're smugglers on that schooner. They +borrowed two of our horses and that fixes it." + +"You couldn't smuggle a great deal on two horses," Frank pointed out. + +"Sure," admitted Harry. "Still, they might have picked up another team +somewhere else, and you want to remember that it only pays to smuggle +things that are valuable and can be easily moved. Now one packhorse load +of dope would be worth a good many dollars, and you can't move anything +much easier than a man. He's got feet." + +This was incontestable, but Frank considered the matter. + +"If you turned a number of Chinamen loose in the bush wouldn't they be +recognized as strangers at any settlement they reached and have to give +an account of themselves to somebody?" + +"The trouble is that, although I believe they have to carry papers of +some kind, it's mighty hard to tell one Chinaman from another and they +all work into each other's hands." + +"Your idea is that the smugglers have confederates?" + +"They have them, sure," said Harry. "There's some diking being done on a +salt marsh not far away, and the last time I was there it struck me +there were some hard-looking white toughs on the workings. Then there's +a small Chinese colony behind the settlement, and it's thick bush with +only a few ranches for some leagues beyond. Just the kind of country for +running dope through." + +"Are the ranchers likely to stand in?" + +"No, not in a general way, but it's possible that a man here and there +living by himself in the bush would say nothing if they borrowed a +horse or two. It's not nice to have a gang of toughs up against you." + +"Your father doesn't seem inclined to look at it that way." + +Harry laughed. "I'll allow that there's a good deal of sense in dad. It +would be clear to him that he couldn't well give them away afterward if +he did nothing this time. They'd certainly have got him; and dad's not +the man to let a gang of dope runners order him round." He paused a +moment, and added significantly: "If they try any bluffing in this case +there'll be trouble." + +Frank asked no further questions and they set about the trenching. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AT THE HELM + + +Mr. Oliver did not come back until nightfall. He said nothing about his +visit to the settlement and several days passed before the boys heard +anything further of the matter. In the meanwhile they went on with the +drain they were cutting across a swampy strip of clearing, and one +afternoon they stood in the bottom of the four-foot trench. Harry was +then busy with a grubhoe, cutting through the roots and breaking up the +wet soil, which his companion flung out with a long-handled shovel. It +was unpleasantly hot, and the flies were troublesome. Frank's hands were +too muddy to brush them away and they crawled about his face and into +his ears. He had already decided that draining was about the last +occupation he would have chosen for a scorching afternoon, had the +choice been open to him. + +He stood, stripped to shirt and trousers, in about a foot of water, and +because he had not learned the trick of pitching out the soil, part of +every shovelful fell back upon him. His shirt was spattered all over, +and patches of sticky mire glued it to his skin. There was no doubt that +ranching was considerably less romantic than he had supposed it to be, +and logging and ditching struck him as particularly uninteresting and +somewhat barbarous work, but he was beginning to realize that all the +agricultural prosperity of his country was founded on toil of a very +similar kind. The wheat and the fruit trees would not grow until man +with patient labor had prepared the soil for them, and, what was more +significant, Mr. Oliver had made it plain that their yield varied in +direct proportion with the work bestowed on them. Nature's alchemy, it +seemed, could transmute the effort of straining muscle into golden +sheaves, glowing-tinted apples, and velvet-skinned peaches and prunes. + +It was clear to Frank that if he meant to become a rancher he must make +up his mind to face a good many unpleasant tasks, and he swung up the +mire shovelful by shovelful, though his back and limbs were aching and +he had to work in a horribly cramped position. He was young, and though +there were times when the work seemed almost too much for him, it was +consoling to feel when he laid down his tools at night that he was +growing harder and tougher with every day's toil, for his muscles were +now beginning to obey instead of mastering him. He could go on for +several hours after they commenced to ache, without its costing him any +great effort. + +By and by, however, there was an interruption, and Frank was by no means +sorry when Mr. Oliver came up with a stranger and called them out of the +trench. + +"This is Mr. Barclay whose business is connected with the collection of +the United States revenue," he said. "I believe he would like a little +talk with you." + +He walked away and left them with the stranger, who sat down on a log +and took out a cigar. He was a little man and rather stout, dressed +carelessly in store clothes, with a big soft hat and a white shirt which +bulged up above the opening in his half-buttoned vest. It occurred to +Frank that he looked like a country doctor. From out rather bushy +eyebrows shone a pair of whimsical, twinkling eyes. When he had lighted +his cigar he indicated the trench with a large, plump hand. + +"Been making all that hole yourselves?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," replied Harry. + +"Interesting work?" + +"That depends on how you look at it," said Harry flippantly. "Would you +like to try?" + +Mr. Barclay waved his hand. "It isn't necessary. Did something of the +same kind years ago--only, if I remember, it was rather wetter." + +"Where was that?" Harry inquired with an air of languid politeness, at +which Frank felt inclined to chuckle. + +"Place called Forks Butte Creek. It was a twenty-foot trench." + +Harry seemed astonished and his manner suddenly changed. + +"You were with the boys at Forks Butte when they swung the creek?" + +"Sure," assented Mr. Barclay with a laugh. "I didn't expect you'd have +heard of it. You certainly weren't ranching then." + +"I've heard of it lots of times," declared Harry, turning excitedly to +Frank. "It was one of the biggest things ever done by a few men this +side of the Cascades. The old-timers talk about it yet. A mining +row--there were about a dozen of them working some alluvial claims on a +disputed location. I don't know the whole of it, but the thing turned +upon the frontage, and they stood off a swarm of jumpers while they +shifted the creek." + +"Something like that," said Mr. Barclay. "In those days they interpreted +the mining laws with a certain amount of sentiment, which--and in some +respects it's a pity--they don't do now." He paused and flicked the ash +from his cigar. "I understand you have been seeing a mysterious +schooner." + +His tone was sufficiently ironical to put Harry on his mettle, and he +furnished a full and particular account of the vessel. When he had +finished Mr. Barclay glanced at him with amusement in his eyes. + +"You have an idea there might be smugglers on board of her?" he +suggested. + +"It's more than an idea. I'm sure." + +"I wonder if you could tell me why?" + +It was rather difficult to answer, but Harry made the attempt, +furnishing his questioner with half a dozen reasons which did not seem +to have much effect on him. + +"Well," he persisted, "you're convinced she had opium and Chinamen on +board her?" + +"Aren't you?" + +Mr. Barclay looked up with a smile. "At the present moment I can't form +an opinion. After all, it's possible." + +He rose, and as he was strolling away toward the house Harry's face +contracted into an indignant frown. + +"That man must have been cooking, or something of the kind, at Forks +Butte," he broke out contemptuously. "Anyway, it was the last time he +ever did anything worth talking about. Did you ever run up against such +a stuffed image?" + +Frank was far from certain that this description was altogether +applicable to the stranger, but Harry seemed so much annoyed that he did +not express his opinion, and they got down into the trench again. When +they went back to the ranch an hour later they heard that Mr. Oliver and +Mr. Barclay had gone to a neighboring ranch and intended to make a +journey into the bush if they could borrow horses. When the boys were +eating breakfast the next morning Miss Oliver turned to Harry. + +"We have run out of pork, and the flour is almost gone," she said. "I +meant to ask your father to bring some when he went up to the +settlement, but I forgot it, and Jake must bring in those steers +to-day." + +"We'll go," broke in Harry quickly. "There's a nice sailing breeze." + +His aunt looked doubtful. "You have never been so far with the sloop +unless Jake was with you; and isn't there a nasty tide-rip somewhere? +Still, I don't know what I shall do unless I get the flour." + +She yielded when Harry insisted; and shortly afterward the boys paddled +off to the sloop and made the canoe fast astern. They set the big gaff +mainsail and Harry sculled her out of the cove before he hoisted the +jib. Then he made Frank take the helm. + +"It's a head wind until we're round the point yonder, but you'll have to +learn to sail her sometime," he said. "The first thing to remember is +that she'll only lie up at an angle to the wind and if you make it too +small she won't go through the water. You want to feel a slight strain +on the tiller." + +He hauled the sheets in until the boom hung just over the boat's +quarter, and while Frank grasped the tiller she slid out into open +water. Bright sunshine smote the little tumbling green ridges that had +here and there crests of snowy foam, and she bounded over them with a +spray cloud flying at her bows. She seemed to be making an excellent +pace, but Harry shook his head. + +"No," he objected, "you're letting her fall off. That is, the angle +you're sailing her at is too big. She'll go faster that way, but she +won't go so far to windward. Don't pull so much on your tiller and +she'll come up closer." + +Frank tried it, but the boat sailed more slowly, and presently her +mainsail flapped. + +"Now you're too close," warned Harry. "You're trying to head her right +into the wind. Pull your helm up again." + +Frank did so, and when the boat gathered speed he ventured a question. + +"If you keep her too close to the wind she won't sail, and if you let +her fall off she's not going where you want. How do you find out the +exact angle she ought to make?" + +Harry laughed. "It depends on the boat, the cut of her sails, and how +smart you are at the helm. One man would shove her to windward a point +closer than another could and keep her sailing faster, too. It's a +thing that takes time to learn, and there are men you couldn't teach to +sail a boat at all." + +Frank found that it became easier by degrees, though his companion did +not appear altogether satisfied. The sloop had dipped her lee rail just +level with the water now, and she rushed along, bounding with a lurch +and splash over the small froth-tipped seas. He began to understand how +one arrived at the proper angle by the slant at which the wind struck +his face as well as by watching the direction of the seas which came +charging down to meet her in regular formation. Then Harry said that as +they had stretched out far enough to clear the point they would go about +upon the other tack. + +"Shove your helm down--that's to lee--not too hard!" he ordered, and as +Frank obeyed him there was a sharp banging of sail cloth and the boat, +swinging around, swayed upright. + +In another moment the wind was on her opposite side, and she was heading +off at an angle to her previous course, while Harry with one foot braced +against the lee coaming struggled to flatten in the sheet on the jib. +The big mainboom had swung over of its own accord amidst a great clatter +of blocks. By and by when the point slid away to lee of them Harry told +Frank to pull his helm up, and then he pointed to a confused mass of +gray rocks and trees rising above the glistening water several miles +away. + +"Now," he said, "she'll go there straight, and all you have to do is to +keep her bowsprit on yonder head. It's a fair wind, and when you've got +that you want to slack out the sheets until the sails are as far +outboard as they'll go and still keep full. If your sheets are too +tight, you'll know it by the weight on the tiller." + +He let a couple of ropes run out through the clattering blocks, and the +sloop, slanting over a little farther, seemed to leap forward. The +sparkling green ridges which came tumbling up on one side of her swung +her aloft with the foam boiling along the edge of her lee deck, and +then surged away in turn and let her drop while another came rolling up. +Instead of being a mere thing of wood and canvas she seemed to become +animate, charged with vitality. The springy way she rushed along was +strangely exhilarating. Frank became fascinated watching her bows go up +and the snowy, straining sail sweep across the dazzling blue at every +lurch, while he became conscious of a sense of control and mastery as he +gripped the tiller. He felt that he could do what he wanted with this +wonderful rushing thing. + +For she was certainly wonderful. There was no doubt of that, because +among all of man's works and inventions there is none that more nearly +approaches the simplicity of perfection and adaptability to its purpose +than the modern sailboat. It has taken centuries to evolve her, each +builder adding a little to the work of those who went before, and +balancing in her making, often without knowing it, the great natural +forces one against another, until at last science justified what man +did, so that with this frail creation one may brave the untrammeled +winds of heaven and the onslaught of the seas. + +By and by the headland they had been nearing thrust them off their +course, and outside it lay a nest of islets, with a strong stream +running up between. As it ran to windward it broke up the regular, +breeze-driven waves into short, foaming combers with hollowed breasts +and tumbling tops which flung up wisps of spray. Frank glanced at this +tumult with some anxiety, and it was a relief to him when his companion +offered to take the tiller. + +"You had better let me have her," Harry said. "She wants handling in a +jump like that. I'd heave a reef down to reduce the sail, only that it +would take us some time to tie it in and there'll be smoother water once +we're past the islands. As we'll have to beat through, you can get the +sheets in." + +Frank found this no easy task, for he had no idea that the sails could +pull so hard, and Harry had to help him with one hand. Then the latter's +face became intent as they plunged into the turmoil. The seas looked big +and angry now. In fact, as usually happens, they looked a good deal +bigger than they really were, but they were breaking in a threatening +manner and came on to meet the sloop in white-topped phalanxes. She went +over some with a disconcerting plunge and swoop, but she rammed a few of +the rest, driving her jib and bows in and flinging the brine all over +her when she swung them up. Her deck was sluicing, and every now and +then a green and white cascade came frothing over the coaming into the +well. Frank, however, noticed that, instead of letting the boat meet the +combers, his companion occasionally pulled his tiller up, so that, +swinging round a little, she brought the ridge of frothing water farther +on her side as she plunged over it. + +"I thought you had to face a nasty sea head-on," he said. + +"Did you?" Harry responded. "Then watch that smaller one." + +A slope of water came tumbling on some yards ahead, and as the boy eased +his helm down an inch or two the bows came up to meet the sea. They +struck it full in its hollowed breast, and the next moment there was a +shock and half the deck was lost in a rush of foam. + +"Like me to plug another?" laughed Harry. + +Frank begged him not to do it. The result of the experiment was rather +alarming, and Harry let her fall off a little to dodge the onslaught of +the succeeding combers, until at last they grew smaller as the stream +spread itself out in open water. Then he gave Frank some further +instruction. + +"If you were pulling or paddling a small craft it would be safer to +bring her head-on, because you have to remember that she'd be going +mighty slow, but when you're sailing a boat that's carrying her speed +it's evident that you don't want to ram her right at a comber. If you +do, she's bound to go bang into it. When you see one that looks +threatening you let her fall off slightly and she goes over slanting." +He broke off for a moment with a laugh. "Seems to me I'm always on the +'teach.' You come here and take the tiller while I get some of the water +out of her. You can head for that point to starboard." + +He busied himself with the bucket while Frank steered the boat, and an +hour or so later they ran into a little sheltered inlet where they +brought her head to wind and pitched the anchor over. After that they +bailed out the half-swamped canoe, and, dropping into her, paddled +ashore. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A WARNING + + +Frank looked about him with some curiosity when they reached the +settlement, which struck him as a singularly unattractive place. In a +hole chopped out of the forest that crept close to the edge of the water +stood a few small log houses and several roughly boarded shacks. Tall +fir stumps surrounded them, and here and there provision cans and old +boots lay among the fern, in which a few lean hogs were rooting. Farther +on, however, there was an opening in the bush, for the boy could catch +the gleam of water between the trees, and in one place the great +columnar trunks cut against the soft green of a meadow. The grass was +bright with sunshine, but dim shadow hung over the forest-shrouded +settlement. + +"A forlorn spot," said Harry. "I don't know why the folks first pitched +here, but they raise a little fruit, and now and then a Seattle boat +comes along. It's thin gravel soil on this strip, and that's probably +the reason they haven't done any more chopping--there are salt meadows +farther along--but if they'd any hustlers among them they'd have got out +their axes and let a little daylight in." He waved his hand +contemptuously. "They're a mean crowd, anyway, except the storekeeper, +and I've wondered how he makes a living out of them. Now we'll go along +and get that flour." + +They moved on down the trail, which was torn up by the passage of jumper +sledges, until they reached a frame building which Frank had not noticed +at first. It stood back a little and was larger and neater than any of +the rest. A veranda ran along the front of it and in one window small +flour bags and more provision cans were displayed. A couple of men in +blue shirts and overalls lounged smoking on the veranda in a manner +which suggested that they had never hurried themselves in their lives, +and they seemed to be the only inhabitants of the place. As the boys +walked up the stairway Harry pointed to a notice pasted up in the +window. Frank stopped and read it aloud. + + "_Twenty dollars will be paid to any one identifying + the man who recently drove a pair of horses off the + Oliver ranch._" + +With a laugh Harry looked up defiantly at the lounging men. "That's +Oliver's answer," he said. "They told him to keep his mouth shut." + +One of the men grinned. "Seems to me it was good advice. Do you figure +any one round here is going to earn those twenty dollars?" + +Harry shook his head. "I don't," he answered. "Still, my only reason for +believing it is that the money isn't big enough. Anyway, that notice +will serve its purpose. It makes it clear that we mean to fight." + +The lounger grinned again and Harry, marching past him with his head up, +entered the store. A man who was sitting behind the counter rose when +the boys came in and raised his hand in a manner which seemed to +indicate that caution was desirable. + +"You're wanting some groceries?" he asked. + +"Flour," Harry answered. "A seventy-pound bag, if you've got it. Some +pork, too--you know the piece we take. You might send them down to the +beach, if there's anybody in the place who's not afraid of carrying a +flour bag." + +The storekeeper smiled and strolled casually toward the window. Coming +back he leaned upon the counter. + +"Your aunt's mighty particular about her pork," he said, raising his +voice a little. "Better come along into the back store and see what I've +got." + +They followed him into a smaller room, where he first of all threw +several big slabs of pork down upon a board, making, it seemed to Frank, +as much noise as possible. + +"Twelve pounds in this lot," he said loudly, then lowering his voice: +"Those fellows outside haven't gone and I don't want them to hear. You +haven't found your horses yet?" + +Harry admitted that they had not done so, and the man nodded gravely. + +"Well," he said, "I guess they'll turn up presently. I couldn't tell +your father that because there were other folks in the store when he +handed me the notice. What I want to say is that he's not wise in +bluffing the boys. You had better tell him that's my opinion." + +"How much do you know about the thing?" Harry asked directly. + +"Very little, but I can guess a good deal. Quite enough, anyway, to +convince me that you folks had better lie quiet, and let the boys +alone." + +Harry glanced scornfully toward the veranda. + +"Pshaw!" he growled. "We don't want to meddle, but it's another matter +to let those slouches drive off our team. That's my view, though I don't +know what my father means to do about it. He hasn't told me." + +"He never does tell folks," the storekeeper answered with a trace of +dryness. "I guess he'll wait, and kick when he's ready, but you tell him +from me that he's up against quite a big thing." He raised his voice: +"Well, I'll send that pork and flour along." + +The boys went out and met one of the loungers strolling casually across +the store, though Frank had a suspicion that he had come in softly some +time earlier. As they were walking down to the beach Harry glanced up +the strip of sheltered water. + +"There's a Chinese camp a little way up the creek," he said. "Nothing +much to see there, but we may as well take a look at it." + +They paddled across a strip of shadow where the reflections of spreading +cedar and towering fir floated inverted in the still, green water until +the ripple from the bows broke across and banished them. After that they +slid out into the sunlight where a narrow belt of cultivated land ran +back on either hand. On one side it was partly hidden by a bank of soil, +at the end of which three or four men were leisurely working. They +merely looked down as the canoe slid past. + +"Hard cases!" said Harry presently. "If I was sheriff I'd clean this +hole right out. There are decent folks here, but the curious thing is +that when you let two or three toughs into a place they seem to get on +top." + +Frank made no comment, and soon they were once more paddling into the +shadow of the forest. The creek was growing smaller, and at length they +ran the canoe ashore and struck into a narrow trail through the bush. + +It was now getting on into the afternoon and Frank felt sorry that they +had not eaten the lunch Miss Oliver had prepared for them before they +left the sloop. It was very hot, and very still, except when now and +then the drumming of a blue grouse came sharply out of the shadows. By +and by, however, the wood became a little thinner, and Harry pointed +toward an opening between the trees. + +"That's the place," he said. "Not much to look at, but it's good land. +You can see the maples yonder--that's always a favorable sign--and +somebody with money has lately bought quite a piece of it to start a +fruit ranch on. The Chows have taken the contract for clearing it, and +if any dope has been landed in the neighborhood they're probably mixed +up with the thing." + +Frank glanced toward the opening, and sitting, as he was, in dim +shadow, the open space he looked out upon seemed flooded with dazzling +brightness. In the background, and some distance away, little, blue-clad +figures were toiling with axes that flashed as they swung amidst a +confusion of branches and fallen logs, the staccato chunk of the blades +ripping through the heavy stillness. Nothing else, however, seemed to +move, and the air was filled with a languorous, resinous smell. Rows of +stumps stretched out from the spot on which the Chinamen were working, +breaking off before a cluster of bark and split-board shacks that stood +beneath the edge of the forest. A man dressed in loose, blue garments +was seated motionless outside one of the shacks, before two logs, from +between which a little smoke curled straight up into the air. Presently +the man stood up, and just then Harry seized Frank's shoulder. + +"Look round a little--to the left," he whispered. + +Frank did so and was astonished to see another man slip quietly out of +the forest and approach the shack. His face was not discernible, but +there was something peculiar in the way he walked, and his dress made it +evident that he was a white man. + +"Have you seen him before?" Harry asked softly. + +"I can't locate him, but I've an idea that he's not quite a stranger," +said Frank. + +"Well," said Harry, "I'm open to make a guess at him. Just as the +schooner went about that night I had a look at her helmsman. He had his +back to me, but it was moonlight, and I could see that one shoulder +hunched up in a kind of curious manner." + +Frank looked again and it seemed to him that there was something unusual +in the way the man held his shoulder. It was somewhat higher than the +other, though it hardly amounted to a deformity. + +"Slip in behind that tree," whispered Harry, pointing toward the bush. +"We'll creep up through the shadow if he goes into the shack." + +They spent some minutes moving forward in and out among the trees, and +in the meanwhile Frank saw the stranger enter the shack and the Chinaman +follow him. Then he and Harry walked out of the bush scarcely a score of +yards from the rude building, and headed straight for it. As they +approached, the Chinaman became visible in the doorway, where he stood +waiting for them. He appeared to be an old man, for his face was lined +and seamed, but it was absolutely expressionless, an impassive yellow +mask, and Frank felt baffled and repelled by it. As soon as it was +evident that the boys intended to enter his dwelling, he moved aside, +and when they stood in the little, shadowy room Frank was astonished to +see that there was nobody else in it. This seemed incomprehensible, for +there was only one door in the place. In the meanwhile the Chinaman was +looking at them quietly. + +"It's quite hot," observed Harry. + +"Velly hot," assented the other, who did not seem in any way disturbed +by the fact that they had so unceremoniously marched in. + +Harry appeared embarrassed after this, as though he did not know what to +say next, until he was evidently seized by an inspiration. + +"Got any chow, John?" he asked. + +"Velly good chow," answered the Chinaman. "Lice, blue glouse, smokee +fishee." + +"Blue grouse!" said Harry disgustedly aside to Frank. "It's the nesting +season, but I guess that wouldn't count for much with them." He turned +to his host. "I'm not a heathen. Savvy cook American? Got any flour you +can make biscuits or flapjacks of?" + +"You leavee chow to me," said the other. "Cookee all same big hotel +Seattle, Tacoma, San F'lisco." + +"It's quite likely," said Harry, looking round at Frank. "You can trust +a Chinaman to turn out a decent meal. I'll walk round a bit in the +meanwhile; you can sit here and rest." + +Frank did not particularly wish to rest, but he fancied that his +companion had given him a hint, and while the Chinaman busied himself +with his pots and pans he sat down outside the shack. He had been up +early that morning, and after the steady, arduous work at the ranch it +was pleasant to sit still in the strip of shadow and let his eyes wander +idly about the clearing. Among other things, he noticed that a little +trickle of water flowed across it, and that the soil was quaggy in the +neighborhood. He concluded that the stranger, who had so mysteriously +disappeared, must have crossed the wet place. + +It was some little time before Harry came back and the Chinaman then set +out their dinner. Frank had no idea what some of it consisted of and his +companion was unable to enlighten him, but it was excellent. When they +had finished, the man turned to Harry. + +"One dolla," he said gravely. + +Harry handed it over readily and smiled at Frank when they strolled back +into the bush. + +"It wasn't what I'd figured on when I first walked in, but I had to make +some excuse," he said. "Just now I'd very much like to know how far it +went with him." He paused and looked thoughtful. "I guess it wasn't a +very long way. The image is ahead of us by a dollar." + +Frank laughed. "You had some reason for going for that walk?" + +"Oh, yes," replied Harry. "I wanted to make sure of things, and the +ground was soft. There were some footprints in it--going from the +shack--and they'd been made quite lately by a white man's boot. John +sticks to his slipper things in a general way. Anyhow, it was the man we +saw who left those tracks." + +"How do you know that?" + +"There were a lot of others about, but they'd been made earlier. The +water had got into them, but there was very little in those I was +interested in." + +Frank was conscious that this was a point which would probably have +escaped his notice, but he had not lived in the bush and learned to use +his eyes. + +"It's very curious how the fellow got out of the shack without our +seeing him," he said. + +"It looks curious until you begin to think. Now, though I tried to keep +my eye on it all the while, the trees kept getting between me and the +shack as we made for it, and what I couldn't see you couldn't see +either. You were close behind me, which, in one way, was where we were +wrong. If we had crept in well apart, the same tree wouldn't have +bothered both of us, though if we'd done that it would have doubled the +chances of our being seen." + +"A tree isn't such a very big thing," Frank objected. + +"No," said Harry. "The point is that it will shut an object a good deal +bigger than itself out of your sight." He stopped a moment and pointed +toward a neighboring cedar. "We'll say that one's three feet in +diameter, but, as you're standing, it will shut off a good deal more +than a track three feet wide through the bush. You want to run a line +from your eye to both edges of the trunk and then carry them out behind +it. The farther you run them, the farther they get apart, and as you +can't see round a corner, everything in the wedge they enclose is shut +out from view. Got that into you? It will come in useful when you're +trailing a deer." + +It was quite clear to Frank now that it had been explained, but his +companion went on. + +"Well," he added, "it wouldn't have taken that fellow more than a few +seconds to slip out of the shack and in behind it. Then if he kept it +between him and us he'd be hidden until he reached the bush." + +"Yes," said Frank. "It must mean that he saw us, and didn't want us to +see him." + +"You're getting quite smart," said Harry with a grin. "I don't know if +you noticed it, but you trod on a rotten branch that smashed. He didn't +want us to know him again, but I'd pick that fellow anywhere by his back +and walk. Now why was he so anxious that we shouldn't see him talking to +the Chinaman?" + +It was a suggestive question, but Frank could not answer it, and Harry +said nothing further. Reaching the canoe they paddled down the creek +until they came abreast of the sloop and saw the provisions lying upon +the shingle some little distance from the water, for the tide had ebbed +since their arrival. When they had run the canoe in Frank assisted Harry +in getting the flour bag on his back, but gave a sudden cry of dismay as +a white cloud flew all over him. + +"Hold on!" he cried. "Put it down. It's running out!" + +Harry dropped the bag and drew down his brows as he gazed at the little +pile of flour which lay at his feet. Then he suddenly stooped down. + +"The bag seemed a sound one," Frank suggested. + +"Oh, yes," said Harry shortly. "There's only one thing the matter with +it. See here," and he laid his finger on a long slit. "Somebody has +stuck a knife into it." + +"A mean trick!" Frank broke out wrathfully. + +Harry stood up with a flash in his eyes. "It's rather more than that. +It's a hint. Anyway, if you'll get hold of the other end we'll pack the +bag down with the cut uppermost." + +In spite of this precaution they spilled a good deal of the flour before +they got it on board the sloop, but Harry said no more about the matter, +and hoisting sail they slid out of the inlet with a faint breeze abeam +of them. They found it fair and the breeze only a little stronger when +they had left the woods behind, and Frank sat at the tiller while the +sloop glided rapidly through the smooth blue water with no more than a +drowsy gurgle beneath her bows. The tide was running down with them now +and it was only when he glanced toward the beach that he realized how +fast they were going. + +A pleasant salt odor of drying weed was mingled with the scent of the +firs. In front of them a wonderful vista of white snow mountains emerged +from fleecy cloud, and far beneath the silvery vapor appeared the faint +and shadowy blurs of distant hillsides clothed with mighty forest. +Overhead the big white sail swayed languidly to and fro, cutting sharply +into the blue, and Frank felt that he would like to sail on like this +for hours, lounging at the helm, and listening to the water as it +slipped along the sides. With a light fair wind he could guide the boat +wherever he wished by the slightest touch of the tiller, and it was +pleasant to see how steadily he could keep her bowsprit pointing to a +low rocky head that rose, a patch of soft blue shadow, against the +evening light. + +The voyage, however, came to an end almost too soon, and the rocks and +firs were growing dim when they ran into the cove and picked up their +mooring buoy. After they had stowed and covered the sails they went +ashore, and both boys were very tired and warm when they reached the +homestead. Harry's clothes were covered with flour, which had left a +white trail along the way. Miss Oliver was standing in the lamplight +when they came in and noticed the white patches on their clothes. + +"You have let him give you a burst bag!" she exclaimed. + +Harry looked meaningly at Frank. "No," he said, "I think it was all +right when it left the store and I don't think we have spilled more than +a few pounds. Perhaps we had better skip it into the barrel. It will +save the stuff from running out when you move it." + +They managed to carry it away between them; and when they had emptied it +Harry turned to Frank. + +"If she starts talking about that bag, head her off on to something +else," he said. "I don't want her to get imagining trouble every time we +leave the ranch." + +When Miss Oliver resumed the subject at supper Frank attempted to divert +her attention, and fancied that he succeeded, though he wondered why she +smiled at times. When the boys had gone to their room she picked up the +bag and stretched it out under the light. Then her face grew grave as +she saw the slit in it. Being a clever woman, however, she decided not +to mention her suspicions. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SALMON SPEARING + + +When the boys came in for breakfast next morning Jake was standing in +the kitchen, and Miss Oliver sat opposite him looking unusually +thoughtful. + +"What's the matter?" Harry asked. + +Jake turned toward him slowly. + +"I don't know that there's anything very wrong," he said. "Leader's come +back." + +Leader was the name of one of the missing horses, and Frank started as +he remembered what the storekeeper had said, but feeling Miss Oliver's +eyes upon him, turned his head and looked out into the clearing. + +"Where's Tillicum?" inquired Harry. + +"That," replied Jake, "is more than I can tell. Leader was standing +outside the stable when I went along and I can't make out why the other +horse wasn't with him. He'd have come with Leader if anybody had turned +them into the trail together." + +Harry called to Frank and went out of the door. Jake followed them to +the stable, where they found the horse looking rather jaded, but except +for that very little the worse. Jake nodded reassuringly when Harry had +felt him over. + +"No sign of anything wrong," he said. "There was a good deal of dried +mud on him before I fixed him up, and he seemed mighty keen on his corn. +They hadn't given him very much." + +"What do you make of it?" Harry asked. + +"About as much as you do," answered Jake. "They turned him loose on the +trail when they'd done with him, and that's all there is to it. I guess +the question is what they've done with Tillicum. One thing's certain. If +he doesn't turn up, your father's going to be mighty mad." + +Harry agreed that this would be very probable, though he did not think +his father would show it. As there was nothing more to be said they went +back to the house, where, somewhat to their relief, Miss Oliver made no +allusion to the affair, and they proceeded quietly to eat breakfast. + +"Are there any spring salmon in the river?" she asked presently, looking +across at Harry. + +"Yes," he responded, "there are a few coming up." + +"Then you might take Frank with you this morning and try to get me one. +I dare say Jake will smoke it." Miss Oliver smiled at Frank. "You don't +get salmon prepared that way back East." + +"We have it canned," said Frank. "I've an idea I've seen some smoked, +but I can't remember. Is it very nice? I thought you didn't care for +salmon here." + +"Fresh salmon," Jake said curtly, "is only good for hogs, and if you +keep it long enough, for growing potatoes with. Still," he added +thoughtfully, "I don't know that you call it fresh then." + +Miss Oliver laughed. "Wait until you try it smoked--as Jake does it. He +can prepare it as some of the Siwash do. I believe they taught him in +British Columbia." + +Jake shook his head solemnly. "No," he said, "I can't cure salmon as +some of the Indians do. You'd get nothing like it in a New York hotel, +but I guess I can dress it 'most as well as any white man. You go along +and get me a fish, Harry. I'd try the pool by the big fall." + +They set out a few minutes later, taking with them a pole which had a +big iron hook lashed to it and a long Indian salmon spear. There was a +small fork at one end of the latter on which were placed two nicely +made bone barbs attached to the haft by strips of sinew. Harry removed +them to show Frank that they would slip off their sockets easily. +Leaving the clearing, they struck into a narrow trail through the bush, +and after half an hour's scramble over fallen logs and through thick +fern they reached the river. + +It poured frothing out of shadowy forest and leaped over a rock ledge in +a thundering fall, beneath which it swirled around a deep basin, and +then after sweeping down a white rapid, spread out over a wide belt of +stones. There were rocks on either side of it, and, as the trees could +find no hold on them, warm sunlight streamed down upon the foaming +water. Harry sat down on a ledge above the pool with the spear beside +him and pointed to a great bird wheeling on slanted wings above the +shallow. + +"A fish eagle," he said. "Here are salmon making up." + +Frank watched the circling of the majestic bird, which did not seem much +afraid of them. It had a white head and a cruel beak, and once when it +swept over him he noticed the fixed gaze of its cold, impassive eye. +Splendid as it was, he somehow shrank from the thing. It looked so +powerful and utterly merciless. When it stopped in the air, dropped, and +struck, he saw a splash as a writhing, silvery creature was snatched up +in its talons. + +"Got him wrong!" cried Harry. "You watch. He'll have to let go again." + +So far as Frank could see, the eagle had seized the salmon by the middle +of its back, the fish twisting itself crossways as it was carried up +into the air. The next moment there was a splash in the water and the +bird swooped down again. When it rose it held its prey differently, and +Frank fancied he could see one wicked claw gripping the fish close by +the back of its neck, while the other was spread out toward its tail. +In any case, the salmon did not seem able to wriggle now, and the eagle +flew off with it and vanished among the tops of the black firs. + +"Not a big fish, but I've a notion the eagle could lift a thing as heavy +as itself," said Harry. "They're mighty powerful. It might be the one he +dropped, though I think it's another." + +Frank had no idea how much an eagle weighed, but he realized something +of the capabilities of a bird that could carry off this fish apparently +without an effort, and, what was more astonishing, drag the tremendously +muscular creature out of the water which was its home. Then his +companion touched his shoulder. + +"Watch those two fellows in the eddy," said he. "They're going to rush +the fall." + +Frank saw two slim shadows shoot out beneath a wreath of circling foam +and flash--which seemed the best word for it--through the crystal depths +of the slacker part of the pool. They were lost in the snowy turmoil +near the foot of the fall, and a few minutes passed before he saw them +again. Then one shot out of the water like a bow that had suddenly +straightened itself, gleamed resplendent with silver, and plunged into +the foam again. Harry pointed him out the other, and though it was a +moment or two before he could see it he marveled when he did. It had its +dusky back toward him, for now and then the dorsal fin rose clear, and +it was swimming up a thin cascade which poured down a steep slope of +stone. That any creature should have strength enough to stem that rush +of water seemed incredible, but there was no doubt that the fish was +ascending inch by inch. Then it found a momentary harbor in a little +pool just outside the main leap of the fall, and shot out of it again +with its curious uncurving spring. Frank watched it eagerly when it +dropped into the fall, and it was with a sense of sympathy that he saw +its gallant efforts wasted as it was suddenly swept down. Before +reaching the bottom, however, it had evidently rallied all its powers, +for it flashed clear into the sunlight, and had recovered a fathom when +he lost sight of it once more. + +After that he glanced back toward the shallows and saw that other birds +had appeared. He did not know what they were, and Harry could only tell +him that they were fishhawks of some kind. As he watched them wheeling +or stooping, dropping upon the sparkling stream, and screaming now and +then, the boy began to form some idea of the desperate battle for +existence that is fought daily and hourly by the lower creation. + +"There don't seem to be a great many salmon," he remarked. + +"It's a thin run," said Harry. "There'll probably be more of them in the +next one. Once upon a time, as I expect you've heard, these rivers were +so thick with fish that you could walk across their backs, though I'll +allow I've never seen anything of that kind." + +Frank was not astonished at the last admission. This brown-skinned, +clear-eyed boy, who could sail a boat and hold the rifle straight, was +not one to talk of the wonderful things he had seen and done. He left +that to the whisky-faced sports of the saloons who were probably capable +of butchering a crippled deer at fifty yards with the repeater. + +"I suppose the salmon have plenty enemies," he suggested. + +"Oh, yes," said Harry. "In the sea the seals and porpoises get their +share of them. Then, as they head for the rivers, there are the fish +traps, and in Canada the seine-net boats along the shore. After that +when they're in fresh water they have to run the gauntlet of the +Indians, birds, and bears." + +"Bears?" Frank interrupted. + +"Sure," said Harry. "They're quite smart fishers. Even the little minks +get some of the salmon stranded in the shallow pools. The Indians set +long baskets, narrow end downward, for them near the top of the falls. +These, of course, are fresh from salt-water--you can see they're +silvery--but they lose that brightness as they go up the larger rivers, +and on the Columbia and Fraser they push on hundreds of miles, up +tremendous canons, up falls and rapids, toward the Rockies. Those that +fetch headwaters are scarred and battered, with the bright scales and +most of their fins and tails worn right off them. Once they're through +with the spawning they die." + +"Then they go straight to the place where they spawn?" + +"Yes, the salmon's really a seafish. It's born in fresh water, but it +goes down to the ocean as soon as it's big enough, and it's generally +believed that it stays there three or four years, though it's a fact +that we know mighty little about the salmon yet. Then it comes back to +the same place and spawns and dies. You see, there's a constant +succession coming up." He broke off with a laugh. "Now we'll try to get +one. There are three or four big fellows yonder. All you have to do is +to slash at them with the hook." + +Frank perched himself upon a jutting shelf of rock, and presently two or +three swift shadows flitted by. He swung up the pole and made a sudden +sweep at them, only to see the hook splash two or three feet behind the +last one's tail. Incidentally, he came very near to going headforemost +into the pool. Then another fish swept toward him, and this time he +landed the hook some inches in front of its nose, after which he made +several more attempts, succeeding only in splashing himself all over. He +was beginning to discover that his hands and eyes needed a good deal of +training. One, it seemed, must judge speed and distance and strike +simultaneously, but the trouble was that he needed a second or two to +think, and, naturally, while he thought the fish got away. + +By and by he turned and watched Harry, who had not struck once yet. He +stood upon a ledge, alert, strung-up, and steady-eyed, but absolutely +motionless, with the long spear running up above his shoulder. At last, +however, he drove his right arm down and the beautiful, straight shaft +sank into the pool. It stopped suddenly for a second, quivering, and +then bent and twisted upward in the boy's clenched hands. + +Frank ran toward him, wondering that the slender shaft did not +immediately break, when he observed that one barb had slipped off its +socket and that the fish, struck by it, was now held by the short length +of sinew. A moment or two later Harry jerked it out upon the bank by a +quick vertical movement and knocked it on the head. It lay still after +this, a beautiful creature of some seven or eight pounds, with the +sunlight gleaming on its silver scales. Frank glanced once more at the +long spear. It occurred to him that this was also perfect in its way and +could not have been better adapted to its purpose. + +"It's curious that an Indian should be able to make a thing like that," +he remarked. "I don't think a white man could turn out anything as +handy, unless, of course, he had one to copy." + +"The point is that it took the Siwash a mighty long while to make the +salmon spear," said Harry. "It's quite likely they spent two hundred +years over it. Their spears are all on the same pattern, so are their +traps and canoes." Seeing a puzzled look cross Frank's face, he smiled. +"An Indian is no smarter than a white man--in fact, when you stop to +think of it, he's not half as smart, though most everything he makes is +excellent. It's this way. If we want a saw for a new purpose or a +different kind of wood, we write to the Disston people or somebody of +the kind and they set their boss designer to work. He considers, and +then because he knows all about the physical sciences he draws the thing +on paper and sends it to the forges or grinding shops. In a general way, +that saw does its work, though I guess if the designer had to use it for +a year or two he'd make the next one better." + +"Of course," agreed Frank. + +"It's different with the Indians," Harry continued. "One fellow made a +fish spear ever so long ago and found that it wouldn't do. He made the +next one different and was satisfied with it, but his son made it a +little longer and thinner. Then his grandson altered the barb, and his +son added another one. After that each fellow made it a little handier, +until nothing more could be done to it, and they stuck to the pattern." +He turned and glanced at the spear. "This thing is the product of the +skill of ever so many generations." + +It was simple but convincing, for it explained the efficiency of the +Indian's tools, and also why he had not progressed. He worked along the +same line, sticking to one simple implement until he had perfected it, +and, though this was his greatest disadvantage, the man who killed the +fish generally made the spear. He got so far and stopped, content, and +incapable of going any farther. The white man, on the other hand, +changed his methods continually with his changing needs and, what +counted more than all, he very seldom made the tools he used, because he +had discovered that somebody who did nothing else could make them +better. When the Americans of the Pacific Slope wanted salmon they did +not whittle spears, but sent east to the cordage factories, whose owners +brought in fibers from all over the world and spun the netting with +which to build gigantic fish traps. + +"We could do with another fish," ventured Harry. "Let's see if you can +get one." + +Frank took up his pole again. It was a heavy and clumsy affair, but +Harry had told him that he would probably break the Indian spear. They +waited awhile until another swift shadow swept around with the eddy +beneath their feet. + +"Hold on!" cried Harry. "Wait till the stream heads him and then strike +as quick as you can." + +The fish's speed was checked for a moment as it entered the furious rush +beneath the fall, and Frank, who could just see its dusky back amidst +the foam, swung his pole. There was a splash and then a curious shock +which sent a thrill through him, and the haft jerked sharply in his +hands. + +"Heave him out!" cried Harry. "That thing won't break." + +Frank tugged with all his might and the salmon flew up over his +shoulder. The next moment he had seized it and was almost reluctant to +let it go when his companion clubbed it on the head. + +"Two's as many as we have any use for and we'll go along," said the +latter. "We haven't made much of a show at that draining lately." + +Frank would have preferred to stay where he was, but he followed Harry +toward the bush, and soon after they struck a cleared trail to the +ranch, which was, however, not the way they had come. A little later +they were somewhat astonished to see a group of figures among the trees, +and hurrying forward they found Mr. Oliver and Mr. Barclay talking to +Jake, who apparently had been driving home two or three steers. + +Mr. Oliver, looking unusually grave, nodded to the boys. "We have just +met Jake," he said. "He tells me Tillicum's back a little way up the +trail with a broken leg." + +"I guess he's done," murmured Jake, adding significantly, "I wouldn't +have left him like that if I'd had a gun." + +"Go on with the steers," said Mr. Oliver. "We'll turn back." + +The boys accompanied him and Mr. Barclay, and leaving the trail by and +by where the bush was thinner they stopped before a pitiable sight. It +was Tillicum who stood awkwardly before them, his head lowered and one +leg that seemed distorted out of its usual shape hanging limp. Caked +mire was spattered about the poor animal, its coat was foul, and every +line of its body seemed expressive of pain and exhaustion. As it raised +its drooping head and looked at them pitifully, Frank felt a thrill of +hot anger against the outlaws who were responsible for its condition. +Mr. Oliver stepped up to the horse and gently felt of its injured limb, +after which he turned abruptly toward Mr. Barclay and Frank noticed that +his face was set. + +"There's only one thing to be done," he said. "Have you a pistol?" + +"Haven't _you_?" his companion asked with a slight trace of astonishment +in his tone. + +"If I'd had one would I have wanted to borrow yours?" retorted Mr. +Oliver. + +"Well," said Mr. Barclay, "it's seldom I carry one, but in this case it +seemed advisable." He put his hand into his pocket. "Here you are. It's +a big caliber." + +Mr. Oliver took the weapon and held it behind him, and turning back +toward the horse, gently stroked its head. Then there was a flash and +detonation, and the beast dropped like a stone. After a moment the +rancher turned around with a very curious look in his eyes, with the +smoking weapon clenched hard in his hand. + +"I've had that faithful animal six years," he said in a harsh voice. +"We'll get away." + +They walked on in silence for a while, and then Mr. Barclay spoke. + +"The breaking of its leg was probably an accident," he suggested. + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver. "It's possible he broke it after they turned him +loose, but that doesn't seem to affect the case." He paused and looked +around at his companion. "You understand that I'm with you right through +this thing." + +Nothing more was said until they approached the ranch, when Mr. Oliver +turned to the boys. + +"I'll take the fish," he said. "You can go on with whatever you were +doing." + +They moved away toward the drain, and when they reached it Harry stood +still a moment or two. + +"It's a long while since I've seen dad look half so mad," he said. "When +he sets his face that way it's sure to mean trouble. Anyway, when I saw +Tillicum I felt kind of boiling over--as well as sorry." + +"Did you notice what Mr. Barclay said about the pistol?" Frank asked. + +"Why, of course," said Harry thoughtfully. "Now I don't know what +they've been after, but it's plain enough that there was some danger in +the thing. Mr. Barclay doesn't seem extra smart, but there's something +in his look that suggests he wouldn't be easy scared, and he took a +pistol along." Then he laughed in a significant manner and jumped down +into the trench. "It's my idea those dope fellows are going to be sorry +before dad gets through with them, and now we'll go on with the +draining." + +He fell to with the grubhoe and for the next half hour worked furiously, +after which Jake appeared and called them in to dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A PLAIN HINT + + +Mr. Oliver bought another horse from one of his scattered neighbors, and +a few days afterward he and Jake set off for an inlet along the coast +near which a few ranchers lived. Harry explained to Frank that as they +clubbed together and bought their supplies from Seattle a little steamer +from the latter place called at the inlet now and then to deliver the +goods, and his father had ordered a mower which was to be sent down by +her. + +Mr. Oliver did not come back until late in the evening a couple of days +later, but as soon as he arrived he and Jake set to work to put the +machine together, and it was getting dusk when at last they left it +standing beneath the trees near the edge of a ravine. Early on the +following morning the boys went back with them to see if it would work +satisfactorily in cutting a little green timothy, but as they crossed +the clearing Jake, who was leading the team a little distance in front +of his companions, stopped suddenly. + +"You didn't go back and move that machine after we left it?" he asked. + +"No," replied Mr. Oliver. "What made you think I did?" + +Jake looked at his employer rather curiously. "Well," he said, "somebody +must have moved it. The thing's gone." + +Mr. Oliver broke into a run and the rest followed. When they reached the +clump of trees they could discover no sign of the mower, except for the +track of wheels among the withered needles and undergrowth. This led +toward the ravine, at the bottom of which a little water flowed, and +Frank saw Mr. Oliver's face harden as he followed this guide. A minute +later they stood on the brink of the declivity and saw the mower lying +upon its side among the stones thirty or forty feet below them. The +slope was almost precipitous, but Mr. Oliver went down sliding amidst a +rush of loosened soil, and Frank and Harry with some difficulty +scrambled down after him. A glance was sufficient to show them that the +implement was not likely to be of the least use to its owner. Mr. Oliver +examined it quietly and then clambered back up the side of the ravine, +after which he sat down and took out his pipe before he turned to Jake. + +"Every bit of cast-iron in it is smashed," he said. "The pinion wheels +are broken, and the other parts are bent. I'll have to order another +one." + +Jake made a gesture of sympathy. + +"If I could get hold of the folks who did the thing it would be a +consolation, but I haven't the least notion how to trail them." + +"One man couldn't have moved it," said Mr. Oliver. + +"There were three of them. The question is, what brought them here? I +guess they didn't come just to smash the machine." + +Mr. Oliver seemed lost a moment in contemplation. + +"I think you're right," he said at length. "They probably came because +this is the easiest way of getting through to the settlements in the +Basker district and the beach behind the head makes a handy landing. +We'll go along and look around. I don't think they'd try the cove. It's +too near the house." + +They turned into a bush trail together, and when they reached the beach +a little while later Jake, stooping over a furrow in the smooth shingle +by the water's edge, looked up at Mr. Oliver. + +"A sea canoe grounded here soon after last high water," he said. "You +can see where they ran her down when it had ebbed a little." + +Mr. Oliver, who was still quietly smoking, nodded. + +"Yes," he said, "it's very much as I expected. With a sheltered landing +here and as good a trail inland as they could find, it's not difficult +to understand why those fellows were anxious that I should stand in with +them, or, at least, leave them alone. This thing, of course, was meant +as a warning." Then he addressed the boys: "You needn't wait. You can +get some more of those branches sawed off in the slashing." + +They moved away and left him talking to Jake, and it was not until they +had reached the bush that Harry made any observation. + +"I've a notion that we're up against the meanest kind of toughs, but in +the long run I'll back dad," he said. "It's quite likely that if we lie +low you and I may get a hand in later on." + +Frank made no answer, though the prospect his companion suggested was +not unpleasant to him. Going back to their work they sawed up branches +until nightfall. On the following afternoon they were still engaged at +the same task at some distance from the house when they saw Jake, who +had set out for a neighboring ranch in the morning, enter the clearing, +dragging a big and evidently very unwilling animal after him. He sat +down upon a log, and Harry dropped his ax. + +"It's Webster's dog," he said to Frank. "I heard that somebody had given +him one. We'll go along and look at him." + +They found Jake rather breathless and very red in face, holding the end +of a chain fastened to the collar of the dog, who crouched close by +watching him with wicked eyes and white fangs bared. A serviceable club +lay beside Jake, but it seemed to Frank that he had got as far away from +the animal as the chain permitted. The lad was, however, not astonished +at this, for he fancied he had never seen as intractable and generally +unprepossessing a dog as this one. + +"Dad's borrowed him from Webster?" Harry suggested. + +"It seemed to me Webster was mighty glad to get rid of him and didn't +want him back," said Jake. "Guess if he was mine I wouldn't be anxious +to keep him either." + +Frank moved a pace or two nearer the dog, holding out his hand, but +speedily retired when it growled at him savagely. After that Jake turned +to Harry. + +"You're fond of dogs," he suggested. "Wouldn't you like to pat him?" + +"No," said Harry, edging away. "I wouldn't try it for five dollars. What +kind of a brute is he?" + +"Well," said Jake, "I figure that fellow has a considerable mixture of +ancestors, though there's a strain of the bull in him. That's where he +got his stylish mouth from. He's about as amiable as a timber-wolf, and +he has the gait of a bear, while it's my opinion there's more sense in a +plow ox than there is in him." + +"When did you leave Webster's?" Harry next inquired. + +"Soon as dinner was over," responded Jake dryly. + +"And supper will be ready soon. What in the name of wonder have you been +doing?" Harry looked around at Frank. "It's about three miles." + +Jake grinned. "Coming along--and resting. This fellow kind of decided +he'd sit down every now and then, and I let him. He's a dog that's been +accustomed to doing just what he wants." + +"Did you have to cross the creek?" asked Frank, who noticed that the +man's long boots and part of his trousers were wet. + +"No," said Jake curtly. "The critter took a notion he'd like to go in, +and as I couldn't let him loose, I had to go in, too. We splashed +around in it for quite a few minutes." + +Harry broke into a burst of laughter and Jake handed him the club. "I +want to get in by supper. Suppose you put a move on him." + +He stood up and jerked the chain, but the dog bared his teeth again and +declined to stir. Harry, getting behind him, tapped him with the club, +and he swung round savagely, straining at the chain. + +"Now," said Jake, "I know how we'll fix him. You make him mad and then +head for the ranch while he gets after you, and I'll try to hold him." + +"No," said Harry decisively, "I don't think we'll try that way. Go on +and lead him." + +The animal moved off at last and shambled toward the house, looking +bigger and considerably more clumsy than the largest bulldog Frank had +ever seen. He walked into the kitchen docilely, but when Miss Oliver +approached him Harry cried out in dismay. + +"Keep away!" he warned. "He isn't safe." + +"Loose the chain," said Miss Oliver, and to their vast astonishment the +dog walked up to her, wagging his disreputable tail, and crouching down, +licked her hands. She patted his great head gently and then turned +smilingly to the boys. + +"I'm afraid Webster has been rough with him," she said. "It's clear that +he's a woman's dog." + +"A woman's dog?" echoed Harry scathingly. "Well, the man who gave that +beast to a woman must have been crazy." + +During the next few days the dog made himself at home at the ranch, +though with the exception of Miss Oliver he still eyed its inhabitants +suspiciously. Jake said that though almost fully grown he was young and +had no sense yet. Then the dog commenced to follow the boys about at a +distance, and once fell upon and destroyed their overall jackets which +they had taken off when they went to work. They found him sitting upon +the tatters, evidently feeling proud of himself, for he wagged his tail +and barked delightedly when they approached. As a rule, he did not make +much noise, but his growl was deep and ominous, with something in it +that discouraged any attempt at undue familiarity. + +While they were ruefully inspecting their ruined garments Jake came up +and leaned against a neighboring tree. + +"He wants training, Harry," he observed. "If he was my dog, I'd break +him in." + +"The question," retorted Harry indignantly, "is how it's to be done. +I'll own up that I know very little about training dogs, and that's not +the kind of one I'd like to begin on." He turned to Frank. "Considering +that a good many of the ranchers live almost alone, it's rather a +curious thing that there are very few dogs in this part of the country." + +Jake fixed his eyes dubiously upon the animal, who trotted up a little +nearer and growled at him. + +"Well," he said, "he's sure a daisy, but I guess he can be taught, and +the first thing is to let him see you're not afraid of him." + +Harry snickered. "Then suppose you try to prove it. Haul him up by the +ear and teach him he's not to eat my jacket." + +Jake judiciously disregarded this suggestion. "There's one trick most +dogs learn quite easy. It's to guard. You put down some of your clothes, +for instance, and make him see that nobody's to touch them until you +come back. Then he'll sit tight until you do, and I guess in this +fellow's case there'd be mighty little wrong with the nerves of the man +who'd put a hand on them." + +"If it's to be clothes they'll have to be somebody else's," said Harry. +"Anyway, I'll mention it to my aunt. It's my opinion she's the only +person who could teach him anything." + +How Miss Oliver taught the dog they did not know, but she succeeded, for +when the boys walked up to the house at supper time one evening a week +or two later Harry, who reached the door first, came out hurriedly. + +"The brute won't let me in," he explained. "I confess it sounds kind of +silly, but perhaps you'd like to try." + +Frank approached the door cautiously and stopped when he reached it. The +dog crouched near the center of the kitchen floor, with a woman's straw +hat in front of him from which there trailed a couple of chewed-up +feathers. He looked up at Frank with a low, warning growl which said +very plainly, "Come no farther!" + +They called him endearing names, which, so far as they could see, had +not the least effect, but neither of them felt equal to entering the +kitchen until Miss Oliver walked in by another door. Then the dog let +her take the hat, wagging his tail with satisfaction. + +"He's a good deal more intelligent than you seem to think," she said. +"Give him your hat, Harry, and then go out and wait for a few minutes +before you come back for it." + +Harry did so, and the dog made no trouble when he picked up the hat, but +he would not let Frank go near it in the meanwhile. After that they +tried two or three more experiments of the same kind, though Frank took +no part in them, which was a thing he regretted when he went for a swim +an evening or two later. + +On this occasion the tide was almost full, the water in the cove was +pleasantly warm and bright sunlight streamed down upon it, showing the +white shingle a fathom beneath the surface. Now and then Frank went down +toward it, for he had learned to swim under water and look about him +while he did so, but by and by he headed for the entrance to the cove +with the overhand side stroke which Harry had taught him. Swinging his +left arm forward over his head, his face dipped under and then rose in +the midst of a ripple as his hollowed palm swept backward under his +crooked elbow to his thigh, while his legs swung across each other like +a pair of scissors. The brine gleamed and sparkled as it slipped past +him, and when he reached the entrance to the cove he slid up and down +the smooth, green undulations with a pleasant lift and fall. It was so +exhilarating that he went farther than he had intended, and he was +feeling a little breathless when at last he turned back, but when he +reached the spot where he had undressed trouble awaited him. + +The dog was seated upon his clothing, watching him with suspicious eyes, +and it growled when he stood up knee-deep. Frank hesitated. The dog did +not look amiable, but he was beginning to feel cold, and he walked +slowly forward a pace or two. Then the creature raised itself on its +forepaws, with white fangs bare, and once more broke into a deep, +ominous growl. There was no doubt that it intended to guard his clothes. + +He threw a piece of shingle at it and was glad on the whole that he had +not succeeded in hitting it when it stood up with bristling hair and a +most determined look in its eyes. Frank floundered back into the water, +wondering uneasily if it was coming in after him, and then standing +still up to his waist considered what he should do. It was evident that +he could not stay where he was much longer, and the dog showed no sign +of going away. It was equally impossible for him to walk back to the +ranch without his clothes, and in the meanwhile he was growing +unpleasantly chilly. Then he noticed that although the shadow of the +crags above rested upon the spot where he stood the sunshine fell upon a +boulder which rose out of the water not far away. Swimming to it he +crawled out and found it a little warmer there, but this brought him no +nearer to finding a way out of the difficulty. + +He did not remember how long he lay shivering upon the stone, but the +shadow had crept across it and the tall firs above him showed up more +blackly against the evening light, when at last Harry came clattering +over the shingle and stopped in astonishment on seeing him. + +"Whatever are you doing there?" he asked. + +"Waiting until your dog goes home," said Frank. "He won't let me have my +clothes. If you hadn't come I expect I'd have to stay here until +to-morrow." + +Harry couldn't help grinning when he observed the resolute animal. +"Wouldn't it have been easier to come out and whack him off?" + +"No," said Frank decidedly. "If you were in my place you wouldn't want +to try." + +Harry walked up to the creature and picked up the clothes, whereat it +rose immediately and wagged its tail as though satisfied in having done +its duty. + +"He doesn't seem to mind me," Harry observed dryly. "Anyway, there's no +reason why you shouldn't come out now unless, of course, you're happier +where you are." + +Frank swam across, dressed, and ran all the way to the ranch, but it was +half an hour before he was moderately warm again. The next day he set +about teaching the dog to guard. It occurred to him that it was not +desirable that Harry and Miss Oliver should be the only ones to whom the +animal would give any stray article of clothing he might come across. + +A week or two later Miss Oliver went away on a visit to Tacoma, and Mr. +Oliver, who had bought a new mower, commenced to cut his timothy hay. +The machine could only work on the cleared land, and where the stumps +were thick he set the boys to mow with the scythe. Frank found it +troublesome work, for the big roots ran along the surface of the ground. +The fern had grown up among these roots, and it was their task to cut +and pick it out from the grass, while every few minutes the scythe point +struck a root and sometimes stuck in it. In places it struck gravel, +which made dents in it, and the blade often got entangled among shooting +willows and young fir saplings. Frank decided that while it was +evidently a costly and difficult thing to clear a ranch, it must be +almost as hard for its owner to keep what he had won, since the forest +persistently crept back again. + +"Suppose you left this place alone for a couple of years?" he asked, +stopping to whet his dinted scythe. + +"You wouldn't know it again," Harry answered with a smile. "It would be +a waste of willows, with young firs growing up between them. You +couldn't tell it from the bush, only that the trees all round would be +higher." + +Frank dropped his scythe blade and leaned upon the haft. He had been +mowing since sunrise, and the shadows were now rapidly lengthening. His +back ached and his hands were sore, and he found it a relief to stand +still a moment and look about him. On one side of the clearing the +slanting sunrays struck deep into the forest, forcing up great columnar +trunks out of the shadow. On the other, the fretted pinnacles of the +firs cut sharp against the sky, and between stretched long swathes of +fallen timothy and fern already turning yellow. Not far away, Mr. +Oliver, sitting in the mower's saddle, was guiding his team along the +edge of the grass which fell beneath the rasping knife, and the clink +and rattle of the machine rang sharply through the still, evening air. +Frank, stripped to blue shirt and trousers, found everything his eyes +rested on pleasant, and he felt that, after all, he had done wisely when +he left the cities. + +Then he noticed Jake, who had been to the settlement, crossing the +clearing with some letters in his hand. He gave them to Mr. Oliver, who +pulled his team up and sat still for some minutes reading them. After +that he stepped out and walked toward the boys. + +"You might take the team along, Harry, and put the kettle on the stove," +he said. "We'll have supper as soon as it's ready." + +Harry moved away and Mr. Oliver leaned against a neighboring stump with +his eyes fixed thoughtfully on Frank. + +"I've a letter from your mother," he said. "She wants to know if I'm +satisfied with you." He paused a moment and added with a smile: "That's +a question I think I can answer in the affirmative." + +"Thank you, sir," said Frank. + +"Then," Mr. Oliver continued, "she goes into one or two other matters on +which she seems to want my opinion. In the first place, somebody has +offered to find you an opening in the office of a Philadelphia business +firm. You'll have to decide about it, and it seems to me that the choice +is rather a big one. You see, if you stay out here ranching two or three +years it will probably spoil you for a business life in the eastern +cities." + +Frank thought hard for a minute or two. There was no doubt that +ranching, when it included clearing land, as it generally seemed to do, +was remarkably arduous work. In the case of a man with little money it +evidently meant almost incessant toil, for it was only by persistent +effort that one could chop and saw up the great trees and grub the +stumps out. Still, he was growing fond of it, and, what was more, he was +conscious that he was gaining a resolution and muscular vigor that in +all probability he would never have acquired in the crowded cities. + +Finally he looked up. "I don't think I would care to go back to them +now," he said. + +Mr. Oliver nodded gravely. "Your mother doesn't seem to think a great +deal of this opening, but, on the other hand, you want to bear in mind +that if you expect to make money in ranching you must be able to invest +it. Raising cattle and fruit for sale is a trade, and a trader gets no +more than a certain interest on his money and the wages which an equally +capable managing clerk or foreman in the same profession would receive. +There are few respectable businesses in which that interest is a very +big one. As the result of this, the trader must be content with a little +unless he has the money to earn him more." + +"Yes," said Frank somewhat ruefully, "that's clear. I'm afraid I can +hardly count on much." + +"Your mother mentions that when you are three or four years older she +might perhaps be able to raise you about two thousand dollars." + +"I suppose that wouldn't go very far, sir?" + +"It certainly wouldn't buy you a ranch anywhere near a city, but you +might get land enough to make a small one back in the bush. If you +bought such a place, you would probably have to go out and work at one +of the sawmills or logging camps now and then. It would be several years +before you could make much of a living, because it would cost you so +much to bring your stock to market." + +"Yes," said Frank. "I suppose that is why the land would be cheap?" + +Mr. Oliver made a sign of assent. "It's a difficulty which is, however, +usually got over in this country. You hold on and cultivate your land, +and by and by the market comes to you. Somebody starts a sawmill or a +pulp mill in the locality, or, if there's ore about, a smelter. New +trails are cut, settlements spring up, and presently a branch railroad +comes along, and the rancher can sell everything he can raise." He broke +off for a moment, and smiled rather dryly. "In such a case you may get +big prices, but if you average them out over the years of working and +waiting, you'll find you have earned them, and that, after all, the +stuff you sell is mighty cheap." + +Then he handed Frank the letter. "I'd consider it carefully. The mail +won't leave for the next three days, and now we'll go along to supper." + +Harry had managed to prepare a meal, and when it was over Mr. Oliver +turned to the boys. + +"A friend of mine in Victoria has written asking me to look at a big +piece of bush land he thinks of buying on the west coast of Vancouver +Island. He offers to pay my expenses and a fee, and I've an idea that we +might run across in the sloop if we get moderately fine weather after +the hay is in. I wonder if you would like to go with me?" + +There was no doubt that the prospect appealed to them and Mr. Oliver +smiled his approval. + +"Then," he said, "you had better hustle that hay in. We'll start as soon +as we're through with it." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A BREEZE OF WIND + + +The hay was almost in when Frank and Harry stood one evening close under +the apex of the roof in the log barn. The crop was heavy and because the +barn was small it had been their business during the afternoon to spread +and trample down the grass Jake flung up to them. They had been working +at high pressure at one task or another since soon after daylight that +morning, and now the confined space was very hot, though the sun was +low. Its slanting rays smote the cedar shingles above their bent heads, +and the dust that rose from the grass floated about them in a cloud and +clung to their dripping faces. Frank felt that the veins on his forehead +were swollen when they paused a moment for breath, leaning on their +forks. + +"I suppose we could get a couple more loads in, and there can't be more +than that," said Harry dubiously. "I wouldn't mind a great deal if the +next jumperful upset." + +Frank devoutly wished it would, for he felt that he must get out into +the open air, but a few moments later they heard the plodding oxen's +feet and the groaning of the clumsy sled. The sounds ceased abruptly and +Jake's voice reached them. + +"Tramp it down good!" he called. "You've got to squeeze in this lot and +another." + +Frank choked down the answer which rose to his lips. But the hay must be +got in, and the boys fell with their forks upon the first of the +crackling grass Jake flung up to them. There seemed to be more dust in +it than usual, and before the jumper was half unloaded they were +panting heavily. When at last the oxen hauled the sled away they stood +doubled up knee-deep in the hay with their backs close against the roof. + +"I can't see how we're to make room for the last lot," Harry gasped. +"Still, I guess it has to be done." + +They set to work again, packing the hay into corners and stamping it +down, and his occupation reminded Frank of what he had heard about +mining in a thin seam of coal. It seemed hotter than ever, the dust was +choking, and at every incautious move he bumped his head or shoulders +against the beams. The last sled arrived before they were ready for it, +and they crawled about half buried, dragging the grass here and there +with their hands and ramming it with their feet and knees into any odd +spaces left. At length the work was finished, and wriggling toward the +opening in the wall, Harry caught at the edge of it and finding a +foothold on a log beneath boldly leaped down. Frank was, however, less +fortunate when he followed his companion, for some of the hay slipped +away beneath him, and, without the least intention of leaving the barn +in that undignified fashion, he suddenly shot out through the hole. He +felt the air rush past him, and then, somewhat to his astonishment, +found himself on the ground, none the worse except for the jar of the +fall. + +"If I'd tried to do that it's very likely I'd have broken my leg," he +panted. + +He sat down and threw off his hat. It was delightful to feel the breeze +upon his dripping face and to be out in the fresh air again. He had been +at work for fourteen hours, and was aching all over, but that did not +trouble him. The hay was safely in, and there was some satisfaction in +the feeling that he had done his part in a heavy piece of work. Looking +about him he noticed that the shadow of the firs had crept half across +the clearing, and that thin wisps of fleecy cloud were streaming by +high above their tall black tops. Then he heard Harry speaking to his +father. + +"There's a smart southerly breeze, and the tide is running ebb," he was +saying. "What's the matter with starting for Victoria right away?" + +"Haven't you done enough for to-day?" Mr. Oliver asked with a smile. + +"I don't feel as fresh as I did this morning," Harry admitted. "Anyway, +when we've got a fair wind and three or four hours' ebb going with us, +it would be a pity not to make the most of them." + +Mr. Oliver looked doubtful. "I'm anxious to get away, because, as I've +arranged to meet a man in Victoria, we'll have to take the steamer +unless we can slip across very shortly. I've an idea that we may get +more wind than we'll have any use for before sun-up. Still, we could run +in behind the point at Bannington's, if it was necessary." + +Then Jake broke in: "If you're going, I'll get supper and pack some +bread and pork along to the sloop." + +Mr. Oliver assented, and an hour later they paddled off to the sloop. +The dog jumped into the canoe with them, and when they got on board he +quietly sat down on the floorings while Jake helped the boys to hoist +the mainsail. When they came to the jib Mr. Oliver stood up on the deck +looking about him. + +"I think we'd better have the smaller one," he advised. + +They were ready at length, and Jake, who was to stay behind, called the +dog as he was about to jump into the canoe. Harry was busy forward just +then with the mooring chain in his hand and the loose jib thrashing +about him, while the big mainboom jerked over Mr. Oliver's head as he +sat at the helm. The dog, however, showed no signs of moving. + +"Give him a shove," said Jake, addressing Frank. "When he gets up on +deck, pitch him in." + +Frank turned toward the dog, and then stopped abruptly when it showed +its teeth and growled. + +"It looks as if he meant to go along," Jake remarked with a grin. "Prod +him with the boathook if he won't move." + +Frank was dubious, as he imagined the dog might resent the prodding. At +that moment Harry, who had been too busy to notice what was going on, +hauled up the weather sheet of the jib. + +"I'm clear," he called to his father. "I'll cant her head to lee when +you're ready." + +Mr. Oliver put the helm up as the bows swung around, and when the sloop +slanted over Jake made a futile grab at the dog. Then shouting to Frank, +he dropped into the canoe and clutched the rail as the sloop forged +ahead, but the boy was busy with the mainsheet and did not look up. In +another moment Jake let go. Almost immediately afterward the sloop came +round, and when she stretched away toward the mouth of the cove the +canoe dropped astern. + +"Stand by your jibsheets," called Mr. Oliver. "We'll have to come round +again." + +They were very busy during the next few minutes, for the cove was narrow +and the wind was blowing in. When at length they swept out into the open +water the dog crawled up to Harry and licked his hands. Harry looked at +his father, who made a little sign of assent. + +"I suppose he'll have to stay," he sighed. "When that dog decides on +doing anything it's wise to let him do it. Now we'll square off the +mainboom." + +They let the sheet run until the big mainsail swung right out, and the +sloop drove away, rolling viciously. Short, foam-flecked seas came +tumbling after her, but as the tide was running the same way under them, +lessening the resistance, very few broke angrily. Frank had learned +enough by this time, however, to realize that it would probably be +different when the stream turned. In the meanwhile the boat was sailing +very fast, with a little ridge of frothing water washing by on either +side when she lifted, and a thin shower of spray blowing all over her. +Now and then the great sail with the heavy boom beneath it swung upward +in an alarming fashion. Frank noticed that Mr. Oliver's eyes were gazing +intently before him, and that his hands were clenched tightly upon the +tiller. + +"She seems rather bad to steer," he said. + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver, without looking up. "You have to be careful when +you're running before a fresh breeze. It's remarkably easy to bring the +mainsail over with a bang if you let her fall off too much, and the +result of that would probably be to tear the mast out of her. It's +considerably worse when there's a big sea coming along behind." + +Frank glanced astern. The sun had gone and the sky was strewn with ranks +of hurrying clouds, while the sea was flecked with smears of white. + +"Aren't you pressing her a little?" Harry asked. "She'd be easier on the +helm if we lowered the peak or tied a reef in." + +"I'd like to pick up the Hootalquin reef before it's dark," answered Mr. +Oliver. "I'm not sure we'll get very much farther to-night. You wanted a +sail, and I fancy you're going to be gratified." + +During the next hour Frank had to admit that this remark was warranted. +The breeze steadily freshened, and there was no doubt that the sea was +rising. It frothed in a white hillock on either side of the boat, and +little trails of foam swirled about her deck. Frank could see that she +was overburdened by the sail she was carrying, but Mr. Oliver still sat +with a set face at the tiller and showed no desire to leave his post. In +the meanwhile it was getting dark. Forest and beach had faded to a +faint, shadowy blur and there was only a steadily narrowing stretch of +foaming water in front of them. Frank was very wet and the spray beat +upon him continually. At length, when the light had almost gone, a dusky +patch of something grew out of the gathering gloom ahead, and fancying +it to be a rocky point, he felt considerably relieved, because there +would be shelter behind it. A minute or two later Mr. Oliver called to +the boys. + +"Get forward and ease the peak down," he ordered. "Then back the jib. +We'll tie two reefs in." + +"Aren't we going in here?" Harry asked. + +His father shook his head. "No, it's too dark. I could take her through +in the daylight, but there are one or two rocks in the channel. We'll +have to try for Bannington's." + +Frank felt a twinge of disappointment. Bannington's was still a good way +off, and it seemed to him that the gale was increasing every moment. He +scrambled forward with Harry, however, and when they loosened the rope +the tall peak of the sail swung down. Soon after they had done this Mr. +Oliver put down his helm, causing the mainboom to jerk and thrash to and +fro furiously, while as the boat came up head to wind a white sea struck +her side and foamed on board her. + +"Handy with the throat!" shouted Mr. Oliver. "I don't want to leave the +helm." + +They slacked another rope, making the gaff sink farther down, after +which they tied up about a yard of the inner bottom corner of the sail +to the foot of the mast. This was comparatively easy, but it was +different when, standing in the water on the lee deck, they grabbed the +tackle beneath the boom and endeavored to pull the leach, or outer edge, +of the mainsail down. It would not come, and the heavy spar struck them +as it jerked in board, flinging Frank off into the well. + +"Get another pull on your topping lift," ordered Mr. Oliver. + +They jumped forward to do it, but it proved no easy task, for they had +to raise the outer end of the heavy boom. They were struggling with the +tackle again when Mr. Oliver laid both hands on the rope. + +"Now," he shouted, "heave, and bowse her down!" + +They succeeded this time, and afterward hung out over the water while +they knotted the reef-points beneath the spar. Then when they had +trimmed the jib over Mr. Oliver put up his helm and the sloop drove on +again into the darkness with shortened sail. + +The boys sat down as far under the side deck as they could get, out of +the worst of the spray, with the dog crouching in the water which washed +about the floorings at their feet. + +"Why didn't your father help us more than he did?" Frank asked +presently. + +"He couldn't leave the tiller for more than a moment or two," said +Harry. "When Jake and I reefed her the day we took you off the steamer +there wasn't as much wind. Of course, there are boats in which you can +lash the helm, but that's not always possible. If dad had let go the +tiller she'd have fallen off and started sailing, which would have +dragged the tackle from our hands or pitched us in, and then she'd have +come up again banging and shaking. He kept her heading so that the +mainsail was lifting slack with no weight in it." + +Frank was commencing to realize that the handling of a sailboat was +rather a fine art. It is as much of a machine as a steamer, but it is +also of the kind whose efficiency depends directly upon the human eye, +hand and brain. Man has evolved a number of such instruments, and in the +right hands they are far more wonderful than the others. Any one, for +instance, can learn the pianola, but to extract fine music from a +Cremona violin is a very different matter. + +It blew steadily harder, and there was, as Frank noticed, a difference +in the sea, for the flood stream was now setting up against them and +was growing shorter and more turbulent. There was a smaller interval +between the waves, which seemed to become steeper and less regular. They +curled over and broke about the boat with a sound that reacted +unpleasantly upon Frank's nerves, and he was thankful that he could, +after all, see very little of them. The sloop's motion also changed. One +moment she seemed to be moving almost slowly, and the next she swung up +in a quick, savage rush, with her bows in the air and the white foam +boiling high about her. Sometimes, too, there was a thud and a splash +astern, and the decks were swept by a deluge of seething water. + +In the meanwhile the boys had contrived to light a lamp in a little box +which held a compass, and they laid it on the thwart before Mr. Oliver, +though, as he explained in a word or two, it was particularly difficult +to steer an exact course in a sea of that kind. It was on the boat's +quarter, that is, she was traveling with the wind almost behind her at a +long slant across the course of the waves, but each time an extra big +wave foamed up astern Mr. Oliver let her fall off and run right down +wind with it to prevent its breaking on board. + +Frank wondered how he did it, for the seas were following them and it +was quite dark, but Mr. Oliver had no need to look around. He had for +guides the sound of the oncoming seas, the pull of the tiller, and the +motion of the boat, and, besides, from long experience his brain worked +sub-consciously. He did not pause to consider when the bows climbed out +and the stern sank down in a rush of foam, and had he done so, in all +probability he would have brought the big mainboom smashing over. To run +a fore-and-aft rigged craft, and a sloop in particular, before a badly +breaking sea, is a difficult and somewhat perilous thing, and the +ability to do it comes only from long acquaintance with the water, and, +perhaps, from something in the helmsman's nature. + +The boat sped on furiously, though they presently lowered the peak down +to reduce the sail further, and by degrees Frank became conscious of an +unpleasant nervous tension that seemed to sap away his hardihood. There +was nothing to do in the meanwhile, but he felt that if he were called +upon for any difficult or hazardous service he would find himself +incapable of it. He was drenched and shivering, and he did not want to +move. He only wished to cower beside Harry under the partial shelter of +the coaming. This was, however, a feeling that other folks occasionally +experience who go to sea in small vessels, which they have to grapple +with and overcome. It is when there is no particular call on him, and he +can only stand by and watch, that terror gets its strongest hold on the +heart of a man. + +At length Mr. Oliver called to the boys. "We must be close abreast of +Bannington's," he said. "The end of the point should be to leeward. Get +forward, Harry, where you can see out beneath the jib." + +Frank followed his companion as he crawled up on the little deck. He did +not want to seem afraid, but he held on tight with one hand when they +knelt in the water that splashed about them. He could see the frothy +seas beneath the black curve of the jib, but for what seemed a very long +while there was nothing else. Then Harry suddenly raised his voice. + +"Point's right ahead!" he sang out, and the next moment jumped to his +feet. "There's a black patch a little to weather." + +"Up peak for your lives!" cried Mr. Oliver. + +He left the helm with a bound, and all three struggled desperately with +a rope, while as the bagged mainsail extended and straightened out a sea +broke on board the boat. Then they floundered aft and dragged in the +mainsheet with all their might, after which Mr. Oliver jumped for the +helm again, while the boys flattened in the jib. + +"We're the wrong side of the point," gasped Harry. "I'm not sure she'll +beat round it." + +There was no difficulty in imagining what was likely to happen if she +failed to do so, and Frank, who did not think she would last long if she +washed up among the boulders before the sea that was running, clung to +the coaming in a state of tense suspense. What seemed to be a continuous +sheet of spray whirled about him, the boat slanted over at an alarming +angle with half her lee deck in the sea, and the tops of the confused +breaking waves through which she plunged washed all over her. This was +sailing with a vengeance, and a very different thing from lounging at +the tiller while she swung smoothly across the water before a fair wind. +She was now thrashing to windward for her life, with the full weight of +the sea on her weather bow and a foam-swept reef lying in wait close to +lee of her, and whether she would claw off it or not depended largely +upon her helmsman's skill. + +Frank could see him dimly, a black shape gripping the tiller, and he was +unpleasantly aware of the fact that there would speedily be an end of +them all if he lost his nerve for a moment or made a blunder. It happens +now and then at sea that the safety of crew and vessel hangs upon the +brute strength of human muscle and the simple valor which enables a man +to do what is required of him on the moment without flinching; empty +assurance and a consequential air are of uncommonly little service then. +Such occasions are a very grim test of manhood, and, as a rule, it is +not the loud talker who best stands that strain. + +Frank admitted afterward that he was badly scared, which was not in the +least unnatural. It was more important that he should nevertheless +realize that it was his business to trim the jib over when this was +necessary. His companion, who was gazing to leeward, presently raised +his voice. + +"Broken water close ahead," he announced. + +"Stand by your jib!" shouted Mr. Oliver. "We must try to heave her +around." + +Frank let the lee sheet run, groping deep in the water for it as Mr. +Oliver put down the helm, and with a frantic thrashing of canvas the +sloop came up into the wind. There was a moment of suspense during which +she seemed to stop, and the boy felt his heart thumping furiously. He +knew that if she fell off again on the previous tack nothing could save +her from going ashore. Suddenly he heard Harry call to him. + +"Haul it up!" he shouted. "We have to box her off." + +Frank hauled with all his might, and the thrashing of the head sail +ceased. It caught the wind, and a sea fell upon the boat as the bows +swung around. Then they jumped to the opposite side of her and struggled +desperately to haul the lee sheet in as she forged ahead again, after +which there was nothing to do but wait and wonder if she was driving in +toward the shore or working out toward open water. They stood on for +half an hour, seeing nothing, and then came round half-swamped, only to +stagger away on the opposite tack, running once more into horribly +broken water. As they did so Harry shouted that there were boulders, the +end of the point, he fancied, close to lee. + +"She won't come about in the rabble," said Mr. Oliver. + +It was evident that they must now either scrape around the point on that +tack or go ashore, and Frank felt his nerves tingle as he gazed into the +spray. He fancied that there was something black and solid beyond it, +but could distinguish nothing further. Then the blackness faded, the sea +seemed to become a little more regular, and Harry cried out hoarsely, +"We're round!" + +"Down peak!" called Mr. Oliver. "We'll have to jibe her." + +Frank had learned that to jibe a boat is to turn her around stern to +wind, instead of head-on, which is the usual way, and scrambling forward +with Harry he helped lower the peak. After that they again floundered +aft, leaving the mainsail reduced in size, and grabbed the sheet as Mr. +Oliver put up his helm. The bows swung around as the boat went up with a +sea, and the big boom tilted high up into the darkness above the boys. +They struggled savagely with the sheet, which slightly restrained it, +until the boat rolled suddenly down upon her side as the sail jerked +over and the rope was torn swiftly through their hands. There was a +crash and a bang, and Frank was conscious that the water was pouring +over the coaming. He clung to the sheet, however, and while Mr. Oliver +helped them with one hand they got a little of it in, after which the +sloop, rising somewhat, drove forward. A few minutes later the sea +suddenly became smoother, the wind seemed cut off, and Frank made out a +black mass of rock rising close above them. They ran on beneath it until +Mr. Oliver, rounding the boat up, bade them pitch the anchor over. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MR. BARCLAY JOINS THE PARTY + + +When the boat brought up to her anchor the boys spent some time +straightening up her gear and pumping her out. The work put a little +warmth into them, but they were glad to crawl into the cabin when it was +done. There was scarcely room in it to sit upright, and with the +moisture standing beaded everywhere it looked rather like the inside of +a well. Mr. Oliver had lighted the stove and a lamp was burning. By and +by he took off a hissing kettle, and when they had made a meal they lay +down in their wet clothes amidst a raffle of more or less dripping ropes +and sails. Fortunately, the place was warm, and Frank was thankful to +stretch himself out along the side of the boat. He was discovering that +mental strain of the kind he had undergone during the last few hours is +as fatiguing as bodily labor. + +But he did not immediately go to sleep. The craft rocked upon the long +swell which worked in round the point, with now and then a sharp rattle +as she plucked hard at her cable. Sometimes she swung suddenly around +upon it as an eddying blast swept down from the rocks above, and the +drumming of the halliards against the mast broke continuously through +the moan of the wind among the trees ashore and the deeper rumble of the +ground sea. At last, however, he fell into a heavy slumber, and it was +daylight and Harry had put the spider on the stove when he awoke again. +He made his breakfast before he went out on deck, to find that the wind +had dropped a little and it was raining hard. The dim, slate-green +water lapped noisily upon the wall of rock close by, and glancing +seaward he saw nothing but a leaden haze and a short stretch of tumbling +combers. Mr. Oliver had gone out earlier and was standing on the deck +looking about him. + +"There's no great weight in the wind, though the sea's still rather +high," he said presently. "I think we can push on for Victoria." + +Frank, who fancied they would not get there before that night, was by no +means so keen about the sail as he had been on the previous day. He felt +that it would be considerably pleasanter to remain in the shelter of the +point until the sun came out or the wind went down, and it seemed to him +that Harry shared his opinion. The dog also looked very draggled and +miserable and had evidently had enough of the voyage. They, however, set +the mainsail, leaving the reefs in, hauled up the anchor, and hoisted +the jib as the sloop stretched out across the waste of tumbling water, +after which the boys went below to straighten up the breakfast things. +Frank once or twice felt a little sick as he did so, and he noticed that +Harry wore a somewhat anxious look. + +"It's not blowing as hard as it was when we ran in, but I don't think +dad would have gone unless he'd some particular reason," Harry said at +length. "I wonder who the man is he expects to meet in Victoria, because +I'm inclined to believe it's not the one who wants him to look at the +land. The worst of dad is that he keeps such a lot to himself." + +They crawled out again shortly afterward and found the seas getting +longer and bigger. Once or twice a blur of something went by that might +have been the end of an island, and Mr. Oliver changed his course a +little, but after that the dim, green water stretched away before them +empty and only broken by smears of snowy froth, and the sloop drove on +before the combers which came up out of the haze astern of her in long +succession. + +It was toward noon, and Mr. Oliver had gone into the cabin to get dinner +ready, leaving Harry at the helm, when, glancing around, Frank saw an +indistinct mass of something break out of the mist. It grew into the +shadowy shape of a steamer while he watched it. + +"There's a big vessel close by," he said, touching his companion's arm. + +Harry glanced over his shoulder. "Sure," he nodded. "What's more, she's +coming right along our track. Get in some mainsheet while I luff her." + +He changed the sloop's course a trifle, but in the meanwhile the steamer +was growing in size and distinctness with a marvelous rapidity. Her +great bow seemed to be rising out of the water like a headland, over +which Frank could just see the tiers of white deckhouses, one mast, and +the tall smokestack. Then he glanced forward at the sloop's wet deck and +the low strip of her double-reefed mainsail, looking very small among +the tumbling seas, and it occurred to him that it would probably be +difficult for the steamer's lookout to see them. He felt rather anxious +when he glanced back astern. + +"She still seems to be coming right down on us," he said. + +Harry called his father, who hurried out and glanced at the vessel. + +"Shall we get up and yell?" the boy asked. + +"No," said Mr. Oliver curtly, "they couldn't hear you to windward. Let +her come up farther." + +Frank helped drag some more mainsheet and then looked around again with +a very unpleasant thrill of apprehension. The black bow seemed almost +above them, and the sea leaped against a wall of plates as the great +mass of iron swung slowly out of it and sank down again. Then from +somewhere beside the smokestack a streak of white steam blew out and a +great reverberatory roar came hurtling about them. Mr. Oliver's anxious +face relaxed. + +"They've seen us," he said. "Her helm's going over." + +The bow drew out and lengthened into an increasing strip of side. +Another mast became visible, with a double row of white deckhouses and a +tier of boats between. Here and there a cluster of diminutive figures +showed up among them, and then the great ship sped by with the whole of +her size revealed. The sloop plunged madly on her screw-torn wake, but +in another minute or two she had drawn away and was melting into the +haze again. + +"A big boat," said Mr. Oliver. "She was very close to us. You had better +keep your eyes open while I get dinner." + +The rest of the dismal day passed uneventfully, but toward evening the +haze commenced to roll aside and they saw blurred black pines looming up +ahead of them. A little later they ran into Victoria harbor, and, hiring +a Siwash to take them ashore, walked through the streets of what struck +Frank as a very handsome city until they reached a hotel. Here they +ordered supper, and after the meal was over the boys, who had changed +their clothes, sat with Mr. Oliver in the almost deserted smoking room. +He seemed to be expecting somebody, which somewhat astonished Frank, but +he noticed that Harry smiled meaningly when Mr. Barclay walked in. He +was dressed in light-colored sporting garments, with a belt around his +waist and a leather patch on one shoulder, and there were gaudy trout +flies stuck in his little cloth cap. He threw the cap on the table +before he shook hands with Mr. Oliver and the boys, smiling as he caught +Harry's eye. + +"Well," he asked, indicating the flies, "what do you think of them?" + +Harry grinned again as he laid his finger on one. + +"You're not going to get many trout with that fellow, unless they've +different habits in British Columbia. They won't come on for quite a +while." + +Mr. Barclay removed the fly and put it into a wallet. + +"Thanks," he said. "It's some time since I did any fishing." Then he +seemed to notice the manner in which the boy was surveying his clothing. +"It's a sport's get-up, but are you acquainted with any reason why a +United States citizen shouldn't get a little innocent amusement catching +Canadian trout?" + +"No, sir," answered Harry coolly. "Still, there are quite a few trout in +the rivers on the American side of the boundary. It makes one wonder if +you had anything else in view besides fishing in coming to British +Columbia." + +Mr. Barclay regarded him with an air of ironical reproof. + +"In a general way, young man, it's most unwise to blurt the thing right +out when you have a suspicion in your mind. It's better to let it stay +there until you have good cause to act on it." He turned to Mr. Oliver. +"I'm inclined to doubt the advisability of leaving your sloop lying +where she is in full view of the wharf." + +"Then you recognized her?" + +"At a glance. The trouble is that there are one or two acquaintances of +yours who might do the same." + +Mr. Oliver looked thoughtful. + +"I've been considering that, but it was getting dark when we ran in, and +we had better move the first thing to-morrow. Now with this unsettled +weather I'm not very keen on sailing up the west coast, which is open to +the Pacific, and the place we are bound for is rather a long way." + +"Then go east," advised Mr. Barclay. "There are a number of inlets on +that side of the island within easy reach of the railroad, and you ought +to reach the nearest of them in a few hours. I'll go on with the cars +to-morrow, and if you don't get in at one of the way stations, I'll wait +for you at Wellington. Then we could cross to the west coast by the +Alberni stage and hire a couple of Indians and a sea canoe. It wouldn't +be a long run from there." + +Mr. Oliver agreed to this, and getting up early next morning, they +slipped out of the harbor, and some hours afterward crept into a +forest-girt inlet, where they left the sloop. There was a depot nearby, +and getting on board the cars when the next train came in, they found +Mr. Barclay awaiting them. Early in the afternoon they alighted at a +little wooden, colliery town, and next day they crossed the island in +the stage over a very rough trail which led through tremendous forests. +Once they passed a wonderful blue lake lying deep-sunk between steep +walls of hills. Then they crossed a divide and came winding down into a +valley with water flashing at the foot of it. It was evening when they +arrived at a straggling settlement on the banks of a riband of salt +water twisting away among the forest-shrouded hills, and found several +Indians there who had come up in their sea canoes. + +Mr. Oliver hired a couple of them, and they started after they had +purchased a few stores. A light, pine-scented breeze was blowing down +the valley when they thrust the canoe off from the shingle. They had no +sooner done so, however, when the dog arose with a deep growl which +indicated that he objected to the Indians going with them. As his +actions did not seem to have the desired effect he seized the nearest +Indian by the leg, and it was only when Harry belabored him with a +paddle that he could be induced to let go. Then he barked at them +savagely until Frank drew him down upon his knee with a hand about his +neck, while the Siwash raised two little masts. In the meanwhile the boy +watched the men with interest, and decided that they had very little in +common with the prairie Indians he had seen in pictures and from the +cars. + +They were dressed neatly in clothes which had evidently been purchased +at a store, and though their faces were brown and their hair rather +coarse and dark there was nothing else unusual about them. They talked +with Mr. Oliver and Mr. Barclay freely in what Harry said was Chinook, a +readily learned lingua-franca in use on parts of the Pacific Slope. Then +Frank fixed his attention upon the canoe, a long, narrow, and +beautifully shaped craft with the usual tall, bird's-head bow. She was +rather shallow, but Harry said that this made her paddle fast. He added +that though these canoes would sail reasonably well when the breeze was +fair the Indians usually drove them to windward with the paddle unless +the sea was too heavy, in which case they generally made for the beach +and pulled the craft out. + +Frank remembered that this, or something like it, was the ancient +practice, and that it was only by slow degrees that man had discovered +he could still make the wind propel his vessel to its destination when +it blew from ahead. Greek and Roman triremes, Alexandrian wheat ships, +and Viking galleys, had made wonderful voyages, and they all carried +sail, but they set it only when the wind was fair. When it drew ahead +they stowed their canvas and thrashed the lean hull through the seas +with their long oars. Now, after perfecting his vessel's under-water +body, inventing the center board, and learning how to make flat-setting +sails, man was going back to the old-time plan, only that instead of +relying upon the muscle of close-packed rowers he used improved +propellers, tri-compound reciprocators and turbines. + +One of the Siwash shook out the two spritsails which sat on a pole +stretching up to the peak from the foot of the mast, and when he had led +the sheets aft his companion knelt astern with a paddle held over the +gunwale. Slanting gently down to the faint breeze, the craft slid away +through the smooth, green water with a long ripple running back behind +her. The log houses dropped astern and were lost among the trees, a +valley filled with somber forest, and a rampart of tall hillside, +slipped by, and as they crept on from point to point the strip of still +water stretched away before them between somber ranks of climbing trees. + +Frank had no idea how far they had gone when the light began to fail, +though he fancied that the shallow craft, now slipping forward so +smoothly, was sailing a good deal faster than she seemed to be. At +length one of the Siwash loosened the sheets and stowed the sails, while +his companion turned the bows toward the beach. She slid in and grounded +gently on a bank of shingle in a little cove, where a gigantic forest +crept down to the water. They got out and ran her up, filled their +kettle at a tinkling creek, hewed resinous chips from a fallen fir, and +built a fire. Then they cut armfuls of thin spruce branches with which +to make their beds, and presently sat down to an ample supper. + +When it was over the Indians went down to the canoe, and Mr. Oliver and +Mr. Barclay drew a little apart from the boys. Frank, lying near Harry +beneath a big cedar, raised himself up on one elbow and watched the +firelight flicker upon the mighty trunks. On the one hand they were lost +in the gloom of the dense mass of dusky foliage, but on the other their +great branches cut against the sky, which was still softly blue, and a +blaze of silver radiance stretched across the water, for a half-moon had +just sailed up above the opposite hill. Out of the silence there stole a +faint whispering from the tops of the taller trees and the languid +lapping of water among the stones, but there was no other sound, and +once more Frank was glad that he had not exchanged the stillness of the +wilderness for the turmoil of the cities. He had now definitely decided +to become a rancher. + +It grew colder by and by, and wrapping his blanket around him, he +wriggled down closer among the yielding spruce twigs. The great trunks +grew dimmer and the smoke wisps which drifted among them became less +distinct. By degrees they all grew mixed together--a confusion of +sliding vapor and spectral trees--and he was conscious of nothing more. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE STRANGER + + +A couple of days later the party pitched their camp in the depths of a +lonely valley sloping to the Pacific, which was not far away. It was +filled with great redwoods, balsams and cedars, and as Frank gazed at +the endless rows of towering trunks it struck him as curious that Mr. +Oliver's friend should think of buying this tract of giant forest for +ranching land. He said so to Harry, who laughed. + +"There's no rock or gravel on it and that counts for a good deal," said +his companion. "If the soil looks as if it would grow things, it's about +all the average man expects on this side of the Rockies. A few trees +more or less don't matter. It's the same with us right down the Pacific +Slope; the only difference is that on this island the firs seem just a +little bigger." He appeared to admit the latter fact reluctantly, +adding, "I guess that's because it's wetter in Canada." + +They were standing outside a little tent of the kind most often used in +the Western bush. It was supported by a ridge pole resting at either end +upon two more, which were spread well apart at the bottom and crossed +near the top. A short branch stay stretched back from each pair, and a +few turns of cord lashing held the whole frame together. They had cut +the poles in five minutes in the bush, and had brought the light cotton +cover with them rolled up in a bundle. A good many men in that country +live in such shelters during most of the year. Mr. Barclay sat on one of +the hearth logs which were rolled close together in front of the tent +and Mr. Oliver stood in the entrance. + +"But the place must be such a tremendous way from a market," said Frank +in response to Harry's last remark. + +Mr. Oliver smiled. "It's not long since I tried to explain that a good +many of the bush ranchers have to wait until the market comes to them. +They stake their dollars and a number of years of hard work on the +future of the country." + +"Some of them get badly left now and then," said Mr. Barclay dryly. +"You'll find laid-out townsites that have never grown up all along the +Pacific Slope. There are stores and hotels falling to pieces in one or +two I've struck." Then changing the subject: "Are you boys coming across +with me to the river for some fishing to-morrow?" + +They said that they would be glad to do so, and Mr. Barclay turned to +Mr. Oliver. "We'll give you another two days to finish your surveying, +and then we'll meet you at the rancherie on the inlet we spoke of. We +can camp in the bush outside the tent for a couple of nights." + +They started early the next morning, taking one Indian with them to pack +their provisions, and the dog, who insisted on accompanying them. They +were plodding along a hillside toward noon when Mr. Barclay, who was +walking in front with their guide, looked back at the boys. + +"Get hold of the dog as soon as we stop and keep him quiet," he +cautioned. + +After that they moved forward in silence for some minutes while the +trees grew thinner ahead of them, until Mr. Barclay stopped behind a +brake of undergrowth. The dog broke into a short, throaty bark and then +growled hoarsely until Frank knelt beside him and laid a hand upon his +collar. When he had quieted the animal, who by degrees had become +attached to him, he arose and found he could look down upon a narrow +slit of valley into which the sunlight poured. A creek swirled through +the bottom of it, and he was astonished to see a swarm of blue-clad +figures toiling with grubhoe and shovel upon its banks, and a cluster of +bark shelters in the widest part of the hollow. + +"Chinamen!" he said. "What can they be doing? One never would have +expected to find a colony of them here." + +Mr. Barclay smiled in a somewhat curious fashion. + +"They're washing gold. It's a remarkably simple process, if you're +willing to work hard enough. You shovel out the soil and sand and keep +on washing it until it's all washed away. Any gold there is remains in +the bottom of the pan." + +"But if there's gold in that creek, how is it there are no white men +about?" + +"Probably because they couldn't make wages. There's a little gold in a +number of the creeks right down the Slope, but where the quantity's very +small nobody but a Chinaman finds it worth while to look for it." + +Mr. Barclay sat down and spent some minutes apparently carefully +watching the blue-clad figures toiling in the sunlight below, after +which he got up and signaled for them to go on again. The boys, however, +dropped a little behind, and presently Harry gave his companion a nudge. + +"I guess you noticed that when you said one wouldn't have expected to +find those Chinamen here Barclay didn't answer it?" + +"Yes," said Frank thoughtfully. "I suppose you mean he wasn't astonished +when he saw them?" + +"You've hit it, first time," Harry assented. "That man's on the trail, +and though I can't tell you exactly who he's getting after, I've my +ideas." He paused with a chuckle. "I'm not sure now he's quite so much +of a stuffed image as he seemed to be." + +Frank said nothing in answer to this. A few minutes later Harry touched +his arm as Mr. Barclay, turning suddenly, shouted: + +"Get hold of the dog!" + +Frank grabbed at the animal's collar but missed it, and the next moment +the dog had vanished. Then there was a crash in the bush, and a +beautiful slender creature with long legs and little horns shot out from +behind a thicket and flung itself high into the air. It fell again, this +time with scarcely a sound, into a clump of fern, rose out of it, and in +a wonderful bound cleared a fallen trunk with broken branches projecting +from it. Then it was lost in another thicket and the dog's harsh barking +rang through the silence of the woods. Once or twice again Frank caught +a momentary glimpse of a marvelously agile creature rising and falling +among the undergrowth, and then there was only the yelping of the dog +which became fainter and fainter and finally broke out at irregular +intervals. Mr. Barclay sat down upon the fallen trees. + +"I suppose we'll have to wait until that amiable pet of yours comes +back," he said. "On the whole it's fortunate the deer broke out now +instead of a quarter of an hour earlier." + +They waited a considerable time before the dog crept up to them wagging +his ragged tail in a disappointed manner. Harry shook his fishing rod at +him threateningly. + +"I'd lay into you good, only it wouldn't be any use," he said. "The more +you're whacked, the worse you get." + +The dog wagged his tail again and jumped upon Frank, who patted him +before they resumed the march. + +"It's rather curious, but that's the first deer I've seen since I've +been in the country," he said. "Do they always jump like that?" + +"Well," said Harry, "in a general way they are quite hard to see, and +you can walk right past one without noticing it when it's standing +still. Their colors match the trunks and the fern, and, what's more +important, it's not often you can see the whole of them. In fact, I've +struck as many deer by accident as I've done when I've been trailing +them. Now and then you almost walk right up to one, though I haven't the +least notion how it is they don't hear you, because as a rule the one +you're trailing will leave you out of sight in a few moments if you snap +a twig. Anyway, a scared deer goes over whatever lies in front of him. +There are very few things he can't jump, and he comes down almost +without a sound." + +The rest of the journey proved uneventful, and early in the evening they +made camp on the banks of a frothing river which swept out of the shadow +crystal clear. In this it differed, as Harry explained, from most of the +larger ones on the Pacific Slope, which are usually fed by melted snow +and stained a faint green. Mr. Barclay, whose boots and clothes were +already considerably the worse for wear, sat down beside a swirling pool +and took out his pipe. + +"There's no use pitching a fly across it yet, I suppose," he said. "We +may as well get supper before we start." + +The Siwash prepared the meal and remained behind with Mr. Barclay when +it was over, while the two boys went down stream with a rod he had lent +them which Harry insisted Frank should take. There were, he urged, +plenty of trout in the river near his father's ranch, though it was very +seldom he had leisure to go after them. They wandered on some distance +beside the water, which ran almost west toward the Pacific, and +wherever the forest was a little thinner the slanting sunrays streaming +between the serried trunks smote along it. Frank, who had, as it +happened, once or twice got a week or two's fishing in the East, kept +his eyes open, but it was only twice that he fancied he noticed the +faint dimple made by a short-rising trout. + +"I'd have expected to find a river of this kind thick with fish," he +said. + +"There's sure to be a good many in it," answered Harry. "You wait about +another half hour." + +"What's the matter with starting now?" urged Frank. "Isn't that one +rising in the slack yonder?" + +"See if you can get him," said Harry, smiling. + +Frank swung the rod, straining every effort to make a neat, clean cast, +and he succeeded. The flies dropped lightly about a foot above the +dimple made by the fish, and swept down stream across the spot where he +had reason to suppose it was waiting. There was no response, however, +and nothing broke the rippling surface when the flies floated down a +second time. Frank laid down the rod. + +"It's curious," he murmured. + +Harry laughed. "Hold on a little. You've seen three fish rising now, and +that's quite out of the common." + +Frank sat down again, and waited until the sunlight faded off the river +and the firs about it suddenly grew blacker. Soon afterward what seemed +an almost solid cloud of tiny insects drifted along the surface of the +water, which was immediately broken by multitudinous splashes. + +"Now you can begin," said Harry. + +Frank, clambering to a ledge of rock, swung his rod, and as the flies +swept across an eddy there was a splash and a swirl and a sudden +tightening of the line. He got the butt down as the winch commenced to +clink, and Harry waded out into the stream lower down, holding his wide +hat. + +"Let him run, but keep a strain on," he cried. "You've got a big one." + +The fish fought for three or four minutes, gleaming, a streak of silver, +through the shadowy flood, as it showed its side, then sprang clear and +changed again to a half-seen dusky shape that drove violently here and +there. Then it came up toward the bending point of the rod, and at +length Harry, slipping his hat beneath it, lifted it out. + +"Nearly three quarters of a pound," he said. "Your trace is clear now. +Try again, and never mind about the slack and eddies. Pitch your flies +anywhere." + +Frank did so, and they had scarcely fallen when there was a second rush, +but this fish seemed smaller and he dragged it out unceremoniously upon +the shingle. It was the same the next cast, and for a while he was kept +desperately busy. When at length he laid the rod down Harry announced +that they had a dozen fish. + +"We'll try the next pool now," he added. "Some of these trout aren't +half a pound and I'd like you to get a real big one." + +The next pool proved to be some distance away and there was nothing but +rock and foaming water between, but when they reached a slacker place +where the current circled around a deep basin Frank had four or five +more minutes' fishing, during which he landed several trout. Then the +flies seemed to vanish and there was scarcely a splash on the shadowy +water. + +"You may as well put the rod up," Harry advised. "It's a sure thing you +won't get another." + +Frank tried for a few minutes, but finding his companion's prediction +justified, sat down near him among the roots of a big fir. At the foot +of the pool where he had been fishing the stream swept furiously +between big scattered boulders in a wild white rapid. It was narrower +there, and a ledge of rock, slightly hollowed out underneath, rose above +it on the side on which they sat a little more than a hundred yards +away. The woods were now darkening fast, and the chill of the dew was in +the air, which was heavy with the scent of redwood and cedar. In places +the water still glimmered faintly, and except for the roar it made, +everything was very still. + +Suddenly Harry pointed to the dog, who was lying near Frank. + +"Get hold of him," he said in a low voice. "If nothing else will keep +him quiet, we'll roll your jacket round his head." + +Frank, who had taken off his jacket, which was badly torn, when he began +fishing, laid his hand on the dog as it arose with a low growl. Then as +it tried to break away from him he seized its collar and held on with +all his might while Harry flung the jacket over it. Though the thing +cost them an effort they managed to hold the animal still between them. +In the meanwhile there was a crackle of undergrowth and Frank saw a man +who walked in a rather curious manner move out from the shadow. Even +when he was clear of the overhanging branches it was impossible to see +him distinctly, but Frank recognized him with a start. There was +something wrong with one of the dark figure's shoulders. + +The man moved on away from them, until he stopped at the edge of the +overhanging rock, where he stood for a moment or two. Then he leaped out +suddenly and alighted on the top of a boulder about which the white +froth whirled. Frank fancied that only a very powerful person could have +safely made such a leap, and there was no doubt that whatever it was +that had caused the man's unusual gait, it had not affected his agility. +The next moment, he jumped again, and, coming down rather more than +knee-deep in the rapid, floundered through it and vanished into the +shadow beneath the trees. Then Harry looked around at his companion with +a smile. + +"I'll own up that Barclay's smart, after all," he said. "He's sure on +the trail. Anyway, perhaps we'd better head back to camp in case some +more of them come along." + +It was quite dark when they reached the fire the Siwash had made and +found Mr. Barclay, who now seemed rather wet as well as ragged, sitting +beside it with his pipe in his hand. When they had compared their fish +with those he had killed they lay down among the withered needles on the +opposite side of the fire. + +"It's good fishing, sir, but you must be very keen to come so far for +it," said Harry, looking up innocently at Mr. Barclay. + +The red light of the fire was on Mr. Barclay's face and Frank saw that +he glanced thoughtfully at Harry. + +"It certainly is," he answered. "I believe you have already said +something very much like your last remark. Still, you see, I don't +propose to come often." + +Frank suppressed a chuckle. If Harry had intended to surprise the man +into some admission he had not succeeded yet. + +"And we go on to the rancherie in a couple of days," Harry added. "From +what the Indians told me I don't think we'd get any fishing there. +Wouldn't it be better to stay here a little longer?" + +"No," said Mr. Barclay, "quite apart from the difficulty of sending your +father word, what you suggest doesn't strike me as advisable, for one or +two reasons." + +Harry seemed to realize that he was making no progress, and, looking +meaningly at Frank, suddenly changed his tactics. + +"There's something I should perhaps have told you, sir, though I don't +know whether it will interest you. Anyway, not long ago Frank and I were +up at the Chinese colony behind the settlement near our ranch. Perhaps +you have been there?" + +"I've heard of it," said Barclay dryly. + +Then in a few words Harry described how the man they had endeavored to +trail had vanished at the Chinaman's shack, and Frank saw a look of +eager interest cross Mr. Barclay's usually stolid face. + +"You suggest that the fellow didn't want you to see him?" he asked. + +"That was certainly how it struck me." + +"And he walked rather curiously and one shoulder seemed a little higher +than the other? I think you mentioned that?" + +"I did," repeated Harry. + +Mr. Barclay seemed to reflect, but there was now sign of deeper interest +in his expression. + +"Did you notice whether he had red hair and gray eyes?" + +"No," said Harry with a grin, "though I can't be sure about it, I've a +notion that his hair was dark. As it happened, I only saw his back, but +I'd know the man again." He paused impressively. "In fact, I hadn't the +least trouble about it when I saw him half an hour ago." + +Mr. Barclay started and there was no doubt that he was astonished at +this. + +"You ran up against him here!" + +"No," said Harry, "I only watched him from behind a fir. He crossed the +creek heading south and didn't notice us." + +Mr. Barclay settled back again and seemed lost in thought. "After all," +he said shortly, "it's possible." + +Then he changed the subject and they talked about fishing until the fire +died down, when they spread their blankets upon their couches of soft +spruce twigs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SCHOONER REAPPEARS + + +It was early in the evening when after a toilsome march Mr. Barclay and +the boys reached a Siwash rancherie built just above high-water mark on +the pebbly beach of a sheltered inlet. Frank had already discovered that +the northern part of the Pacific Slope is a land of majestic beauty, but +he had so far seen nothing quite so wild and rugged as the surroundings +of the Indian dwelling. Behind it, a great rock fell almost sheer, +leaving only room for a breadth of shingle between its feet and the +strip of clear green water. On the opposite side mighty firs climbed the +face of a towering hill so steep that Frank wondered how they clung to +it, and at the head of the tremendous chasm a crystal stream came +splashing out of eternal shadow. Seaward a wet reef guarded the inlet's +mouth, with its outer edge hidden by spouts of snowy foam, upon which +the big Pacific rollers broke continually, ranging up in tall green +walls and crumbling upon the stony barrier with a deep vibratory roar +which rang in long pulsations across the stately pines. + +The rancherie was a long and rather ramshackle, single-storied, wooden +building not unlike a frame barn, only lower, and Frank discovered that +although it was inhabited by the whole Siwash colony there were no +divisions in it, but each inmate or family claimed its allotted space +upon the floor. A tall pole rudely carved with grotesque figures stood +in front of it, and it occurred to Frank as he inspected them that he +was face to face with the rudiments of heraldry. The nobles of ancient +Europe, he remembered, blazoned devices of this kind upon their shields, +and their descendants still painted their lions and griffins and eagles +upon their carriages and stamped them upon their note paper. He was +probably right in his surmises, though there are different views upon +the subject of totem poles, and the Siwash, who ought to know most about +them, seem singularly unwilling to supply inquirers with any reliable +information. + +A group of brown-faced, black-haired men and women dressed much as white +folks stood about the rancherie, and near them were ranged rows of +shallow trays of bark containing drying berries. Frank noticed that the +woods were full of the latter--hat berries, salmon berries, and splendid +black and yellow raspberries. Several big sea canoes were drawn up at +the edge of the water, and Mr. Oliver sat near one of them with another +cluster of Siwash gathered about him. They had spread a number of +peltries out upon the stones, which Mr. Oliver explained were seal +skins. Frank examined one, and found it difficult to believe that this +coarse, greasy, and nastily smelling hair was the material out of which +the beautiful glossy furs were made. He confided his views to Harry. + +"Yes," said the latter, "they're not much to look at now. They have to +go through quite a lot of dressing, and I've heard that in the first +place all the long outside hair is plucked out. There's an inner coat." +He looked at the men. "It's done in England, isn't it?" + +Mr. Barclay smiled. "A good deal of it is, anyway." Then he addressed +Mr. Oliver. "You're buying some of these peltries?" + +"One or two," was the answer. "We want an excuse for this visit." + +Mr. Barclay made a sign of assent, and after chaffering with the Indians +for a few moments Mr. Oliver broke in again: "They're cheap, that's +sure. I suppose these fellows would rather sell them on the spot for +dollars down than pack them along down to Alberni or some other place +where they'd probably have to take grocery stores in payment. If you're +open to make a deal we'll take two or three between us. We ought to get +our money back with something over in Victoria." + +Mr. Oliver kept up the bargaining for a while, and then explained that +he and his companion did not care for the rest of the skins, which were +inferior to those they had chosen. One of the Siwash thereupon informed +him that more canoes were expected in a day or two, adding that he would +probably be able to show them further peltries if they could wait their +arrival. + +"Tell him we'll stay," said Mr. Barclay. "At the same time you had +better ask him if there's any likelihood of our getting down to Victoria +by water. You can say we've had about enough crawling through the +bush--it's a fact that _I_ have--and lead up to the question naturally." + +Frank, observing a twinkle in Harry's eyes, watched the Indians' faces +when Mr. Oliver addressed them, but they remained perfectly +expressionless. + +"I can't get anything out of them about the schooner," Mr. Oliver +reported at length. "This fellow says the easiest way would be to send +our Indians back for the canoe, which I'll do. It's possible that we may +chance upon a little more information later on." + +"Where do they get the skins?" Frank asked presently, when the Indians +had left them. + +"That's a point they don't seem much inclined to talk about," Mr. +Barclay answered. "They probably follow them in their canoes as they +work up north, though it's only odd seals they pick up in that way. The +principal supply comes from the Pribyloff Islands up in the Bering Sea. +It's supposed that with the exception of a few which frequent some reefs +lying nearer Russian Asia practically all the seals in the North +Pacific haul out there for two or three months every year. The American +lessees club them on the land, but the crews of the Canadian schooners +kill a number in open water outside our limit. They claim that although +the seals are born on American beaches we don't own them when they're in +the sea, but, as it's suggested that they're not always very particular +about their exact distance from the islands, their proceedings make +trouble every now and then. I'm talking about the fur seals; there are +several other kinds which are more or less common everywhere." + +He broke off and sat smoking silently for a while, looking at the skins. + +"They seem to have taken your fancy," Mr. Oliver observed presently. + +"It's a fact," Mr. Barclay assented. "I was just thinking I'd like to +take that big one and the other yonder home with me. My daughter Minnie +visits East in the winter now and then, and she's fond of furs, though +so far I haven't been able to buy her any particularly smart ones. +There's a man I know in Portland who can fix up a skin as well as any +one in London. He was a good many years in Alaska trading furs for the +A. C. C., and some of the Russians who stayed behind there taught him to +dress them." + +Mr. Oliver laughed. "I suppose the thing is quite out of the question?" + +"It is," said Mr. Barclay dryly. "You ought to know that the United +States charges a big duty on foreign furs." + +"On foreign ones!" broke in Harry, nudging Frank. "A seal born on an +American beach could certainly be considered an American seal." + +"When you import goods into the United States you require a certificate +of origin, young man." + +"That fixes the thing," said Harry. "On your own showing, those seals +originated on the Pribyloffs. They're American." + +"Ingenious!" exclaimed Mr. Barclay, with a longing glance at the skins. +"There's some reason in that contention, but won't you go on? You don't +seem to have got through yet." + +"In case you felt justified in taking a skin or two," continued Harry +thoughtfully, "I'd like to point out that, as a rule, the Customs +fellows don't trouble about a sloop the size of ours. We just run up to +our moorings when we come back from a yachting trip, and there's a nice +little nook forward which would just hold a bundle of those peltries. +It's hidden beneath the second cable." + +Mr. Barclay picked up a piece of shingle and flung it at him. + +"You can stop right now before you get yourself into difficulties. What +do you mean by proposing a smuggling deal to a man connected with the +United States revenue?" + +"I'm sorry," Harry answered with a chuckle. "I should have waited until +the rest had gone." + +Mr. Barclay regarded him severely, though his eyes twinkled. + +"Your smartness is going to make trouble for you by and by," he said. +"Go and see what that Siwash is doing about our supper." + +Harry moved away, but presently came back to announce that the meal was +ready. When it was over the boys strolled off toward the reef, leaving +the men sitting smoking on the beach. + +"That boy of yours told me what seemed a rather curious thing last +night," said Mr. Barclay, and he briefly ran over what Harry had related +about the man with the peculiar shoulder. + +Mr. Oliver listened in evident astonishment. + +"It's the first time I've heard of the matter," he exclaimed. "What do +you make of it?" + +"In the meanwhile I don't quite know what to think. If that man is boss +of the gang it explains a good deal that has been puzzling me, but I +must own it's considerably more than I expected. The general idea was +that he'd cleared out of the country, which would have been a very +natural course in view of the fact that he'd probably have been +sandbagged if he'd show himself after dark on any wharf of two of the +coast states. Anyway, your son's description was quite straight. He +seemed sure of him." + +"Harry's eyes are as good as yours or mine," said Mr. Oliver with a +smile. Mr. Barclay wrinkled his brow. + +"There's a point that struck me--though I can't say if it explains the +thing. The boy's only young yet, he has imagination and, it's possible, +a fondness for detective literature, like the rest of them. Now we'll +assume that he had heard of a certain sensational case--a particularly +grewsome crime on board an American ship--and the arrest of the rascal +accused of it. I needn't point out that the fellow only escaped on a +technical point of law and that his picture figured in some of the +papers. Isn't that the kind of thing that's likely to make a marked +impression on the youthful mind?" + +"I can see two objections," responded Mr. Oliver. "In the first place, +Harry was away in Idaho while the case was going on. The second one's +more important. Harry might try to put the laugh on you, as he did not +long ago, but when he makes a concise statement it's to be relied upon. +In such a case I've never known him to let his imagination run away with +him." + +Mr. Barclay spread his hands out in a deprecatory manner. + +"Then we'll take the thing for granted, and it certainly simplifies the +affair. I'd no trouble in finding the Chinese colony, and though I've no +idea how they get the dope, that doesn't matter. The point is that it's +very seldom anybody is likely to disturb them in this part of the bush, +and there are two inlets handy. A schooner could slip in here a dozen +times without being noticed by anybody except the Siwash. Then we have +the fact that a notorious rascal who has evidently a hand in the thing +was seen heading for the Chinese colony. It seems to me decisive." + +"What are you going to do about it?" Mr. Oliver asked. + +"Wait and keep my eyes open. If it appears advisable I may communicate +with the Canadian authorities later on, though, of course, we must +contrive to get our hands on the fellows in American waters. I've an +idea it can be done." + +Mr. Oliver said nothing further, and by and by, when a thin haze rolled +down from the hillside and night closed in, they strolled toward the +rancherie, where they were given a strip of floor space not far from the +entrance. The boys came in a little later and lay down apart from them +and nearer the door, but Frank did not go to sleep. The rancherie was +hot and the dull roar of the combers on the reef came throbbing in and +made him restless. He lay still for what seemed a considerable time, and +at last there was a low sound which might have been made by somebody +rising stealthily, after which a dim black object flitted out of the +door. Then Harry, who lay close to him, touched his arm. + +"Are you asleep?" he asked very softly. + +"No," answered Frank. "Where's that fellow going?" + +"Get out as quietly as you can," was Harry's reply. + +Frank had kept his shirt and trousers on, and after feeling for his +boots he arose cautiously, holding them in his hand. In another moment +or two he had slipped out into the cool night air and was crossing the +shingle in his stockinged feet. Once or twice a stone rattled, but he +supposed the sound was lost in the clamor of the reef, for nobody seemed +to hear it. When they had left the rancherie some distance behind they +sat down. + +"Now," said Harry, "I'll tell you my idea. They're expecting the +schooner and don't want her to run in while we're about. They've +probably had a man on the lookout down by the entrance, and I expect the +fellow who went out has been sent by the boss or Tyee to learn if the +other one has seen her." + +"It's curious some of them didn't hear us," Frank observed thoughtfully. + +"I'm not sure that they didn't," Harry admitted. "Anyway, they couldn't +stop us without some excuse, and, if I'm right, they certainly wouldn't +want to tell us why they wished us to stay in. Of course," he added, "it +might make them suspicious, but I don't know any reason why we should +point that out to Barclay. The great thing is to keep out of sight in +case they follow us." + +They put on their boots and crept along in the gloom beneath the rock, +heading toward the reefs. A little breeze blew down the hollow, setting +the dark firs to sighing, and part of the inlet lay black in their +shadow. The rest sparkled in the light of a half-moon which had just +risen above the crest of the hill. They could hear the soft splash and +tinkle of water rippling among the stones, but now and then this sound +was drowned as the roar of the reef grew louder and deeper. Presently a +dim, filmy whiteness in front of them resolved itself into a glimmering +spray cloud and fountains of spouting foam, and when at length they +stopped among a cluster of wet boulders they could see a black ridge of +rock thrusting itself out, half buried, into a mad turmoil of frothing +water. It lay in the shadow of the rock, and there was no moonlight on +the ghostly combers which came seething down upon it. A little outshore, +however, the sea sparkled with a silvery radiance except where the +shadow of a black head fell upon it. There was not more than a moderate +breeze, but the Pacific surge breaks upon and roars about those reefs +continually. + +A little thrill ran through Frank as he leaned upon one of the wet +boulders. It was the first time he had trodden a Pacific beach, and he +realized that he had now reached the outermost verge of the West. He +could go no farther. The ocean barred his progress, and beyond it lay +different lands, whose dark-skinned peoples spoke in other tongues. The +white man's civilization stopped short where he stood. Then as he +watched the ceaseless shoreward rush of the big combers and looked up at +black rock and climbing pines, a strange delight in the new life he led +crept into his heart. Dusky shadow and silvery moonlight seemed filled +with glamour, and he was learning to love the wilderness as he could +never have loved the cities. Besides, he was there to watch for the +mysterious schooner, and that alone was sufficient to stir him and put a +tension on his nerves. It was more than possible that there were other +watchers hidden somewhere in the gloom. + +He did not know how long they waited, with the salt spray stinging their +faces and the diapason of the surf in their ears, but at last she came, +breaking upon his sight suddenly and strangely, as he felt it was most +fitting that she should do. Her black headsails swept out of the shadow +of the neighboring head, the tall boom-foresail followed, and a second +later he saw the greater spread of her after canvas. She drove on, +growing larger, into a strip of moonlight, when, for the wind was off +the shore, he saw her hull hove up on the side toward him, with the +water flashing beneath it and frothing white at her bows. + +"She's close-hauled," said Harry. "They'll stretch across to the other +side and then put the helm down and let her reach in. It's a mighty +awkward place to make when the wind's blowing out." + +She plunged once more into the shadow, but Frank could still see her +more or less plainly--a tall, slanted mass of canvas flitting swiftly +through the dusky blueness of the night. She edged close in with the +reef, still carrying everything except her main gaff-topsail, and then +as her headsails swept across the entrance the splash of a paddle +reached the boys faintly through the clamor of the surf and they heard a +hoarse shout. + +"There's a canoe yonder," announced Harry. "The Siwash in her is hailing +them. They've heard him. Her peak's coming down." + +A clatter of blocks broke out and the upper half of the tall mainsail +suddenly collapsed. Then the schooner's bows swung around a little until +they pointed to the seething froth upon the opposite beach. + +"What are they doing?" Frank asked. "She's going straight ashore." + +Harry laughed excitedly. "No," he said, "that Siwash has told them to +clear out again, and it will want smart work to get her round in this +narrow water. They've dropped the mainsail peak because she wouldn't +fall off fast enough." + +Frank watched her eagerly for the next moment or two. Her bows were +swinging around, but they were swinging slowly, and the beach with the +white surf upon it seemed ominously close ahead. He saw two black +figures go scrambling forward and haul the staysail to windward, but she +was still forging across the inlet. Then her bows fell off a little +farther, the trailing gaff swung out with a bang, and Frank saw the +masts fall into line with him and a bent figure behind the deckhouse +struggling with the wheel. In another moment her mainsail came over with +a crash and she was flitting out to sea again. + +"Now," cried Harry, "back up the beach for your life! We're going in +swimming!" + +"You can do what you like," grunted Frank. "I'm heading straight for the +rancherie." + +"After the swim," urged Harry. "Get a move on and loose your things as +you run. I'll explain later." + +He ran on, flinging off his clothes, and plunged into the water when +they drew near the rancherie. In another moment or two Frank waded in +after him and was glad he had done so when he heard the soft splash of a +canoe paddle somewhere in the gloom. He fancied that the Siwash would +see them, which, as he realized, was what Harry had desired. They were +some distance from the mouth of the inlet and he did not think the +schooner would have been visible from the spot, which led him to believe +that if the Indians had noticed their absence their present occupation +might serve as an excuse for it. + +He did not see the canoe reach the beach, but in two or three minutes +Harry suggested that they might as well go out, and putting on some of +their clothes they made for the rancherie. Creeping into it softly, they +lay down and soon afterward went to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A TEST OF ENDURANCE + + +The boys were sitting on the beach next morning after breakfast when Mr. +Oliver looked across at Harry, who had not yet said anything about their +adventures. + +"What were you two doing last night?" he asked casually. + +Harry started. "Then you heard us?" + +"I did," said his father. "You were out of the door before I quite +realized what was going on, and it didn't seem altogether wise to +commence talking when you came back, but that's not the point. You +haven't answered my question." + +"We went in swimming," Harry informed him with a grin. + +"Considering that most people would prefer to swim in daylight, I wonder +if you had any particular reason for choosing the middle of the night?" +mused Mr. Oliver thoughtfully. + +"Why, yes," was Harry's answer. "I've a notion it was rather a good one. +I wanted the Siwash to see us in the water, because it would explain the +thing. There were at least two of them about the beach, though only one +left the rancherie after we came into it." + +"Then the fellow must have gone out a good deal more quietly than you +did, because I didn't hear him. I suppose you felt you had to get after +him and see what he was doing?" + +Mr. Barclay smiled and waved his hand. + +"Sure," he broke in. "The temptation would be irresistible. What else +would you expect from two enterprising youngsters like these, who have +no doubt been studying detective literature and the exploits of other +young men in the brave old jayhawking days?" + +A flush crept into Harry's face, but he answered quietly: + +"Well, it's perhaps as well we went, because I can tell you what the +Siwash were watching for. We saw the schooner." + +Mr. Barclay gave a sudden start and cast a significant glance at Mr. +Oliver. + +"The dramatic climax! There's no doubt you have sprung it upon us +smartly, but now you have worked it off you can go ahead with the tale." + +Harry told him what they had seen and when he had finished Mr. Barclay +seemed to be considering the matter ponderously. Then he turned to Mr. +Oliver. + +"It seems to me there's nothing more to keep us here." + +"No," said the rancher. "On the other hand, it might, perhaps, be better +if we waited until those canoes arrive--if it's only for the look of the +thing." + +His companion made a sign of agreement and neither one said anything +further on the subject. The boys lounged about the beach and gathered +delicious berries in the woods most of the day, and on the following day +two more canoes ran in. Their crews had, however, traded off their +peltries somewhere else, and shortly after their arrival Mr. Oliver and +his party left the inlet in the canoe which he had sent the Indians back +to bring. The weather had changed in the night, and when they paddled +down the strip of sheltered water their ears were filled with the clamor +of the surf, and the hillsides were lost in thin drizzle and sliding +mist. A filmy spray cloud hung about the entrance, and beyond it big, +gray combers tipped with froth came rolling up in long succession. The +sight of them affected Frank disagreeably, and he was not astonished +when Mr. Oliver, who spoke to one of the Indians, suggested that he and +Harry had better help with the spare paddles until they were far enough +off shore to get the masts up. + +Frank found it hard enough work, for the sea was almost ahead and the +canoe lurched viciously, pitching her bows out. The crag beyond the +inlet, however, still slightly sheltered them, and straining at the +paddle with the rain in their faces they made shift to drive her over +the big, gray-sided ridges, though every now and then the frothing top +of one came splashing in. At length one of the Siwash lifted the short +mast forward into its place, and thrusting in the sprit, shook loose the +sail. His companion, who knelt aft gripping a long-bladed paddle, seized +the sheet, and the craft, gathering speed, headed out toward the point +to lee of them. When she had cleared it the Siwash raised a second mast +farther aft, and setting the sail upon it, slacked both sheets, after +which the canoe drove away at what seemed to Frank an astonishing pace. +As a matter of fact, she was traveling very fast, for a narrow, +shallow-bodied craft of that kind is very speedy so long as the wind is +more or less behind her. + +Sitting with his back against her hove-up weather side he noticed rather +uneasily that the opposite one was almost level with the brine. Then he +glanced astern at the combers that followed them, and was by no means +comforted by the sight. They were unlike the short, tumbling waves he +had seen already in land-locked water, for they were larger and longer, +and swept up with a kind of stately swing until they broke into seething +foam. Their rise and fall seemed measured, and they rolled on in their +ceaseless march in well-ordered ranks. It struck him that the canoe was +carrying a dangerous press of sail, but nobody else appeared disturbed, +and he admitted that the Indians probably knew how much it was safe to +spread. + +"Isn't she making a great pace?" he asked of Mr. Oliver, who sat nearest +him. + +"Yes," was the answer, "I've made two or three trips in these canoes, +but I never saw one driven quite so hard. These fellows are probably +afraid the breeze will freshen up, and want to get as far as possible +before it does." + +They ran on for a couple of hours, seeing nothing but the ranks of +tumbling combers, except at intervals when the haze thinned a little and +they made out a shadowy mass which might have been high and rocky land +over the port side. In the meanwhile the seas were steadily getting +bigger, and a good deal of water came in at irregular intervals. By and +by, the boys were kept busy bailing it out, and the Indian who was not +steering held the sheet of the larger sail. + +At length, when the tops of two or three seas splashed in over the +foam-washed stern in quick succession, the helmsman raised his hand and +there was a wild thrashing as his companion loosened the after-sheet. +Rolling the sail together he flung the mast down, and the canoe ran on +with only the forward one set, which seemed to Frank quite sufficient. +The sea was on her quarter, and each comber that came up boiled about +her in a great surge of foam, and heaved her up before it left her to +sink dizzily into the hollow. Each time she did so Frank was conscious +of a curious and unpleasant feeling in his interior. + +He had, however, no difficulty in eating his share of the crackers and +canned provisions Mr. Oliver presently handed around, and after that he +was kept too busy bailing to notice anything until late in the afternoon +when he heard the two Indians muttering to one another. The result of +the discussion was that one of them pulled the sprit out, and folding +down the peak left only a small three-cornered strip of sail. Frank +understood the cause for this when he glanced at the seas, which looked +alarmingly big. It was disconcerting to realize that they could take no +more sail off the canoe unless they lowered the mast altogether, and +where the beach was he could not tell. He had seen no sign of it for the +last two hours, and it was now raining viciously hard. + +Nobody seemed inclined to talk, and there was only the roar and splash +of the combers behind them as they drove wildly on, until when dusk was +close at hand the dim shadow of a hill rose up suddenly on one side of +them. Then the Indian hauled the sheet, and presently when the water +became smoother, called to his companion, who thrust the sprit up again. +After that the canoe put her lee side in every now and then, but very +soon a foam-fringed point stretched out ahead. They swept around it, and +after skirting a half-seen, rocky beach ran with spritsail thrashing +into a little basin down to which there crept rows of mist-wrapped +trees. + +Frank was thankful to get out when the helmsman ran her ashore, and the +work of assisting the Indians to chop branches and make a fire put a +little warmth into him. They made supper when darkness closed down, and +afterward the Indians erected a rude branch-and-bark shelter, while the +white men and the boys huddled together in the tent. It was better than +sitting in the foam-swept canoe, but Frank longed for the sloop's +low-roofed cabin. + +He went to sleep, however, wet as he was, and after an early breakfast +next morning they started again, with both spritsails up in torrential +rain. The water was comparatively smooth, though the doleful moaning of +the firs fell from the half-seen hills, and Mr. Oliver announced that +the entrance to the canal they had come down was not far away. Frank had +learned that on the Pacific Slope canal generally means a natural arm +of the sea. + +They reached its entrance presently, sailing close-hauled, and on +stretching across it the canoe plunged viciously on a short, +white-topped sea. The wind was blowing straight down the deep rift in +the hills, and Frank remembered with regret that Alberni stood a long +way up at the head of the inlet. They came back on the other tack, +making almost nothing, and the Siwash pulled the masts down before one +of them spoke to Mr. Oliver. + +"I suppose they can't get the canoe to windward?" suggested Mr. Barclay. + +"He says we'll have to paddle," Mr. Oliver answered. "There seem to be +four paddles in her and that will leave two of us to relieve the rest in +turn." + +Harry and Frank took the first spell with the Indians, and they had had +enough of it before an hour had passed. The wind was dead ahead of them, +and though they crept in close with the beach they were met by little, +spiteful seas. It was necessary to fight for every fathom, thrashing her +slowly ahead by sheer force of muscle. Frank's hands were soon sore and +one knee raw from pressing it against the craft's bottom. He got hot and +breathless, the rain was in his face, and his side began to ache, and it +was a vast relief to him when Mr. Oliver finally took his place. + +The mists were thinning when he sat down limply in the bottom of the +craft, and great rocky hills and dusky firs crawled slowly by, except +when now and then a fiercer gust swept down, whitening all the inlet, +and they barely held their own by desperate paddling. Then as it dropped +a little they forged ahead again. It was dreary as well as very arduous +work, but there was no avoiding it, for their provisions were almost +gone and there was no trail of any kind through the bush. Frank felt +that even paddling into a strong head wind was better than smashing +through continuous thorny brakes and floundering over great fallen logs. + +One hand commenced to bleed when he next took his turn, but that was, as +he realized, not a matter of much importance. They had to reach Alberni +sometime next day, and his chief concern was how it could be done. Then +the pain in his side set in again and became rapidly worse, and he set +his lips tight as he swung gasping with each stroke of the splashing +blade. They won a foot or so each time the paddles came down, and it was +somewhat consoling to recognize it. He felt that if he had been called +upon to do this kind of thing after sleeping wet through upon the ground +when he first came out he would have immediately collapsed, but he was +steadily acquiring the power to disregard bodily fatigue. + +There was no change as the day slipped by. It rained pitilessly, and the +wind continually headed them as they labored on wearily with set, wet +faces and straining muscles. The stroke must not slacken, for the moment +it grew feebler the canoe would drive astern. They kept it up until +nightfall, and then beaching the canoe lay down once more in the tent, +which strained in the wind. They were aching all over when they rose +next morning, and the work was still the same, but they reached Alberni, +worn out, early in the evening. It was a very small place then, though +it afterward sprang up into a mining town. Two or three ranch houses +stood in their clearings beside a crystal river, and a few more +buildings clustered at the head of the inlet half hidden in the bush. +There was a store and a frame hotel among them, and Mr. Oliver, who took +up quarters in the latter, told the boys that the stage would start on +the following morning. The Indians were given shelter in one of the +outbuildings, and the hotelkeeper insisted on locking up the dog, who +growled at everybody about the place. + +"I'm not scared of dogs," he explained, "but that one of yours won't let +me get about my own house. Besides, I guess he'd eat some of those +Chinamen before morning if you leave him loose." + +They were standing near a window, and Mr. Oliver glanced at one or two +blue-clad figures lounging under the dripping trees. + +"You seem to have a number of them about," he remarked. "I saw another +lot as I came in. What are they doing here?" + +"Stopping for the night," was the answer. "They're camping in a barn of +mine and going on to the gold creek at sun-up, though they may start +earlier if the rain stops. Quite a few of them have come in over the +trail lately." + +"Then there must be a regular colony in the bush," broke in Mr. Barclay, +who had strolled up. + +"No," replied the hotelkeeper, "that's the curious thing. They keep on +coming in by threes and fours, but Blake from the ranch higher up the +river was through that way not long ago, and he said he didn't see many +of them yonder. About two dozen, he figured, but more than that have +come through here to my certain knowledge." + +"It looks as if the gold-washing didn't pay and the rest had gone on +somewhere," Mr. Barclay suggested carelessly. + +The hotelkeeper looked bewildered. "Well," he said, "this is the only +trail to the settlements, and they certainly haven't come back this way. +It's mighty rough traveling through the bush, as you ought to know." + +Mr. Barclay smiled ruefully as he glanced down at his torn clothing and +badly damaged boots. "That's a sure thing. Besides, they'd have their +truck to pack along, which would make it more difficult. Those fellows +generally bring a lot of odds and ends with them." + +"Oh, yes," assented the hotelkeeper. "Most of them have their slung +baskets on poles. Anyway, I've no fault to find with them. They make no +trouble." + +He walked off, and when Mr. Barclay and Mr. Oliver went out, Harry gave +a triumphant glance at Frank. + +"Now," he said, "you see what our friend has found out without giving +himself away. The question is, where do those Chinamen who don't stay +with the gold-washing get to?" + +Frank laughed. "I expect Barclay could give you an answer. There's +another thing he could probably guess at, and that's what they've got in +some of those slung baskets." + +Then they moved back toward the lighted stove, for the rain drove +against the frame walls and it was damp and chilly in the big bare +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A MIDNIGHT VISITOR + + +It was getting dark when the boys retired to their room, in which two +beds were standing at opposite corners. Harry chose the one nearest the +door, and they left the window open. The room was, as usual in such +places, very scantily furnished, but it appeared very comfortable after +their camps in the dripping bush, and Frank found it a luxury to get his +clothes off and lie down upon a comparatively soft mattress. + +A draught blew in at intervals through the window, and the door, which +would not shut, swung to and fro. It was raining as hard as ever, for +Frank could hear a muffled roar upon the shingled roof, and the pines +outside were wailing dolefully. He soon went to sleep, however, but was +awakened later by the sound of voices and a soft patter of feet below. +The rain seemed to have stopped at last, though he could hear a heavy +splashing from the branches of the firs close by, and he fancied that +the Chinamen must be starting. There was, however, no sign of morning +when he glanced toward the window, which showed only as a faintly +lighter square in the surrounding obscurity. In fact, it seemed +unusually dark, which struck him as curious, since there was a moon, but +the hotel stood in a valley shrouded by giant trees and he supposed that +the sky was thick with cloud. + +He heard the voices grow fainter and the footsteps gradually recede +until they were lost in the moaning of the pines, and he felt that he +did not envy the Chinamen their journey. He wondered why they had not +waited until sunrise before starting, and then remembered that a rancher +he had met had told him that a trail led out of the settlement for some +distance. He supposed it would be light before the Chinamen should reach +the end of it and plunge into the forest. About a quarter of an hour had +slipped away when, lying half asleep, he thought that he heard some one +in the room. He could see nothing but the window, and could hear little +else than the sound of the wind among the trees, but raising himself +very cautiously on one elbow he distinctly heard a faint sound that +suggested a stealthy movement. This seemed very curious, for he felt +almost certain that if his companion had had any idea of trying to find +out something about the Chinamen he would have told him, besides which, +the Chinamen had gone. + +While he lay still listening with tingling nerves there was a soft +scraping and presently a very pale blue flame broke out, showing a +shadowy figure in a loose robe bending over Harry's bed with a light in +its hand. Frank did not pause to consider what the stranger's intentions +might be, but reached for his boot, which was a heavy one, and flung it +with all his might at the shadowy object's head. It struck the boarded +wall with a startling crash, the light suddenly went out, and he sprang +from his bed in the darkness with a cry of "Harry!" + +"Well," said his companion drowsily, "what's the matter?" + +"Where's the Chinaman?" shouted Frank, darting toward the door. + +He ran out into a passage with Harry blundering half awake behind him, +and noticed that there was an open window near the door which had been +shut when he had last seen it. On reaching it he espied what seemed to +be the roof of a low outbuilding not far below, but there was very +little else to be seen except the loom of the dusky pines which were +beginning to stand out against the sky. Then he heard a rush of +pattering feet and a yelp on the stairway close by, and a furry body +flung itself against his knee. He recognized the dog, who almost +immediately darted into the room. It came out again, sprang to the +window ledge, and bounded to the roof beneath. He heard a soft thud on +the shingles and a bark that sounded farther off, and then for a moment +or two there was silence again. + +It was broken by the sound of a door flung open, and Mr. Barclay came +along the passage very lightly dressed, with a lamp in his hand. Telling +them to follow, he walked into the boys' room, and placed the lamp on a +bureau before he sat down on the nearest bed. + +"Now," he asked, "what's the cause of this commotion?" + +"I don't know," said Harry. "Perhaps Frank can tell you. He seems to +have been throwing his boots about." + +Frank, a little nettled, narrated what he had seen. Mr. Barclay smiled. + +"You say the man was standing by Harry's bed," he observed. "Did you +notice if he had a big knife in his hand?" + +"He'd nothing but a match," Frank answered shortly. + +"Now that's curious," said Mr. Barclay. "Do you suppose he meant to set +the bed on fire, or have you any idea what he was doing?" + +Frank heard a slight sound and looking around saw Mr. Oliver standing in +the doorway, while just then a shout came down the passage, apparently +from the hotelkeeper. + +"What's the trouble? Is there anything wrong?" + +"We're trying to find out," Mr. Barclay replied. "It doesn't seem to be +serious, anyway." + +"Then I'll put a few clothes on before I come along," said the voice, +and a door banged. + +"He seemed to be looking down at Harry's face," said Frank, who saw +that Mr. Barclay was waiting an answer. + +Mr. Barclay now turned and favored Harry with a critical gaze. + +"I can't understand what the fellow wanted to do that for." Then he +smiled back at Frank. "These are decadent days. He wouldn't have got +away with his scalp on if he'd come creeping into the room of the James +boys." + +Harry flushed. "I suppose you mean to hint that Frank imagined it all, +sir? Well, he told you the man struck a match, and though sulphur +matches don't give much light they make a considerable smell. Do you +notice any particular odor in this room?" Then he stooped suddenly and +picked up a half-burned match. "What do you make of this? I haven't +struck one." + +Mr. Barclay examined the match with an abstracted expression, and while +he did so the dog pattered into the room wagging his tail in a +deprecatory manner, as if to excuse himself for not overtaking the +intruder. He jumped distractedly around the boys for a moment and then +crouched down upon the floor with a short length of broken cord trailing +from his collar. Mr. Oliver pointed to it with an amused smile. + +"It seems to me the dog must have imagined something of the same kind as +Frank did," he observed. + +By this time the hotelkeeper arrived and gazed on with astonishment +while Mr. Barclay briefly explained the cause of the commotion. + +"I've never heard anything like this since I've been in the place," he +declared. "The Chinamen are out on the trail now. Better see if you have +lost anything." + +The couple of dollars that Frank had brought with him proved to be still +in his pocket, and Harry fished out the dollar which belonged to him. +His cheap watch was safe beneath his pillow, and Frank declared that he +had left his silver one at the ranch. This appeared to make the matter +more inexplicable to the hotelkeeper. + +"If the fellow had gone off with something, I could have understood it," +he said in a puzzled way. + +"It's most likely that Frank saw him almost immediately after he came +in," said Mr. Oliver. "As he pitched his boot at him, the man was +probably startled and got out without wasting any time in looking round. +Then the dog broke loose and went after him." + +The hotelkeeper agreed with this and shortly afterward Mr. Oliver, +telling the boys not to trouble themselves any further about the matter, +followed him out with Mr. Barclay. They turned into the latter's room, +where Mr. Oliver sat down. + +"I imagine that Frank's notion is correct," he said. "As Harry told you, +he and Frank once paid a visit to the Chinese camp near our ranch where +he saw the man with the high shoulder and followed him to a shack from +which he disappeared. If the Chinaman who crept into the room chanced to +have been about the camp when the boys were there, it's quite possible +that he did wish to see Harry's face." + +"That," Mr. Barclay admitted, "is my own opinion, though it seemed wiser +not to impress it on the boys. I don't suppose you want them to get to +making any investigations on their own account?" + +"No," rejoined Mr. Oliver. "On the other hand, they've taken a certain +part in the matter already. In fact, it might have been better if I'd +left them behind. The trouble is that if the Chinaman recognized Harry +it would probably give him some idea as to why we made this visit." + +Mr. Barclay nodded his head. "Yes," he said. "It's a pity, but, after +all, I'm rather glad I made this trip. It's going to prove worth while." + +Nothing further was said on the subject and silence settled down again +on the hotel. There was bright sunshine when the party started with the +stage next morning, and after spending the night at a little colliery +town they took the train south. Getting off at a small station they +found the sloop safe in the cove where they had left her. Mr. Barclay, +however, went on with the peltries to Victoria, which was not far away, +and there managed to dispose of them, after which he hired a horse and +rode back to the inlet. They set sail as soon as he arrived, and after +two days of light winds duly reached the cove near the ranch. + +A few months slipped by peacefully. The smugglers showed no sign of +further activity, and Mr. Oliver got his oat crop in undisturbed. One +way or another he kept the boys busy from morning until night, but at +last when the maple leaves were beginning to turn he told them to take +their rifles and go hunting, and they set off one morning after +breakfast. + +It was a still, clear morning, and now that the fall was drawing on +there was a change in the bush. Here and there a maple leaf caught a ray +of sunshine and burned like a crimson lamp, the fern was growing yellow, +and the undergrowth was splashed and spattered with flecks of varying +color. Even the light in the openings seemed different. It was at once +softer and clearer than the glare of summer, and the shadows seemed +thinner and bluer than they had been. But there was no difference in the +great black firs. They lifted their fretted spires high against the sky, +as they had done for centuries, and they would remain the same until the +white man's ax should sweep the wilderness away. + +The boys were floundering waist-deep in withered fern and tangled +undergrowth when they heard a rustling and scurrying somewhere near +their feet, and Harry, breaking off a rotten branch from a fallen fir, +hurled it into a neighboring thicket. + +"A fool hen!" he shouted. "Jump round this bush, and try to put it up." + +Frank fell into the thicket in his haste, but he still heard the +scurrying in front of him when he scrambled to his feet. He kicked a +clump of fern, and there was no doubt that something rushed away from +underneath it, after which he plunged through the brake with Harry some +yards away on one side of him, but there was nothing visible. They +hunted the unseen creature for what he supposed was about ten minutes +with no better result. Then a plainly colored bird about the size of a +pigeon rose from almost under his feet and flew to a fir branch some +twenty yards away, where it perched and looked down at its pursuers +unconcernedly. + +"It doesn't seem scared now," said Frank in astonishment. + +"It isn't," Harry answered with a laugh. "The thing feels quite safe +once it's on a branch. I guess that's why it's called the fool hen, +though its proper name is the willow grouse. Walk up and try a shot at +it--only you must cut its head off." + +Frank crept up nearer with a caution which was wholly unnecessary, for +the bird did not seem to mind him in the least when he stopped close +beneath it and pitched his rifle to his shoulder, but as he gazed at it +over the half-moon of the rearsight it seemed to him that its neck was +exceedingly small. He could not keep the forebead fixed on it, and +bringing the rifle down he rested before he tried it again. Then he felt +the butt thump his shoulder and the barrel jerk, and a little wisp of +smoke drifted across his eyes and hung about the bushes. When it +cleared, the grouse, to his astonishment, was sitting on the branch as +calmly as ever. + +"It likes it," said Harry. "Try again--only at its neck." + +Trying again, Frank succeeded in inducing the bird to move to a +neighboring branch, after which he braced himself with desperate +determination for the third attempt. This time the jar upon his shoulder +was followed by a soft thud, and he understood why he had been warned +to shoot only at its neck when he picked up his victim. The big .44 +bullet had horribly shattered it. + +"Could _you_ have shot its head off?" he asked after he had thrown it +down in disgust. + +"Why, yes," said Harry. "Anyway, I can generally manage it if the thing +sits still. Most of the bush ranchers could do it every time." + +He made this good presently when they found another bird, for it dropped +at his first shot without its head. Half an hour later they saw a blue +grouse perched rather high up in a cedar. + +"This fellow won't sit to be fired at," Harry explained. "Better try it +kneeling where you are, if you can get the foresight up enough." + +Frank knelt with his right foot tucked under him and his left elbow on +his knee. It steadied the rifle considerably, but he had to cramp +himself a little to raise the muzzle. Holding his breath he squeezed the +trigger when a part of the bird filled up the curve of the rearsight, +but he was mildly astonished when Harry walked toward him with the +grouse in his hand. + +"I guess this one could be cooked," he said dubiously. "We'll take it +along." + +Frank surveyed his victim with a thrill of pride. It was larger than the +willow grouse. In fact, it seemed to him a remarkably big and handsome +bird in spite of the hole in it, and he thrust it into the flour bag on +his back with unalloyed satisfaction. + +"Is this the thing that makes the drumming in the spring?" he asked. + +Harry said that it was, and they scrambled through the bush for a couple +of hours without seeing anything further, until they approached a swampy +hollow with a steep hillside over which the undergrowth hung unusually +thick. + +"There ought to be a black bear yonder; they like the wild cabbage," +said Harry. "We'll try to crawl in. It's a pity there isn't a little +wind ahead of us." + +They spent half an hour over the operation, and Frank realized that +trailing had its drawbacks when he found that it entailed burrowing +among thorny thickets and crawling across quaggy places on his hands and +knees. In spite of his caution sticks would snap and it seemed to his +strung-up imagination that he was making a prodigious noise. At last, +however, there was another sound some distance in front of him which +suddenly became louder. + +"A bear, sure," cried Harry excitedly. "Going off up hill. Shoot if you +can see it." + +Frank gazed intently ahead, but could see absolutely nothing, though he +could hear a smashing and crashing which presently died away again on +the slope. Then Harry brought down his rifle and turned away. + +"You can generally hear a black bear," he said. "He goes straight and +rips right through the things a deer would jump. He's a kind of harmless +beast, anyway." + +"Could we find a deer?" Frank asked, his hopes still high. + +"We'll try when we've had dinner," replied his companion. "I haven't +seen any lately, though that doesn't count for much, because it would be +possible not to notice one if the woods were full of them. Still, they +seem to have a way of clearing right out of the country every now and +then for no particular reason. The bear and the timber wolves do the +same thing." + +They ate their dinner sitting among the roots of a big cedar, while a +gorgeous green and red woodpecker climbed about a neighboring trunk. +Then Harry stood up and shouldered his rifle. + +"After this we'll leave the birds alone," he announced. "You don't want +to make a noise when you're trailing deer." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +FRANK KILLS A DEER + + +They plodded through the bush for an hour or two without seeing any +living thing except a few pigeons, and Harry began to look doubtful. + +"If it was early morning, I'd try one of the rock outcrops where nothing +grows," he observed. "The deer get up on to those places out of the dew +then. As it's afternoon, I don't know which way to head." + +Frank glanced at his clothes. Keen as he was on hunting, he would not +have been sorry to head for home, for his duck trousers were badly torn +and one of his boots which had been rather the worse for wear when he +started was almost dropping off his foot. They trudged on, however, and +accident favored them, as it often does when one is hunting, for at last +when they were in very thick bush Harry dropped suddenly behind a patch +of withered fern. + +"Look there!" he said softly. "Right ahead of you yonder." + +Frank gazed ahead with straining eyes, but he could only see the great +trunks stretching back in serried ranks. He had heard somewhat to his +astonishment that it is not often that a novice can see a deer in the +bush even when it is pointed out to him, but now, it seemed, the thing +was true. He could have declared that there was not a deer anywhere +within the range of his vision. + +"Right in front," whispered Harry, impatiently. "About seventy yards +off. Oh, look yonder!" + +He stretched his hand out and at last Frank noticed what seemed to be a +very slightly different colored strip of something behind a narrow +opening in a thicket. It might have been withering fern, or a cluster of +fading leaves, but he would never have imagined it to be a portion of a +deer. Then his doubts vanished, for it suddenly moved. + +"Where shall I shoot?" he asked beneath his breath. + +"At the bottom of the bit you can see," was the low answer. + +Frank threw up his rifle. He was too eager to kneel or lie down, and it +scarcely seemed probable that the deer would wait until he was +comfortably ready. He lined the sights on a twig immediately in front of +the object, and though his hands had quivered he found them growing +steadier as he squeezed the trigger. He heard no report, but there was a +crash in the thicket as the smoke came drifting back, and Harry ran +forward with a shout. + +"Come on!" he cried. "You've hit it!" + +Frank ran his fastest, though running of any kind was extraordinarily +difficult. In places the withered fern was higher than his head and +there seemed to be innumerable bushes in his way, while when he +endeavored to avoid them he generally came upon a giant tree which had +to be scrambled around. Still, there was no doubt that the deer was not +far off, for he could hear it floundering through the brakes and fern, +and by and by he came upon a trail of red splashes scattered here and +there upon the leaves. + +"It's hit bad," panted Harry. "If we can hold out we'll get it yet." + +They did their utmost for the next half hour, but they never once saw +the deer, which by the decreasing sound seemed to be drawing away from +them, and Frank felt that it would be impossible for him to keep up the +pace many minutes longer. He was breathless, and dripping with +perspiration, and his clothes were torn all over. Indeed, eager as he +was, it was almost a relief when the sound in front of him gradually +died away, and Harry stopped, gasping, and leaned against a fir. + +"What are we going to do about it now?" Frank asked. + +"Trail that deer," was the breathless answer. "It's not going very far. +You can tell by the noise it made that it was hit too bad to jump." + +Frank was of the opinion that it had gone quite far enough already, but +he silently watched Harry, who began to walk up and down, looking +carefully about him. + +"It went through this bush," he said at length. "After that it must have +crossed the fern yonder." Then scrambling forward he waved his hand. +"Come on! The trail's quite plain." + +Frank followed him with some trouble and once more saw the red splashes +on the leaves. Now and then they lost them for a little while and the +undergrowth did not seem to have been disturbed, but on each occasion +Harry contrived to find the spots again. He traced them from place to +place, moving more slowly and cautiously, while Frank painfully broke +through the thickets in his wake. They were both nearly exhausted when +an hour after the shot was fired they came to a little creek. + +"It lay down here," said Harry. "We'll stop a minute or two. Guess that +deer's 'most as played out as we are." + +This seemed very probable to Frank as he glanced at the broad red smear +upon the damp soil, and for the first time he was troubled by a sense of +compunction as he realized that there were two sides to hunting. The +pursuers' labor was severe enough, but he could imagine what the flight +must have cost the sorely wounded creature who had so far managed to +keep in front of them. He was scratched and torn and exhausted, but at +least he was sound in limb, while the deer must have staggered on in +anguished terror with its life steadily draining from the cruel bullet +hole. Somewhere in his mind there was now a wish that he had not made so +good a shot. + +"Do you think we're far behind it?" he asked. + +"I don't, but that doesn't count," answered Harry. "We have to follow +it, anyway. I remember when I got my first deer. Dad was with me, and +before I fired he asked if I thought I could hit it where I wanted. I +said I did, and he told me to make sure, because if the beast got away +with a bullet in it I'd have to trail it until it dropped." He stopped +with a significant laugh. "As it happened, we followed it close on three +hours, through the thickest kind of bush, and--I wasn't so big then--it +was mighty hard work to get back to the ranch afterward." + +Frank fancied that in the present case he might drop before the deer +did, though he realized that Mr. Oliver's rule was in one way a merciful +one and undoubtedly calculated to encourage careful shooting. When he +had recovered his breath a little they started again, but it was half an +hour later when they caught a glimpse of the deer painfully laboring +through a clump of fern on the slope of a steep rise. Harry pitched up +his rifle, and though the animal disappeared again immediately after +they fired, they knew it was still going on by the snapping of twigs and +the rustling in the fern. + +Harry was sure that he had hit it, and making a last effort, they broke +into a run which Frank remembered for a considerable time afterward. The +slope seemed to be getting remarkably steep, he could scarcely see a +dozen yards in front of him through the undergrowth, and several times +he stuck fast for a moment or two in tangled thickets. Then he fell into +a horrible tangle of rotting branches, dropping his rifle and bruising +himself cruelly, and he only succeeded in forcing himself along because +his companion shouted breathlessly that the deer was rapidly flagging. +Frank could hear it very plainly now. + +At last when they reached the summit of the rise it came out into open +view for a moment. The bush was thinner there, with less growth between +the trees, and he saw the animal limp out from a thicket, dragging an +injured limb. He flung up his rifle, and Harry who was a little in front +fired almost as he did. The deer staggered, made a feeble bound, and +vanished as if the earth had opened under it. A moment or two later +Harry stopped with a hoarse, gasping shout. + +Frank stumbled forward and found him standing on the brink of what +seemed to be a very deep ravine, the almost precipitous sides of which +were shrouded in young firs and densely growing bushes. Harry was gazing +dubiously into the gully. + +"I don't quite know how we're going to get down, but we'll have to try," +he said. "The deer's at the bottom done for, and I don't feel like going +home and telling dad we left it. Besides, it's quite likely he might +send us back for it." + +"Then if it has to be done, we may as well get about it," said Frank +wearily. + +Slinging his rifle, he crawled over the edge and went sliding and +slipping down for about a dozen yards until he fell into the branches of +a young fir. After that he plunged into several bushes before he could +stop again, and eventually lowered himself foot by foot, clutching at +whatever seemed strong enough to hold him, until he alighted knee-deep +in a splashing creek. Nearby the deer lay motionless where it had fallen +upon the stones. It was a beautifully symmetrical creature, but it +seemed to Frank smaller than he had expected. + +"A young black-tail," said Harry. "Anyway, that's what we call them, +though I believe it's really the mule-deer. There's another black-tail. +We've got the deer names kind of mixed up on the Pacific Slope." + +Frank regarded the animal dubiously. "It seems to me the most important +question is how we're going to get it home." + +"Pack it," answered Harry. "But I'd better open it up first. You can sit +down while I do it, if you'd rather." + +Frank would very much have preferred to sit down out of sight while the +deer was dressed, but it occurred to him that it would scarcely be +fitting to leave the disagreeable part of the work to his companion. + +"No," he persisted, "I'll help as much as I can." + +"Well," said Harry dryly, "if you want to go hunting it's a thing you'll +have to learn." + +The operations that followed were singularly unpleasant, and Frank felt +a good deal less enthusiastic about hunting when he washed his hands and +the sleeves of his jacket in the creek after they were over. + +"I don't know if I'll eat any of that deer," he said. + +"You'll get over it," Harry assured him with a smile. "Anyway, in my +opinion deer meat isn't much of a delicacy. It's that stringy you could +'most make lariats of it, unless you keep it until it's bad." + +Frank felt inclined later to agree with this statement, but in the +meanwhile Harry got the deer, which he had not yet skinned, upon his +shoulders with its fore legs pulled over in front of him, and they +started back for the ranch. It was, however, some time before they could +find a way out of the gulch, and then they only gained the summit by an +arduous scramble. After that they found themselves in exceedingly thick +bush, with nothing that Frank could see to guide them. There was +probably not much light at any time down among those great trunks whose +branches met and crossed high overhead, and what there was seemed to be +getting dim. + +"If we keep on going down we'll strike something by and by," urged +Harry. "The slope's naturally toward the beach." + +The first thing they struck was a remarkably steep hillside, up which +they struggled, Frank now carrying the deer, which he found heavy enough +before he reached the top. Then a narrow valley opened up before them, +which did not seem to be what Harry had expected. There were one or two +ponds in the bottom of it, and he gazed at them thoughtfully. + +"We might get a duck," he mused. "They ought to be coming down from +Alaska now. It's freezing up there." + +They floundered down the declivity, and, though Frank would have +preferred to push on straight for home, Harry insisted on creeping +through the long harsh grass about the edge of the water. They tried one +of the ponds with no result, but at last Harry dropped suddenly behind a +tall clump of grass. + +"Look!" he said. "There are two or three ducks yonder. You take the +nearest. Keep the foresight as fine as you can." + +Frank saw one or two small objects floating just outside the grass +across the pond. They seemed to be a very long way off, and though he +feared that he could not keep the sights upon any of them standing, the +ground looked horribly quaggy to kneel in. This could not be helped, +however, for it seemed that getting wet and torn did not count when one +was hunting, and he pressed his right knee down into the mire. He could +just see one of the ducks when he closed his left eye, and he had +misgivings as to the result when he squeezed the trigger. Harry's rifle +flashed immediately after his, there was a rattle of wings and a +startled quacking, and he saw two ducks with long necks stretched out +fly off above the trees. Another seemed to be lying on the water, and +remembering the size of the bullet, he had no fear of that one getting +away. + +"The next thing is to get it," said Harry. "It's not going to be easy." + +He was perfectly right. They spent a long while struggling around the +pond, into which they had to wade nearly waist-deep before Harry +contrived to rake the duck in toward him with the muzzle of his rifle. +It did not look a sightly object when he had secured it, but he decided +that there was enough of it left to eat. + +"Is it the one you shot at?" he asked with a grin. + +"I can't say," Frank answered. "I shouldn't be surprised if it wasn't." + +"Well," said Harry, "we're not going to quarrel about the thing. What we +have to do is to make a bee-line home. We'll come along again in a week +or two. The ponds are full of ducks for a little in the spring and +fall." + +"Only then?" + +"They're not so plentiful between-whiles," Harry answered. "Of course, +our worst winters aren't marked by the cold snaps you have back East, +and quite a few of the ducks stay with us, while some put in the summer, +too; but in a general way every swimming bird of any size heads north to +the tundra marshes by the Polar Sea in spring. In the fall they come +back again, how far I don't know--lower California, Mexico, perhaps, +right away to Bolivia and Peru. Going and coming, the big flocks stop +around here to rest a while." He smiled at his companion. "A mallard +duck's a little thing, but he covers a considerable sweep of country." + +He picked up the deer and they went on again, but darkness overtook them +before they reached the ranch, utterly worn out, with most of their +garments rent to tatters; and Frank, who had carried the deer the last +mile or two, gave a gasp of relief when he laid it down. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +MR. WEBSTER'S GUNS + + +It was about a week after the boys' hunting trip when Mr. Oliver's +nearest neighbor, Mr. Webster, drove up to the ranch in a dilapidated +wagon. It was dark when he arrived, for the days were rapidly getting +shorter. When Jake had taken his horse away he laid what appeared to be +a small armory on the kitchen table and sat down by the stove. He was a +young man with a careless, good-humored expression, and Harry aside +informed Frank that his ranch was not much of a place. + +"I've brought you my guns along," said Mr. Webster, addressing Mr. +Oliver, and then looked down at the dog, who had walked up to him in the +meanwhile and now stood regarding him with its head on one side. +"Hello!" he added, patting it, "I'd 'most forgotten you. You have +managed to put up with him, Miss Oliver?" + +Miss Oliver said that she had grown fond of him, and the dog, after +standing up with a paw upon the man's knee, dropped down on all fours at +the sound of her voice and trotted back to her without waiting for +another pat. + +"I always had a notion he was an ungrateful as well as an ordinary +beast," said Mr. Webster. "Would you have fancied my dog would leave me +like that after all I've done for him? I guess I've laid into him with +'most everything about the ranch from the grubhoe handle to the riding +quirt." + +Mr. Oliver laughed. "But why have you brought your guns?" + +"For you to take care of. My place gets damp in winter without the stove +on and I'm going away for a month or two. I've taken on a log-bridge +contract with a fellow I used to work with, on one of the new settlement +roads. The man who's been clearing land up the creek took the few head +of stock I had off my hands and the fruit trees will grow along all +right without worrying anybody until I get back again. If one hadn't to +do so much cutting every now and then, they'd be a long sight handier +than raising stock." + +"Well," Mr. Oliver assured, "I think we can promise to look after the +guns. I didn't know you had so many of them." + +Mr. Webster arose and walked toward the table. "Though I never was a +great shot, guns are rather a hobby of mine. I needn't say anything +about these two--single-shot Marlin, Winchester repeater--but the +old-timers seem to have a notion that a man must excuse himself for +keeping a scatter gun. This"--and he picked up what seemed to Frank a +handsome single barrel--"is a thing I bought for a few dollars last time +I was in Portland. I allowed she would do to keep the pigeons off my +oats. Not much of a gun, but she throws out the shell." Then he took up +a double gun with the brown rubbed off the barrels, leaving bright +patches. "This one's different; there's some tone about her. A sport I +once had boarding with me gave her to me when he went away. Said I'd +given him a great time, and as he was fixed, it might be two or three +years before he could get out into the woods again." + +He sat down on the table and looked over with a smile at the boys. "I +don't know any reason why you two shouldn't have those guns until I come +back; they'll keep better if they're used and rubbed out once in a +while, and there's a box of shells in the wagon. You can't call yourself +a sport until you can drop a flying bird with the scatter gun, and +there's considerably more to it than most of the old-timers who can +only plug a deer with a rifle seem to think." + +He evidently noticed the interest in Frank's face, for he proceeded to +demonstrate, standing up with the double gun held across him a little +above his waist. + +"Now," he added, "you don't want to aim, poking the gun about. You keep +it down and your eyes on the bird, until you're ready, and then pitch it +up right on the spot first time--it's better with both eyes open, if you +can manage it." The gun went in to his shoulder and Frank heard the +striker click, after which the man swung the muzzle half a foot or so. +"Say you missed. You've still got the second barrel--" + +They heard no more, for there was an appalling crash, a short cry from +Miss Oliver, and a yelp from the dog who jumped into the air, while a +filmy cloud of smoke drifted about the room. When it cleared Mr. +Webster, who had opened the door, sat down on the table looking very +sheepish and turned toward Miss Oliver. + +"I'm sorry--dreadful sorry," he observed contritely. "I hadn't the least +notion there was anything in the thing." + +Mr. Oliver glanced at the ragged hole high up in the log wall and then +looked at Mr. Webster with ironical amusement in his eyes. + +"Your instructions were good as far as they went, but you have forgotten +one rather important point." He turned to the boys. "It's this. Never +bring a gun of any kind into a house without first opening the magazine +or breach, and if there's a shell in it, immediately take it out. It's a +precaution that's as simple as it's effective, and though there was +perhaps some excuse for an accident in the old days when a man couldn't +readily empty his gun unless he fired off the charge, there's none now." + +"Sure," agreed Mr. Webster, who seemed to be getting over his +confusion, for he addressed the boys again. "With winter coming on, the +best sport I know with a scatter gun is shooting flighting duck, and +there's plenty of them along the beach. They've a way of moving around +in flocks between the light and dark, which is the best time, though you +can get them through the night if there's not too bright a moon. A good +place would be those patches of sand and mud behind the islands, +especially when the tide's just leaving the flats. Take the sloop or +canoe along sometime and try it." + +The boys thanked him and Frank's eyes glistened as he handled the light +single gun. + +"What are you going to do with your team?" asked Mr. Oliver, changing +the subject. + +"Anson down by Nare's Hill will take them for their keep, but I might +have made a few dollars out of them if I'd been staying on." + +"How's that?" + +"Well," in a significant tone, "a man came along three or four nights +ago. I don't know where he came from, and I don't know where he went--he +just walked in with the lamp lit when I was getting supper. He wanted to +know if I was open to hire him a team for a night or two." + +"What kind of a man?" + +"A stranger. He looked like a sailor and seemed liberal. Said he wanted +the team particularly, and if I'd have them handy when he turned up we +needn't quarrel about the figure. That must have meant I could charge +most what I liked." + +"What did you say?" + +Mr. Webster smiled. "I just told him the horses were promised and I +couldn't make the deal. Anyway"--and he added this in a different +voice--"I'd no notion of going back on you." + +"Thanks," said Mr. Oliver quietly, and they talked about other matters +until Webster, making a few more excuses to Miss Oliver, drove away. +When he had gone she looked at her brother and laughed softly. + +"I was startled but not very much astonished when the gun went off," she +said. "The little incident was so characteristic of the man." + +The next day the boys commenced practicing at flung-up meat cans with +the cartridges he had given them and in a week they could hit one every +now and then at thirty yards. Soon afterward Mr. Oliver went away. He +only told the boys that he was going to Tacoma, but Harry thought it +possible that he wanted to see Mr. Barclay, since Mr. Webster's story +made it clear that the dope runners were about again. He announced +ingenuously that they had better try the flight-shooting while his +father was away, because if they came back all right with several ducks +he would probably not object to their going another time. Miss Oliver +seemed doubtful when they casually mentioned the project to her, but as +she did not actually forbid it they set out with the sloop late one +afternoon, taking the dog with them. + +It was falling dusk and the tide had been running ebb two or three hours +when they beat in under the lee side of one of the islands they had +passed on a previous occasion on their way to the settlement. After +anchoring the sloop where she would lie afloat at low water some +distance off the beach they got into the canoe and paddling ashore +crossed the island, which was small and narrow. It was covered with thin +underbrush and dwarf firs, and on its opposite side a broad stretch of +wet sand and shingle with pools and creeks in it stretched back toward +the channel, which cut it off from the mainland. + +To the eastward, the pale silver sickle of a crescent moon hung low in +the sky, but westward a wide band of flaring crimson and saffron still +burned beneath dusky masses of ragged cloud and the uncovered sands +gleamed blood-red in the fading glow. A cold wind stirred the pines to +an eerie sighing, and the splash of a tiny surf came up faintly from the +outer edge of the sands. The whole scene struck Frank as very forbidding +and desolate, and he fancied that there was a threat of wind in the sky. +Something in the loneliness troubled him, and for no particular reason +he felt half sorry that he had come. He realized that it would have been +much more cozy in the sloop's cabin than upon that dreary beach, and he +said something about the weather to Harry. + +"We'll be sheltered here if the breeze does come up, and this looks just +the place where we ought to get a duck," his companion answered. "There +aren't many spots like it around this part of the coast, where we've +generally deeper water. Perhaps we'd better move on a little nearer +yonder clump of firs. They'll hide us from any birds that come sailing +down to the flats." + +"What's the matter with the dog?" Frank asked. "What's he snuffing at?" + +The animal was trotting about with his nose upon the ground and would +not come when they called him. + +"I don't know," said Harry carelessly. "Perhaps somebody's been across +the island lately, though I don't think it's often a white man lands +here." + +They took up their stations a little apart from each other among some +very rough boulders, with the nearest of the firs on a rocky ridge some +thirty or forty yards away from them. Their ragged branches cut in a +sharp ebony pattern against the sky, which was duskily blue. It was very +cold and the wind seemed fresher, for the trees were rustling and +moaning, and the calling of distant wildfowl came up through the +increasing murmur of the surf. + +Frank's boots had suffered from hard wear in the bush, and, as he had +stumbled into a pool, his feet were very wet, but he crouched behind a +boulder, clutching the single-barreled gun with cold fingers, and +watching the sky beyond the fir tops, for what seemed a considerable +time. Nothing moved across it except a long wisp of torn-edged cloud, +and he was commencing to wonder whether it would not be better to go +back to the sloop when Harry called softly, and he heard a new sound in +the darkness somewhere beyond the firs. It suggested the regular +movement of a row of fans, which was the best comparison that occurred +to him, for there was a kind of measured beat in it, and in another few +moments he recognized it as the rhythmic stroke of wings. Then a double +line of dark bodies spreading out from a point in the shape of a wedge +appeared close above him against the sky. + +He saw that they had long necks, but that was all, for they were coming +on with an extraordinary swiftness. There was a crash as Harry's gun +flung a streak of red fire into the darkness. Then Frank pitched up the +single barrel, pulling hard upon the trigger as the butt struck his +shoulder. He felt the jar of it and saw a whirling blaze, after which he +swung around when Harry's gun flashed again. + +The wedge, which had scattered, was reuniting. He could just see it +dotted upon the sky, but he fancied that one dark object had come +whirling down and struck the flats outshore of him a few seconds +earlier. + +"One, sure!" cried Harry. "I've an idea there's a cripple, too, trailing +on the ground. Where's that dog? I wonder if he'd hunt it up?" + +They called, but there was no sign of the animal. + +"He'd probably sit down and eat it, if he got it," said Frank, laughing. +"As he isn't here, we'd better get after the birds." + +They soon picked up the dead one, a mallard, Harry said; but it was some +minutes before they saw the other fluttering across a patch of wet sand. +Breaking into a run they were astonished to find that they did not get +much nearer, and it must be admitted that Frank fired again without +stopping it. After that, it led them through several pools and runlets +of water, until at a flash of Harry's gun it lay still, but they were +almost up to their knees in a little channel before they retrieved it. + +"I wonder how long we'll have to wait before some more ducks come," said +Harry as they made their way back to the boulders. Then he suddenly +looked about him. "Where can that dog have gone?" + +They called a second time, but there was still no answer, and while they +listened it struck Frank that the sound of the surf was growing more +distinct. + +"He seemed to be trailing something when I last saw him," he answered. +"I don't feel keen on going after him. The top of the island's rough. +Perhaps, we'd better wait here until he comes." + +They waited for about ten minutes and then a succession of quick barks +reached them, apparently from across the island. There was something +startling in the sound and Frank turned sharply toward his companion. + +"He doesn't bark like that for nothing. Hadn't we better go along?" he +suggested. + +They started on the moment, stumbling among the boulders and splashing +into pools. The going was no easier when they reached the firs, but they +broke through them somehow, and when at length they approached the +beach, which was steep on that side, the dog came bounding toward them +and then ran back with a growl to the edge of the water. Looking around +with strained attention, Frank made out the sloop, a dim, dark shape +upon the water, for the moon was covered now. After that he ran down +toward the edge of the tide, but there was nothing unusual to be seen, +though the dog again yelped savagely. As he stopped close beside the +animal Harry's voice reached him. + +"Where's the canoe?" he cried. + +It was a moment or two before Frank saw her, and then he started and +cast a quick glance at the strip of beach left uncovered by the ebbing +tide. The breeze was off the shore, and on arriving they had thrown over +a lump of iron with a rope made fast to it and then paddled the canoe +ashore and shoved her out again to drift off as far as the rope would +allow her, in order to avoid dragging her down over the rough stones +when they went away. Now she seemed farther off than she should have +been, and in another moment he realized that she was moving. + +"She's adrift!" he shouted. + +"Then we will have to get her," Harry answered. + +Frank laid down his gun and threw off his jacket. Harry could swim +better than he could, but Harry was some distance back and the beach was +very rough, while it was clear that every moment would increase the +distance between it and the canoe. He struck his knees against something +which hurt as he floundered into the water stumbling among the stones, +but that did not matter then, and as soon as it was deep enough he flung +himself down. A horrible chill struck through him as he swung his left +arm out, and he was badly hampered by his boots and clothes, and though +he swam savagely the canoe was still some way in front of him when at +length he turned breathlessly upon his breast. What was worse, she was +steadily drifting farther off shore. + +Chilled and anxious as he was, he thought quickly. He was far from +certain that he could get back to the beach, and even if he did so, he +would have to spend the night wet through without any means of making a +shelter. The sloop was lying a good way out and he did not think that +Harry could swim so far in that cold water. He was quite sure that he +could not, and it was evident that there was nothing for it but to +overtake the canoe. + +For what seemed a very long time he swam desperately, and then just as +he was almost alongside the craft something came up behind him and +seized his arm. Turning his head with a half-choked cry, he saw that it +was the dog, who apparently intended to stick fast to him. The animal, +however, hampered him terribly, and flinging it off he made a last +effort and contrived to clutch the canoe before it seized him again. +Holding on by the low stern he tried to recover his breath, while he +wondered if he could manage to lift himself in. It seemed to him that if +he failed to do it at that moment he could not expect to succeed +afterward, in which case he would in all probability have to let go +before very long. Setting his lips he made the attempt, and falling +headforemost into the canoe he lay still for a few moments gasping, +until he rose and pulled the dog on board. Then he hauled up the iron, +which was still attached to the rope, though it was not upon the bottom, +and found a paddle. Two or three minutes later he was back at the beach, +and Harry got in. + +"Make for the sloop as fast as you can," he said. + +Frank, now chilled to the bone, was glad to paddle, and they were soon +alongside. Harry handed him up the birds and guns when he got on board, +and then made the painter fast. + +"I'll start the stove first thing while you tie two reefs in the +mainsail," he said. "I guess we'll want them, and the work will warm +you." + +He disappeared below, and before he came out again Frank had managed to +get the tack and leach down, which was not so difficult now that the +sail lay along the boom. + +Harry gave him a quick look. + +"Go in and strip yourself," he said. "There's a blanket forward and some +coffee in the can. I'll be down by the time you have wrung out your +things." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +RUNNING A CARGO + + +On crawling into the cabin Frank found the stove burning fiercely with +the register open full blast. He was sitting near it wrapped in a thick +blanket from which his bare legs and arms protruded when Harry joined +him. + +"This should thaw you out," the latter said. "The place would do for +drying fruit in. Got any coffee left?" + +Frank gave him some, and when he had drunk it Harry examined some of the +garments which were hanging about the stove. + +"They'll be getting fairly dry in half an hour or so and then we'll pull +out for home," he added. "It's breezing up quite smart now and I'd lie +here until morning only aunt would get badly scared. She wouldn't say +anything, but if Jake got to talking it would probably make trouble when +dad comes home." + +"How did the canoe get adrift?" Frank inquired sleepily. + +"That," said Harry with an excellent imitation of Mr. Barclay's manner, +"is a point I have been investigating. To begin with, the killick had +been hauled up since we pitched it over, and let go again--only on the +last occasion it was made fast so it wouldn't quite fetch the bottom." +He raised his hand in protest as Frank was about to speak. "It's a sure +thing. One strand was chafed where I took a turn with the rope, and that +frayed bit had got moved a fathom or two along. I felt about until I +struck it." + +Frank started, for this confirmed a hazy suspicion which had already +been in his mind, but he stooped to pat the dog, who was licking his +uncovered foot. + +"Hold on. Your tongue's rough," he said before he looked up at his +companion. "What do you make of the thing?" + +"Well," said Harry, "the man who did it wanted it to look as if the +canoe had gone adrift by accident. He was on the island when we came +along and the dog got after him. It's most likely he went off in a boat +or canoe while we were making for the beach after we'd heard the +barking. Seems to me he'd some reason for wanting to keep us here." + +"You think he was one of the dope men?" suggested Frank. + +"I wouldn't be greatly astonished if we saw the schooner on our way +home," Harry answered with a chuckle. + +There was some excuse for his amusement, because Frank looked somewhat +ludicrous as he sat thinking hard with his brows wrinkled down and the +blanket falling away from him. + +"I've an idea," he announced at length. "The question, of course, is why +should the man who set the canoe adrift have landed on a desolate place +like this? I expect it's just its desolateness that brought him here. +Now the smugglers probably find it difficult to get hold of the dope in +Canada, and they may have to save it up in small parcels until it's +worth while to send the schooner through. She couldn't come often with +only a case or two, because it wouldn't pay and it would increase the +chances of somebody's seeing her. On the other hand, they may not be +able to get rid of the stuff immediately when she brings a big lot, and +in that case they'd be likely to make a cache of part of it where nobody +would be likely to strike it and their friends could come for it later. +This island ought to be just the place." + +Harry made a sign of assent. + +"I guess you've hit it first time, but I'll go up and get the mainsail +on her. I can manage it alone with two reefs in, and you can stay where +you are until your clothes are a little drier, unless I call you." + +He went out, and Frank heard a clatter of blocks and flutter of canvas. +After that there was a sharp rattling as Harry hauled in the anchor +chain, and then the boat suddenly slanted over with a jerk which flung +Frank backward against the side of her. As he got up he heard the water +splash about her bows. A few minutes later they began to swing sharply +up and down, and the thuds against them made it evident that the sloop +was plunging close-hauled through a short, head sea. By and by the +plunges grew more violent, and struggling into his clothes, which were +partly dry, Frank put out the lamp and crawled out into the well. For a +minute or two he could see nothing as he held on by the weather coaming, +though he felt the buffeting of the wind and the sting of the spray upon +his face. Then by degrees he made out that the sloop was lying down on +one side, with the small black strip of her double-reefed mainsail +slanting sharply above her, and a filmy white cloud flying at her bows. +Suddenly the frothing water began to glitter, and on looking up he saw +that the moon, which had grown brighter, had just emerged from behind a +bank of flying cloud. Then Harry who sat at the helm called to him. + +"Look yonder! Just over the bowsprit end," he cried. + +Frank, gazing where his companion told him, saw a bright red twinkle low +down above the sea and apparently two or three miles away. + +"A fire!" he exclaimed. "On the island by the point, isn't it?" + +"A signal," Harry assented. "Guess it's to show the schooner men the +bush gang are ready." He broke into a laugh which reached Frank faintly. +"They're figuring we're safe on the island out of the way. You couldn't +see that fire from the beach we were left upon." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Stand right on to where the fire is. We have to make a long leg on this +tack, anyway. When we're close up with the point we'll consider. Get a +little more head sheet in if you can." + +It cost Frank an effort, though the sloop was carrying her smallest jib, +and when he had made the rope fast he crouched beside his comrade in the +partial shelter of the coaming with the dog at his feet. It was blowing +moderately fresh, and the sloop was very wet, for the tide was running +with her and she thrashed on at a great pace pitching the water all +over, while the red twinkle ahead grew steadily higher and brighter. It +was the only thing that Frank could see, because the moon had +disappeared again. + +In the meanwhile he wondered what his companion meant to do, for he +fancied that Harry had something in his mind. The latter was like his +father in some respects, since he did not, as a rule, explain what his +intentions were until he was reasonably sure that he could carry them +out. One result of this was that while each seldom did less than he said +he would he not infrequently did a good deal more. Folks of this kind, +Frank reflected, inspired one with confidence. + +At last, when the fire was large and bright, a head loomed up above it +with the wavering glow falling upon its rocky face. On one side of the +crag there was a strip of darkness, which Frank supposed was water, and +a little nearer him a long shadowy patch, which he knew to be an island. +He turned to Harry, who was just then glancing up at the sky. + +"We'll run right into the light if you stand on much longer," he pointed +out. + +He had hardly spoken when the red blaze sank down amidst an upward rush +of sparks, and as it died away Harry laughed. + +"That means one of two things," he said. "Either they've given the +schooner up, or she has her anchor down inside and they've no more use +for a light that might set folks wondering, though I don't know that +anybody would be likely to see it." + +"Anyway, you'll go ashore if you stand on," persisted Frank. + +"It's not my intention that we should stand on," said Harry, glancing up +again at the cloud-barred sky. "We can just weather the island as she's +lying, and when that's done I could put up my helm and run through the +sound behind it. I'll do it if the moon keeps in. If the schooner's +inside yonder we ought to see her." + +Frank was rather staggered by the boldness of the idea. The strait +seemed narrow and he fancied that it would be further contracted by +shallows now that the tide was getting low, while it appeared very +probable that if they saw the schooner her crew would see them. If she +were landing cargo there would be boats about, and he did not think it +would be pleasant to fall in with them, after the pains somebody had +taken in setting the canoe adrift. Still, though he was very dubious +about its wisdom, the prospect of the adventure appealed to him and +Harry seemed to take his consent for granted. + +"We'll carry a fair wind through," the latter announced. "If it's +necessary we could lower the peak down and that would leave very little +canvas to be seen. You had better shorten the canoe up while I luff. +She's half full and towing heavily." + +The mainsail thrashed and the speed slackened when he put down his helm, +and Frank, hauling with all his might, dragged the canoe up a little +closer astern and made her fast with a shorter rope, after which Harry +got way on the boat again. It seemed to Frank to be blowing harder, and +she swayed down farther, plunging furiously through the short seas with +a white belt of surf which had shadowy rocks behind it to lee of her. +The moon was still hidden, but it was evident that they were very close +to the end of the island. By and by the white line to lee suddenly +vanished and they stretched out into the dark water, with a high, black +mass not far ahead. + +"We've got to jibe her," said Harry. "Get the peak down." + +The deck was horribly slanted and slippery, but Frank made his way +forward along it while the seas which seemed steeper there drenched him +with showers of cold brine. He found the halliard and let it go, and +scrambling aft as the head of the sail swung down, helped his companion, +who was struggling with a rope, while he jammed the tiller over with his +shoulder. + +"Handy!" cried Harry. "You must check the boom as it comes over." + +The craft was coming round with her stern to the wind, and as she did so +the canoe came up on the top of a sea and struck her with a crash. Frank +had, however, no thought to spare for her. He was dragging at the +mainsheet as the big boom tilted up into the darkness above his head, +while the sloop rolled heavily. Then the upper part of the bagging sail +swung over with a bang and he whipped the rope around something as the +heavy spar followed it. The sloop rolled at the same time until half her +deck was in the sea, the sheet was torn furiously through his hands, and +the canoe hit her with another heavy thud as she swayed up again. Then +it drove astern, and Frank had space to gather his breath and look about +him as they swept on into smoother water. + +Harry was edging in toward the low black ridge of the island, and there +was a higher mass on the opposite side crested with what appeared to be +rows of pines, with a dark gap between them. They could now hear the +surf on the weather side of the island, which told them that they were +already behind it. Four or five minutes later the channel twisted, and +as they swept around a black rock two or three lights blinked out ahead, +with a low red blaze behind them, apparently on the opposite beach. + +"There she is; ready to clear at the shortest notice," said Harry, +stretching out a pointing hand. "They've kept the boom-foresail and most +of the mainsail on her, though I guess the anchor's down. We'll get the +centerboard up." + +They were drawing nearer the lights rapidly, but it was two or three +minutes before Frank, who heaved the board up into its case, could make +out a black mass of fluttering canvas against the sky. Then Harry spoke +again: + +"There's a shingle bank runs out not far ahead and there can't be much +water over it now the tide's nearly run out. I'm afraid I'll have to +pass on the other hand of the schooner." + +Frank could understand why he did not want to do this, since the channel +was narrow and they must pass between the lights of the vessel and the +fire upon the beach. It seemed to him that it would be singularly +awkward if they met a boat coming from or going to the latter, which, +however, was precisely what befell them. + +Harry ran the sloop off as far as he dared, and Frank was watching the +schooner's black hull rise higher when he made out a dim shape that +moved between her and the beach. + +"A boat, sure!" cried Harry. "Get the mainsheet in. We'll have to take +our chances of the shoal." + +He helped Frank with one hand, but the task was almost beyond their +strength, and while they dragged at the rope the half-seen boat and the +schooner seemed to be flying toward them. Then as they made the rope +fast and the sloop headed in toward the island a pale gleam from a light +on the vessel fell upon her. It seemed impossible to Frank that they +should not be seen, but nobody hailed them, and while he listened, +expecting every moment to hear a shout, a clatter of blocks broke +through the splash of approaching oars. Even behind the island, the +water was rather broken and the men seemed to be pulling hard. + +A moment later the light faded off the sloop, though Frank could see the +schooner comparatively plainly. Her tall, shadowy canvas was fluttering +athwart the light, and beneath it a cluster of indistinct figures rose +and fell as they heaved up something with a tackle. He could hear their +voices clearly, and he was glad to remember that the dusky ridge of the +island rose behind the sloop, though he wished his companion would run +closer in with it. He had seen all he wanted and only desired to get +away as soon as possible. + +It became evident by and by that Harry had run in closer than was +advisable, for there was a crash and the sloop suddenly stopped. Almost +immediately afterward she lay over with her boom and most of her deck on +one side in the water, while the tide, twisting her bows around, +threatened to pour into her over the depressed coaming. As she had come +up nearly head to wind, her mainsail thrashed furiously, jerking the +boom up out of the sea every now and then and letting it splash in +again, while the flapping jib seemed likely to snap off the head of her +rattling mast. Loose ropes appeared to be flying everywhere and Frank +clung stupidly to the coaming, uncertain what to do. They were aground +unfortunately close to the schooner, and, he feared, within sight of the +men on board her. Harry's voice, however, roused him to make an effort. + +"Jump forward with the big oar! We must get her off," he said. "The +tide's still falling." + +Frank trod upon and fell over the dog, who fortunately was unable to see +anything over the coaming. He scarcely heard it yelping as he scrambled +along the steeply slanted deck dragging the heavy oar. They got it over +and thrust upon it in desperate haste in an attempt to cant her bow off, +but as the tide swung her farther around her side came up against the +oar, threatening to break it or pitch the boys over the rail, and for a +while they strained every muscle in vain. Then she suddenly swung back +in the midst of a furious swirl, and Frank fell down on something that +seemed unpleasantly hard. Harry, flinging the oar upon the deck, dropped +close by, feeling for a rope. + +"Get up and get hold!" he cried breathlessly. "We must box her round +with the jib. You can lie down afterward." + +Frank scrambled up and pulled in a frenzy, and the boat swung farther +around. Then the mainsail ceased fluttering, and jumping aft they fell +into the well, where Frank fancied that he trod upon the dog again. +Harry immediately seized the tiller, thrusting it to weather, and the +sloop commenced to move slowly through the water, though there was a +harsh grinding beneath her. By and by she suddenly shot forward again. + +"She's off!" exclaimed Harry. "Give her sheet!" + +Frank let the mainsheet run and afterward leaned breathlessly upon the +coaming with a thrill of relief as they drove out into the deeper water; +but it appeared that his companion was not satisfied yet. + +"She should run over to the opposite side without bringing the boom +across," he said. "There seems to be a big rock yonder and we could +heave her to in the gloom of it. If I remember, it's good water." + +"What for?" asked Frank, who was anxious to get out of the channel. + +"Well," said Harry, "we've seen the schooner, a boat, and a fire upon +the beach, but, after all, that's not a great deal to go upon. We want +to make sure what she's putting ashore." + +The boom lifted ominously as he ran her off and Frank fancied that +somebody would certainly hear the crash if he jibed it over. She +stretched across, however, and, rounding her up close beneath a dark +rock, they hauled the jib to windward and waited. Though they were in +deep shadow, a stream of flickering radiance fell upon the water not far +away and lighted up a narrow strip of beach. A few minutes passed and +then Harry touched his companion, who saw several men cross the shingle +with loads upon their shoulders. Their figures showed black against the +light, and Frank fancied that they were carrying square wooden cases. +After them came several more figures, but these carried nothing and were +dressed differently. They looked like Chinamen and they had evidently +just got out of an unseen boat. + +"Now," said Harry, "I guess that will do. If you'll trim the jib over +I'll get way on her." + +Frank was glad to do it. He felt that he had seen quite enough and it +would be wiser to get away before any misadventure befell them. They ran +out of the channel and were thrashing close-hauled into a rather steep +head sea when Harry spoke again. + +"There were four cases in the last lot, and another boat went ashore," +he observed. "It looks as if they would swamp the market. Dope's dear, +and a little of it goes a mighty long way." + +"Perhaps there was something else in some of the cases," suggested +Frank. + +"It's possible, though from the little I know of the tariff I haven't an +idea of what it could be. Anyway, that's a proposition we can leave to +Barclay. They were certainly Chinamen and passengers who landed." + +"How do you know they were passengers?" Frank inquired. + +Harry laughed. "If they'd been anything else they'd have had to carry +those boxes. As a general thing, an American doesn't work while a +Chinaman watches him." + +Nothing more was said, and half an hour later when pale moonlight once +more streamed down upon the water the schooner swept out of the gloom +astern of them. After that they went about and clung to the shadow along +the land until they lost sight of her shortly before they ran into the +cove. + +It was very late when they reached the ranch, but they merely informed +Miss Oliver that they had had some trouble through the canoe going +adrift and had been compelled to beat back against a strong head wind. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CACHE + + +Mr. Oliver came home soon after the boys' visit to the island, and when +he had heard Harry's narration of their adventures he made him tell it +over again in the presence of Mr. Barclay, whom he had brought back with +him. They were sitting in the log-walled kitchen in the evening with +their chairs drawn up about the stove, and Mr. Barclay, holding his pipe +in his hand, listened gravely. + +"Well," he said, when Harry had finished, "you seem to be considerably +more fortunate in these matters than I am. You have seen the schooner +several times, and other interesting things, while I haven't even had a +glimpse of the man with the high shoulder yet. I suppose I'll have to +admit at last that I've been upon his trail for some time and have made +some progress." + +"You might as well have admitted it in the beginning," retorted Harry. +"Some folks progress slow." + +Mr. Barclay's eyes twinkled. "As a rule, it's difficult to hustle the +Government of the United States, and I'm inclined to think the same +thing applies to that of other countries. However, as I said, we have +got ahead a little at the other end. For example, we have a tolerably +accurate notion where the dope goes." + +"Then why don't you corral everybody who has anything to do with it?" + +Mr. Barclay's gesture seemed to beg the boy's forbearance. + +"It's a sensible question. For one thing, strictly speaking, it's not my +particular business which is really to sit in an office and dictate +instructions most of the time. To some extent, these jaunts I've had +with your father have been undertaken by way of innocent relaxation, +although they may prove useful in case certain gentlemen send me along a +list of peremptory questions on which they want reports. They do things +of that kind now and then." + +"I didn't think it was your business to take a smuggler by the neck and +haul him along to the sheriff," said Harry with a reproachful air. +"Still, you could call out your subordinates and send them off to round +up the dope crowd, couldn't you? There must be some official machinery +for doing that kind of thing." + +"There is," assented Mr. Barclay, refilling his pipe. "The trouble is +that it makes a certain amount of commotion, and when silence is +important you have to be careful how you set it to work. As a rule, it's +wiser to have everything ready first. The most careful plans fail +sometimes if your assistants are more keen than judicious. That"--and he +smiled at the boys--"is why I was dubious about taking you into my +confidence before." + +"Thank you, sir," said Harry with ironical courtesy. "Do you mind making +what you mean to do a little plainer?" + +"I'll try. In the first place, smuggling doesn't seem to be considered a +crime unless you're caught at it. In fact, a Government of any kind is +generally looked upon as fair game, and few people think much the worse +of a man who succeeds in doing it out of part of its revenue. How far +that idea's right or wrong doesn't concern me. What I must do is to +prevent it from being acted on too often, and, taking the notion for +granted; we don't want to put the laugh upon ourselves if it can be +avoided." + +Harry made a sign of comprehension. "Still, if you sent your people down +here they should be able to corral part of the gang." + +"I agree with you," Barclay answered dryly. "It's possible, anyway--but +what would the result be? Three or four persons of no importance might +be seized, the rest would get away with a warning, and our plans would +all be sprung." Then the stout, good-humored man seemed to change, for +his expression suddenly hardened and a look which the boys had never +noticed there before crept into his eyes. "No, sir. We want them all, +and when we move we expect to gather in the whole rascally combination." + +"How can we butt in?" + +"With your father's permission, you might, in the first place, invite me +to an evening's flight shooting." + +"Wouldn't it be better to go across the island in the daytime with the +dog and Jake and a couple of spades?" + +"No," replied Mr. Barclay. "If my opinion's of any value, I don't think +it would be wise. Besides, I understand that the best time for getting a +shot at flighting ducks is in the twilight." + +Miss Oliver laughed softly. "Enterprise is a good thing, and so is +self-confidence," she broke in. "On the other hand, I fancy that one can +have too much of them, and a headstrong impatience is one of the faults +of the young West." + +Mr. Oliver looked at Harry, who grew a trifle red. + +"There's truth in that," he remarked. "On the whole it might be better +to leave all arrangements to the man in charge and just do what he +suggests." + +"Sure," assented Harry, and as he offered no more suggestions the matter +was decided with a few more words. + +Late in the next afternoon the boys set out with Mr. Barclay in the +sloop, and as what wind there was blew off the land they crept along +close in with the beach, which was high and rocky and shrouded with +thick timber. When they drew abreast of the island the tide was higher +than it had been on the last occasion, but Mr. Barclay said that they +had better leave the sloop in the little bay in front of them and cross +the channel in the canoe. He was a heavy man, and when he cautiously +dropped into the craft her stern sank ominously near the water. + +"You'll have to get farther forward and sit quite still," said Harry in +a tone of authority, but with an amused look. + +He took his place astern with Frank, who picked up the other paddle, in +the bow, and a stroke or two drove them out into the rippling tide. It +was growing dark, though the sky overhead was softly blue and there was +a glimmer of pale saffron around part of the horizon. To the eastward +the moon was just appearing above a bank of cloud. The wind, which had +freshened, blew very cold, and Frank shivered until the paddling warmed +him and he found that he could spare no thought for anything else. The +tide was running over the shallows with a ripple that splashed +perilously high about the side of the deeply loaded canoe, and now and +then whirling eddies drove them off their course. Once, too, they ran +aground, and Harry had to get in knee-deep to shove the craft off, while +when they approached the end of the island they had to struggle hard for +several minutes against the stream which broke into little frothing +waves, during which the canoe got very wet. They came through, however, +and reaching smoother water ran the canoe in and pulled her out, after +which Frank was about to walk off up the beach when Harry stopped him. + +"One learns by experience, and I don't feel like swimming," he observed. +"We'll carry her right up and hide her in the bushes." + +They did so with some difficulty and Harry afterward waited until Mr. +Barclay spoke. + +"We came out shooting," said the latter. "I don't see any reason why we +shouldn't get a duck." + +He turned to Harry, as if to ascertain whether he objected to this, but +the boy laughed. + +"If you don't know of any, I needn't bother about the thing," he +answered. "There's a moderate breeze right off the beach and the guns +couldn't be heard far to windward." + +"I'm not sure I'd mind them being heard if anybody chanced to be about. +It might save the inquisitive stranger from wondering what we were doing +here, and the excuse strikes me as a nicer one than going swimming late +at night in front of a Siwash rancherie." + +Harry chuckled. "Wait until you fall over your boot tops into a pool, or +follow a crippled duck through the water." + +"I shall endeavor to avoid the first thing," said Mr. Barclay. "There's +a remedy for the other, so long as I've two assistants." + +They went back to the beach and waited there some time until Frank heard +a regular beat of wings, and a drawn-out wedge of dusky bodies appeared +above the trees dotted upon the sky. He was farthest from them and he +watched Mr. Barclay, who had brought a gun with him, standing, an +indistinct, half-seen figure thirty or forty yards away. At last the man +threw up his arms, there was a quick yellow flash, a crash, and then a +second streak of flame leaping from the smoke. After that there followed +two distinct and unmistakable thuds, and Frank pitched up his gun as +Harry fired. He heard two jarring reports and running forward saw Mr. +Barclay pick up a bird that had fallen almost at his feet. + +"There's another over yonder," the latter remarked. + +Harry found it in a minute or two and handed it to him. + +"One with each barrel!" he said, and added with a rueful laugh, "I don't +see any more about." + +"Then I think we'll take a look around the island," Mr. Barclay +answered. + +He left the beach with the boys, but they dropped behind him and let him +take the lead when they reached the scrubby firs which were scattered +more or less thickly about the rocky ground. Frank fancied that Harry +had some reason for doing this and the supposition was confirmed when +Mr. Barclay stopped a moment beside a brake of withered fern and then, +after stooping down, carefully skirted it as he went on again. The sky +was clear, and though the moon was in its first quarter it shed a faint +elusive light. + +"That man can shoot, and it looks as if he was quite as smart at picking +up a trail," said Harry in a low tone. "Anyway, if I'd been looking for +a stranger's tracks I'd have tried yonder fern and I'd have been as +particular not to smash any of it down as he was. I've an idea he must +have chuckled sometimes when I got guying him." He paused and added +thoughtfully, "It's the kind of fool thing you're apt to do unless +you're careful." + +After this they spent a considerable time wandering up and down a +portion of the island, though Frank fancied that Mr. Barclay, who asked +Harry a question now and then, had some purpose that guided him. The +moonlight was too dim and the shadows among the trees too dense for him +to follow a trail steadily, but he seemed to be prospecting for likely +places where footprints or broken-down undergrowth might be found. At +length they reached a little stony hollow, with a rock that rose some +six or seven feet on one side and dark firs clustering close about it. +Here Mr. Barclay stopped and looked about him before he turned to Harry. + +"Now," he said, "this is a spot that could be easily described and +located by anybody who happened to be told about it. That rock would +make a first-class mark. If you had anything to bury for somebody else +to dig up, where would you put it?" + +Harry walked about the place, stepping carefully upon the stones and +avoiding the scattered underbrush, until he reached a clump of withered +fern. + +"Right here," he replied, and kneeling down pulled some of the yellow +fronds about. Then he looked up sharply. "This stuff's very dead and +it's lying flat," he exclaimed. "Farther on the stems aren't broken and +some of them don't seem quite dried up yet." + +Frank acknowledged that these were things he would not have noticed, but +Mr. Barclay nodded. + +"Somebody else may have fixed on the same spot as you have done," he +said. "It's possible, though I don't think it's more than that. There +might be half a dozen similar places on the island, but if you'll handle +the fern carefully it wouldn't do any harm to make a hole." + +They had brought a light spade with them, and after Harry had cleared +the ground Frank set to work with it. He had taken out only a few +shovelfuls of soil and shingle when he gave a cry of surprise as he +struck something that seemed more solid. + +Harry and Mr. Barclay stooped down beside him. The latter struck a match +and lighted a piece of paper he took from his pocket, and before it went +out Frank had cleared the soil away from the top of a small wooden case. + +"It's rather more than I could have reasonably expected," said Mr. +Barclay, "but when you haven't much to act upon it's wise to make the +most of what you've got and leave the rest to chance. Now you may as +well shovel that dirt back." + +"Aren't you going to take the thing out?" Frank asked in astonishment. + +"No," replied Mr. Barclay, "I don't think it's necessary. It wouldn't be +the first time I'd seen opium and we don't want to leave too plain a +trail behind us. As we have spent some time on the island already, +hadn't you better get to work?" + +Frank flung back the soil and when he had finished Harry replaced the +loose fern which he had carefully laid aside. He did not, however, seem +satisfied with the way he had arranged it and when he looked up at Mr. +Barclay his manner was diffident. + +"I'm afraid I can't do any better in the dark," he said. + +"It will probably be dark when the next man comes along," Mr. Barclay +answered. "Anyway, the first breeze of wind or heavy rain will +straighten things up. In the meanwhile we'll get back to the sloop." + +They turned away, but they had scarcely gone a hundred yards when Mr. +Barclay put his hand into his pocket and stopped. + +"I've dropped my pipe," he said. "It was rather a good one." + +"Then I know where it is," Frank broke in. "You must have pulled it out +with the paper. I heard something fall, but I was too interested to +bother about it. If you'll wait, I'll go back and get it." + +The others sat down when he left them, but he spent some minutes +scrambling about near the fern before the faint gleam of a silver band +upon the pipe caught his eye. Picking it up he turned back to rejoin his +companions, and a few moments later he reached an opening between the +firs by which they had left the hollow. The trees rose in black and +shadowy masses on either side, but their ragged tops cut sharply against +the sky, and a faint, uncertain light shone down into the gap between +them. Soon after he strode into it Frank stopped abruptly, for there was +a crackle of dry twigs and a soft rustle somewhere in front of him, and +he could think of no reason why Harry or Mr. Barclay should come back. +If they had wanted him to do anything they could have called him. + +He felt his nerves tingle as he stood and listened. The sound had ceased +and he could only hear the wind among the firs whose tops rustled +eerily. But presently the unmistakable fall of a heavy foot came out of +the shadows. Then he shrank back instinctively a pace or two into deeper +gloom, for there was no doubt that somebody was approaching, and while +he waited a black figure appeared in the opening not far in front of +him. The faint light was behind the man and he showed up against it dim +and indistinct, but Frank realized that he was not Mr. Barclay. He +looked taller and less heavily built. Then the boy dropped noiselessly +and held his breath, for a brittle branch had cracked under him. The +stranger stopped and seemed to be gazing about him. + +He moved on again, however, and Frank turned his face toward the ground, +fearing that it might show white in the gloom, but it was only by a +determined effort that he held himself still and mastered the desire to +crawl back farther into the shadow. He knew that if he yielded to it he +would be on his feet in another moment and might break away into the +bush or do something else which he would afterward regret. He realized +that Mr. Barclay and Harry must have seen the stranger and had for some +reason kept out of sight and let him go by. + +In the meanwhile the man was drawing nearer and Frank made out that he +was carrying something. It seemed almost impossible that he could pass +without seeing the boy, and the effort it cost the latter to lie still +became more arduous. It would have been an unspeakable relief even to +spring up and face the stranger with empty hands. Then he drew level, +and once more Frank set his lips as he listened to the footsteps. At +every moment he expected them suddenly to stop. They continued, however, +and although, since he dared not turn, he could not see the man now, it +was clear that he had passed. + +Frank waited a minute or two longer and then rose softly with a gasp of +fervent relief. He was annoyed to feel that he was still quivering with +the tension and he stood still a few moments to regain his composure +before he went quietly back toward his companions. As he neared the spot +where he had left them Mr. Barclay stepped out from behind a tree. + +"You met that man?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Frank, "that is, I saw him coming and kept out of the way. +He walked close by me and I think he was carrying a spade." + +"He was," Mr. Barclay assented. "I was afraid he might surprise you, but +we couldn't shout and warn you without alarming him, which I didn't want +to do for one or two reasons. We'll wait here until he's through with +the business that brought him." + +He drew Frank farther back among the trees and soon after they sat down +a faint rustling followed by a clatter of stones reached them from the +hollow. There was no doubt that the man was digging up the case. Harry, +who was lying near Frank's feet, moved restlessly and at length he rose. + +"That fellow's certainly one of the gang," he said. "I don't see why we +shouldn't get him. Frank and I could work around behind the hollow and +head him off while you walk in." + +"Well," said Mr. Barclay dryly, "what would follow?" + +"You could have him sent up." + +"I daresay I could. What would be the use of it?" + +"You'd have got one of them, anyway." + +"Sure," said Mr. Barclay, "and I'd have scared off all the rest. I +suppose I must be greedy, but I wouldn't be content with one bush +chopper who probably only takes a hand in now and then. As I believe I +told you, I'm after the whole gang." + +Harry said nothing further for a while, and then he stopped and +listened. + +"He's coming back," he whispered. + +The sound of footsteps came out of the shadow, and presently Frank saw +a dusky figure pass among the trees carrying something upon its shoulder +besides the spade. They waited until there was silence again and then +moved quietly back to the beach, from which they saw a canoe cross the +channel. Half an hour later they paddled across and duly reached the +sloop. + +"If that man had known she was here he would probably not have gone," +Mr. Barclay observed. "As he didn't see her when there was a little +light left, it's reasonable to suppose he couldn't have noticed her +coming back in the dark, and on the whole I'm satisfied with the result +of the trip. But it might be better if you went somewhere else for your +flight shooting after this." + +Then they set the mainsail and started back for the cove, keeping close +in along the beach. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MR. WEBSTER'S SLASHING + + +A month passed, which the boys spent quietly in grubbing up stumps and +chopping. Then Mr. Oliver suggested that they go over to Mr. Webster's +ranch and burn off his slashing, as he had promised its absent owner to +send them. He added that they could camp there for the night and get a +little hunting when they had done the work. There was a nipping air when +they started early in the morning, each with a packet of provisions and +a blanket upon his shoulder, and the newly turned clods in the clearing +were iron-hard. The Pacific Slope is warmer in winter than the Atlantic +coast, but there are times when the cold snaps are sharp enough in its +northern part, and the boys were glad to plunge into the shelter of the +woods where the frost was less stinging. + +They reached the ranch without much trouble, and when they stopped at +the slip rails Frank, who had not been there before, looked about him. +The bush clearings are much alike, but this one was smaller than Mr. +Oliver's. A little, very rudely built log house stood at one end with +thick timber creeping close up behind it. There was also an unusual +quantity of underbrush among the stumps near the door, which Frank had +occasion to notice more particularly later. In the meanwhile it struck +him that the place had an uncared-for look and Harry seemed to share his +opinion. + +"Webster's a very ordinary rancher," he remarked. "He can't stay with a +thing and finish it. When he's about halfway through he lets up and +starts something else. Any other man would have grubbed out all that +withered stuff about the house and chopped back the bush behind it. It's +not safe to have big trees growing so close." + +"Why?" asked Frank. + +"Because of the fires. They come along every now and then. It's lucky +there's no wind to speak of, because I wouldn't put a light to this +slashing if there was." + +Frank glanced at the belt of fallen timber behind the fence on one side +of the clearing. It had been badly cut and some of the trees lay across +each other, while only a few of the branches had been sawed off and the +undergrowth had not been mowed. If the fall had not been a dry one it +would have been difficult to burn the slashing. Then he glanced up at +the leaden-gray sky above the pine tops and fancied that it looked +threatening. The dense wall of somber sprays seemed unusually harsh of +aspect, and there was something curious about the light. Everything was +gray and raw-edged, and he shivered, for the faint wind had blown across +a wilderness of snowy mountains. + +"It's not the kind of day for hanging round," he said. "Let's get to +work." + +Entering the house they found a can of coal oil and plenty of rags, for +a heap of worn-out clothing lay in a corner. + +"They'll hold oil and that's about all they're good for," Harry +remarked. "I expect it's months since Webster pitched them there with +the idea that he might mend them sometime." + +Frank carried out one or two of the duck garments, and when they had +torn them up and soaked them in coal oil he and Harry set about lighting +fires here and there in the slashing, after which they stood near the +door of the house and watched the conflagration. The fires spread +rapidly, and one side of the clearing was soon wrapped in crackling +flame that worked backward from the neighborhood of the fence, licking +up branches and undergrowth as it neared the bush. That did not stop it, +for the fire had flung out advance guards which leaped forward swiftly +through the withered fern and hurled themselves in crimson waves upon +the standing trunks. They seemed to splash upon them, flinging up +fountains of blazing brands and sparks that seized upon the lower sprays +and sprang aloft until each assaulted tree was wrapped in fire from base +to summit. The conflagration made the draught it needed, and by and by +it roared in what seemed to Frank malicious triumph as it pressed onward +into the forest under a cloud of rolling smoke. Where it would stop he +did not know, but he was almost uncomfortably impressed by the +spectacle. + +"It's a full-power burn," said Harry approvingly. "Guess it's going to +clean up this slashing. And now we'll look around and see if Webster's +left anything we can make our dinner in." + +There was a stove in the house, but they soon discovered that it did not +burn well, and Harry glanced disgustedly at the spider Frank discovered. + +"A hole in the bottom of it!" he said contemptuously. "That's the kind +of thing Webster uses. I'll be astonished if you don't find another hole +in the kettle. You had better go along to the well and fill it." + +In a few minutes Frank came back with the kettle, which fortunately did +not leak, and Harry set it on the stove and laid a piece of pork in the +spider, which he tilted on one side. + +"It's going to be about an hour before that kettle boils, and, though I +feel like doing it, there's no use in straightening up this shack in the +meanwhile because the man would muss it up again as soon as he comes +back. There's a slough beyond the rise yonder, and as it lies to +windward we might get a shot at something. We could be back before +dinner's ready." + +Frank would have preferred to stay where he was, as he had already done +a good morning's work. He assented, however, and accompanied Harry up a +steep and very rough slope and down the opposite side of it. When they +reached the bottom they plunged into a waste of tall grass and +half-decayed vegetation among the roots of which the frost had not +penetrated. As the result of this they sank to the knees here and there, +and Frank more than once fell down. He soon had enough of it, but he was +beginning to realize that there was very little worth doing in the bush +which could be accomplished, so to speak, with one's gloves on. The +small rancher and hunter must expect to get wet and ragged, as well as +weary and dirty, and must face the unpleasantness cheerfully and mend +his clothes afterward. The only other course was to stay in the cities. + +Presently Harry discovered the tracks of a deer leading out of the +valley and pointed them out to his companion. + +"You won't mind waiting for your dinner?" he asked. + +"No--not very much," Frank answered dubiously. + +This satisfied Harry, who led the way up the hillside, and it seemed to +Frank that they scrambled over fallen logs and branches and through +thick undergrowth for the greater part of an hour before they crept +carefully down again to another hollow. Though they floundered all +around it there was no sign of the deer, and Frank was relieved when his +companion intimated that they might as well go back to the ranch. Dinner +was the first thought in both their minds when they reached it, but it +struck Frank that the fire had become a tremendous conflagration and he +noticed that a dense cloud of smoke was blowing across the clearing. + +"It's a real fierce burn and there's more wind than there was, but +we'll get a meal before we look around," Harry remarked. + +There were, however, one or two difficulties in the way of their doing +this. The kettle had boiled nearly dry, and the pork had disappeared +through the burned-out bottom of the spider. Harry said that he could +manage to fry another piece on the rim of it if Frank would refill the +kettle, and eventually they sat down to dinner and spent a long while +over it. Then Harry got up reluctantly. + +"I guess we had better see what the fire's doing," he observed. + +Frank was almost appalled when he reached the doorway. The whole +clearing was thick with smoke, out of which there shot up a furious wall +of fire that rose and fell with a crackle resembling volleys of riflery +and a roaring even more disconcerting. What was worse, it seemed to be +creeping into the thick bush behind the house, and Harry, running a few +paces toward the corner of the building, stopped aghast with the red +light flickering on his dismayed face. + +"Dad promised he'd get Webster's slashing burned, but it wasn't in the +contract that we'd burn off his house," he said. "We'll have to hustle. +See if there's an ax and grubhoe in that woodshed." + +Frank found the tools, and while he attacked the larger bushes near the +back of the house, Harry began to cut down the undergrowth in front of +it. By and by Frank came back and they dragged the brush away toward the +clearing where it could burn harmlessly, but the smoke grew more +blinding and every now and then a shower of sparks fell about the boys. +Fires sprang up among the underbrush, and falling upon them with the ax +and spade they savagely thrashed them out. Frank burned his hands in +doing so, but there was no time to trouble about that and he toiled on, +coughing and choking, until at last they were forced to stop for +breath. + +They stood close in front of the house, with a mass of withered fern and +half-burned brush smoldering in front of them, while a sheet of fire +rose and fell amidst dense clouds of smoke behind the building. The +daylight appeared to be dying out, but Frank could not be sure of that, +because it was almost dark one moment as the smoke rolled about them and +the next they stood dazzled by a flood of radiance. + +"We have done 'most all we can," said Harry wearily. "It was the wind +getting up that made the trouble--I should have noticed it--but if it +stands for the next half hour we ought to save the house. The fire's +eating back into the bush all the while." + +"Should we get any of the things out?" Frank asked. + +"I'm not smart at handling hot stoves, and there's mighty little else in +the place," Harry answered with a laugh. "I wouldn't bid a dollar for +Webster's pans and crockery, and he made the table and the two chairs. +Still, I don't know any reason why we shouldn't sling them out." + +Just then the smoke rolled down about the boys in a blinding cloud; +there was a great snapping and crackling, and a shower of blazing +fragments drove them back thirty or forty yards across the clearing. +Presently the smoke thinned, and a row of stripped trunks behind the +house was outlined against a tremendous sheet of flame. Frank took off +his hat and shook a few red embers from the crown of it. + +"When we were getting those rags I noticed a keg behind them," he said. + +"A keg?" said Harry sharply. + +"A little keg. It looked thick and strongly made." + +The red light struck full upon Harry's face, and Frank saw that +consternation was stamped upon it. + +"Then," he said, "it's full of coarse, tree-splitting powder. Some of +the ranchers use it for blowing out stumps. Did you notice whether it +had been opened?" + +"The head seemed loose and one of the hoops had been started." + +"Sure!" said Harry with dismay in his voice. Then he broke out in quick +anger: "It's just the kind of thing Webster would leave lying around +near his stove, without taking the trouble to head it up again. He'll +have some detonators lying loose, too--I've heard he uses giant powder. +We've got to bring them out." + +They looked at each other with set faces while the sparks whirled about +the house, and both were conscious of an almost uncontrollable impulse +to vacate the clearing with the greatest possible speed. It was to their +credit that they mastered it, and in a moment or two Harry spoke again: + +"The sparks shouldn't get at the keg if we put a jacket over it, and one +of us could carry all the detonators Webster's likely to have in his +pocket." + +Frank had heard that the big copper caps which are used to fire giant +powder will contain a tremendously powerful fulminate, and he was +conscious of a very natural reluctance to carry a number of them about +his person through the showers of fiery particles that fell about the +building. Indeed, he afterward confessed that if Harry had not been with +him nothing would have induced him to approach it. How he screwed up his +courage he did not know, but as the flame leaped up again the sight of a +strip of blazing fence had its effect. The rest of it had been +destroyed, and he felt they must make an effort to save the house. + +"It wouldn't take us long to get the powder out," he said with a note of +uncertainty in his voice. + +Harry sprang forward and Frank was glad that he did so. He realized that +this was not a matter for calm discussion, and vigorous action was a +relief. Another cloud of smoke met them as they drew near the house, +and the sparks that came flying out of it fell thick about them. The +heat scorched their faces and they gasped in the acrid vapor, while +Frank's eyes were smarting intolerably when he staggered into the +building. There was, however, less smoke inside it, and a fierce light +beat in through one window. Flinging the old clothes about they came +upon the keg and found that the head was lying loose. Working in +desperate haste they forced the top hoop upward and Harry wrapped a +woolen garment over the top of the keg. After that he flung everything +in a lidless wooden case out upon the floor and pounced upon a little +box that fell among the rest. + +"Detonators!" he shouted. "What's in the packet near you?" + +Frank tore the paper savagely. "It looks like thick black cord." + +"Fuse," said Harry. "It's harmless. I don't see any giant powder. Hold +on. I'll look around his sleeping room." + +He vanished through an inner door and Frank soon heard him throwing +things about. The suspense of the next few moments was almost +unbearable. A pulsating radiance alternately lighted up the room and +grew dim again, and the roar and crackle of the fire set his nerves +tingling. Then Harry ran back toward him. + +"I can't find any giant powder," he reported, and added, "get hold of +the keg. We'll carry it between us." + +Frank set his lips as they sprang out of the door with it. The keg was +not remarkably heavy, but it was an awkward shape and too big for either +of them to carry on his shoulder or beneath his arm. Indeed, Frank felt +his hands slipping from its rounded end and he was horribly afraid of +dropping it among the patches of smoldering undergrowth and glowing +fragments which lay all about him. A few moments later thick smoke +whirled about him, and he hardly breathed as he struggled through it +until it blew away again. Then, to his relief, he saw that the house was +some distance behind them and they were clear of the worst of the +sparks. They went on, however, to the opposite side of the clearing, +where they deposited the powder, and then dropped the detonators a +little farther on, after which Harry sat down on the frozen ground +panting heavily. + +"It's done and I want to get my breath," he said. "The next time I burn +a slashing I'll see there's no powder about the place before I begin." + +Frank made no answer. He was glad to sit still and recover, for the +strain had told on him. Indeed, he was almost sorry when his companion +stood up again. + +"Perhaps we had better get back and pitch some water on the roof," he +suggested. "I was too busy to think of that before." + +The wind seemed to be dropping and the sparks were not quite so bad when +they reached the house. They found a bucket, and after smashing more of +the ice upon the shallow well Frank climbed up on the woodshed which +reached to the low roof. The latter was covered with cedar shingles and +he wondered why it had not ignited, because the sparks were still +dropping upon it and there were several charred spots. This, however, +was not a question of much consequence, and Harry kept him busy during +the next half hour sluicing the roof with water which he passed up in +the bucket. Some of it went over Frank's hands and clothing and it was +icy cold, but they worked on steadily while the fire worked back farther +from them into the bush. It had burned most fiercely when it had the dry +branches in the slashing to supply it, but these were all licked up, and +though the small stuff blazed the great standing trunks would not burn. +There were already rows of them rising, charred and blackened columns, +behind the slashing. + +At last Harry called Frank down from the roof. + +"You can let up," he said. "It's hardly likely we'll have any more +trouble. There's a lamp and some canned stuff in the shack, and as we'll +have to camp here I'll make some coffee. It's quite dark now." + +Frank concluded that it had been dark some time, though he had not +noticed when dusk crept down. He was glad to find the stove still +burning when he entered the house, very wet, and aching in every limb. +The kettle was soon boiling, and, as there was no bottom in the spider, +Harry, who had found a bag of flour and a can of syrup, contrived to +make some flapjacks and what he called biscuit on the top of the stove. +He said that this would be no drawback because Mr. Webster never blacked +the thing, and Frank found no fault with the cakes when they ate them +hot with syrup. + +Then they filled up the stove with the full draught on and lounged +contentedly beside it while their clothing dried on them. They had had a +heavy day, but now that the danger was over they were no more than +comfortably weary and the thrill of the last stirring hours remained +with them. Frank felt that they had done something worth while that +afternoon. + +When he diffidently pointed it out Harry laughed. + +"Sure!" he agreed. "Still, it's quite likely that Webster will get +jumping mad when he sees his fence, though it won't take him many days +to split enough rails for a new one." + +A little later Frank walked across the room and opened the door. The +undergrowth on one side of the clearing gleamed white with frost. On the +other side a few big branches still snapped and glowed, and there was a +red glare behind the black rows of trunks, but it was now broken by +patches of darkness and he could see that the fire was rapidly dying +out. He came back with a shiver and sat down in his warm seat beside the +stove. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A NIGHT ON THE SANDS + + +There was a sprinkle of snow upon the ground, and the boys were working +in Mr. Oliver's slashing one afternoon a week after their visit to Mr. +Webster's ranch when Harry, who had just hauled up a log, stopped his +oxen and addressed his father. + +"It looks as if it would be a fine night," he remarked. + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver. "I've no fault to find with the weather. We'll +get most of the logs piled for burning if it lasts." + +Harry smiled at Frank. "Dad's slow to take a hint. I wasn't thinking of +the logs." + +"I can believe it," Mr. Oliver retorted. "Anyway, they have to be hauled +out, and it's easier to do it now than when the soil's soft and boggy." + +Frank, who had been heaving the sawed trunks on top of one another with +Jake, agreed with the rancher. The big masses of timber slid easily over +the snow and they were clean to handle, which was something to be +thankful for after the difficulty they had had in moving them when they +were foul with clotted mire. The frost, as he had discovered, seldom +lasted long in that country, but it was very cold and the firs towered +flecked with snow against a clear blue sky. + +"I was wondering if there was any reason why we shouldn't try to get a +duck to-night," said Harry. "We won't go near the island where the cache +is. There's a flat behind the other one to the southward." + +"I can think of one reason," his father answered. "You won't feel like +working to-morrow, and there's a good deal of log-hauling to be done." + +"We'll be ready to start as usual," persisted Harry. + +"Then you can go on that condition, but you'll have to stick to it. I +don't mind your getting a few hours' shooting now and then, but I expect +you to be ranchers first of all when there's work on hand." + +Harry repeated his assurance and Mr. Oliver made no more objections. +When they had heaved up the next log Jake turned to the boys. + +"There'll be a moon and I guess you're not going to do much on the +flats," he said. "You want to cut two very short paddles and put some +spruce brush that you can lie on in the canoe. Then if you keep quite +flat you might creep up on a flock of ducks in one of the channels. You +can't do it if you use the ordinary paddle kneeling." + +He split them two flat slabs off the butt of a cedar, but Mr. Oliver, +who was chopping nearby, looked around when Harry began to hack them +into shape. + +"What are those for?" he asked. + +"Paddles," Harry answered with some hesitation. + +"You're logging just now," said his father dryly. "I want another tier +put up before it's dark." + +Harry laid down the half-finished paddles and grinned at Frank. + +"I guess dad's quite right, but his way of staying with it gets riling +now and then." + +Frank laughed. One day when Harry had hurt his knee and there was no +work of any consequence on hand, Mr. Oliver had taken him out into the +bush, and the boy had a painful recollection of the journey they had +made together. No thicket was too dense or thorny for the rancher to +scramble through, and he prowled about the steepest slopes and amongst +the thickest tangles of fallen logs with the same unflagging persistency +until at the first shot he killed a deer. Mr. Oliver was, as his son +and Jake sometimes said, a stayer, one who invariably put through what +he took in hand. He was the kind of person Frank aspired to become, +though he was discovering that he was not likely to accomplish it by +taking things easily. Success, it seemed, could only be attained by +ceaseless effort and constant carefulness. + +He went on with the logging, though the work was remarkably heavy, and +it was an occupation he had no liking for, but he helped Harry to finish +the paddles after supper. Then they carried a bundle of spruce twigs +down to the canoe, and, though there was not much wind, tied a reef in +the sloop's mainsail, which Mr. Oliver had insisted on before they +loosed the moorings. + +An hour later and shortly before low water they let go the anchor in a +lane of water which wound into a stretch of sloppy sand. It was just +deep enough for the sloop to creep into with her centerboard up, and the +flats ran back from it into a thin mist on either side. It was very cold +and the deck glittered in the pale moonlight white with frost. Frank +stood up looking about him while Harry arranged the twigs in the canoe, +but there was very little to see. The sky was hazy, the moon was +encircled by a halo, and wet sand and winding water glimmered faintly. +At one point he could dimly make out the dark loom of an island, but +there was no sign of the beach in front of him. Though he could feel a +light wind on his face, it was very still, except for the ripple of +water and the occasional splash of undermined sand falling into the +channel, which seemed startlingly distinct. Once he heard a distant +calling of wildfowl, but it died away again. + +Dropping into the canoe when his companion was ready he took up one of +the longer paddles. The water was quite smooth and they made good +progress, but Harry did not seem satisfied. + +"If I'd had any sense I'd have brought a pole to shove her with," he +complained. "It's handier in shallow water and the ducks seem to be a +long way up. A creek that runs out on the beach makes this channel." + +Frank paddled on, watching the sloppy banks slide by and the palely +gleaming strip of water run back into the haze in front of him until at +last it forked off into two branches. + +"We'll try this one," said Harry. "I believe it works right around +behind the island. The flood should come up that end first, and it ought +to drive the feeding birds back over the sands to us." + +The water got deeper as they proceeded, for Frank could feel no bottom +when he sank his blade, but there was no sign of any duck until at last +they heard a faint quacking in the mist. Soon afterward there was a +shrill scream as a flock of some of the smaller waders wheeled above +their heads. + +"Now," said Harry, "we'll try Jake's idea. If the ducks aren't on the +water they'll be along the edge of it where the bank's soft. You don't +often find them feeding where the sand's dry and hard." + +They placed the guns handy, and lying down upon the spruce brush dipped +the short blades. Frank found the position a very uncomfortable one to +paddle in, and he could not keep his hands from getting wet, though the +water was icy cold. They were fast becoming swollen and tingled +painfully in the stinging frost. Still, the boys made some progress, and +at last looking up at a whisper from Harry, Frank saw a dark patch upon +the water some distance in front of him. Harry edged the canoe closer in +with the bank, which had a slope of two or three feet on that side. + +After that they crept on slowly, because they dared not use much force +for fear of splashing, and Frank's wet fingers were rapidly growing +useless. The ducks became a little more distinct and he could see other +birds moving about in the faint gleam on the opposite bank. Some of +them, standing out against the wet surface, looked extraordinarily +large, though he could not tell what they were. + +At last a sudden eerie screaming broke out close ahead and Frank started +and almost dropped his paddle as a second flock of waders rose from the +gloom of the bank. They flashed white in the moonlight as they turned +and wheeled on simultaneously slanted wings. Then they vanished for a +moment as their dusky upper plumage was turned toward the boys, gleamed +again more dimly, and the haze swallowed them. They had, however, given +the alarm, and the air was filled with the harsh clamor of startled +wildfowl. + +"Now!" cried Harry. "Before the ducks get up!" + +Frank flung in his paddle and pitched his gun to his shoulder, with the +barrel resting on the side of the canoe. It sparkled in the moonlight, +distracting his sight, and stung his wet hand, but he could see dark +bodies rising from the water ahead. As he pressed the trigger Harry's +gun blazed across the bows, and following the double crash there was an +outbreak of confused sound, the sharp splash of webbed feet that trailed +through water, a discordant screaming, and the beat of many wings. +Indistinct objects whirled across the moonlight and as Frank with +stiffened fingers snapped open the breach Harry's gun once more flung +out a train of yellow sparks. Then the smoke hung about them smelling +curiously acrid in the frosty air and they seized the paddles to drive +the canoe clear of it. When they had left it behind them the lane of +water was empty except for one small dark patch upon it, and the clamor +of the wildfowl was dying away. They had paddled a few yards when Frank +made out that something was stumbling away from them along the shadowy +bank, but they were almost abreast of it before he could get another +shell into the chamber. The bird lay still when he fired, and Harry +picked up the duck on the water, after which he ran the canoe ashore. + +"So far as I could see, the rest of them headed across the flat toward +the other channel," he said. "It looks soft here, but, as you'll have to +get out to pick up the duck yonder, it might be a good idea if you +followed them over the sand. I'll work along the creek and it's likely +that any birds I put up will fly over you." + +This seemed possible to Frank, who realized that the walk would warm +him, and he stepped out of the canoe into several inches of slushy sand. +Floundering through it, he picked up the duck and threw it to Harry, who +shoved the canoe out. + +"I won't go far and you had better head back toward the forks in half an +hour or so," he said. "I'll probably be waiting." + +The canoe slid away, and Frank felt sorry that he had left her when he +reached the harder top of the bank. The level flat which stretched away +before him into the mist looked very desolate, and the deep stillness +had a depressing effect on him. He also remembered that in another hour +or less the flood tide would come creeping back across the dreary waste. +He could, however, think of no reasonable excuse for rejoining his +companion, and turning his back on the channel he set out across the +sand. Nothing moved upon it as he plodded on, the silence seemed to be +growing deeper, and he had an idea that the haze was denser than it had +been. Still, he determined to make the round Harry had suggested and +quickened his pace. + +It was some time later when he heard a double report that sounded a long +way off and he stopped to listen, when the clamor of the wildfowl broke +out again. It died away, but he fancied that a faint, rhythmic sound +stole out of the silence that followed it. A minute later he was sure +that a flight of ducks was crossing the flat and, what was more, that +the birds were heading toward him. As yet he could see nothing of them, +for there was now no doubt that the mist was thicker. He crouched down +as the sound increased, as it occurred to him that he would be too +plainly visible standing up in the moonlight on the level flat. + +The sound drew nearer, growing in a steady crescendo until he wondered +that a duck's wing could make so much noise, and at last a number of +shadowy objects broke out of the mist, flying low and swiftly in regular +formation. The gun flashed, and the ducks swept on and vanished, all but +one which came slowly fluttering down out of the mist. + +Frank spent nearly a minute fumbling with stiffened fingers while he +crammed in another shell, and then saw that the duck was running across +the sand some way off. Closing the breach he set off after it, and had +got a little nearer when it rose, fluttered awkwardly, and fell again, +though it was able to make good progress on its feet. Twice he got +within sixty yards of it, but on one occasion it flew a little way, and +on the second it swam across a long pool which he had to run around. +Indeed, it led him a considerable distance before he brought it down. + +Picking it up he stopped and looked about him. It was pleasant to feel a +little warmer, but there was nothing to guide him toward the other fork +of the channel except the drift of the mist and the chill of the wind +upon one side of his face, and he could not be sure that the wounded +bird had led him straight. The flat was level and bare except for little +pools of water on which were glistening filaments of ice. It was, +however, too cold to stand still with wet feet and consider, and +deciding that the sooner he got down to the forks the sooner he would be +back on board the sloop, he set off briskly. He had had enough of +wandering about that desolate waste. + +At last, to his relief, he saw a faint silvery glimmer ahead in the +mist, and turning off he struck the channel a little lower down. There +was no sign of a duck or anything else, but he was by no means sorry +for this, for his one idea was to get back to the forks as soon as +possible, and the surest way of doing it was to follow the creek. It +appeared to be a considerable distance, though he walked as fast as he +could, splashing straight through shallow pools and slipping in +half-frozen mud, and when at last he reached the spot where the channels +branched off he could see nothing of Harry or the canoe. What troubled +him almost as much was the fact that the stream was now flowing inland, +and after a quick glance at it he shouted with all his might. His voice +rang along the water and level sand, but though he called again no +answer came out of the drifting mist. Then he slipped his hand into his +pocket to get a cartridge and drew it out again with an exclamation of +disgust, recollecting that he had only picked up three or four loose +shells in the canoe. + +For a moment he stood still considering, and it occurred to him that the +situation was not a pleasant one. The flood tide was making and he did +not know how far off the beach was, while he had no desire to spend the +night in the woods. He could not see the island, and in order to reach +it he would have to cross the main channel, which, as he remembered, was +moderately deep. On the whole it seemed wiser to wade through the +smaller fork and, if Harry did not overtake him in the meanwhile, try to +get on board the sloop. She would float in very shallow water with her +centerboard up, and he had touched bottom with the canoe paddle a few +yards away from her. + +When he had arrived at this decision he plunged into the water, which +immediately rose above the top of his long boots. It was horribly cold, +but this caused him less concern than the fact that it rippled strongly +against his legs, which made it clear that he must get down to the sloop +as fast as possible. He was over his knees before he got across, and +then he ran his hardest along the edge of the channel, which seemed to +be growing wider at every moment. The palely gleaming water was +perfectly smooth, but it was moving with an ominous speed. + +He grew breathless, but he did not slacken the pace. He went straight, +splashing through trickling water and into pools, while he strained his +eyes for the first glimpse of the sloop, but he could only see the mist +which hid the sand thirty or forty yards in front of him. At last he +made out a strip of something solid low down ahead and then what seemed +to be a mast, and a few moments later he stopped at the water's edge. +There was nothing but water in front of him and it was no longer quite +smooth. Little ripples ran along the sand, and one broke about his feet +while he gazed at them. It did not recede but splashed on, and when he +looked around there was at least a yard of water behind him. Then he +struggled with a paralyzing sense of dismay, and strove to keep his +head. It was necessary to think and think very hard. + +He could not wait where he was with the water deepening about him; +while, if he went back and did not find Harry before he reached it, the +creek, which he would no longer be able to cross, would head him off. If +he followed it up on the near side it would take him away from the +canoe, and he did not know how far off the beach was. There was +evidently only one thing to be done and that was to get on board the +sloop even if he had to swim. + +She seemed a horribly long way out, but he splashed in hurriedly, afraid +to wait a moment lest his resolution should melt away, and he was soon +waist-deep with a strong stream swirling around him. It was almost +impossible to keep his feet, the gun hampered him, and the coldness of +the water seemed to check his breathing and take the power out of his +limbs. He could not go back, however, and face a journey through the +mist across the waste of sand, and setting his lips he struggled on. +Twice he was almost swept away, but at last making a savage effort he +clutched the stern of the craft and scrambled up on to her deck. + +The first thing he did was to light the stove, and when a pleasant +warmth began to fill the cabin he was conscious of a strong desire to +sit still and dry his clothes. That, unfortunately, was out of the +question, and he reluctantly crawled out and stood up on deck. There was +nothing but water around him now. It stretched back on every side into +the mist, and the only sounds were the soft lap of the tide and the +ripple it made flowing over thinly covered sand. Then having already +decided that Harry would have some difficulty in paddling against the +stream, he set about getting sail upon the craft to go in search of the +canoe. + +The mainsail looked remarkably big and heavy, and he was thankful that +there was a reef in it, which made the task a little easier before he +got it up. Then he spent several minutes in very hard work heaving the +boat up to her anchor, and bruised his swollen hands in the determined +effort it cost him to break it out. After that he set the jib and the +sloop slid gently away with the wind abeam of her. He did not know +exactly where she was going, but he shouted as loudly as he could every +now and then, and at last there was a faint answering cry. + +He called again and the cry rose more clearly, after which he hauled the +sheet and changed his course, and by and by the canoe appeared out of +the haze close ahead. A few moments later Harry paddled alongside, and +handing up the ducks and his gun made the canoe fast before he turned to +Frank. + +"Do you know where you're heading for?" he asked. + +"No," Frank confessed. "I've only a notion that it's in toward the +land." + +"Then we'll drop the jib and pitch the anchor over. We'll have to wait +until the stream slackens before we get out again." + +They followed his suggestion and Frank was glad indeed to creep back +into the cozy cabin. + +"This is uncommonly nice," drawled Harry, sitting down with a smile of +content. "It was horribly cramping in the canoe and my hands were 'most +too cold to paddle." + +"What kept you?" inquired Frank. + +"I must have gone farther than I intended and when I turned back the +tide was running up so strong I could hardly make head against it. I was +getting scared about you when I reached the forks and saw how the water +was spreading on the sand. After that I didn't spare myself, but I was +mighty glad to hear your shout." + +"Did you get any more ducks?" + +"No," said Harry, "I had only one shot--a long one." + +Frank, who told him to make some coffee, stripped off part of his +clothes and dressed himself in an old blanket, after which they sat +beside the stove for an hour or so, until Harry crawled out and said +that there was a little more wind and the mist was thinning. + +Shortly after this they heaved the anchor and started again, but once +more the wind fell light and a couple of hours had passed and they were +almost frozen when they reached the cove below the ranch. The house was +dark when they crept into it and went straight to bed, while it cost +Frank a determined effort to get up before daylight next morning. His +clothes were still damp and he felt sore and aching, but he took his +place with the others when they sat down to breakfast. + +Logging seemed a particularly unpleasant task that day, but he had to go +on with it, and he fancied that Mr. Oliver, with whom it was necessary +to keep pace, worked harder than he usually did. Frank was completely +exhausted when as darkness fell they went back to the ranch. + +"Are you going out again after ducks to-night?" Mr. Oliver asked him. + +"No," said Frank ruefully, "I feel as if it would take me a week to get +over the last trip." + +"I'm not very much astonished," Mr. Oliver answered with a soft laugh. +"Still, I don't mind admitting that you stood up to your work to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ULTIMATUM + + +The frost soon broke up, and it was raining heavily one afternoon, when +the boys were at work in an excavation they had driven under a big fir +stump shortly after their shooting trip. Frank, very wet and dirty, lay +propped up on one elbow with his head and shoulders inside the hole, +chopping awkwardly at a root. His legs and feet were in a pool of water +outside and there was very little room to swing the ax, while at every +blow the saturated soil fell down on him. Grubbing out a stump in wet +weather is a singularly disagreeable task. + +Harry crouched close beside him where he was partly sheltered from the +rain by the network of roots which rose above his head. The boys had +spent most of the day cutting through those which ran along the surface +of the ground and digging to get at the rest, until they had been forced +to drive a tunnel to reach one or two which went vertically down, for it +was an unusually large stump. At last when his ax shoved through the +obstacle Frank paused for breath, and, as it was getting dark in the +excavation, Harry lighted a piece of candle. The light fell upon a +massive shaft of wet wood which sank into the ground. + +"Nobody fixed as we are could chop through that," he grumbled. "It's the +big taproot, and it would take most of another day's shoveling to make +room to get at it with the crosscut. It looks as if we'd have to put +some giant powder in. Where's that auger?" + +Frank reached out for the boring tool, which resembled a huge +corkscrew, only that instead of a handle it had a hole at its upper end +for the insertion of a short lever. + +"I'll bore while you get things ready, if you like," he suggested. "Do +you often use dynamite?" + +"We never fire a shot when we can help it, though there are ranchers who +get through a lot of the stuff. Giant powder's expensive, and, though +labor's expensive, too, you have to figure whether a shot's going to +pay. It's worth while if it will save you grubbing most of the day. +Slant the hole you bore a little upward while I go along for the +magazine." + +Harry crawled out of the excavation, and Frank slipped a crossbar +through the hole in the auger, driving the point of the latter into the +wood. It went in easily, but the work grew harder as he twisted it round +and round, kneeling with his shoulders against the roots, while the +candle flickered and big drops of water trickled down on him. The +position was a cramping one, and his wet hands slipped upon the +crossbar, but he had become accustomed to doing unpleasant things, and +it was evident that one could not clear a ranch without grubbing stumps. + +By and by Harry came back, and telling him to hold the light carefully, +produced what looked rather like a yellow candle, and a piece of black +cord with a copper cap nipped down on the end of it. + +"That's the detonator," he said, pointing to the cap. "You saw one or +two of them at Webster's ranch." + +"I didn't feel inclined to stop and examine them then," Frank answered +with a laugh. + +"They're very like the caps used for guns, only, as you see, they're +bigger, and it's wise to be careful how you pinch one down on the fuse. +The stuff they fill the end with is mighty powerful. So's giant powder, +but it's peculiar because it will only burn unless you fire it with +something that makes a bang. At least, that's what it does in a general +way. The trouble is you can never be quite sure of it." + +He worked the soft yellow substance over the detonator, after which he +thrust it gently into the auger hole and pressed a handful of soil down +on it. Frank was thankful when he had finished, for having heard of the +tremendous powers of the giant powder he did not care to be shut up with +it among that network of roots. Then Harry, straightening the strip of +black fuse which projected from the hole, took a quick glance about him. + +"We'll make sure we can get out before we light it," he remarked, taking +the candle and holding it to the fuse. "You don't want to stay around +once the fuse is burning. Crawl back and hold those roots up out of my +way." + +The candle was by this time sputtering and sparkling, and Frank swung +himself up out of the hole and set off madly across the clearing, +shouting to Mr. Oliver and Jake, who were at work not far away. His +companion, following close behind, stopped him presently. + +"Hold on!" he shouted with a laugh. "You needn't run right down to the +cove. Giant powder's kind of local in its action, and that charge isn't +going to turn the whole clearing upside down." + +They waited behind a neighboring stump, and a few minutes later Frank, +who had felt himself thrilled with expectation, was grievously +disappointed. He had looked for a spectacular result, but there was only +a dull, heavy thud, a sound of rending and splitting, and a wisp of +vapor out of which a little soil flew up. + +"Now," said Harry, "we'll go along and have a look, but we'll work +around the stump and come at it down the wind." + +"Why?" Frank asked. + +His companion snickered. "Only that it would probably knock you over, +I'd let you go and see. It's wise to keep clear of the gases after +firing giant powder. They haven't the same effect on everybody, but +most men who get a whiff of them want to lie down for the rest of the +day." + +They approached the stump cautiously on its windward side, but there was +not much to see. It appeared to have been split and was slightly raised, +but it had certainly not been blown to fragments, as Frank had expected. + +"Do you think the shot has cut the root?" he asked. + +"No," said Harry with a smile, "you couldn't call it cutting. It has +melted it, swallowed it, blotted it right out. You'll find very little +of that root to-morrow, and there won't be any pieces lying round +either." + +He broke off and grabbed Frank's arm as the latter moved toward the +other side of the stump. + +"Come back!" he warned. "The gas is hanging about yet." + +Frank noticed a rather unpleasant smell, and was conscious of a pain in +his head, but it passed off as they crossed the clearing together. As it +was getting too dark to work, Mr. Oliver and Jake joined them before +they reached the house. They changed their clothes when they went in, +and after toiling in the rain all day Frank was glad to sit down dressed +in dry things at the well-spread table. The room was very cozy with its +bright lamp and snapping stove, and the doleful wail of the wind and the +thrashing of the rain outside emphasized its cheerfulness. He felt +languidly content with himself and the simple, strenuous life he led. +For the most part, though they had occasional adventures, it was an +uneventful one, and some time had passed since they had heard anything +of the dope runners. He wondered what had become of them, or if they had +found smuggling unprofitable and had given it up. + +Supper was about half finished when there was a knock at the door and +the dog rose with a growl. Harry seized the animal's collar just as a +man appeared in the entrance. His clothes were black with water and a +trickle of it ran from the brim of the soft hat he held in one hand. He +was a young man and the paleness of his face suggested that he was from +the cities. + +"Is it far to Carthew Creek?" he inquired. + +"Eight or nine miles," Mr. Oliver replied. "The trail's very bad and +you'll have some trouble in keeping it on a night like this. Have you +any reason for going straight through?" + +"I believe a steamboat calls to-morrow and I thought of going back with +her. I've had about enough of these bush trails." + +"Then we'll put you up," said Mr. Oliver obligingly. "You can get on +again first thing in the morning. You're wet enough now, aren't you?" + +The stranger admitted that he was, but seemed to hesitate. + +"I don't want to trouble Miss Oliver," he said. "Still, as it happens, +I've a message for you." + +Mr. Oliver said that he would give him some dry clothes, and the two +withdrew to get them. They came back a few minutes later and sat down at +the table. The stranger made an excellent meal, and Mr. Oliver waited +until he had finished before he asked a question: + +"Have you walked in?" + +"From the settlement," the other answered. "As I expected to get back by +the steamboat, I left my hired horse with Porteous at the store." + +"Porteous doesn't keep the store." + +"The other fellow got hurt chopping a week or so ago. A log or a big +branch fell on him, and they sent him off to Seattle. Porteous is +running the business until he gets better." + +Frank fancied that Mr. Oliver was displeased at this, but there was no +change in his manner toward his visitor. + +"Is he running the post office, too?" he asked. + +"Oh, yes. I had to tell him something about a letter." + +"You mentioned that you had some business with me. I suppose you're +looking up orders for fruit trees?" + +The stranger smiled. "I'm a store clerk by profession. Out of a job at +present. Name's T. Graham Watkins. Now you know me." + +He turned to Miss Oliver with a bow, but she made no comment, and he +glanced toward the boys. + +"We've got to have a talk," he added, addressing Mr. Oliver. "I'm not +sure you'd want these young men or your sister to hear." + +"You can tell it here," said Mr. Oliver dryly. "I can make a guess at +your business, and if I'm right I've no objections to the others staying +where they are." + +"Then it's just this. The folks I represent aren't pleased with you. +They've a notion that you've been bucking against them for the last few +months and trying to find out things they'd rather keep dark." + +"I presume you're referring to the dope runners. Why didn't they come +themselves?" + +"That's easily answered," said Mr. Watkins. "I understand you haven't +seen one of them yet, and they don't want to give you an opportunity of +doing so." + +Harry grinned at Frank across the table unnoticed by the speaker. + +"In my case it doesn't matter," the latter added. "I've merely called to +give you a message." + +"Aren't you rather hanging fire with it?" Mr. Oliver asked. + +"I feel kind of diffident. I don't want to say anything that might alarm +your sister." + +Miss Oliver smiled. "You needn't hesitate. My brother generally takes me +into his confidence, and I don't think either of us is very easily +startled." + +"Won't you send the boys away, anyhow?" + +"No," said Mr. Oliver quietly, "I think I mentioned that I'd rather let +them stay." + +"Well," said the other, "this is the position. The gentlemen you +mentioned can land their stuff near here and get it away through the +bush easily; that is, if you'll lie by and take no hand against them. +There are other routes, but they're longer and more difficult, and my +friends would rather stick to this one if it's possible. The question is +how can they make it worth your while to shut your eyes and leave them +alone?" + +Harry suddenly straightened himself and Frank noticed the quick flush of +anger in his face, but Miss Oliver was smiling and the rancher's voice +was as tranquil as usual. + +"The answer's very simple," he said. "It can't be done." + +Mr. Watkins appeared astonished. + +"I want you to consider your position," he repeated. + +"I may tell you that I considered it carefully some months ago, but +there's a point I'd like to mention. Has it struck you that I might +promise to fall in with your friends' views and all the same give them +away?" + +"It was talked about," Mr. Watkins answered. "We decided it wouldn't be +in keeping with what we knew about your character, and you'd certainly +be sorry you had done it afterward." + +"Now we're coming to the second and more important half of the message," +said Mr. Oliver. + +"You're right," was the answer. "I'm to understand that when you say you +won't meet my friends' views it's your last word?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Oliver firmly. + +"Then my message is a plain one. Let up, or look out. I want you to fix +your attention on the last part of it. You have quite a nice place here, +a high-class barn and homestead, and a good hay crop, and there's nobody +living within some miles of you except Webster." + +"Precisely!" said Mr. Oliver. "They cost me a good deal of very hard +work and I shall try to keep them. Now I suppose you've said your +piece?" + +Mr. Watkins raised his hand as if to beg his forbearance. + +"You've heard it all. I only want to add that I'm quite willing to start +right now for Carthew if you wish it." + +Mr. Oliver laughed naturally and easily. + +"No," he said, "you're my guest for the night. After this we'll change +the subject and talk about something else." He looked around. "Harry, +will you bring the cigar box out?" + +Mr. Watkins did not appear to be a brilliant conversationalist, but he +discussed politics and railroad extension with his host, and Frank found +himself wondering at and admiring the rancher's attitude. He had shown +no sign of anger and had never failed in courtesy. Threats had +apparently no effect on him, and he had received them with a quiet +amusement which appealed in particular to the boy's fancy. It seemed +ever so much finer than blustering indignation, but he thought that +there would be a striking change in Mr. Oliver's manner if he were ever +driven to action. + +Mr. Watkins took his departure after breakfast next morning, after which +Mr. Oliver wrote two letters before he called the boys. + +"I want you to take the sloop and go up to the settlement," he said. +"You will mail this letter there. It's to Barclay, though it isn't +directly addressed to him." + +Harry looked thoughtful. + +"Of course," he said hesitatingly, "I'll do that if you wish it, but +Porteous is a mean white, isn't he? Mightn't he open the thing?" + +"It's possible," Mr. Oliver answered with a smile. "As it happens, I've +no great objections to his reading it, and I'm mailing it with him as an +experiment. Don't put it into the box, but hand it to him. When you +have done that sail back along the beach and then head right across to +Bannington's, where you'll mail this other letter. As you can't be back +to-night, you had better take some provisions with you. Start as soon as +you can." + +The boys were off in half an hour, for the rain had stopped and there +was a clear sky and a moderate breeze. As they sailed out of the cove +Harry from his place at the helm glanced at his companion with a +chuckle. + +"When you come to understand him, dad's unique," he said. "Porteous will +open that letter. He's mean enough for anything, and it's been my +opinion all along that he's in with the gang." + +"But won't it give your father's plans away if he reads it?" + +"Not much!" said Harry. "Haven't you got hold yet? The letter's about +hunting, and there's most likely an order in it for Winchester shells or +something else that will put Porteous off the track. He's probably not +an expert at opening envelopes, and it won't take Barclay long to tell +whether anybody has been tampering with the letter. The other one will +go through without being interfered with. They're white at +Bannington's." + +"That won't get over much of the difficulty, after all," Frank objected. +"Won't your father's answer bring Watkins's friends down upon the +ranch?" + +"It's possible," said Harry. "I've a notion that when they come dad will +be ready for them, and I fancy Barclay's nearly through with his +trailing." + +"You expect he'll make a new move then?" + +Harry laughed. "Sure!" he said. "That little, fat man will get +everything fixed up without making the least fuss. Then he'll bring his +hand down once for all and smash the whole dope-running gang. I don't +mind allowing that I was quite wrong about him at the beginning." + +They said nothing more upon the subject, and they safely reached the +cove next day after a long, cold sail. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MR. OLIVER OUTWITS HIS WATCHERS + + +A day or two after they had got back to the ranch Mr. Oliver asked the +boys if they would like another trip, and as both of them preferred it +to grubbing stumps they paddled off to the canoe with him the same +evening. A fresh breeze sprang up as the sun went down, and they had a +fast and rather wet sail. Daylight was breaking across the scattered +pines when the party left the sloop and walked up a trail within sight +of a little lonely settlement. + +As they approached it a harsh clanking and the tolling of a bell rose +from behind the trees, and they had to wait while a locomotive and a +string of freight cars jolted across the trail into a neighboring side +track. When the train had passed Mr. Oliver and his companions crossed +the rails and entered a desolate flag station, which consisted of a +roughly boarded, iron-roofed shack and a big water tank. In front of it +was an open space strewn with fir stumps, and beyond the latter three or +four frame houses rose among the trees. The door of the shack was shut, +and while they stood outside it the sound of an approaching train grew +steadily louder and a jet of steam blew noisily from the valve of the +locomotive waiting in the side track. + +"A Seattle train," said Mr. Oliver. "They don't seem to be flagging her +and she probably won't stop." + +Frank stood looking about him with a curious stirring of his heart. +There was a gaudy poster pasted up on the shack announcing cheap tickets +to Seattle, with a line or two about a circus and some attraction at an +opera house. In the meanwhile the scream of a whistle came ringing +across the shadowy trees and the boy was troubled by the familiar sights +and sounds. The wet rails, the freight cars, and the brilliant poster +reminded him of the cities he had turned his back upon some time ago. + +Then, though the daylight was rapidly growing clearer, a big blazing +lamp broke out from among the firs with a cloud of steam streaming +behind it, and a locomotive and a row of clanging cars swept through the +depot. The lights from the windows flashed into Frank's face, flickered +upon the shack and rows of stumps, and grew dim again, after which the +din receded and came throbbing back fainter and fainter. As he listened +to it, a sudden fierce longing seized the boy. He wanted to hear the +clamor of the cities again, to see the big stores and the hurrying +crowds. Almost a year had elapsed since he had even seen a train, and a +journey of two or three hours would take him back to the stir and bustle +of civilization away from the constant monotonous toil with ax and saw +in the lonely bush. + +He wondered what his people were doing in Boston. In the winter season +there were festivities and gayety there, and he had once enjoyed them +with his old companions who had most likely forgotten him. Some had gone +into business, two were at Harvard, and another had entered the army; +but he stood, dressed in miry long boots and old well-mended garments +still damp with salt water, in a little desolate depot in the +wilderness. He fancied that he was justified in feeling rather sorry for +himself. + +Then with an effort he drove these thoughts away. After all, his place +was not in the cities. He had no money and there was nobody to give him +a fair start in life, while he admitted that it was very doubtful that +he had any talent for business. He might, perhaps, become a clerk or +something of the kind, but it once more occurred to him that he was +better off in the bush. Indeed, though he scarcely realized this, the +bush had already made a striking change in him, and it is possible that +his eastern friends would have had trouble in recognizing him as the +pale lad they had sent away to Minneapolis. His face was bronzed and +resolute, he was taller, tougher, and broader around the chest, and he +could now toil all day at a task which would once have broken him down +in a couple of hours. Then he started as he noticed that Mr. Oliver was +looking at him with a smile. + +"You seem to be thinking rather hard," the rancher remarked. + +"I was," Frank admitted hesitatingly. "It was the train that put the +ideas into my mind." + +"I fancied it might be something of that description," said Mr. Oliver. +"She'd soon have taken you up to Seattle, and nowadays it's a very short +run to Chicago, where you could get on to one of the Atlantic flyers. I +suppose you feel that you'd like to make the journey?" + +"I did--for a minute or two," Frank confessed with an embarrassed smile. +"Then, of course, I realized that it was impossible." + +Somewhat to his astonishment, Mr. Oliver laid a hand upon his shoulder. + +"The wish was very natural, but stay where you are, my lad. There's more +room out here in the Western bush, and you're making progress. This is +going to be a great country, and you won't be sorry you came out in a +few more years." + +"I'm not sorry now," Frank answered sturdily, with a flush in his face. + +Mr. Oliver turned away as the agent opened the door of his shack, and +they went into the little, untidy office. + +"I want to send a message south," said Mr. Oliver, writing something on +a form. "It's a code address. I suppose I could get an answer in an hour +or so?" + +"Oh, yes," said the agent. "They'll be beginning to move about in +Seattle now, and if the man's in his office there'll be no delay. In the +meanwhile they would give you a good breakfast at the hotel." + +Mr. Oliver thanked him, and as they left the depot two men whom they had +not noticed hitherto met them. Mr. Oliver glanced at them sharply, but +he did not speak, and a few minutes later they sat down to an excellent +meal in the primitive wooden hotel. When they had finished the +proprietor strolled in and sat down for a chat with them. + +"Is there much going on about the place?" Mr. Oliver asked, offering him +a cigar. + +"Yes," said the hotelkeeper, accepting the proffered cigar with +alacrity, "we've struck quite a boom. There's a man clearing a lot of +ground for a fruit ranch and putting up a smart frame house. Then +they're cutting a couple of new trails. The boys are making good wages +and they're all of them busy." + +"I saw two men just now who didn't seem to have much to do," said Mr. +Oliver carelessly, and Harry gave his companion a nudge with his elbow. + +"They don't belong here," was the answer. "One of them lives down the +beach and does some fishing with his boat. The other man came in from +the South yesterday on the cars, and I don't know what he's after. I +told him I could put him on to a job and he said he didn't want it." + +"As they're together, he's probably going in for fishing with the first +one," Mr. Oliver suggested. + +The hotelkeeper pursed his lips and looked as if he were solving a hard +problem. + +"It's a puzzle to me how Larry makes a living. It's only now and then he +sends a little fish away, and I can't see what he'd do with a partner." +Then he changed the subject. "You're thinking of buying land?" + +"No," said Mr. Oliver, "I sailed over in my boat to dispatch a wire. It +was much easier than riding a long way to the nearest office now that +the trails are soft." + +"They're bad, sure," assented his companion, and they continued to +discuss ranching until Mr. Oliver finally rose and said he would walk +across to the depot. The boys followed him a few paces behind. Harry +addressed his companion with a look of admiration for his father. + +"I guess you noticed how dad found out about those fellows without +letting the man think he was curious?" he said. + +Frank said that he had noticed it and added: + +"I wonder what the fellow came up from the South for?" + +"That," said Harry significantly, "is a point I expect dad's doing some +hard thinking on just now." + +They walked into the agent's office and sat down to wait as he told them +that he had as yet received no answer to the telegram. The door near +which Frank sat stood partly open, and he noticed that the two men were +lounging close outside it. He quietly touched Mr. Oliver's arm, +indicating them with a glance. The rancher knitted his brows and +presently spoke to the agent. + +"There are two men who seem to be waiting for you outside," he said. + +The agent walked across to the door. + +"Back again, Larry!" he said impatiently. "What's the matter now?" + +"When's that fish box of mine coming along?" the man inquired. + +"I don't know," said the agent. "Next freight, most likely, if it's been +delivered to us at the other end." + +"Won't you wire up the line about it?" + +"No," said the agent. "If you'll put up the stamps I'll wire to the fish +store you billed it to." + +The man looked indignant. "I tell you it's in the railroad's hands. Do +you think I've nothing better to do than hang about this depot every +time a freight comes through?" He paused a moment with his eyes on the +ground, then went on: "Anyway, now I'm on the spot I may as well wait +for the next one. She should be along in about an hour. Won't you let me +in?" + +The telegraph instrument began to click just then and the agent turned +toward him sharply. + +"There's no room. You can wait at the hotel." + +"Perhaps the message is about his box," broke in the other man. + +Frank glanced around at them. They were dressed like most of the bush +choppers in rough working clothes and there was nothing particularly +noticeable in their appearance, but he fancied that they had some reason +for wishing to get into the office. + +"No, sir," said the agent. "They don't wire about the delivery of an +empty box on this road. Get out! I want to shut the door." + +Frank noticed that one of the loungers had thrust his foot against the +post, but the agent, seeming to lose his temper, slammed the door on it. +The man withdrew it with an exclamation, and the agent turned toward the +instrument which was now clicking rapidly. He tapped an answering +signal, and then wrote upon a strip of paper which he handed Mr. Oliver. +The latter read the message and handed it to the boys. + + "_First route unsatisfactory second preferred_," it + ran. "_Meet me nine to-night Everett if possible._" + +Frank was puzzled, but he fancied that Harry understood the message +better than he did. + +"Thanks," said Mr. Oliver, addressing the agent. "Your two friends +outside seemed uncommonly anxious about that box." + +"That's a fact," said the agent. "Larry was worrying me about it before +it was light. I don't know the fellow who came along with him, but it +struck me that he was listening to the instrument as if he understood +it, though he couldn't have heard more than the depot call. Of course," +he added thoughtfully, "'most any one who had worked on a railroad would +know the code, but I can't figure why they should make so much fuss +about a box that's scarcely worth a dollar." + +"It's curious," Mr. Oliver answered indifferently. "You might lend me +your train schedule." + +The agent gave him the company's time bill, which also included the +coast steamboat sailings, and Mr. Oliver walked back with the boys to +the hotel. There was nobody in the general room when they reached it, +and they sat down near the stove. + +"Now," he began, "as we have taken you into our confidence and it's +probable that you can help, you may as well understand the situation +thoroughly. The message was, of course, from Barclay, though it bears a +clerk's name, and it means that Porteous has opened the letter you left +him. I fancy he'll regret it, but that is by the way. Barclay received +the second letter untampered with, and the rest is plain enough. The +only question is how I'm to keep the appointment without putting the +fellows at the depot on my track." + +"You believe they're in league with the smugglers?" Frank inquired. + +Mr. Oliver smiled. "It seems very likely. Here's a man who keeps a boat, +and, as you have heard, folks wonder how he makes a living by his +fishing. If the boat's moderately fast you can imagine how useful he +would be to the smugglers by taking messages from place to place and +communicating with the schooner. Then we have another man who seems able +to read the telegraph turning up and trying to hear Barclay's message." + +"But how could they have learned that you expected it?" Frank asked. + +"I'm not sure. Porteous may have suspected something and sent a mounted +man off to wire one of the gang. Besides, the fellow who has the boat +may have been across with her. It wouldn't be hard to surmise that I +would wire from here, though they may have had a man watching the +nearest office I could have reached by land on horseback." He paused a +moment and looked at the boys gravely. "All this points to the fact that +we're up against a big and remarkably well-organized gang." + +Frank had no doubt that Mr. Oliver was right, but he asked a question: + +"Why did Barclay choose Everett when it's so far from the field of their +operations?" + +"That's exactly why he fixed on it. There would be less probability of +somebody connected with the gang recognizing us, and I've met him there +already. The fact that he doesn't mention any particular hotel should +have told you that; but what we have to consider is how I'm to get there +without these fellows following me. It's important that I should be back +at the ranch as soon as possible, and you and Harry must manage to +arrive there the first thing to-morrow." + +Frank understood the necessity for this. The nights were long, the bush +was lonely, and Mr. Oliver's wooden house and barns, which had cost him +a good deal of money, would readily burn, while now, when there was only +Jake to take care of them, they would be more or less at the smugglers' +mercy. Then Harry, who in the meanwhile, had been examining the +schedule, looked up. + +"I've an idea," he said. "There's a train goes south in the afternoon, +and a steamboat which calls at Everett goes up the Sound this evening. +Well, suppose we order dinner here and start for Bannington's a little +before the cars come in. The steamboat would stop to pick up there if +she's signaled, and with this breeze we should get down shortly before +she passes." + +Mr. Oliver turned to Frank. + +"How does that strike you?" he asked. + +"The trouble is that the other men would follow us in their boat," the +boy objected. Then a light dawned upon him as he saw the twinkle in Mr. +Oliver's eyes. "You mean that's what Harry intended them to do?" + +"Exactly!" Harry broke in with a grin. "They raise brainy folks in +Boston, and you're getting hold. Those fellows will get after us as soon +as they can hoist sail on their boat and we'll give them a run for it. +The point is that while they're following us dad will be on the cars." + +"But how is he going to elude them?" + +"That," Harry admitted sagely, "wants some thinking out." + +They made their plans in the next half-hour, and some time after dinner +was over walked toward the beach. Nobody seemed to be following them, +though they could not be sure of this since the trail wound about +through the bush, but when they reached the canoe another boat which +they had not noticed on arriving lay moored a few hundred yards away. +They were obliged to carry the canoe down some distance over very rough +stones, and on reaching the water's edge Mr. Oliver took a quick glance +about him. + +"I'm afraid one plan's spoiled," he said. + +The boys glanced back toward the trail and Frank saw two figures saunter +out on to the beach. Harry frowned as he glanced at them. + +"You can't slip back into the bush without their seeing you," he warned. + +"No," said Mr. Oliver. "Still, I think there's a means of getting over +the difficulty. Shove the canoe in. They'll have to carry their boat +down, and our boat's lying nearer the head yonder than theirs is." + +Frank did not understand how the rancher intended to evade his pursuers +and fancied that Harry was not much wiser. They had soon launched the +canoe, however, and were paddling off to the sloop, running the mainsail +up in haste. Then the boys set the jib as she drew out from the beach, +and Frank noticed that the other men were hoisting sail upon their boat +as fast as they could manage it. The sloop, however, was already some +distance away from them, and it was not long before she picked up a +freshening breeze. Lying well over to it she gathered speed, and close +to lee of her Frank saw a low, rocky head, down the face of which +straggled stunted pines and underbrush. He fancied that she would be +hidden from their pursuers when she had sailed around the end of it, but +on glancing back as they approached the corner he saw that the other men +had started after them. They were three or four minutes behind, but he +had no idea yet how Mr. Oliver meant to elude them. He was still +wondering about it when the rancher spoke to him. + +"Get hold of the canoe painter," he ordered. "The moment we're around +the corner we'll haul her up and you'll put me ashore. You'll have to be +smart about it, because you must be back on board before the other boat +rounds the head." + +Harry had already taken the helm, and the sloop was sailing very fast, +with the canoe lurching and splashing over the short seas astern of her. +They broke in a broad fringe of foam upon the stony beach thirty or +forty yards to lee, and as the boat swept on the bay behind closed in +and the seaward face of the cliff opened out ahead. Frank could still +see the boat astern, but as he stood in the well with his hands clenched +upon a rope he knew that in another moment the rocks would shut her out. +Then, sure enough, she suddenly vanished, and shortly afterward he heard +Mr. Oliver's voice. + +"Haul!" he shouted. + +Harry flung loose the mainsheet, but the boat did not quicken her speed +immediately, and Frank found it desperately hard to drag up the canoe, +though Mr. Oliver had seized the rope behind him. Haste was, however, +necessary, if the rancher was to slip back to the depot unsuspected. At +last the canoe ran alongside with a bang and Mr. Oliver dropped on +board, while Frank nearly upset her as he followed him. Each of them +seized a paddle and the boy had a momentary glimpse of the sloop rolling +with her slackened mainsail thrashing to and fro, while Harry struggled +to haul the jib to weather. After that he looked ahead and swung his +paddle, and as the breeze was blowing on to the beach a few quick +strokes drove them in through the splashing surf. She struck the stones +violently, for they had no time to be careful, and Mr. Oliver jumped +ashore, running into the water to thrust her out. Frank contrived to +twist her around, though it taxed all his strength, after which he +hazarded a single glance behind him. Mr. Oliver had disappeared among +the several masses of fallen rock and clumps of small growth which were +scattered about the slope. + +So far the plan had succeeded, but Frank had still to reach the sloop, +which was a different matter from paddling ashore. There was a fresh +breeze ahead of him and a little splashing sea heaved up the canoe's +bows and checked her speed. In addition to this, it is a rather +difficult thing to keep a canoe on a straight course with a single-ended +paddle, which can only be dipped on the one side, and in order to do so +one must give the blade a back twist, which retards the craft unless it +is skillfully managed. Frank, who had hitherto practiced it only in +smooth water, found that the bows would blow around in spite of him. He +grew hot and breathless, and though he set his lips and strung up his +muscles he made very little progress. + +"Paddle!" shouted Harry, who had been watching his maneuvers. "Shove her +through it! Can't you get a move on? I can't run in any nearer without +getting her ashore." + +Frank made another desperate attempt, but a splashing sea broke about +the bows, driving the canoe off her course again, and while he savagely +swung the paddle Harry surveyed him contemptuously. + +"Culcha!" he jeered. "Guess you loaded that up in Boston, but what you +want is sand. Can't you get a bit of a hustle on? You're sure born +played-out back East." + +Frank felt a little more blood surge into his hot face. This was more +than he felt inclined to stand from any Westerner of his own weight, but +it was clear that he could not rebuke his reviler fittingly until he +reached the sloop and the veins swelled up on his forehead as he +furiously plied the paddle. Once more a sea broke about the bows and +this time part of it splashed in, while as he tried the back-feather +stroke the canoe lurched and began to swing around in spite of his +redoubled efforts. Harry spread out one hand resignedly. + +"Well," he said, "it's our own fault for letting you into the canoe. The +trouble was you couldn't be trusted alone with the sloop either. Pshaw! +We've no use for folks of your kind in this country." + +This was intolerable, because part of it was true, and Frank felt his +heart thumping painfully. But he made a last effort, and panting, +straining, taxing every muscle to the utmost, he drove the canoe ahead, +and eventually managed to grasp the sloop's lee rail. He could not +speak, and as he breathlessly crawled on board Harry snatched the rope +from him and made it fast. + +"Trim that jibsheet over," he commanded. + +Frank obeyed him and when they hauled on the mainsheet the sloop once +more gathered speed, while Frank glancing astern saw a strip of slanted +sail appear around the corner of the head. Then he glanced ashore, and +though he saw no sign of Mr. Oliver the slope to the beach was not +remarkably steep and he fancied that the rancher would not have much +trouble in ascending it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A FAST RUN + + +After they had trimmed sail Frank sat still for a while to recover his +breath and, if possible, his composure. He felt that it was necessary to +demand an explanation from his companion. Though they had once or twice +had a difference of opinion, this was the first time that Harry had been +insulting, and Frank found it impossible to pass over what he had said. +When he felt able to speak clearly he looked his companion in the eyes. + +"Now," he began, "I'll admit that you can shoot and sail a boat rather +better than I can, but that doesn't entitle you to talk as you did just +now." + +"I don't know if it matters, but I've a notion that I did shout," Harry +answered calmly. + +"That only makes it worse," Frank burst out warmly. "You couldn't call +it shouting either. I once heard a coyote on the prairie, and it had a +much sweeter voice than you have." + +To his astonishment, Harry grinned. + +"Oh, well," he said, "but won't you get down under the mainboom before +you go on? I don't want those fellows astern to see there are only two +of us on board the sloop." + +Frank did as he suggested, whereupon Harry waved his hand and smiled +graciously. + +"Now," he added, "you can go ahead." + +Frank found it harder than he had expected. His anger was beginning to +evaporate and Harry's good humor was embarrassing. Still, he made +another effort. + +"In the first place," he resumed, "there are just as smart and capable +folks in Massachusetts as there are anywhere else." + +"That's quite right," assented Harry. "I don't see why there shouldn't +be, but I suppose you're not through yet. You want to call me down?" + +"When you say things of that kind--you--" Frank stammered, and stopped +when he observed his companion still smiling. + +"Sure!" said Harry, "I ought to be pounded with the boathook if I'd +meant them." + +Frank gazed at him in bewilderment. "You didn't mean them?" + +"No," said Harry. "Not a word of it." + +"Then why did you say them?" + +"Well," replied his friend, "that's a reasonable question. Now it was +mighty important that you should get alongside before our friends astern +came into sight, and though you weren't making very much progress it +seemed to me you were doing all you knew." + +"I was," Frank assured him. + +"Still, I had an idea that if I could make you jumping mad you might do +a little more. It's hard to tell what you're capable of until you're +real savage, and I thought I'd whip you up a bit where you were most +likely to feel it." + +Frank's indignation vanished, and he changed the subject with a laugh. + +"Do you think those fellows suspected anything?" he asked. + +"No," said Harry. "They were too busy getting sail on her to notice +exactly how far ahead we were when we ran out of the bay, and it will +probably only strike them that they're not quite so far astern as they +expected. All we have to do now is to lead them along toward +Bannington's. I'd rather keep them sailing than have them prowling round +the depot asking questions and, perhaps, sending telegrams, and I've a +notion we can leave them when we like. She's drawing away from them now +and we've only a small jib on her." + +His surmise proved correct, for an hour later the other boat had +diminished to a dusky patch of sail far astern. Dusk soon commenced to +fall and the wind seemed to be freshening, but as they swept around a +rocky point Harry changed his course and told Frank to make a stout rope +fast to the bucket and pitch it over. + +"It will hold her back and let the other fellows come up," he said with +a grin. "They'll probably figure their boat's faster in any weight of +wind, and we don't want to run out of sight of them." + +It grew dark and for a while the sky was barred with heavy clouds until +the moon broke out, when they saw the pursuing craft sweeping up close +astern in the midst of a blaze of silvery radiance. She had now, +however, a mass of canvas swung out on either side of her, and Frank +wondered what sail she was carrying. + +"They've boomed out a jib as a spinnaker," Harry explained. "I don't see +why we shouldn't do the same, particularly as it will make them keener +on following us to Bannington's. One of them means to go south with the +steamer if dad gets on to her. Now we'll heave in that bucket, and when +it's done they'll open their eyes." + +It was not easy to haul in the bucket. Indeed, once or twice it was +nearly torn away from them, but at length they accomplished the task. + +"It's awkward running a boat with a spinnaker unless you have a crew," +remarked Harry with a somewhat puzzled look. "Still, I feel we ought to +give those fellows a run for their trouble and I can't get clear of them +with only the mainsail drawing. A jib set in the ordinary way is no use +when you're before the wind." + +The other boat had drawn almost level with them and came surging along +some forty yards away, rising and falling, with the foam piled up about +her bows, and a great spread of canvas that swung up and down as she +rolled on either side. + +"Hello!" shouted Harry. "Where are you going?" + +"North," was the laconic answer. + +Harry chuckled as he turned to Frank. "Well, as dad will be in Everett +by this time, I don't see why they shouldn't come along with us as far +as they like, but we'll let them draw ahead before we get up the +spinnaker. I'd rather they didn't notice I had to set it alone." + +The other boat forged past them, and she was growing dim ahead when +Harry pulled out a bundle of canvas from beneath the side deck. + +"It's an extra big jib we carry in light winds, but it makes a good +spinnaker," he said. "You'll have to keep her straight before the wind, +because it's a mighty awkward thing to set." + +Frank took the helm and watched his companion as he shook the big sail +out all over the boat, after which he led a rope fastened to one corner +of it through a block at the end of a long spar that lay along the deck. +He thrust this out over her side and made its inner end fast to the foot +of the mast. + +"A spinnaker boom always goes forward of the shrouds and you lead the +guy aft outside them," he said. "Get hold of it and stick fast. It's +easy so far, but in a minute the circus will begin. You want two pairs +of hands to set a spinnaker in a breeze of wind." + +Frank glanced at the short seas which surged by, glittering in the +moonlight flecked with wisps of snowy froth, and it struck him by the +way the boat swung over them with the foam boiling about her that she +was carrying sufficient canvas in her mainsail. Then Harry, calling to +him to mind his steering, hauled on a halliard and a mass of thrashing +canvas rose up the mast. It blew out like a half-filled balloon, lifting +up the boom, which was run out on the opposite side to the mainsail, and +seemed bent on soaring skyward over the masthead. After that the boom +swung forward with a crash, the mast strained and rattled, and Frank +feared that the great loose sail would tear it out of the boat. He saw +Harry lifted off his feet and flung upon the deck, after which the +forward part of the boat was swept by flying ropes and billowy folds of +canvas, among which his companion seemed to be futilely crawling to and +fro. Presently his voice reached Frank hoarse and breathless. + +"Haul on the guy!" he cried. "She'll pitch me over or whip the mast out +if this goes on." + +Frank dragged at the rope with all his might, but he could not get an +inch of it in, and he dared not take his right hand off the tiller for +fear of bringing the big mainboom over upon the spinnaker, which would +probably have caused a catastrophe. Indeed, he fancied that one was +inevitable already, since it seemed impossible that Harry could control +the big loose sail which was now wildly hurling itself aloft. + +"I can't move it!" he shouted. + +Harry came aft with a jump and grasped the guy. + +"Now," he said, "together! Get both hands upon it. Hold the tiller with +your elbow." + +For the next half minute there was a furious struggle, and as the boom +went up again Frank felt that they were beaten. His companion, however, +hung on desperately, panting hard, and by degrees the boom swung down +and back across the boat and the sail flattened out. + +"Make fast!" cried Harry breathlessly. "I can manage the sheet." + +He floundered forward to the foot of the mast, and when he came back the +spinnaker was drawing steadily and the sloop had changed her mode of +progress. She no longer rolled viciously or screwed up to windward as +she lifted on a sea, but swayed from side to side with a smooth and easy +swing, and Frank could steer her with a touch upon the tiller. In spite +of that, steering was ticklish work, for the mainboom and the spinnaker +boom went up and came down until they raked the glittering brine +alternately, and Frank realized that it would be singularly easy to +bring one crashing over upon the other. There was no doubt that the boat +was sailing very fast, and he hazarded one swift glance over his +shoulder at the canoe. She was surging along astern, hove up with her +forward half out of the water, and a seething mass of foam hiding the +rest of her. Harry, however, glanced forward somewhat anxiously. + +"That boom's lifting too much," he said. "One of us ought to sit on it. +Do you feel able to steer her?" + +Frank said that he believed he could manage it. + +"Well," said Harry, "if you jibe either sail across you'll either pitch +me in or break my leg, even if you don't roll the boat over. Sing out +the moment you feel her getting too hard upon the helm." + +Scrambling forward, he crawled out along the spinnaker boom, to which he +clung precariously, lifted up high one moment and the next swung down +until his feet were just above the foam. Sometimes they splashed in, and +Frank, bracing himself until every nerve was strung up, felt horribly +uneasy. In spite of that, the wild rush through the glittering water +which boiled about the boat was wonderfully exhilarating. She seemed a +mass of straining sail which swayed in the moonlight above an +insignificant strip of hull half buried in snowy foam. Over her black +mainsail peak dim wisps of clouds went streaming by, and from all around +there was a tumult of stirring sound--the clamor at the bows, the swish +of water as the canoe came charging up to her, and the splash of +tumbling seas. Everything ahead, however, was hidden by the sail, and he +was wondering where the other boat was when Harry called to him. + +"Slack the guy a foot or two and let her come up a little. Don't let it +get the run of you or you'll pitch me in." + +Frank was very cautious as he eased the rope out around a cleat, after +which, when the spinnaker boom had drawn forward, he found that he could +luff the boat. When she had swerved from her course a trifle he could +see the other boat close ahead, and it gave him some idea how fast both +craft were traveling. She seemed nothing but sail. Indeed, except for +the torn-up track of foam that marked her passage, she looked much less +like a boat than some wonderful phantom thing flying at an astonishing +speed across the sea. Swiftly as she sped, however, there was no doubt +that the sloop was creeping up on her, and Frank felt himself quivering +all through as the distance between them lessened yard by yard. Then +suddenly the contour of her canvas changed and she swung around from +leeward across the sloop's bows. Frank's heart gave a sudden leap as he +wondered what he must do and his nerve almost deserted him, until Harry +called again. + +"More guy!" he sang out. "They're trying to luff us. We must keep their +weather." + +Although fearful that it might overpower him, Frank slacked the guy out +inch by inch, and as the sloop came up a little farther he saw the whole +of the other boat again. The sloop's bowsprit was level with her +quarter. She was scarcely a dozen yards away, leaping, plunging, swaying +through a flung-up mass of foam, but they were steadily drawing up with +her, and the boy could have shouted in the fierce excitement of the +moment. Two or three minutes later they were clear ahead. He could no +longer see the other boat, and he dared not risk a glance back at her. +Indeed, it was a relief to him when Harry came scrambling aft. + +"We'll get that guy in again," he said. "Unless something gives out, +those folks won't catch us up." + +They had a desperate struggle with the guy, but Harry laughed gayly when +they had made it fast. + +"They'll follow us on to Bannington's, sure," he said. "We should be +there in half an hour, and I don't mind allowing that I'll be glad to +get some of this sail off her." + +After a while a black bank of cloud spread across the moon, and Frank +wondered anxiously how much of the half hour had gone. He had now only +the pull on the tiller to guide him as they drove on furiously, and the +strain of concentrating all his faculties on his task was beginning to +tell on his strength. Once or twice he imagined that he came perilously +near to bringing the mainboom over, and he would have called Harry to +the helm if he had felt certain that he could cling to the slender +lurching spar as well as his comrade could. He was getting nervous, and +the seething rush of water past the boat was becoming bewildering. + +At length, however, he made out a dark and hazy mass over the edge of +the mainsail, which he supposed was land, and in another few minutes a +blinking light appeared. He called to Harry, who merely twisted himself +around on the boom with the object of looking out beneath the sail and +then told him to keep her heading as she was. After that the land rose +rapidly, growing blacker, and a second light appeared. This was closer +to them and Frank, thinking he saw it move, noticed a green blink +beneath it. + +Presently both lights disappeared behind the sail, and some minutes +later Frank almost let go the tiller as the deep blast of a steamer's +whistle rang out close ahead. On the instant Harry swung himself down +from the boom. + +"Let go your guy!" he shouted. "Down helm; get the mainsheet in!" + +Frank could never clearly remember all that followed in the next two or +three minutes during which he was desperately busy. He let the spinnaker +guy run, and the big sail which heaved up the spar beneath it swung +wildly forward. Then he shoved down his helm, and the mainboom slashed +furiously as the boat came up toward the wind. The sheet blocks seemed +to be banging everywhere about him as he hauled at the rope, and he +could hear nothing but the savage thrashing of loosened canvas. Harry +was struggling forward with a mass of billowing sail that threatened to +sweep him off the narrow deck, while flying ropes whipped about him. +Presently, out of the din, there rose another sonorous blast of the +steamer's whistle. + +The next moment Frank saw her, heading, it seemed, straight for them, +blazing with tiers of lights, and in almost nerveless haste he pulled up +his tiller. The bolt fell off, he saw Harry flung down with the +spinnaker rolling about him, and he scarcely dared to breathe as the +rows of lights ahead lengthened and the black wedge of the steamer's +bows faded from his sight. It was now her side he was gazing at, and it +was evident that she was swinging around. In less than another minute +she had forged past them, and leaving the helm he scrambled forward to +aid his companion. For a moment they had a brief struggle with flying +ropes and billowing sail, and then they clambered back into the well, +where Frank sat down with a gasp of fervent satisfaction. + +"Well," he panted, "I'm glad that's over, and you had better take the +helm. I've had enough." + +Harry glanced toward the steamer, which was growing less distinct. + +"A close call!" he remarked. "It looked as if she was going slap over +us. I couldn't see her sooner because of the sail. She's running into +Bannington's." + +They heard her whistle a little later, but they were then close in with +a shadowy point of land, and looking back Frank made out a faint blur on +the water far behind them which he knew must be the other boat. When he +pointed it out Harry laughed. + +"They can't see us against the land, but I've an idea they'll be in soon +enough to learn the steamer didn't pick one of us up," he said. "That +will start them wondering why we drove her so hard and where we've gone. +Now you had better get the stove lighted and the supper on." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE UNITED STATES MAIL + + +The boys reached the ranch the next morning, and Mr. Oliver, who +followed by a different route a couple of days later, seemed satisfied +with the result of his journey. + +"If the dope men leave us alone for the next three weeks we're not +likely to be troubled with them afterward," he said. "Barclay expects +very shortly to be ready for what he calls his coup." + +"I suppose he didn't mention exactly when he would bring it off?" Harry +remarked. + +"No," said Mr. Oliver with a laugh. "Barclay usually waits until he's +certain before he moves, and he's not addicted to spoiling things by +haste. In the meanwhile you may as well keep your eyes sharply open." + +"Won't it be awkward to communicate with him if you have to go to +Bannington's every time you mail a letter?" Frank asked. + +"That's a point which naturally occurred to me," Mr. Oliver answered. +"There are, however, reasons for believing that Barclay will be able to +get over the difficulty." + +He said nothing further on the subject, but it cropped up again one +evening when Mr. Webster arrived at the ranch in time for supper. He +told them that he had finished the bridge he had gone away to build, and +when they sat about the stove after the meal was over he turned to Mr. +Oliver. + +"Have you heard that Porteous has been fired out of the store and +they've got a man down from Tacoma?" he asked. + +"No," replied Mr. Oliver indifferently. + +"Anyway, you don't seem much astonished." + +Mr. Oliver smiled at this. "I can't say I am. What was the trouble?" + +"It's generally believed Porteous was tampering with the mails, and that +brings up another thing I want to mention. I'm puzzled about it as well +as pleased." + +Harry, unobserved by Mr. Webster, grinned at Frank, looking solemn again +as his father caught his eye. + +"Well?" said the latter politely. + +"It's just this," said Mr. Webster. "When I came through the settlement +this morning the man who fills Porteous's place gave me a letter. It +requested me to send in a formal application if I was open to have my +place made a postoffice and carry the mails for this and the Carthew +district. They don't pay one very much, but it only means a journey once +a week." + +"Then what are you puzzled at?" + +"Well," said Mr. Webster, his eyes bent thoughtfully on the fire, "you +and the Carthew folks tried to have a mail carrier appointed some time +ago, and you heard that the authorities were considering your +representations. I guess that's about all they did. They're great on +considering, and as a rule they don't get much further. It strikes me as +curious that they should give you the postoffice now, considering that +they wouldn't do it when you worried them for it. The next point is that +although I applied the other time I don't know anybody in office or any +political boss who would speak for me." + +Frank noticed the smile broaden on Harry's face, but Mr. Webster was +intently watching Mr. Oliver, who answered carelessly. + +"It's a poor job, one that only a local man could undertake, and I don't +know any one else who wants it," he said. "What are you going to do +about it?" + +"Send in the application right away. That's partly what brought me over. +I'll have to get you and two of the boys at Carthew to vouch for me." + +"There'll be no trouble about that," Mr. Oliver assured him, after which +they changed the conversation. Before Mr. Webster went away he asked the +boys to spend a day or two with him and do some hunting. + +Mr. Oliver let them go at the end of the week, but he said that they had +better meet Mr. Webster at the settlement where Miss Oliver wanted them +to leave an order for some groceries, and that if any letters had +arrived for him one of them must bring them across to the ranch. They +reached the settlement Saturday evening, soon after the weekly mail had +come in. When they had finished their supper at the store Mr. Webster +bundled his mails promiscuously into a flour bag, which he fastened upon +his shoulders with a couple of straps. + +"There seems to be quite a lot of letters," remarked Harry as he lifted +up the bag. + +Mr. Webster frowned. "Letters!" he growled. "Most of the blamed stuff's +groceries. It strikes me I'm going to earn my dollars. The boys who run +short of sugar or yeast powder or any truck of that kind expect me to +pack it out. Give the thing a heave up. There's the corner of a meat can +working into my ribs." + +They set out shortly afterward, following a very bad trail driven like a +tunnel through the bush, and when they had gone a mile or two Mr. +Webster lighted a lantern which he gave to Frank. + +"Hold it up and look about," he said. "It's somewhere round here Jardine +has his letter box nailed up on a tree." + +Frank presently discovered an empty powder keg fixed to a big fir, and +Mr. Webster, wriggling out of the straps, dropped the bag with a thud. +As it happened, it descended in a patch of mud. + +"Hold the light so I can see to sort this truck," he said, and plunged +his hand into the bag. It was white when he brought it out. + +"Something's got adrift," he commented. "They never can tie a package +right in the store." + +With some difficulty he at last found the letters, though this +necessitated his spreading out most of the rest and the groceries on the +wet soil. Then he deposited those that belonged to Jardine in the keg +and went on again. + +Dense darkness filled the narrow rift in the bush and the feeble rays of +the lantern were more bewildering than useful, but they covered another +two miles before they stopped at a second keg, when Webster discovered +that a couple of letters he fished out were stuck together with +half-melted sugar. He tore them apart and rubbed them clean upon his +trousers, smearing out the address as he did so. + +"It's lucky I looked at them first, because I couldn't tell whose they +are now," he said. "Anyway, as I guess the stuff hasn't had time to get +inside, Steve will know they're his when he opens them." He raised the +bag a little and examined it. "This thing's surely wet." + +"I expect it is," said Harry. "The last time you stopped you dumped it +in the mud. Didn't they give you some sugar for this place at the +store?" + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Webster. "I was forgetting it. Hold the lantern +lower, Frank, while I look for it." + +He pulled the flour bag wider open and presently produced a big paper +package which seemed to have lost its shape. + +"Half the stuff's run out," he added. "That's what has been mussing up +the mail. Pitch this truck out and we'll skip the rest of the sugar out +of the bottom of the bag." + +It took them some time to deposit the various bundles of letters and +packets among the wineberry bushes beside the trail, after which Mr. +Webster shook a pound or two of loose wet sugar into the opened package. +It appeared to be mixed with flour and other substances, and Harry +smiled as he glanced at it. + +"It's off its color," he remarked. + +"That," said Mr. Webster, "will serve Steve right and save me trouble. +The next time he wants sugar he'll walk into the settlement and pack it +out himself. When you've put that truck back the mail will go ahead." + +They threw the things back into the bag, but while they were engaged in +this task Harry held up a bundle of letters to the light and separated +two of them from the rest. + +"These are dad's," he mused. "It strikes me they'd be safer in my +pocket." + +They saw no more powder kegs, but by and by they stopped at a ranch +where they delivered a newspaper and a pound of coffee, and then plodded +on in thick darkness which was only intensified by the patch of +uncertain radiance that flickered upon the trail a yard or two in front +of them. Even this failed them presently when Frank fell and dropped the +lantern. It went out, and neither he nor Harry, who struck a match, +could open it. + +"I'm afraid I've bent the catch," said Frank. + +"It's not going to matter much," Mr. Webster answered. "I guess we can +fix the thing when we reach my place, and there isn't another ranch +until we come to it." + +They trudged along in silence for another hour. The trail seemed darker +than ever, and it was oppressively still. Even the great trunks a few +yards away were invisible, and once or twice Frank walked into the +bushes that clustered among them. At last, however, the sound of running +water came out of the gloom and grew louder until the boy fancied that +there must be a rapid creek somewhere below them. Neither he nor Harry +had been that way before. As they expected to get some shooting, he was +carrying the double gun, which was beginning to feel heavy, while Harry +had brought a rifle. When the roar of water had grown so loud that they +could scarcely hear each other's footsteps, Mr. Webster stopped. + +"There's an awkward place close ahead, and you had better let me go in +front," he warned. "Keep a few yards behind and close to the bank on +your left side. The trail goes down a gulch, and there's a steep drop to +the creek." + +He moved on until the boys could just see his black and shadowy figure. +The hollow beneath them was filled with impenetrable gloom, and they +went down cautiously, trying to follow him and feeling with their feet +for the edge of the bank on one hand. They had gone some little way when +Mr. Webster seemed to stagger and suddenly disappear. Then there was a +crash amidst the underbrush, a sound which might have been made by a +heavy body rolling down a slope, and a hoarse cry which was almost +drowned by the clamor of the creek. + +The boys stopped abruptly, uncertain what to do. Mr. Webster had +evidently fallen down the declivity, but they could not tell where he +was in the darkness, or if it was possible to reach him. Frank fancied +that if he once moved out from the bank he would probably step over a +ledge and plunge down into the creek, which, it was evident, would be of +no service to Mr. Webster. By and by he was sincerely glad to hear a +sound below him which seemed to indicate that the man was endeavoring to +clamber up again. On recalling the incident afterward, he decided that +they had stood waiting about a quarter of a minute. + +"We must get down somehow," he said to Harry. + +His companion did not answer, but gripped his arm warningly. Then to +Frank's astonishment another sound rose up somewhere in front of them +and a voice followed it. + +"Is that you, Webster?" it asked. + +"Sure!" was the answer. "I've pitched right down the gulch." + +Frank would have scrambled forward, but Harry held him back. + +"Hold on!" he said softly. "He doesn't seem hurt." + +A crackling and snapping below them suggested that somebody was +cautiously scrambling through the undergrowth toward Mr. Webster, while +the latter was evidently crawling up the ascent. Frank wondered why +Harry had restrained him until a blaze of light suddenly broke out. It +showed a very steep bank with clumps of brush scattered about it +dropping to a foaming creek, Mr. Webster holding on by the stem of a +stunted pine, with the flour bag lying some distance higher up, and +another figure moving toward him. A third man stood on the brink of the +declivity holding a blazing pineknot. Where the boys stood, however, +there was deep shadow. + +Mr. Webster, so far as Frank could make out, was gazing at the man +nearest him in astonishment. + +"Well," he said sharply, "what do you want?" + +"The mail," answered the other. "Stop right where you are!" + +Then the meaning of the situation dawned on Frank. At that moment he saw +Mr. Webster scramble forward to intercept the man who was making for the +bag. The latter, however, was nearer it, and he had crept almost up to +it while Mr. Webster was still several yards away. Without a moment's +hesitation, Frank sprang out into the flickering light. + +"Keep back!" he shouted. "Don't touch that bag!" + +The radiance fell upon the barrel of his gun, and the next moment Harry +emerged from the gloom with his rifle thrust forward. They decided +afterward that the strangers could only have seen two indistinct figures +with weapons in their hands and that there was nothing to indicate that +they were not grown men. + +"Hold him up!" shouted Mr. Webster, scrambling forward furiously as if +to seize the man. + +The latter stooped swiftly and made a grab at the bag as Frank pitched +up his gun, though he kept the muzzle of it turned a little from the +bent figure, but just then Harry's rifle flashed behind him and there +was sudden darkness as the light fell into a thicket. Confused sounds +followed the detonation, but it became evident to Frank, now quivering +with excitement, that three separate persons were smashing through +scrubby undergrowth as fast as they could manage. Then one of them +stopped while the rest went on. + +"Have you got the bag?" cried Harry. + +"It's in my hand," said Mr. Webster. + +They heard him floundering toward them, while the other sounds grew +fainter, until he emerged from the gloom close beside Frank and threw +the bag at his feet. + +"Give me your gun," he said shortly. "Stop where you are!" + +He disappeared again, but in another moment they saw him raking in a +clump of brush from which a pale light still flickered, after which he +came back toward them with something blazing feebly in his hand. + +"Bring the bag, and be careful how you walk," he said. + +When they joined him he was stooping over a short strip of wire +stretched across the trail about a foot above the ground, holding the +pineknot so that the light fell upon it. + +"I guess that's the reason I fell down," he said. "You didn't touch that +fellow, Harry." + +"I didn't mean to," was the answer. "I wanted to scare him off, and I +was mighty thankful when I saw I'd done it." + +"Well," said Mr. Webster, "I expect that was wiser. It would have made +things worse for your father if you'd plugged him. Anyway, they've +cleared and we may as well get on." + +"Aren't you hurt?" Frank inquired. + +"There's a nasty rip on my leg and my arm feels mighty sore, but that's +all the damage. Seems to me I haven't much to complain of, considering +how far I fell." + +He flung the pineknot down into the ravine as he turned away, and they +had crossed the creek and were ascending the other side before one of +them spoke again. + +"Did you recognize either of the men?" Harry inquired. + +"No," said Mr. Webster. "On the whole I don't know that I'd want to do +it, though I'm kind of sorry I didn't get my hands upon the nearest +fellow. It was those two letters for your father he was after." + +"Yes," said Harry gravely, "you're right in that." + +The trail got narrower presently and when the boys fell a little behind +Harry laid a hand on Frank's arm. + +"I'm not sure that dad and Barclay would have had Webster made mail +carrier if they had expected this," he whispered. "There's no doubt the +dope men are growing bolder." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MR. BARCLAY LAYS HIS PLANS + + +It appeared that one of the letters which Harry had secured was from Mr. +Barclay, and shortly after the boys got back to the ranch Mr. Oliver +sent them off to Bannington's with the sloop. Mr. Barclay, he said, was +expected down by the next steamer and they must be there in time to take +him off. It proved to be an uneventful trip and they returned to the +cove with their passenger just as a gloomy day was dying out. Mr. Oliver +was shut up with his guest for an hour after supper that night, but at +length he called the boys into his room, where Mr. Barclay lay in a big +chair with a cigar in his hand. He looked up with a smile when they came +in. + +"No doubt you'll be pleased to hear that we expect to round up your +dope-running friends before the week is out," he said. "Anyway, I fancy +it was a relief to my host." + +"There's no doubt on that point," Mr. Oliver assured him. "I don't mind +admitting that the suspense and the uncertainty as to what they might do +were worrying me rather badly." + +Frank was surprised to hear it, for the rancher had certainly shown no +sign of uneasiness. + +"You mean you're going to break up the gang once for all and corral the +whole of them?" he asked. + +"Something like that," answered Mr. Barclay lazily. "If there's no hitch +in the proceedings, I don't expect many of them will be left at large +when our traps are sprung, though the affair will have to be managed +with a good deal of caution." + +Harry smiled. "There oughtn't to be any hitch. You have been a mighty +long while fixing up the thing." + +"That remark," said Mr. Barclay, "is to some extent justified. Over in +Europe they say 'slow and sure,' though I don't suppose it's a maxim +that's likely to appeal to young America. We'll paraphrase it into this +form: 'Don't move until you know exactly what you mean to do and how +you're going to set about it, and then get at it like a battering ram.'" + +"A battering ram must have been a clumsy, old-time contrivance," Harry +objected. + +"There are reasons for believing it could strike very hard," said his +father with a smile. + +"It would naturally take a long while to work the thing out," Frank +broke in, addressing Mr. Barclay. + +"It did," the little, stout man assented. "We had to get hold of a clue +here, and another there, and follow them up as far as possible without +giving anybody the least idea what we were after. It might have been +more difficult if one hadn't been purposely placed in our hands a week +ago." + +"Somebody has been giving the gang away?" asked Frank. + +"That doesn't quite describe it," Mr. Barclay answered. "To be precise, +somebody has sold them. It appears that one man a little smarter than +the rest discovered that the gang was being watched. That scared him, +and, as it happened, he'd had a difference of opinion with the bosses +about the share he claimed to be entitled to. He didn't point his +suspicions out to them, but when, as he said, they couldn't be induced +to do the square thing he came along to one of my subordinates, who sent +him to me. I'm not sure that I'd have got much information out of him +then if I hadn't been able to convince him that he and his partners +were already more or less in my hands." + +Frank was impressed by what he had heard. Indeed, he was conscious that +he was half afraid of the man who sprawled lazily in his chair smiling +at him. He appeared so easy-going and he had bantered Harry so +good-humoredly, but all the time he had been following up the smugglers' +trail with a deadly unwavering patience and a keenness which missed the +significance of no clue, however small. Now when at last the time for +action had come the boy felt that he would strike in the swiftest and +most effective manner. + +"If there's any small part you can give us--" he said hesitatingly. + +"There is," said Mr. Barclay, to the delight of Frank and his companion. +"It appears that they intend to land a parcel of dope and some Chinamen +at a place down the Straits of Fuca. It will be done at night--the moon +will be only in her first quarter next week--and the schooner will stand +out to the westward, keeping clear of the traffic to wait for the next +evening before going on to the place where she's to make another call. +The men and the dope will be seized soon after they're put ashore +without anybody on board the vessel being the wiser if our plans work +out right, but it's important that we should know as soon as possible if +anything has gone wrong and it will be your business to bring me on a +message. We'll have a small steamer and a posse hidden ready at this +end, and when the schooner runs in two nights later she'll fall into our +hands with the rest of the gang, who'll be waiting for what she brings." + +Frank looked at Mr. Oliver, who nodded his consent. + +"Yes," he said, "I've promised to let you go, though in this case you'll +have to take Jake along." + +Then Mr. Barclay spread out a chart upon the table and pointed first to +an inlet which appeared to lie at some distance from any settlement. + +"You'll run in here in the dark and lie close in with the beach until +you're hailed by a mounted messenger, which will probably be early on +the following morning. When he has given you his message you must manage +to deliver it to me here"--he laid his finger on another spot on the +chart--"at the latest by the second evening following. That's important, +as it's impossible for me to get the news by mail or wire." + +He gave them some further instructions, and half an hour had slipped by +before he seemed satisfied that they knew exactly what they were to do; +then he nodded. + +"I think you've got it right," he said. "The great thing is not to be +seen if you can help it, and if it's possible you must only run in at +either place in the dark." + +The boys spent the next two days in a state of eager anticipation, +which, however, became much less marked when one lowering afternoon +after a long, cold sail they beat the sloop out to the westward down the +Straits of Fuca. They had kept watch alternately with Jake during the +previous night, throughout most of which it had rained hard, and now +Frank, who admitted to himself that he had had enough sailing for a +while, was feeling rather limp and weary. He sat beneath the coaming, as +far as he could get out of the bitter wind. When at last he raised his +head to look about him, he saw nothing very cheerful in the prospect +before him. + +The light was dim, the low gray sky to windward looked hard and +threatening, and a long gray blur which he supposed to be land rose up +indistinctly over the port hand. Ahead dingy, formless slopes of water +heaved themselves up slowly one after another in dreary succession. They +were ridged and wrinkled here and there, and now and then a little wisp +of white appeared on one of them, for the long swell of the Pacific was +working in. The breeze was very moderate as yet, and each time the sloop +sluggishly swung up her bows and lurched over one of the undulations +her mainboom jerked and lifted amidst a harsh clatter of blocks, while +the water inside her went swishing to and fro. The noise presently +aroused Jake, who was sitting silently at the helm. + +"One of you had better get her pumped out," he said. "You haven't done +it since we started, and you won't find it easy by and by." + +"It doesn't look nice up yonder," said Harry, glancing windward. + +"It's either blowing hard in the Pacific or going to do it, and we'll +get it presently. I'd be better pleased if we were nearer that inlet. +It's eight or nine miles off, and the wind's dead ahead." + +"The dope men would rather have a black, wild night, wouldn't they?" +suggested Frank. + +"They're going to be gratified," Harry answered significantly. + +Frank, glad to do something to warm himself, set to work at the little +rotary pump, and a stream of water splashed and spread about the deck, +which slanted and straightened irregularly. He was still busy when Jake +called to him. + +"You can let up and get that jib off her. Strip it right off the stay. +We're not going to have any use for a sail of that kind. Get out the +small one, Harry." + +"There's no wind to speak of yet," Harry protested. + +"Well," said Jake grimly, "you'll have plenty before you're through." + +Harry dragged up the small sail, and when Frank had lowered the larger +one they proceeded to strip it off the stay. It took them some little +time, but Frank, glancing at the slowly heaving, leaden water, fancied +that there was no need for haste until as he and his companion bundled +the canvas off the deck Jake called to them. + +"Up with that jib!" he ordered. "Get a hustle!" + +They had the halliard in their hands, and the sail was half set, when it +blew out suddenly and there was a sharp creaking. The sloop slanted +over wildly and a curious humming, rippling sound broke out to windward. +Glancing around a moment Frank saw that the swell was growing white, and +a rush of cold wind nearly whipped his cap away. Then jamming his feet +against a ledge with the deck sloping away beneath him he struggled +furiously to hoist the jib, while disjointed cries reached him from the +helmsman. + +"Heave!" Jake roared. "I can do nothing with her until you have it set!" + +They got the sail up somehow, though by the time they had finished the +sloop's lee rail was in the sea, and then flung themselves upon the +mainsail. They were breathless with the effort before they had tied two +reefs in it, and Frank wondered at the change in their surroundings when +at length he sat down in the well. + +The sea, which had run in long and almost smooth undulations before they +began to reef, now splashed and seethed about the boat, and each big +slope of water was seamed with innumerable smaller ridges. Bitter spray +was flying thick in the air, water already sluiced about the deck, and +it was disconcerting to recollect that they were still eight miles from +the inlet. This would not have mattered so much had it not lain dead to +windward, which meant that they must fight for every yard they made. + +There was shelter to lee of them. They could put up the helm and run, +but though they were wet through in a few minutes they braced themselves +for the struggle, while the savage blast screamed about them and the +ominous sound Frank had noticed--the splash of waves that curled and +broke--came more loudly out of the gathering gloom ahead. Though his +physical nature shrank from the task before him Frank would not have +chosen to go back. It was a big thing they were taking a hand in, the +climax which all their previous adventures had led up to, and he +recognized that they must see it through at any cost. + +At last he was playing a man's part, acting in close cooeperation with +the Government of his country, and Mr. Barclay, who had elaborated the +scheme with infinite patience and foresight, counted upon him and his +comrade. That they should fail him now was out of the question, but +Frank was glad that Jake sat at the tiller. Harry was quick and daring, +but he was young, and in this fight there was urgent need for the +instinctive skill which comes from long experience. The helmsman's +stolidness was more reassuring. He gazed up to windward, gripping the +tiller, with the spray upon his rugged face, ready for whatever action +might be necessary. Loud talking and an assertive manner were of no +service here; what was wanted was raw human valor and steadfast nerve. +It was fortunate that Jake, who was tranquil and good-humored, possessed +both. + +Darkness shut down on them suddenly as they thrashed her out to westward +full and by, lurching with flooded decks over the charging seas. Their +whitened tops broke over her, her canvas ran water, and every other +minute she plunged into a comber with buried bows. The combers, growing +rapidly higher, broke more angrily, and her progress changed into a +series of jerks and plunges, which at times threatened to shake the +spars out of her. Frank could see the black mainsail peak above him +swinging madly up and down, and it seemed at times that half her length +was out of the water, which was not improbably the case, for the foam +upon her hove-up deck poured aft in cascades over the low coaming and +splashed about their feet. By and by, for she was shallow-bodied like +most centerboard craft, it began to gather in a pool which washed to and +fro across the floorings in her lee bilge, and at a shout from Jake he +started the pump. It needed no priming, for as soon as he unscrewed the +covering plate the sea ran down, and there was now nothing to show what +water it flung out, because half the lee deck was buried in a rush of +gurgling foam and the combers' tops broke continuously over the bows. + +Still, the work roused and warmed him, and he toiled on, battered and +almost blinded by flying brine, while he wondered how long the boat +would stand the pressure of her largely reduced sail. He did not think +they could tie another reef in, because it seemed certain that something +must burst or break the moment a rope was started. Besides, even had it +been possible, reefing was out of the question. Their harbor lay to +weather, and a boat will not sail to windward in a vicious breeze unless +she is driven at a speed which is greater than the resistance of the +opposing seas. + +They thrashed her out for two anxious hours, since it appeared doubtful +that she would come round and a failure to stay her would be perilous in +the extreme, but at last Jake called to the boys. + +"We've got to do it somehow," he said. "Stand by your lee jibsheet and +tail on to the mainsheet the moment you let it run. Hold on till I tell +you. We'll wait for a smooth." + +A smooth, as it is termed by courtesy, is the interval that now and then +follows the onslaught of several unusually heavy seas, and at length as +the boat swung up with a little less water upon her deck Jake seemed +satisfied. + +"Now! Helm's a-lee!" he shouted. + +They let the jib fly, and jumping for the mainsheet hauled with all +their might, while Jake helped them with one hand as the boat came up to +the wind. Then as a comber fell upon her they sprang back to the +jibsheet and hauled upon it, while the spray flew all over them. It +struck Frank that if the boat did not come round there would very +speedily be an end of her. While he watched, holding his breath, the +bows swung around a little farther, and working in frantic haste they +let the sheet fly and made fast the opposite one, which was now to lee. +She forged ahead on the other tack--and the most imminent peril was +past. + +It was two hours later when they raised the land again, and though one +or the other of them had pumped continuously the water was splashing +high about their feet. Jake had, however, made a good shot of it, for he +recognized a ridge of higher ground marked upon the chart, and they +drove in toward it, battered, swept, and streaming. Frank felt strangely +limp when at length they ran into smoother water, and Jake made one +significant remark. + +"We're through," he said, "but if we'd had to make another tack it would +have finished her." + +The black land grew higher until they could make out masses of shadowy +pines, and eventually dropping the jib and peak they ran her in behind a +point with very thankful hearts and let go the anchor. Half of their +task was finished, and they could take their ease until morning broke. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE DERELICT + + +The wind freshened after they reached shelter and it blew very hard. For +a time Frank found sleep impossible, though he was glad to lie snug in +the warm cabin with the lamp burning above him and the stove snapping +cheerfully. The sloop lurched and rocked, drawing her chain tight now +and then with a bang, while a muffled uproar went on outside her. Frank +could distinguish the angry splash of water upon her bows and the +drumming and rapping of loose ropes against the mast, though these +sounds were partly drowned by the furious clamor of the ground sea +beyond the point and a great deep-toned roaring made, he supposed, by +long ranks of thrashing trees. Once or twice, when Jake, who crawled out +to see if the anchor was holding, left the slide open, the sound filled +the cabin with tremendous pulsating harmonies. + +Besides this, the boy's face smarted after the lashing of icy spray, and +he wondered whether Mr. Barclay's plans were working out successfully +and what fresh adventures awaited Harry and himself on the morrow, all +of which was sufficient to keep him in a state of restless expectation. +He envied his companion who presently went to sleep, but it was toward +morning when at last his own eyelids closed and he got a few snatches of +fitful slumber broken by fantastic dreams. He was awakened by a chill +upon his face, and looking around saw that Jake had gone out again into +the well. The roar of the wind did not seem so overwhelming as it had +been, though there was no doubt that it was still blowing hard. By and +by Jake called out. + +"You'd better get up," he said. "I've a notion that there's somebody +hailing us." + +Frank crawled out shivering, with Harry grumbling half asleep behind +him, and when he stood in the well found he could see a hazy loom of +trees across the little white waves that came splashing toward the boat. +They made a sharp, rippling sound, pitched in a different tone from the +din that rose all around. The latter swelled and sank, and he was +slightly surprised when he was able to hear what seemed to be a faint +shout. It rose again more clearly, and there was no longer any doubt +that somebody on the beach was hailing them. + +"Can we get ashore?" he asked. + +"You'll have to try," said Jake. "The man's to windward of us, and it +will be a stiff paddle, but if you can't manage it you'll blow across to +the beach on the other side of the inlet safe enough and he may be able +to get round to you. Anyway, I don't want to leave the sloop. She'd have +picked up her anchor once or twice if I hadn't given her more cable." + +"What time is it?" Harry inquired. + +"About seven o'clock," Jake answered. "We'll have daylight soon after +you're back." + +They hauled up the canoe and were not surprised to find that she was +full of water. It took them some time to bail her out, and Frank felt +anxious when at last they pushed her clear of the sloop. It was +difficult to tell how far off the beach was, and for the first few +moments they could make no progress against the blast. Then they won a +yard or two in a partial lull, and after that for a while barely held +their own by determined paddling. Thick rain drove into their faces and +the spray from the bows and splashing blades blew over them. Frank was +breathless when they reached the beach, and it cost him an effort to +scramble over the uneven stones as far as the edge of the bush, where a +shadowy figure stood beside a horse. Its head drooped and even in the +darkness, which was not very deep, its attitude was suggestive of +exhaustion. The man was dimly visible, and they felt sure that he was +the messenger they expected. + +"You're here on Barclay's business?" he said. + +"Yes," said Harry. "Have you a message for him?" + +The man fumbled in his pocket and took out an envelope. + +"That's from the boss. I guess it will explain the thing, but he said +I'd better let you know that we'd had trouble." + +"Then you didn't get the dope men?" + +"We corralled three of them; the rest broke away. One of the boys got a +bullet in him and he's been lying in the rain all night. I don't know +how we're going to pack him out." + +"Things went wrong?" said Frank. + +"They did," the man assented. "One of the boys got his pistol off by +accident just after the boat had come ashore, and that gave our plans +away. The boat's crew shoved off and several men who'd been landed broke +through in the dark. Anyhow, when the trouble was over we'd got one case +of dope, two whites of no account, and a Chinaman." + +"And the schooner?" + +"She was heading out to sea with mighty little sail on her when I left. +You'll be able to take word through to Barclay?" + +"I don't know," Harry answered dubiously. "It's too dark to tell what +the sea's like now. I suppose there's no other means of warning him?" + +"No," said the man. "Even if I could get a message on to the wire they +wouldn't be able to deliver it at the other end, but he has to be warned +somehow." + +"If you'll come off we'll give you breakfast. It should be light enough +to see what the weather's like by the time you had finished," Harry +suggested. + +"It can't be done," was the answer. "I've to go on for a doctor and +raise a crowd to run those fellows down. I've already stayed longer than +I should." + +"Your horse is played out," Frank objected. + +"I'll hire another. There's a ranch somewhere ahead. I'll say you have +taken that message." + +"We'll do it if it's any way possible," said Harry. + +The man turned away without another word and they heard him stumbling +through the wood beside his horse until the roar of the wind drowned the +sound, after which they went back to the canoe. They had no trouble in +reaching the sloop, for they were driven down upon her furiously, and on +clambering on board they found that Jake had breakfast ready. + +It was daylight when they crawled out of the cabin after the meal, but +the sky was hidden by low-flying vapor, and gazing seaward they could +see only a short stretch of big leader combers which rolled up out of +the haze crested with livid froth. Jake shook his head doubtfully at +Harry. + +"You'll have to stop a while," he said. "She wouldn't run for half an +hour before that sea. We couldn't start till after dinner if the wind +dropped right now, but it's falling and we might get away in the +afternoon." + +The morning dragged by while the boys chafed at the delay, though they +had no doubt that Jake was right and neither of them felt any keen +desire to face the sea that was tumbling in from the Pacific. Still, the +roar of the wind steadily diminished and the sloop rode more easily, and +at length Jake offered to make the venture after they had had a meal. + +They lashed three reefs down before they started, leaving only a small +triangular strip of mainsail set, but that proved quite enough, and +during the first few minutes Frank felt almost appalled as he glanced at +the great gray combers that heaved themselves up astern. Most of them +were hollow breasted, and their tops curled over, flinging up long wisps +of foam and roaring ominously. As a rule they broke, divided, on either +side of the boat, piling up in a snowy welter high about her shrouds, +but now and then one seemed to break all over her and most of her deck +was lost in a furious rush of water. Twice the canoe, which was too big +to stow on deck, charged up and struck her with a resounding crash, and +then broke adrift and disappeared. + +By degrees, however, Frank's uneasiness diminished. Somewhat to his +astonishment, the light and buoyant craft stood the buffeting, and by +the time dusk fell the seas were getting smaller. Still, they were big +enough, and the boat appeared to be driving before them at an +extraordinary speed. By eight o'clock in the evening they had shaken out +one reef, and soon afterward Frank lay down in the cabin, because Jake +said that he had no intention of entrusting either him or Harry with the +helm, which was on the whole a relief to both of them. To run a small +craft before a breaking sea in the dark is a very severe test of nerve, +and it is, perhaps, worse when the combers still come foaming after her +after the wind has somewhat fallen. + +In spite of the violent motion Frank managed to sleep until he was +awakened some time after midnight by a shout from Jake. Crawling out, +partly dazed, with his eyes half open, he saw that the sky had cleared +and that a crescent moon was shining down. Then, close ahead of them, he +saw the schooner. + +She was also running, for her stern was toward them, though for a moment +or two it was hidden by the white top of a sea, and Frank could only +make out the forward half of her sharply tilted deck. Her bowsprit and +two torn jibs above it were high in the air, and her black boom-foresail +all bunched up, with its gaff, which had swung down, jammed against the +foremast shrouds. She carried no after canvas, and the reason became +evident when, as her stern lurched up, Frank saw that her mainmast was +broken off short. She sank down again while a comber foamed high about +her rail, which was shattered on one quarter where the falling mast had +struck, and a mass of canvas and tangled gear trailed in the sea beneath +it. What struck the boy most, however, was the erratic manner in which +she was progressing, for her bows swung up to windward every now and +then until all her side was visible and she lumbered off at angle to her +course and then came lurching back again. She was herringboning, as it +is called at sea, in an extraordinary fashion, and she seemed low in the +water. + +In the meanwhile the sloop was coming up with her fast and Jake stood up +at the tiller to see more clearly. + +"They've been in trouble, sure," he said. "I could tell there was nobody +at her helm when I first saw her and that's why I ran up so close. Ease +the peak down, one of you; I don't want to run by until we've had a look +at her." + +Harry did so, and as they stood watching her the schooner slued round +until she was almost beam to wind. The sea streamed down her weather +side, which rose up like a wall, and Frank could see her wheel behind +the low deckhouse jerking to and fro. There was no sign of life anywhere +on board her. + +"Deserted!" Jake said shortly. "They must have jibed her and smashed her +mainmast. She seems a smart vessel. Seems to me she ought to fetch a +good many dollars." + +The sloop was sailing more slowly now with her peak swung down, keeping +pace with the schooner but a little behind her, and the boys gazed hard +at Jake. His rugged face looked very thoughtful in the moonlight. + +"It's a fair wind to the islands and she'd come up until it was abeam +with the foresail set if it was necessary," he said. "It wouldn't be +much trouble to sail her in and she could be beached somewhere in smooth +water. Anyhow, I'd like to get on board her." + +"If you ran up close alongside when she screws to windward one of us +could jump," Harry suggested eagerly. "There's a raffle of ropes over +her quarter." + +Jake seemed dubious. "It might be done and Barclay would be uncommonly +glad to get his hands on her, but I can't leave the sloop. Somebody has +to take that message." + +"Put us on board," urged Harry. "How far is it to the islands?" + +"With this wind and the whole sail on her she ought to fetch them by +daylight." Then Jake seemed to hesitate. "Looks as if there was water in +her, but one could wear her round and fetch the land to southward if she +was leaking very bad." + +The boys looked at each other and the same impulse seized upon both of +them. This was an adventure such as they had never dreamed of, and with +a fair wind they would only have to keep the vessel running until they +picked up the land. It would not be difficult, for she was under very +easy sail, and the only hazard would be in the attempt to get on board +her. Then Harry jumped forward and hauled up the peak. + +"Run alongside as quick as you can," he said. + +Jake put down his helm a little, and the boys stood up on the weather +deck with tense, set faces as the sloop crept in under the schooner's +lea. The latter slued to windward while the spray flew over her, rolling +until her deck on the side nearest them was level with the sea, and then +fell off again and sluggishly heaved her bows high above the foam. This +herringboning was the danger, since it would need nerve and skill to get +near her without wrecking the sloop. A blow from the big lurching hull +would probably send her to the bottom. + +Frank felt himself quivering all through as they closed with the +derelict yard by yard, until when she once more lumbered round to +windward Jake put down his helm a little farther. The sloop shot in +beneath the black hull, which broke the sea and partly sheltered her, +but as she swept forward amidst a long wash of foam Frank's courage +ebbed away from him. A great white swell lapped about the wall of wet +planking close in front of him, and the top of it was higher than his +head. It seemed impossible that he could spring out from the lurching +sloop and by any means clamber up. All his senses shrank from the +dangerous task, but with a determined effort he braced himself. If Harry +made the attempt he would do it, too, and he clenched his hands and set +his lips as the schooner's side came sinking down. + +"Don't jump unless you are sure you can reach her!" shouted Jake. + +They were now scarcely a fathom from the trailing wreckage, and the +schooner's rail was dipping lower. It seemed just possible to clutch it +by a desperate leap, and the next moment Harry launched himself out into +the air. Frank followed, struck the wet planking, and seizing a trailing +rope held on by it with his legs in the sea. Then he dragged himself up +clear of the water, and Harry, who was kneeling in the opening in the +broken rail, reached down to him. + +Frank clutched his hand, and in a few more seconds was almost astonished +to find himself, breathless and dripping, safe upon the schooner's deck. +A glance showed him the sloop abreast of her quarter and about a dozen +yards away. + +"Jake did that mighty smartly," Harry gasped. "I'll get to the wheel +while you look around her." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A GRIM DISCOVERY + + +Frank had some difficulty in getting about the vessel. She was rolling +wildly and loose ropes and blocks whipped blindly to and fro, but he +noticed that the boat had gone, and the cleanly severed shrouds +indicated that her mainmast had been cut loose after it had fallen over +the side. It was evident that the crew had made some attempt to save the +vessel before they abandoned her. The mainboom had disappeared, though +the broken gaff and part of the sail were still attached to the hull by +a mass of tangled gear. Scrambling forward he found the anchor lying +still hooked to a tackle and half secured with its arms upon the rail, +which suggested that the smugglers had sailed in haste and had been kept +too busy afterward to make it fast. It was reassuring to discover that +the anchor could be dropped without much trouble if this became +necessary. Then he came upon a lantern hooked beneath the forecastle +scuttle and went back to report to Harry. The latter, who was standing +at the wheel, listened to him attentively. + +"Well," he said at length, "I can't figure out the thing, and unless +some of the dope men explain it I don't think we're likely to be much +wiser. As Jake said, it looks as if they had jibed her by accident, +which would probably rip out the mainmast, but, although it's easy to +bring the mainboom over on a fore-and-aft rigged craft, it's mighty +seldom that a capable sailor does it. Then, as there's water in her, +they must have bumped her on a reef, though she could only have struck +once or twice before she drove over it. That's as far as I can get, and +the first thing is to find out what water there is below. It's fortunate +you have a lantern." + +Frank looked around. There was no doubt that the wind was falling, and +the schooner, having only part of her forward canvas set, steered +easily. The sloop, which had sheered off a little farther, was sailing +abreast of her with lowered peak about a hundred yards away, rising and +falling with the long combers which, however, broke less angrily. + +"Jake will stand by for three or four hours," Harry explained. "After +that he'll have to haul her up to make the inlet where we were to join +Barclay, but it will be close on daylight by then." + +Frank was glad to hear it. There would be some peril in getting on board +the sloop if that became necessary, but it was comforting to see her +close at hand. In the meanwhile he shrank from going below and made no +move to do so until Harry spoke again. + +"I'm anxious about that water and you had better get down," he said. "Go +in by the house; there'll probably be a lazaret below it with an opening +in the deck." + +Frank reluctantly scrambled forward around the house, the door of which +faced toward the bows, and being out of the wind there he contrived to +light the lantern, though he struck several matches in the attempt. The +house, which occupied most of the vessel's quarter, was low so that the +mainboom could swing over it, and it was evident that the cabin floor +was sunk some feet below the level of the deck. Frank thrust the door +open and then stood hesitating, holding up the lantern, which did not +burn well and only flung a faint light into the obscurity before him. He +could hear an ominous gurgle of water below when the schooner rolled and +made out three or four steps which seemed to lead down into it. As he +placed his foot on the first of them the vessel lurched wildly and he +went down with a bang, while the lantern flew out of his hand. For no +very evident reason, except that he was overstrung, he could have +shouted in alarm as he lay upon the wet flooring in the dark. He had +struck his knee in his fall and for a moment or two he feared to move +it. + +Then he noticed a pale reflection against what he supposed to be the +bottom of a seat, and as it was evident that the overturned lantern had +not quite gone out he crawled toward it. As he did so the splash and +gurgle of water seemed much louder than it had done on deck. He could +hear it surge against the sides of the vessel and the hollow sound +jarred upon his nerves. He longed to escape from the oppressive +obscurity and get out into the moonlight by his companion's side, but he +reflected that it would not be pleasant to tell Harry that he had run +away from the darkness and left the lantern. He determined to secure the +latter, and he was moving toward it on hands and knees when his fingers +struck something that felt like a pistol. He let it lie, however, and +stretched out his hand for the lantern, setting it upright. The +flickering flame grew brighter, and standing up he flung the uncertain +light about him. There was undoubtedly a revolver on the uncovered +floor, which was dripping wet, and he thought it curious that the +smugglers should have left the weapon lying in that position; but ever +since he had boarded the schooner he had been troubled by an +uncomfortable sense of strangeness. The fact that her crew had abandoned +her, apparently without a sufficient reason, suggested a mystery. Then +he raised his hand so that the radiance touched a little, clamped-down +table, and as it did so he started and came near dropping the lantern +again, for a man sat at the table with his head and shoulders resting +upon it as if he had suddenly fallen forward. + +Frank afterward confessed that his first impulse was to run toward the +door, and he was never quite certain why he did not do so, but he stood +still holding up the lantern, while his heart throbbed painfully and his +flesh seemed to creep. The bent figure was unnaturally still, but when +the schooner lurched and the table slanted it fell forward a little +farther, all in one piece--which was how he thought of it--and as a +heavy sack would have done. That was too much for Frank, and clambering +up the steps he ran back to Harry in breathless haste. + +"You look as if something had scared you," said the latter with a trace +of anxiety in his voice. + +Frank leaned against the house, and his face showed white and set in the +moonlight. + +"There's a man lying across the table in the cabin," he panted. + +Harry started, but he pulled up his helm a spoke or two. + +"She'll come up if I leave her, but that won't matter much," he said. +"We'll go back together." + +Frank felt a little easier now that he had a companion, and he was more +collected when he stood in the cabin holding up the light while Harry, +who called first and got no answer, walked cautiously toward the huddled +figure. Then he shrank back a pace or two. + +"The man's dead!" he said. + +After that neither of them moved for half a minute during which the deck +slanted wildly beneath them, and then Frank proceeded very reluctantly +toward the table. Harry followed him, and when they stooped over the +shadowy figure Frank caught a partial glimpse of a yellow face and saw +that the man wore a loose blue jacket. + +"Turn the light a little," said Harry in a low, hoarse voice, and when +Frank had done so he looked around at him. + +"It's the man we got dinner with the day we went up the creek. He's been +shot," he added. + +Once more the horror of the thing was almost too much for Frank, but +just then a furious thrashing of loose canvas and clatter of blocks +broke out above them and relieved the tension. + +"She's luffing with the sea on her quarter," said Harry. "I must get +back to the helm, but we'll wait a moment and look around first. Lower +your lantern. There's something on the floor--no, I don't mean the +pistol, though you can pick that up." + +He stooped down beside Frank, who held the lantern close to the wet +planking, and saw for the first time a broad wet stain upon it leading +toward the steps. That was enough for both of them, and saying nothing +further they scrambled toward the door. They did not stop until they +reached the wheel, and then Harry spent a few moments getting the vessel +before the wind again. + +"We're no wiser about the water yet," he said at length with a strained +laugh. + +"No," said Frank. "I didn't think about it--I only wanted to get out as +quick as I could." He broke off, and then added, "What do you make of +it?" + +Harry stretched out one hand for the pistol, opened it, and held it up +in the moonlight. + +"There's a shell still in," he said. "The man it belonged to must have +dropped it in a mighty hurry. It's clear that there was a row on board +her either before or after she lost her mast. That Chinaman had a bullet +through his head and somebody else was hurt, though he got out of the +house--the stains showed that. I wonder"--and he dropped his voice--"if +we ought to search the forecastle." + +"_I'm_ not going down," Frank answered decisively. + +"Well," said Harry, "I don't feel like it either. That's the simple +fact." + +Again there was silence for a while and both were glad that the solid +end of the house stood between them and what lay in the cabin. Then +Frank roused himself. + +"We've forgotten about the water, but the hatch is smashed," he said. "I +expect they dropped the boat upon it in heaving her out. I might get +down that way." + +"You had better try," said Harry, glancing around and pointing to the +sloop, which was now nearer them. "Jake must have edged her in when he +saw the schooner come up with no one at the helm," he added. "It's nice +to feel that he's about." + +Frank agreed with him. Once more he found the sight of the sloop +curiously reassuring, but he scrambled forward, and, wriggling through a +hole in the broken hatch, clambered partly down a beam. There was water +below him, but there was less than he expected, and he could not hear +any more pouring in, though he recognized that this would have been +difficult on account of the gurgling and splashing that was going on. +After listening for a minute or two he went back to Harry. + +"There's a good deal of water in her," he said. "Hadn't we better heave +some of it out?" + +"I don't think it would be worth while," was Harry's answer. "You could +hardly work the pump alone, and if I left the helm she'd keep running up +into the wind and yawing about. I'd rather shove her along steadily +toward the land." + +"Then can't we get the foresail properly set and drive her a little +faster?" Frank inquired. "She ought to bear it now the wind's dropping." + +It was not only the leak that troubled him. He wanted to escape as soon +as possible from the horror that seemed to pervade the vessel, and his +companion eagerly seized upon the suggestion. + +"Why, of course!" replied Harry. "I might have thought of it, but I've +been kind of dazed since we got out of the cabin." + +They went forward and led the halliards to the winch, but they would +have had trouble in setting the partly lowered sail if the schooner had +not come up into the wind and relieved the strain on it. By degrees +they heaved up the gaff and peaked it, after which they went aft, as the +vessel plowed faster over the falling sea. + +"Now," said Frank, "the question is, where are we heading for?" + +"I've been worrying over that while we set the sail," Harry responded. +"If we hauled her up right now we might, perhaps, fetch the inlet where +we arranged to join Barclay, but we'd have to jibe the foresail over, +and as I would have to keep the helm while I brought her round and you +wouldn't be able to check the sheet alone, it's very likely that +something would smash when the boom came across. Besides that, we'd have +a strip of rocky coast to lee of us presently, and we mightn't be able +to keep her off it with only the foresail set. On the other hand, so far +as I can recollect from looking at the chart, the islands are dead to +leeward and we'd only have to keep her running to reach them. There's a +sound where we'd find smooth water once we sailed her in. That would be +the wiser plan." + +Frank, concurring in this, sat down near the helm. He felt that he would +not like to go far away, and he remembered that night watch long +afterward. + +The moon crept on to the westward, getting lower, and now and then +flying clouds obscured the silvery light. The combers still came surging +after them crested with glittering froth, though they no longer broke +about the rail, and there was a constant gurgling and splashing of water +inside the lurching vessel. At last Jake jibed the sloop's mainsail over +and stood away from them. The moon was very low now and Frank grew +somewhat uneasy as he watched the boat's canvas fade into the creeping +gloom. Shortly afterward the moon dipped altogether and it was very +dark. + +"We can't be far off the land," said Harry. "I don't want to come up +with it before daylight, but with no after canvas on her I don't suppose +we could round her up and wait. If we did, I'm not sure we could get +her to fall off again--one of the jibs is torn to ribands and the +other's split. We'll have to keep her running." + +They drove on and presently a faint gray light crept across the water to +the east. A little later, when all the sky was flushed with red and +saffron, a long black smear cut sharply across the glow. + +"The first of the islands," announced Harry. "It's right abeam. We must +get some foresail sheet in." + +They had difficulty in doing so, though they led the sheet to the winch, +but the schooner came up closer afterward, and when the sun had climbed +above a bank of cloud the end of the island was rising before them and a +strip of water opening up beyond it. Half an hour later they ran in with +the foresail peak lowered down, and Frank gazed anxiously ahead as they +drove on more slowly up a broad channel. On one hand there were rocks +and scrubby pines, with larger trees behind, but he wondered what the +result would be if a reef or a jutting point lay in front of them. The +vessel's speed, however, grew slower still, the water became smoother, +and at last Harry looked around at him. + +"If you'll unhook the tackle and cut the lashing you ought to get the +anchor over," he remarked. "I'll luff her as far as possible and you'll +heave the thing off when I drop the foresail." + +There followed a clatter of blocks, and a furious rattle of running +chain, which presently stopped. Then as the swinging vessel drew her +cable out they toiled desperately at the windlass to heave up more of it +from below. The task was almost beyond their strength, but somehow they +managed it and Harry clapped on a chain stopper. + +"That should hold her," he said. "There's not much wind now. I'd be glad +to leave her if I could get ashore." + +This, however, was out of the question, since the canoe had gone, and +very much against their will they waited on board for several hours +until at length a trail of smoke arose above the pines. Then a little +steamer with foam about her bows appeared from behind a point and the +hoot of her whistle rang sharply across the water. + +"Barclay, sure!" said Harry. "I'm certainly glad to see him." + +A few minutes later Mr. Barclay climbed on board and went down into the +cabin and all over the vessel with them before he made any remarks. At +length he turned to the boys as they stood by the rail. + +"You have done a very smart thing and I don't think you'll have any +reason for regretting it," he said pointedly. "This is a good set-off +against the failure at the other end. Jake got in with the message and +we started as soon as I'd had a talk with him. Fortunately, we were able +to creep along through the sounds and it's scarcely likely that any of +the smugglers can have seen us." + +"But what has become of this vessel's crew?" Frank asked. + +"I don't know," replied Mr. Barclay. "We'll probably ascertain something +about them later." + +"Do you expect to corral the rest of them to-night?" Harry broke in. + +"It's possible," said Mr. Barclay with a trace of dryness. "The first +thing, however, is to beach this vessel, and then you and Jake must get +off in the sloop. There's a good deal to be done, and I want to run the +steamer back out of sight up the inlet as soon as it can be managed." + +He called some of his companions on board, and when Frank and Harry sat +down to an excellent meal in the steamer's cabin they heard the men +heaving the schooner's anchor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE RAID + + +Daylight was breaking when the boys ran into the cove near the ranch +after a quick passage and saw Mr. Oliver standing on the beach. + +"I've been looking out for you rather anxiously," he said when he had +shaken hands with them. "Has Barclay been successful?" + +"No," said Harry, "not altogether. Some of the dope men got away at the +first place where they landed." + +Mr. Oliver looked rather grave at this. "How many of them escaped?" + +"I don't know exactly. The messenger said several. Besides, the crew of +the schooner abandoned her, and it seems likely that they got ashore. +That would make two parties who may have joined each other." + +"Ah!" said Mr. Oliver; "it's a pity in various ways! How did Barclay get +on at the other end?" + +"I can't tell you. He didn't expect to make the seizure until night when +the dope men's friends would be waiting for the schooner to run in, and +he sent us off in the afternoon." + +"It was wise of him," Mr. Oliver answered. "In the meanwhile your aunt +hasn't cleared breakfast away, and as I expect you're ready for it we'll +go in at once." + +During the meal they gave him an outline of their adventures, to which +he listened thoughtfully. Then he said: + +"You had better lie down and get a sleep. We'll have another talk about +it later on." + +"I think I'd rather work," said Frank. "We got some sleep in turns last +night, and I don't feel like lying down. The fact is," he added +hesitatingly, "we've been doing something or other so hard since we went +away that I don't think I could leave off all at once. I feel strung up +yet and I'd rather keep busy." + +Mr. Oliver smiled understandingly. "That's sensible. There's nothing as +good as your regular work for cooling you off and helping you to get +calm again; but if you like you can take a note over to Webster and you +needn't hurry back if he asks you to have dinner with him. Then there +are two or three stumps you may as well grub out." + +They set out soon afterward and Frank, for one, was glad of the walk. He +had been cramped on board the sloop, and the excitement of the last few +days had told on him. He was nervously restless and felt that it would +be useless to lie down until he was physically worn out. When he +mentioned it to Harry the latter confessed to a similar sensation, and +added that they had not yet finished with the dope men. + +Mr. Webster was at work in his clearing when they reached it, but he +walked with them to his house, dropping Mr. Oliver's note into the stove +as soon as he read it. + +"You'll have dinner before you go back and tell your father I'll come +along," he said. "Would you like to take that single gun with you, +Frank? Harry still has the other one." + +Frank said that he would be very glad, but his companion broke in: + +"What did dad ask you to come over for?" + +"He wasn't very precise," answered Mr. Webster evasively. "He'll +probably tell me more when I'm at the ranch." + +As it was evident that he did not mean to be communicative, they ate +their dinner without asking any further questions, but when they were +walking home through the bush Harry smiled at his companion +significantly. + +"What do you make of the whole thing?" he asked. + +"I don't know," said Frank. "Your father looked troubled when he heard +the dope men had got away." + +"He did," assented Harry. "Then he sent over for Webster, who wouldn't +tell us what he was wanted for, though he made you take that gun along." + +Frank knitted his brows. + +"Well," he said thoughtfully, "it's only an idea of mine, but it's +possible that the fellows who escaped might make an attack upon the +ranch out of revenge. Now if we allow that the schooner had been driving +along before the wind for some time after she was abandoned--and several +things pointed to it--one would fancy that the men who left her must +have landed not very far from the spot where Barclay's men tried to +seize them. It seems to me the first thing they'd do would be to attempt +to join the rest so as to be strong enough to resist a posse sent out to +hunt them down. It would be clear that somebody had given them away and +they'd no doubt blame your father. Of course they suspected him +already." + +"You've hit it," said Harry, whose face grew stern. "If they come along +there'll be trouble, but we'll make some of it. I don't feel kind to the +dope men after that sight in the schooner's cabin." + +Frank thought that his companion wore very much the same look as his +father had done on the morning when he stood beside the fallen horse +with the smoking pistol in his hand. + +"I expect they'll be desperate now," he said, but Harry did not answer, +and they walked on a little faster. + +On arriving at the ranch they set about grubbing up the stumps and +managed to get one big one out during the few hours' daylight that +remained, but neither of them were sorry when Miss Oliver called them +in to supper. Frank, however, stood still a moment or two, glancing +about him and leaning upon his grubhoe. There was not a breath of wind +stirring, and the firs rose in dense shadowy masses against a soft gray +sky. The light was fading off the clearing, the rows of stumps had grown +blurred and dim, and it was impressively still. The whole surroundings +looked very peaceful; one could imagine them steeped in continual +tranquillity, but Frank remembered the broken mower and became vaguely +uneasy. Besides, he could not get the scene in the schooner's cabin, +where the dead man lay fallen forward across the table, out of his mind. +Then Miss Oliver called him again, and making an effort to throw off +this exceedingly unpleasant train of thought he strode quickly toward +the house. + +They sat about the stove after supper, and Frank fancied that Mr. Oliver +was listening for something now and then, but for a while no sound rose +from the clearing. He made the boys give him a few more particulars +about their adventures. + +"What do you suppose Barclay meant when he said that we would not be +sorry we had brought the schooner in?" asked Harry. + +"Well," his father replied, when he had considered a moment, "the vessel +was abandoned when you fell in with her. If she had been employed in a +legitimate trade you could have enforced a claim for your services and +you would have had no difficulty in getting a large share of her value. +The affair, however, is complicated by the fact that she was engaged in +smuggling, because, while I don't know much about these matters, I'm +inclined to believe that would warrant the revenue authorities in either +seizing her altogether or holding her as security for a heavy fine. +Still, even in this case, you should have a claim and I've no doubt that +Barclay will look after your interests." + +"Have you any idea what our share would be?" Frank asked eagerly. + +"I could only make a guess. As she seems to be a comparatively new +vessel and is probably in good repair except for the damage she received +on the night in question I think you could hold out for two thousand +dollars. It's quite possible that she only started a plank or two, and a +new mainmast wouldn't cost a great deal." + +"Two thousand dollars!" and Frank gasped with astonishment. + +"I believe the award depends upon the value of the services rendered and +the hazard incurred," Mr. Oliver answered with a smile. "There seems +very little doubt that the vessel would have gone to the bottom if you +hadn't fallen in with her, and I expect any arbitrator would admit that +in running alongside and getting on board her in a heavy sea you did a +dangerous thing. Jake, of course, would take a share, though his would +be a smaller one than yours; but Barclay will be able to tell you more +about it than I can. We must get his advice as soon as possible." + +Shortly afterward Mr. Webster arrived carrying a rifle, and Frank +observed that Mr. Oliver was glad to see him. They, however, only +discussed fruit growing and the price of stock, and when by and by the +boys became drowsy Mr. Oliver told them that they had better go to bed. + +The boys were about to withdraw to their room, when Harry had a sudden +thought. + +"Where's the dog?" he asked. + +"In the stable," said Mr. Oliver dryly. "We have kept him there the last +few nights." + +It occurred to Frank that this had been done as a precaution, since the +stable and barn stood close together at some little distance from the +house, but Harry made some careless answer and they turned away toward +their room. When they reached it Harry sat down on his bed and his face +looked grave in the lamplight. + +"Dad's expecting trouble," he said. "You noticed that all the guns were +laid handy and there was a lot of shot as well as rifle shells spread +out loose on the shelf." + +"Do you think the dope men will come to-night?" + +"I can't say. I wouldn't be astonished if they did. Anyhow, I'm dead +played out and we can go to sleep, because dad and Webster mean to sit +up all night. I don't know whether you noticed that the coffee pot was +on the stove and dad had his cigar box out." + +Frank had not noticed it, but he had already discovered that in some +matters his companion's eyes were sharper than his own. He, however, +made no comment, for a heavy weariness had seized him at last and he was +glad to get his clothes off and go to bed. He was soon asleep and some +hours had passed when he felt Harry's hand upon his shoulder. Raising +himself suddenly, he looked around. The room was very dark, and he could +hear nothing until a door latch clicked below and he fancied that he +heard stealthy footsteps outside the building. + +"You had better get up and dress as quick as you can," said Harry. +"That's Webster crossing the clearing. Dad slipped out a minute or two +before him." + +Frank scrambled into his clothes and followed Harry to the window, where +they leaned upon the ledge. There was no doubt that somebody was moving +away from the house, because they could hear the withered grass rustle +and now and then the faint crackle of a twig, but they could see nothing +except the leafless fruit trees and the black wall of bush shutting in +the clearing. + +Then a savage growl that sounded dulled and muffled broke out from the +stable, and Frank felt a little quiver run through him. The sound died +away and he found the heavy silence that followed it hard to bear, but +a few moments later the dog growled again and then broke into a series +of short, snapping barks. + +"If he gets loose somebody's going to be sorry," said Harry with a +harsh, strained laugh. Then he gripped Frank's arm hard. "Look yonder!" + +A yellow blaze suddenly leaped up beside the barn and grew brighter +rapidly, until Frank made out a man's black figure outlined against it. +He seemed to be throwing an armful of brush or withered twigs upon the +spreading fire, and Frank swung around toward his companion. + +"Hadn't we better shout or run down?" he asked. + +"Wait," said Harry shortly. "Dad's already on that fellow's trail." + +He was right, for while the figure bent over the fire a thin streak of +red sparks flashed out from among the fruit trees and the crash of a +rifle filled the clearing. The man leaped back from the fire, ran a few +paces at headlong speed, and vanished suddenly into the shadow. + +"He's not hurt," Frank said hoarsely. + +"Then it's because dad didn't mean to hit him," Harry answered. "That +was a warning." + +"He doesn't seem to be going to put out the fire." + +"No," said Harry with the same strained laugh, "dad knows too much for +that. Those logs are thick, they won't light easy, and it's only a +little pile of small stuff that's burning. Dad has no use for standing +out where those fellows can see him unless it's necessary. In the +meanwhile the dope men don't know where he is and that's going to worry +them." + +Frank could understand this. It seemed very likely that the small fire +would burn out before the logs caught, and it was clear that the men who +had made it could not run back into the light to throw on more brushwood +without incurring the hazard of being shot. On the other hand, Mr. +Oliver would have to face the same peril if he approached to put it +out. From this it seemed very probable that both he and the dope men +would wait to see what the result would be. + +In the meanwhile the crash of the rifle had had a curious effect on +Frank. It was the first time that he had ever seen a shot fired in anger +and he was sufficiently well acquainted with Mr. Oliver's character to +feel certain that if the warning failed to prove efficacious the next +bullet would not go wide. He felt his nerves tingle and caught his +breath more quickly, for it seemed highly probable that he might be +shortly called on to watch or, perhaps, take part in some horrible +thing. He did not mean to shirk it, but at the same time he was +conscious that he would have greatly preferred to be standing beside the +schooner's wheel while she lurched over the big foaming seas. + +The suspense became almost intolerable as he watched the fire, which +presently sank until at last only a feeble, flickering blaze was left. +Then a figure sprang out of the shadow and ran toward it carrying +something in its arms. The next moment there was another crash in a +different part of the clearing from where they had heard the first shot, +and the figure, dropping its burden, vanished suddenly. + +"That's Webster," said Harry dryly. "I'm not sure that he meant to +miss." + +In the meanwhile the savage barking of the dog, whom they had scarcely +noticed during the last few moments, once more forced itself upon their +attention. + +"Why doesn't your father let the dog get after them?" Frank asked. + +"I don't know," Harry answered. "It's possible he'd rather not have them +routed out from among the trees. If it were only daylight we could stand +them off! Have you your watch?" + +Frank took it from his pocket and rubbed a sulphur match in nervous +haste. It went out and he struck another with quivering fingers. A pale +glow of light sprang up and he held the watch close against it. + +"Only four o'clock!" he announced. "There'll be more than three hours' +darkness yet." + +Harry made no answer, and except for the barking of the dog there was +silence for a minute or two. It was Frank at last who broke it. + +"I can't stand any more of this," he said. "Let's go down." + +His companion seemed to hesitate. "It's not nice, but I don't know what +to do. Aunt's in the house, and though Jake's on the lookout somewhere +I've a notion that dad would call us if he meant us to come." He broke +off and added in a very suggestive tone, "I don't--want--to stay in." + +"We could go as far as the door, anyway," Frank persisted. + +They slipped out of the room and made for the kitchen very quietly, but +Frank was a little astonished when they reached it, because though there +was no lamp burning the front of the stove was open and the faint glow +which shone out fell upon Miss Oliver who was sitting close by. A rifle +lay upon the table at her side and Jake's shadowy figure showed up near +the open window. + +"Where are you going, Harry?" she asked. + +Harry stopped and leaned upon the table. "Out into the clearing a little +way. After that, I don't know. I don't want to spoil dad's plans by +butting in before it's necessary, but I wish he'd told us what to do. +You won't mind if we go?" + +"I've Jake--and this," Miss Oliver answered, quietly pointing to the +rifle. "On the whole I think I'd just as soon you tried to find out what +is going on, but keep out of sight while you're about it and be +cautious." + +They slipped out, and when they stopped at a short distance from the +house Frank touched his companion. + +"Can she shoot?" he asked. + +"It's my opinion that she'd beat you at it every time," said Harry +curtly. + +He raised his hand as though to demand silence, and they both stood +listening, but there was deep silence now, for the dog had ceased to +bark. It was difficult to imagine that somewhere in the shadowy clearing +there were a number of men watching with every sense alert. + +"I think the first shot came from the other side of the fruit trees. +We'll look in among them," said Harry. + +Treading very softly, they made for the trees, which were young and had +shed their leaves, but their trunks and branches, massed in long rows, +offered concealment. They would not entirely cover up the figure of any +one standing among them, but they would break its outline, which is +almost as effective since, as Frank had already learned, it is +singularly difficult to recognize an object when one can only see a part +of it. Besides, the sky was overcast and there was no moon visible. + +The boys walked a few steps and stopped again to consider. It was as +still as ever, and there was nothing to guide them in deciding where Mr. +Oliver or Mr. Webster might be, while they recognized that any noise +they made would probably be followed by a rifle shot. The smugglers and +ranchers would naturally be listening for the least sound that might +betray each other's presence. The first incautious movement would +therefore lay either party open to attack, and Frank could understand +the smuggler's hesitation in making another attempt to burn the barn, +since, apart from any noise they made, the figure of the man who started +the fire would be forced up clearly by the light. Indeed, he fancied +that so long as the two men kept still their opponents must do the same. + +In the meanwhile he found it singularly difficult to crouch in the grass +waiting and listening. It would have been much easier to move forward, +even at the hazard of drawing the smuggler's fire upon himself, but as +this was out of the question he restrained the desire to do so by an +effort of his will. To hasten an attack would interfere with Mr. +Oliver's plans, and there was no doubt that the odds against the rancher +were already heavy. Frank, however, could not keep his heart from +thumping painfully or his fingers from trembling upon the gun barrel. +Never had time seemed to pass so slowly. + +Several minutes dragged by and still no sound rose from the surrounding +fruit trees or shadowy clearing. It almost seemed as if Mr. Oliver and +his opponents meant to lie motionless until the morning, which Frank +realized was a good deal more than he could force himself to do. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE RELIEF OF THE RANCH + + +The silence was becoming unendurable when it was suddenly broken by two +sharp, ringing crashes in quick succession. Though Frank was afterward +ashamed of it, he fairly jumped and came very nearly dropping his gun. +While he was struggling with an impulse to fire at random into the +darkness there was an answering bang and he felt a tug at his elbow. + +"I think it was Webster who fired first," said Harry in a low, tense +voice. "If I'm wrong, it means that the dope men have got in between us +and the house, but that isn't likely. Dad would have heard them and made +a move if they'd tried it." + +Frank said nothing, and when the echoes died away among the woods there +was once more a nerve-trying silence, except for the savage barking of +the dog. It lasted a few minutes, and then Harry spoke again: + +"The shots will be quite enough to put dad on to those fellows' trail. I +expect he's crawling in on them now." + +The boy's whisper was hoarse with anxiety, but he made no attempt to +move and Frank wondered at his self-command. Shortly afterward there was +an unexpected change in the situation, for a faint flicker of light shot +up again from where Frank supposed the barn to be. This was puzzling, +because, while the light was rather high up and there seemed to be a +brighter blaze beneath it, Frank could not see the fire. Then the +explanation flashed upon him as the black shape of the building became +dimly visible against the uncertain glow. The smugglers had lighted a +second fire behind the barn, which now stood between them and Mr. +Oliver. Frank gasped with dismay as he realized that it was a simple and +effective trick. If the rancher moved forward hastily he must betray +himself to his enemies by the noise he made, while if he proceeded +slowly and cautiously the barn would probably take fire before he +reached a spot from which he could drive back the men, who were no doubt +piling up brushwood against the building. + +"It looks as if they'd got us!" he whispered. + +"No," said Harry sharply and aloud. "The thing didn't strike me, but +dad's not to be caught like that. Now, as any row we make will draw them +off him, we'll hurry up. Get up and run." + +Frank did so, but although he had been longing to do something of the +kind a few minutes earlier he found that he had no great liking for the +part Harry expected him to play. It was decidedly unpleasant to feel +that in all probability he was fixing upon himself the attention of +several men who could shoot very well. He had gone only a few paces, +however, when there was a shot from behind the barn and Harry laughed--a +breathless laugh. + +"That's dad. He's headed them off again!" he said. + +Frank ran on, but thrilling as he was with excitement it occurred to him +that this battle was a rather intricate one, in which he was right. +These bushmen were accustomed to hunting and trailing, and did not rush +at each other's throats, shouting and firing more or less at random. +Instead, they seemed to be maneuvering for positions from which they +could prevent their opponents from making another move. Nowadays, in any +battle large or small, in which men are engaged who can handle the +terrible modern rifle, the position is the one essential thing, since +it is only the most desperate courage that can drive home an attack upon +a well-covered firing line. + +Soon after the boys had heard the shot a shadowy figure slipped out from +among the fruit trees close in front of them and Frank called, +"Webster!" + +The man swung around, but instead of answering he sprang backward, and +Frank realized that he had almost run into the arms of one of the +smugglers. The boys did not see where he went, though he made some +noise, and they afterward concluded that he had mistaken them for grown +men. In the meanwhile they went on again more cautiously, until at +length they were stopped by a low cry and Mr. Oliver rose from the grass +a few feet away. They were on the other side of the barn now and could +see that the fire had got hold of it. There was no doubt that some of +the logs were burning and a pile of brushwood which had been laid +against them was burning fiercely. + +"It's spreading," said Harry. "Can't we put it out?" + +"No," said his father with grim quietness. "It would take time and at +least a dozen wet grain bags, while it wouldn't be safe for any one to +approach the light." + +There was something in his voice that startled Frank. + +"You have hit one of them?" he asked. + +"There's reason for believing it. Webster and I couldn't watch the four +sides of the barn, and they chose the one that seemed the most unlikely. +Still, as it happened, I got around quick enough." + +"Then what are we to do now?" Harry inquired. + +"Fall back on the house," replied Mr. Oliver. "I've sent Webster on, and +it's no use waiting for another of them to come out into the light." + +The boys turned back with him, moving quickly but making no more noise +than they could help, and on reaching the dwelling they found Mr. +Webster standing in the kitchen. The room was dark except for the faint +glow which shone out from the front of the stove, and Miss Oliver was +still sitting where the boys had last seen her, with an open box of +cartridges at her feet. There was, however, light enough outside, for a +red glare which grew steadily brighter streamed across the clearing. + +"Where's the dog?" Harry asked. + +"I don't know," said Mr. Webster. "I let him out before I came along. I +expect you're going to hear him presently." + +There was silence for the next six or seven minutes during which Frank +heard the ticking of a clock and the crackle of knotty pinewood in the +stove. He could see Mr. Oliver standing a little on one side of the open +window, an indistinct figure with face and hands that showed dimly +white. His pose indicated that he was holding a rifle level with his +breast, and presently as the red glow behind the fruit trees grew higher +and brighter the barrel twinkled in a ray of light. Then there was a +furious barking and Jake laughed at the sound. + +"Well," he said, "they don't mean to keep us waiting." + +Mr. Oliver turned to the boys. "Keep clear of this window and watch the +other one. You're not to fire a shot unless I tell you." + +The barking of the dog grew louder and it was evident that the animal +was following the smugglers toward the house, but Frank could see nobody +for a while. Then he made out two or three moving shadows among the +fruit trees, but they vanished again as the light sank, and he almost +wished that they would spring out from cover and make a rush upon the +building. He could imagine them creeping stealthily nearer and nearer, +and the strain of the forced inaction became nearly unbearable. He +learned that night that it is often a good deal easier to fight than to +wait. + +At last a harsh voice rose from the gloom. + +"You'll have to get out, Oliver," it said. "Clear out in your sloop with +the folks you have with you and we'll let you go. You're mighty lucky in +getting the option." + +"And what about the ranch?" Mr. Oliver asked. + +"We'll tend to it," another man answered pointedly. "Pitch your guns +through the window and come out right now!" + +"You're wasting time," replied Mr. Oliver, "I'm going to stay." + +"Then you'll certainly be sorry," some one else broke in. "We've had +about enough trouble right along with you and we've come to hand in the +bill. You headed us off a good trade, you brought the revenue folks in, +and we mean to get even before we leave. Just now we'll be satisfied +with your homestead, but that won't be enough after the next shot's +fired." + +It was a grim warning and what made it more impressive to Frank was the +fact that he could not see the man who uttered it. So far, the smugglers +had only revealed their presence by their voices. The next moment there +was a cry of pain or alarm and a rifle flashed. + +"Kill that blamed dog," somebody ordered with an oath. + +Then Mr. Oliver called to Harry, who had gone to the window across the +room. + +"Can you see anybody on that side?" he asked. + +"No," was the answer. "I think they're all in front." + +Mr. Oliver turned to Jake. "Slip out through the back window with the +boys and work around to the stumps. From there you'll have those fellows +clear against the light. Wait until the shooting starts--and then do +what you can." + +"Sure!" was the short answer, and Jake crossed the room. + +Harry had already dropped from the window, and Frank promptly followed +him, feeling relieved now that he had something definite to do. +Circling around through the fruit trees they reached the first row of +stumps, one end of which ran up rather close to the house. As Frank +crouched down among the roots of one he saw the smugglers. There were +six or seven of them visible along the edge of the trees, though he +fancied that there were more of them farther back in the shadows, which +grew thinner and then more dense again as the light rose and fell. +Still, before the men could reach the house they would have to cross a +clear space where the glow was brighter, which they were evidently +reluctant to do. Their hesitation was very natural, since they had +discovered that their opponent was unusually quicksighted and handy with +the rifle. + +A few moments after the boys reached the stumps a great blaze shot up as +part of the barn fell in, and Frank saw a man who seemed to be the +leader of the gang run forward, heading toward the back of the house. As +he did so Frank recognized him and Harry cried out softly, for one of +the runner's shoulders was higher than the other and he had a rather +curious gait. Then there was a shout from one of those behind. + +"Plug the brute! Look out for the dog!" + +A low and very swift shadow flashed across the open space behind the +man. Harry laughed hoarsely as the man went down and rolled over with an +indistinct object apparently on his back. He cried out, there was a +confused shouting, and some of his companions came running toward him, +showing black against the light. Frank held his breath as he watched. He +expected to see two flashes from the window, since Mr. Webster and Mr. +Oliver had now an easy mark, but they did not fire. The next moment he +shrank in sudden horror, for the cries grew sharper and suggested pain +and an extremity of fear. Then he felt that, regardless of the hazard, +he could almost have cheered the smugglers on as they ran toward the +prostrate man, who was struggling vainly with the furious dog. They +surged about him in a confused group, and just then, to Frank's +amazement, a pistol flashed among the firs on the edge of the bush. It +was followed by a sudden clamor, whereupon the group broke up, and +running men streamed out across the clearing. The smugglers vanished, +and Harry sprang out from among the stumps shouting wildly. + +"It's Barclay! He's brought a posse with him!" he cried. "Come on. We +must choke off the dog." + +When they reached the spot they tried with all their might to drag back +the furious animal. The man, who had flung his arms about his throat and +face, now lay still, with the big and powerful animal still tearing at +him. It was not until Jake arrived and partly stunned it with his rifle +butt that it let go, and then two or three breathless strangers came +running up to them. They dragged the smuggler to his feet and Frank saw +that his jacket was torn to pieces and that the back of his neck from +which it fell away was red. He did not seem capable of speaking and he +drew his breath in gasps, but the newcomers hustled him along between +them toward the house. + +"Stick to him," said Harry. "He's the boss of the gang." + +They thrust the man into the kitchen, where he fell into a chair and, +for the lamp was lighted now, gazed at Mr. Oliver stupidly. + +"Well," he said, "I'm corralled--my gun's in the clearing." He raised +his hand to his neck and brought it down smeared red before he added, +"It's mighty lucky he didn't get hold in front." + +Mr. Oliver, who made no answer, swung around and faced Mr. Barclay +standing hot and breathless in the doorway smiling at them. + +"It's fortunate I came along," he said, and striding forward glanced at +the man in the chair. "We've got you at last." + +"Sure!" admitted the other, still in a half-dazed manner. "I'll have to +face it--only keep off that dog." + +Mr. Barclay looked around at Mr. Oliver. "I expect the boys have also +got most of his partners. Before we broke cover I sent a party to head +them off." + +Harry suddenly called to Frank, who sprang toward the door, but when +they reached the bush they met the rest of the men coming back with +several prisoners. They reported that two or three had escaped and they +would have to wait for daylight before following their trail. + +Half an hour later the boys sat down again in the kitchen where Mr. +Oliver and Mr. Barclay, who had been out in the meanwhile, were talking +by the stove. + +"I'd an idea that these fellows might look you up, which was why I came +along as fast as I could manage," Mr. Barclay was explaining. "I think I +told you we got practically every man who was waiting for the schooner +at the inlet, and the two or three who escaped to-night won't count. In +the meanwhile I'd arranged at two or three different places to seize +everybody we suspected of having a hand in the thing, and if the boys I +left that work to have been as lucky as we are we can take it for +granted that we have put an end to the gang. There's enough against the +fellow the dog mauled to have him sent up for the rest of his life." He +broke off and turned to the boys. "The schooner will be sold by auction, +and if you are inclined to leave the matter in my hands you can give me +a written claim for salvage services." + +"How much should we put down?" Harry asked. + +"I would suggest three thousand dollars," responded Mr. Barclay with +twinkling eyes. "It doesn't follow that you'll be awarded the whole of +it, but it's generally admitted that one shouldn't be too modest in +sending in a claim. If you two become partners you could buy a ranch." + +Harry turned with a smile to Frank. "Well," he said, "if you're willing, +we might consider it in a year or two." + +Then one of the men came in to report that the prisoners had been +secured in the stable. Mr. Barclay soon dismissed him with a few brief +instructions and sat down again, lighting a cigar. + +"I don't know that there's much more to tell," he said. "When we were a +mile or two off the cove we saw the blaze of your barn, and that gave us +an idea of what was going on. We sent the steamer along as fast as she +could travel, but I broke my posse up to surround the clearing as soon +as we got ashore. Then we lay by and waited so as to get as many of the +gang as possible. They were too busy watching you to notice any little +noise the boys made, and on the whole I think we can be content with +this night's work." + +"Have you decided what led up to the shooting of that man in the +schooner's cabin?" Harry asked. + +"That," said Mr. Barclay, "is a matter for the criminal court, but I've +made a few investigations, and my notion is that the fellows lost their +nerve when it became evident that somebody had given them away. They +suspected one another, and that led to trouble, while I've no doubt that +the Chinaman held most of the secrets of the gang. He'd be a particular +object of suspicion, but from what I can gather there was a general row +during which she jibed and got ashore. There was, at least, one other +man badly hurt, but they seem to have gone off in the same boat. The +vessel probably struck on an outlying reef and came off almost +immediately on the rising tide." + +Frank went out soon afterward and sat down near the house. The fire had +almost burned out and a light wind which had sprung up drove the last of +the smoke the other way. The air that flowed about the boy was sweet and +scented with the fragrance of pine and cedar. All around him the bush +rose in somber masses and a faint elfin sighing fell from the tops of +the tall black trees. It was the song of the wilderness and the wild and +rugged land had steadily tightened its hold on him. As he sat and +listened he was certain at last that he would never leave it to go back +to the cities. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +FRANK BECOMES A RANCH OWNER + + +Three or four days had passed since the attack on the ranch when one +afternoon the boys stood on the deck of the sloop. Bright sunshine +streamed down on the cove and there was a brisk breeze. The boys had +gone down to hoist the mainsail so that it would dry, as it had been +rolled up damp when last used; and as Frank straightened himself after +stooping to coil up the gear he noticed that a man stood at the edge of +the water with a small camera in his hand. + +"Look, Harry!" he exclaimed softly, as his companion crawled from behind +the sail. + +"Hello!" called Harry. "What do you want?" + +"Keep still!" commanded the stranger sharply. Then he raised his hand. +"That's all right! Now you may move if you like." + +"So may you!" Harry answered with a chuckle. "In fact, I guess you +better had!" + +There was an ominous growl somewhere above the man and then a savage +barking, as the dog--who had followed the boys to the cove and afterward +wandered away--came scrambling furiously down the steep path. The man +seemed to watch its approach with anxiety, and when it came toward him +growling he stooped and picked up a big stone. + +"Hold on!" Harry shouted. "Put down that stone! He doesn't like +strangers, and you'd better not rile him." + +The man did as he was bidden, but when it looked as if the dog would +drive him into the water Frank dropped into the canoe. To his +astonishment, the stranger suddenly held the camera in front of him and +backed away a few paces, pointing it like a pistol at the growling dog, +who seemed too surprised to follow. Then Frank ran the canoe ashore and +told the man to get in while he drove off the dog. + +"He's young," explained Frank. "Somehow we haven't managed to tame him." + +He headed for the sloop, and the man got on board. + +"You seem stuck on taking photographs," Harry remarked. + +"I make a little out of them now and then," the stranger answered with a +smile. "You're Harry Oliver?" + +"That's my name." + +"Then your friend is Frank Whitney?" + +"Yes," replied Harry. "But you haven't answered my question yet." + +"I wanted to have a talk with your father; but I find that he's out." + +"He won't be back until to-night; and, while we'd be glad to give you +supper, it really wouldn't be worth while to wait. He doesn't want any +fruit trees--the last we bought from outsiders had been dug up too long. +He's full up with implements, and we're not open to buy anything." + +The stranger laughed good-humoredly. + +"Hadn't you better wait until you're asked? I'm not drumming up orders." +Then he changed the subject. "You've had trouble here lately, haven't +you? From what I gather, your father has done a smart and courageous +thing in holding off that opium gang." + +Harry thawed and fell into the trap. He was not addicted to saying much +about his own exploits, but he was proud of his father, and the man +discovered this from his hesitating answer. It was the latter's business +to draw people out, and sitting down in the shelter of the coaming he +cleverly led the boy on to talk. Frank tried to warn his companion once +or twice, but failed, and soon the stranger drew him also into the +conversation. Some time had slipped away when the man finally rose. + +"I'm sorry I missed your father," he said, "but as I want to catch the +steamer that calls at the settlement to-night, I must be getting back." + +Harry paddled him ashore, and when he returned with the dog Frank +grinned at him. + +"That fellow hasn't told you his business yet, and I've a pretty strong +suspicion that he's a newspaper man." + +Harry started and frowned. + +"Then if he prints all that stuff I've told him it's a sure thing that +dad will be jumping mad. Didn't you know enough to call me off?" + +"You wouldn't stop," Frank answered, laughing. "I kept on winking for +the first five minutes, and then somehow he gathered me in too. He's +smart at his business." + +"I guess we'd better not say anything about the thing," decided Harry +thoughtfully. "Anyway, not until we know whether you are right." + +They went ashore soon afterward; and a few days later Mr. Webster called +at the ranch. + +"Have you Barclay's address?" he asked Mr. Oliver. "I want to write +him." + +Mr. Oliver gave it to him, and Mr. Webster continued: + +"They're getting up a supper at the settlement, and the stewards would +like to have you and the boys come. They're asking everybody between +here and Carthew." + +"What do they want to get up a supper for?" + +Mr. Webster hesitated. + +"Well," he said, "among other things, the new man is opening his big +fruit ranch, and we've just heard that there's a steamboat wharf to be +built and a new wagon trail made. Things are looking up, and the boys +feel that they ought to have a celebration." + +"All right," assented Mr. Oliver, "the boys and I will be on hand." + +A few minutes later Mr. Webster started home, and then Frank opened a +letter he had brought him. He was astonished when he read it. + +"It's from Mr. Marston, who got me the position with the milling +company--he's a relative of ours," he informed Mr. Oliver. "It appears +that he is in Portland on business--shipping Walla wheat--and he says +that he promised my mother he'd look me up if he had time. He may be +here shortly." + +"We'd be glad to see him," Mr. Oliver answered cordially. "It isn't a +very long way to Portland." + +Frank, however, had no further word from Mr. Marston; and in due time +the evening of the supper arrived. Mr. Oliver and the boys sailed up to +the settlement. Landing in the darkness, they found the little hotel +blazing with light. The night was mild, and a hum of voices and bursts +of laughter drifted out from the open windows of the wooden building. On +entering the veranda, they were greeted by the man who had kept the +store when Frank first visited the settlement. + +"I'm glad to see that you're better," Mr. Oliver remarked. + +"Thanks!" replied the other. "I've just got down from Seattle--the +doctors have patched me up. It's time I was back at business--things +have been getting pretty mixed while I was away." Then he changed the +subject. "The boys would make me chairman of this affair, and they're +waiting. You're only just on time." + +"The wind fell light," said Mr. Oliver. "As there seems to be a good +many of them, they needn't have waited for my party if we hadn't come." + +"Oh," laughed the storekeeper, "they couldn't begin without--you." + +Mr. Oliver looked slightly astonished; but there was another surprise +in store for him and the boys when they entered the largest room in the +building. It was, for once, brilliantly lighted; and crossed fir +branches hung on the rudely match-boarded wall, with the azure and +silver and crimson of the flag gleaming here and there among them. Frank +could understand the attempt to decorate the place, because, as a matter +of fact, it needed it; but he did not see why the double row of men +standing about the long table should break out into an applauding murmur +as Mr. Oliver walked in. Most of them had lean, brown faces and +toil-hardened hands, and were dressed in duck with a cloth jacket over +it and with boots that reached to the knees, but there were two or three +in white shirts and neat cloth suits. + +"Boys," said the storekeeper, "our guest has now arrived. Though he +tells me the wind fell light, he's here on time, which is what we've +always found him to be in all his doings." He waved Mr. Oliver to the +head of the table. "That's your place. It's my duty to welcome you on +behalf of the assembled company." + +There was an outbreak of applause, and Mr. Oliver looked around with a +smile. + +"Thank you, boys," he beamed; "but I don't quite understand. I just came +here to talk to you and get my supper." + +Amid the laughter that followed there were many voices answering him. + +"You'll get it, sure! To-night we'll do the talking--Sproat's been +practicing speeches on the innocent trees all day, and Bentley's most as +good as a gramophone. We're mighty glad to have you! Sit right down!" + +The storekeeper raised his hand for silence. + +"You're our guest, Mr. Oliver, and that's all there is to it." He turned +to the others and lowered his voice confidentially. "I guess Webster +didn't explain the thing to him. Our friend's backward on some +occasions--he doesn't like a fuss--and it's quite likely that if he'd +known what to expect he wouldn't have come." + +There was another burst of laughter; and when Mr. Oliver had taken his +place, with the boys seated near him, Frank noticed for the first time +that Mr. Barclay occupied a chair close by. Then he also saw that Mr. +Marston, who had written to him, sat almost opposite across the table. + +"I got here this afternoon and was trying to hire a horse when I heard +that you were expected at this feast," the latter said. "Your people +were in first-rate health when I left them." + +It was difficult to carry on a conversation across the table, and Frank +turned his attention to the meal, which was the best he had sat down to +since he reached the bush. By and by the storekeeper stood up. + +"Now," he said, "as most of you have laid in a solid foundation, we can +talk over the dessert; and I want to remind you that we have several +reasons for celebrating this occasion. A start at growing fruit on a big +scale has just been made; we're to have a wharf; and there's a wagon +trail to be bridged and graded. All this brings you nearer the market. +You have held on and put up a good fight with rocks and trees, and now +when you'll have no trouble in turning your produce into money you're +going to reap the reward of it. But that's not our main business +to-night." + +There was an encouraging murmur, and he went on: + +"We had a few bad men round this settlement--toughs, who had no use for +work. Folks of their kind are like the fever--they're infectious--and +it's a kind of curious thing that for a while the bad man generally +comes out on top. His trouble is that he can't stay there, for something +big and heavy is surely going to fall on him sooner or later. Still, +those men had a big combine at the back of them and they got hold. +They'd have kept it longer, only that one man had a bigger head than +most of us. He'll tell you that the one straight way to get money is to +work for it, and that the folks who begin by robbing the Government end +by robbing everybody else. He found the combine up against him, but +while some of us backed down he stood fast. He wouldn't be fooled or +bullied, and, though he didn't go round saying so, when the time came +that big and well-handled combine went down. Now it's my pleasant duty +to offer your thanks to Mr. Oliver for freeing you from what would have +been the ugliest kind of tyranny." + +He sat down amid applause, and another man got up. + +"I'm glad to second that," he announced. "We were easy with the opium +gang when they began. It was pleasant to get a roll of bills now and +then for just leaving a team handy and saying nothing if we found a case +in the stable; but we didn't see where that led." He stopped and turned +to Mr. Barclay, who was smiling at him. "What'd you say, sir?" + +"It struck me that you were forgetting what my profession is," Mr. +Barclay answered dryly. "You're not compelled to give yourself and your +friends away." + +This remark was followed by laughter; then the speaker proceeded: + +"Anyhow, the dope boys began to change their tone. At first, they paid +and asked favors; but when they got folks so they couldn't go back on +them they ordered, and seldom paid at all. It was getting what my friend +calls tyranny, and the small man had to stand in and ask the gang for +leave to live. We'd have been in a mighty tight place now if one rancher +hadn't boldly stood out. That's why we're offering our best thanks to +Mr. Oliver, who got up and fought the gang." + +There was a shout that set the shingles rattling overhead, and when it +died away Mr. Oliver, who looked embarrassed, said a few simple words, +which were followed by riotous applause. Then Frank looking around saw +that a sheet of newspaper with three pictures on it was pinned to the +wall. + +"What's that thing?" he asked, leaning back to touch Harry. "You're +nearer it." + +One of the men took the paper down and handed it to him. + +"Well," he drawled, "I guess you ought to know your own likeness." + +Frank gasped as he took the paper, for the two portraits at the top of +it were of Harry and himself, and underneath them appeared the dog. +There was a conspicuous black heading over them. + +"_The modest salvors of the opium schooner, and their dog_," it read. + +Beneath this there was about a column dealing with Mr. Oliver's exploits +and their own. Frank glanced at parts of it with blank astonishment. + +"You never told him all that stuff," he declared, passing it to Harry. + +Mr. Oliver intercepted the paper, and his expression hinted at +half-disgusted amusement. + +"Didn't you know any better than to tell a story of this kind to a +newspaper man?" he asked. "Read a little of it!" + +Harry's face flushed as he read. + +"I didn't tell him half of it," he protested. "Besides, I didn't know +what he was." + +Mr. Oliver laughed at last; and just then another man got up and made a +speech about Mr. Barclay, who rose and looked down the table with a +quiet smile. + +"I appreciate what you have said of my doings, boys, and now I'll base +my few observations on one of the first speaker's remarks," he began. +"He stated that the man who began by robbing the Government would end by +robbing everybody else; but he was wrong. The man who robs the +Government _is_ robbing every other citizen. Each of us is part of a +system that's built up, we believe, on the rock of the constitution. +Otherwise, if you were merely individuals, doing just as you wished, +obeying nobody, you could live only like the Indians, holding your +ranches and cattle--if you had them--with the rifle. All commerce and +security is founded on the fact that we're not separate men, but a +nation. Well, the nation wants troops, and warships, judges, courts, +schools, and roads. It expects you to pay your share, since you get the +benefit, and every man who beats it out of one tax or duty is playing a +mean game on and stealing from the rest. That's the one point I want to +make clear." + +Then, to the confusion of Harry and Frank, they were commended; and +afterward the company broke up into groups to talk and smoke. Mr. Oliver +and the boys, Mr. Marston, Mr. Webster and Mr. Barclay still sat +together, and presently Mr. Barclay turned to the boys. + +"I've some news for you," he announced. "The schooner has been surveyed. +She's very little damaged, and the authorities, who have seized her, +have decided to allow your claim in full. As soon as she's sold, they'll +forward you a treasury order." + +"And we'll really get all that money?" Frank asked with a gasp. + +"It seems pretty certain." + +The blood rushed into Frank's face. + +"It would go a long way toward buying a small, half-cleared ranch," he +exclaimed joyfully. + +"I've one to sell," laughed Mr. Webster. "You can have it cheap." + +"Are you serious?" Mr. Oliver inquired. + +"Sure!" was the answer. "I never was much good at ranching, and the +place is too small to feed more than a few head of stock. It might pay +growing fruit; but if I did any planting now I'd have to wait three or +four years before I got any returns worth while, and I was always kind +of smart at carpentering. I could get contracts for building log bridges +and cutting wharf piles now, and I'd let the ranch go at a very moderate +price." + +"How much do you want?" + +When Mr. Webster told him, Mr. Oliver considered the matter for a few +moments. + +"I'll have to start Harry in another three or four years, and if we put +in a lot of young trees they'd be in good bearing by that time," he said +thoughtfully. "We could work the place from our own ranch in the +meanwhile; but I'm afraid I can't raise the price you ask. Would you let +part stand over on a mortgage?" + +"I can't do that," was the reply, "though I'd like to oblige you. You +see, if I'm to handle those contracts properly, I must have the money to +buy tools and to pay wages. But suppose we appoint two valuers to fix a +figure." + +The boys had been listening intently, and Frank broke in: + +"Harry and I have decided to go partners in a ranch some day, and +there's the salvage money." + +"It wouldn't be enough," said Mr. Oliver regretfully. + +Mr. Marston touched Mr. Oliver's shoulder. + +"I'd like a few words with you privately." + +They crossed the room, and after talking for a while in low tones Mr. +Marston beckoned Frank, who had been waiting in tense excitement. Mr. +Marston was a middle-aged business man, with keen eyes and a thoughtful +face, and he looked at Frank steadily. + +"Sit down and listen to me," he said. "Because I'm a relative of yours +and also because I had a great respect for your father, I meant from the +beginning to help you along. On the other hand, I've seen young men +spoiled by knowing that they had friends ready to give them a lift, and +I decided to let you make the best fight you could, for a year or two. +That's why I sent you to the flour mill, instead of putting you into +something easier; and I may say that I wasn't altogether pleased when +you left it." + +"I was turned out, sir," Frank corrected him with some color in his +face. + +Mr. Marston smiled. + +"We'll let it go at that. The main thing is that you didn't come back +for help. Instead, you made another start for yourself; and you seem to +have done well here. According to a newspaper which I've read, you have +even distinguished yourself lately." He laughed before he proceeded. +"Anyway, you have shown that one could have some confidence in you." + +"Thank you, sir." + +Mr. Marston raised his hand. + +"Let me finish. Before I left Boston I went over your mother's business +affairs, and by and by I think she could give you--we'll say a thousand +dollars; you have your share of the salvage payment; and Mr. Oliver is +willing to lay out some money on his son's account. Well, I'll find the +balance--on a mortgage--but you'll have to make the ranch pay, or"--and +he smiled--"I'll certainly foreclose and turn you out." + +Frank tried to thank him, but he could find very little to say in his +excitement. Then Mr. Marston called Harry. + +"I understand that you are anxious to take Mr. Webster's ranch with +Frank, and would be willing to work it under your father's direction +until the youngest of you is twenty-one. Is that correct?" + +Harry's face was glowing. + +"Yes, sir," he answered eagerly. "We'll do what we can." + +"Then if your father and Mr. Webster will go down to Seattle with me, +we'll get the transfer made and a deed drawn up to fix the thing." + +Frank could never remember what he said or did during the next few +minutes, but it was the proudest and happiest time he had spent in his +life. Then he turned to Mr. Marston and Mr. Oliver, who were standing +near. + +"I'll have very little time to spare after this," he said, "and I should +like to spend a little of the salvage money going back to Boston to see +my mother and the others before I begin." + +"Of course!" ejaculated Mr. Marston. "A very proper thing! You needn't +wait until Mr. Barclay sends you his order. I'll arrange your ticket." + +He moved away, and shortly afterward the company dispersed. + +A week later Frank and Harry and Jake sailed out in the sloop to +intercept the south-bound steamer. She came up, with side-wheels +churning a broad track of foam and her smoke trail streaming astern. +When her engines stopped, Frank and Harry dropped into the canoe and in +a few minutes they were alongside. Frank swung himself up on board and +then looked back at the canoe. + +"Have a good time!" cried Harry. "The best you can! You'll have to work +when you come back!" + +"You'll see me in six weeks," Frank answered with a wave of his hand; +and the canoe dropped astern as the engines started and the steamer +forged ahead. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected. + +In Chapter II, "the trail the followed" was changed to "the trail they +followed". + +In Chapter IX, "he an Jake set off" was changed to "he and Jake set +off". + +In Chapter X, a missing period was added after "against the beams". + +In Chapter XI, a missing period was added after "his little cloth cap". + +In Chapter XVII, "a lump of iron with a rope mast fast to it" was +changed to "a lump of iron with a rope made fast to it". + +In Chapter XIX, "I don't thing it would be wise" was changed to "I don't +think it would be wise". + +In Chapter XXIII, "the nearest office I coul have reached" was changed +to "the nearest office I could have reached". + +The word "postoffice" is spelled in the text both with and without a +hyphen. Each instance has been left as it appeared in the original text. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY RANCHERS OF PUGET SOUND *** + +***** This file should be named 38087.txt or 38087.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/0/8/38087/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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