Claude A. LaBelle

“ That is to prevent accidents which running in the dark might bring about,” said Garry.
“Hush, what’s that?” asked Phil. Both boys listened intently. Far off across the lake they heard a faint chugging noise. Sometimes it seemed to cease altogether, then as the breeze stirred they could hear it, getting fainter and fainter.
“Phil, I’ve discovered the secret of the stolen timber or I’m a Chinaman. That noise solves the whole proposition. That sound that we heard is the engine of a powerful motor boat. And Barrows insisted that there was no kind of water transportation on either lake. ”

“ Soon the boys espied Dick advancing to the platform, his chubby body enclosed in a glaring red bathing suit. He mounted to the tank, and the chums could see him gazing about trying to locate them, but this he failed to do.
The ringmaster made a short speech, telling a lot of stuff about Dick that made the chums grin.
“Guess one has to be a blood relation of Ananias to be a ringmaster,” laughed Garry. “The only diving Dick has ever done before the crowned heads of Europe was before they were crowned.” ”

“ This is the same in every logging camp, for a cook can pay up any grievances by cooking the food in an inferior fashion. Camp owners and managers always pay the greatest attention to the sort of man they pick for this position, for while in a lumber camp, there is never a widely varied menu, it must be well cooked and plentiful.
Nothing will drive the men away from a camp quicker than poor cooking.
The manager introduced the boys to the cook, who shook hands with them, offering a hairy hand which the chums privately thought resembled a ham. ”

“ Dick looked up at the hole and saw that it would do all right.
Most of the men were frankly incredulous. The thought of talking through a ’phone that had no wires was a riddle to them, as few or none of them knew anything about radio.
One of them suggested that instead of wasting time with such a “fool contrivance,” they try to tear away the boards from the roof and take a chance on overpowering the guards. This was discouraged by the others who, though they were by no means cowardly, knew it would be foolhardy to face guns with only their bare hands. ”

“ Don’t you ever think of anything but eating?” demanded Garry.
“Yes, sir; when I’m not thinking about time to eat, I’m thinking about what to eat,” responded Dick promptly.
“Say, Phil, he’s hopeless. What say we make for that outlet at the far end of the lake. We might just as well do that as anything, since we have no real plan of action. Then tomorrow we can make a complete tour of the lake, and thus get a comprehensive idea of the whole body of water.”
The canoe was launched, and the boys climbed in. Garry and Phil elected to paddle, leaving Dick to sit in the middle. ”

“ We can go all over the camp and keep our eyes open, getting all the information we can. When we ask questions we should ask them simply as though it were from idle curiosity. I figure that in a short time we ought to be able to tell who is acting suspiciously and then bend all our efforts to watch them and frustrate any mischief that they may be up to. We shall, of course, get a lot of help from Howells when he arrives, but even then I think we ought to do everything possible ourselves to find out what is the trouble at the camp. ”

“ But he knew the woods as few men do, except perhaps the Hermit, although there was no comparison between this giant of the woods, who could neither read nor write, and the old recluse, who was eternally surprising the boys with a quotation from some poet, or a snatch of Latin.
“Now, Phil,” said Garry, when they were left alone for awhile by the squatter, “let’s plan a war campaign. As soon as Dick gets here, we will let him have a good rest, and then hike for the camp. ”

“ Just as the moment comes for the tree to fall, the cry of “tim-ber-r-r-r” is raised by one of the axemen and this is the signal for all to be out of the way as the great tree falls with a crash that shakes the ground for many feet around. ”

“ He has black hair and mustache, and a jagged scar on one side of his neck, probably a knife wound from some lumber camp fight,” answered Howells.
Garry sank back with a sigh of relief.
“At any rate he is not the man we think he is. The scar and the age settle that, although the rest of the description fits him well enough to make him a brother to Jean LeBlanc, the one man we do want to run across in this neck of the woods,” replied Garry. ”

“ But they have been on their guard most of the time, and this camp is full of lumberjacks that worked for old man Boone. If they got wise to anything, they would have me strung up to a tree in no time, and one of the worst riots in the history of the lumber business would have been pulled off in this camp. No, sir, I am saving my skin.”
“Why not get rid of those who would help them?” inquired Jean.
“I am, just as fast as I can. Everything was all right till these boys showed up to play amateur detective. Now we must make a grand cleanup and work fast. Things are getting too hot.” ”

“ The others echoed the name of their Nemesis after Dick.
“What’s that, did you speak of LeBlanc?” inquired the hermit.
“That’s just what we did,” replied Garry grimly. “That man you described, unless we are very badly mistaken, was Baptiste, a brother of Jean. And if Jean is on the way, we must guard ourselves every minute. And we must make every moment count, for once he gets here he will make strenuous efforts to get us in trouble, if not on his own hook, then in cahoots with Barrows. Now let’s break for the small lake. Suppose you stay with us a few days, Hermit, and help us in our work.” ”

“ Garry explained that they were forest rangers off duty temporarily and were bound for a lumber camp to pay it a visit.
As they drove along they asked several questions about the circus and circus life, and considerably amused the man by referring to many things in a way that circus people did not. The circus man told them of the many strange phrases employed by circus people, and the boys learned much of the talk of the circus.
They found, for instance, that circus people never speak of the tent. It is always called a top. There are the big top and the little tops. ”

“ The tote road that had been made to transport the sawed lumber ran for a short distance along the lakeside. Here there was a slightly wider place made so that the tractors that met each other could pass with ease. The ground was here covered with broken branches and debris of all sorts, well tramped into the ground. Garry flashed his lamp about and searched for signs of any sort, but seemed to find none. Then he went to the lake edge and peered about.
Some peculiar formation of rock made a sort of a ledge that stood about three feet above the water. ”

“ Now as for your going out of the woods tomorrow and ’phoning your father, Garry, I would advise against it. Nothing very serious can happen in the next few days. Little work can be done until a new saw comes, and there will be little shipping of timber except that which has been waiting to be transported. In the meantime, if, as your father is led to believe, this whole matter is a move on the part of the big interests to crush him in the lumber business, the firing of the present manager and crew will have little effect. ”

“ Inquiry developed that it was the squatter’s child, and it was evident that the youngster was the one thing that the squatter king was really fond of. He told Garry and Phil that the mother had died a year before, when they had been driven off a timber tract by the lumbermen. Here the squatter launched into a tirade against the lumber owners.
The squatter idea is a peculiar one. They claim that the woods were made for man to take as he found them and could not understand the right of anyone to drive them out; yet they are responsible for great damage to the woods. ”

“ LeBlanc kept silence, and took his way back to the camp, while the weary march forward was resumed. Short rests were given at long intervals and the boys were thankful for the scant few minutes that were allowed.
The men walked with the long swinging lope of the true woodsman, and often the boys thought they would drop by the side of the road from weariness.
At noon a halt was called, and one of the men disappeared, to return after several minutes with a half dozen grouse. ”

“ Suppose that the mischief maker does not drive his spikes in the tree where the cut will be made, but climbs up twenty or thirty feet or so, and drives a dozen or two in different parts of the trunk of the tree. The tree trunk is cut safely and then it is drawn to the sawmill where it is sawed into planks. What happens when one of the big, expensive circular saws rips through a dozen spikes? It’s just goodbye to the saw and goodbye to a lot of money, and means a delay of several minutes until the saw can be replaced with another. ”

“ Phil, you watch the cookee closely and see if there are any more midnight appointments to be made. Dick, you look out for the sawmill, and see if there is any funny business being done with the saw. You know enough about machinery to be able to detect if it is working properly, and your common sense will tell you if there seems to be a slackening up of production. It stands to reason that the boss of the sawmill must be in on this scheme, for more delay can be caused here than anywhere else. It is unlikely that there are many men in on this plot. ”

“ Your father is very particular about his lumbering, and he doesn’t do as many of the other timber owners do, sweep clean through a tract of land, and make it worthless as timber land for years to come. His having certain trees marked for cutting means that every year there will be a growth suitable to cut and market and thus he is assured of a steady income from his tracts.”
“Perhaps if you are not too busy every day, you could show us something of the lumbering operations. Although as you say, I come from a ‘lumber family,’ I don’t know a great deal about timber cutting. ”

“ Why should anyone from the cutting have a place over here? It’s a signal for us to get out and get out quick. There’s one good thing, though, we can set the hermit to watching over here and leave ourselves free to go about other business. We’ll pace out the distances and draw a rough map and leave it in the tree postoffice so that the old fellow can come over here and keep watch,” said Garry.
Being careful to leave no traces of having been in the cabin, they hastened outside. They had hardly gone two feet, though, when Dick darted back. ”

“ The sharpness of his tone startled the old man into activity. The words of Garry that there was one way to save her galvanized him into action.
“It’s up there on the shelf back of you. Can ye save my baby? Hurry! Save her an’ there’s nothin’ on this earth I won’t do for ye!”
Garry had fortunately remembered that he had in his knapsack a package of cornstarch that they had brought to make thickening for gravy in case they did any cooking. Garry, and for that matter both of his chums, were pastmasters in the art of first aid to the injured. They knew that the antidote for iodine was cornstarch. ”

“ Howells concluded his long description of all the trouble one little handful of spikes could do, and then he looked rather searchingly at the boys. Finally he seemed to have decided in his own mind to say what he was thinking and he looked at Garry.
“I wonder if your father has any idea that someone is trying to hurt his business? I don’t believe for an instant that those two scoundrels were driving those spikes just to make mischief. There is something deeper than that behind the whole business. There are scores of petty accidents occurring every week that all mean delay. ”

“ That dog was more than human, and the best friend that a bunch of chums like us could ever hope to have,” replied Dick as he patted his friend on the shoulder. Phil said nothing, but the others could see by the tightening of the corners of his mouth,—the danger signal when Phil was really aroused over anything,—that he was with them to the end.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything that we can do. I’ve looked carefully over the ground for any signs of a struggle, but I can find nothing. There was some trickery of some kind to get Sandy away. ”

“ Throughout the day the bass can be caught from the bank if you boys are any hand at making a good long cast. I suppose as soon as the timber cutting is done, the tourists will begin to swarm here for summer camping, and then there will be plenty of boats and few fish. That’s generally the way.” The manager talked heartily as though relieved that the conversation had taken the turn that it had, and perhaps because of the information that the boys were going to get away from the camp. It was likely that he had expected some questioning because of the discharge of the scaler. ”