THE TRAIL OF THE PIRATES
"Tom's here!" shouted Grace. "All right, Tom. We will be out as soon as
we can find our way out of this roundhouse," she laughed, feeling for
the opening that, in the subdued light, looked like all the rest of the
tepee wall.
Tom was bronzed and happy, and after greeting the girls he inquired for
Henry and Hindenburg.
"The bear's out lookin' for his breakfast," answered the forest woman.
"And the bull pup is asleep. He keeps bankers' hours instead of
attending to his business," complained Emma.
After breakfast Tom told them of his work in the forest, adding that he
had observed evidences of the recent presence of timber-pirates.
"That is, I have found their blazes, secret cuttings on trees in remote
sections. This discovery I have marked on the map, and will inform the
authorities after I have finished 'cruising' the Pineries. This
afternoon I shall work north to look over some virgin forest ground
near here. Come along with me, won't you, Hippy?"
"Sure thing. We'll take Hindenburg for protection," agreed Hippy.
"Why not take the rest of the party?" suggested Grace.
"This is a business trip," replied Tom. "Of course you can go if you
wish, but it were better not, for we shall have to rough it in the real
sense of the word. Willy wants to go out with me, and may join us up
river sometime to-day."
"Where is the measly redskin, Cap'n?" demanded Joe.
"He has gone downstream. Willy has a camp a short distance below here.
That Indian is a real man."
"We have found him so," agreed Elfreda.
Joe Shafto grunted disdainfully.
Tom remained at the camp until after dinner, replenished his supplies,
including a stuffed duck which the forest woman prepared for him; then
he and Hippy set out on their ponies for up-river points.
"What is in the wind, Tom?" questioned Lieutenant Wingate after they got
under way. "I know you had some good reason other than merely desiring
my company, or you would not have asked me to go with you."
Tom laughed heartily.
"A little of both, Lieutenant. I hear that timber-pirates have been
making some cuttings above here, and I wish you to go along as a witness
to what I may find. That's all."
"No scraps in sight, eh?"
"Oh, no."
Hippy sighed.
"Tell me about it."
"Timber thieves seek the remote places and look for suitable plots that
can be cut off and floated downstream to the mills. There the logs are
thrown in with other logs, and branded on one end to correspond with
such logs as have been procured in a legitimate way. Should the pirates
be discovered, they frequently buy the plot, if they represent a big
concern, and nothing more is done so far as the authorities are
concerned."
"You don't mean to say that reputable lumber companies go in for
anything of that sort, do you?" wondered Hippy.
"I did not say 'reputable.' Of course not. All big concerns are not
necessarily reputable in the sense you mean, but there is many a man
to-day who holds his head high in the world, though the foundation of
his business was stolen timber."
Hippy uttered a low whistle of amazement.
"Look there!" exclaimed Tom Gray late in the afternoon as they rode into
a "cutting" from which the timber had been removed. Several acres had
been cut off, and skidways built up for more extensive operations,
probably for that very season.
Upon consulting his map, the forester found, as he had expected, that
the timber was not charted as belonging to private individuals. Tom
pointed to a man-made dam in the river. It had been constructed of
spiles--small logs, driven in like posts, set so that they leaned
upstream. The water gates were open, and, upon examination, showed that
logs had been floated there, for the marks of the logs were visible on
the sides of the gates and on the tops of the spiles. Added to this, the
floor of the dam was covered with last season's logs, hundreds of them.
"Will you please tell me why a dam is necessary to lumbering?"
questioned Lieutenant Wingate.
"To provide a good head of water on which to float logs down to the
mills when the river is low. The logs are dumped into the dam until it
is full; the gates are then opened and the logs go booming down towards
the mills. To be fully equipped there should be a second dam above this
one to wash down such timber as fails to clear. We will go on further
and see what we find."
They found the second dam, constructed across the river at a narrow
spot. It had been quite recently built, as Tom Gray found upon examining
the spiles and comparing their age with those of the lower dam.
"This looks to me like a fine piece of timber," he announced with a
sweeping gesture that took in the great trees that surrounded them. "We
will cruise as far as we can before dark and go over the rest of the
section to-morrow."
"And you believe 'pirates' are trying to hog all they can of it, do
you?" questioned Hippy.
"There can be no doubt of it. We have evidence of that."
"Suppose some one should step in and buy the section--what then?"
"It would serve the robbers right," declared Tom Gray with emphasis.
"What is the section worth?"
"Too much money for us. Say fifty to seventy-five thousand dollars, or
even more if it is owned by private persons. If the state owns it, the
latter figure probably would be about what one would have to pay for the
timber rights."
"At the latter price how much could a fellow expect to clear on the
deal?" persisted Hippy.
Tom said it would depend upon whether one sold the logs delivered at the
mill, or worked them into lumber at his own mill. It was his opinion
that the holder should earn a profit of a hundred thousand dollars or
more, in the latter instance, provided he had proper shipping
facilities.
"Of course, here you have the river on which to float your logs down to
the mill, which should be located at or near the lakes," added Tom.
"Look it over carefully to-morrow. I am getting interested to know more
about the lumber business. One can't have too much knowledge, you know.
Now that we have sold our coal lands in Kentucky, you and I are
interested in high finance. Eh, Tom?"
"Thanks to you, Hippy, we are."
The coal lands to which Hippy referred were part of an estate that had
been willed to him by an admiring uncle while Lieutenant Wingate was a
member of the United States Army Air Forces in France. The Overland
Riders had made the Kentucky Mountains the scene of their summer's
outing the year before their present journey, and there experienced many
stirring adventures. Hippy, at first, decided to work the mines himself,
with Tom Gray as his partner, but that winter they received an offer for
the property and sold it outright for a large sum of money, which
Lieutenant Wingate insisted they should share equally.
The two friends, after sitting about their campfire until a late hour
that night discussing the subject that had taken strong hold of Hippy's
mind, lay down to sleep in the open.
Immediately after breakfast next morning Tom and Hippy started out to
make a thorough "cruise" of the pine trees in the section from which a
few acres of logs had been cut. They finished their work late in the
afternoon, but Tom did not venture a further opinion on what he had seen
until they were on their way to their camp, where they had decided to
remain another night.
"Well?" demanded Hippy finally. "Speak up! How about it, Tom?"
"Hippy, you have looked upon the finest plot of virgin timber to be
found anywhere outside the states of Oregon and Washington. I wish
someone would buy it and beat those pirates out. It is a burning shame
to let them get away with it."
"Where would one have to go to find out about it?"
"St. Paul, possibly. Why?"
"I was just wondering, that's all," answered Lieutenant Wingate
thoughtfully.
Hippy asked who owned the timber adjoining the section, but Tom did not
know that any individual owned it because the map showed that it was
still a part of the state forest reserve.
"You see these maps were issued some months ago, and many changes may
have taken place in that time, though they are really supposed to be up
to date."
"Is Willy likely to be up here to-day, Tom?"
"No. I asked him to keep within easy reach of the Overland camp at night
while we are away."
Willy, being a man of his word, guarded the Overland camp jealously for
two nights, but on the morning of the next day, just before daybreak, he
started to go upstream and look for the two absent men, his
understanding being that they were to be away but one night. He was
hiking along the river bank when Hippy, who had remained with the horses
while his companion went into the forest for a final brief survey before
starting for home, discovered the Indian who hailed him.
"How do?" greeted the Indian.
"Nothing wrong at camp, is there?" questioned the Overland Rider
anxiously.
"No. Me come see where Big Friends go."
"That is fine. You are just the man I wish to see. Who cut off this
timber, Willy?" indicating the cutting that he and Tom had first
discovered.
"Not know. Somebody steal um."
"That is what Captain Gray says. Perhaps it was cut by a new
owner--someone who has bought this plot, Willy."
The Indian, gazing on the stumps in the clearing with expressionless
eyes, shook his head slowly.
"This section belongs to the state, I think," ventured Hippy.
"No belong state."
"Who, then?"
"Belong Chief Iron-Toe. Him Chippewa chief--Big Chief."
Lieutenant Wingate became instantly alert.
"Are you positive of that, Willy?"
The Indian nodded.
"Do you know the gentleman with the iron toe?"
"Him my father."
Hippy was a little taken back by the answer, but his eagerness for more
information overcame what might have become embarrassment.
"Your father! Do you think he would sell the section?" he asked eagerly.
"No sell."
"But I wish to buy it, Willy."
"You buy?" questioned the Indian, regarding Lieutenant Wingate
thoughtfully.
"Yes."
"You Big Friend. Me fix."
"Do you mean it?"
"Me fix."
"Good. When?"
"Next sun-up. We go Chippewa Reservation."
"How far?"
"Two sun ride."
"Say nothing to anyone about this. I'll say whatever is necessary to my
friends. You wake me when you think best to start for the Chippewa
Reservation to-morrow morning and we will be off. Want a horse, Willy?"
"Me take pony."
It was settled, and on the way back to the camp of the Overlanders
during that afternoon Hippy confided his plan to Tom Gray, but Tom was
doubtful of its success. He said he already knew what Hippy had had in
mind, and that if he were able to buy the section for anything within
reason there would be a fortune in it.
"Will you go in on the deal with me?" asked Hippy.
"Yes, if you keep within my resources. Thanks to you for letting me in
on your coal land deal in Kentucky I have some funds that I can use.
That was like giving the money to me, and I have been ashamed of myself
ever since for letting you drag me into any such deal."
"Chop it, Tom. As Willy would say, 'You Big Friend.' Say nothing to any
of the folks, unless you wish to confide in Grace. I shall, of course,
tell Nora where I am going and why."
During the rest of the journey back to the Overland camp, the two men
discussed the plan of action that Hippy should follow--provided he got
the timber plot--the hiring of men and the purchase of equipment, and,
by the time they had reached the Overland camp, all details were
settled. Nothing was said to either Grace or Nora until that evening,
when the two Overland men confided their plans to their wives.
Next morning, before the camp was astir, the Indian had awakened
Lieutenant Wingate and the man and the Indian had ridden away in the
dark of the early morning.