Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
produced from images made available by the HathiTrust
Digital Library.)
[Illustration: The guard let them out, and warned them that any attempt
at flight would be followed immediately by a shot.]
THE RANGER BOYS OUTWIT THE TIMBER THIEVES
By CLAUDE A. LABELLE
Author of
"The Ranger Boys to the Rescue,"
"The Ranger Boys Find the Hermit,"
"The Ranger Boys and the Border Smugglers,"
"The Ranger Boys and Their Reward."
[Illustration]
A. L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers New York
THE RANGER BOYS SERIES
A Series of Stories for Boys 12 to 16 Years of Age
By CLAUDE A. LABELLE
The Ranger Boys to the Rescue
The Ranger Boys Find the Hermit
The Ranger Boys and the Border Smugglers
The Ranger Boys Outwit the Timber Thieves
The Ranger Boys and Their Reward
Copyright, 1922
By A. L. BURT COMPANY
Made in "U. S. A."
THE RANGER BOYS OUTWIT THE TIMBER THIEVES.
CHAPTER I
THE START OF NEW ADVENTURES
"Bangor, Bangor, all change for Portland, Boston and way stations,"
shouted the trainman.
"Here we are, boys," shouted Garry Boone. "Wake up, Dick, let's get our
packs and rifles. We will be in the station in a few seconds now. My,
but I'll be glad to see Dad again. And he promises us some real action,
too. I wonder what trouble he is in. You remember he hinted at something
of the sort in the letter that he wrote us at Hobart."
"Well, we'll know in a few minutes now, for your father will be waiting
for us at the Bangor House. Don't fret over what he wants, Garry, just
be glad that we have a chance to get into action of some kind. These
past few weeks have gotten me so that I am not happy if we don't have a
few scrapes to get in and out of," remarked the second of the trio of
boys.
Dick Wallace, a plump, heavyset chap, yawned and rubbed the sleep from
his eyes, and then got up and stretched his cramped limbs. He had been
napping for more than an hour.
At that moment the train drew into the station with a screeching of
brakes, and the boys, having dug out their knapsacks and rifles from
between the seats where they had stowed them, soon were off the train
and walking briskly toward the Bangor House.
"Why not take a car, there ought to be one along in a minute or two,"
half grumbled Dick. It must be explained that Dick, because of his
weight, took the easiest method of doing anything whenever possible.
This does not mean that he ever shirked his duty, or that he was
incapable of walking whenever he had to. As a matter of fact, he had
made long hikes in the woods without ever batting an eyelash, but he
believed in doing such things only when they were necessary.
"Trust Dick to want a street car and something to eat the minute he gets
to a city," laughed Garry.
"Yes, I bet he is starving right now," jibed Phil Durant. "All he has
had to eat since lunchtime is an apple, three bananas, and I don't know
how many bags of peanuts. If the train boy hadn't made a sale all the
afternoon except to Dick he would have made a day's pay anyway."
"That reminds me that it is almost supper time now," said Dick. He had
heard his chums rag him so many times about his appetite, that their
remarks rolled off him as does water off a duck's back. "I move we
postpone hearing what Dad Boone has to tell us until after we have
eaten. Then he can tell us what he wants, and after that perhaps we can
all go to a movie show."
There was no car in sight, so they continued their walk, and soon were
at the doors of the Bangor House, a large, well-appointed hotel. The
boys cut a strange figure as they walked through the lobby, for they
were clad in broad brimmed Stetson army hats, khaki coats cut like
hunters' jackets, with big roomy pockets, and khaki trousers stuffed
into the tops of shoepacks, which are nothing more than heavy moccasins
with an extra leather sole.
Each boy carried a knapsack on his back, and attached to this was a
lariat. In addition, a stout forest hatchet was thrust through the belt
that girdled them, and each boy carried a rifle.
Many curious looks were cast in their direction as they walked to the
desk where Garry asked if Mr. Boone was registered there.
In a few moments the clerk had telephoned up to Garry's father and
immediately was told to send the boys up. Following in the wake of the
bell boy they ascended to the room, where Mr. Boone was waiting.
He greeted the boys heartily and commented on their healthy appearance,
for the sun and open air had made them as tanned as any woodsman.
Greetings over, Mr. Boone remarked:
"Before I tell you boys why I have sent for you, I suggest that we get
our dinner and then come back to the room."
"Welcome words!" uttered Dick enthusiastically.
"I thought that would about hit the spot with you, Dick," laughed Mr.
Boone.
"Yes," said Garry, "he is starving to death; he hasn't had anything to
eat for nearly an hour and a half."
Leading the way, Mr. Boone headed the boys toward the dining room, while
they unanimously ordered a fine steak, and soon were busily eating.
As they eat, let us look them over and get acquainted with them. Those
of our readers who have read the three volumes preceding this one, "The
Ranger Boys to the Rescue," "The Ranger Boys Find the Hermit," and "The
Ranger Boys and the Border Smugglers," already know our heroes. Others
must be introduced.
The leader of the trio is Garfield Boone. He is generally known as
Garry. The stout boy with the long distance appetite is Dick Wallace,
close friend of Garry, and ward of Mr. Boone. The third is Phil Durant,
a boy of French Canadian parentage. The three boys live in a small Maine
town, only a few miles from Portland, the principal city of the Pine
Tree State, as our northernmost commonwealth is known.
They have just completed their junior year in high school, and it has
been decided that Garry and Dick shall go to a military school the
coming fall, while Phil will have to remain and finish at the high
school.
Hence they wanted to spend their last vacation together, and had picked
on the idea of taking a camping trip to the woods. Mr. Boone, father of
Garry, who owned extensive lumber tracts in the Maine woods and was
connected with some of the big paper mills of the state, came to bat
with an idea that pleased the boys immensely.
It was to this effect. That instead of going on a mere camping trip
which might prove to be tiresome before it was concluded, that the boys
become attached to the Forest Ranger Service as an extraordinary Unit of
this woodcraft outfit.
Their duties would be the same as those of the older Rangers; that is,
to guard the forests from the fire peril that constantly menaced the
timber lands of the state. In this service there were two branches, the
men who act as lookouts, having an unchanged station, and the patrol men
who travel over a certain set course watching that fire does not start
and keeping careless campers from starting fires in dangerous spots.
In a few days the boys had outfitted themselves and were on their way to
their first station on the Sourdehunq Mountain, a tract of timberland
owned by Mr. Boone. They had no thought of any adventure other than that
which might be caused by the discovery of a fire, but on their second
night on the trail they find the guide they had hired, one Jean LeBlanc,
a French Canadian halfbreed, trying to steal their supplies.
They drive him away, and later find the halfbreed is inimical to them
because of a fancied grievance he has against the elder Boone. They also
make a staunch friend in the person of Nate Webster, an old Maine guide.
Later Webster replaces the Deputy Ranger, Anderson by name, who has
proved incompetent, and Anderson joins forces with LeBlanc and becomes
an enemy of the Ranger Boys, and nearly succeeds in doing them great
harm.
Another friend is made in the person of an old hermit, who on several
occasions warns the boys of impending peril by sending them cryptic
notes.
On one occasion Jean LeBlanc kidnaps the little daughter of a family by
the name of Graham, who are camping in the woods. With the aid of a note
from the hermit, the boys are able to rescue her and capture LeBlanc.
The latter, however, escapes and makes much trouble for the boys,
finally setting fire to the woods.
He and Anderson escape by climbing a sheer cliff. Still later the boys
are asked by the Customs Secret Service to get evidence of a gang of
smugglers on the Canadian border. This they do and the gang is seized,
all except LeBlanc who dodges back across the boundary and is hence safe
from arrest since he is on Canadian territory and not amenable to the
United States law.
During a rainy season, they seek out the hermit and find him; that is,
Dick finds him. One of their greatest adventures during the search for
the gang of border smugglers is the finding, with the aid of an old map,
of a tourmaline mine. The boys get a deed to the mineral rights of the
land, and plan at a later date to mine the gems and make a handsome
income for themselves.
It must also be explained that there is a mystery connected with Dick.
His father was a college professor of geology and botany, and a
classmate of Mr. Boone. He had a fall from a horse that destroyed his
memory, and before an operation could be performed, disappeared. Dick's
mother had died when he was a baby, and so being without parents or
home, Mr. Boone had become his guardian, bringing him up with his own
son, Garry.
Now that we have a brief sketch of the boys and their previous
activities, let us see what Mr. Boone's need of them is.
"Here is the whole story, boys," said Mr. Boone as they finished their
dinner and returned to his room. "As you know, I have extensive
interests not only in the timberland but in the mills that manufacture
paper. Recently I severed connections with several of the mills, and put
all my eggs in one basket, so to speak, by investing my funds all in one
mill. Of course it is impossible to do business on a big scale without
making many business enemies, or at least determined rivals. I have a
good many such, and I have been given to understand that several of them
have pooled their resources and become connected with the mills from
which I withdrew my money.
"Of course I have not enough work in my one mill to take care of all the
timber that I can cut, so I contract to supply other mills, necessarily
becoming a rival of some of the other timber owners.
"Then, too, I have recently decided to start an experiment in summer
lumbering. You know, of course, that Maine's lumber cutting season has
always been in the winter because the logs could be cut and hauled over
the snow to the rivers and then when the spring unleashed the ice-bound
rivers, the logs could be driven down to the mills. However, I am
figuring on getting out lumber for building during the summer and in the
winter getting the logs for the pulp mills to grind ready for the making
of paper. I have several important contracts with a time limit; that is,
the necessary amount of lumber must be gotten out by a certain date else
I forfeit my profit and large damages besides.
"Lately I have seen from my reports that the lumber is not being gotten
out on schedule time. Whenever I come and look it over, or send a
representative, everything goes like clockwork, but the moment that I
turn my back a saw breaks, making a week's delay, or a tractor is
broken, or something else happens. Unfortunately my financial affairs at
the present time are in such shape that I must devote the greater part
of my time to keeping the wheels going. This necessitates my being much
of the time in Boston and New York, hence I cannot be at the cutting
operations all the time.
"I have changed managers, but still no good comes of it. Now I am
confident that the morale of my camp is being undermined by some
business rivals, and that there is underground work of some sort going
on. Since your success in getting that gang of smugglers, the complete
story of which I have already heard, I believe that you boys can find
out what is going on at the camp to hinder my contracts.
"I have thought that you boys might go to the vicinity of the cutting
and sawmills and camp there. You would have the freedom of the camp, as
I would write the manager who you were, and then you could use your eyes
and ears and see what was what.
"I should suggest that you display a great deal of ignorance about
lumbering operations and sawmill work, so that your presence would not
excite undue suspicion. Further than that I can give you no
instructions, for if I knew what the matter was I would not have to call
on you for assistance. I am simply relying on you to be able to do as
good a job for me as you have done for the Ranger Service and the
Customs Department. In other words, you will have to work out your own
salvation, and I am sure that you can produce for me the results that I
want."
Mr. Boone concluded his long explanation and then leaned back, letting
the matter sink in. Then he asked, "Well, boys, what do you think of the
proposition? Are you willing to undertake it? Not that there will be any
danger attached, but do you feel yourselves confident of making a
success of the venture?"
The eyes of the three boys sparkled. They discounted Mr. Boone's belief
that there would be no danger attached, for they felt that the
proposition offered a chance for much excitement, and this was what they
wanted. Thrilling adventures were for them the spice of life after what
they had experienced that summer. Garry answered for the others. "Will
we do it? You bet we will, and we'll succeed!"