The Motor Rangers Through the Sierras

ot aboudt m

a suit, over which he had thrown a big khaki overcoat of military cut belonging to Nat. Below this his bare legs stuck out like the drum sticks of a new

inal resting place, "you're purty lucky ter hev a horse left at all. This yar Ding-dong Bell almost 'put

tense disgust. The stuttering lad strode majestically off to the auto,

appeared to be borne aloft like a blue canopy, by the steep walls of the canyon enclosing the petrified forest. The

eads projected from the auto and gazed sleepily about, "I tell

ession to the little spring at the fo

o the chilly, clear water. Joe Hartley was feeling good, and of course poor Ding-dong had to suffer. By the time the latter had recovered his feet and wiped some of th

-looking place by night, viewed by dayli

oking about him. "Each of these stone tre

Herr Muller, who had just risen and wa

f, vigorously slicing bacon, while Nat fixed the o

and a merry, laughing party gathere

that ever ate breakfast in a pe

agreed Cal, "it makes me f

headt is turned to bon

Joe, which promptly brought

particles of iron pyrites, or lime, taking th

I've seen a feller petrified

he stony stumps down," inquired J

"they get 'em through here once in a wh

ara, too," said Nat, "they'

th getting a t-t-t-t-tummy ache,

Herr Muller decided that he would ride his horse this morning and so the move was made, with that noble steed loping along behind the auto at the best pace his bony frame was capable of p

air and the joyous sensation of taking t

y start in the open air. I've done it a thousand time

p by sunrise to fighd idt a doodle. I felt goot but bresently I gedt p

g at the whimsical German's experie

ee! H

e! Hi

by der fine

ee!

e! Hi

along o

its foot in a gopher hole, and stumbled so violentl

bout a Chink," commented Cal, when Her

rr Muller, showing his usual

re benighted folks. Why, a C

alongside the auto and speaking in a puzzled t

ne if Hi Lee and Hi Lo ain't

at the wheel, looked up to see a strange figure coming toward them, making its way rapidly in and out among the column-like, petrified tr

er's legs projected till they touched the ground on each side like long piston rods and moved almost as rapidly

or is the burro moving him?" inquired

man's legs over the ground,

walk and let the burr

aged man with a long, white beard, and a brown, sunburned face, framed oddly by his snowy whiskers. He gla

ho

," sai

d the stranger,

," sai

yer

was the r

ain't much on the co

" retorted Cal. The boys expected to see the oth

everybody knew me. I'm Jeb Scantling, the sheep herd

e with the cattlem

he non-commit

hat way," enjoined Cal, "there's a bunch

alarmed rejoinder, "then I r

ack in the mountains so

l. So

working his legs in the same eccentric manne

disappeared and the party, which had watched his curious

ills 'cos they say the sheep eat off the feed so close thar ain't none left fer the cattle. And sometimes the sheepmen start fires to burn o

sheep?"

much as open their mouths to holler. I

herder, or did he own

had lots of trouble with cattlemen. No wonder he scuttled

d Nat, "I wanted to ask him some qu

ut of it now," said

r of the canyon like lonely monuments. Presently they left the last even of these behind them

tin' agin, is ther?" inquire

as it well can be no

out on this grade we'd go

, gazing back out of the tonneau

road, or rather trail, the powerful auto climbed steadily upward

ummits of miles of Sierra country. Here and there were forests of dense greenery, alternated with bare, scarred mountain sides dotted with bare trunks, among which disastrous forest fires had swept. It was a grand scene, impressive in its ma

untry for grizzlies o

d Joe, "are there man

of big bears, big deer, little matches, and big trees, and by

e lads had ever set eyes on. The loftiest towered fully two hundred feet above the ground, while a roadway cou

he trunks were a rich, reddish brown. The group of vegetable ma

d," said Cal gazing upward, "when Noah was building

d Herr Muller, "I take it a photogrift f

climb them?

here, hold Bismark-dot iss vot I call der

raph systems use to scale the smooth poles. These were heavier, and with longer and sharper steel points on them, however. Rapidly Herr M

t. The climbing irons and the facility they lent him in ascending the bare trunk delig

of his hand the figure of the little German grew smaller, and finally vanished

andy picture from wa

greed Na

the summit of the lofty tree there ha

Quvick or I