The Ranger Boys Outwit the Timber Thieves

ter on the man's face. At the same time, Dick, showing a surprising amount of speed f

d when he had come to, Garry asked him if he

ead with a club, and I guess I just got groggy. I wonder if you b

oment and we will improvise someth

, just give me an arm to lean

hey came to a neat little cottage, set back a few yards from the

or. When she saw her husband, for so he proved to be, leaning on the arm

and I will tell you all about it," said the stranger

nted the rascals to escape, the trio accepted his invitation, and so

a nasty hole would like to know what the whole business

s," answered Garry sp

mployed on the cutting. One morning I found them 'spiking a tree,' and forthwith sent a report to the office with a demand that they be fired. For that reason they met me tonight and attempted to get satisfaction by giving me a sound beating. Pe

hink you would have wanted them put safely under lock a

e had them arrested and given a good long sente

didn't want to bring any more on him by having his son arrested, bad as he is, and as richly as he deserves to be jailed. The other one was a stranger to these parts, half breed Canadian by the name of LeB

he name LeBlanc that they jumped to their feet si

does that surprise you so?" qu

" demanded Garry without

l he is listed

d describing him for us, please. This is a peculiar situation, and we will tell

as Pingree. He has black hair and mustache, and a jagged scar on one side of

ack with a s

ough the rest of the description fits him well enough to make him a brother to Jean L

e wrestling in front of the bunkhouse and boasting about their exploits, when this Baptiste came up and succeeded in throwing several of the men with a rather vicious hold. After he had thrown several of them he started boasti

art by telling you our names. These are my chums, Phil Durant and Dick Wa

mmer logging is going on are you? Most people of that name in this state are somewhat r

to be his son,"

ur vacation time probably you are camping and travelling around a bit," and Howells glanced at the knapsacks and

which was also seen by Phil, and which the boys interpreted as a desire on

we would like to see how the experiment in sum

which, as you know, means travelling through the cutting, marking the trees that are fit to be cut. 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

don't know a great deal about timber cutting. About the only time I have ever been at the camps was at the spring drive, just to see the fight for the ri

, the cutter measures up two feet from the ground to start his cut. Of course he does not measure it exactly, but long experience has taught him to estimate almost within an inch where to start. You know some trees are cut by axe; those are the smaller ones, but the bigger ones are sawed nearly all the way through, and then the axemen cut through j

but what difference does that make, since it is going to be c

it out for yourselves. What happens when the saw strikes three or four he

ished one purpose of their mission to the woods. They had discovered one of the reasons for the

rty 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. And when you are cutting timber on a time contract with a penalty for every day's delay overtime that you take, a half an hour or so lost through trouble with your sawmill means a b

ere are scores of petty accidents occurring every week that all mean delay. Sometimes when the delays are totalled up they equal nearly half a day, and in one summer that means a long delay, a matter perhaps of two weeks. That two weeks is sufficient to

est as he seemed, would be an invaluable aid in discovering what the trouble at the camp was. His knowledge of timbering was extensive, Garry could see that with half a

. Reaching down to one of the shelves in the library tab

many years ago," and turning to one of the pages she showed Garry a picture that he recognized immediately. It showed his father with a sweet faced woma

ture at home a long time ago, and he decided that the

have never seen you before,"

et actual experience in the woods, which was why I asked for and received the position of timber sealer. I like to stand in my own shoes, and so I said nothing about my relationship to the manager at the camp. Then, too, I need money,

e had been sizing up young Howells while he was talking. So he made up hi

isit the camp for a while and find out what is wrong, and report to him so that he could remedy the trouble. But after hearing your story of the attempted spiking, I am beginning to think that the job is almost too much for us to handle. That would have been something I would never have dreamed of, and if the enemies in the camp, for enemies

rust forward his hand. "You can

, and that is to make sure that Baptiste LeBlanc is not in these parts any more,