Part 19 (1/2)

The camp was soon looking quite cozy again, when the tents had been placed and everything made snug.

”I'm going to like this place almost as well as the one under the cascade,” remarked Will, who had been rather skeptical all along.

So the first evening came along, and supper was the same hearty, enjoyable meal they had always found it. The camp appet.i.tes worked overtime, the coffee tasted splendid, the elk steaks were just what each one had been hungering for, and as the cook supplemented these with a heaping platter of flapjacks the contentment of the four chums seemed complete.

”How long do we stay here, Mr. Mabie?” asked Bluff, never hesitating when in search of information.

”Possibly a week or so. Then back to the ranch, and a new line of experiences. This terribly dry weather is making me anxious, for the range is drying up, and we shall be hard set to find pasture for the cattle soon, unless rain comes along.”

”Do you have such a dry spell in summer often up here?” asked Frank.

”Never saw the equal of this since I settled in the valley, many years ago. Now, down in Ohio, where I originally came from, they have drouths even in May, at times, and I've seen things go to the dogs more than once, gardens dried up, and even a forest fire in July, but never up here,” replied the stockman.

”The woods look as though it wouldn't take a great deal to set them going,” declared Frank. ”One of the men threw a match down to-day, after lighting his cigarette, and it seemed like magic the way the fire flashed up. He had to be quick to jump on it before the breeze carried it along.”

Mr. Mabie frowned.

”I won't ask you which man it was, Frank; but I must warn them again to be more than ordinarily careful about throwing matches around and leaving a fire burning anywhere in the woods. Many a grand forest has been ruined by such carelessness,” he said.

”How does that happen, sir?” inquired Bluff.

”It is easy. The careless hunter or trapper leaves his dying fire when he breaks camp. Then up comes a sudden wind and some of the red cinders are blown into the dead leaves or punk gra.s.s. Fanned by the breeze, they become a roaring flame in a minute, and the mischief is done. Be careful, boys, please.”

”We certainly will, sir,” replied Frank sincerely. ”Not to speak of the damage done, it must be mighty unpleasant to be caught in a forest fire.

I've read of such things, but never hankered for a personal experience.”

On the following day they started to look into the possibilities for big game around the new camp.

”Reddy, here, says he knows of a bear den that we ought to visit some time later. While at it, you boys must see all there is going in the way of sport, for you may never come out this way again, though I hope that will not be the case. To-day, however, we will take things a bit easy,”

remarked the ranchman.

Although the stockman did not speak any plainer, Frank knew just what he meant.

”He thinks we must be feeling the effects of our little excitement yesterday, Jerry, and that the soreness in our muscles will take our ambition away for to-day,” he said aside to his chum.

”Tell me about that, will you! To prove that we're tougher than Mr.

Mabie thinks, let's you and I engineer a little hunt of our own?”

proposed the other quickly.

Accordingly, they started out, going down the valley.

”The walk will do us good, anyhow,” declared Frank, ”even if we don't run across any big game.”

”I was asking Mr. Mabie about moose, and he said that occasionally one is seen in this region, though generally they hang out further east.

I've always wanted to get a moose, but was never able to be up in the woods where they are found, when the law was off. How about you, Frank?

Ever shoot at one?”