CHAPTER XV.--TOLD BY THE FOREST RANGER.
The rangers, almost exhausted, were fighting the fire desperately,hoping against hope, when the cyclone--it amounted at times almost tothat--struck the forest. Then they knew that the fight was lost for thetime being.
It was now a question of escaping from the flames they had been battlingwith. The chief foresters knew very well that there was a way to safety,but they had under their command many rangers who had joined the servicemerely for the adventures they anticipated meeting, and these, theyunderstood, would be hard to manage.
When the order came to drop everything and fall back some of the new menaccused those in authority of cowardice and kept on in the course mappedout for them under entirely different conditions. Two of them eveninsisted on starting back to the rough shanty and preparing dinner. Theylost their way in the blazing inferno, and their bones were found twoweeks later, at the foot of a tree which had been burned into a stub,but which had not fallen.
When the danger became apparent to Green who was in charge of thecompany found by Nestor, he ordered his men into a "burn" of half adozen acres in extent. By "burn" is meant a patch of forest which hasbeen cleared by fire the previous year. This "burn" was entirelystripped of trees. The fire had done its work well, but had been checkedbefore spreading.
The men could hear trees falling as they dashed along. The fire wasscreaming, the wind whistling and roaring. Coals of fire, driven likearrows by the wind, hit the men in the back as they rushed towardsafety. At last the "burn" was gained, and the men threw themselves facedown on the ground. At the eastern edge there were large logs which hadnot been entirely consumed, and some of the men lay down behind them.
The air was so hot that it cut the lungs like acid. Above, across theold "burn," streamed a river of flame, now racing like a mountaintorrent, now dropping sullenly back to the west, like a fiery ceilingwhich had been rolled away. On such occasions the fainting forestersbelow could catch a breath of fresh air and a hazy view of the sky.
Some of the men, half crazed by their sufferings, arose to their feetand shook clenched hands at the blazing forests, at the brassy sky, andthe green hills away to the east. Green crept from one to another andwhispered that the only hope of life lay in keeping on the ground.
Once when he was creeping toward a man who was moaning in anguish anddespair he turned his eyes upward to the sky, clear for an instant, forthe wind was wayward after a time, and saw a speck sweeping out of thewest, dropping lower and lower, whirling in the wind, racing like anexpress train.
"Dan," he whispered to the man he was trying to comfort, "get a brace!There's no use of giving up now. Why, man, the fight is won, and Nestoris coming back with water!"
"Impossible!" grunted the other. "Impossible--in this wind!"
"Then look," Green said.
A sheet of flame swept over the "burn," lay upon it for an instant likea red-hot roof, and then warped and twisted itself away.
"I see," Dan said, looking into the sky again, "but he can't land.Impossible--in this storm!"
"Wait and see!" Green said, and sank back to the earth.
The aeroplane circled, high up, like a bird seeking its prey in theburning forest. The wind was tolerably steady at that height, but Nedknew that when he came into the lower current he would meet conditionswhich he could not understand.
"There's a place to drop!" Frank shouted to him, pointing ahead to the"burn," which seemed only a few yards away.
The aeroplane had missed the tree which had threatened it by an inch,and had turned upward again, for there were other trees in the way of adescent there. The "burn" was the first free spot that had beenobserved, and, besides, it lay inside the line Ned had figured asleading to the foresters.
"Hang on!" Ned cried.
The aeroplane plunged down, almost vertically, and Frank felt as if hewas standing on his head.
"Don't jump when it strikes the ground," Ned commanded.
Watched by a score of anxious eyes--for the foresters under Green hadall been told of the coming relief--the aeroplane shot down, struck theground at the center of the "burn," rolled swiftly for a few yards, andstopped. At that moment the space above filled with flame.
Both boys threw themselves on the ground and waited. When the fiercegust was over the men gathered about them eagerly.
"Did you make it?" asked Green.
"Yes," Ned replied. "Get the bags out and distribute the water. Don'tlet the men waste it."
"I'll see to that," cried Green.
Without the water, without the cooling sips, without the wet cloths heldover nose and mouth, without the saturated sponges laid on scorchedheads, the men would have died there in the forest. Presently, when theconsumption of the timber to the west reduced the heat, when the windquieted down in a measure, they were ready for another fight with theflames, and it was owing largely to their exertions that the fire wasextinguished before millions of acres had been burned over.
"It is a dream!" Green exclaimed, that afternoon, as he stood by Ned andthe aeroplane. "I don't believe yet that you did it."
"I don't see how I did," laughed Ned. "Anyhow, I'm sure I couldn't do itagain. I guess Providence took the matter into his own hands. Honestly,I do not believe any human strength or skill could do what was done withthe aeroplane to-day. It was a miracle."
"I know of a nervy boy who had something to do with the miracle," saidGreen.
Ned was naturally anxious regarding Pat, Jack and Jimmie, but believedthey would show up in good form whenever he got back to the vicinity ofthe place where they had been left. When the boys were in camp with therangers that night, Ned asked Frank about Pat's idea of safety afterrefusing to go up in the aeroplane.
"He said he would stay about the valley," Frank replied. "There isplenty of provisions there, you know, and Pat is quite long on theeats," he added, with a laugh.
"And Jack and Jimmie will be sure to hang about the neighborhood of thecaves," Ned said. "The Chinese boy, Liu, will be able to care for them.If there is enough gasoline in the tanks, I may go back to the valleyto-night."
"You'd better get some sleep to-night," Frank advised. "I don't know howlong it has been since you settled down for a night of it. If you keepyour brain working right you've got to sleep."
"I really ought to go to San Francisco," was the astonishing reply tothis advice. "I have work to do there."
"What work?" demanded Frank.
"You see," Ned answered, "we have done nothing yet, except discover acrime with which we are supposed to have nothing to do. We have broughta little water for the fire-fighters, but we came here for a certainpurpose, and we have not made good as yet. Perhaps, when I get toFrisco, I can hunch my wits, as the baseball fans say, and report goodprogress."
"I don't understand what you mean," Frank said.
"I am not sufficiently sure of my ground to attempt an explanation now,"Ned replied.
"Of course," Frank said, thoughtfully, "there's the murder case you wentto Frisco about before. You might look that up again, but I can't seewhere that has any bearing on this forest fire business."
"You may be surprised," Ned said, "when the end comes. Somehow, I havean idea that the two crimes dovetail into each other."
"Nothing stirring!" laughed Frank. "They don't seem to me to match.Still, you may have information I do not possess."
An hour later, after the not very elaborate supper had been eaten, Greencame to the little tent which had been set aside for Ned and Frank. Hehad not wholly escaped the dangers of the day unscathed. There wereburns on his hands and face, and one of his feet was bandaged.
"Shoe burned through," he said, shortly. "I shall have to walk with acrutch for several days."
"You won't like that," Ned suggested.
"No, indeed," was the reply, "especially as I would like to be movingabout in order to see what has happened to the other boys."
"Have you heard from any of the other groups?" asked Ned.
"Ho
ward came in from the north," was the reply. "Three men killed upthere. The fire caught them unawares. One of my men has gone south, butit will be some hours before I hear from him."
"I am afraid there were several lives lost," Ned said. "In the morningI'll fly about and see what I can learn."
"What I came here to talk about," Green said, after a pause, "is this. Iwant to know what you think of the Chinks?"
"The Chinese fire-fighters?" asked Ned.
Green laughed quietly for a moment before replying. Then:
"They told you that, did they?"
Ned nodded. He wanted to jump into the subject without waiting for Greento have his say, for he was greatly interested, but prudence told him tolisten to the forester first.
"Yes," he said. "They told me that."
"Also that they were foresters--the men who told the story about theChinks, I mean?"
"Yes, one of them claimed to be in charge of this district."
"Well, you know better than that now, so there is no use in talkingabout that. You saw some of the Chinks?"
"Certainly. I even had the honor of visiting their residence."
Frank laughed, wondering what sort of a story Ned would have to tell himwhen they were alone again.
"It is a wonder you ever got out again," Green said.
"I left under the excitement of the fire," Ned said. "It was easyenough."
"Do you know where the Chinks have gone?" asked Green.
"I think I do," was the reply.
"To San Francisco?"
"Yes, some of them. Others to Portland, I think."
"Smuggled in?"
"Of course, though it seems odd that they should want to cross theborder so far away from civilization. It must be expensive getting themin over such a route."
"The men at the bottom of the game are watched," Green said. "Watched soclosely that they are obliged to keep out of the actual work and dotheir business through unsuspected channels. After this place has beenraided they will try some other point."
"You know what has been going on then?" asked Ned, surprised that thematter, as understood by the forester, had not been reported to him bythe Secret Service man in San Francisco.
"Yes," was the reply.
"And you have reported to your superior officers?"
Green nodded, and Ned began to feel provoked at the strange attitudetaken by the government in the matter. Surely he should have been postedas to conditions in the district before being sent on.
"Why wasn't I informed of this new element in the case?" he asked.
"Well," Green replied, "the officials have an idea that the men who arerunning the Chinks and the opium in are the men who are responsible forthe forest fires. In fact, I have so reported to them for a long time."
"Go on," the puzzled boy requested.
"You see," Green continued, "I might go and pick up a couple of dozenChinks almost any month, and capture a lot of opium, and arrest a fewmen caught with the goods on, but, don't you see, that wouldn't end thegame?"
"I see that," Ned answered.
"There is a man at the head of this game who is working from behind thescenes somewhere," Green hastened to say. "I don't know who he is. Theofficials at San Francisco don't know who he is, or where he is. The bigguns at Washington know just about as much regarding the head center ofthe game as we do. Well, that is what you were sent here for--to getdown to cases, as I used to say on South Clark street, Chicago."
"It was thoughtful of them not to interrupt the game until I got here,"Ned said.
"Yes, I thought so," Green went on. "I thought that any man, or boy,coming here to get to the bottom of this thing would want us to leave afew ropes hanging out for him to climb down. You found 'em."
"Yes, I found them," Ned replied. "I found the counterfeit foresters andthe Chinks, as you call them, and I found something else."
"That is what we expected you would do," Green said, after a moment'shesitation. "We wanted you to begin without pointers, with a brain freeof all the unsuccessful schemes which have been worked. You see, I knowa great deal about it, my boy," he added with a laugh. "I knew, daysago, that you would be here. When I saw the aeroplane in the sky I knewwho was in charge of it."
"What is the next move?" asked the boy.
"That is for you to say," was the reply. "I am under orders to followany reasonable instructions from you. It is for you to suggestsomething."
"Well," Ned said, "that brings me to a point I was studying over whenyou came in. I was wondering if you would detail men to do certainthings for me."
"Sure I will. If Washington has confidence enough in you to put you incharge of the blindest case in history, why shouldn't I have equalconfidence in you? You bet I'll be there with the oxen when you give theword."
"I thank you," Ned replied. "What I want now is men enough to guard twopoints. One is a cave near Lake Kintla, and the other is the cavernwhere the Chinese have been hiding."
"How many men?" asked Green.
"Two to each place. If there is need of more, others should be ready toassist."
"I wish you all success," Green said, after the details of thesurveillance had been arranged. "We have located the tools, and now itis for you to let down to bed rock. The government wants the headpieceof this game, and believes that you can put your finger on him. Half adozen inspectors have failed, but I have faith in you, boy."
"Well," Ned replied, "I am glad of your confidence, and thankful for thehelp you promise, and will only say that the man behind the scenes willsoon be brought out. I think I know his 'cue'!" he added, with a laugh.
"Already?" asked Green.
"I am only expressing confidence in the clues I now hold," Ned said inreply. "It may be that the next clues I find will point the other way."
Green shook hands with the boys and went to his tent. It was a clearnight up above the mountain tops, but down where the boys were the smokeof consumed forests lay on the ground like the gray ghost of fallentrees. Off to the west the summit of the Rocky Mountains--or one of thesummits--lifted itself above the smudge, standing like a giant up to hisneck in gray dust.
"Over there," Frank said, "is Pat--hungry, if you want to know, andnearer are Jack and Jimmie. I wish we could hear from them."
"If the ground wasn't still red hot back there," Ned said, "Jimmie wouldbe sure to find us."
"By the way," Frank said, presently, "what did you mean when you toldGreen that you had a 'cue' which would bring out the man behind thescenes?"
"I meant that I have blundered on a clue which promises well," was thereply. "And now," he said, yawning, "I'm going to bed. Rather warm, butI think I'll sleep, all right."
In five minutes Ned was sound asleep and Frank was about to lie down byhis side when Green made his appearance. The forester noted the sleepingboy and laid a finger on his lips.
"Let him sleep," he said. "And come out here and see if you knowanything about the fellow that is tampering with the aeroplane."
"What is he doing to it?" whispered Frank.
"Acts like he was preparing to take a trip in it," was the reply.
The words were followed by the rattle of the motors.