CHAPTER XXXI
FRANK BECOMES A RANCH OWNER
Three or four days had passed since the attack on the ranch when oneafternoon the boys stood on the deck of the sloop. Bright sunshinestreamed down on the cove and there was a brisk breeze. The boys hadgone down to hoist the mainsail so that it would dry, as it had beenrolled up damp when last used; and as Frank straightened himself afterstooping to coil up the gear he noticed that a man stood at the edge ofthe water with a small camera in his hand.
"Look, Harry!" he exclaimed softly, as his companion crawled from behindthe sail.
"Hello!" called Harry. "What do you want?"
"Keep still!" commanded the stranger sharply. Then he raised his hand."That's all right! Now you may move if you like."
"So may you!" Harry answered with a chuckle. "In fact, I guess youbetter had!"
There was an ominous growl somewhere above the man and then a savagebarking, as the dog--who had followed the boys to the cove and afterwardwandered away--came scrambling furiously down the steep path. The manseemed to watch its approach with anxiety, and when it came toward himgrowling he stooped and picked up a big stone.
"Hold on!" Harry shouted. "Put down that stone! He doesn't likestrangers, and you'd better not rile him."
The man did as he was bidden, but when it looked as if the dog woulddrive him into the water Frank dropped into the canoe. To hisastonishment, the stranger suddenly held the camera in front of him andbacked away a few paces, pointing it like a pistol at the growling dog,who seemed too surprised to follow. Then Frank ran the canoe ashore andtold the man to get in while he drove off the dog.
"He's young," explained Frank. "Somehow we haven't managed to tame him."
He headed for the sloop, and the man got on board.
"You seem stuck on taking photographs," Harry remarked.
"I make a little out of them now and then," the stranger answered with asmile. "You're Harry Oliver?"
"That's my name."
"Then your friend is Frank Whitney?"
"Yes," replied Harry. "But you haven't answered my question yet."
"I wanted to have a talk with your father; but I find that he's out."
"He won't be back until to-night; and, while we'd be glad to give yousupper, it really wouldn't be worth while to wait. He doesn't want anyfruit trees--the last we bought from outsiders had been dug up too long.He's full up with implements, and we're not open to buy anything."
The stranger laughed good-humoredly.
"Hadn't you better wait until you're asked? I'm not drumming up orders."Then he changed the subject. "You've had trouble here lately, haven'tyou? From what I gather, your father has done a smart and courageousthing in holding off that opium gang."
Harry thawed and fell into the trap. He was not addicted to saying muchabout his own exploits, but he was proud of his father, and the mandiscovered this from his hesitating answer. It was the latter's businessto draw people out, and sitting down in the shelter of the coaming hecleverly led the boy on to talk. Frank tried to warn his companion onceor twice, but failed, and soon the stranger drew him also into theconversation. Some time had slipped away when the man finally rose.
"I'm sorry I missed your father," he said, "but as I want to catch thesteamer that calls at the settlement to-night, I must be getting back."
Harry paddled him ashore, and when he returned with the dog Frankgrinned at him.
"That fellow hasn't told you his business yet, and I've a pretty strongsuspicion that he's a newspaper man."
Harry started and frowned.
"Then if he prints all that stuff I've told him it's a sure thing thatdad will be jumping mad. Didn't you know enough to call me off?"
"You wouldn't stop," Frank answered, laughing. "I kept on winking forthe first five minutes, and then somehow he gathered me in too. He'ssmart at his business."
"I guess we'd better not say anything about the thing," decided Harrythoughtfully. "Anyway, not until we know whether you are right."
They went ashore soon afterward; and a few days later Mr. Webster calledat the ranch.
"Have you Barclay's address?" he asked Mr. Oliver. "I want to writehim."
Mr. Oliver gave it to him, and Mr. Webster continued:
"They're getting up a supper at the settlement, and the stewards wouldlike to have you and the boys come. They're asking everybody betweenhere and Carthew."
"What do they want to get up a supper for?"
Mr. Webster hesitated.
"Well," he said, "among other things, the new man is opening his bigfruit ranch, and we've just heard that there's a steamboat wharf to bebuilt and a new wagon trail made. Things are looking up, and the boysfeel that they ought to have a celebration."
"All right," assented Mr. Oliver, "the boys and I will be on hand."
A few minutes later Mr. Webster started home, and then Frank opened aletter he had brought him. He was astonished when he read it.
"It's from Mr. Marston, who got me the position with the millingcompany--he's a relative of ours," he informed Mr. Oliver. "It appearsthat he is in Portland on business--shipping Walla wheat--and he saysthat he promised my mother he'd look me up if he had time. He may behere shortly."
"We'd be glad to see him," Mr. Oliver answered cordially. "It isn't avery long way to Portland."
Frank, however, had no further word from Mr. Marston; and in due timethe evening of the supper arrived. Mr. Oliver and the boys sailed up tothe settlement. Landing in the darkness, they found the little hotelblazing with light. The night was mild, and a hum of voices and burstsof laughter drifted out from the open windows of the wooden building. Onentering the veranda, they were greeted by the man who had kept thestore when Frank first visited the settlement.
"I'm glad to see that you're better," Mr. Oliver remarked.
"Thanks!" replied the other. "I've just got down from Seattle--thedoctors have patched me up. It's time I was back at business--thingshave been getting pretty mixed while I was away." Then he changed thesubject. "The boys would make me chairman of this affair, and they'rewaiting. You're only just on time."
"The wind fell light," said Mr. Oliver. "As there seems to be a goodmany of them, they needn't have waited for my party if we hadn't come."
"Oh," laughed the storekeeper, "they couldn't begin without--you."
Mr. Oliver looked slightly astonished; but there was another surprisein store for him and the boys when they entered the largest room in thebuilding. It was, for once, brilliantly lighted; and crossed firbranches hung on the rudely match-boarded wall, with the azure andsilver and crimson of the flag gleaming here and there among them. Frankcould understand the attempt to decorate the place, because, as a matterof fact, it needed it; but he did not see why the double row of menstanding about the long table should break out into an applauding murmuras Mr. Oliver walked in. Most of them had lean, brown faces andtoil-hardened hands, and were dressed in duck with a cloth jacket overit and with boots that reached to the knees, but there were two or threein white shirts and neat cloth suits.
"Boys," said the storekeeper, "our guest has now arrived. Though hetells me the wind fell light, he's here on time, which is what we'vealways found him to be in all his doings." He waved Mr. Oliver to thehead of the table. "That's your place. It's my duty to welcome you onbehalf of the assembled company."
There was an outbreak of applause, and Mr. Oliver looked around with asmile.
"Thank you, boys," he beamed; "but I don't quite understand. I just camehere to talk to you and get my supper."
Amid the laughter that followed there were many voices answering him.
"You'll get it, sure! To-night we'll do the talking--Sproat's beenpracticing speeches on the innocent trees all day, and Bentley's most asgood as a gramophone. We're mighty glad to have you! Sit right down!"
The storekeeper raised his hand for silence.
"You're our guest, Mr. Oliver, and that's all there is to it." He turnedto the others and lowered his voice confide
ntially. "I guess Websterdidn't explain the thing to him. Our friend's backward on someoccasions--he doesn't like a fuss--and it's quite likely that if he'dknown what to expect he wouldn't have come."
There was another burst of laughter; and when Mr. Oliver had taken hisplace, with the boys seated near him, Frank noticed for the first timethat Mr. Barclay occupied a chair close by. Then he also saw that Mr.Marston, who had written to him, sat almost opposite across the table.
"I got here this afternoon and was trying to hire a horse when I heardthat you were expected at this feast," the latter said. "Your peoplewere in first-rate health when I left them."
It was difficult to carry on a conversation across the table, and Frankturned his attention to the meal, which was the best he had sat down tosince he reached the bush. By and by the storekeeper stood up.
"Now," he said, "as most of you have laid in a solid foundation, we cantalk over the dessert; and I want to remind you that we have severalreasons for celebrating this occasion. A start at growing fruit on a bigscale has just been made; we're to have a wharf; and there's a wagontrail to be bridged and graded. All this brings you nearer the market.You have held on and put up a good fight with rocks and trees, and nowwhen you'll have no trouble in turning your produce into money you'regoing to reap the reward of it. But that's not our main businessto-night."
There was an encouraging murmur, and he went on:
"We had a few bad men round this settlement--toughs, who had no use forwork. Folks of their kind are like the fever--they're infectious--andit's a kind of curious thing that for a while the bad man generallycomes out on top. His trouble is that he can't stay there, for somethingbig and heavy is surely going to fall on him sooner or later. Still,those men had a big combine at the back of them and they got hold.They'd have kept it longer, only that one man had a bigger head thanmost of us. He'll tell you that the one straight way to get money is towork for it, and that the folks who begin by robbing the Government endby robbing everybody else. He found the combine up against him, butwhile some of us backed down he stood fast. He wouldn't be fooled orbullied, and, though he didn't go round saying so, when the time camethat big and well-handled combine went down. Now it's my pleasant dutyto offer your thanks to Mr. Oliver for freeing you from what would havebeen the ugliest kind of tyranny."
He sat down amid applause, and another man got up.
"I'm glad to second that," he announced. "We were easy with the opiumgang when they began. It was pleasant to get a roll of bills now andthen for just leaving a team handy and saying nothing if we found a casein the stable; but we didn't see where that led." He stopped and turnedto Mr. Barclay, who was smiling at him. "What'd you say, sir?"
"It struck me that you were forgetting what my profession is," Mr.Barclay answered dryly. "You're not compelled to give yourself and yourfriends away."
This remark was followed by laughter; then the speaker proceeded:
"Anyhow, the dope boys began to change their tone. At first, they paidand asked favors; but when they got folks so they couldn't go back onthem they ordered, and seldom paid at all. It was getting what my friendcalls tyranny, and the small man had to stand in and ask the gang forleave to live. We'd have been in a mighty tight place now if one rancherhadn't boldly stood out. That's why we're offering our best thanks toMr. Oliver, who got up and fought the gang."
There was a shout that set the shingles rattling overhead, and when itdied away Mr. Oliver, who looked embarrassed, said a few simple words,which were followed by riotous applause. Then Frank looking around sawthat a sheet of newspaper with three pictures on it was pinned to thewall.
"What's that thing?" he asked, leaning back to touch Harry. "You'renearer it."
One of the men took the paper down and handed it to him.
"Well," he drawled, "I guess you ought to know your own likeness."
Frank gasped as he took the paper, for the two portraits at the top ofit were of Harry and himself, and underneath them appeared the dog.There was a conspicuous black heading over them.
"_The modest salvors of the opium schooner, and their dog_," it read.
Beneath this there was about a column dealing with Mr. Oliver's exploitsand their own. Frank glanced at parts of it with blank astonishment.
"You never told him all that stuff," he declared, passing it to Harry.
Mr. Oliver intercepted the paper, and his expression hinted athalf-disgusted amusement.
"Didn't you know any better than to tell a story of this kind to anewspaper man?" he asked. "Read a little of it!"
Harry's face flushed as he read.
"I didn't tell him half of it," he protested. "Besides, I didn't knowwhat he was."
Mr. Oliver laughed at last; and just then another man got up and made aspeech about Mr. Barclay, who rose and looked down the table with aquiet smile.
"I appreciate what you have said of my doings, boys, and now I'll basemy few observations on one of the first speaker's remarks," he began."He stated that the man who began by robbing the Government would end byrobbing everybody else; but he was wrong. The man who robs theGovernment _is_ robbing every other citizen. Each of us is part of asystem that's built up, we believe, on the rock of the constitution.Otherwise, if you were merely individuals, doing just as you wished,obeying nobody, you could live only like the Indians, holding yourranches and cattle--if you had them--with the rifle. All commerce andsecurity is founded on the fact that we're not separate men, but anation. Well, the nation wants troops, and warships, judges, courts,schools, and roads. It expects you to pay your share, since you get thebenefit, and every man who beats it out of one tax or duty is playing amean game on and stealing from the rest. That's the one point I want tomake clear."
Then, to the confusion of Harry and Frank, they were commended; andafterward the company broke up into groups to talk and smoke. Mr. Oliverand the boys, Mr. Marston, Mr. Webster and Mr. Barclay still sattogether, and presently Mr. Barclay turned to the boys.
"I've some news for you," he announced. "The schooner has been surveyed.She's very little damaged, and the authorities, who have seized her,have decided to allow your claim in full. As soon as she's sold, they'llforward you a treasury order."
"And we'll really get all that money?" Frank asked with a gasp.
"It seems pretty certain."
The blood rushed into Frank's face.
"It would go a long way toward buying a small, half-cleared ranch," heexclaimed joyfully.
"I've one to sell," laughed Mr. Webster. "You can have it cheap."
"Are you serious?" Mr. Oliver inquired.
"Sure!" was the answer. "I never was much good at ranching, and theplace is too small to feed more than a few head of stock. It might paygrowing fruit; but if I did any planting now I'd have to wait three orfour years before I got any returns worth while, and I was always kindof smart at carpentering. I could get contracts for building log bridgesand cutting wharf piles now, and I'd let the ranch go at a very moderateprice."
"How much do you want?"
When Mr. Webster told him, Mr. Oliver considered the matter for a fewmoments.
"I'll have to start Harry in another three or four years, and if we putin a lot of young trees they'd be in good bearing by that time," he saidthoughtfully. "We could work the place from our own ranch in themeanwhile; but I'm afraid I can't raise the price you ask. Would you letpart stand over on a mortgage?"
"I can't do that," was the reply, "though I'd like to oblige you. Yousee, if I'm to handle those contracts properly, I must have the money tobuy tools and to pay wages. But suppose we appoint two valuers to fix afigure."
The boys had been listening intently, and Frank broke in:
"Harry and I have decided to go partners in a ranch some day, andthere's the salvage money."
"It wouldn't be enough," said Mr. Oliver regretfully.
Mr. Marston touched Mr. Oliver's shoulder.
"I'd like a few words with you privately."
They crossed the room, an
d after talking for a while in low tones Mr.Marston beckoned Frank, who had been waiting in tense excitement. Mr.Marston was a middle-aged business man, with keen eyes and a thoughtfulface, and he looked at Frank steadily.
"Sit down and listen to me," he said. "Because I'm a relative of yoursand also because I had a great respect for your father, I meant from thebeginning to help you along. On the other hand, I've seen young menspoiled by knowing that they had friends ready to give them a lift, andI decided to let you make the best fight you could, for a year or two.That's why I sent you to the flour mill, instead of putting you intosomething easier; and I may say that I wasn't altogether pleased whenyou left it."
"I was turned out, sir," Frank corrected him with some color in hisface.
Mr. Marston smiled.
"We'll let it go at that. The main thing is that you didn't come backfor help. Instead, you made another start for yourself; and you seem tohave done well here. According to a newspaper which I've read, you haveeven distinguished yourself lately." He laughed before he proceeded."Anyway, you have shown that one could have some confidence in you."
"Thank you, sir."
Mr. Marston raised his hand.
"Let me finish. Before I left Boston I went over your mother's businessaffairs, and by and by I think she could give you--we'll say a thousanddollars; you have your share of the salvage payment; and Mr. Oliver iswilling to lay out some money on his son's account. Well, I'll find thebalance--on a mortgage--but you'll have to make the ranch pay, or"--andhe smiled--"I'll certainly foreclose and turn you out."
Frank tried to thank him, but he could find very little to say in hisexcitement. Then Mr. Marston called Harry.
"I understand that you are anxious to take Mr. Webster's ranch withFrank, and would be willing to work it under your father's directionuntil the youngest of you is twenty-one. Is that correct?"
Harry's face was glowing.
"Yes, sir," he answered eagerly. "We'll do what we can."
"Then if your father and Mr. Webster will go down to Seattle with me,we'll get the transfer made and a deed drawn up to fix the thing."
Frank could never remember what he said or did during the next fewminutes, but it was the proudest and happiest time he had spent in hislife. Then he turned to Mr. Marston and Mr. Oliver, who were standingnear.
"I'll have very little time to spare after this," he said, "and I shouldlike to spend a little of the salvage money going back to Boston to seemy mother and the others before I begin."
"Of course!" ejaculated Mr. Marston. "A very proper thing! You needn'twait until Mr. Barclay sends you his order. I'll arrange your ticket."
He moved away, and shortly afterward the company dispersed.
A week later Frank and Harry and Jake sailed out in the sloop tointercept the south-bound steamer. She came up, with side-wheelschurning a broad track of foam and her smoke trail streaming astern.When her engines stopped, Frank and Harry dropped into the canoe and ina few minutes they were alongside. Frank swung himself up on board andthen looked back at the canoe.
"Have a good time!" cried Harry. "The best you can! You'll have to workwhen you come back!"
"You'll see me in six weeks," Frank answered with a wave of his hand;and the canoe dropped astern as the engines started and the steamerforged ahead.
THE END
Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in theoriginal text have been corrected.
In Chapter II, "the trail the followed" was changed to "the trail theyfollowed".
In Chapter IX, "he an Jake set off" was changed to "he and Jake setoff".
In Chapter X, a missing period was added after "against the beams".
In Chapter XI, a missing period was added after "his little cloth cap".
In Chapter XVII, "a lump of iron with a rope mast fast to it" waschanged to "a lump of iron with a rope made fast to it".
In Chapter XIX, "I don't thing it would be wise" was changed to "I don'tthink it would be wise".
In Chapter XXIII, "the nearest office I coul have reached" was changedto "the nearest office I could have reached".
The word "postoffice" is spelled in the text both with and without ahyphen. Each instance has been left as it appeared in the original text.
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