CHAPTER IX
A PLAIN HINT
Mr. Oliver bought another horse from one of his scattered neighbors, anda few days afterward he and Jake set off for an inlet along the coastnear which a few ranchers lived. Harry explained to Frank that as theyclubbed together and bought their supplies from Seattle a little steamerfrom the latter place called at the inlet now and then to deliver thegoods, and his father had ordered a mower which was to be sent down byher.
Mr. Oliver did not come back until late in the evening a couple of dayslater, but as soon as he arrived he and Jake set to work to put themachine together, and it was getting dusk when at last they left itstanding beneath the trees near the edge of a ravine. Early on thefollowing morning the boys went back with them to see if it would worksatisfactorily in cutting a little green timothy, but as they crossedthe clearing Jake, who was leading the team a little distance in frontof his companions, stopped suddenly.
"You didn't go back and move that machine after we left it?" he asked.
"No," replied Mr. Oliver. "What made you think I did?"
Jake looked at his employer rather curiously. "Well," he said, "somebodymust have moved it. The thing's gone."
Mr. Oliver broke into a run and the rest followed. When they reached theclump of trees they could discover no sign of the mower, except for thetrack of wheels among the withered needles and undergrowth. This ledtoward the ravine, at the bottom of which a little water flowed, andFrank saw Mr. Oliver's face harden as he followed this guide. A minutelater they stood on the brink of the declivity and saw the mower lyingupon its side among the stones thirty or forty feet below them. Theslope was almost precipitous, but Mr. Oliver went down sliding amidst arush of loosened soil, and Frank and Harry with some difficultyscrambled down after him. A glance was sufficient to show them that theimplement was not likely to be of the least use to its owner. Mr. Oliverexamined it quietly and then clambered back up the side of the ravine,after which he sat down and took out his pipe before he turned to Jake.
"Every bit of cast-iron in it is smashed," he said. "The pinion wheelsare broken, and the other parts are bent. I'll have to order anotherone."
Jake made a gesture of sympathy.
"If I could get hold of the folks who did the thing it would be aconsolation, but I haven't the least notion how to trail them."
"One man couldn't have moved it," said Mr. Oliver.
"There were three of them. The question is, what brought them here? Iguess they didn't come just to smash the machine."
Mr. Oliver seemed lost a moment in contemplation.
"I think you're right," he said at length. "They probably came becausethis is the easiest way of getting through to the settlements in theBasker district and the beach behind the head makes a handy landing.We'll go along and look around. I don't think they'd try the cove. It'stoo near the house."
They turned into a bush trail together, and when they reached the beacha little while later Jake, stooping over a furrow in the smooth shingleby the water's edge, looked up at Mr. Oliver.
"A sea canoe grounded here soon after last high water," he said. "Youcan see where they ran her down when it had ebbed a little."
Mr. Oliver, who was still quietly smoking, nodded.
"Yes," he said, "it's very much as I expected. With a sheltered landinghere and as good a trail inland as they could find, it's not difficultto understand why those fellows were anxious that I should stand in withthem, or, at least, leave them alone. This thing, of course, was meantas a warning." Then he addressed the boys: "You needn't wait. You canget some more of those branches sawed off in the slashing."
They moved away and left him talking to Jake, and it was not until theyhad reached the bush that Harry made any observation.
"I've a notion that we're up against the meanest kind of toughs, but inthe long run I'll back dad," he said. "It's quite likely that if we lielow you and I may get a hand in later on."
Frank made no answer, though the prospect his companion suggested wasnot unpleasant to him. Going back to their work they sawed up branchesuntil nightfall. On the following afternoon they were still engaged atthe same task at some distance from the house when they saw Jake, whohad set out for a neighboring ranch in the morning, enter the clearing,dragging a big and evidently very unwilling animal after him. He satdown upon a log, and Harry dropped his ax.
"It's Webster's dog," he said to Frank. "I heard that somebody had givenhim one. We'll go along and look at him."
They found Jake rather breathless and very red in face, holding the endof a chain fastened to the collar of the dog, who crouched close bywatching him with wicked eyes and white fangs bared. A serviceable clublay beside Jake, but it seemed to Frank that he had got as far away fromthe animal as the chain permitted. The lad was, however, not astonishedat this, for he fancied he had never seen as intractable and generallyunprepossessing a dog as this one.
"Dad's borrowed him from Webster?" Harry suggested.
"It seemed to me Webster was mighty glad to get rid of him and didn'twant him back," said Jake. "Guess if he was mine I wouldn't be anxiousto keep him either."
Frank moved a pace or two nearer the dog, holding out his hand, butspeedily retired when it growled at him savagely. After that Jake turnedto Harry.
"You're fond of dogs," he suggested. "Wouldn't you like to pat him?"
"No," said Harry, edging away. "I wouldn't try it for five dollars. Whatkind of a brute is he?"
"Well," said Jake, "I figure that fellow has a considerable mixture ofancestors, though there's a strain of the bull in him. That's where hegot his stylish mouth from. He's about as amiable as a timber-wolf, andhe has the gait of a bear, while it's my opinion there's more sense in aplow ox than there is in him."
"When did you leave Webster's?" Harry next inquired.
"Soon as dinner was over," responded Jake dryly.
"And supper will be ready soon. What in the name of wonder have you beendoing?" Harry looked around at Frank. "It's about three miles."
Jake grinned. "Coming along--and resting. This fellow kind of decidedhe'd sit down every now and then, and I let him. He's a dog that's beenaccustomed to doing just what he wants."
"Did you have to cross the creek?" asked Frank, who noticed that theman's long boots and part of his trousers were wet.
"No," said Jake curtly. "The critter took a notion he'd like to go in,and as I couldn't let him loose, I had to go in, too. We splashedaround in it for quite a few minutes."
Harry broke into a burst of laughter and Jake handed him the club. "Iwant to get in by supper. Suppose you put a move on him."
He stood up and jerked the chain, but the dog bared his teeth again anddeclined to stir. Harry, getting behind him, tapped him with the club,and he swung round savagely, straining at the chain.
"Now," said Jake, "I know how we'll fix him. You make him mad and thenhead for the ranch while he gets after you, and I'll try to hold him."
"No," said Harry decisively, "I don't think we'll try that way. Go onand lead him."
The animal moved off at last and shambled toward the house, lookingbigger and considerably more clumsy than the largest bulldog Frank hadever seen. He walked into the kitchen docilely, but when Miss Oliverapproached him Harry cried out in dismay.
"Keep away!" he warned. "He isn't safe."
"Loose the chain," said Miss Oliver, and to their vast astonishment thedog walked up to her, wagging his disreputable tail, and crouching down,licked her hands. She patted his great head gently and then turnedsmilingly to the boys.
"I'm afraid Webster has been rough with him," she said. "It's clear thathe's a woman's dog."
"A woman's dog?" echoed Harry scathingly. "Well, the man who gave thatbeast to a woman must have been crazy."
During the next few days the dog made himself at home at the ranch,though with the exception of Miss Oliver he still eyed its inhabitantssuspiciously. Jake said that though almost fully grown he was young andhad no sense yet. Then the dog commenc
ed to follow the boys about at adistance, and once fell upon and destroyed their overall jackets whichthey had taken off when they went to work. They found him sitting uponthe tatters, evidently feeling proud of himself, for he wagged his tailand barked delightedly when they approached. As a rule, he did not makemuch noise, but his growl was deep and ominous, with something in itthat discouraged any attempt at undue familiarity.
While they were ruefully inspecting their ruined garments Jake came upand leaned against a neighboring tree.
"He wants training, Harry," he observed. "If he was my dog, I'd breakhim in."
"The question," retorted Harry indignantly, "is how it's to be done.I'll own up that I know very little about training dogs, and that's notthe kind of one I'd like to begin on." He turned to Frank. "Consideringthat a good many of the ranchers live almost alone, it's rather acurious thing that there are very few dogs in this part of the country."
Jake fixed his eyes dubiously upon the animal, who trotted up a littlenearer and growled at him.
"Well," he said, "he's sure a daisy, but I guess he can be taught, andthe first thing is to let him see you're not afraid of him."
Harry snickered. "Then suppose you try to prove it. Haul him up by theear and teach him he's not to eat my jacket."
Jake judiciously disregarded this suggestion. "There's one trick mostdogs learn quite easy. It's to guard. You put down some of your clothes,for instance, and make him see that nobody's to touch them until youcome back. Then he'll sit tight until you do, and I guess in thisfellow's case there'd be mighty little wrong with the nerves of the manwho'd put a hand on them."
"If it's to be clothes they'll have to be somebody else's," said Harry."Anyway, I'll mention it to my aunt. It's my opinion she's the onlyperson who could teach him anything."
How Miss Oliver taught the dog they did not know, but she succeeded, forwhen the boys walked up to the house at supper time one evening a weekor two later Harry, who reached the door first, came out hurriedly.
"The brute won't let me in," he explained. "I confess it sounds kind ofsilly, but perhaps you'd like to try."
Frank approached the door cautiously and stopped when he reached it. Thedog crouched near the center of the kitchen floor, with a woman's strawhat in front of him from which there trailed a couple of chewed-upfeathers. He looked up at Frank with a low, warning growl which saidvery plainly, "Come no farther!"
They called him endearing names, which, so far as they could see, hadnot the least effect, but neither of them felt equal to entering thekitchen until Miss Oliver walked in by another door. Then the dog lether take the hat, wagging his tail with satisfaction.
"He's a good deal more intelligent than you seem to think," she said."Give him your hat, Harry, and then go out and wait for a few minutesbefore you come back for it."
Harry did so, and the dog made no trouble when he picked up the hat, buthe would not let Frank go near it in the meanwhile. After that theytried two or three more experiments of the same kind, though Frank tookno part in them, which was a thing he regretted when he went for a swiman evening or two later.
On this occasion the tide was almost full, the water in the cove waspleasantly warm and bright sunlight streamed down upon it, showing thewhite shingle a fathom beneath the surface. Now and then Frank went downtoward it, for he had learned to swim under water and look about himwhile he did so, but by and by he headed for the entrance to the covewith the overhand side stroke which Harry had taught him. Swinging hisleft arm forward over his head, his face dipped under and then rose inthe midst of a ripple as his hollowed palm swept backward under hiscrooked elbow to his thigh, while his legs swung across each other likea pair of scissors. The brine gleamed and sparkled as it slipped pasthim, and when he reached the entrance to the cove he slid up and downthe smooth, green undulations with a pleasant lift and fall. It was soexhilarating that he went farther than he had intended, and he wasfeeling a little breathless when at last he turned back, but when hereached the spot where he had undressed trouble awaited him.
The dog was seated upon his clothing, watching him with suspicious eyes,and it growled when he stood up knee-deep. Frank hesitated. The dog didnot look amiable, but he was beginning to feel cold, and he walkedslowly forward a pace or two. Then the creature raised itself on itsforepaws, with white fangs bare, and once more broke into a deep,ominous growl. There was no doubt that it intended to guard his clothes.
He threw a piece of shingle at it and was glad on the whole that he hadnot succeeded in hitting it when it stood up with bristling hair and amost determined look in its eyes. Frank floundered back into the water,wondering uneasily if it was coming in after him, and then standingstill up to his waist considered what he should do. It was evident thathe could not stay where he was much longer, and the dog showed no signof going away. It was equally impossible for him to walk back to theranch without his clothes, and in the meanwhile he was growingunpleasantly chilly. Then he noticed that although the shadow of thecrags above rested upon the spot where he stood the sunshine fell upon aboulder which rose out of the water not far away. Swimming to it hecrawled out and found it a little warmer there, but this brought him nonearer to finding a way out of the difficulty.
He did not remember how long he lay shivering upon the stone, but theshadow had crept across it and the tall firs above him showed up moreblackly against the evening light, when at last Harry came clatteringover the shingle and stopped in astonishment on seeing him.
"Whatever are you doing there?" he asked.
"Waiting until your dog goes home," said Frank. "He won't let me have myclothes. If you hadn't come I expect I'd have to stay here untilto-morrow."
Harry couldn't help grinning when he observed the resolute animal."Wouldn't it have been easier to come out and whack him off?"
"No," said Frank decidedly. "If you were in my place you wouldn't wantto try."
Harry walked up to the creature and picked up the clothes, whereat itrose immediately and wagged its tail as though satisfied in having doneits duty.
"He doesn't seem to mind me," Harry observed dryly. "Anyway, there's noreason why you shouldn't come out now unless, of course, you're happierwhere you are."
Frank swam across, dressed, and ran all the way to the ranch, but it washalf an hour before he was moderately warm again. The next day he setabout teaching the dog to guard. It occurred to him that it was notdesirable that Harry and Miss Oliver should be the only ones to whom theanimal would give any stray article of clothing he might come across.
A week or two later Miss Oliver went away on a visit to Tacoma, and Mr.Oliver, who had bought a new mower, commenced to cut his timothy hay.The machine could only work on the cleared land, and where the stumpswere thick he set the boys to mow with the scythe. Frank found ittroublesome work, for the big roots ran along the surface of the ground.The fern had grown up among these roots, and it was their task to cutand pick it out from the grass, while every few minutes the scythe pointstruck a root and sometimes stuck in it. In places it struck gravel,which made dents in it, and the blade often got entangled among shootingwillows and young fir saplings. Frank decided that while it wasevidently a costly and difficult thing to clear a ranch, it must bealmost as hard for its owner to keep what he had won, since the forestpersistently crept back again.
"Suppose you left this place alone for a couple of years?" he asked,stopping to whet his dinted scythe.
"You wouldn't know it again," Harry answered with a smile. "It would bea waste of willows, with young firs growing up between them. Youcouldn't tell it from the bush, only that the trees all round would behigher."
Frank dropped his scythe blade and leaned upon the haft. He had beenmowing since sunrise, and the shadows were now rapidly lengthening. Hisback ached and his hands were sore, and he found it a relief to standstill a moment and look about him. On one side of the clearing theslanting sunrays struck deep into the forest, forcing up great columnartrunks out of the shadow. On the other, the fretted pinnacles of
thefirs cut sharp against the sky, and between stretched long swathes offallen timothy and fern already turning yellow. Not far away, Mr.Oliver, sitting in the mower's saddle, was guiding his team along theedge of the grass which fell beneath the rasping knife, and the clinkand rattle of the machine rang sharply through the still, evening air.Frank, stripped to blue shirt and trousers, found everything his eyesrested on pleasant, and he felt that, after all, he had done wisely whenhe left the cities.
Then he noticed Jake, who had been to the settlement, crossing theclearing with some letters in his hand. He gave them to Mr. Oliver, whopulled his team up and sat still for some minutes reading them. Afterthat he stepped out and walked toward the boys.
"You might take the team along, Harry, and put the kettle on the stove,"he said. "We'll have supper as soon as it's ready."
Harry moved away and Mr. Oliver leaned against a neighboring stump withhis eyes fixed thoughtfully on Frank.
"I've a letter from your mother," he said. "She wants to know if I'msatisfied with you." He paused a moment and added with a smile: "That'sa question I think I can answer in the affirmative."
"Thank you, sir," said Frank.
"Then," Mr. Oliver continued, "she goes into one or two other matters onwhich she seems to want my opinion. In the first place, somebody hasoffered to find you an opening in the office of a Philadelphia businessfirm. You'll have to decide about it, and it seems to me that the choiceis rather a big one. You see, if you stay out here ranching two or threeyears it will probably spoil you for a business life in the easterncities."
Frank thought hard for a minute or two. There was no doubt thatranching, when it included clearing land, as it generally seemed to do,was remarkably arduous work. In the case of a man with little money itevidently meant almost incessant toil, for it was only by persistenteffort that one could chop and saw up the great trees and grub thestumps out. Still, he was growing fond of it, and, what was more, he wasconscious that he was gaining a resolution and muscular vigor that inall probability he would never have acquired in the crowded cities.
Finally he looked up. "I don't think I would care to go back to themnow," he said.
Mr. Oliver nodded gravely. "Your mother doesn't seem to think a greatdeal of this opening, but, on the other hand, you want to bear in mindthat if you expect to make money in ranching you must be able to investit. Raising cattle and fruit for sale is a trade, and a trader gets nomore than a certain interest on his money and the wages which an equallycapable managing clerk or foreman in the same profession would receive.There are few respectable businesses in which that interest is a verybig one. As the result of this, the trader must be content with a littleunless he has the money to earn him more."
"Yes," said Frank somewhat ruefully, "that's clear. I'm afraid I canhardly count on much."
"Your mother mentions that when you are three or four years older shemight perhaps be able to raise you about two thousand dollars."
"I suppose that wouldn't go very far, sir?"
"It certainly wouldn't buy you a ranch anywhere near a city, but youmight get land enough to make a small one back in the bush. If youbought such a place, you would probably have to go out and work at oneof the sawmills or logging camps now and then. It would be several yearsbefore you could make much of a living, because it would cost you somuch to bring your stock to market."
"Yes," said Frank. "I suppose that is why the land would be cheap?"
Mr. Oliver made a sign of assent. "It's a difficulty which is, however,usually got over in this country. You hold on and cultivate your land,and by and by the market comes to you. Somebody starts a sawmill or apulp mill in the locality, or, if there's ore about, a smelter. Newtrails are cut, settlements spring up, and presently a branch railroadcomes along, and the rancher can sell everything he can raise." He brokeoff for a moment, and smiled rather dryly. "In such a case you may getbig prices, but if you average them out over the years of working andwaiting, you'll find you have earned them, and that, after all, thestuff you sell is mighty cheap."
Then he handed Frank the letter. "I'd consider it carefully. The mailwon't leave for the next three days, and now we'll go along to supper."
Harry had managed to prepare a meal, and when it was over Mr. Oliverturned to the boys.
"A friend of mine in Victoria has written asking me to look at a bigpiece of bush land he thinks of buying on the west coast of VancouverIsland. He offers to pay my expenses and a fee, and I've an idea that wemight run across in the sloop if we get moderately fine weather afterthe hay is in. I wonder if you would like to go with me?"
There was no doubt that the prospect appealed to them and Mr. Oliversmiled his approval.
"Then," he said, "you had better hustle that hay in. We'll start as soonas we're through with it."