"No, we won"t," announced Kit. He was getting angry, too.
"You pa.s.s me those shoes or something is liable to happen to you mighty sudden. I"ll break you in two."
"I"ll get the rifle," said Jed, and started; but I called him back. We didn"t need a rifle.
"He can"t do anything in bare feet like that," I said. And he couldn"t.
His feet were too soft and burned. That is why we kept the shoes, of course.
"I can"t, eh?"
"No. We aren"t afraid."
He started to stand, and then he sat back again.
"I"ll put a hole in some of you," he muttered; and felt at the side of his chest. But if he had carried a gun in a Texas holster there, it was gone. "Say, you, what"s the matter with you?" he queried. "What do you want to keep me here for?"
"You"d better wait. We"ll stay, too."
He glared at us. Then he began to wheedle.
"Say, what"d I ever do to you? Didn"t I give you back that message, and tell you all I knew? Didn"t I help you out as much as I could?"
"Sure," we said.
"Then what have you got it in for me for?"
"We"d rather you"d wait till the Ranger or somebody comes along," I explained.
He fumbled in a pants pocket.
"Lookee here," he offered. And he held it out. "Here"s a twenty-dollar gold piece. Take it and divvy it among you; and I"ll go along and n.o.body"ll be the wiser."
"No, thanks," we said.
"I"ll make it twenty apiece for each," he insisted. "Here they are. See?
Give me those shoes, and take these yellow bucks and go and have a good time."
But we shook our heads, and had to laugh. He couldn"t bluff us Scouts, and he couldn"t bribe us, either. He twisted and stood up, and we jumped away, and Kit was ready to grab up the shoes and carry them across into the burned timber where the ground was still hot.
The man swore and threatened frightfully.
"I"d like to get my fingers on one of you, once," he stormed. "You"d sing a different tune."
So we would. But we had the advantage now and we didn"t propose to lose it. He couldn"t travel far in bare, blistered feet. I wished that he"d sit down again. We didn"t want to torment him or nag him, just because we had him. He did sit down.
"What do you think I am, anyhow?" he asked.
"Well, you"ve been killing beaver," I told him.
"Who said so?"
"We saw you at the beaver-pond, when we were camping opposite. And just after you left the game warden came along, looking for you."
"You saw some other man."
"No, we didn"t. We know your tracks. And if you aren"t the man, then you"ll be let go."
"You kids make me tired," he grumbled, and tried to laugh it off.
"Supposin" a man does trap a beaver or two. They"re made to be trapped.
They have to be trapped or else they dam up streams and overflow good land. n.o.body misses a few beaver, anyhow, in the timber. This is a free land, ain"t it?"
"Killing beaver is against the law, just the same," said Jed.
"You kids didn"t make the law, did you? You aren"t judge of the law, are you?"
"No," I said. "But we know what it is and we don"t think it ought to be broken. If people go ahead breaking the game laws, then there won"t be any game left for the people who keep the laws to see or hunt. And the less game there is, the more laws there"ll be." I knew that by heart. It was what Scouts are taught.
This sounded like preaching. But it was true. And while he was fuming and growling and figuring on what to do, we were mighty glad to hear a horse"s hoofs. The Ranger came galloping down the fire line.
"h.e.l.lo," he said. He was streaked with ashes and soot and sweat, and so was his horse, and they both looked worn to a frazzle. "Well, we"ve licked the fire. Who"s that? Somebody hurt?" Then he gave another quick look. "Why, how are you, Jack? You must have run against something unexpected."
The beaver man only growled, as if mad and disgusted.
I saluted.
"We have held the fire line, sir," I reported.
"You bet!" answered the Ranger. "You did well. And now you"re holding Jack, are you? You needn"t explain. I know all about him. Since that fire drove him out along with other animals, we"ll hang on to him. The game warden spoke to me about him a long time ago."
"You fellows think you"re mighty smart. Do I get my shoes, or not?"
growled the beaver man.
"Not," answered the Ranger, cheerfully. "We"ll wrap your feet up with a few handkerchiefs and let you ride this horse." He got down. "What"s the matter? Burns? Bad leg? Say! These kids are some cla.s.s on first-aid, aren"t they! You"re lucky. Did you thank them? Now you can ride nicely and the game warden will sure be glad to see you." Then he spoke to us.
"I"m going over to my cabin, boys, where there"s a telephone. Better come along and spend the night."
We hustled for our blanket-rolls. The beaver man gruntingly climbed aboard the Ranger"s horse, and we all set out. The Ranger led the horse, and carried his rifle.
"Is the fire out?" asked Kit Carson.
"Not out, but it"s under control. It"ll burn itself out, where it"s confined. I"ve left a squad to guard it and I"ll telephone in to headquarters and report. But if it had got across this fire line and around those willows, we"d have been fighting it for a week."
"How did it start?"
"Somebody"s camp-fire."
The trail we were making led through the timber and on, across a little creek and up the opposite slope. The sun was just setting as we came out beyond the timber, and made diagonally up a bare ridge. On top it looked like one end of that plateau we had crossed when we were trailing the gang and we had first seen the fire.
The Ranger had come up here because traveling was better and he could take a good look around. We halted, puffing, while he looked. Off to the west was the snowy range, and old Pilot Peak again, with the sun setting right beside him, in a crack. The range didn"t seem far, but it seemed cold and bleak--and over it we were bound. Only, although now we had the message, we didn"t have the other Scouts. If they were burned--oh, jiminy!