ways,
nearer Holston."

"Is it possible, Dick, that any of those loggers back there don't know
the Government is being defrauded?"

"Ken, hardly any of them know it, and they wouldn't care if they did.
You see, this forest-preserve business is new out here. Formerly the
lumbermen bought so much land and cut over it--skinned it. Two years
ago, when the National Forests were laid out, the lumbering men--that
is, the loggers, sawmill hands, and so on--found they did not get as
much employment as formerly. So generally they're sore on the National
Forest idea."

"But, Dick, if they understand the idea of forestry they'd never oppose
it."

"Maybe. I don't understand it too well myself. I can fight fire--that's
my business; but this ranger work is new. I doubt if the Westerners
will take to forestry. There've been some shady deals all over the West
because of it. Buell, now, he's a timber shark. He bought so much timber
from the Government, and had the markers come in to mark the cut; then
after they were gone, he rushed up a mill and clapped on a thousand
hands."

"And the rangers stand for it? Where'll their jobs be when the
Government finds out?"

"I was against it from the start. So was Jim, particularly. But the
other rangers persuaded us."

It began to dawn upon me that Dick Leslie might, after all, turn out to
be good soil in which to plant some seeds of forestry. I said no more
then, as we were busy packing for the start, but when we had mounted
I began to talk. I told him all I had learned about trees, how I loved
them, and how I had determined to devote my life to their study, care,
and development. As we rode along under the wide-spreading pines I
illustrated my remarks by every example I could possibly use. The more I
talked the more interested Dick became, and this spurred me on. Perhaps
I exaggerated, but my conscience never pricked me. He began to ask
questions.

We reached a spring at midday, and halted for a rest. I kept on
pleading, and presently I discovered, to my joy, that I had made a
strong impression upon Dick. It seemed a strange thing for me to be
trying to explain forestry to a forest ranger, but so it was.

"Ken, it's all news to me. I've been on Penetier about a year, and I
never heard a word of what you've been telling me. My duties have
been the practical ones that any woodsman knows. Jim and the other
rangers--why, they don't know any more than I. It's a great thing, and
I've que