Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders in the Great North Woods
J >>
Jessie Graham Flower >> Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders in the Great North Woods
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 [Illustration: "You Ruffian!"--Frontispiece.]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS
IN THE GREAT NORTH WOODS
by
Jessie Graham Flower, A. M.
Illustrated
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
Akron, Ohio--New York
Made in U. S. A.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright MCMXXI By THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I--ON THE BIG WOODS TRAIL................................ 11
The Overlanders, arriving at their destination, are told that their
guide is busy doing the family washing. Hippy and Hindenburg, the
bull pup, make a hit. Emma Dean wishes she had stayed at home. The
"untamed" bronco entertains the villagers.
CHAPTER II--THE VOICE OF NATURE.................................. 18
"Why don't yer feed the critter some soothin' syrup?" jeers a
villager. Emma reads the message of the hermit thrush. On the way
to the "Big Woods." Trouble is threatened at Bisbee's Corners. The
Overlanders attacked by roistering lumberjacks.
CHAPTER III--THE CHARGE OF THE JACKS............................. 31
"Out of this, lively!" shouts Tom Gray. The fight in the village
street. Hippy and Tom rescue an unfortunate Indian from the jacks.
Willy Horse follows and overtakes his rescuers. "You Big
Friend--Big Medicine!" The new guide creates a sensation.
CHAPTER IV--A HUMAN TALKING MACHINE.............................. 42
Joe Shafto lays down the law to her charges. Tom Gray admits that
he is at fault. Emma announces that some of her ancestors were
birds. Hippy advises the guide to eat angel food. A wild beast in
the cabin of the forest woman.
CHAPTER V--OVERLANDERS GET A JOLT................................ 53
"A bear! A bear under the table!" Grace Harlowe's companions thrown
into panic. Nora puts her foot in a platter of venison. The guide
explains that Henry, the bear, is a "watch dog." Hippy and the bear
meet in hand-to-hand conflict.
CHAPTER VI--CAMPING UNDER THE GIANT PINES........................ 63
"Sick 'im, Hindenburg!" gasps Hippy. The bull pup saves his master,
and Henry gets a beating. Tom shows how to read the forest
"blazes." The Overland Riders pitch their first camp in the great
forest. Emma gets a message from the air. The lull before the
storm.
CHAPTER VII--FELLED BY A MYSTERIOUS BLOW......................... 74
Tom and Grace hearken to warning sounds in the trees. "Quick! Get
the girls out!" A rush from an unknown peril. Hippy declares that
"Nature is an old fogy." Crashing reverberations are heard in the
forest. "Hippy's hurt!" cries Elfreda Briggs.
CHAPTER VIII--THEIR FIRST DISASTER............................... 80
Tom informs his companions that their camp has been wiped out.
Building a fire in the rain. Overland girls learn the secrets of
the forest. Joe Shafto boxes Hippy's ears. The pet bear is welcomed
with a club. A startling assertion.
CHAPTER IX--LUMBERJACKS SEEK REVENGE............................. 91
"The skidway was tampered with!" Overland tents are destroyed. Tom
gets a cold welcome. A warning of timber thieves. Lean-tos are
built for the night's camp. "How can we go to bed with one side of
the house out?" wonders Emma. Awakened by an explosion.
CHAPTER X--MYSTERY IN THE FALL OF A TREE........................ 102
Hippy is assisted down the river bank by a flying tree limb. The
camp of the Overlanders again suffers disaster. "Hurry! We've set
the woods on fire!" Battling with a forest fire. Hippy wants to
dream of food. A disturbing outlook.
CHAPTER XI--THE THREAT OF PEG TATEM............................. 115
Henry sleeps on high. The bear and the bull pup scent trouble. The
foreman of Section Forty-three goes trouble-hunting. Settlement is
demanded of the Overlanders for the burned trees. "Skip! Get out!"
orders Lieutenant Wingate. Peg starts a row.
CHAPTER XII--A SHOT FROM THE FOREST............................. 121
Tom Gray attacked by the lumberman. The jacks take a hand. Hippy
uses a firebrand as a weapon. Overlanders badly punished. Shots
from the forest shatter Peg's wooden leg. Henry paws his way into
the fight. The Overlanders meet a fresh mystery.
CHAPTER XIII--A BLAZED WARNING.................................. 132
Grace Harlowe's party seeks a change of scene. The bent arrow
points to danger. The end of a long night's journey through the
forest. The mournful wail of a timber wolf carries a meaning to
Emma Dean. "Put out that fire!" commands the forest ranger.
CHAPTER XIV--THEIR DAY AT HOME.................................. 143
The caller at the Overland camp grows threatening. Henry sounds a
warning growl. Ordered to leave the forest. Emma tells the ranger
how to get rid of wolves. "I reckon you haven't heard the last of
Peg Tatem."
CHAPTER XV--THE WAY OF THE BIG WOODS............................ 150
Newcomers arouse the apprehensions of the Overland Riders. "Put up
yer hands!" comes the stern command. Deputy sheriffs inform the
Overlanders that they are under arrest. Joe Shafto fires a warning
shot at their annoying callers.
CHAPTER XVI--WILLY HORSE SHOWS THE WAY.......................... 157
Elfreda out-argues the officers of the law. Visitors politely
requested to remove themselves. Threats of revenge. Camp is made on
the banks of the Little Big Branch. Willy shows the way to the
Overlanders' permanent camp.
CHAPTER XVII--IN THE INDIAN TEPEE............................... 173
Willy Horse arrives in a bark canoe. An Indian home is built for
the Overland girls. Grace paddles the birch canoe and gets a
ducking. Henry investigates the tepee and his nose suffers. A loud
halloo arouses the girls from their beauty sleep.
CHAPTER XVIII--THE TRAIL OF THE PIRATES......................... 182
The bull pup keeps bankers' hours. Tom and Hippy seek
evidence of timber-thieves and make discoveries. Hippy
evolves a great idea. Willy tells Lieutenant Wingate about
Chief Iron Toe. Hippy and the Indian go away on an important
mission.
CHAPTER XIX--THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL......................... 193
"Bears is better than husbands," declares Joe Shafto. Hippy
announces that he has bought a big timber tract. "Don't ask me a
question until my stomach begins to function." Willy Horse brings a
warning of spies near the camp.
CHAPTER XX--PEACE OR WAR?....................................... 204
Chet Ainsworth arrives at the point of a rifle. The peace of the
Overland camp violently disturbed. Hippy admits that he is crazy.
Henry gives uninvited guests a scare. "They do get that way
sometimes." Overlanders gaze in amazement.
CHAPTER XXI--A WISE OLD OWL..................................... 210
Joe sicks the bear on the guests. The forest woman in a rage.
"Stop him! He'll kill the man!" Willy Horse sees things in the
campfire. Emma finds a message for Hippy
in the hoot of the old owl.
CHAPTER XXII--WHEN THE DAM WENT OUT............................. 217
A surprise party for the lumberjacks on Hippy's claim. The dance
is interrupted by the Indian's message. "Dam up river go out!
Water come down!" announces Willy Horse unemotionally. The jacks
take alarm.
CHAPTER XXIII--THE RIOT OF THE LOGS............................. 227
A desperate struggle. "I'm slipping!" gasps Hippy. "Too late!" Tom
and Hippy are hurled into the river. Dynamite used on the pirates'
dam. A hand-to-hand knife battle on the spiles. Grace stays the
Indian's hand.
CHAPTER XXIV--CHRISTMAS IN THE BIG WOODS........................ 238
A capture and a confession. Peg Tatem in the toils. Timber
pirates get prison terms. The lumberjacks' big Christmas. "Sit
down, you rough-necks!" roars Hippy. Spike bares his soul. What the
snow-bird said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS IN THE GREAT NORTH WOODS
CHAPTER I
ON THE BIG WOODS TRAIL
Hippy Wingate stepped from the train that had just pulled into the
little Red River Valley station and turned to observe Tom Gray and the
others of the Overland Riders detrain. In one hand Hippy carried a
suitcase, in the other a disconsolate-looking bull pup done up in a
shawl strap.
"Be you Gray?"
Hippy turned to look at the owner of the voice, not certain that the
question had been addressed to him. He found himself facing an
uncouth-looking youth who, despite the heat of an early September
afternoon, wore a heavy blanket Mackinaw coat, rubber shoes and thick
stockings tied at the knee. Khaki trousers, and a cap of the same
material as the coat, completed the typical lumberjack outfit, though
Tom Gray was the only member of the Overland party who recognized it as
such. The youngster's hands were thrust firmly into the pockets of the
Mackinaw coat as he stood eyeing Hippy with a sullen expression on his
face.
"Am I what?" demanded the Overland Rider, putting down the suitcase and
dropping the pup, much to the animal's relief.
"I said, be you Gray?"
"Not yet, old chap. I am threatened with a bald head early in my young
life, but I thank goodness I am not gray. Why? What's the joke?"
The loungers on the station platform laughed, and the boy shifted
uneasily and leaned against a station pillar.
"'Cause I was to meet er feller named Gray who was comin' in on this
train."
"Oh! That's it, is it? I thought you meant is my hair gray," grinned
Hippy. "Oh, Tom! Here is your man. Here's your guide," cried Hippy,
shaking hands cordially with the young fellow.
Detaching himself from the girls of the party of Overland Riders who
were assembling their luggage, Tom Gray stepped over to Lieutenant
Wingate.
"Are you Joe Shafto?" questioned Tom, addressing the boy.
"Naw, I ain't. Joe sent me over to meet you folks and tell you how to
git up to the place."
"Why isn't Joe here to meet us?" demanded Grace Harlowe, joining the
group in time to hear the boy's explanation.
"Joe's doin' the washin' to-day, and to-morrer is ironin' day. Joe sent
word sayin' as I was to meet you and tell you not to git up there before
late to-morrer afternoon."
"Ho, ho! Doing the family washing, eh?" chortled Hippy. "Fine guide you
have selected, Tom Gray. Hey there!" Hippy made a spring for the bull
pup, who had fastened his teeth in the neck of a fox terrier, and picked
his dog up by the handle of the shawl strap. The fox terrier came up
with Hindenburg, by which name the bull was known, and it required the
united efforts of Tom and Hippy to extricate the fox terrier from
Hindenburg's tenacious grip.
"It might be wise to hang onto your dog, Hippy," advised Tom. "You are
to show us the way to Shafto's, I presume?" questioned Tom Gray,
addressing the boy again.
"Naw. I reckon you can find the way yourself. Can't spare the time. I
got a fall job in the woods over near the reservation. You take the main
road straight north from here till you git to Bisbee's Corners. Ask at
the general store there where Joe Shafto lives and they'll steer you.
Joe said to tell you folks to get your supplies there, too. Bye." The
boy turned abruptly and walked away.
"Hold on! Not so fast, boy. How far is it to Joe's?" demanded Tom.
"Nigh onto thirty mile," flung back the boy.
"I wish I had stayed at home," wailed Emma Dean.
"We have not yet begun, dear," reminded Elfreda Briggs, to which Anne
Nesbit and Nora Wingate agreed with emphatic nods.
"Tom Gray, I fear you have made a mess of selecting a guide to pilot us
through the Big North Woods of Minnesota," declared Grace with a
doubtful shake of the head.
"I can't help that. I engaged Shafto on the recommendation of the
postmaster of this very town. He wrote me that, according to his
information, no man in the state knows the woods so well as this fellow
Shafto does. At my request, the postmaster engaged him for us, so don't
blame me because Joe is doing the family washing instead of being here
to meet us," retorted Tom with a show of impatience.
"Lay it to the postmaster and let it go at that," suggested Hippy
good-naturedly.
"Tom, I am really amazed that you, a woodsman and a professional
forester, should require the services of a guide," teased Anne.
"I don't. The guide is for you folks. Of course I know how to keep from
getting lost, but I shall not be with you all the time, so--"
"Come, let's get busy," urged Hippy. "Nora, if you will kindly hold
Hindenburg, Tom and I will unload the ponies. Ready, Thomas?"
Tom said he was. The palace horsecar attached to their train had already
been shunted to a siding, and the ponies of the Overland Riders were
found to have made the journey from the east without injury. Quite an
assemblage of villagers had gathered to witness the operation of
unloading the ponies, and they gazed with interest as each Overland girl
in turn stepped up to claim her mount as it was led slipping down the
gangway. Hippy Wingate's pony, a western bronco that he had acquired
that summer, was the last of the ponies in the car. "Ginger," as its
owner had named it because of its fiery temper, being unusually free
with his heels, had been separated from the other animals in the car by
bars, the bars now bearing marks made by his sharp hoofs.
"Tom, please fetch out my educated horse," urged Hippy, winking wisely
at the crowd of spectators.
"Why not fetch him out yourself? He isn't my horse," laughed Tom.
"Oh, very well," said Lieutenant Wingate, stepping into the car,
removing the bars and reaching for the pony's headstall. That was the
beginning of what proved to be an exciting time for Lieutenant Wingate
and a most enjoyable entertainment for the villagers. The next act was
when Hippy was catapulted from the car door by the heels of the untamed
bronco and landed in the street. Fortunately for him, Lieutenant
Wingate, instead of jumping back when the pony began to kick, threw
himself towards the animal, a trick that handlers of ugly horses quickly
learn to do. He was thus, instead of being hit by the heels of the
bronco, neatly boosted through the open door of the car.
The villagers howled with delight as the Overland Rider got up and
brushed the dirt from his uniform.
"I have heard it said that incorrigible horses are sometimes made docile
by sprinkling a pinch of salt on their tails," observed Elfreda Briggs
to her companions.
"Remonstrate with the beast, Hippy. He is educated," suggested Emma
Dean.
"Hippy, my darlin', do be careful," begged Nora as her husband limped up
the gangway, jaws set, the light of battle in his eyes, his anger rising
with every step he took.
Hippy clasped the pony's neck, the rat-tat-tat of the animal's heels
against the side of the car being somewhat reminiscent of machine-gun
fire to the Overland girls.
"He'll be killed!" wailed Nora.
"Who? The pony?" asked Emma in an unruffled voice.
"No! What do I care about the pony? It's my Hippy."
A yell from the villagers brought others running to the scene, but no
one offered assistance. Hippy and the bronco were tussling on the
threshold of the car with Hippy's feet in the air most of the time.
"Tickle him in the ribs," suggested a villager. "That'll make him laugh
and he'll fergit to kick."
The villagers howled with delight.
"Tickle him yourself," retorted Nora.
"Jump!" urged Miss Briggs.
"No! Hang on!" shouted Tom Gray. "If you let go he'll kill you! Urge him
down the gangway and I will grab him when he makes the rush."
At that instant the pony leaped. Hippy lost his foothold on the edge of
the doorsill, and the pony, unable to bear the additional weight on its
neck, stumbled and went down on the gangway. The animal's hips struck
the railing, burst through it, and man and horse rolled off to the
ground, Ginger kicking and squealing, with Hippy Wingate clinging
desperately to his neck.
CHAPTER II
THE VOICE OF NATURE
The bronco was on his feet instantly, with Hippy still clinging to the
animal's neck. All the villagers scattered as Ginger bolted across the
street.
"Why don't _you_ tickle his ribs?" cried Emma to the spectators.
For a few moments it looked as if man and bronco would land in the
village postoffice by way of its large front window.
"Whew!" grinned Hippy, mopping his brow after he had conquered and tied
the pony to the tie-rail in front of the postoffice.
"I--I thought you said that Ginger was an educated horse," reminded
Emma.
"He is. That is what is the matter with him. Like some persons, not far
removed from me at the present moment, he knows _too_ much for the
general good of the community. What Ginger needs is a finishing school,
and he's going to start right in attending one this very day. You watch
my smoke."
"Smoke!" chuckled Elfreda Briggs. "I don't mind it at all ordinarily,
but I do wish that, when you get excited, you wouldn't insist on burning
soft coal."
"Say, Mister! Why don't yer feed the critter some soothin' syrup? They
got it in the store there," urged a spectator. "Good fer man er beast."
Hippy grinned at the speaker, and the villagers roared.
"Good idea, old top. We will pour a bottleful down your throat at the
same time. It is good for all animals, you know. Why don't you roar, you
folks? All right, if you won't, I'll roar." Hippy haw-hawed and the
villagers grinned.
"Come, come. Please do something, Hippy," begged Grace laughingly.
"Sure thing. What do you want me to do?"
"If you and Tom will roll and tie the packs, you will be doing us a
service. I imagine we girls are a bit out of practice in lashing packs,
and, as we have quite a bit of equipment to carry, and a long ride ahead
of us to-day, we must have everything secure, and start as soon as
possible."
"Want a guide, Mister?" questioned a young man dressed as a lumberjack,
lounging up to Lieutenant Wingate. "I kin take ye anywheres."
"We have one," replied Hippy briefly.
"I don't see none. Who be he?"
"Name's Hindenburg," said Hippy, pointing to the bull pup. "Greatest
little guide west of the Atlantic Ocean. I paid a thousand dollars for
his bark alone. The breeder threw in the rest of the dog because, when
you peel the bark off a tree, it dies."
Emma Dean uttered a high, trilling laugh, and the other girls joined in
so heartily that, for a moment, or so, work came to a standstill. Hippy
then briskly attacked the packs, while Tom secured them to the backs of
the ponies.
While this was being done Grace left the party to buy food sufficient to
last for at least a two-days' journey, and returned with her arms full
of bundles, the contents being transferred to the mess kits of her
companions.
"Are you going to let the dog run?" questioned Anne.
"I am not. He rides horseback," replied Hippy briefly. "I am a man of
resources."
"Especially in leading educated ponies," murmured Emma.
In the meantime, Hippy had taken a canvas bag from his pack and hung it
over the pommel of his saddle.
"Come, Little Hindenburg. We will now go bye-bye," cooed Hippy, lifting
the bull pup, depositing it in the open bag, and tying the dog's lead
string to the saddle.
"Hippy darlin'!" cried Nora. "If Hindenburg jumps out he will hang
himself and choke to death."
"Sure he will. That is why he isn't going to jump out."
Hindenburg stood up in the bag and barked in apparent approval of
Hippy's assertion.
"Listen!" exclaimed Emma, holding up a hand. "Bark again, Hindenburg."
Hindenburg did so, Emma Dean giving close attention.
"What is the big idea?" demanded Lieutenant Wingate.
"I wished to listen to this voice from the canine world because it
carries a message to us," answered Miss Dean gravely.
Hippy gave her a quick keen glance, but Ginger, taking sudden umbrage at
a dog barking at his side, demanded his rider's exclusive attention. By
the time Hippy had subdued the bronco, Emma's peculiar remark had passed
out of mind. Soon after that, with packs neatly lashed, each rider in
the saddle, the Overland Riders wheeled their ponies and jogged along
the village street on their way to the Great North Woods where Tom Gray,
as an expert forester, was to "cruise" or estimate the amount of timber
standing on the thousands of acres in the huge timber tract, the largest
tract of virgin timber east of the Rocky Mountains.
The Overland Riders, who, for the previous three summers, following
their return from France where they had served in various capacities
during the war, in the Overton College Unit, had decided to accompany
Tom to the Big Woods, seeking such adventure as the northland might
afford.
As they started away on the first leg of their journey, none was more
joyous than the bull pup, who barked at the villagers, barked at every
dog and cat within sight, and, after the village had been left behind,
entertained himself by barking at imaginary cats and dogs, Emma Dean
being his most interested listener. Emma's quietness attracted the
attention of her companions, and they wondered at the change in her,
for, on previous journeys, there was seldom a time when Emma did not
have a great deal to say.
Not until after five o'clock that afternoon did the party halt to rest
the ponies and have luncheon, the latter consisting of hot tea and
biscuit, the Riders having planned to eat their supper at Bisbee's
Corners.
Most of the girls were quite ready for a rest, but, this being their
first long ride of the season, they found, upon dismounting, that they
could hardly walk. Grace, being the least disturbed of the party,
volunteered to get the fire started and brew the tea, while Lieutenant
Wingate and Tom Gray watered the horses and staked them at the side of
the road for a nibble at the grass that grew there. Then all hands sat
down with their feet curled under them and held out their tin cups for a
drink of hot tea.
Emma Dean poised her cup in the air, and, with a far-away look in her
eyes, listened intently to the solemn bell note of a hermit thrush.
"What _is_ on your mind to-day, Emma Dean?" laughed Anne Nesbit. "Is it
possible that you are in love or something?"
"I am listening to the voices of nature," replied Emma solemnly, shaking
her head slowly and taking a sip of tea.
"This is something new, isn't it?" twinkled Grace Harlowe.
"Yes," agreed Elfreda. "Only a few hours ago you were listening to a
'message' from the throat of the bull pup, and now I suppose you are
turning your attention to that hermit thrush for the same reason."
"I am listening to the voices of nature," returned Emma. "Listening for
the messages that, when once rightly interpreted, will open up the vast
realm of the unknown to us mortals. If we would but listen we should
hear many mysteries explained and--"
"Speak, Hindenburg!" interjected Hippy, giving the bull pup a push with
the toe of his boot and bringing a growl from the animal. "How long has
she been this way, girls?"
"Make fun of me if you wish. I am used to it."
"I agree with Emma that there is much in nature that we might do well to
consider, suggestions that it would be to our everlasting advantage to
adopt," spoke up Tom Gray. "So far, however, as being able to read the
notes of the birds or the growl of a bull pup--piffle!"
"I agree with you," nodded Elfreda.
"Emma, where do you get all that dope?" questioned Hippy. "I am
beginning to believe what I suspected last season, when you were riding
that 'con-centration' hobby, that your war service has unbalanced your
mind."
"No, no! He is only joking, Emma," protested Nora.
"It matters little to me what Hippy Wingate says or thinks. I belong to
the 'Voice of Nature Cult.'"
"What's that? A breakfast food?" laughed Anne.
"The 'Cult' is an organization of advanced thinkers, presided over by
Madam Gersdorff, an adept who can converse with the birds of the air,
the animals and--"
"I wish she were here," declared Hippy with emphasis. "I should like to
have her tell that bronco what my opinion of him is and hear what he
says in reply," added Lieutenant Wingate, flipping a biscuit, which
Hindenburg deftly caught and gulped down at a single swallow.
"Madam Gersdorff gave some remarkable demonstrations of her power in the
direction of interpreting the voices of nature last winter," resumed
Emma. "She is giving me a correspondence course at five dollars a
lesson, which I consider a remarkably low price. I wish I might induce
you girls to take the course, but I don't suppose any of you have the
nerve to do so in the face of Hippy Wingate's unkind criticisms. Let me
tell you something. A medium that I went to in Boston a few weeks ago
told me some remarkable things about myself. I had been telling her of
this 'Voice of Nature Cult.' 'How strange,' answered the medium. 'I see
birds all about you. A whole flock of them accompanied you into this
very room. See! They are hovering over you at this very moment.'"
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12