Cavanaugh-Forest Ranger

by Garland, Hamlin

  Once Lee Virginia approached close enough to hear his voice as he warned her to go back. “You can do nothing,” he called to her. “Please go away.” His face was haggard with weariness, and her heart filled with bitter resentment to think that this repulsive warfare, this painful duty, should be thrust upon one so fine.

  He himself felt as though his youth were vanishing, and that in these few days he had entered upon the sober, care-filled years of middle life. The one sustaining thought, his one allurement, lay in the near presence of the girl to whom he could call, but could not utter one tender word. She was there where he could see her watching, waiting at the bridge. “The sound of the water helps me bear the suspense,” she said to Swenson, and the occasional sight of her lover, the knowledge that he was still unbroken, kept her from despair.

  The day was well advanced when the sound of rattling pebbles on the hill back of his cabin drew his attention, and a few moments later a man on a weary horse rode up to his door and dropped heavily from the saddle. He was a small, dark individual, with spectacles, plainly of the city.

  “Beware! Smallpox!” called Ross, as his visitor drew near the door.

  The new-comer waved his hand contemptuously. “I’ve had it. Are you Ross Cavanagh?”

  “I am!”

  “My name is Hartley. I represent the Denver Round-up. I’m interested in this sheep-herder killing—merely as a reporter,” he added, with a fleeting smile. “Did you know old man Dunn, of Deer Creek, had committed suicide?”

  Cavanagh started, and his face set. “No!”

  “They found him shot through the neck, and dying—this morning. As he was gasping his last breath, he said, ‘The ranger knows,’ and when they asked, ‘What ranger,’ he said, ‘Cavanagh.’ When I heard that I jumped a horse and beat ’em all over here. Is this true? Did he tell you who the murderers are?”

  Cavanagh did not answer at once. He was like a man caught on a swaying bridge, and his first instinct was to catch the swing, to get his balance. “Wait a minute! What is it all to you?”

  Again that peculiar grin lighted the small man’s dark, unwholesome face. “It’s a fine detective stunt, and besides it means twenty dollars per column and mebbe a ‘boost.’ I can’t wait, you can’t wait! It’s up to us to strike now! If these men knew you have their names they’d hike for Texas or the high seas. Come now! Everybody tells me you’re one of these idealistic highbrow rangers who care more for the future of the West than most natural-born Westerners. What’s your plan? If you’ll yoke up with me we’ll run these devils into the earth and win great fame, and you’ll be doing the whole country a service.”

  The ranger studied the small figure before him with penetrating gaze. There was deliberative fearlessness in the stranger’s face and eyes, and notwithstanding his calm, almost languid movement, restless energy could be detected in his voice.

  “What is your plan?” the ranger asked.

  “Get ourselves deputized by the court, and jump these men before they realize that there’s anything doing. They count the whole country on their side, but they’re mistaken. They’ve outdone themselves this time, and a tremendous reaction has set in. Everybody knows you’ve held an even hand over these warring Picts and Scots, and the court will be glad to deputize you to bring them to justice. The old sheriff is paralyzed. Everybody knows that the assassins are prominent cattle-ranchers, and yet no one dares move. It’s up to you fellows, who represent law and order, to act quick.”

  Cavanagh followed him with complete comprehension, and a desire to carry out the plan seized upon him.

  “I’d do it if I could,” he said, “but it happens I am nursing a sick man. I am, perhaps, already exposed to the same disease. I can’t leave here for a week or more. It would not be right for me to expose others—”

  “Don’t worry about that. Take a hot bath, fumigate your clothing, shave your head. I’ll fix you up, and I’ll get some one to take your place.” Catching sight of Swenson and Lize on the bridge, he asked: “Who are those people? Can’t they take your nursing job?”

  “No!” answered Cavanagh, bluntly. “It’s no use, I can’t join you in this—at least, not now.”

  “But you’ll give me the names which Dunn gave you?”

  “No, I can’t do that. I shall tell the Supervisor, and he can act as he sees fit—for the present I’m locked up here.”

  The other man looked the disappointment he felt. “I’m sorry you don’t feel like opening up. You know perfectly well that nothing will ever be done about this thing unless the press insists upon it. It’s up to you and me (me representing ‘the conscience of the East’”—here he winked an eye—“and you Federal authority) to do what we can to bring these men to their punishment. Better reconsider. I’m speaking now as a citizen as well as a reporter.”

  There was much truth in what he said, but Cavanagh refused to go further in the matter until he had consulted with Redfield.

  “Very well,” replied Hartley, “that’s settled. By-the-way, who is your patient?”

  Eloquently, concisely, Ross told the story. “Just a poor old mounted hobo, a survival of the cowboy West,” he said; “but he had the heart of a hero in him, and I’m doing my best to save him.”

  “Keep him in the dark, that’s the latest theory—or under a red light. White light brings out the ulcers.”

  “He hates darkness; that’s one reason why I’ve opened the doors and windows.”

  “All wrong! According to Finsen, he wouldn’t pit in the dark. However, it doesn’t matter on a cowboy. You’ve a great story yourself. There’s a fine situation here which I’ll play up if you don’t object.”

  Cavanagh smiled. “Would my objection have any weight?”

  The reporter laughed. “Not much; I’ve got to carry back some sort of game. Well, so long! I must hit the trail over the hill.”

  Cavanagh made civil answer, and returned to his patient more than half convinced that Hartley was right. The “power of the press” might prove to be a very real force in this pursuit.

  As the journalist was about to mount his horse he discovered Lee Virginia on the other side of the creek. “Hello!” said he, “I wonder what this pretty maiden means?” And, dropping his bridle-rein again, he walked down to the bridge.

  Swenson interposed his tall figure. “What do you want?” he asked, bluntly. “You don’t want to get too close. You’ve been talking to the ranger.”

  Hartley studied him coolly. “Are you a ranger, too?”

  “No, only a guard.”

  “Why are you leaving Cavanagh to play it alone in there?”

  Lee explained. “He won’t let any of us come near him.”

  “Quite right,” retorted Hartley, promptly. “They say smallpox has lost its terrors, but when you’re eight hours’ hard trail from a doctor, or a hospital, it’s still what I’d call a formidable enemy. However, Cavanagh’s immune, so he says.”

  “We don’t know that,” Lee said, and her hands came together in a spasm of fear. “Are you a doctor?”

  “No, I’m only a newspaper man; but I’ve had a lot of experience with plagues of all sorts—had the yellow fever in Porto Rico, and the typhoid in South Africa; that’s why I’m out here richochetting over the hills. But who are you, may I ask? You look like the rose of Sharon.”

  “My name is Lee Wetherford,” she answered, with childish directness, for there was something compelling in the man’s voice and eyes. “And this is my mother.” She indicated Lize, who was approaching.

  “You are not out here for your health,” he stated, rather thoughtfully. “How happens it you’re here?”

  “I was born here—in the Fork.”

  His face remained expressionless. “I don’t believe it. Can such maidens come out of Roaring Fork—nit! But I don’t mean that. What are you doing up here in this wilderness?”

  Lize took a part in the conversation. “Another inspector?” she asked, as she lumbered up.

  “That’s
me,” he replied; “Sherlock Holmes, Vidocque, all rolled into one.”

  “My mother,” again volunteered Lee.

  Hartley’s eyes expressed incredulity; but he did not put his feelings into words, for he perceived in Lize a type with which he was entirely familiar—one to be handled with care. “What are you two women doing here? Are you related to one of these rangers?”

  Lize resented this. “You’re asking a good many questions, Mr. Man.”

  “That’s my trade,” was the unabashed reply, “and I’m not so old but that I can rise to a romantic situation.” Thereupon he dropped all direct interrogation, and with an air of candor told the story of his mission. Lize, entirely sympathetic, invited him to lunch, and he was soon in possession of their story, even to the tender relationship between Lee Virginia and the plague-besieged forest ranger.

  “We’re not so mighty disinterested,” he said, referring to his paper. “The Round-up represents the New West in part, but to us the New West means opportunity to loot water-sites and pile up unearned increment. Oh yes, we’re on the side of the fruit and alfalfa grower, because it pays. If the boss of my paper happened to be in the sheep business, as Senator Blank White is, we would sing a different tune. Or if I were a Congressman representing a district of cattle-men, I’d be very slow about helping to build up any system that would make me pay for my grass. As it is, I’m commissioned to make it hot for the ranchers that killed those dagoes, and I’m going to do it. If this country had a man like Cavanagh for sheriff, we’d have the murderers in two days. He knows who the butchers are, and I’d like his help; but he’s nailed down here, and there’s no hope of his getting away. A few men like him could civilize this cursed country.”

  Thereupon he drew from three pairs of lips a statement of the kind of man Ross Cavanagh was, but most significant of all were the few words of the girl, to whom this man of the pad and pencil was a magician, capable of exalting her hero and of advancing light and civilization by the mere motion of his hand. She liked him, and grew more and more willing to communicate, and he, perceiving in her something unusual, lingered on questioning. Then he rose. “I must be going,” he said to Lee. “You’ve given me a lovely afternoon.”

  Lee Virginia was all too ignorant of the ways of reporters to resent his note-taking, and she accepted his hand, believing him to be the sincere admirer of her ranger. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “I’m going back to Sulphur to spread the report of Cavanagh’s quarantine.” Again that meaning smile. “I don’t want any other newspaper men mixed up in my game. I’m lonesome Ned in stunts like this, and I hope if they do come up you’ll be judiciously silent. Good-bye.”

  Soon after the reporter left, Cavanagh called to Swenson: “The old man can’t last through another such a night as last night was, and I wish you would persuade Mrs. Wetherford and her daughter to return to the valley. They can do nothing here—absolutely nothing. Please say that.”

  Swenson repeated his commands with all the emphasis he could give them, but neither Lize nor Lee would consent to go. “It would be heathenish to leave him alone in this lonesome hole,” protested Lize.

  “I shall stay till he is free,” added Lee. And with uneasy heart she crossed the bridge and walked on and on toward the cabin till she was close enough to detect the lines of care on her lover’s haggard face.

  “Stop!” he called, sharply. “Keep away. Why don’t you obey me? Why don’t you go back to the valley?”

  “Because I will not leave you alone—I can’t! Please let me stay!”

  “I beg of you go back.”

  The roar of the stream made it necessary to speak loudly, and he could not put into his voice the tenderness he felt at the moment, but his face was knotted with pain as he asked: “Don’t you see you add to my uneasiness—my pain?”

  “We’re so anxious about you,” she answered. “It seems as though we should be doing something to help you.”

  He understood, and was grateful for the tenderness which brought her so near to him, but he was forced to be stern.

  “There is nothing you can do—nothing more than you are doing. It helps me to know that you are there, but you must not cross the bridge. Please go back!” There was pleading as well as command in his voice, and with a realization of the passion his voice conveyed, she retraced her steps, her heart beating quickly with the joy which his words conveyed.

  At sunset Redfield returned, bringing with him medicines but no nurse. “Nobody will come up here,” he said. “I reckon Ross is doomed to fight it out alone. The solitude, the long trail, scares the bravest of them away. I tried and tried—no use. Eleanor would have come, of course—demanded to come; but I would not permit that. She commissioned me to bring you both down to the ranch.”

  Lee Virginia thanked him, but reiterated her wish to stay until all possible danger to Cavanagh was over.

  Redfield crossed the bridge, and laid the medicines down outside the door.

  “The nurse from Sulphur refused to come when she found that her patient was in a mountain cabin. I’m sorry, old man; I did the best I could.”

  “Never mind,” replied Cavanagh. “I’m still free from any touch of fever. I’m tired, of course, but good for another night of it. My main anxiety concerns Lee—get her to go home with you if you can.”

  “I’ll do the best I can,” responded Redfield, “but meanwhile you must not think of getting out of the Forest Service. I have some cheering news for you. The President has put a good man into the chief’s place.”

  Cavanagh’s face lighted up. “That’ll help some,” he exclaimed; “but who’s the man?”

  Redfield named him. “He was a student under the chief, and the chief says he’s all right, which satisfies me. Furthermore, he’s a real forester, and not a political jobber or a corporation attorney.”

  “That’s good,” repeated Cavanagh; “and yet—” he said, sadly, “it leaves the chief out just the same.”

  “No, the chief is not out. He’s where he can fight for the idea to better advantage than when he was a subordinate under another man. Anyhow, he asks us all to line up for the work and not to mind him. The work, he says, is bigger than any man. Here’s that resignation of yours,” he said, taking Cavanagh’s letter from his pocket; “I didn’t put it on file. What shall I do with it?”

  “Throw it to me,” said Cavanagh, curtly.

  Redfield tossed it over the hitching-pole, and Ross took it up, looked at it for a moment in silence, then tore it into bits and threw it on the ground.

  “What are your orders, Mr. Supervisor?” he asked, with a faint, quizzical smile around his eyes.

  “There’s nothing you can do but take care of this man. But as soon as you are able to ride again, I’ve got some special work for you. I want you to join with young Bingham, the ranger on Rock Creek, and line up the ‘Triangle’ cattle. Murphy is reported to have thrown on the forest nearly a thousand head more than his permit calls for. I want you to see about that. Then complete your maps so that I can turn them in on the first of November, and about the middle of December you are to take charge of this forest in my stead. Eleanor has decided to take the children abroad for a couple of years, and as I am to be over there part of the time, I don’t feel justified in holding down the Supervisor’s position. I shall resign in your favor. Wait, now!” he called, warningly. “The District Forester and I framed all this up as we rode down the hill yesterday, and it goes. Oh yes, there’s one thing more. Old man Dunn—”

  “I know.”

  “How did you learn it?”

  “A reporter came boiling over the ridge about noon to-day, wanting me to give him the names which Dunn had given me. I was strongly tempted to do as he asked me to—you know these newspaper men are sometimes the best kind of detectives for running down criminals; but on second thought I concluded to wait until I had discussed the matter with you. I haven’t much faith in the county authorities.”

  “Ordinarily I w
ould have my doubts myself,” replied Redfield, “but the whole country is roused, and we’re going to round up these men this time, sure. The best men and the big papers all over the West are demanding an exercise of the law, and the reward we have offered—” He paused, suddenly. “By-the-way, that reward will come to you if you can bring about the arrest of the criminals.”

  “The reward should go to Dunn’s family,” replied the ranger, soberly. “Poor chap, he’s sacrificed himself for the good of the State.”

  “That’s true. His family is left in bad shape—”

  Cavanagh broke off the conversation suddenly. “I must go back to—” he had almost said “back to Wetherford.” “My patient needs me!” he exclaimed.

  “How does he seem?”

  “He’s surely dying. In my judgment he can’t last the night, but so long as he’s conscious it’s up to me to be on the spot.”

  Redfield walked slowly back across the river, thinking on the patient courage of the ranger.

  “It isn’t the obvious kind of thing, but it’s courage all the same,” he said to himself.

  Meanwhile Lize and Virginia, left alone beside the fire, had drawn closer together.

  The girl’s face, so sweet and so pensive, wrought strongly upon the older woman’s sympathy. Something of her own girlhood came back to her. Being freed from the town and all its associations, she became more considerate, more thoughtful. She wished to speak, and yet she found it very hard to begin. At last she said, with a touch of mockery in her tone: “You like Ross Cavanagh almost as well as I do myself, don’t you?”

  The girl flushed a little, but her eyes remained steady. “I would not be here if I did not,” she replied.

  “Neither would I. Well, now, I have got something to tell you—something I ought to have told you long ago—something that Ross ought to know. I intended to tell you that first day you came back, but I couldn’t somehow get to it, and I kept putting it off and putting it off till—well, then I got fond of you, and every day made it harder.” Here she made her supreme effort. “Child, I’m an old bluff. I’m not your mother at all.”