The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-08


 "ALKING about Cavanagh was
 quite too absorbingiy interest
 ing to both Lee and Redfieid to
 A permit of any study of the land scape, which went by as if dismissed by the chariot wheels of some con- temptuous magician. Reddeld's eyes were mostly on the road Gin the man. ner of the careful auto driverI. but when he did look up it was to admire the color and poise of his seat mate, who made the landscape of small &C., count.
 She kept the conversation to the de- sired point. "Mr. Cavanagh's work interests me very much. 1t seems very important. and it must be new, for never heard of forest ranger when I was a child"
 ''The forester is new, at least in America" he answered. My dear young lady, you are returned just in the most momentous period in the history of the west. The old dominiOn-the cattle range-is passing. The suprem- acy of the cowboy is ended. The COW
 
 pitching alfalfa and swearing horribly as he blisters his hands. Some of the rangers at the moment are men of western training. like Ross. but whose allegiance Is now to Uncle Sam. With others that transfer of allegiance is not men like Gregg, who think they can bribe or intimidate these forest guards and so obtain favors. The newer men are college bred, real foresters. But you can't know what it all means till you see Ross or some other ranger on his own heath. We'll make up little party some day and drop down upon him and have him show us about. It's lonely life, and so the ranger keeps open house. Would you like to go?'
 "Oh. yes. indeed. Pm eager to get into the mountains. Every night as see the sun go down over them I won- der what the world is like up there"
 Then he began very delicately to in- quire about her eastern experience. There was not much to tell. In love ly old town not far from Philadelphia, where her aunt lived. she had spent ten years of happy exile. 'I was hor- ribly lonely and homesick at first" she said. Mother wrote only short let ters. and my father never wrote at all. didn't know he was dead then. He was always good to me. He wasn't a bad man, was hep
 "No." responded Redfield without hesitation. "He was very like the rest of us. only little more reckless and a little more partfson. that's all. He was dashing horseman and dead shot, and SO naturally a leader of these daredevils. He was popular with both sides of the controversy up to the very moment when he went south to lead the invaders against the rustlers.'
 What was it all about? never un- derstood 1t. What were they fighting about?
 "In sense it was all very simple. You see, Uncle Sam in his careless, do nothing way has always left his range to the man whoN got there first. That was the cattleman. At first there was grass enough for US all. but as we built sheds and corrals about water ing places we came to claim rights on the range. We usually secured by fraud homesteads in the sections con- taining water and so. gun in hand. stood off the man who came after. Gradually, after much shooting and having. we parceled out the range and settled down, covering practically the whole state. Our adjustments were not perfect. but our system was work ing smoothly for us who controlled the range. We had convinced ourselves and pretty nearly everybody else that the state was only fit for cattle graz ing and that we were the most com petent grazers: furthermore. we were in possession. and no man could come in without our consent.
 However. a very curious law of OUT own making was our undoing. Of course the hester or .punkin roller