Semi-weekly herald. [volume] (Durango, Colo.) 1907-1917, 1911-02-13
CHAPTER VI.
IN THE VIOLENT PAST.


quite too absorbingly interest
ing to both Lee and Red1eld to
permit of any study Of the land
| scape. which went by as II dismissed
by the chariot wheels of some con
temptuous magician. Redfield's eyes
/ were mostly on the road On the man
| ner of the careful auto driver, but
when he did look up 1t was to admire
| the color and poise of his seat mate.
who made the landscape of small nc
| count.
| She kept the conversation to the de-
sired point mir. Cavanagh's work
interests me very much. 1t seems very
important. and 1t must be new. for
never heard of forest ranger when
I was a child"
1.-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
boss is raising oats. The cowboy Is
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
| quite complete: hence the insolence of
| men like Gregg, who think they can
bride or intimidate these forest guards
I and so obtain favors. The newer men
! are college bred. real fOresters. But
1 you can't know what It all means TIL
| you see Ross or some other ranger on
his own heath. Well 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. I'm eager to get
into the mountains. Every night as
see the sun go down over them won.
der what the world Is like up there"
Then he began very deicately 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. 81 was hor-
ribly lonely and homesick at first" she
said. Mother wrote only short let
ters. and my father never wrote at all.
l didn't know he was dead then. He
was always good to me. He wasn't
bad man, was he?"
NO" responded Redfield without
hesitation. HE was very like the rest
| of u.s. only little more reckless and
little more partisan. that's all. He
was a dashing horseman and dead
shot. and so naturally 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 1t all about? | never un.
derstood 1t. What were they fighting
about2"
''In n sense 1t was all very simple.
You see, Uncle Sam In his careless. do
nothing way has always left his range
to the man who got there first. That
was the cattlemaD. AT first there was
grass enough for us all. but as we
built sheds and corras about water
ing places we came TO claim rights on
the range. we usually secured by
fraud homesteads In the sections con-
tanning water and SO. gun In hand,
stood or 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