The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1913-08-07
CHAPTER VI.
IN TIVE VIOLENT FAST.

."ALKlNG about Cavanagh was
quite too Accordingly interest.
ing 10 both Lee and Redfield TO
permit Of any study OF the land.
scape. which went by as II dismissed
by the chariot wheels OF some con-
temptuous magician. Redheld's eyes
were mostly on the road lin the man.
ner Of, the careful auto driver. but
when he did look up II was TO admire
the color and poise Of his seat mate,
who made the landscape OF small ac-
| count
| She kept the conversation to the de-
sired point. "Mr Cavanagh's work
interests me very much. II seems very
important. and II must be new. for I
never heard Of n forest ranger when
I was a child"
'The forester Is new. ut 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 dominson-the
cattle range-ls 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
and so obtain favors. The newer men
are college bred. real foresters. But
you can't know what Il all means TIL
you see Ross or some other ranger on
his own heath Wen make up little
party some day and drop down upon
him and have him show US about. It's
a lonely life. and 50 the ranger keeps
open house. Would you like TO gor'
"Oh. yes. indeed. I'm eager 10 get
into the mountains. Every night as l
see the sun go down over them won
der what the world Is like up there"
Then he began very delicately TO IN
quirc about her eastern experience.
There was not much 10 tell In a love
ly old town not far from Philadelphia.
where her aunt lived. she had spent
ten years Of happy exile. Il was hor-
ribly lonely and homesick at first" she
said. Mother wrote only short let
tiers. and my father never wrote at all
, I didn't know he was dead then. He
was always good TO me. He wasn't
bad man, was hei"
mo" responded Redheld without
hesitation. HE was very like the rest
Of us. only a 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
rustiers."
What was Il all abouti never IN
derstood It. What were they fighting
about?'
I'm a sense II 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 cattleman. st 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-
tanning water and 81. gun In hand.
stood on 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. aud no man could come
In without our consent.
However. a very curious law of our
own making was our undoing. or
course the hester or 'punkin roller
as we CONTEMPORARY called the small
farmer. began sitting In here and there
In spite OF our guns, but he was only a
mosquito bite In comparison with the
trouble which our eowpunchers stirred
up. Perhaps you remember enough
about the business TO know that an
unbranded yearllng calf without Its
mother is called a maverickr
Eyes; I remember that. II belongs
to the man who finds him and brands
him"
Precisely. Now. that law worked
very nicely so long as the poor COW
boy was willing TO catch and brand
him for his employer, but II proved a
Joker when be woke up and said 10