CHAPTER XV.--TOLD BY THE FOREST RANGER.

The rangers, almost exhausted, were fighting the fire desperately, hoping against hope, when the cyclone--it amounted at times almost to that--struck the forest. Then they knew that the fight was lost for the time being.

It was now a question of escaping from the flames they had been battling with. The chief foresters knew very well that there was a way to safety, but they had under their command many rangers who had joined the service merely for the adventures they anticipated meeting, and these, they understood, would be hard to manage.

When the order came to drop everything and fall back some of the new men accused those in authority of cowardice and kept on in the course mapped out for them under entirely different conditions. Two of them even insisted on starting back to the rough shanty and preparing dinner. They lost their way in the blazing inferno, and their bones were found two weeks later, at the foot of a tree which had been burned into a stub, but which had not fallen.

When the danger became apparent to Green who was in charge of the company found by Nestor, he ordered his men into a "burn" of half a dozen acres in extent. By "burn" is meant a patch of forest which has been cleared by fire the previous year. This "burn" was entirely stripped of trees. The fire had done its work well, but had been checked before spreading.

The men could hear trees falling as they dashed along. The fire was screaming, the wind whistling and roaring. Coals of fire, driven like arrows by the wind, hit the men in the back as they rushed toward safety. At last the "burn" was gained, and the men threw themselves face down on the ground. At the eastern edge there were large logs which had not been entirely consumed, and some of the men lay down behind them.

The air was so hot that it cut the lungs like acid. Above, across the old "burn," streamed a river of flame, now racing like a mountain torrent, now dropping sullenly back to the west, like a fiery ceiling which had been rolled away. On such occasions the fainting foresters below could catch a breath of fresh air and a hazy view of the sky.

Some of the men, half crazed by their sufferings, arose to their feet and shook clenched hands at the blazing forests, at the brassy sky, and the green hills away to the east. Green crept from one to another and whispered that the only hope of life lay in keeping on the ground.

Once when he was creeping toward a man who was moaning in anguish and despair he turned his eyes upward to the sky, clear for an instant, for the wind was wayward after a time, and saw a speck sweeping out of the west, dropping lower and lower, whirling in the wind, racing like an express train.

"Dan," he whispered to the man he was trying to comfort, "get a brace! There's no use of giving up now. Why, man, the fight is won, and Nestor is coming back with water!"

"Impossible!" grunted the other. "Impossible--in this wind!"

"Then look," Green said.

A sheet of flame swept over the "burn," lay upon it for an instant like a red-hot roof, and then warped and twisted itself away.

"I see," Dan said, looking into the sky again, "but he can't land. Impossible--in this storm!"

"Wait and see!" Green said, and sank back to the earth.

The aeroplane circled, high up, like a bird seeking its prey in the burning forest. The wind was tolerably steady at that height, but Ned knew that when he came into the lower current he would meet conditions which he could not understand.

"There's a place to drop!" Frank shouted to him, pointing ahead to the "burn," which seemed only a few yards away.

The aeroplane had missed the tree which had threatened it by an inch, and had turned upward again, for there were other trees in the way of a descent there. The "burn" was the first free spot that had been observed, and, besides, it lay inside the line Ned had figured as leading to the foresters.

"Hang on!" Ned cried.

The aeroplane plunged down, almost vertically, and Frank felt as if he was standing on his head.

"Don't jump when it strikes the ground," Ned commanded.

Watched by a score of anxious eyes--for the foresters under Green had all been told of the coming relief--the aeroplane shot down, struck the ground at the center of the "burn," rolled swiftly for a few yards, and stopped. At that moment the space above filled with flame.

Both boys threw themselves on the ground and waited. When the fierce gust was over the men gathered about them eagerly.

"Did you make it?" asked Green.

"Yes," Ned replied. "Get the bags out and distribute the water. Don't let the men waste it."

"I'll see to that," cried Green.

Without the water, without the cooling sips, without the wet cloths held over nose and mouth, without the saturated sponges laid on scorched heads, the men would have died there in the forest. Presently, when the consumption of the timber to the west reduced the heat, when the wind quieted down in a measure, they were ready for another fight with the flames, and it was owing largely to their exertions that the fire was extinguished before millions of acres had been burned over.

"It is a dream!" Green exclaimed, that afternoon, as he stood by Ned and the aeroplane. "I don't believe yet that you did it."

"I don't see how I did," laughed Ned. "Anyhow, I'm sure I couldn't do it again. I guess Providence took the matter into his own hands. Honestly, I do not believe any human strength or skill could do what was done with the aeroplane to-day. It was a miracle."

"I know of a nervy boy who had something to do with the miracle," said Green.

Ned was naturally anxious regarding Pat, Jack and Jimmie, but believed they would show up in good form whenever he got back to the vicinity of the place where they had been left. When the boys were in camp with the rangers that night, Ned asked Frank about Pat's idea of safety after refusing to go up in the aeroplane.

"He said he would stay about the valley," Frank replied. "There is plenty of provisions there, you know, and Pat is quite long on the eats," he added, with a laugh.

"And Jack and Jimmie will be sure to hang about the neighborhood of the caves," Ned said. "The Chinese boy, Liu, will be able to care for them. If there is enough gasoline in the tanks, I may go back to the valley to-night."

"You'd better get some sleep to-night," Frank advised. "I don't know how long it has been since you settled down for a night of it. If you keep your brain working right you've got to sleep."

"I really ought to go to San Francisco," was the astonishing reply to this advice. "I have work to do there."

"What work?" demanded Frank.

"You see," Ned answered, "we have done nothing yet, except discover a crime with which we are supposed to have nothing to do. We have brought a little water for the fire-fighters, but we came here for a certain purpose, and we have not made good as yet. Perhaps, when I get to Frisco, I can hunch my wits, as the baseball fans say, and report good progress."

"I don't understand what you mean," Frank said.

"I am not sufficiently sure of my ground to attempt an explanation now," Ned replied.

"Of course," Frank said, thoughtfully, "there's the murder case you went to Frisco about before. You might look that up again, but I can't see where that has any bearing on this forest fire business."

"You may be surprised," Ned said, "when the end comes. Somehow, I have an idea that the two crimes dovetail into each other."

"Nothing stirring!" laughed Frank. "They don't seem to me to match. Still, you may have information I do not possess."

An hour later, after the not very elaborate supper had been eaten, Green came to the little tent which had been set aside for Ned and Frank. He had not wholly escaped the dangers of the day unscathed. There were burns on his hands and face, and one of his feet was bandaged.

"Shoe burned through," he said, shortly. "I shall have to walk with a crutch for several days."

"You won't like that," Ned suggested.

"No, indeed," was the reply, "especially as I would like to be moving about in order to see what has happened to the other boys."

"Have you heard from any of the other groups?" asked Ned.

"Howard came in from the north," was the reply. "Three men killed up there. The fire caught them unawares. One of my men has gone south, but it will be some hours before I hear from him."

"I am afraid there were several lives lost," Ned said. "In the morning I'll fly about and see what I can learn."

"What I came here to talk about," Green said, after a pause, "is this. I want to know what you think of the Chinks?"

"The Chinese fire-fighters?" asked Ned.

Green laughed quietly for a moment before replying. Then:

"They told you that, did they?"

Ned nodded. He wanted to jump into the subject without waiting for Green to have his say, for he was greatly interested, but prudence told him to listen to the forester first.

"Yes," he said. "They told me that."

"Also that they were foresters--the men who told the story about the Chinks, I mean?"

"Yes, one of them claimed to be in charge of this district."

"Well, you know better than that now, so there is no use in talking about that. You saw some of the Chinks?"

"Certainly. I even had the honor of visiting their residence."

Frank laughed, wondering what sort of a story Ned would have to tell him when they were alone again.

"It is a wonder you ever got out again," Green said.

"I left under the excitement of the fire," Ned said. "It was easy enough."

"Do you know where the Chinks have gone?" asked Green.

"I think I do," was the reply.

"To San Francisco?"

"Yes, some of them. Others to Portland, I think."

"Smuggled in?"

"Of course, though it seems odd that they should want to cross the border so far away from civilization. It must be expensive getting them in over such a route."

"The men at the bottom of the game are watched," Green said. "Watched so closely that they are obliged to keep out of the actual work and do their business through unsuspected channels. After this place has been raided they will try some other point."

"You know what has been going on then?" asked Ned, surprised that the matter, as understood by the forester, had not been reported to him by the Secret Service man in San Francisco.

"Yes," was the reply.

"And you have reported to your superior officers?"

Green nodded, and Ned began to feel provoked at the strange attitude taken by the government in the matter. Surely he should have been posted as to conditions in the district before being sent on.

"Why wasn't I informed of this new element in the case?" he asked.

"Well," Green replied, "the officials have an idea that the men who are running the Chinks and the opium in are the men who are responsible for the forest fires. In fact, I have so reported to them for a long time."

"Go on," the puzzled boy requested.

"You see," Green continued, "I might go and pick up a couple of dozen Chinks almost any month, and capture a lot of opium, and arrest a few men caught with the goods on, but, don't you see, that wouldn't end the game?"

"I see that," Ned answered.

"There is a man at the head of this game who is working from behind the scenes somewhere," Green hastened to say. "I don't know who he is. The officials at San Francisco don't know who he is, or where he is. The big guns at Washington know just about as much regarding the head center of the game as we do. Well, that is what you were sent here for--to get down to cases, as I used to say on South Clark street, Chicago."

"It was thoughtful of them not to interrupt the game until I got here," Ned said.

"Yes, I thought so," Green went on. "I thought that any man, or boy, coming here to get to the bottom of this thing would want us to leave a few ropes hanging out for him to climb down. You found 'em."

"Yes, I found them," Ned replied. "I found the counterfeit foresters and the Chinks, as you call them, and I found something else."

"That is what we expected you would do," Green said, after a moment's hesitation. "We wanted you to begin without pointers, with a brain free of all the unsuccessful schemes which have been worked. You see, I know a great deal about it, my boy," he added with a laugh. "I knew, days ago, that you would be here. When I saw the aeroplane in the sky I knew who was in charge of it."

"What is the next move?" asked the boy.

"That is for you to say," was the reply. "I am under orders to follow any reasonable instructions from you. It is for you to suggest something."

"Well," Ned said, "that brings me to a point I was studying over when you came in. I was wondering if you would detail men to do certain things for me."

"Sure I will. If Washington has confidence enough in you to put you in charge of the blindest case in history, why shouldn't I have equal confidence in you? You bet I'll be there with the oxen when you give the word."

"I thank you," Ned replied. "What I want now is men enough to guard two points. One is a cave near Lake Kintla, and the other is the cavern where the Chinese have been hiding."

"How many men?" asked Green.

"Two to each place. If there is need of more, others should be ready to assist."

"I wish you all success," Green said, after the details of the surveillance had been arranged. "We have located the tools, and now it is for you to let down to bed rock. The government wants the headpiece of this game, and believes that you can put your finger on him. Half a dozen inspectors have failed, but I have faith in you, boy."

"Well," Ned replied, "I am glad of your confidence, and thankful for the help you promise, and will only say that the man behind the scenes will soon be brought out. I think I know his 'cue'!" he added, with a laugh.

"Already?" asked Green.

"I am only expressing confidence in the clues I now hold," Ned said in reply. "It may be that the next clues I find will point the other way."

Green shook hands with the boys and went to his tent. It was a clear night up above the mountain tops, but down where the boys were the smoke of consumed forests lay on the ground like the gray ghost of fallen trees. Off to the west the summit of the Rocky Mountains--or one of the summits--lifted itself above the smudge, standing like a giant up to his neck in gray dust.

"Over there," Frank said, "is Pat--hungry, if you want to know, and nearer are Jack and Jimmie. I wish we could hear from them."

"If the ground wasn't still red hot back there," Ned said, "Jimmie would be sure to find us."

"By the way," Frank said, presently, "what did you mean when you told Green that you had a 'cue' which would bring out the man behind the scenes?"

"I meant that I have blundered on a clue which promises well," was the reply. "And now," he said, yawning, "I'm going to bed. Rather warm, but I think I'll sleep, all right."

In five minutes Ned was sound asleep and Frank was about to lie down by his side when Green made his appearance. The forester noted the sleeping boy and laid a finger on his lips.

"Let him sleep," he said. "And come out here and see if you know anything about the fellow that is tampering with the aeroplane."

"What is he doing to it?" whispered Frank.

"Acts like he was preparing to take a trip in it," was the reply.

The words were followed by the rattle of the motors.