“And the chances are, he won’t dare to block our path again in a hurry,” Thad declared.
“Say, that old painter must a got a shock, though,” Giraffe went on. “It was enough to scare anything that walks on four legs, or even two. Fact is, if I hadn’t been looking for it, the giddy old thing would a given me a start.”
“Same here,” admitted Step Hen.
“Now that the way’s clear, let’s go on, boys,” remarked Thad, as he took his gun again from Step Hen; “and we’ll hope all our troubles can be chased away as easy as that.”
CHAPTER XXV.
“CATCHING A TARTAR;” AND A FAT ONE AT THAT.
They had little trouble moving along now.
Somehow, it seemed as though the eyes of Step Hen and Giraffe must be getting more accustomed to the way obstacles could be avoided; or else the woods had become a little more open. At any rate they stumbled not at all now, which would seem to be a lucky thing, because all the while they were constantly drawing closer to the fire.
Thad and Allan knew they had need of caution. Those two precious rogues of timber spies were roaming this region with the intention of locating patches of valuable trees near enough to a stream to be felled, and floated down by the next Spring freshet. They were on Government land, and their rich but unscrupulous employers had been long engaged in this form of robbery, by which the reservations lose many millions of feet of fine lumber every year.
And such men, knowing that their work is evil, and that they are constantly breaking the law, suspect every stranger of being a Government spy. No wonder then they showed dislike at the mere mention of the name of Toby Smathers, who was a forest ranger, at times in the employ of the Washington authorities, and always on the lookout for the operations of timber thieves.
Thad could see some one moving about. This happened when the other chanced to come between himself and the fire.