They drive him away, and later find the halfbreed is inimical to them because of a fancied grievance he has against the elder Boone. They also make a staunch friend in the person of Nate Webster, an old Maine guide. Later Webster replaces the Deputy Ranger, Anderson by name, who has proved incompetent, and Anderson joins forces with LeBlanc and becomes an enemy of the Ranger Boys, and nearly succeeds in doing them great harm.
Another friend is made in the person of an old hermit, who on several occasions warns the boys of impending peril by sending them cryptic notes.
On one occasion Jean LeBlanc kidnaps the little daughter of a family by the name of Graham, who are camping in the woods. With the aid of a note from the hermit, the boys are able to rescue her and capture LeBlanc. The latter, however, escapes and makes much trouble for the boys, finally setting fire to the woods.
He and Anderson escape by climbing a sheer cliff. Still later the boys are asked by the Customs Secret Service to get evidence of a gang of smugglers on the Canadian border. This they do and the gang is seized, all except LeBlanc who dodges back across the boundary and is hence safe from arrest since he is on Canadian territory and not amenable to the United States law.
During a rainy season, they seek out the hermit and find him; that is, Dick finds him. One of their greatest adventures during the search for the gang of border smugglers is the finding, with the aid of an old map, of a tourmaline mine. The boys get a deed to the mineral rights of the land, and plan at a later date to mine the gems and make a handsome income for themselves.
It must also be explained that there is a mystery connected with Dick. His father was a college professor of geology and botany, and a classmate of Mr. Boone. He had a fall from a horse that destroyed his memory, and before an operation could be performed, disappeared. Dick’s mother had died when he was a baby, and so being without parents or home, Mr. Boone had become his guardian, bringing him up with his own son, Garry.
Now that we have a brief sketch of the boys and their previous activities, let us see what Mr. Boone’s need of them is.
“Here is the whole story, boys,” said Mr. Boone as they finished their dinner and returned to his room. “As you know, I have extensive interests not only in the timberland but in the mills that manufacture paper. Recently I severed connections with several of the mills, and put all my eggs in one basket, so to speak, by investing my funds all in one mill. Of course it is impossible to do business on a big scale without making many business enemies, or at least determined rivals. I have a good many such, and I have been given to understand that several of them have pooled their resources and become connected with the mills from which I withdrew my money.
“Of course I have not enough work in my one mill to take care of all the timber that I can cut, so I contract to supply other mills, necessarily becoming a rival of some of the other timber owners.
“Then, too, I have recently decided to start an experiment in summer lumbering. You know, of course, that Maine’s lumber cutting season has always been in the winter because the logs could be cut and hauled over the snow to the rivers and then when the spring unleashed the ice-bound rivers, the logs could be driven down to the mills. However, I am figuring on getting out lumber for building during the summer and in the winter getting the logs for the pulp mills to grind ready for the making of paper. I have several important contracts with a time limit; that is, the necessary amount of lumber must be gotten out by a certain date else I forfeit my profit and large damages besides.