The Ranger Boys Outwit the Timber Thieves Part 20

"That's my baby," said King in a frightened tone. "Something's hurt her!"

CHAPTER XVI

GARRY SAVES A LIFE

They rushed back to the cabin and a sight met their eyes that stunned them all.

The youngster with childish curiosity, had climbed up on the table and captured the bottle of iodine. It was immediately evident that the child had drunk some of the poison, for its lips were stained. There was no telling how much the child had drunk, for the bottle had fallen to the floor, spilling some of the liquid over the floor.

The old man seized his child in his arms, and tears began to roll down his cheeks.

"Oh, she's going to die, she's going to die," he moaned.

Garry's brain spun with thought.

"Quick," he shouted to the old man. "There's one thing that will save her. What did you do with that foodstuff you took out of the pack there?"

The sharpness of his tone startled the old man into activity. The words of Garry that there was one way to save her galvanized him into action.

"It's up there on the shelf back of you. Can ye save my baby? Hurry!

Save her an' there's nothin' on this earth I won't do for ye!"

Garry had fortunately remembered that he had in his knapsack a package of cornstarch that they had brought to make thickening for gravy in case they did any cooking. Garry, and for that matter both of his chums, were pastmasters in the art of first aid to the injured. They knew that the antidote for iodine was cornstarch.

Rus.h.i.+ng to the shelf, Garry s.n.a.t.c.hed the package and tore open the top.

His eyes fell on a can of mustard and he seized that.

On the ground outside the door Garry had noted a campfire with an old tin pail swung across it on a branch held up by forked sticks. Working with the speed of an express train, he dashed through the door and grabbed the pail of hot water.

Back in the cabin, he took a tin cup from the table, and hastily melting some of the mustard, made an emetic. This he gently forced the frightened child to swallow. Soon the emetic had the desired effect, and by this time Garry had moistened the cornstarch to the consistency of cream.

While the frightened squatter looked on helplessly, Garry fed the cornstarch to the baby, who seemed instinctively to trust the boy, and made little fuss over taking the pasty drink.

Throughout the morning Garry, with almost the skill of a trained nurse, watched the child's breathing and kept count of her pulse. As nothing developed to show that the child was in any danger, Garry privately formed the opinion that the iodine had not gotten much further than the inside of her mouth, and that the burn of the poison had prevented her from drinking any great quant.i.ty of it. Then, too, the stain on the floor, where the liquid had sunk into the rough boards, was large enough to denote that most of the contents of the small bottle were on the floor and had not been swallowed by the child.

As the youngster brightened up, the relief of the father was almost pitiful to see. He grasped the hand of Garry and in broken, halting words thanked him for saving the life of the baby. At the door was a throng of curious squatters, and when they saw that the King baby was going to live, gradually broke away and returned to their duties. All this time Phil had stood by ready to lend a hand, in case Garry needed a.s.sistance.

"Boys," said the old man, "I've never broken my word before, but this is one time that I'm going to. It will mean that we'll be driven off here, but that can't be helped. You can go away whenever you want to. My promise to that Frenchman ain't nothin' to me since you've saved my baby."

This was what Garry had hoped would happen. He did not want to trade the baby's safety for freedom, but there was still d.i.c.k to consider. He might be and probably was in grave danger at that moment, and it behooved the boys to return as speedily as possible to the lumber camp to set in motion the machinery to effect d.i.c.k's release, for they had decided that d.i.c.k was probably a prisoner at the camp. Of course they did not know of the hidden room under the storehouse, where, at that moment, their friend was still languis.h.i.+ng.

"I'll make you a promise now," said Garry. "It happens that my father owns this tract of land, and I'll give you my word that you will not be forced to move from here for the rest of the summer. Of course the logging will soon extend in this direction and you will be forced off, but until that happens you can stay here unmolested. Now we're going back to start a young war at the camp, and release a chum of ours who is held prisoner there."

"You better stay here for awhile, for part of the word of the Frenchman was that another boy would be brought here to be kept. Now if you boys stay here and pretend to be prisoners when LeBlanc comes with your friend, you can wait till he goes and then all be freed together. In case there's any trouble comes, I guess my men and I can take care of it."

"That's fine," said Garry. "I don't think there's anything better that can be done. When did you expect LeBlanc to come with the other boy?"

"The Frenchman was aiming to get back here by tomorrow night," replied King. "He'd have to start in the night time, which will probably be tonight, and get here some time tomorrow afternoon."

"How will LeBlanc be able to find his way in the dark?" asked Garry.

"I left one of my men behind to meet him and guide him," answered the old man. Then a thought struck him, and he asked:

"What are you all such powerful enemies for?"

Garry then told him some of the adventures that they had encountered, and the part that the halfbreed had played in them. When he came to the tale of how LeBlanc had kidnapped little Patty Graham, the old man's eyes flashed fire.

"He's a treacherous weazel, that halfbreed. I don't mind some of the other things he did, but any man that will steal a person's baby ought to be cut into pieces. I'll tell you that. When he comes here with your friend, we'll just tie him up and keep him here and you can do what you want to with him."

This seemed like a stroke of real luck for the boys. It would mean LeBlanc would be safely held until time for them to have him taken to prison to pay the much deserved penalty for his crimes, and at the same time would rid them of a dangerous enemy, as well as lessening by one the allies of the rascally Barrows.

The rest of the day pa.s.sed quickly, and they told the squatter king many of the things of the outside world. He had heard little or nothing of the great cities, and had never seen a moving picture nor ridden in a railroad train. But he knew the woods as few men do, except perhaps the Hermit, although there was no comparison between this giant of the woods, who could neither read nor write, and the old recluse, who was eternally surprising the boys with a quotation from some poet, or a s.n.a.t.c.h of Latin.

"Now, Phil," said Garry, when they were left alone for awhile by the squatter, "let's plan a war campaign. As soon as d.i.c.k gets here, we will let him have a good rest, and then hike for the camp. We'll make it to get to the small lake without anyone seeing us, and there we'll get the canoe and portage it through the woods to the other lake. There we can hide out and get the dope on the timber thieves. Once we have done that, we have only to draw in the strings, and we'll have the whole job done."

Phil a.s.sented to this as the wisest course to follow, and night coming on, they turned in. The squatter had insisted on giving up his own cabin to them, which although poor and bare, was the best one on the clearing.

They whiled away the next day waiting the arrival of d.i.c.k, and hoping that no change would be made in the plans of Barrows to prevent d.i.c.k's being sent to Misery Camp.

It was late afternoon when a man whom the squatter king had sent into the woods to act as lookout came running back.

"He's got a young fellow with him," he told the squatter leader.

"Is it the Frenchman?" demanded the old man.

"Yes, it's a Frenchman, but," and here the boys met with a disappointment. "It's not the one that came the other time, but a fellow that looks like him."

"Tough luck; that's Baptiste, not Jean. Look King, I've changed my mind about having him captured. Let him go back and let the camp think that we are held prisoners safely here. That will allow us to work with greater freedom. Now we'll duck under cover and you meet the halfbreed and bring d.i.c.k here."

"Just as you say," said the old man. "All you have to do around here from now on is to say the word, and everyone in Misery will do just as you order. I will, and I'll see to it that the others toe the line."

"Funny he don't come," muttered Garry.

"Oh, he won't be here for a time yet," said the chap who had brought the warning. "I was in a tree top, and could see way down to a clearing, and saw them there taking a rest. Ain't n.o.body on the clearin' here that can run as fast as I can, and I came quicker than ever to tell you about it."

"Had we better let Baptiste see us so that he will know we are still here, Garry?" asked Phil.

"That's a good suggestion. Suppose you station a guard with a rifle outside the door, King, and let Baptiste have a peek at us when he gets here," directed Garry turning to the squatter.

"That's what I'll do. Here you, Job," turning to the youth who had brought news of the coming of Baptiste and d.i.c.k. "You take your stand outside there like as if you were guardin't the door. Now I'll get out o' here and meet them."

The squatter king hastened out, while Job stood before the shack door with his rifle clutched in his hands. Garry and Phil, with some excitement, waited the coming of d.i.c.k.

In a few moments they heard someone approaching, and King threw open the door. "Here's your friend," he whispered, and thrust someone in.