The Young Forester | Page 4

up. Then it's an outdoor
life--healthy, free--why! all the boys I've told take to the idea. There's
something fine about it." "Forestry it is, then," replied he. "I like the
promise of it, and I like your attitude. If you have learned so much
while you were camping out here the past few summers it speaks well
for you. But why do you want to go to Arizona?"
"Because the best chances are out West. I'd like to get a line on the
National Forests there before I go to college. The work will be different;
those Western forests are all pine. I've a friend, Dick Leslie, a fellow I
used to fish with, who went West and is now a fire ranger in the new
National Forest in Arizona--Penetier is the name of it. He has written
me several times to come out and spend a while with him in the
woods."
"Penetier? Where is that--near what town?"
"Holston. It's a pretty rough country, Dick says; plenty of deer, bears,
and lions on his range. So I could hunt some while studying the forests.
I think I'd be safe with Dick, even if it is wild out there."
"All right, I'll let you go. When you return we'll see about the college."
Then he surprised me by drawing a letter from his pocket and handing
it to me. "My friend, Mr. White, got this letter from the department at
Washington. It may be of use to you out there."
So it was settled, and when father drove off homeward Hal and I went
back to camp. It would have been hard to say which of us was the more
excited. Hal did a war dance round the campfire. I was glad, however,
that he did not have the little twinge of remorse which I experienced,
for I had not told him or father all that Dick had written about the
wilderness of Penetier. I am afraid my mind was as much occupied
with rifles and mustangs as with the study of forestry. But, though the
adventure called most strongly to me, I knew I was sincere about the

forestry end of it, and I resolved that I would never slight my
opportunities. So, smothering conscience, I fell to the delight of making
plans. I was for breaking camp at once, but Hal persuaded me to stay
one more day. We talked for hours. Only one thing bothered me. Hal
was jolly and glum by turns. He reveled in the plans for my outfit, but
he wanted his own chance. A thousand times I had to repeat my
promise, and the last thing he said before we slept was: "Ken, you're
going to ring me in next summer!"
II. THE MAN ON THE TRAIN
Travelling was a new experience to me, and on the first night after I left
home I lay awake until we reached Altoona. We rolled out of smoky
Pittsburg at dawn, and from then on the only bitter drop in my cup of
bliss was that the train went so fast I could not see everything out of my
window.
Four days to ride! The great Mississippi to cross, the plains, the Rocky
Mountains, then the Arizona plateaus-a long, long journey with a wild
pine forest at the end! I wondered what more any young fellow could
have wished. With my face glued to the car window I watched the level
country speed by.
There appeared to be one continuous procession of well-cultivated
farms, little hamlets, and prosperous towns. What interested me most,
of course, were the farms, for all of them had some kind of wood. We
passed a zone of maple forests which looked to be more carefully kept
than the others. Then I recognized that they were maple-sugar trees.
The farmers had cleaned out the other species, and this primitive
method of forestry had produced the finest maples it had ever been my
good-fortune to see. Indiana was flatter than Ohio, not so well watered,
and therefore less heavily timbered. I saw, with regret, that the
woodland was being cut regularly, tree after tree, and stacked in cords
for firewood.
At Chicago I was to change for Santa Fe, and finding my train in the
station I climbed aboard. My car was a tourist coach. Father had
insisted on buying a ticket for the California Limited, but I had argued

that a luxurious Pullman was not exactly the thing for a prospective
forester. Still I pocketed the extra money which I had assured him he
need not spend for the first-class ticket.
The huge station, with its glaring lights and clanging bells, and the
outspreading city, soon gave place to prairie land.
That night I slept little, but the very time I wanted to be