hy should we get lumber from the Pacific
coast when we can get it from the South? The lumber dealer told us that
practically all the wood we use now conies from the South."

"He was right. But we shall presently be getting our lumber from the far
West for the same reason that we now get it from the South. In ten or a
dozen years there won't be any lumber left in the South for us to buy.
They will do well to supply themselves. Then we must bring our lumber from
Idaho and Oregon and Washington and California. The freight charges will
be something terrific, and the wood itself will cost a good deal more than
it now does because it will be so scarce."

"Great Caesar!" cried Lew. "What will a poor devil do then if he wants to
build a boat?"

"Or if he wants to build a house?" suggested the stranger. "You know lots
of folks have to build houses every year. Look at all the people who get
married and build homes. Why, when I was a little boy, you could buy the
finest kind of lumber for ten or fifteen dollars a thousand. It didn't
cost much then to build a house. Now a man has to work for years before he
can save enough to pay for a home, even a very modest one. And what it
will cost when the wood from the South and the far West is all gone I hate
to imagine."

"The wood from the far West all gone!" cried Charley. "Surely that can
never be. Why, the forests there are enormous. I've read all about them."

"The forests here were enormous, too, young man. Forty years ago
Pennsylvania supplied a large part of the nation with its lumber. And
to-day we don't grow more than one-tenth of the wood we use. Yes, sir;
within twenty-five years or so after we have finished up the wood in the
South, there won't be any left in the far West, either."

"What in the world are we going to do?" asked Lew.

"God knows," said the stranger solemnly. "But there is one thing we've
<i>got</i> to do right now. Get these mountains to growing timber again. We
must take care of what has already started to grow and plant trees where
there are none. Most important of all, we must be careful with fire. I
came down here just to warn you boys to be careful with your fire."

"It wasn't necessary," said Lew. "We fought a forest fire once, and nobody
but an idiot would ever be careless with fire if he had seen what we have
seen this morning."

"Well, I must be moving, boys. There are lots of other fishermen that are
not as careful as you are. Good-bye."

T