him cancelled. Nor did
Baker himself return. He sent instead a note advising some one to go
over to Plant's headquarters. Accordingly Bob saddled his horse, and
followed the messenger back to the Supervisor's summer quarters.

After an hour and a half of pleasant riding through the great forest,
the trail dropped into a wagon road which soon led them to a fine, open
meadow.

"Where does the road go to in the other direction?" Bob asked his guide.

"She 'jines onto your road up the mountain just by the top of the rise,"
replied the ranger.

"How did you get up here before we built that road?" inquired Bob.

"Rode," answered the man briefly.

"Pretty tough on Mr. Plant," Bob ventured.

The man made no reply, but spat carefully into the tarweed. Bob
chuckled to himself as the obvious humour of the situation came to him.
Plant was evidently finding the disputed right of way a great
convenience.

The meadow stretched broad and fair to a distant fringe of aspens. On
either side lay the open forest of spruce and pines, spacious, without
undergrowth. Among the trees gleamed several new buildings and one or
two old and weather-beaten structures. The sounds of busy saws and
hammers rang down the forest aisles.

Bob found the Supervisor sprawled comfortably in a rude, homemade chair
watching the activities about him. To his surprise, he found there also
Oldham, the real-estate promoter from Los Angeles. Two men were nailing
shakes on a new shed. Two more were busily engaged in hewing and sawing,
from a cross-section of a huge sugar pine, a set of three steps. Plant
seemed to be greatly interested in this, as were still two other men
squatting on their heels close by. All wore the badges of the Forest
Reserves. Near at hand stood two more men holding their horses by the
bridle. As Bob ceased his interchange with Oldham, he overhead one of
these inquire:

"All right. Now what do you want us to do?"

"Get your names on the pay-roll and don't bother me," replied Plant.

Plant caught sight of Bob, and, to that young man's surprise, waved him
a jovial hand.

"'Bout time you called on the old man!" he roared. "Tie your horse to
the ground and come look at these steps. I bet there ain't another pair
like 'em in the mountains!"

Somewhat amused at this cordiality, Bob dismounted.

Plant mentioned names by way of introduction.

"Baker told me that you were with him, but not that you were on the
mountain," said Bob. "Be