THE WOODS-RIDER [Illustration: “What’s the matter? Why aren’t you boys at work?”] THE WOODS-RIDER BY FRANK LILLIE POLLOCK Author of “Wilderness Honey,” etc. ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. C. EDWARDS AND JOHN EDWIN JACKSON NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1922 Copyright, 1922, by The Century Co. Copyright, 1918, 1919, by Perry Mason Company PRINTED IN U. S. A. CONTENTS I Wreck in the Woods II Old Dick’s Bees III The River Orchard IV Disappointment V Buried Treasure VI Disaster VII Stolen Rosin VIII The River Island IX Bees and Rosin X Down the River XI The Bayou Bees XII Taming the Wild Bees XIII Pirates’ Treasure XIV Under Fire XV The Treasure of Rosin XVI The Bee Raft XVII War on the River XVIII The Harvest LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS “What’s the matter? Why aren’t you boys at work?” By its light he was able to find a strong enough piece of wood for a lever Apparently nobody had been there since their own last visit With the next daylight they began the work of tearing down Old Dick’s cabin THE WOODS-RIDER CHAPTER I WRECK IN THE WOODS Leaning from his saddle, Joe Marshall looked into the cup that hung on the turpentine-tree. One side of the great long-leaf pine had been stripped of its bark to a height of three feet, leaving a tall, livid scar, sticky with resinous exudation. A thick layer of hardened gum crusted over its lower edge, and two tin gutters near the top carried the gummy oozings into the two-quart tin cup suspended from a hook driven into the tree. It was only March, but the weather had been unusually warm, and the gum was running in thin viscous threads imperceptibly slow, but the cup was half full of the sticky whitish mass. “I declare, we can begin dipping soon!” Joe said to himself, glancing around at the other pines, which were all similarly blazed and tapped.