XXII A DOWNY-LIPPED YOUTH IN GRAY FLANNELS
XXIII IT AIN'T THE TRUTH I'M TELLIN' YOU: IT'S
ONLY WHAT I'VE HEERD
XXIV I AM UNCLE SAM
XXV THE QUESTION IS--WHICH UNCLE SAM?
XXVI THE AWAKENING
XXVII THE AWAKENING CONTINUED
XXVIII THE UNITED STATES OF THE WORLD




FOREWORD

I have been asked how much of this tale of modern freebooters is true?
In exactly which States have such episodes occurred? Have vast herds
of sheep been run over battlements? Have animals been bludgeoned to
death; have men been burned alive; have the criminals not only gone
unpunished but been protected by the law-makers? Have sheriffs "hidden
under the bed" and "handy men" bluffed the press? Have vast domains of
timber lands been stolen in blocks of thousands and hundreds of
thousands of acres through "dummy" entrymen? Have the federal law
officers been shot to death above stolen coal mines? Have Reclamation
Engineers, and Land Office field men, and Forest Rangers undergone such
hardships in Desert and Mountain, as portrayed here? Have they not
only undergone the hardship, but been crucified by the Government which
they served for carrying out the laws of that Government? In a word,
are latter day freebooters of our Western Wilderness playing the same
game in the great transmontane domain as the old-time pirates played on
the high seas? Is this a true story of "the Man on the Job" and "the