By
permitting the tree to stand and merely building a staging up to the
burl, the latter could have been removed without vital injury to the
tree--whereas by destroying the tree the wretches had evidenced all
too clearly to Bryce a wanton desire to add insult to injury.
Bryce inspected the scars on the stump carefully. They were weather-
stained to such an extent that to his experienced eye it was evident
the outrage had been committed more than a year previously; and the
winter rains, not to mention the spring growth of grasses and
underbrush, had effectually destroyed all trace of the trail taken by
the vandals with their booty.
"Poor old Dad!" he murmured. "I'm glad now he has been unable to get
up here and see this. It would have broken his heart. I'll have this
tree made into fence-posts and the stump dynamited and removed this
summer. After he is operated on and gets back his sight, he will come
up here--and he must never know. Perhaps he will have forgotten how
many trees stood in this circle. And I'll fill in the hole left by
the stump and plant some manzanita there to hide the--"
He paused. Peeping out from under a chip among the litter at his feet
was the moldy corner of a white envelope. In an instant Bryce had it
in his hand. The envelope was dirty and weather-beaten, but to a
certain extent the redwood chips under which it had lain hidden had
served to protect it, and the writing on the face was still legible.
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