USFS 1919

This book was extremely difficult for me to get into.  The narrator started off by stating that he was a 17 year old boy who worked for the United States Forrest Service in 1919.  He was in the wilderness of Montana and Idaho.  He talked a lot about the setting that he was in more than the people he was with.  I realized right off that he was a man that appreciated nature to its fullest, but not so much people.  He somewhat idolized Bill Bell, but dispised the Cook.  He was up there with more crew,  but didn't go into much detail about them.  The story started getting more interesting to me when the Bill put together a plan where the crew was to go back into town and bet on the Cooks talents as a cardshark.  The Narrator was a tad bit jealous because he felt that Bill favored the Cook over him.  It was then that he chose to walk the 14 miles up and 14 miles down (and then some) in one day. This was all to impress Bill.  He made it in one day, but when he got there his body was strained and he passed out (after floundering on icecream sodas) in the chinese restaurant. He chose not to tell Bill because he felt ashamed.  The night of the card game they were watching as the Cook was slowly winning, when one of the house players tried to deal the Cook a sixth card. The Cook caught it and tricked the house players.  That's when the Narrator went in tograb the pot and procceeded to get the snot beat out of him.  It was a total brawl, but in the middle of it Bill threw the Cook (whom the Narrator didnt like) into the wall to protect him.  The next day the Narrator got himself cleaned up and it was the Cook who got beat up and lost his money.  The Narrator was the bigger man and gave him enough money to get to Butte.  After that he met up with Bill to help him pack and realized that he had earned the respect that he had wanted from his mentor.  They parted ways with the thought that they would meet up the next summer, but it never happened.