The Secret Camp in the Wilderness
Their encounter with the bear made the two lads forget for a while their
weariness. They made fast time along the fire trails. After a long tramp,
they topped the final ridge and paused to rest and study the country. This
they could do with ease, for the summit of the mountain was rather
sparsely timbered. A very little search disclosed a tree that was at once
tall and easy to climb, and that was surrounded only by low brush that
would not obstruct the vision. From this lookout they gained a wide view
in every direction.
"We can see for miles and miles," said Charley. "The forester was right in
telling us to come often to this lookout. We can discover more from here
in a minute than we could by a week of wandering about among the trees."
Slowly the boys swept their vision around the horizon. Everywhere the
mountains appeared to bask in the warm spring sunlight, seemingly as
secure as cats dozing by a fireplace. The fleecy clouds, passing across
the face of the sun, threw shadows on the hillsides, making beautiful
patterns of light and shade. The fresh, young growths gave forth a soft
green tint, in pleasing contrast to the darker colors of the pines.
Brooks sparkled in the bottoms. Far as the eye could reach this gorgeous
panorama extended.
"Isn't it wonderful?" said Charley, after the two boys had surveyed the
scene in silence. "The forest is one of nature's very finest gifts. And to
think what we do to it by our carelessness. At any minute this green
paradise may become a very hell of roaring flame, just because some smoker
is too careless to blow out his match before dropping it, or some camper
too lazy to make sure his fire is extinguished. Why, it seems to me that a
murderer is an innocent angel compared to such a man. Think what he does!
He kills the fish and the birds and the animals and perhaps some human
beings, and he destroys not only the wood that civilization must have, but
he ruins the very ground so that it cannot produce another forest. It
seems to me that a man who does that ought to be punished more severely
than any mere murderer. Why, a murderer kills only a single being. The man
who starts a forest fire kills countless living things. I tell you, Lew,
it makes me mighty proud to have a part in protecting this grand forest."
The boys were silent, wrapped in thought, until Lew suddenly pointed to a
dense growth of evergreens directly below them, and not very far down the
ridge. "That must be our camp site," he said. And both boys examined the
spot with interest.
"That must be it," said Charley. "It's dense enough, goodness knows! And
there is a little stream of water stealing out of the lower side of the
thicket. So there is a spring in there. Let's go down and take a look at
it."
They shouldered their packs, whistled the pup to their heels, and went
down to the thicket. In a space not less than a hundred yards in diameter
rhododendrons grew in indescribable density, while above them towered some
huge hemlocks. The two boys came close to the thicket and peered into it.
Even now, in the bright glare of the full sun, deep twilight reigned
beneath the rhododendrons. Evidently they were growths of great age. Their
stems were like young saplings. Their tops rose high and spread wide. And
their branches were laced and interlaced and twisted and grown together so
as to make a mass almost impenetrable.
"Great Ned!" cried Lew. "A passer-by would have about as much chance of
seeing us in there as we have of discovering China from this hillside. The
question is, how are we going to get into the place?"
Charley dropped on his hands and knees and crawled slowly under the low
rhododendron branches.
"Keep right in my tracks, Lew, if you come in," warned Charley. "If there
are any snakes in here, they'd bite a fellow before he could see them.
I'll look sharp for them and if you follow me, you won't run any risk."
He picked up a fallen branch, trimmed it, and crept on, stick in hand.
Suddenly he crowded back hard on Lew, almost kicking him in the face. At
the same time he began to thrash about in the leaves ahead of him.
"Great Cæsar!" he exclaimed. "I almost crawled on a big rattler. He was so
near the color of the ground that I didn't see him until he coiled and
raised his head. Gee! That was a close shave."
"As long as you didn't get bitten," said Lew, "It's a good thing it
happened. We'll be on our guard now."
"Yes, indeed. Did you put the potassium permanganate in the first-aid kit,
and the hypodermic syringe?"
"Surest thing you know."
"We'll just carry them with us, Lew. We won't take any chances on death by
snake-bite. These mountains are full of rattlers and copperheads."
"And we won't take any chances on being bitten in this thicket, either,"
answered Lew. "We'll put the pup in ahead of us."
They whistled in the dog and sent him scouring through the thicket. But
either there had been no more snakes within it or else all had fled, for
the dog raced eagerly about but found nothing to alarm him.
Confidently the boys now pushed into the interior of the thicket. At the
very heart of it lay the spring. It came bubbling up through pure, white
sand, and had formed a deep basin, over the lower edge of which the
crystal water went rippling away through the thicket.
"We'll put our tent right here," said Charley, indicating a level spot
beside the spring basin. "We'll have to clear away some of the bushes to
make room for it. We can use what we cut as a screen, though nobody would
ever see a tent away in here, especially one of brown khaki, like ours."
He drew his little axe and began clearing a space for the tent, cutting
the rhododendron stems a little below the surface of the ground. Lew piled
the branches at one side. Then the tent was dragged in and set up, the
rope being used as a ridge and tied to two strong saplings. The sides of
the tent were squared and pegged down.
"Drive the pegs tight, Lew," directed Charley. "We don't want to have
anything crawling under the sides. Thank goodness, we have a sod cloth."
After they had completed this task and set about bringing in the duffel,
Charley remarked, "We can't go in and out this way, on our hands and
knees. We've got to make a path. We'll find the best way out and trim the
bushes so that we can walk upright."
"We'd better not make the path straight," said Lew. "If we zigzag it,
nobody will know it really is a path."
After they had picked out a level route they trimmed back the rhododendron
branches so that they could walk through the thicket, though the branches
at the very edge were left undisturbed. The cut branches were added to
the screen about the tent. Then the duffel was carried in and stowed in
the tent.
"What bothers me," said Charley, "is to know how to put up our aerial. We
don't dare hang it up where it can be seen, and I don't know how well it
will work among these hemlocks."
"All we can do is to put it up and try it," said the ever practical Lew,
"and the sooner we do it the better."
Quickly they had their wires suspended between two hemlock trees. The
aerial reached almost from trunk to trunk, and the wires were completely
hidden by the branches that stood out all about them.
"If she'll work," commented Charley, "it's a peach of an arrangement.
Nobody would discover that aerial in a hundred years. I can hardly wait
until evening to test it out."
"Willie might be listening in again to-day," suggested Lew. "It will take
him several days to get that new outfit made. We'll try him on the hour."
"Good idea, Lew." He looked at his watch. "It's ten minutes to the hour
now. If Willie is listening in, we'll soon know whether or not our aerial
will work."
They began putting the tent in order, stowing the duffel in neat little
piles. Just outside the tent Lew built a foundation for the alcohol stove,
by leveling the earth and setting a flat stone for the stove to stand on.
Meanwhile, Charley was stuffing the tick with dry leaves.
Exactly on the hour Lew sat down at the wireless key and sent a call
flashing into the air. Promptly; his receiver buzzed in response.
"Got him," said Lew, and while Charley went on filling the tick and
bringing in hemlock branches to use like springs under the tick, Lew
conversed with Willie. The latter was still working at the new wireless
set, and had listened in every hour during the day. All the other members
of the Wireless Patrol were likewise hard at work, and it was practically
certain that by the time the vacation was ended each would have earned his
share of the money needed to buy the desired battery.
"I can't tell you where our camp is," rapped out Lew, "because that is a
secret that we are not supposed to tell. The forester does not want
anybody to know that Charley is employed by the forestry department. We
are posing as fishermen. Tell the fellows not to talk about Charley and
tell Charley's father the forester does not want it known for a time that
Charley is a fire patrol. He thinks that we have a better chance to find
things out if it is not known that we are connected with the forestry
department."
Willie said that he would caution the boys and tell Mr. Russell. Also he
said he would be in his workshop until supper time and would listen in
most of the time. The club members would be at their instruments as usual
to catch the time from Arlington and pick up some of the news. Lew
replied that he would call Willie then, if he needed him.
For some time after Lew laid down the receivers, the two boys worked
silently. They finished setting the hemlock branches in the earth, placed
the stuffed ticking above them, and laid their blankets in position. They
brought the wireless outfit into the tent and set the instruments in a
corner. The grub was stacked in another corner. A little pool was dug in
the stream just below the spring, to make a place for washing dishes.
Their extra clothes were hung on the ridge-rope. The first-aid kit was
fastened to the tent wall where it would be handy, and Charley put the
permanganate and the hypodermic syringe in his pocket.
They had almost completed their task, when a low whistle was heard outside
the thicket. The pup pricked up his ears and was about to bark. Lew
grabbed him and held his jaws together. Then both boys sat silent,
listening and looking questioningly at each other. Soon the whistle was
repeated.
"We've got to find out who's whistling," said Charley. "Keep the pup quiet
and I'll slip out and take a look."
He left the tent, but had hardly gone ten feet before a voice cried,
"Hello, Russell! Are you in the thicket? This is Morton, the ranger."
"Sure we're here," replied Charley, an expression of relief coming on his
face. "We didn't know who it was and kept quiet until we could take a
look. I'm coming out now."
He hurried from the thicket and shook hands warmly with the newcomer.
Instinctively he knew that he was going to like his ranger. Big,
broad-shouldered, quite evidently powerful, with a kindly expression, a
winning smile, and a deep voice that instantly created confidence, the
ranger was a picture of honest manhood. No one could look into his deep
blue eyes, set far apart, or examine the lines on his face, at once
betokening strength of character with gentleness, and not feel that here
was a man in very truth. One knew instinctively that he would never
hesitate a second to risk his life to save another's, and that he would be
as gentle as a woman in his dealings with all creatures. But the great,
strong jaw and the straight mouth and long nose all foretold fearless
courage, and were ample warning that the man would be terrible if stirred
to wrath.
"Come in and see our camp," said Charley, after the two had conversed for
a moment. And he led the way into the thicket.
The ranger followed, his practiced eye noting everything. "You've made a
good job of it," he said with commendation, when he was at last seated in
the tent. "Nobody will ever find you here, unless you do something to
betray your position. You'll have to be a little careful about fires. I
wouldn't make any during the daytime."
"We aren't going to make any at all," explained Charley. "Mr. Marlin gave
us an alcohol stove to cook with."
"I don't believe you need go so far as that. Use your alcohol stove
during the day. At night nobody can see smoke, and if you screen the
blaze, nobody will ever discover you. It would be pretty dismal here at
night without any light. Let's see if we can't fix up a little fireplace
that will help you out."
He got a number of large, flat stones, which he set on edge, fashioning a
high, square fireplace that opened toward the front.
"The stones will screen the flames on three sides, if you don't build too
big a fire," he said, "and your tent will shut off the view on the fourth
side."
"Thank you," said Charley. "It will be a whole lot more cheerful with a
fire. We have a candle lantern that we intended to use, but a fellow just
ought to have a fire when he's in camp."
As they began to discuss the work ahead of them, the ranger inquired,
"What instructions did Mr. Marlin give you?"
"He said that we should keep our connection with the department secret,"
said Charley, "and if possible, avoid meeting any one. If we do bump into
anybody, we are to pose as fishermen. He said you would give us detailed
instructions."
"Very well. First, about your outfit. Have you any firearms?"
"A light, high-powered rifle and a pistol."
"You can't carry a rifle in the forest at this season without exciting
suspicion. Leave your rifle here. Let me see your pistol? Have you
another?"
Charley handed him his pistol and said that he had no other.
"Then take this," he said as he handed Charley his automatic. "Let your
chum carry your pistol. I'll get another at the office. It isn't likely
that you will ever need to use a weapon in the forest. I have been a
ranger for years and have never yet drawn one, but I never travel without
one. You'll meet some pretty tough characters in the forest and sometime
your life may depend on having your pistol. My advice is never to patrol
without it. But keep it out of sight. Keep your badge out of sight, too.
And since you are supposed to be nothing more than fishermen, you'll have
to play the parts. Carry your rods and catch a few fish each day during
the season."
"Where are we to patrol, and what hours are we to observe?"
"You are especially employed to guard this virgin timber, though, of
course, you must protect any part of the forest you happen to be in. Take
some good hikes over the region right away and get acquainted with it. Use
your map and, if possible, learn the region by heart. Then your map will
mean something to you. Learn where the virgin timber lies. Keep a close
watch on it, and on any fishermen or campers. I'll spend at least two days
a week out here and you must report to me each time I am here. Meantime,
you must report to the office every night the last thing before you turn
in. The chief said you had a wireless and could do it. Maybe you can, but
it beats me to know how."
"We'll show you in a little while," smiled Charley as he glanced at his
watch. "Willie will surely be listening in within twenty minutes and we'll
call him."
"I'll have to take your word for it," said the ranger. "I can't wait a
minute. It will be long after dark before I get out of the mountains. I
telephoned my wife I'd be late, but she always worries when I'm out after
dark. You know snakes are bad up here, and they're all out at night. And
by the way, you'd better carry some of this permanganate. Do you know
anything about it, and what to do with it if you're bitten?" The ranger
started to pull a bottle from his pocket.
"Thanks," said Charley. "It's mighty good of you to offer to share with
us. But we have permanganate and a syringe both, and we know what to do
with them."
"Good. But be careful where you step. What do you wear on your feet?"
He examined the boys' shoes and canvas leggings. "They're all right. I
don't believe any snake will bite through them. But high leather boots
would be safer. Bear it in mind when you buy new shoes. Now I must go."
"When and where am I to report to you?" asked Charley.
They agreed upon a place of meeting, half-way between the highway and
Charley's camp, whereupon the ranger, holding out his hand, said,
"Good-bye and good luck to you."
"Do you have to go?" asked Charley. "Couldn't you stay overnight with us?"
"I'd like to, but the wife would worry herself sick."
"Suppose she knew that you were going to stay here. Would that make it all
right?"
"I'm often away overnight during the fire season," smiled the ranger.
"It's the snakes that she's afraid of. She'd rather have me stay here all
night than come through these mountains after dark. You see her father was
bitten by a snake when she was a girl and she is mortally afraid of them."
"Then you're going to stay here all night," said Charley, with decision.
"I'll get word to her right away."
The ranger smiled incredulously. "I wish you could," he said. "It would
relieve her mind."
Charley threw aside the pack cover that had been placed over the wireless
instruments. The ranger looked at the outfit with wondering interest.
Charley glanced at his watch and threw over the switch.
"Willie might be listening in," he explained, as the sparks began to leap
between the points of his spark-gap. Twice he called, then a bright smile
came over his face. "Got him," he said.
For some moments he alternately worked his key and listened to the return
buzzing in his receiver. Then he turned to the ranger. "Willie has the
forester on the telephone," he said. "What shall I tell him?"
"Ask him to tell Katharine that I shall stay here with you in your camp
overnight, as I could not get home until long after dark."
With fascinated gaze the ranger watched the sparks fly under Charley's
manipulation of the key. Then there was a long silence as the three sat
waiting for the reply.
"Katharine says to tell Jimmie she's awful glad," said Charley, relaying
the forester's message literally, "and to thank the new patrol for taking
care of him."
Then and there Charley knew that he was going to like not only the ranger,
but also the ranger's little wife. As for the ranger, he was almost
spellbound.
"I know you talked to the chief," he said, "but what gets me is <i>how</i> you
did it. Why, if I knew how and had an outfit like that, I could talk to
Katharine any time and anywhere."
"We'll make you an outfit and teach you how to use it," cried the two boys
together. "You shall have your first lesson to-night."
Twilight drew near. Lew brought out the grub bag, and Charley began
cooking some food over the little alcohol stove.
"I think that you can safely take a chance on a wood-fire at this hour,"
said the ranger. "I'll build it myself."
He placed a few dried leaves within the fireplace and stacked some twigs,
broken into short lengths, in a cone-shaped heap above the leaves. At once
he had a bright little fire that made almost no smoke but gave lots of
heat, though the flames did not reach as high as the stone sides of the
fireplace. Quickly a little bed of coals formed, and Charley put his
frying-pan directly over them. In no time the air was savory with the odor
of sizzling bacon and hot coffee.
Squatted about the little fire, the three guardians of the forest ate
their evening meal. From time to time the ranger thrust a stick into the
fire, and so kept the flames alive. But it was a dim little blaze at best.
Yet it was mighty cheering and comforting as the darkness wrapped the
forest, and the gloom beneath the rhododendron thicket became inky and
impenetrable.
For a long time after supper was eaten and the dishes cleaned, the three
sat before their little fire. Spellbound, the recruits listened to this
veteran guardian of the forest as he told them of his work in the woods,
of his encounters with beasts, of birds and reptiles, harmful and
otherwise, and of the rocks, and flowers, and trees. For the ranger loved
the forest even as Charley did.
When the evening was farther advanced, and the air was vibrant with the
voices of the wireless, Lew and Charley took turns reading the news, while
the ranger's expression of amazement and admiration grew deeper and
deeper, and his liking and respect for his young subordinate increased
rapidly. Finally the ranger was given his first lesson in
radio-telegraphy. While Lew was writing down for him the wireless
alphabet, Charley was showing him how to make the letters on the
spark-gap. Before they turned in for the night, the ranger had learned to
distinguish the difference between the sound of a dot and of a dash as the
signals buzzed in the receiver.