Good News For the Fire Patrol
As the ranger had foretold, the forest guards did indeed pull foot early
in the morning. Black darkness still enfolded the camp when the ranger
awoke his young companions. Fire was speedily kindled and breakfast gotten
under way.
"Better eat your meat, boys," suggested the ranger. "Otherwise it will
keep that cat hanging around here. We'll hardly dare to leave the pup
behind again, and that beast might get in here and tear your tent to
pieces. These cats play hob with things sometimes."
Lew decided that he would carry nothing back with him, as he contemplated
visiting his chum at intervals.
"Just take your rifle," said the ranger to Charley. "You'll be all alone
on your return trip and with two such animals as we've seen hereabout, it
will be just as well to have it. If I were you, I believe I'd make a
pretty close companion of it and always keep it within reach."
When they left the camp, they were burdened only with Charley's rifle and
food for the noon meal, which they stowed in their pockets. The instant
there was light enough to guide their footsteps, the trio set forth.
For hours they trudged through the forest, for the most part in silence.
Although they traveled by a circuitous route, and with eyes and ears
alert, they neither saw nor heard anything that pointed to the presence of
other human beings in the forest. The ground bore no telltale footprints.
No incriminating marks were discernible on the trees. Smoke was nowhere
visible. No firearm disturbed the silence of the wilderness. No birds flew
upward with cries of alarm, save at their own approach. And the only
voices that were audible were the voices of the brooks.
Under other circumstances Charley would have been supremely happy. The sun
came up bright and clear. No veil of mist floated before the face of the
sky. But woolly, white cloud banks sailed lazily aloft, intensifying by
contrast the blue of the sky. A gentle wind blew fitfully. The earth
steamed fragrantly, sending up an odor joyful to the nostrils. And the
little brooks babbled wildly in their joy at the spring-time.
But Charley was not in a responsive mood. The thought of the man Collins
and his evil-favored companion weighed upon him heavily. Nor was the
knowledge that a wildcat was prowling about his camp reassuring; though
Charley was far from being afraid of the beast. And always the dread of
fire was in the background of his consciousness. What troubled him more
than anything else just now was the approaching loss of his chum. Could
Charley have diagnosed correctly the feelings that oppressed him now, he
would have known that it was the fear of loneliness more than any fear of
Bill Collins or wildcats or forest fires, that made him sad. To read about
Robinson Crusoe was all right, but to be Robinson Crusoe was quite a
different matter--at least a Crusoe without a good man Friday. And Charley
was too downcast at present to realize that the pup at his heels could be
to him all that Friday was to his master, and perhaps more.
Again and again Charley turned over in his mind the problem of how he
could get the battery he needed. More than ever he felt that he absolutely
must have it. Such a battery would cost many, many dollars. To be sure,
Charley's salary would soon bring him in enough money to pay for such a
battery; but all of his income, or practically all of it, Charley knew, he
must give to his father. How he should get around the difficulty, Charley
could not see.
As they trudged on, he talked the matter over with Lew again. Lew seemed
unduly light-hearted over the matter, and even smiled about it. Instead of
sympathizing with his chum, he counseled him not to worry about it, as the
way would likely open. That seemed so heartless that Charley was hurt. He
thought that his chum, about to leave the forest himself, no longer was
concerned. So he fell silent, and walked along in greater dejection than
ever.
Long before the sun had touched the zenith, the three forest guards had
reached the last ridge that lay between them and the highway.
"You've come far enough, Charley," said the ranger, "and perhaps it would
have been better if you had stopped short of this. If anything should
happen in that big timber, you are a long distance from it. There's a good
spring part way up this ridge, and it's high enough so that we can get a
good view. We'll stop there and eat our dinner. We can watch as we eat.
After you've had a good rest, you had better hike for camp. You're a good
ten miles away from your tent."
They climbed to the spring, took each a good drink, and sat down to eat
their food. The panorama that spread before them was wondrously beautiful,
but Charley had no heart for scenery. He ate in silence, his eyes for the
most part bent on the ground.
After the meal was finished, the three friends sat silent, looking out
over the vast range of territory before them, each busy with his own
thoughts. If one could have judged by the expressions on their faces, Lew
was little short of jubilant. Again and again he smiled and looked
meaningly at his chum. But Charley still sat with downcast eyes, heedless
of his chum's glances. But why Lew smiled it would have been hard to
guess. If he had any scheme in mind, he dropped no hint concerning it.
Finally the ranger rose. "We've got to shake a leg," he said. "And you had
better start back to camp."
Charley got up mechanically. His face showed all too clearly what was in
his heart. The ranger looked at him searchingly, and a kindly expression
came into his eyes.
"Never mind, Charley," he said. "You won't be alone long. Lew, here, or
some of your other friends will be slipping out to spend the week-end with
you, and I shall see you regularly twice a week. It may be, in view of
Bill Collins' visit, that Mr. Marlin will think I ought to come oftener."
"Have you learned your alphabet yet?" replied Charley, a sudden gleam of
interest crossing his face. "Just as soon as you learn to use the
wireless, we can talk at almost any time. I'm sure that one of the fellows
will lend you his outfit."
"I'll make Mr. Morton an outfit myself," said Lew. "I'll make it exactly
like yours. Then you two can talk without tuning."
"That will be bully," said Charley, beginning to brighten up. Then he
turned to the ranger. "Did you learn your alphabet?" he repeated.
"I've been working at it a little," said the ranger. "To tell the truth, I
don't care much about it. I'd just as soon stick to the telephone. But the
wife is crazy over it. She says if we knew how to do it and had the
instruments, we could talk at any time. She's learned the alphabet
already."
"She has! Bully for her!" cried Charley. "Hurry up with that outfit, Lew,
so we can teach her to send and read. I'll be glad to talk to her, even if
her husband doesn't want to."
"I'll be home by sunset," said Lew, "and you can call me at eight
o'clock. I shall have had a chance to talk to the fellows by that time and
I hope that I shall have something good to report to you. I'm coming out
the first Friday I can, to spend Saturday and Sunday with you. Good-bye."
Charley shook hands heartily with his two friends and turned back into the
forest. Although he was still somewhat cast down, the intense depression
that had weighed upon him during the morning was lightened. The events of
the past twenty-four hours had made him forget temporarily the plan to
teach Mr. Morton how to operate the wireless. But the news that the
ranger's wife was also to become a radio operator pleased him more and
more as he turned the matter over in his mind.
The pup, rubbing against his heels, recalled another matter to his mind.
He had to train the dog to be useful to him.
"No time like the present," muttered Charley to himself. And the training
of the pup began then and there. All the way home, through the wide
valleys, over the mountain tops, and across the little streams, Charley
worked with the pup, trying to teach him to be silent and to walk quietly
at his heels. And though many, many subsequent lessons were necessary
before the pup was even half trained, the work with the dog made Charley
forget his loneliness. He arrived at his camp, which he found
undisturbed, once more in his normal frame of mind.
What shortly followed was to send him to bed soon afterward as happy as
the traditional lark. For when Charley got into touch with Lew by wireless
at the appointed time, Lew told him that the Wireless Patrol had met him,
Lew, at the station in a body, with the news that funds for the battery
had all been earned and the battery ordered; and that when he had told
them of Charley's situation, the club had voted unanimously and
enthusiastically to send the battery to Charley for him to use as long as
he needed it in the forest.
Furthermore, Lew informed him, Henry had been talking to the wireless men
at the Frankfort station, and not only were they willing to work with him
to protect the forest, but they were also sending an amplifier to Oakdale
so that Charley would be sure to get their messages with the greatest
distinctness. The battery would be forwarded as soon as it reached the
Wireless Club and had been inspected, and the amplifier would go with it.
No wonder that Charley rolled up in his blankets, with shining eyes,
careless alike of cats and Collinses. With the pup and the new battery he
felt that he should indeed be in position to render efficient service to
his forester and his ranger, both of whom he was coming to love, and to
the grand old forest around him.