The Young Wireless Operator-As a Fire Patrol Part 14

"That's true, but until you are regularly sworn in you will not have the legal authority you should have as a fire patrol."

"Then if Lew is willing, we'll go right out with you. We can take the train at Oakdale."

They returned to Lew and explained the situation. "Of course we'll go home," protested Lew. "This is your chance, Charley. You don't think I'd stand in your way, do you?"

"Thanks, Lew," said Charley, holding out his hand to his chum. "But I hate to cut your trip short."

"That's easily fixed," said the forester. "Go home and make your arrangements and bring Lew back with you for the rest of the vacation if he wants to come. You can do your patrol work and still catch some fish.

And I'd feel a lot easier to know two of you were here. You've proved that you are good fire fighters."

Charley called up Willie and told him they were about to leave the forest and would be in Oakdale in about four hours. Then the wireless was quickly dismantled and packed, and the little party started across the burned area once more, on their way out to the distant road.

They did not forget to examine the ground as they went. They had gone perhaps a hundred feet when Charley noticed a heap of burned leaves. They were in the cut-over area, and the floor of the forest had apparently been carpeted thinly and evenly with leaves. So the little mound caught his eye. At first he thought nothing of it. But when his glance swept the surrounding ground and he saw how very thin the ashy coating was, and what a dense pile of ashes was in this little heap, he wondered why the leaves should have collected in this way. Without as yet really suspecting anything, he walked over to the heap and began to rake the ashes from one side of it with a little stick. Many of the burned leaves still retained perfectly their shape and outline. The serrated edges and the feathery veining were distinct in the ashy residues. They were interesting to see.

Charley continued to level the burned leaves on one side of the pile. At the touch of his stick they lost their shape and crumbled into formless ashes, even as fairy crystals of snow turn to water beneath a warm current of air.

Suddenly Charley stopped dead still. Among the ashes turned over by his stick was a long, thin sheet of ash. Charley looked at it a moment in astonishment. Then he knew that it was pasteboard. He sank to his knees on the blackened earth and with his fingers carefully worked in the still warm ashes, raking off the upper layers of leaves gently, so as not to disturb the bottom of the pile. Carefully he worked, until he had laid bare a long strip of what had been pasteboard. At his touch this, like the leaves, crumbled. But one end of it did not disintegrate. A tiny piece was unconsumed. From the ashes Charley drew forth a charred bit of greenish pasteboard. Swiftly but carefully he raked aside the burned pasteboard.

Then he gave a little cry. On the ground, in the very bottom of the heap, was some candle grease. His startled exclamation brought Mr. Marlin and Lew running to his side.

"What have you found?" asked the forester sharply.

"A piece of unconsumed pasteboard and some candle grease," said Charley slowly. "They were under this mound of burned leaves."

"We need look no farther for the starting-place of this fire," said the forester, his face very sober. "It is just as I suspected. This fire was of incendiary origin. Whoever set it, placed a lighted candle inside a pasteboard box, partly filled the box with leaves, heaped some leaves on top of it, and hurried away. The candle probably burned for hours before it burned low enough to set fire to the leaves. By that time the culprit was far away and could prove an alibi."

Charley drew from his pocket the little microscope he used in his cla.s.s in botany in the high school. Over and over he turned the scorched sc.r.a.p of pasteboard, studying it intently.

"The fibers are arranged in a peculiar way," he said, "and there's an almost invisible machine marking of a peculiar pattern. The color of the pasteboard was a dark green."

The forester took the microscope and examined the charred fragment, handing both, when he had finished, to Lew.

"This is our clue to the incendiary," he said slowly. "We must find where pasteboard like that comes from and who had some of it. Meantime, do not breathe a word of this to any one. Do not let a soul know that we have discovered how the fire originated. Let them think we know nothing. And bear in mind what I told you before: suspect anybody that circ.u.mstances point to, no matter who he is. Now remember! Not a soul outside of the three of us must know about this. We've got a long trail ahead of us, but we have at last got a clue. Sooner or later, if we keep our eyes and ears open and our mouths shut, we'll find the man who set this forest afire."

Chapter IX

Charley Becomes a Fire Patrol

Rapidly the three made their way through the forest. The forester led his companions up the valley a distance to a fire trail. Along this they traveled as rapidly as they could have done on a village sidewalk. By several of these fire trails they made their way through valleys and over hills, finally reaching the road. The forester's car was there, and an hour's run brought them to the forester's office at Oakdale.

Charley was intensely interested in everything he saw in this office. On the wall were huge maps of the forest areas under Mr. Marlin's control.

These maps showed the mountains, big springs, streams, roads, fire trails, etc., and little tacks with heads of different colors were stuck here and there in the maps to show where rangers, fire-wardens and game protectors lived. The telephone was also shown.

Charley was interested to learn that he and Lew had been fully twelve miles distant from the telephone. It had taken the fire crew, hardy men experienced in mountain travel, three hours to cover those twelve miles, even when they had fire trails most of the way. He wondered how much longer it would have taken them if they had had to travel through the rough forest. Many hours longer, he was certain. And that meant that it would have taken one equally as long to get out to the telephone to notify the forester of the fire. He felt sure there must be many places where one might be more than twelve miles distant from the telephone; and he realized more keenly than ever what a big part the wireless could play in saving the forest. He resolved that he would keep his wireless outfit with him when he went back into the forest as a fire patrol.

But the maps on the wall were not all that interested Charley. There were fire-fighting tools of various sorts. There were double-bitted axes and axes with short handles to be used in one hand. These were of the finest steel, very sharp, and well balanced. There were implements that were really potato-hooks, though in the forest they were used for clearing away brush and leaves rather than for digging potatoes. Then there were short-handled, four-toothed rakes, for use in back-firing. Also there were lanterns, and finally a small compressed air sprayer, for wetting the ground when back-firing. All these tools were painted a bright red. The forester explained that the sprayer wasn't often used, but that sometimes it came in very handy. The implements were red so that they could be found easily. Otherwise many would be lost in almost every fight with a fire.

Particularly was Charley interested in the portable telephone. It was like the one the ranger had had in the burned valley. Mr. Marlin handed the instrument to Charley and let him examine it. The battery was contained in a small box, and the mouthpiece and the receiver were in one piece, which was held alternately to the ear and the mouth. Then there were considerable lengths of wire to be attached to the telephone-lines.

If a ranger could not climb a pole and attach his wires to the telephone-lines, Mr. Marlin explained, he could tie stones to his wires and throw them over the lines. All that was needed was to have the two wires touch the two wires of the telephone system. Then a connection would be made and one could talk with the portable instrument. The battery, the mouthpiece and receiver, and the connecting wires all could be packed snugly into a little leather case and slung over the shoulder. It was an excellent outfit.

At one time Charley would have been wild to try it. Now he could not help seeing how really inferior it was to the wireless as a means of communication. In order to talk with it, it must be connected with the telephone-lines, and they must be in working order. Charley's quick mind instantly saw that falling limbs or trees, heavy snows or ice-storms in winter, or a pair of nippers in the hands of a miscreant, could put the forest telephone out of commission for hours at a time. He rejoiced to think that no one could tamper with the air and that he could always get a connection with his wireless. More and more he saw the possibilities of usefulness for the wireless in protecting the forest.

But the two boys had little time to examine the many interesting things in the forester's office because their train was due within a short time after they reached Oakdale. They made the acquaintance of the forester's a.s.sistant, Mr. Franklin Conover, and soon started for the railroad station, leaving their duffel at the forester's office.

Before they left, Charley called the forester aside. "How much pay am I to receive as a fire patrol?" he asked.

The forester frowned.

"You mustn't think," said Charley hastily, "that the pay is all that I care about. I want to be a fire patrol because I love the woods. But I don't know whether Dad will let me be a fire patrol unless I can make as much here as I could in the factory with him."

"How much could you earn there?"

"Dad says I ought to get two dollars and a half a day."

"Then you needn't worry. I have some leeway in the matter of pay. You have already shown your worth, and I am going to pay you the highest rate within my power. You will go on the payroll at eighty-five dollars a month, which is as much as many of our rangers get."

Charley was so astonished at this unexpected good fortune that he was hardly able to answer Mr. Marlin. He did not know how to express his thoughts. All he could do was to thank the forester warmly and a.s.sure him he would earn every cent he got. Then he and Lew hurried away to their train.

For some time after the two boys boarded the train Charley was silent. He sat watching the forest through which they were rus.h.i.+ng so fast. Never had it appeared to him quite as it did now. Always he had known the forest was an animate growth, but now he realized more vividly than ever before how truly the forest was alive. Now he thought of the great growths of trees more as one would think of a flock of animals that must be tended and cared for. Many, many times he had seen the forest under happy conditions.

But never before this trip had he seen it in agony. Never before had he heard the cries of fear and pain from the forest animals. Never had he seen the charred remains of those that had been burned. Never had he beheld the awful skeletons, not merely of burned trees, but of a burned forest. He was deeply impressed. A tree had suddenly become in his consciousness far more than a piece of timber. And a forest had taken on new meaning. With all his mind he loved the forest and the innumerable things of life and beauty within it. Beyond expression was his joy at the thought that he could have a part in protecting and caring for the forest.

And when he thought of all the forest meant to mankind--more than any other single gift of nature excepting food and water--he saw the forester, the forest-ranger, and the fire patrol in their true light. He saw them as real servants of the people, as real promoters and builders of civilization, which could not have come into existence without wood. He realized that the man in the forest as truly helps mankind forward and upward as the statesman in the legislative halls, the chemist at his test-tube, the physician at his operating-table, the engineer building his bridges and roads, or any other of the constructive workers who make civilization what it is; for the forester's work is the foundation for the work of all the other builders of civilization. When he realized this, his heart sang with pride to think that he was to have a part in saving and perpetuating the forests for the countless generations of people who would follow him in the world.

He tried to tell Lew something of what was in his heart, but words failed him, and he sat silent until the train was far beyond the limits of the forest. Then his thoughts drifted into other channels. Before he knew it, the conductor shouted "Central City," and the two chums left the train.

When Charley told his father that he was to get eighty-five dollars a month, he had no difficulty in winning his father's consent to the plan he had in mind. Nor was it much more difficult to secure his release from further work at school. Charley was a great favorite with his teachers.

Always cheerful and polite, a faithful worker, mentally quick, and liking his instructors, he had their entire good-will. They wanted to help him get on in the world as much as they had wanted to see him advance in his studies. When they understood Charley's position at home, and his need of earning money to help his father, and especially when they realized what the present opportunity meant to Charley in the way of personal happiness, they were more than willing to release him from further school duties.

So it came about that on the following day Charley and Lew took the train back to Oakdale. The entire Wireless Patrol accompanied them to the station, each boy carrying some part of the luggage. Thus divided, the equipment did not seem large; but when it was all a.s.sembled, it appeared entirely adequate. There was a good waterproof tent, a strong tick to be stuffed with leaves, blankets, a coil of rope, additional cooking utensils, and generous supplies of food. Charley took a light, high-powered rifle and his revolver with plenty of ammunition. Their comrades piled this luggage in a corner of the car, then hustled back to the station platform and gave the Camp Brady yell, in honor of their departing friends. In a moment more the train was speeding toward Oakdale, where they found the forester in his office.

Mr. Marlin expressed his pleasure at the successful outcome of Charley's effort to secure his release from high school.

"I don't believe much in talk," said the forester who himself was distinctly a man of deeds, "but I am going to say this to you, Charley: the fact that you have worked your studies off ahead of your cla.s.s makes you twice as valuable to me as another boy would be who was merely keeping abreast of his cla.s.s."

Charley looked his surprise. "Why?" he asked. "I don't know any more than the others know or soon will know."

"What you know has nothing to do with it, young man. It's what you do.

It's your habits. Habit is the strongest force in the world. The mere fact that you are ahead of your cla.s.s tells me that it is your habit to be forehanded, to be prepared. It tells me that you will keep your tools and your records in their places and in good condition, and that you will be prepared for almost any emergency that will arise."

"I don't understand," expostulated Charley, "how you can figure that out from the mere fact that I kept a little ahead of my cla.s.s."

"Of course you don't," smiled the forester. "They teach you about the laws of gravity in school, but they don't bother to teach you about the laws of life. But life has its laws, and one of the strongest is the law of habit.

A good habit is worth a million good resolutions. A man may possibly keep a good resolution, but he can hardly fail to keep a good habit. Your good habits are worth just about fifteen dollars a month to you now; for I wouldn't be paying you the top rate if you were a lad of bad habits. Just bear that in mind and be careful of the habits you form in future."

Charley was too much astonished for words. He had never thought of his habits as having any bearing on his possible earning capacity.