“What is there so difficult about that?” demanded Charley.  “Tell me what sort of trees are to be cut, and I can select and mark them as well as the next man.  And if you give me a copy of the regulations, I can tell whether or not the lumbermen are observing them.  If I can’t make them live up to regulations, I can easily report to you.  And as for scaling timber, that’s a mere matter of arithmetic.  I could learn to do that in five minutes.  Couldn’t I help you with the lumbering?  And as for the other jobs, Mr. Marlin, give me some books that tell about them and let me study up on them.  I could put in several hours here every night in study.  You don’t know how much I could learn in a week.  And then you could give me some practical lessons after I had studied up the theory of things.  I’m sure I can do lots of the work you were counting on Mr. Morton to do.  Won’t you let me help you?”

“Bless your heart, Charley!  I know you mean every word you say.  But you don’t realize the difficulties you would encounter.  Your chief job would be in handling men, tough men some of them, too.  You could never do it, never.  But I certainly wish you were old enough to attempt it.  There’s nobody I’d trust sooner than you, Charley.  You’ve got a good education, and you think quickly and clearly.  You’ve been equal to every emergency you’ve faced yet.”

“Then why isn’t that a pretty good reason to trust me further?”

“Trust you, Charley?  I trust you absolutely.  But you are too young.  You could never do it.”

Charley said no more.  The hope that had sprung up in his heart died as suddenly as it had been born.  In his heart he believed that with all the study and effort he was willing to put into it, he could do a ranger’s work all right.  But he saw it was not to be.

“Anyway,” he muttered to himself, “I’m going to be a ranger some day, and I’ll show the chief now that I’m the best fire patrol he ever had.  That’s the best way to qualify for promotion.”

He turned to his wireless, threw over his switch and flashed out the call signal of the Wireless Patrol.  In his delight at the power of his new battery he almost forgot his disappointment.  In a very short time he got a reply from Henry.

“Don’t say anything about that pasteboard,” cautioned the chief.

“I don’t intend to,” answered Charley.  “I’m going to write to Lew about it and let you take the letter out in the morning.  You never can tell who will pick up a wireless message.”

For several minutes Charley chatted briskly with Henry, who said the new battery carried the signals to him as clear as a bell.  Charley told Henry about Mr. Morton’s accident, omitting reference to his own part in the affair, and then through Henry got into touch with both Mrs. Morton and the assistant forester at headquarters.  Mr. Morton was getting along all right, though he suffered very great pain.  The forester’s assistant reported everything quiet in the forest.