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 assistant, 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 assure him he would earn every cent he got.  Then he and Lew hurried away to their train.