Charley got the things asked for.  The forester, taking the flash-light, led the way through the thicket to the open forest.  At some distance from the camp the forester stopped and turned the beam from the search-light upward.  Finally he found what he was looking for—­a small branch about seven feet from the ground.  Then he cut the top of the salmon can, and punching holes in the sides near the top, fastened a string to the can and suspended the can from the limb.  Then he set the traps in a circle under the can, fastening the chains to convenient saplings, and threw two or three small pieces of the salmon on the ground within the circle of traps.  Then they made their way back to camp.

Charley lighted a little friendship fire in the fireplace the ranger had made, and the two sat down beside the flames.  It was little more than three weeks since Charley had first entered the forest.  During that time he had really seen very little of the forester.  Yet as he sat beside his chief, Charley felt as though he had known him always.  A common emotion had drawn them close together this day, and somehow Charley believed that his feeling of affection for his chief was fully reciprocated.  For a time they sat in silence, each busy with his own thoughts.

“Charley,” said the forester, after a time, “this accident to Jim hits me pretty hard.  It not only leaves the finest piece of forest under my care without a direct overseer at the most dangerous time of the year, but there were so many things we had planned to do this spring that cannot be done without a ranger to supervise them.  To be sure, I could transfer a ranger here, but I have work for every man in his particular district.  Besides, nobody knows this territory like Jim.  I believe you know it better than anybody besides Jim.  I only wish you were old enough to take his place for a time.

“We’re away behind with our planting, and there are trails to be brushed out, new ones to be cut, roads to be built, camp sites to be selected, timber to be cruised, a big lumber operation to be watched and the trees to be marked for cutting and the lumber scaled, improvement cuttings to be made, camp sanitation to be enforced, a fire-tower to be built on the mountain here where your watch tree is.  There’s a tremendous lot of work that Jim and I had mapped out for the spring and summer.

“Now it looks as though we should not be able to get any of it done.  We can’t do a thing without a ranger to direct operations.  Part of the timber to be cut is in Lumley’s district.  He joins you here on the north.  He will look after all the lumbering in his territory, and I may have to let him take charge of it all.  It’s a big operation and will have to be watched closely.  I just wish I knew where I could find a man capable of taking Jim’s place for a while.”

“What will the ranger have to do in looking after this operation?”

“He’ll have to mark the trees to be cut and see that only those marked are cut; and he’ll have to make sure the regulations are observed in felling the trees and disposing of the tops; and finally he’ll have to scale the lumber and make sure that the state gets paid for all that is cut.”