The ranger showed Charley to the room that was to be his.  Charley began to carry his luggage up-stairs.  He would much rather have taken it all himself, but the ranger insisted upon helping him.  When Charley saw how the man eyed every package and scrutinized every article, he understood quickly enough that Lumley wanted to help him, not because of any wish to be courteous, but simply because of his burning curiosity.  Especially was the ranger curious about Charley’s wireless outfit, but Charley volunteered no information.

The more Charley considered his situation, the gloomier he felt concerning it.  He had looked forward to his coming, after Mr. Marlin had told him of the arrangement, with a feeling of pleasant anticipation.  Charley was not the least bit shy and made friends readily.  He had a feeling that all the men in the Forest Service must be pretty fine men and that their interest in their work would make them, like Mr. Marlin and Mr. Morton, eager to help a recruit.  Thus Charley had believed that Lumley would be very helpful to him.  He had intended to put himself more or less in Lumley’s hands and trust to the ranger for guidance.  But a very few minutes spent with Lumley made Charley feel that he could not take the man into his confidence.  He almost felt as though he dared not, though when he came to consider the matter fully, that attitude seemed foolish.  Lumley was a guardian of the forest as well as himself, and surely he could trust him with matters that pertained to the forest.

Charley tried to fight down this feeling of distrust.  It seemed to him very wrong to accept a man’s hospitality, even if he was to pay well for it, and at the same time be suspicious of the man.  But hardly had he decided that he ought to be frank with his fellow ranger when Lumley began asking questions that caused the feeling of distrust to return with renewed force.  Lumley’s questions were intended to seem innocent enough; but Charley was sharper than he perhaps looked, and he saw the real intent behind the questions.  The man was slyly trying to find out all he could about Charley’s history, and particularly how much Charley had been paid as a fire patrol and what he was to get as a ranger.

Charley answered most of Lumley’s questions openly enough, but could not tell him what he was to get as a ranger, for he had never once thought about the matter, nor had Mr. Marlin mentioned it.  But when Charley told Lumley so, he could see that the ranger did not believe him.

When the ranger began to question Charley about his recent work in the woods, Charley answered him evasively.  Lumley knew that Charley had been acting as fire patrol, because Mr. Marlin had told him so.  But Charley felt very sure he did not know where the secret camp had been pitched, for Mr. Marlin had distinctly said that matter was a secret between Charley and himself.  So Charley answered him evasively and soon turned the conversation to other matters.