“It’s about time,” said Charley.  “I had about given up hope of ever seeing it.”  Then he added, “But you couldn’t pack that way out here.  It must weigh sixty pounds.”

“Is that all?” laughed the ranger.  “I had come to believe that it weighed in the neighborhood of half a ton.”

“Did you really try to carry it?” asked Charley.

“Sure.  The chief sent all your stuff as far as he could in the truck, and I packed it in as far as I could carry it.  That’s why I’m late.  But I had to drop it a distance back.  I brought these along, however, and thought we’d go back and get the battery, for I’m sure that’s what it is.”  He paused and handed to Charley two pasteboard boxes he had strapped to his back.  The larger one was bulky, but weighed comparatively little.  The other was small.

“I wonder what it is,” said Charley, as he untied the string and opened the smaller box.  “The amplifier,” he said.  Then he opened the larger box.

“Your wireless!” he cried in delight.  “Everything is here, even to the aerial.  Only the spreaders are lacking.  We could make them and have this outfit set up in no time if we had to.  Isn’t it bully?  Now we can talk directly with each other as soon as you learn to send and read.  Won’t that be dandy?” With practiced eye he once more glanced over the outfit to make sure everything was there.  Then he tied the box up again.

“I’ll just take it back with me,” he added.  “This goes to your house, you know, and you can pick it up on your way home.  We’ll take it as far as the battery and leave it there.”

They strode rapidly along the trail, and in half an hour reached the battery where the ranger had set it down.  Some traps lay on top of the battery.

“I forgot to bring them sooner,” said the ranger.

Charley lifted the box.  “How in the world,” he said, “did you ever pack that thing over these mountains on your back?  Why, you’ve carried that more than four miles.”

“We’ll cut a couple of saplings and tie them to the box for handles,” said the ranger.  “Then we can carry it easily.  Give me your axe.”

Charley handed his little axe to the ranger, and began to fumble in his pocket for the cord which he had used as a leash for his dog.  The ranger looked around him for suitable poles.  Close by the trail lay the rotting trunk of a large tree that had fallen years before.  On the far side of this log and close to it some fine saplings had grown up, probably made thrifty by the rotting wood of the great tree.  The ranger reached over the log to chop a sapling.  At the same instant the pup, ranging in the bushes, growled savagely.  Momentarily the ranger lifted his eyes, letting his axe head sink to the ground.  Something moved under it, and at the same instant a hideous head reared itself above the leaves and struck with lightning-like rapidity, hitting the ranger just above the wrist-bone.  With a startled exclamation the ranger drew up his arm.  As he did so, a huge rattler glided away through the brush.