not. Now
I guess we'd better hustle back to camp."

Lew got their noonday meal while Charley ascended once more to the watch
tree at the top of the mountain and made a careful survey of the country.
Not a sign of smoke could he see in any direction. No fire was discovered
during the afternoon hike. The evening inspection from their tower was
equally reassuring. After a brief chat by wireless with their friends at
Central City, and through them sending their nightly message to the
forester, telling him that all was well, the two tired young fire patrols
rolled up in their blankets and were quickly asleep, serene in the
knowledge that the forest they guarded was safe.

Chapter XIII

Spying Out the Land

All too rapidly the days passed. Occasionally a shower moistened the
surface of the ground, but for the most part the dry weather continued,
with every hour increasing the fire hazard. During the first few days
Charley was never free from a feeling of dread. Every time he awoke he
expected to smell fire. Every trip to the watch tree was made in the fear
that somewhere within his vision there would be telltale clouds of smoke
arising. A nervous apprehension seized upon him, and a mortal fear of
fire; and a growing disbelief in his own power kept him in a state of
unconquerable anxiety.

All these were sensations new to Charley, though they were normal enough.
The natural result of responsibility, they were coupled with Charley's
keen realization of the insignificance of his own or any one else's powers
as opposed to the vast forces of nature. Had Charley never seen a forest
fire, had he never done battle with the raging flames, he could not have
had this sharp realization of the insignificance of his own strength. But
the recent struggle with the forest fire and that far more desperate
battle with the same enemy years before, when the Wireless Patrol was in
camp at Fort Brady, had given Charley a true estimate of the well-nigh
irresistible fury of a fire in the forest, should conditions be favorable
to the flames.

Only luck, Charley realized, and the best of luck, had brought him and Lew
out victorious in their recent contest. The next time fire started--and he
knew well enough that there would be a next time--there might be a strong
wind, or to reach the blaze might take him hours, or he might not be able
to summon help with his wireless, or other unfavorable conditions might
arise to render his efforts u