He had reached the meeting-place, and,
being early, had decided to climb to the top of the hill. He knew that his
subordinate would almost certainly travel by way of this fire trail, and
he planned to keep watch on the mountain top while he waited for him.

Charley was so relieved to see his ranger that he scarcely knew what to
say. He suddenly felt so different that he was almost ashamed of having
been alarmed. As he looked at it now, it seemed foolish to have been so
disturbed because a stranger had been provoked at what he chose to regard
as interference with his fishing.

The ranger shook hands warmly with his young friends. "I see you have kept
the forest safe so far," he said with a smile. "How have things been
going?"

"All right," replied Charley, "but we met a couple of men an hour or so
ago, whose looks we didn't like."

"How's that? What did they do that you didn't like?"

"Well, they were smoking and they were careless with their cigars. Since
we met them I've been expecting to see a smoke column rising every time I
turned around; and I'd hate to tell you how many times I've looked back in
the last hour."

"It never hurts a man in the forest to look back," said Mr. Morton with
another smile. "Lot's wife is the only person on record who came to grief
that way. But seriously, you mustn't get nervous just because you see a
smoker. You'll meet hundreds of them, and they're all pretty careless."

Charley flushed a little. "You don't understand, Mr. Morton," he went on.
"I wasn't nervous--that is, I didn't--I mean, it wasn't the mere fact that
the men were smoking that made me feel anxious. I didn't like the looks of
the men or their actions."

"What did they do?"

"Well, they swore at us."

The ranger laughed. "That's a habit of these mountaineers," he said. "You
mustn't pay any attention to it. They don't mean anything by it."

"Do they look at you as though they'd like to kill you, too?" demanded
Charley. "Is that a habit of these mountaineers?"

Instantly the ranger's face was sober. "See here," he said seriously.
"What have you been doing? What did you do or say to the men that made
them curse you? A little authority hasn't made you toplofty, has it? You
know you are not supposed to let anybody know that you're a fire patrol."

"I didn't," replied Charley, stung by the implied criticism. "We caught a
few fish in our own valley, then cut through to the valley just below us,
on our way to this t