"I'll clean things up," insisted Mrs. Morton.

"No; I made the mess and I'll clean it up," protested Charley.

He began to pile the torn pieces of pasteboard together so he could thrust
them into the stove. The bottom of the pasteboard box had been built up
with several layers of pasteboard, evidently cut from other boxes. Charley
took them out one at a time, preparatory to crumpling up the box itself.
As he lifted the last layer of pasteboard he stopped in blank amazement.
Then he called excitedly for Mr. Marlin. Before him lay a piece of green
pasteboard exactly like the charred fragment taken from the ash heap in
the burned forest.

Chapter XIX

The Forester's Problem

For a moment the two men looked at each other in astonishment. Then, "Keep
that," said the forester. "We'll talk the matter over on our way back."
Mrs. Morton, not comprehending what had happened, also looked astonished.
But like the wise woman she was, she held her peace. Charley tossed the
other pasteboards in the fire, stuffed the green piece in his pocket, and
said good-bye to his new friend. The forester, after telephoning to his
office, followed Charley, and a moment later the two were spinning up the
road toward the fire trail.

"I can't understand it," said Charley. "Here's a package direct from Lew,
with the very clue we're looking for, and Lew never said a word about it.
I can't understand it. I'm certain Lew sent the box. That was his
handwriting on it. And I'm just as sure he never saw that bit of
pasteboard, for Lew would never slip up that way. I just can't understand
it."

They reached the point where Charley was to leave the car and plunge into
the forest. But Mr. Marlin, instead of stopping his motor, turned into a
natural opening in the woods and drove slowly among the forest trees. In
a moment he ran the car into a stand of pines, where it was protected by
the dense tops above and well hidden from sight of the highway.

"You couldn't get in here with anything but a Henry," laughed the
forester. "This old bus has taken me lots of places you would never have
believed possible."

He took the key from the switch on the dashboard, and the two stepped to
the ground. Charley wondered what the forester intended to do, but by this
time he knew enough not to ask questions. The forester started up the
trail with him. When they came to the big battery Charley understood, for
without a word the forester took Charley's little a