ley merely smiled.

"I don't mind it," he said.

"I'd like to see myself walk that distance for any such fool errand,"
growled the ranger.

When Charley had said he didn't mind the walk he had told the truth. Yet
he had understated it. The fact was that he hugely enjoyed the walk. He
was rested from his long carry, and with nothing to weight him down, his
feet felt light as feathers. He trudged briskly along the smooth highway,
every sense alive to the delights of the forest. All about him the woods
were vocal with the calls of birds. The wind whispered and sighed in the
pine tops. And sometimes, when the air in the bottom was still as sluggish
water, Charley could hear the wind roaring among the trees far up on the
hillsides. The scent of spring was in the air--that indescribable mixture
of the smell of opening buds and flowers and green things and rank
steaming earth, that together make such an intoxicating odor. And all
about him Charley caught glimpses of the wild life of the forest.

It was late in the day when he reached the forester's office. The forester
seemed greatly surprised to see him.

"I came to talk to you about my work," explained Charley.

The forester frowned. "What is the telephone for?" he asked a bit
brusquely.

"I didn't want to talk over my business before that man," protested
Charley.

The forester looked at him sharply. "What business do you have excepting
the business of the forest?" he asked.

"None," said Charley.

"Then surely you could discuss forest matters in the presence of a
ranger."

"It may be that I am unreasonable," said Charley, "but I don't like that
man. There's something about him that I don't trust."

The forester looked at Charley searchingly. "Sometimes," he said, "I
almost feel that way myself. I realize that Lumley is mouthy and
inquisitive and disagreeable personally, but he has been in the Forest
Service a long time and it hardly seems right not to trust him. He's a
pretty efficient ranger."

"Well, I'm here, anyway," continued Charley. "I came to find out what my
first duties are to be and how to do them."

"There's a little tree planting that simply must be done in your
territory, late though it is," said Mr. Marlin. "To-morrow I shall send
you out with a small crew to do it."

"Please show me just how it ought to be done," said Charley.

The forester smiled with approval. "Come out-of-doors," he said, picking
up a mattock. And he led the way to a