bed of seedling spruces that had
been heeled in the ground, and dug up two or three of them.

"These ought to be lifted in small bunches and their roots puddled," he
said, dipping the earth-covered roots in water to show how to puddle them.
"They should be planted thus." He struck his mattock sharply into the
soil, bent it to one side, and in the hole thus opened thrust a tiny tree.
Then he stepped on the ground close to the seedling and pressed the earth
tight about it.

"That's all there is to it," he said. "Your crew will work in pairs, one
man carrying the trees in a pail of water and inserting them in the
ground, while the other man carries the mattock and opens the holes. The
trees should be planted in straight rows and about four feet apart each
way. You will have to go ahead of the crew and set up the line pole. Pick
out some trees or saplings to sight by and you will have no trouble to
keep your line straight."

"Is that all?"

"You'll have to oversee the work, of course. Make sure the planting is
done right, and watch your men. You will have to take whatever steps seem
necessary to keep them working well and cheerfully. Sometimes it is a good
thing to switch a man from one job to another. It rests him to use another
set of muscles."

"What else am I to do?"

"Day after to-morrow I want you to brush out the fire trails leading to
your old camp. That is, you must start brushing them out. It will take
several days. They are so overgrown now that they are a real menace to the
forest. These trails were originally five feet wide. We took out all the
roots and underground growths down to mineral soil. You must cut away all
the brush that has grown in, chop it into short lengths, and pile it in
little piles in the trail itself for burning on windless days. You must
grub out the roots that have grown in, too. Really the entire trail ought
to be grubbed again, but we can't do that now. You will have to assign men
to cut brush, to pile it, and to grub up the roots. That's about all I
can tell you."

"It sounds very easy," said Charley, "but I am willing to confess that
handling these tough looking mountaineers is more than I counted on."

"Are you going to quit so soon?" asked the forester with scorn. "I thought
you had more stuff in you than that, Charley."

Charley turned red. "Who said anything about quitting?" he demanded. "I
only want to know what I am to do if I get into trouble with the men."

"That's