Lew spoke up. "You don't understand what Charley means, sir," he
explained. "Charley is away ahead of most of us in his school work. He's
done enough now to give him his diploma."

"Indeed!" replied the forester.

Then he turned to Charley in apology. "I beg your pardon, young man. I
misjudged you. I should like to have such an exemplary young man for a
patrol, but you are too young. We practically never employ a man not yet
of age as a fire patrol. A boy would have to have very unusual
qualifications if we did take him. I'm sorry, my lad. I believe you are a
fine boy, and I'd like to hire you. But you are too young."

Charley turned his head away to hide the tears that he could not keep back
as he saw the opportunity slipping away from him. Then he dashed his hand
across his eyes and again faced the forester.

"You do not understand who we are," he said with determination, "nor what
our qualifications are. I am accustomed to the woods, sir. I know
something of woodcraft. I have fought fire in the forest. I have spent
weeks in the mountains. And I am a wireless operator, sir. Are any of your
patrols better qualified?"

The forester looked at him with renewed interest. "As a patrol," he
remarked, "you would have to deal with grown men. You would find yourself
in many situations that you could not handle. Grown men do not like to
take orders from boys."

"I have handled men, sir; that is, I have helped to handle them. I helped
to capture the German dynamiters at Elk City, sir, when the Camp Brady