recommendation enough for me."

"But I thought you suspected us of setting fire to the forest," said
Charley.

"I never said so," replied Mr. Marlin. "I merely asked you if you had
started the fire."

"It's pretty much the same thing," said Charley.

"Not at all, young man. Not at all. I did not really suspect you. But I
saw there was a possibility that you might have done just what I
suggested. I wanted to see what you would do when I suggested that you
were the culprit. I could have told if you had lied to me."

"How?" demanded Charley.

"Never mind now," smiled the forester. "But while we are on this subject,
I want to say this to you: when you are trying to solve a crime, you must
forget your prejudices. You must look at the facts and not at the people
concerned. You must take the attitude that anybody may be guilty until he
is proved innocent. In short, you must be ready to suspect anybody. You
must not assume, for instance, that because I am the forester I would not
set the forest afire, or because my rangers are connected with the Forest
Service they would never start a fire."

Charley looked almost startled. "Why, it would be the worst sort of crime
for a forest protector to set a fire in the woods," he cried.

"Of course it would," replied the forester. "But in this world almost
everybody acts according to his own interests or his own passions. If a
man could earn more money by setting fires than by preventing them, there
are many men who would take the chance. Or a man might set fire to the
forest to be revenged on somebody--possibly on me; for a forester can
hardly avoid making some enemies."

The forester paused. "Somebody has three times set this part of the forest
afire," he continued after a moment. "We have no clue as to who did it. So
it is our business to suspect anybody and everybody that circumstances may
point to. But that doesn't mean we must condemn a person merely because
circumstances point to him. We must study the facts and either condemn or
acquit him according to the facts. I say this to you because you have
probably had little or no experience in tracing crime and, like most young
folks, are prone to trust people too far."

Charley's face was very serious. He had not thought of detective work as a
possible part of his duties.

"Don't take what I say too seriously," laughed the forester, when he
noticed Charley's expression. "You will really have very little of this
sort of thin