could do with ease, for the summit of the mountain was rather
sparsely timbered. A very little search disclosed a tree that was at once
tall and easy to climb, and that was surrounded only by low brush that
would not obstruct the vision. From this lookout they gained a wide view
in every direction.

"We can see for miles and miles," said Charley. "The forester was right in
telling us to come often to this lookout. We can discover more from here
in a minute than we could by a week of wandering about among the trees."

Slowly the boys swept their vision around the horizon. Everywhere the
mountains appeared to bask in the warm spring sunlight, seemingly as
secure as cats dozing by a fireplace. The fleecy clouds, passing across
the face of the sun, threw shadows on the hillsides, making beautiful
patterns of light and shade. The fresh, young growths gave forth a soft
green tint, in pleasing contrast to the darker colors of the pines.
Brooks sparkled in the bottoms. Far as the eye could reach this gorgeous
panorama extended.

"Isn't it wonderful?" said Charley, after the two boys had surveyed the
scene in silence. "The forest is one of nature's very finest gifts. And to
think what we do to it by our carelessness. At any minute this green
paradise may become a very hell of roaring flame, just because some smoker
is too careless to blow out his match before dropping it, or some camper
too lazy to make sure his fire is extinguished. Why, it seems to me that a
murderer is an innocent angel compared to such a man. Think what he does!
He kills the fish and the birds and the animals and perhaps some human
beings, and he destroys not only the wood that civilization must have, but
he ruins the very ground so that it cannot produce another forest. It
seems to me that a man who does that ought to be punished more severely
than any mere murderer. Why, a murderer kills only a single being. The man
who starts a forest fire kills countless living things. I tell you, Lew,
it makes me mighty proud to have a part in protecting this grand forest."

The boys were silent, wrapped in thought, until Lew suddenly pointed to a
dense growth of evergreens directly below them, and not very far down the
ridge. "That must be our camp site," he said. And both boys examined the
spot with interest.

"That must be it," said Charley. "It's dense enough, goodness knows! And
there is a little stream of water stealing out of the lower side of the
thicket. So