tions made, forms fashioned and fitted into the
excavations, and then cement was mixed and poured into the forms to make
the foundation to which the tower was to be bolted. By the time the road
was finished so that the steel framework could be trucked in, the cement
foundations were hard as stone and ready for the instant erection of the
tower.

At once the steel frame began to ascend. Upright was added to upright,
cross brace bolted to cross brace, and rung after rung added to the steel
ladder that led up to what was to be the watch-tower. In a surprisingly
short time the steel work was completed. Now the forester brought in
skilled carpenters and the wood for the tower room was cut after the
patterns and the cut pieces hoisted up to the top of the steel frame where
the watch-tower itself began to take shape.

While these operations were afoot, Charley and his laborers were back in
the forest, running a telephone-line along the new road. Holes had to be
dug, poles cut, barked, hauled, and set up, and the wires strung. While
his men set the poles, Charley himself, with a helper, strung the wires.
At this job he needed no instruction. His experiences with the wireless
were now of great value to him, for he understood about insulation,
grounding, short circuits, and the like as well as any skilled lineman.

So the telephone-line came on apace, and long before the tower was
finished, Charley had the line complete from the highway, where it joined
the main line, to the summit of the hill where the tower was going up. He
installed an instrument in a waterproof box nailed to a tree, so that he
could now talk from the hilltop to the forester's office. When the tower
was finally completed, he ran the lines up inside the angle-irons to
protect them from the terrific winds, so that the tower man could
instantly communicate with the forester at Oakdale.

Now the cabin went up. Large, flat stones were assembled and a rough but
stable foundation made below the level of the ground. Trees were felled,
barked, squared on two sides, and properly notched at the corners. When a
sufficient number had been prepared, the frame of the cabin was erected,
log being laid upon log, with the corners dovetailing. Wooden pins held
the logs in place. Windows and a door were cut out and framed. Then the
rafters for the roof were fashioned, the sheathing nailed on, and
shingles, made at a former lumber operation in Mr. Marlin's own territory,
comple