infer that it is your camp. But he has no way of knowing that you are
connected with the Forest Service, unless, unless--By George! Why didn't I
think of that sooner? Ten to one he hid close by and watched for you to
come back. If he did, he saw us when we came down from the top of the
hill. And if he saw me with you boys, he knows as well as I do why this
camp is hidden and what you boys really are doing. I'll bet it made him
swear some when he saw me." And the ranger chuckled.

"But maybe he didn't see us," suggested Charley.

"I'd just as soon believe that the sun didn't set. That fellow's a fox for
cleverness and a bulldog for persistence. Yet I don't see that we need
feel bad, even if he does know where your camp is. We've learned more than
he has. We know he's back in these parts and that he is making a secret
visit to this timber; for you may be very sure he intended it to be a
secret visit."

"But he can't be certain we know who he is," argued Charley. "He is as
much a stranger to Lew and me as we are to him."

"True enough, Charley, true enough. It was really a great piece of luck
that you boys happened to bump into him. It would have been better, of
course, if you could have seen him without being noticed yourself, but in
that case we should never have guessed who he was. No; it's a game of
checkers between us now, and we've each lost a man to the other. But in my
opinion we got a king in exchange for an ordinary checker. What I'd like
to know is, who the man is that's with him."

"Supper is ready," announced Lew.