“Are you trying to infer that there is someone out in the woods deliberately setting fires?” asked Bill.
“That is exactly what I am driving at,” replied Simmons. “I thought so before the rains started, and I am more convinced than ever now. The fires are breaking out at too regular intervals and times to be resulting from carelessness. Furthermore, Bill Bruce, you and I are going out in a plane this morning and catch that firebug.”
CHAPTER XXIV—HUNTING A FIREBUG
“Why are you so sure that there is a firebug?” asked Bill.
“When we came back from Roseburg there were but twelve fires burning in the whole state,” replied Earl Simmons. “Eleven of them were new ones which had been started by lightning, and the twelfth was the large one over near Three Fingered Jack in the Sanitaur Forest. The air was entirely clear of smoke and it looked as if the fire season was over.
“The tourists have all cleared out of the forest with the rains, thereby eliminating any further trouble with them. It is too early for the hunters to start out, and accordingly we won’t have any need to worry about their carelessness for a while. The lightning fires were all under control on the day following their start. The large fire over in Sanitaur was almost extinguished by the rain and is now under control. That being the case, according to all past precedents, I was entirely justified in believing that the fire season was over.
“Now what happens? Without any reason new fires break out over in the Buck Peak—Mary’s Peak region. Are they like normal fires? They are not. The first one starts in the vicinity of Buck Peak and they break out at almost regular distances toward the north. It may be a coincidence that they are at regular distances, and each succeeding one starts at about the time that it would have taken a man to arrive from the last one. I don’t think so. I think that there is some maniac over there who is deliberately setting the woods on fire. Will you help me get him?”
“I am perfectly willing to go out and try,” replied Bill. “However, I don’t think that we will make as effective a team as if I had someone in the rear seat who could use the radio.”
“Who says that I can’t use the radio?” asked Earl. “I was a commercial telegraph operator for several years. Furthermore, I have had a radio of my own ever since they came into common use. Why, during the winter months I amuse myself by building them. If you don’t think that I can operate the set in the back of your plane, ask Liggett.”
“The joke’s on you,” remarked Liggett, who was standing by listening to the conversation. “Earl has been operating these sets ever since we arrived.”