Then, with a sinking feeling, I realized what he was getting at. I told myself it had to be a coincidence. The last thing I wanted right then was another problem.

But I said, “Apple, what do you think the chances are that two parts, one of them new, would have exactly the same fault?”

“Actually,” he said. “We got in three tie-rods at the same time. Those two and then one we put in a truck that we returned to the Forest Service back when its season geared up. The truck hadn’t needed it, but we made the replacement for practice.”

I studied the piece I was holding. Already I’d lost sight of the tiny crack in it. “Do you know where we get our spare parts?”

He shook his head. “Army supply, maybe? Sam might know. He does paperwork.”

“Depends on the part,” Sam told me. “The army sends a lot of stuff—filters, gaskets, lightbulbs—whatever we need for regular maintenance. But other things we get from town.”

“From the filling station?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Indirectly, anyway. Captain Hakes usually goes through Owen Schieling, because he can get us a better price.”

Chapter 33

I wrestled with the problem all night. Captain Hakes had to be told.

But I hated the trouble I’d be causing Mr. Schieling, when he’d never been anything but supportive of the camp.

And I guess I dreaded facing the CO.

I couldn’t see a way around it, though. Apple had brought the problem to me, trusting I’d know what to do. And so on getting up Friday morning, I asked Sam, “Do you think you can get me in to see the captain first thing?”

He pulled on his T-shirt. “I won’t see him myself,” he answered. “Sergeant Ruffino and I are driving into town right after breakfast to do errands. But you can probably just knock on his door.”

“What?” Captain Hakes’s voice, coming immediately on my knock, startled me. He opened the door so fast he must have been right at it. “Oh! Trawnley!” he said. He frowned. “Why aren’t you at the work site?”

“There’s something I need to talk to you about, sir. It’s important.”

“It had better be,” he said.

I explained about the cracked and broken tie-rods.

“So?” he said. “Tell Enrollee Durgan to give the faulty spare to Sergeant Ruffino. He’ll see that it gets exchanged.”

“I will, sir,” I said. “But Apple—Enrollee Durgan—told me the class also replaced a tie-rod on a truck we had to give back to the Forest Service. So you need to warn them, or to ask district to, in case that one was bad, too.”

A pulse started throbbing on the side of the captain’s neck. “Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?”