he sound of the birds woke the children early. In the sunshine, the forest looked bright and ordinary again. For breakfast, they ate the apples and the rest of the chocolate–chip cookies and passed around a box of cereal. Danny and Julian started a game of crazy eights and Robin and Ariel joined in after the first round. Molly lay down with her chin in her hands, looking into the forest.

“Somebody’s coming,” she said so softly that only Julian heard. He craned forward and saw two men, dressed in jeans and T–shirts, walking slowly from tree to tree. One had a mustache and was carrying a can of spray paint. The other was older and wore glasses and a camouflage cap.

“Everybody down,” Julian whispered loudly.

Danny and the girls looked up from their cards, and Julian pointed at the two men. Robin crouched down behind one of the storage bins and the others quickly flattened themselves on top of the sleeping bags and peered through the railings.

Nobody spoke a word. They watched as the man with the paint can sprayed a blue slash on a giant redwood about twenty feet away.

“Boy, you don’t see trees like this anymore,” said the older man. He gave the tree an appreciative look and jotted a note on his clipboard.

“This place is a gold mine. My granddaddy’s place used to look just like this when I was a kid. If he hadn’t sold it, I’d be a rich man.”

“The rest of the property’s not bad either. There must be half a million dollars’ worth of fir back on that northern slope.”

“Yeah, but this here’s the real treasure.”

The spray–painter was standing right underneath them. They could see his brown mustache and the glint of his blue eyes through the cracks in the floorboards. “Hey, look up here,” he said. “There’s a tree house!”

“You better watch out, there might be somebody living up there.”

Julian felt a sharp poke in his side. Robin was motioning for everyone to stand up. When nobody moved, she gave them a dirty look and stood up tall, her chin thrust out. Julian and Danny jumped up next to her, and Ariel and Molly reluctantly followed.

The spray–painter made a long blue streak on one of the trunks below them.

“Hey, this is our tree house,” Robin yelled down. “What do you think you’re doing?”

The spray–painter grabbed his chest and pantomimed having a heart attack. “Holy smokes!” he cried. “What are you doing up there?”

“What are you doing spray–painting our tree?” Robin demanded.

“The trees you’re marking,” Julian said, “are those the ones you’re cutting down?”

“That’s the way it goes, kids,” said the man with glasses. “Sorry. You’re going to have to build your tree house someplace else.”

“We don’t want to build it someplace else,” Danny said. “We like it right here. Why don’t you go cut down trees someplace else?”

“Because we’ve got a THP for these trees, that’s how come,” the spray–painter said.

Ariel stepped forward. “But these trees are so beautiful. You guys just said there’s not many of them left.”

“Listen, kids,” the older man said. “The harvest plan’s already approved. These trees are worth a bundle. They’re coming down.”

“Well, we’re not leaving,” said Robin.

The spray–painter grinned and glanced back over his shoulder. “Looks like we’ve got some juvenile tree sitters here.”

“OK, we’ll make a note of that in our report to Mr. Carter,” the older man responded with mock seriousness, writing something on the clipboard.

“You better! You better make a note of it, because Sibley Carter is his uncle!” Robin said, pointing at Julian.

The men stared up at them, confused. “What in the world are you talking about?” the older man said.

“This boy,” Robin grabbed Julian by the arm, “is the nephew of Sibley Carter. The Sibley Carter. The CEO of IPX.” She pulled Julian forward a little. “And he’s not leaving either. Not until you guys agree not to cut down any of these trees.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, it’s true,” Julian said. The squeak in his voice made him wince and he tried again, in a lower tone. “He’s my father’s brother.”

“If Sibley Carter was my uncle, I sure wouldn’t be living in a tree house,” the spray–painter said.

“What’s your name?” the older man asked.

“Julian.” And a little louder, “Julian Carter–Li.”

He started scribbling in his clipboard. “Any of the rest of you claiming to be Mr. Carter’s relatives?”

They shook their heads. Molly said, “My daddy’s Bob Elder.”

“Oh, you’re Bob’s kids.” The man made another note on his clipboard. “Did your daddy tell you to trespass on this property?”

Molly shook her head solemnly.

“I didn’t think so. You tell him Pete came by.” He stepped back and adjusted his cap. “Come on, let’s finish up here,” he said to the spray–painter. “We better make sure there’s no other kids hiding up in the trees.”

Robin watched them walk away, dismayed. “Tell Carter we’re not coming down!” she yelled. “We’re serious! He’ll have to chop us down!”

The spray–painter gave her a thumbs–up. Then the two men walked off into the forest, stopping every so often to mark another tree.

“Well, we showed them,” Danny said sourly. “They were shakin’ in their boots. I’m sure they’re going to go back and call the whole project off.”

Ariel was craning over the side of the railing. “Our beautiful trees,” she wailed. “They’ve put graffiti all over them. Look at that!”

They all stared down at the blue marks. The men were now nowhere to be seen.

“Maybe we can erase all the marks. So they won’t know which trees to cut,” Danny suggested.

“I don’t think you can erase spray paint,” Robin said.

“Well, paint over it, then,” Danny said. “With bark–colored paint.”

Nobody responded.

Ariel began gathering up the scattered cards from their game of crazy eights. “We need to do something else. Just sitting in this tree isn’t going to be enough. Not even close.”

“We could tie ourselves to the trees,” Robin said. “When the chain saws come.”

“Danny will be up for that,” Julian volunteered.

“Danny will be up for what?” Danny said. He’d crossed to the other side of the tree house to inspect the damage.

“For the giant chain saws to hack you to pieces to save Big Tree,” Robin said.

“Sure.” Danny nodded cheerfully. “I’ll be a martyr for the cause! ‘He was such a good boy. So noble! So brave! So handsome!’”

“Such a good–looking corpse!” Ariel said.

“Once they put him back together,” Robin added.

Julian sat picking at a little redwood cone. “What we need is more publicity.”

“Too bad we don’t know any journalists,” Danny said pointedly, and then when Julian didn’t respond he said, “Too bad none of our grandmothers works for a major newspaper.”

Robin stared at Julian. “Your grandmother works for the Chronicle. We can call her!”

“I don’t know,” Julian said. “You can’t just go and write stories about your grandson and his friends and call it news.”

“This is news,” Robin said. “‘Small family ranch bought by investment firm. Rare old–growth destroyed.’ It’s gotten plenty of coverage up here. Come on, you’ve got to at least try.”

Julian could picture Popo frowning on the other end of the line, in a hurry, on a deadline. She would worry he would fall out of the tree house or end up in trouble. And what would Sibley do if the Chronicle really did publish a story about them? Somehow, all the time he’d spent thinking about Operation Redwood, it hadn’t occurred to him that Sibley might somehow get involved. And what about Bob? But he didn’t have time to puzzle everything out. Robin’s eyes were locked on his face.

“OK, I’ll call her,” he said, hesitantly. “The worst she can say is no. Or,” he added, “‘You’re coming home right now.’”

“Ariel and Danny, you stay here in case the men come back. Julian and I are going back to the house to call his grandmother. Molly, are you staying or coming?”

“Staying,” Molly said firmly.

Robin and Julian sprinted back toward the house. Julian noted with satisfaction that he kept right behind Robin, even on the switchbacks. When they finally burst into the living room, they found Nancy reading a book to Jo–Jo.

“Mom!” Robin stood inside the glass door, trying to catch her breath. “The men are coming to Big Tree Grove and they’re marking all the trees to cut them down and we told them we’re not leaving the tree house and Ariel and Molly and Danny are there guarding it and we have to call Julian’s grandmother and tell her.”

She had obviously decided that full confession was the best strategy, Julian noted with a certain feeling of relief.

“Slow down,” Nancy said. “What are you talking about?”

“There’s an old tree house in Big Tree,” Robin said, still panting. “And that’s where we had the campout. That’s why I didn’t want to bring Molly, because I was afraid she was too little. But everything was going great and then we saw the men.”

“What men?” Nancy knit her eyebrows together. Jo–Jo stuck his thumb in his mouth and started turning the pages of his book.

“The men who are going to cut down the trees! They’re marking all the trees they’re going to log, even the ones for our tree house. We told them to stop, but they weren’t listening to us at all. We had to do something! So we told them we’re not coming down from the tree house until they agree not to cut down a single tree in Big Tree Grove.”

“I see.” Julian couldn’t read Nancy’s expression. She sighed and pushed her hair behind her ears. “And what’s this about Julian’s grandmother?”

Robin turned to Julian.

“Well,” he said, “we thought maybe my grandmother could get the San Francisco Chronicle to write a story about Big Tree Grove. And that might help. Since you guys lost the THP appeal and everything.” He was glad he remembered about the appeal.

“Please, Mom!” Robin got down on her knees and clasped her hands together. “We have to do this. Don’t say we can’t. Please?”

“I’m not saying that yet.” Nancy’s face was unreadable, like she was doing arithmetic in her head. “I need to talk this over with your father. I’ll be right back.” She swung Jo–Jo up on her hip and walked toward the open sliding doors. Jo–Jo started wailing, “I don’t wanna go out! I want the choo–choo book!”

“Wait just a minute, honey,” Nancy said to Jo–Jo. She stopped at the door. “They didn’t threaten you or anything?”

“Threaten us? No! They gave us a thumbs–up,” Robin said in disgust. “And tell Dad the guy’s name is Pete.”

“Pete?” Bob came in through the front door, carrying the day’s mail. “Where did you see Pete?”

Robin repeated the whole story to her father.

“Absolutely not!” he said. “I am not having you turn into one of those crazy tree–sitters. It’s not safe, for one thing. And it’s trespassing. Ed Greeley was always a good neighbor to me.”

“But Dad, it’s not Ed Greeley anymore. That’s the whole problem. Do you think IPX is a good neighbor? And it’s not dangerous. John and Dave were just up there. And the Greeley boys played in the tree house for years. I bet you even played in it!”

Bob pressed his lips together and turned his face aside, reaching up to adjust his wide–brimmed hat.

Robin smiled slightly. “It’s super sturdy—not a single loose board! Very well–constructed. Very nice craftsmanship!”

“You’re breaking the law,” Bob said, but his voice had lost some of its edge. “I don’t want the sheriff out here again.” He looked pointedly at Julian. Julian lowered his eyes and shifted nervously.

“Daddy, we’re not!” Robin said. “We’re just up in our tree house! Ed Greeley let the boys play there. And if the laws don’t protect Big Tree, then they’re not good laws anyway.”

“What good is it going to do for you kids to sit up in a tree house? I don’t see how that’s going to accomplish anything.”

“It might. Nothing else is working. It’s worth a try. Especially if the Chronicle writes a story about us.”

“I want a story!” Jo–Jo called out. Nancy whispered in his ear and shifted him to her other hip.

Bob shook his head. “The whole thing’s going to turn into a circus. I can see it already.”

Julian’s mind was reeling from all the back and forth, but Robin answered right away. “No, it won’t. There’s already been stories about it up here. Everybody knows about it. But a story in the Chronicle would be different. Then all those San Francisco people would read it and maybe IPX cares more about them. If they even wrote a story, which they probably won’t anyway.”

Bob’s face softened ever so slightly as he watched Robin. He crossed his arms. “How long were you planning on staying up there?”

It was a chink in his armor and Julian saw Robin take heart. “Not that long. It’s a tree house. We can’t stay up there forever! Ariel and Julian and Danny have to leave Sunday anyway. Remember, Daddy, you and Mom said it was really, really important to save Big Tree! You said we should try everything we could!”

Bob looked at Nancy. “What do you think?”

Robin clasped her hands again and stared silently at her mother.

“Well, I don’t see how it could do any harm, really,” Nancy said. “And they are working for something they believe in. ‘Speak truth to power’—that’s what we’ve taught them.”

Bob looked back and forth between his wife and his daughter. “If anything happens, if we say it’s time to come down, you all come down.”

“I promise,” Robin said.

“I mean right away.”

“OK, Daddy.”

“You too, Julian.”

“Yes, sir.” Julian had never said “sir” in his life, but somehow it seemed called for.

“Where’s Molly?” he asked.

“In the tree house,” Robin said. “With Danny and Ariel.”

“Molly stays here. And I don’t want you getting out of your chores. I want to get more of that trail done.”

“Every morning two of us will come and two can stay in the tree house. We’ll come first thing when you ring the bell. We’ll work extra hard.”

Bob sighed. “I don’t know how I ended up with you. Always getting into scrapes and causing trouble. John and Dave were never like this.”

Robin smiled sweetly. “Nature or nurture. Either way, it’s not my fault.”

Bob drank a glass of water and walked back toward the door. “In one hour, I want two kids out at the trail ready to work. No slackers. I expect instant obedience, unstinting labor, hours of uncomplaining toil.”

“On your orders, Dad.”

Bob smiled wryly and walked out of the house, shaking his head. Nancy smiled at her daughter. “Looks like your prayers have been answered.” Her eyes were still worried. “I hope this all turns out OK.”

“It will,” Robin said confidently. She came just to her mother’s chin and Julian looked at her and wondered how she could be so certain everything would turn out right, when it seemed to him entirely possible that everything would turn out completely wrong.