Page:Harold Titus--Timber.djvu/337

Rh "I don't know."

"Don't know!"

She shook her head. "Only in a general way. It depends on what happens to me and to the lumber market. I need thirty thousand dollars at once. That is to take care of a mortgage coming due and rebuild my dam and give me a small working capital. I may need as much more next spring; perhaps a greater amount. If my taxes are increased as the township officers have the authority to increase them under the present law, I will need help there. I will need loans from time to time until I can begin to make my regular turn-over—until I can start with a full annual cutting budget."

"A what? Oh, and then you do plan to cut this timber, sometime! When, Miss Foraker?"

"I can't tell you that exactly. It depends on market values and interest rates and how much capital I must put in—The cut begins when the stumpage value on approximately two hundred acres of timber is equal to the current carrying charges."

Rowe drew a hand back over his sleek hair. "Why the two hundred when you have ten thousand?" he asked. "You're sure of decent prices now and—you don't know how many more risks you will have to run in the future—risks and difficulties and unpleasant circumstances, Miss Foraker. Our proposition is to take over the whole block; we're not interested in a little fraction. Why the two hundred, if I may ask?"

"Because I'm trying to establish a forest business, Mr. Rowe, a forest business in which the annual income meets carrying charges and gradually amortizes the capital investment."