Page:Hugh Pendexter--The young timber-cruisers.djvu/158

 “Funny how spruce will grow almost anywhere,” continued Abner, as if talking to himself. “Ye’ll find it where ye’d swear a root couldn’t git a hold.”

“How could you get them down from up there?” asked Stanley, to whom the rugged slopes appeared to be inaccessible to man.

“That’s easy. Sluice ’em down. All ye got to do is to git them started and stand from under. We won’t have to use a boss except in yarding them down below. Loon River winds around the eastern slope, so it makes it pretty convenient. ”

Among Abner’s other assets was an ability to always find a spring when the hour came to stop and lunch. This in itself impressed Stanley as being marvelous.

“Time to eat,” announced Abner, throwing down his pack. “See if there ain’t a spring under that ledge. Two years ago I remember of finding one there.”

“Here it is,” called out Bub. “Clear and full.”

“And if we could put a railroad through up here, build a big hotel and charge five cents a glass people would say it was the best water in the world,” sniffed Abner. “Well, it is good water. Did ye know, sonny, that Maine is