Page:Hugh Pendexter--The young timber-cruisers.djvu/184

 obviously extending downward. Again it had vanished.

“It is so plain to ascend that you are not blazing the lower side of the trees,” he remarked, on noticing Abner’s hatchet thrust in his belt.

“That’s it,” confirmed Abner. “When we git to the bottom I’ll leave a mark to show me what ridge to take.”

“If you don’t cruise the next section you can’t cut it this fall,” said Stanley.

“Time enough to cut it in the next few years,” replied Abner. “If it wan’t fer fires and windfalls I’d let this go over several years. As it is we’ve got to begin gitting it out. If it wan’t that important I’d not bother with it on this trip.”

“It has only taken a day,” reminded Stanley.

“But I ain’t made my estimates on how much equipment we’ll need, or how many hosses and men we’ll need; or how much can be-cut without crowding the Kennebec mills too hard. A cruiser has to keep all those things in mind. What the boss wants to know first is, How big a camp is necessary?”

“This is the end of the trail, and here is the ledge I stood on when you told me to