Page:Hugh Pendexter--The young timber-cruisers.djvu/391

 For a count of ten Abner remained rigid, then he hoarser begged, “Tell me ye ain’t fooling. Tell me it’s true; just as true as the wasps was. Ye ain’t playing it low down on the old man, be ye, Reddy?”

“It’s gospel truth,” assured Stanley.

“Lawd! ain’t I thankful,” fervently cried the veteran, looking up at the dying sky, his eyes glowing with ecstasy.

But this mood was quickly replaced by one of the keenest apprehension, and he lamented, “If I could only have been there! Not to take the credit, but to advise ye what to do after ye’d made the bullseye. If only I could have stood at yer elbow and advised, ‘Place that there bark’—”

“In a hollow log,” mischievously broke in Bub.

“No!” rumbled Abner, tossing his arms about wildly. “But back on the tree, Where no one would notice it.”

“That’s what I did,” modestly informed Stanley, not wishing to tease the veteran longer.

“Boy! Reddy!” muttered Abner, catching him by both shoulders and glaring into his eyes. “Did ye really have brains enough to do that?”