had your luncheon spread out."

"Thomas," said Kate, looking sharply at him, "you are telling some kind
of crooked story."

"Willis," said Thomas carelessly, "go get that _deer_ hide."

Willis hesitated an instant, then went off through the bushes and in a
few moments returned with a gory skin, rolled up, with the _hair_ side
carefully turned in.

"Want to examine it, Kate?" said he, holding it towards her.

"No, no," said Catherine and Theodora both in a breath. "Do take the
dreadful thing away! But there's something wrong about your story all
the same, Tom," Kate added with a searching look at him. "I can tell
when you are fibbing just as well as need be; and I shall find out what
you boys are looking so funny at each other for, yet."

"You are a very knowing girl, Kate," said Tom. "But let's have some
luncheon and change the subject."

"Not till you go down to the spring and wash your hands," said
Catherine, "after handling that dreadful thing."

Peace having been restored by the washing of hands, luncheon was eaten.

"Yes," said Willis, "and we saw two minks and a fish-cat, as we went up
the stream; but they all three got out of sight before Tom could draw a
bead on them."

"Wise minks," said Ellen.

"And Willis thinks that he caught a glimpse of a 'screamer,' just as we
were going through a little fir thicket," Tom remarked.

"I'm almost sure it was one," corroborated Willis. "Oh, I wish we had a
lot of traps and could stay up here a fortnight. I should like two dozen
mink traps and a couple of big traps."

"What do you want of such big traps?" said Kate carelessly. "To catch
_deer_ in?"

"Of course not," said Willis. "No hunter around here ever sets traps for
deer."

"I was thinking I had never heard of such a thing," replied Catherine,
demurely.

"But how about the balm o' Gileads?" Addison asked suddenly.

"Oh, there's quite a growth of them!" replied Tom. "On the slope of the
mountain, there are twenty or thirty old trees and no end of young ones
coming up. I should think there was fifty acres of them altogether,
shouldn't you, Willis?"

"I should," said Willis. "There would be buds enough there, though I
should think it would be a stint to gather them."

"Oh, I don't think it would be such a very bad job," said Tom. "We could
bend down the tops of the young trees and pick the buds off fast. I
believe I could pick five or six pounds a day, anyhow."

"Five pounds would be twenty dollars