large quantity of wood for use during the night, that labor
was spared the two late arrivals, which fact pleased Bud very much.
He could work as hard as the next one when interested in what he was
doing, but gathering fuel had never appealed to him in the same way
it did to Billy Worth, who was all the time figuring out what
splendid things the wood could be used to cook.

As the three boys sat around eating the evening meal, they chatted in
a lively manner. Hugh told how he and Bud had had a fine lift by
means of the farmer's wagon, and then continued:

"I suppose you started this morning, and on that account missed your
Thanksgiving turkey, Ralph? But you said your mother was not
feeling well; and so perhaps the feast has been postponed at your
house to a more convenient time?"

"Just what it has," replied the other. "You see my married sisters
are expected home on Saturday night, and so mother decided to let
the big dinner go until Sunday, when we'll all be together again.
I just took a snack to munch on at noon, and brought some things to
cook. I got here two hours back, and had plenty of time to fix
things as I wanted them for my one night out."

"Perhaps you'll make it two, if we decide to stay that long, eh,
Ralph?" asked Bud, who was feeling much more warmly toward the other
since partaking of the delicious quail. "You see, we've got plenty
of rations along for three, and you'd be as welcome to share with us
as a shower in June."

"I'll see about that to-morrow afternoon, Bud," replied the other.
"But before I forget it, I want to tell you boys about a couple of
queer men I happened to see while coming through the woods not more
than a mile or so away from here."

"P'raps timber prospectors" suggested Hugh; "I've known of such men
to come up in this region trying to spy out new fields for operating
their destructive saw-mills. Somehow I hate to see the forest
wiped out that way. A tree takes some hundreds of years to mature,
and then it goes down in a heap, to be sawed up into boards. It
seems like a shame to me every time I think of how the timber is
disappearing. I believe in the work of the Forest Reserve Board.
It's high time this country began to think of keeping what it's got
before everything is lost. But tell us about these men that you saw.
They were not tramps, Ralph?"

"Oh, no, they were dressed too well for that," replied the other
quickly. "I happened to sight them in time to duc