“You’d have plenty of chances if you were with Bentley in the Spruce Mountain district to which he has been transferred,” said Mr. Brandon.
“I suppose you fellows have heard of Spruce Mountain before now, haven’t you?” inquired Payne Bentley.
“It seems to me I have,” said Bob, somewhat doubtfully. “Doesn’t Dr. Dale own some timberland up in that part of the country? Seems to me I’ve heard him say something about it.”
Mr. Bentley nodded.
“He has about a hundred acres, I believe. And in addition to that, he holds an equal amount in trust for the benefit of the Old First Church. With the price of lumber going higher every day, you can believe that woodland is rather valuable.”
“I should say it must be,” agreed Jimmy, with conviction. “Whenever I want to get a little money from my dad, he tells me that the high price of lumber is keeping him so poor that he can’t afford it.”
“Well, if it weren’t for some of the disastrous forest fires of recent years, lumber would be more plentiful now,” remarked Mr. Bentley. “However, in those days we didn’t have radio to help us, and we hope there will never be other fires of such size as to wipe out whole forests in one conflagration.”
“I wish we could all get a chance to visit you at Spruce Mountain,” said Joe longingly. “I suppose that’s too much to hope for though.”
“Stranger things than that have happened,” replied the forest ranger. “I happen to know that Doctor Dale owns an old hunting lodge up there that was on the property when he bought it. I understand you boys are pretty solid with him, and I’m sure he’d be willing to let you use it. There’d be worse places to spend part of your vacation. Your school, I suppose, will close pretty soon now.”
“Three weeks earlier than usual this year, Mr. Preston told us a few days ago,” answered Bob. “There are going to be extensive repairs, and the ordinary vacation wouldn’t be long enough to do them in. We’ll probably be through school now in a couple of weeks. If our folks think well of it, we might take a trip to Spruce Mountain first and still have plenty of time later on at the seaside.”