"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."