“But as I remember it, it’s mostly black growth—pine and spruce.”
“Yes, and cedar, fir, and hemlock! What in thunder does anybody want of any other kind of timber?”
“I can’t use it. I’m buying for a special purpose.”
I felt like a man trying to get across a brook without wetting his feet. Every time I leaped I was mighty glad and rather surprised to find another stepping-stone to land on.
“Then you must be looking for hardwood?”
“That’s it.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Burn bricks for our factory chimneys.”
He did not look more than half convinced.
“I can’t go into details even with you, Uncle Deck,” I told him. “I’m ordered to buy close, and when names of big concerns are given out the sellers always raise prices.”