“Well, I did; but I guess they know I’m around.”
“Sit down and make yourself at home,” said Tom. “You for the state or federal government?”
“Oh, state,” the visitor answered, so briskly that Tom felt chided for his ignorance. “You know they’re building a dam over here by Brundige Mountain⸺”
“Oh, yes, I know,” said Tom.
“They’ve got the old road turned into a quagmire,” said the government man, contemplating his boots ruefully through his rimless glasses. “We’re going to bring some of the cement in through here and fill some of the trees; cut down the waste.”
“You mean the trees?” Brent asked.
“Oh, no,” the visitor laughed. “Just put cement in where the trees are starting to decay; filling we call it; tree dentistry.”
“It’s a mighty good thing, too,” said Tom; “a stitch in time. They’re doing a lot of that work up in the Catskills.”
“Well, they’re not going far into the woods—they can’t,” the visitor said, in his brisk, sociable way. “You fellows smoke?”
“I’ll take a cigarette,” said Brent.