“What power?” asked Willard.
“Why, the power, or whatever you like to call it, to make this thing work. Have you ever tried it?”
“I don’t know what you’re doing,” answered Willard, getting down from the wall. “What’s the branch for?”
“Haven’t you ever seen a water-finder?” Willard shook his head, puzzled. “Well, you take a piece of witch-hazel or willow—some say alder or ash will do—and hold it like this by the top branches and walk over the ground. When you come to a place where there’s water below, the lower end there will tilt downwards. I’ve seen it done twice.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of that, but I never saw it tried,” answered Willard interestedly. “I supposed it was just nonsense. Did you ever see it succeed?”
The other nodded soberly. “Both times. Old Man Hildreth, back home, did it twice one time for my father, and when we dug where he told us to we came to water. One time it was a regular spring that we found and the other time it was more like a well. I mean we had to dig pretty far down before we came to the water. Old Man Hildreth used witch-hazel, and that’s what I’ve got here. I had to hunt nearly an hour before I found any.”
“Let’s see.” Willard took the Y-shaped piece and looked at it curiously. There was, however, nothing about its appearance to indicate the power attributed to it by the boy in the green sweater. Willard shrugged. “I guess you’ve got to go where you know there’s water,” he said. “It doesn’t look to me as if there’d be much water on top of this hill.”
“You mostly find springs on hillsides,” replied the other mildly, “and that’s why I’ve been looking around here. Maybe I’m too high up now, though.”
Willard seized the branches as he had seen the other hold them and experimentally walked a few steps forward. Nothing happened. For that matter, he hadn’t expected anything would happen.
“You must hold them tight,” advised the other, “so you’ll feel the influence.”