"Oh, we've made it enough times to know," David replied. "Some folks stick a thermometer into it and figger how hot it will have to be; they say that's the best way. Others try the syrup in cold water or on snow like you would candy. Generally speaking, I can tell by the feel of it, and by the way it drips from the spoon. Sometimes, though, when I'm in doubt I try it on snow myself. If it gets kinder soft and waxy you can be sure it is getting done. If I was you instead of tracking round emptying buckets I'd go in the sugar-house and see 'em boiling the syrup. They started yesterday, and as I calculate it the mess ought to be pretty well along by now." "Bully idea, David! What do you say, Van?" asked Bob. "Shall we trail David or shall we go in and see the sugar made?" "Sugar! Sugar! Me for the sugar!" Van cried. "Sugar it is then!" Into the sugar-house they went. The small room was hot and steamy, and in the middle of it in a zinc-lined tank the foaming sap was boiling furiously. Beside it stood McMasters, Mr. Carlton's foreman, a thermometer in his hand. "Good-morning, Mr. Bob," he said. "So you are coming to cast an eye on the maple-sugar! Last week we made syrup and bottled it. Not a bad day's work, eh?" With no little pride he pointed to a row of neat bottles symmetrically arranged on a shelf. "We'll seal them to-morrow or next day and get the labels on, and then they will be ready to sell. But to-day it's sugar, so we have to keep the sap at a higher temperature." As he spoke he paused to test the bubbling liquid in the kettle. "If you lads want a treat take one of those wooden plates over there and fill it with snow; I'll spoon some of this hot sap over it, and you will have a feast for a king." The boys needed no urging. They took the plates, hurried out, and soon returned with them; over the heap of snow the foreman poured several heaping spoonfuls of hot syrup which, to their surprise, cooled in an incredibly short time and stiffened into a sticky mass that looked like candy. "Now get one of those wooden skewers from the shelf and use it as a fork," McMasters said. The boys caught the idea at once. They gathered the candied syrup up on the end of the sticks and thrust it into their mouths. "Why, it is just like toffy!" Van exclaimed. "It is a sight fresher than anything you could buy at the store," observed the foreman. "I believe I've got to have some more, Mac," Bob said. "Somehow it melts away before you know you're eating it." He refilled his plate with fresh snow and held it out for a second helping of syrup. McMasters filled it good-naturedly. But when the plates were extended the fourth and fifth time the Scotchman demurred.