"I'd rather own a rich lumber tract," returned Dale. "I'd work it systematically, cutting nothing but big trees and planting a new tree for every old one cut. By that means I'd make the tract bring me in a regular income." "That's the way to talk," came from Joel Winthrop. "And unless the owners do something like that putty soon Maine won't be in the lumber business no more." "They tell me that the big pulp mill near here can use up 50,000,000 feet of lumber in a year," went on Dale. "It's true," said Gilroy. "They'll chew up logs almost as fast as you can raft 'em along. What we are coming to if the pulp mills and paper makers keep on crowding us for logs, I don't know." It was night when they reached the landing place nearest to the Paxton camp, which was located up the hillside, half a mile away. At this point the stream opened up into something of a pond, with a cove in which several small boats were moored. The shores of the pond were rocky and covered in spots with a stunted undergrowth, while further back was the forest of spruce, pine, fir, and a few other trees, sending forth a delicious fragrance that was as invigorating as it was delightful. As the bateau grounded, Dale leaped ashore, stretched himself and took a long, deep breath, filling his lungs to their utmost capacity. "This is what I like!" he cried. "It's better than a tonic or any other medicine." "And what an appetite it will give a fellow," added Owen. "I can always eat like a horse when I'm in the woods working." As it was a clear night, the bateau was hauled up on the shore and the provisions carefully covered with a thick tarpaulin. Then the party struck out up the hillside for the camp, Joel Winthrop leading the way. The trail was a rough one, for this camp was new, being located nearly a mile from the one of the season before, the loggers moving from place to place according to the cutting to be done. More than once they had to climb over the rough rocks with care, and once Owen slipped into a hollow and gave his leg a twist that was far from agreeable. The ground lay thick with needles, cones, and dead leaves, and here and there a fallen tree brought down by storm or old age. The young lumbermen had already been informed that the camp was a new one, so they were not surprised when they learned that so far only a cook's shanty had been erected and that the men assembled were sleeping in little shacks and tents or in the open. When they arrived they found but two men awake, the others having retired almost immediately after supper. Joel Winthrop had his own shack, a primitive affair, made by leaning a number of poles against a rocky cliff eight or ten feet high. Over the poles were placed a number of pine boughs, and boughs were also placed on the floor of the structure, for bedding purposes.