"Yes," said Willis, "and we saw two minks and a fish-cat, as we went up the stream; but they all three got out of sight before Tom could draw a bead on them." "Wise minks," said Ellen. "And Willis thinks that he caught a glimpse of a 'screamer,' just as we were going through a little fir thicket," Tom remarked. "I'm almost sure it was one," corroborated Willis. "Oh, I wish we had a lot of traps and could stay up here a fortnight. I should like two dozen mink traps and a couple of big traps." "What do you want of such big traps?" said Kate carelessly. "To catch _deer_ in?" "Of course not," said Willis. "No hunter around here ever sets traps for deer." "I was thinking I had never heard of such a thing," replied Catherine, demurely. "But how about the balm o' Gileads?" Addison asked suddenly. "Oh, there's quite a growth of them!" replied Tom. "On the slope of the mountain, there are twenty or thirty old trees and no end of young ones coming up. I should think there was fifty acres of them altogether, shouldn't you, Willis?" "I should," said Willis. "There would be buds enough there, though I should think it would be a stint to gather them." "Oh, I don't think it would be such a very bad job," said Tom. "We could bend down the tops of the young trees and pick the buds off fast. I believe I could pick five or six pounds a day, anyhow." "Five pounds would be twenty dollars, according to Addison's reckoning," said Theodora. "Very fair wages for us!" said Kate. "I would even work for less." "None of your jokes!" exclaimed Addison. "I think that I could get a living, digging spruce gum up here," Kate went on. "Spruce gum is said to bring a dollar per pound, when nice and clean; I could dig gum days, and scrape it clean evenings, and live in the 'old slave's cabin;' that is, I could if the '_deer_' didn't scare me away," she added, with a significant glance at us boys which made us feel rather foolish. "Kate, you are almost as knowing as your grandma!" exclaimed Tom, derisively; "and you're not a quarter as old yet. Fact, you are almost too knowing for your age." "Don't think other folks are too knowing because you are a little backward yourself, Thomas!" cried Kate. "Your _deer_ stories are not quite right; there is something weak in them." "Take a swallow of cold water in your mouth, Tom," said Addison, laughing. Luncheon being disposed of, we gathered up our specimen crystals and the fragments of rose quartz, packed the crystals in moss, in the pail, and then tied up the rose quartz in one of our jackets. The latter made a rather heavy pack and, together with the pail, proved quite a load down the mountain and back through the woods to the opening. Willis took the _deer_ skin; and Tom carried the _deer_ meat. We returned across the wooded intervale, seeing no game but a partridge, which Willis shot, and reached the ford and the cabins at about four o'clock in the afternoon.