"What's the matter? Bee sting you?"
"No, but something else did! Dad, I'm going to buy it!"
"That?" Al looked puzzled.
"Don't you see?" Ted's eyes were shining and Al knew his heart was
singing. "With more and more people coming into the Mahela every year,
they must have more places to stay. I'm going to tear this house down
and build a camp right here! Bet it'll rent five months out of the
year!"
"Well, I'll be jugged!" Al hoped Ted couldn't interpret his smile. "That
_is_ an idea!"
"We'll buy them all!" Ted bubbled, "with the money you were going to use
to send me to college! There're plenty of these small plots in the
Mahela and nobody else wants them! They can be had cheaply! Dad, it can
be done that way!"
"By gosh, Ted, it might! But it'll take a while."
"I know but--What's Tammie barking at?"
"One way to find out is to go see."
Off in the goldenrod, Tammie barked again. They made their way to him
and found him peering into a shallow little stream, Tumbling Run, that
wound out of the beeches, crossed the clearing and hurried back into the
beeches, on its way to meet Spinning Creek. In the middle of the run, a
small gray raccoon with a trap on its left front paw did not even glance
up. It had fought the trap fiercely and now was too spent and too weary
to fight anything.