"Ramshackle!" Al bristled. "Why you young whipper-snapper! This is as
good-built a camp as--"
"There you are!" Ted grinned. "If you had a choice, would you stay here
or at Crestwood?"
"Why here," Al grumbled. "I never did go for that fancy stuff."
"And neither do a lot of other hunters. When they go out, they'd as soon
be in the woods. Besides, the prices here aren't much like Crestwood's,
either. In deer season, Thornton's cheapest room is fifteen dollars a
day. We could rent twenty camps like this if we had 'em."
"And we won't even rent this'n 'thout we finish it. Now let's do some
figgerin'."
At the kitchen end of the camp, they had built a wooden stand and in it
placed the tub from a large kitchen sink. There was an overflow pipe
that led to a septic tank beneath the floor of the camp itself; thus it
wouldn't freeze. Al scratched his head.
"My figgerin's all done."
"It is?"
"Yup, and it figgers out the same's it always does. If we want water in
here, we'll have to work to put it in. Get your boots on."
"Yes, boss."
Ted donned rubber boots and they went out. Tammie, who had been having
an exciting time trying to catch a chipmunk that insisted on poking its
nose out of a crevice, wagged his tail and ran to join them. A doe that
had come to the apple trees stamped an apprehensive foot and drifted
slowly into the forest. The two workers took a pick and shovel from the
truck, and Al led the way to a little knoll.
On the very top of the knoll was a seepage of water that sent a tricklet
into Tumbling Run. Green grass, rather than goldenrod, lined its length
and at no place was the runlet more than four inches wide or two deep.
Never in Al's memory had it been more or less; the spring provided a
constant flow. Even in coldest weather, the runlet never froze, and its
banks were always free of snow. It was a favorite drinking place for
deer that found other water icebound.