literally cooked."

For a while both boys were silent. The idea was a new one to them.

Presently Charley spoke. "I knew that fire burned up our timber," he said,
"but I never thought about its burning up our water, too. I know we're
getting awful short of lumber. Is there any danger of our running out of
water? But that can't be, surely."

"It surely can be," said the stranger. "I judge you boys have been here
before, and-----"

"We have," interrupted Lew.

"Then you know what a magnificent stream this run used to be. Look at it
now. I don't believe there is one-tenth as much water in it as there used
to be. Suppose all the mountains in this state should be devastated like
this valley. Where would the towns and cities get their water?"

"Great Cæsar!" said Lew. "I never thought of that. There wouldn't be any
water for them to get. If the brooks dried up, the rivers would dry up,
too. Why--why--what in the world would we do? There wouldn't be any water
to drink or wash in or cook with or run our factories. Why, great Cæsar!
If the forests vanished, I guess we'd be up against it. I never thought of
the forests as furnishing anything but lumber. And I never thought much
about that until we tried to buy a little lumber the other day and the
dealer wanted ten dollars for half a dozen boards."

"Exactly!" said the stranger. "That's the price you and I and the rest of
us in Pennsylvania pay for allowing our forests to be destroyed."