CHAPTER III

SUGARING OFF


The next morning, incredible as it seemed, Bob and Van were none the
worse for their mountain trip, and Mr. Carlton, who had worried no
little about them, and who was still feeling the effects of his
hours of anxiety, remarked somewhat wrathfully:

"You two fellows come to the surface like a pair of corks! Any one
would think that being lost on a mountain was an every-day
occurrence with you. That is the difference between sixteen and
forty-six, I suppose. My poor old nerves rebel at being jolted in
such casual fashion."

Bob smiled.

"We're fit as two fighting cocks to-day, Father," he declared. "In
fact, this very minute we're going out to help David collect sap.
They are going to boil a lot of it down to-day."

"I imagined as much when I saw the smoke rising from the sugar-house
chimney. Well, you seem to have your morning's work mapped out. Just
don't get lost again, for I have no mind to go scouring the country
a second time to find you."