CHAPTER FOUR
OFF FOR THE WOODS
Despite his promise to Bub, Stanley had but a hazy idea how he was to overcome Abner’s opposition and participate in the trip north. When he went to sleep he had only planned to steal away and follow the party till they got far on their way and then boldly join them. When he awoke in the morning he remembered that much of the trip would be made by water and he realized there would be hardly a possibility of his crossing Umbagog lake, following Rapid river, conquering the long stretches of Molechunkamunk and Mooselucmaguntic lakes in the Rangeley chain and arriving at the mouth of the Kennebago river in time to keep abreast of the cruisers. Too proud to confess defeat to the still sleeping Bub, he quietly rose and stole down stairs.
He had begun with the loading gang with much elation; now he loathed it all. But how to win Abner’s consent? Long and hard he weighed this problem, his gaze vacantly fixed on the North. The woods and waters up there
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