Quickly they adjusted their packs and started back along the railroad-track toward the gap through which they were to pass to Old Ironsides.  Rapidly they made their way along the road-bed.

“We’d better hustle while the going’s good,” commented Lew, glancing at the heavy clouds that obscured the sun, “for it will get dark early to-night.  It’ll be slow enough going once we leave the track.”

“There’s one thing sure,” replied Charley.  “We won’t be bothered with wet ground.  I think I never saw the earth so dry at this season of the year.  There was almost no snow last winter and we’ve hardly had a rain this spring.  Usually it rains every day at this time of year.”

Charley’s prediction proved true.  When the boys at last reached the notch in the mountains and left the railroad-track, they found the way almost as dry as a village street.  Years before, the timber had been cut from Stone Mountain, and a logging trail had passed up the very gap through which the boys were now traveling.  But brush and brambles had come in soon after the lumbermen left and now a thick stand of saplings also helped to choke the path.  The briars tore at the boys’ clothing and blankets.  The bushy growths caught in their packs and straps and wrapped themselves about their feet and legs.  Very quickly it became evident that a hard struggle lay before them.

Back from the trail, in the forest proper, there was little underbrush, but the stand of young trees was dense and the way underfoot was so rough and uneven that it was almost impossible to make any headway there.  For Stone Mountain was a stone mountain in very truth.  It appeared to be just one enormous heap of rocks and boulders.  In a very little while both boys were perspiring profusely from their efforts, and both were conscious that they were tiring fast; for the grade up the notch was steep.

“Gee!” said Lew, at last.  “This is tougher than anything I ever saw when I was in the Maine woods with Dad.  We’ve got to take it easy or we’ll be tuckered out before we get through this gap.  Let’s rest a bit.”

He sat down on a stone and Charley followed his example.  As they rested, they looked sharply about them.  They could see for some distance through the naked forest.  The tree trunks stood straight and tall, and seemed to be crowded as close together as pickets on a fence.

“This sure is a fine stand of poles,” remarked Lew, “but it’s just as that lumber dealer said.  There isn’t a tree in it that would make a board wider than six inches.  But there’s some good timber farther back in the mountains.  Do you remember the fine stand of pines in that little valley we’re heading for?  When we were there three years ago there hadn’t been a tree cut in that valley.  There must be millions and millions of feet of lumber there.”

“And do you remember,” replied Charley, “how dark it was under those pines, and how cold the water in the run was, and what schools of trout we saw?  Gee!  I wish it had been trout season then!  But we ought to get’em now.  Oh boy!  I can hardly wait to get there.”