66 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.

to the edge of the brook; and then, when there
comes a freshet, we’re going to tumble them in,
and let them float down to the house.”

“ And then they'll go by,” said Lucy, “and
down into the river.”

“No,” said Robert; “I shall have a boom to
stop them.”

“What is a boom?” asked Lucy.

“A long log of wood across the brook, to stop
my logs.”

The brook which Robert said was going to
float down his lumber, was. there a small stream,
tumbling over rocks along the valley. Presently,
however, they came to a place where the valley
widened a little, and there was a level piece of
ground on one side of it. On the other side, the
land descended steep to the very brink of the
brook. ‘The low piece of ground was covered
pretty thick with tall alder-bushes, twice as high
as a man’s head; so that the stems of them, when
they were cut down, made pretty large poles.
There was one spot, where a considerable number
of them had been cut down. In the middle of
this spot, there was a pile of branches and tops,
heaped up pretty high. There were, also, near
the edge of the brook, some piles of the wood
which Robert had got out, and which Eben had