Part 6 (1/2)
”But doesn't everybody do that?”
”Everybody 'cept horse traders, and you can always do your horse tradin'
when and if you have to. But I don't think you're goin' to rent for the season.”
”Why not?”
Al shrugged. ”Figger it out by yourself. How many city people can take a whole season just to go huntin'? Most they get is a couple of weeks or so.”
”That's right, too. Do you think I should say, 'deer and small game abundant'?”
”I wouldn't. n.o.body'd come into the Mahela 'thout havin' some idea they could find game here and there's another point.”
”What's that?”
”You're tryin' to build up a business, and the more repeat business you can get, the less it'll cost to get it. Promise too much and you might drive business away. Some people, readin' about over-plenty game, might expect a flock of grouse behind every tree and a ten-point buck in every swale and be mad if they didn't find it. Let 'em do their own lookin'.”
”I was thinking of hiring out as a guide.”
”Wouldn't put that in either. Some people want guides and some don't.
Anybody who rents your camp and wants a guide will ask you where to find one. Then you can d.i.c.ker.”
”Do you think I'm asking too much money?”
”Nope. Chances are that you won't get less than six in any party. Split the cost amongst 'em and it won't break any one. Your prices are fair.”
Ted lost himself in his literary effort. ”It doesn't seem very forceful.”
”Land o'goshen!” Al's eyes glinted with amus.e.m.e.nt. ”You're tryin' to get information across, not writin' a speech! How many papers you crumpled so far?”
”Well,” Ted looked at the pile of discarded papers beside him and grinned, ”quite a few. You really think this is all right?”
”A masterpiece,” Al answered solemnly. ”Mail it afore you change your mind again.”
Ted folded his paper, wrote a short letter to the effect that he wanted his ad to run in the cla.s.sified section, wrote a check, put all three in an envelope and addressed it to a leading daily newspaper in a city from which the Mahela drew numerous hunters. Tammie trotted beside him as he ran down to the mailbox, put his letter in and raised the red flag to let Bill Parker, their rural carrier, know there was mail to pick up.
He ran back to the house.
_”Br-r!_ It's cold!”
”The jackets in the closet,” Al observed drily, ”are not there because they look pretty.”
Ted said meekly, ”Yes, Dad.”
He re-seated himself at the table and took up his pen. The first hunting season, for woodc.o.c.k, opened next week. Two weeks later, squirrels, cottontails and ruffed grouse became legal game and the season ran for a month. During the last week of small game season, black bears could be shot. Then everything else was closed and hunting wound up with the three-week deer season.
Ted calculated carefully. There were six weeks of the small game season.
If he rented his camp throughout at forty-five dollars a week, it would give him a net return of two hundred and seventy dollars. Three weeks of deer season would add another hundred and eighty, or a total of four hundred and fifty. Ted consulted his expense records.
Jud Hawley had sold them the land with the old building on it for a hundred and fifty dollars and Al and Ted had torn down the old building and rebuilt it. Just the same, expenses had mounted with incredible speed. Al had all the tools, but it was necessary to buy nails. The window casings Al had fas.h.i.+oned, but the gla.s.s that went into them cost money. They'd had to buy a secondhand cooking range and a heating stove and enough table and cooking ware to serve many people. Bedding had been an expensive item, and composition s.h.i.+ngles for both the roof and outer walls had cost a great deal.