“Well, there is that side to it, after all,” Driggs admitted quickly.  “It must be a tough job on your backs, too.  But, boys, I wouldn’t mind having a lot of this stuff, for birch bark canoes are coming into favor again.  The only trouble is that birch bark is hard to get, these days, and costs a lot to boot.  So it makes birchbark canoes come pretty high.  At the same time, there are plenty of wealthy folks who would pay me well for a birch-bark canoe.  Now, I know that you boys, owning a canoe that will soon be in the water, won’t be anxious to give up your whole summer to doing jobs for me.  But couldn’t you bring in a lot more bark if you had a team of horses and a good-sized wagon?”

“Of course we could,” Dick nodded.  “But we haven’t any horses or a wagon.”

“I was thinking,” Driggs went on slowly.  “I can spare my gray team and the big green wagon.  Any of you boys know how to drive?”

“All of us do,” Dick answered, “though I guess Tom could handle a team better than any of the rest of us.”

“Then suppose you take my team out at six o’clock to-morrow morning?” Driggs suggested.  “I’ll have to charge you four dollars a day for it, but I’ll take it in bark as payment.  With the wagon you’ll be able to bring in a lot more bark than you could without a wagon.”

“It’s a fine idea, sir,” glowed Dick, “and you’re mighty kind to us.”

“Not especially kind,” smiled the boat builder.  “I can use a lot of this bark in my business, and I’m glad to get it on as reasonable a basis as you boys can bring it to me.  You see, it’s lucky that Katson’s Hill is wild and distant land.  If we had a land owner to deal with he’d make us pay high for the privilege of stripping the bark.”

“But why couldn’t you send your own workmen out to cut the bark?” Dick asked.  “They’ve as much right on Katson’s Hill as we have.”

“Oh, yes; I could do that,” Driggs assented.  “And I could make a little more money that way, mebbe.  But would it be square business, after you young men have trusted me with your business secret as to where bark can be had for nothing?”

That was a ruggedly honest way of putting it that impressed Dick & Co.

“I’ll tell you what you—–­might do, Mr. Driggs,” hinted Tom Reade.  “You might lend us a grindstone, if you have one to spare.  Then we can sharpen our knives right on the spot and cut bark faster.”

“You can have the grindstone,” Driggs assented.  “And I’ll do better than that.  I can spare half a dozen knives from the shop that are better than anything you carry in your pockets.  Oh, we’ll rush this business along fast.”

Six utterly happy high school boys reported at Hiram Driggs’ stable at six o’clock the next morning.  They harnessed the horses, put the grindstone in the wagon and all climbed aboard.  Two seats held them all, and there was room for a load of bark, besides, several times as large as Dick & Co. could carry on their backs.