“I couldn’t cut with a fine razor,” declared Greg Holmes.  “Look at the blisters on my hands from the cutting I’ve already done.”

“Never mind your aches and pains,” comforted Dave Darrin.  “We’re doing this to pay charges on our canoe, and Hiram Driggs has been mighty kind about the whole business.  Think of the fun we’re going to have when that canoe is launched; Now, fellows, Hiram Driggs has been mighty good to us, so I want to propose a plan for your approval.  Whenever Driggs tells us that we’ve cut and hauled enough birch bark to pay him, then we must come out here and get still a few more loads, to pay him in good measure and show that we appreciate his kindness.  Never mind how much our backs ache or our hands smart.  Do you agree?”

“I’ll fight any fellow in the crowd who doesn’t agree,” announced Tom Reade.

“You can’t get up a fight with me on that score,” retorted Greg.  The others also quickly assented to Dave’s plan.

By and by the youngsters halted for half an hour to eat the luncheons they had brought with them.  Then they went at their work again.

At half-past three o’clock in the afternoon they tied up in bundles as much of the bark as each boy could carry, then started homeward.

“We ought to get home in time for supper,” Dick declared hopefully.

It was about eight o’clock in the evening when they reached Greg’s gate.  The return was harder than they had expected.  The road seemed to be twice as rough as it had been in the morning; they were utterly fagged, and discovered that even a load of birch bark can weigh a good deal under certain circumstances.

“Pile it up in the back of the yard,” Greg suggested, “and we’ll take it around to Mr. Driggs in the morning.”

“Then we can hardly get back to Katson’s Hill to-morrow, if we wait until the boatyard opens at eight o’clock,” said Dave.  “We ought to start for the hill before six, as we did this morning.”

“We’ll none of us feel like going to Katson’s Hill early to-morrow morning,” smiled Dick wearily.  “Fellows, I guess we’ll have to put in twice as much time, and go every other day.  I’m afraid it’s going to be a little too much for us to do everyday.”

So this was agreed upon, though rather reluctantly, for Dick & Co. were anxious to repay Driggs at the earliest date.

Not one of the six boys appeared on Main Street that evening.  Each of them, after eating supper, crept away to bed to ease the aching of his muscles in slumber.

The next morning they met at Greg’s gate shortly after seven o’clock.

“The loads will seem lighter to-day,” laughed Dick.

“But to-morrow—–­oh, me, oh, my!” groaned Reade, making a comical face.

“It’s the ‘White Man’s Burden,’ you know,” Dick laughed.

“What is?” Dave inquired.

“Debt—–­and its consequences.”

“My father has a horror of debt,” Tom announced.