"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."