"It wasn't exactly a promise," Dave broke in. "Anyway, Dick,
it wasn't the kind of promise that had to be kept."

"Half the time I felt that the promise had to be kept, and the
other half of the time I felt that it might better be broken,"
Prescott went on, laughingly. "Just as I reached Porthampton,
however, and saw all the fine summer homes there, my figures began
to rise. I realized, of course, that a birch bark canoe is a
good deal of a rarity in these days; that such a boat hasn't anything
like a hard-and-fast, staple value. A birch bark canoe, in other
words, is worth what it will bring."

"And no more," nodded Dave Darrin. "So you were wise to take
the fifty dollars."

"Who said that I took fifty dollars for the canoe?" Dick smiled
back.

"What did you get?" insisted Harry Hazelton, his impatience increasing
with every minute.

"Do you really want to know what I got?" teased Dick.

"Of course I do," snorted Harry. "We all do!"

"Then I'll tell you," nodded Dick. Instead, however, he began
feeling in his pockets.

"Tell us, then!" ordered Hazelton gruffly.