BIRCH BARK MERCHANTS
Away over on Katson's Hill six high school boys, stripped to their
undershirts and trousers, were toiling hard, drenched in perspiration
and with hands considerably the worse for their hard work.
"What we're finding out is that it's one thing to strip bark for
fun, and quite another thing to take it off in pieces large enough
for a boat-builder," Dick Prescott declared.
"It isn't as fast work as I thought it would be, either," Dave
Darrin declared, running his knife slowly down the trunk of a
young birch.
"What we need is to bring a grindstone along with us," Tom Reade
grunted, as he examined the edge of the largest blade in his jackknife.
"I simply can't cut with this knife any more."
"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.
"Well, I guess the black side of debt shows only when one doesn't
intend to make an effort to pay it," Dick suggested. "The whole
business world, so we were taught at high school, rests on a foundation
of debt. The man who doesn't contract debts bigger than he can
pay, won't find much horror in owing money. We owe Hiram Driggs
twenty dollars, or rather we're going to owe it. But the bark
we're going to take in to him to-day is going to pay a part of
that debt. A few days more of tramping, blistered hands and aching
backs, and we'll be well out of debt and have the rest of the
summer for that great old canoe!"
"Let's make an early start with the bark," proposed Tom. "I want
to see if the stuff feels as heavy as it did late yesterday afternoon."
"Humph! My load doesn't seem to weigh more than seven ounces,"
Darrin declared, as he shouldered one of the piles of bark.
"Lighter than air this morning," quoth Tom, "and only a short
haul at that."
When Hiram Driggs reached his boatyard at eight o'clock he found
Dick & Co. waiting for him.
"Well, well, well, boys!" Mr. Driggs called cheerily. "So you
didn't back out."
"Did you think we would, sir?" Dick inquired.
"No; I knew you boys wouldn't back out. And I don't believe you
threw away any bark on the way home, just to lighten your loads."
Hiram went about the yard starting the day's work for his men,
then came back to the boys.
"Now, just bring the bark over to the platform and we'll look
it over and sort it," suggested the boat builder.
Dick & Co. carried their loads over to the platform, where they
cut the lashings.
"We'll make three heaps of the stuff," Driggs proposed. "One
heap will be the worthless stuff that has to be thrown away.
Another heap will be for the pieces that are good but small; they'll
do for patches. The third heap will be the whole, sound strips.
Mebbe I'd better do all the sorting myself."
So the boys stood by, watching Driggs as he sorted the bundles
of bark with the speed of a man who knows just what he wants.
A quantity of the bark went on to the "worthless" heap, yet there
was a goodly amount in each of the other piles by the time that
the boat builder was through sorting it.
"You've done first rate, boys," he announced at last. "Is there
much more of that bark on Katson's Hill?"
"We ought to be able to bring in fifty times as much bark as we've
brought already," Dick answered.
"I wish you would," Driggs retorted.
"And give up the whole of our summer vacation?" Danny Grin asked
anxiously.
"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.
Work went lightly that day! The shop knives cut far better than
pocket knives could do, and the stone was at hand for sharpening.
Six laughing and not very tired boys piled aboard the wagon that
afternoon, with what looked like a "mountain" of prime birch bark
roped on.
For seven more working days Dick & Co. toiled faithfully, at the
end of which time they discovered that they had about "cleaned"
Katson's Hill of all the really desirable bark.
"Your canoe will be dry enough to launch in the morning," said
Driggs, as he received the last load at his stable. "Come down
any time after eight o'clock and we'll put it in the water."
Were Dick & Co. on hand the next morning?
Dan Dalzell was the last of the six boys to reach post outside
the locked gate of the yard, and he was there no later than twenty-one
minutes past seven.