"Where?" asked Dick.
"Jim Haynes told me I might take his big canoe this morning."
"So you're going canoeing?" queried Dave.
"Yep; and better'n that, too," glowed Greg. "You know Payson, the farmer, up the river?"
"Of course."
"This being an apple year, Payson told me I could have a few barrels of apples if I'd pick 'em and pay him twenty cents a barrel. His orchard is right along the river bank. Isn't that a cinch?"
"I'd like to go," rejoined Dick wistfully. "But I can't, very well. You see, I've got to work in the store this afternoon. Dad is going to be away."
"Your mother'll let you go, if you tell her what a fine time you can have."
"That wouldn't be quite fair," replied Dick, shaking his head. "Mother would let me go, I know; but the trouble with her," he added, with a smile, "is that she's always too easy. And I know there's more work to do in the store this afternoon than she can handle alone."
"I'd go in a minute," Dave chipped in, "but you see I've agreed to go to the express office this afternoon and help check up bundles. I'm to get a quarter for it."