"Ha! ha!" laughed Bert. "I'm first. My basket is full."
"I'm next!" called Tom, picking his basket up in his arms.
"Well, I'll be last I guess," laughed Tom, trying hard to pick up the scattered peas.
"There's mine!" called Harry, and now all the boys carried their baskets to the big bag at the end of the field and dumped them in.
"It won't take long to fill the bag," said Harry, "and it will be so good for Peter to have them ready, for to-morrow is market day."
So the boys worked on right along until lunch time, each having picked four big baskets full. August Stout came along and helped some too, but he could not stay long, as he had to cut some clothes poles for his mother.
"Well, I declare!" said Mrs. Burns, looking at the three full bags the boys had picked. "Isn't that splendid! But I can't pay until Peter comes from market."
"We just did it for fun," answered Harry. "We don't want any pay."
"Indeed you must have forty cents apiece, ten cents a basket," she insisted. "See what a good load you have picked!"
"No, really, Mrs. Burns; mother wouldn't like us to take the money," Harry declared. "We are glad to have helped you, and it was only fun."