"What will you give to find your canoes?" exclaimed Frankie. "Aw--say--don't rub it in," begged Tubby. "We own up to the corn. You beat us. Where are the canoes?" "Ahem!" said Wynifred, clearing her throat loudly, and standing forth. "Hear, hear!" cried Mina. "Oh! you've got it all fixed up for us, I see," muttered Ferd. "The understanding always has been," said Wyn, calmly, "that if one party succeeded in playing a practical joke on the other, and 'getting away with it,' as you slangy boys say, the party falling for the trick should pay forfeit. Isn't that so?" "Go on! Do your worst," growled Ferd. "That's right. You state the case clearly, Miss Mallory," said Dave, with a bow of mockery. "And they never paid a forfeit for the time Tubby slid down our boathouse roof, plunk into the water," cried Bessie. "Aw--that's ancient history," growled Tubby. "Let us stick to recent events," agreed Wyn, smiling. "If we girls were at all frightened by your 'bear-faced' attempt to frighten us this morning, we have paid with a breakfast; haven't we?" "And it was a good one," agreed Dave. "It's made me go right to cooking again," said Bess. "A swarm of locusts would have brought about no greater devastation." "Then, gentlemen," said Wynifred, "do you admit that the shoe is now on the other foot? You cannot find your canoes. Will you pay us to find them for you?" "That's only fair," admitted Dave. "Say! how do we pay you?" demanded Ferd. "Shall I tell them what we demand, girls?" asked Wyn. "Go ahead!" "It'll serve them right!" "They've got to do it!" were some of the exclamations from the Go-Aheads. "Oh, let the blow fall!" groaned Dave. "Then, gentlemen of the Busters Association, it is agreed by the ladies of the Go-Ahead Club that while we remain in camp on Green Knoll this summer, you young gentlemen shall cut and stack all the firewood we shall need!" "Ow-ouch!" cried Ferd. "What a cheek!" gasped Tubby, rolling his eyes. "_All_ the firewood you use?" repeated one of the other boys. "Why--that will be cords and cords!" "Every stick!" declared Wyn, firmly. "And I'd be ashamed, if I were you, to complain," pursued Bessie. "If you had been gentlemanly you would have offered to cut our wood before. You know that that is the _one_ thing that girls can't do easily about a camp." "Gee! you have quite a heap of stove wood yonder," said Tubby. "That is what Mr. Jarley cut for us," Wyn said. "But it doesn't matter what other means we may have for getting our firewood cut. Will you accept the forfeit like honorable gentlemen?" "Why, we've _got_ to!" cried Ferd. "We're honestly caught," admitted Dave Shepard. "I'll do my share. Two of us, for half a day a week, can more than keep you supplied--unless you waste it." "And we can have the canoes back?" demanded one of the other Busters, eagerly.