"Here's the place; all hands to work!" and the boys started in with a will, bringing to the roadside great heaps of boughs and woodvines, some of them covered with red berries and others with grey.
Within a short time they had gathered a large pile of the greens, so they decided it was time to start out to find the tree.
"The tree must be full and the top perfect," declared Father Brown, "so keep your eyes open for it."
"What's the matter with that one?" demanded Toad, pointing to a big fir some distance away.
"Nothing at all the matter with it," laughed Chuck, "only the house is too small to hold it."
"There's a nice one," called out Herbie, pointing to the one he meant.
"Yes, that's a beauty," agreed Father Brown, "and easy to get at, too."
After clearing away the smaller branches near the ground, by chopping them off with the axe, Father Brown then started to work on the trunk of the tree.
"Wouldn't it be nice," suggested Fat, "if we didn't have to cut it down at all,—just trim it outside? It would save so much time and trouble."
"Oh, yes, that would be great," agreed Reddy. "We'd just sit around on the snow eating ice cream and look at the tree," and he gave a hearty laugh in which all the others joined.