“How nice it would be to have a saw, a hammer, and a plane, and build a little house for myself,” thought he.
While he was thinking what fine fun this would be, he saw something which made him cry out,
“Make haste. Quick, quick! There he is again!”
“Who?” asked the stranger.
“Old Mr. Toil,” said Daffydowndilly. “There! Don’t you see him among the carpenters? That’s my old schoolmaster, as sure as I live!”
The stranger looked where he pointed. He saw an old man with a carpenter’s rule in his hand. He was marking out the work to be done. All the time he was telling the men to work hard. And they sawed and hammered and planed as if for their lives.
“Oh, no!” said the stranger, “this is not Mr. Toil, the schoolmaster. It is another brother of his. He is a carpenter.”
“I’m very glad to hear it,” said Daffydowndilly. “But I’d like to get out of his way as soon as I can.”
So on they went. Soon they heard the sound of a drum and fife. Daffydowndilly knew there must be soldiers coming.
“Let us make haste,” said he, “I want to see the soldiers.”