“Go up and ask my brother Nat to lend me a rope?”

“Yes.”

“I’d sooner go and jump off the cliff. There!”

“Well, you must do something, and pray make haste.”

“What am I to do?”

“I know,” cried Fred. “Go and get your garden line.”

“Why, that wouldn’t bear a cat, let alone a boy like you.”

“You do as I tell you, and bring a big round stone, too, one that you can tie to one end of the line. Be quick.”

“Oh, I’ll go,” said Samson; “but mind you, I warn you it won’t bear.”

“You do as I tell you,” cried Fred, again; “and don’t tell my mother where we are.”