Well, pretty soon the sand house was finished; that is, all but the top.
"What will we have for a roof?" asked Billie.
"I'll show you," said Buddy, so he laid sticks across the top of the sand walls, and on top of the sticks he placed duck-weed. Then, on top of the weed he and the squirrel boys put sand, until it was really the nicest house of its kind you could find if you walked a mile, or, maybe even two miles.
"That certainly is one fine, dandy house!" exclaimed Johnnie, as he stepped back to admire it.
"Yes, and now let's get inside and pretend we're robbers," proposed Billie. "I'll be the head robber and you two can work for me."
"No, we're going to be pirates, and I'm the chief one," insisted Buddy. "We must begin to pirate right away and do all sorts of things."
"First, let's see if we can get in the house," said Johnnie. "Go in very carefully."
So they went in, very slowly and carefully through the front door, so as not to knock the sand down, and honestly the sand house was just big enough for those three, and not a bit bigger. They even had to hold their breaths, and not all breathe at once, or they never would have fitted in it.
"Now," said Buddy, "we'll pretend we're pirates, and we'll bury all the gold and diamonds we have."
So they played that game, and buried gold (make-believe you know) in the cellar, and they were having a lovely time, when all at once, without a word of warning, the roof of the sand house fell right in on top of them! I suppose it was because Pirate Chief Buddy gave such a loud shout.