“Couldn’t we stay and watch you cut?” asked Ted.
“Yes, if you get in a safe place,” was the answer.
“I’ll put them where they won’t get hit,” said the other man.
Accordingly the Curlytops and Trouble were led to a secure place between some big rocks and tall trees, and there they could have a good view of the chopping work. Even if some branches should fall near them, the rocks and trees would keep the toppling wood off.
Then began the chopping of a giant of the forest. First one and then the other of the big lumbermen would send his axe biting deep into the wood of the tree they had marked to chop down.
Chip! Chop! Chip! Chop! sounded the axes, ringing out in the woods. Silently the children watched.
“She’s going to fall!” suddenly cried Ted.
He had seen the top of the tree begin to quiver and shake, and he had learned to know that this meant the center had been chopped through.
“Stand clear!” rang out the cry of the lumbermen, to warn anyone who might chance to be coming and who did not know what was going on.
There was a moment of silence and then the great trunk crashed to the ground, breaking in its fall many smaller trees and the bushes.