“But how are you going to get it down?” asked Tommy.
“Oh, I know,” said Mary. “One of you boys must climb up the tree, or we can borrow a step-ladder from the house next door, and use that.”
“Let me climb!” cried Johnny.
“No, let me,” said his brother.
“You may both climb up,” declared the old gentleman, with a laugh. “I want my hat as quickly as I can get it, for I am catching cold.”
So up into the tree scrambled Johnny and Tommy, and soon they had the old man’s hat safe. It was a little bit battered and torn, by bouncing along so much, but that didn’t hurt it much. Then the old man put it on his head.
All of a sudden Mary began to cry.
“Why, what is the matter?” asked the nice old man. “Are you hungry?”
“No, I am not hungry,” answered Mary, “but we are—lost!”
“And we don’t know our way home!” added Tommy, and he cried, too, but only a little.