Lucy said that she remembered them very well.
“Now,” continued Royal, “I will get one of those great boxes for the roof of my coop. There is one large, flat box, which will be just the thing I will pull up all these stakes, and drive them down again, so as to make a square, just as big as the box.”
“I don’t understand, exactly,” said Lucy.
“Never mind,” said Royal, “it is not necessary to explain it. You shall see how I will do it; let us go and get the box.”
Royal and Lucy went together to get the box. They found one there which Royal said would do very well; the bottom of it was about as large as a common tea table; but the sides were narrow, so that, when it was placed upon the ground, with the open part up, it was not very deep.
Royal attempted to roll this box out; but he found it much harder to move than the barrel was. This was partly because it was larger and heavier, and partly because it would not roll, on account of its square form.
However, they contrived to get it out, and to work it along through a gate which led into a large outer yard. By this time, however, they both got tired, and Royal said that he meant to get some rollers, and roll it along.
So he brought some round sticks of wood from the wood pile, for rollers; and with a bar of wood, which he found also upon the wood pile, he pried the box up, and Lucy put two rollers under it, one at each end. They also placed another roller a little way before the box. Royal then went behind the box, and with his bar of wood for a lever, he pried the box along; and he found it moved very easily upon the rollers.
Lucy wanted a lever too,—and she went and got one; and then they could both pry the box along, one at each corner, behind. They had to stop occasionally to adjust the rollers, when they worked out of place; but, by patience and perseverance, they gradually moved the box along until they came to the gate leading into the inner yard, where the place for the coop had been chosen.
They found some difficulty in getting it through the gate, because it was too large to go through in any way but by being lifted up upon its side. Royal, however, succeeded in lifting it up, and then in getting it through; and after that it was but a short work to move it along upon its rollers to its place of destination.