Royal sat down upon the great, flat stone, and said that he was tired, and that he had a great mind not to make a coop after all,—it was such hard work.
“Then,” said Lucy, “I don’t think you will be very persevering.”
“I don’t believe you know what persevering means,” said Royal.
“Yes, I do,” said Lucy; “Miss Anne told me. It is when you begin to make a coop, and then give up before you get it done.”
Royal burst into a fit of laughter.
“No,” said Lucy; “not that, exactly. I mean it is when you don’t give up—and I think you ought not to give up now—making this coop.”
“Well,” said Royal, “I believe you are right. It would be very foolish to give up our coop now, when we have got all the hardest part of our work done. I’ll go and get the corner stakes.”
Royal then went and made four strong stakes for the four corners, and brought them to the place, and drove them down into the ground. He took care to have them at just such a distance from each other, as that they should come as near as possible to the four corners of the box, when it should be placed over them.
Then he drove a row of stakes along where the sides of the box would come, between the corner stakes on each side; and he drove these all down a little lower than the corner stakes, so that, when the box should be placed over them, it would rest upon the corners, and not upon the sides. Before he closed the last side, he rolled the barrel in, and placed it along by the fence. Then he put a roller under it, on the outer side,—so that thus the barrel was confined, and could not move either way.
“Now, Lucy, we are ready for a raising,” said Royal; “but we shall never be able to get the box up, by ourselves, if we work all day.”