So saying, Stuyvesant took down the piece which he had intended for the cross-bars.
“I am going to divide this into six equal parts,” said he, “because I must have six bars.”
So Stuyvesant began to measure. The piece of wood, he found, was eight feet long,—the same as the side pieces of the ladder.
“And now, how are you going to divide it?” said Phonny.
“Why, eight feet,” said Stuyvesant, “make ninety-six inches. I must divide that by six.”
So he took a pencil from his pocket and wrote down the figures 96 upon a board; he divided the number by 6.
“It will go 16 times,” said he. “I can have 16 inches for each cross bar.”
Stuyvesant then measured off sixteen inches, and made a mark, then he measured off sixteen inches more, and made another mark. In the same manner, he proceeded until he had divided the whole piece into portions of sixteen inches each. He then took a saw and sawed the piece off at every place where he had marked.
“There,” said he, “there are my cross-bars!”