"Now, Davie," said the foreman, "you take hold of the rungs and climb up. It's a pretty long stretch for little legs, but I'll hold you, and I won't let you fall. Don't look down. Look up."
So David took hold of a rung and stretched his leg as high as it would go, and he managed to get his foot on the first rung.
Then he pulled himself up and reached up with one hand and took hold of the next rung; and then he put his other hand up, and he stretched his leg up as high as it would go, and he stepped up another rung.
The rungs of a ladder are the little round sticks that go across that you put your feet on.
David climbed very slowly, and he was rather scared at first; but he felt the foreman's arm around him, and the foreman kept just behind him, so that he stopped being scared.
And he climbed a little faster, and he came to the platform.
"Now, what shall I do?" he asked.
"Now you hold your breath," the foreman said, "and I'll put you over on to the staging."
So Davie held his breath and one of the shingle men came and held him by the arms when the foreman had set him down upon the boards.
Then the foreman stepped upon the staging and put his arm around David again.