ft to loft till
he found two fine eggs, one hidden under a beam, and the other in an old
peck measure, which Mrs. Cockletop had appropriated.

"You may have one and I'll have the other, that will just make up my
last dozen, and to-morrow we'll start fresh. Here, you chalk your
accounts up near mine, and then we'll be all straight," said Tommy,
showing a row of mysterious figures on the side of an old winnowing
machine.

With a delightful sense of importance, the proud possessor of one egg
opened his account with his friend, who laughingly wrote above the
figures these imposing words,

"T. Bangs & Co."

Poor Nat found them so fascinating that he was with difficulty persuaded
to go and deposit his first piece of portable property in Asia's
store-room. Then they went on again, and having made the acquaintance
of the two horses, six cows, three pigs, and one Alderney "Bossy,"
as calves are called in New England, Tommy took Nat to a certain old
willow-tree that overhung a noisy little brook. From the fence it was
an easy scramble into a wide niche between the three big branches, which
had been cut off to send out from year to year a crowd of slender twigs,
till a green canopy rustled overhead. Here little seats had been fixed,
and a hollow place a closet made big enough to hold a book or two, a
dismantled boat, and several half-finished whistles.

"This is Demi's and my private place; we made it, and nobody can come up
unless we let 'em, except Daisy, we don't mind her," said Tommy, as Nat
looked with delight from the babbling brown water below to the green
arch above, where bees were making a musical murmur as they feasted on
the long yellow blossoms that filled the air with sweetness.

"Oh, it's just beautiful!" cried Nat. "I do hope you'll let me up
sometimes. I never saw such a nice place in all my life. I'd like to be
a bird, and live here always."

"It is pretty nice. You can come if Demi don't mind, and I guess he
won't, because he said last night that he liked you."

"Did he?" and Nat smiled with pleasure, for Demi's regard seemed to be
valued by all the boys, partly because he was Father Bhaer's nephew, and
partly because he was such a sober, conscientious little fellow.

"Yes; Demi likes quiet chaps, and I guess he and you will get on if you
care about reading as he does."

Poor Nat's flush of pleasure deepened to a painful scarlet at those last
words, and he stammered out,

"I can't read very well; I