have got tired of the care of his
squirrel quite so soon as this; but when she found that he had, she
thought that the time had arrived for her to attempt to make the
purchase. So when Caleb came back to the mole, she said,

"Caleb, I have a great mind to go and feed your squirrel for you, if you
want to stay here and help the boys to make the mole. In fact, I should
like to buy him of you, if you would like to sell him."

"Well," said Caleb, "what will you give me for him?"

"Let me see--what can I make you." And Mary Anna tried to think what she
could make Caleb that he would like as well as the squirrel. She
proposed first a new picture-book, and then a flag, and next her monthly
rose; and, finally, she said she would make him something or other, and
let him see it, and then he could tell whether he would give his
squirrel for it or not.

"I shall, I know," said Caleb, "for I can see him just as well if he is
yours as I can if he is mine."

"But perhaps I shall let him go," said Mary Anna.

"O no," said Caleb, "you must not let him go."

"If I buy him of you," replied Mary Anna, "he will be mine entirely, and
I must do whatever I please with him."

"O, but I shall make you promise not to let him go," said Caleb, "or
else I shall not want to sell him to you."

"Very well," said Mary Anna; "though you can tell better when you see
what I am going to make you."

Mary Anna then went up to the house, and fed the squirrel, and as it
began to grow dark pretty soon after that, the boys themselves soon came
up. She asked David if he would make her a mast, and also a small block
of wood for a step.

"A step!" said David; "a step for what?"

"A step for the mast," said Mary Anna.

"What is a step for a mast?"

"It is a block, with a hole in it for the lower end of the mast to fit
into," said Mary Anna.

"Do they call it a step?" said David.

"Yes," said Mary Anna; "I read about it in a book where I learned about
rigging. Any little block will do."

David's curiosity was very much excited, and he begged Mary Anna to tell
him what she was going to make.

"Well," said Mary Anna, "if you will keep the secret."

"Yes," said David, "I will."

"A Chinese junk!" said Mary Anna.

"A Chinese junk!" said David, with surprise and delight.

"Yes, now run along to mother."

So David went, and Mary Anna began to think of her work. She happened to
have recollected that there was in the garret an old bread-tray, of