in the
middle of the spool, and he took hold of one end of the stick and the
man who had just come down from the pole took hold of the other end,
and they walked along, and the hanging wire began to get tight, and
the spool began to turn around as they walked, and the wire lay on the
ground behind them.

And they walked past the two new poles and to the corner of the new
house; and they put the spool down on the ground.

Almost all the wire had unwound from the spool.

The other man had been doing what had to be done at the second pole:
nailing on the wooden thing and putting the glass on.

Then he had taken a ladder to the corner of the house, and he had
fastened some things for the wire to go through, up the corner of the
house to the eaves.

Then he came down the ladder, and all the men walked back together.

The first man walked up his pole again and waited.

And the second man walked up his pole, and let down the end of the
rope.

And the man on the ground tied it to the wire, and the man on the pole
pulled it up, and the wire hung in the air between him and David's
house.

Then the man on the ground walked along to the next pole, and he tied
the man's rope to the wire and _he_ pulled it up.

And the man on the ground walked along to the corner of the new house,
and he took hold of the wire there, and went up the ladder with it,
and the wire was hanging in the air all the way from the new house to
David's house, but it rested on the two poles between.

Then the men all pulled the wire as tight as it ought to be, and they
fastened it to the poles and to the house, just the way it belonged,
and they made it go down the corner of the house, and they cut it off
at the bottom and left the ends sticking out.

Some other men would come and put wires inside the house, and those
other men would put the telephone in so that people could talk with
each other when they were far apart.

Then the pole men came down from their poles and the ladder, and they
gathered up all their things and put them into the wagon.

And they took off their climbers and put them into the wagon, and they
tied the wheels on behind, so that they would drag after the wagon.

And they untied the horses and they all got in, and they drove away,
with all their six wheels rattling, and they left David looking after
them.

But before they had got far one of the men turned and saw David
looking after them, and he saw his cat; and he wave