t fit better in the place where it was to go. The
ground all about the wall was covered with thin, flat pieces that had
been hammered off other stones.

And they got a great thick board, and they put one end of the board on
top of the bottom stones which they had just put in the trench, and
they put the other end of the board on the ground in front of the
stone which they had been hammering, and they rolled the stone slowly
up the board until it came to the end.

And they rolled it off the end upon the bottom stones, and got it into
its place with their crowbars.

And where it did not fit well enough, they put in thin, flat pieces
that they picked up from the ground.

The man who knelt on one knee at the edge of the cellar told the
little boy about it as the men worked.

And, when the men had put in the little flat pieces of stone, one of
them looked up and smiled at the little boy and said that they called
the thin, flat pieces "chocks."

"Not woodchucks," he said, "but just chocks."

The little boy smiled and nodded. He had never seen a woodchuck, but
there was a picture of one in his animal-book. It wasn't a very good
picture.

"I guess," he said, "that they are stone-chucks."

All the men who heard him laughed. And they went to work again, and
the little boy turned to the man who was holding him.

"I've got to go now," he said, "and play in that pile of sand."

"All right," said the man. "You play there just as long as you want
to."

So the little boy went over to the man who was hoeing the white stuff.
It wasn't so white as it had been and it was thicker, just about like
nice mud.

And his cat came up from somewhere. The little boy didn't know where
she had been, but he didn't pay any attention to her. He just stood
and watched the man.

"What are you making?" he asked at last.

"I'm making mortar," the man said. "They put it in the cracks of the
wall, to hold it together."

"Oh," said the little boy. "Well, would you like to have me help you?"

"You might bring me a load of sand," said the man, "if you want to. I
shall have to put in more sand."

So the little boy went to his cart, and he threw out his hoe. He
wasn't careful where he threw it, and the handle of the hoe hit the
cat.

And the cat ran home as fast as she could go. But the little boy
didn't know it, he was so busy.

[Illustration: MAKING MORTAR]

And he backed the cart up to the sand-pile, and he took his shovel and
shove