.

"What are those men doing?" he asked of the mortar man.

"The carpenters? They are cutting mortises in those girts. That is,
little holes in those big beams. The ends of other beams will be made
small enough to go in those holes, and they will hold the floor up."

"Mor--tar!" shouted one of the men who were building the chimney.

The mortar man hurried off with his hod of mortar, and the little boy
wandered over to where the carpenters were.

His cat went, too, but he left his cart by the pile of sand.

There were two carpenters there, and they both looked up and smiled.

They had great thick chisels and heavy wooden mallets in their hands,
and there was a big bit, or "borer," as the little boy called it,
lying on the ground between them. And I don't know why "borer" isn't a
better name for it.

There were some round holes in the beams which had been made by the
borer, and the men were making those round holes square with the
chisels.

One of the men had just finished a hole when the little boy came, and
he went ahead to the next round hole, and he put the edge of the
chisel carefully against the wood, and he struck it with the mallet.

_Plack!_ _Plack!_ _Plack!_ shrieked the mallet on the chisel.

_Ugh!_ _Ugh!_ _Ugh!_ the wood grunted, and it seemed to shiver when
the mallet struck.

[Illustration: CUTTING A HOLE]

Then there was a splintering noise and a part of the wood broke away.

_Plack!_ _Plack!_ _Plack!_ screamed the mallet again.

The wood grunted again, but it was of no use, and another piece broke
away.

And then the man hit the chisel again and another piece broke off, and
the chisel came through on the other side of the beam.

And the carpenter drove the chisel through at the other side of the
hole, in the same way; and what had been a round hole was a square one.

Then he laid the mallet down and took the chisel in both hands, and he
leaned over the square hole and made the sides all smooth with the
chisel.

Then he made a sort of sloping hole, a kind of a little square trench,
and it went from the side of the beam into the square hole.

Then he put his tools down and looked at the little boy again and
smiled.

"There!" he said. "That's done."

The little boy smiled back at him.

"Is it?" he said. "What goes in that hole? I could put my hand in it."

"It's not for little boys' hands," answered the carpenter. "The end of
a short beam goes in there. I'll show you. We have to