he little
can, and he hung the little can from his belt, and he stuck the stubby
paint brush in his belt.

Then he went to the tree, and he put his hands half-around the trunk,
and he lifted up one foot and jabbed it down, so that he jabbed the
spur into the tree. Then he lifted the other foot and jabbed that spur
in; and he walked right up the tree.

And when he had got to other spots that had been too high for him to
reach, he stopped and held on with one hand, while he took the paint
brush and painted those egg bunches with stuff from the little can.

But there were some egg bunches left on branches that were too little
for the man to go on.

So the man put one leg over a branch, and he took his pole, which was
leaning against a twig just beside him, and he fixed the paint brush
in the end of the pole, in a place that was meant for it, and he
reached out with the pole and painted all those egg bunches on the
small branches.

Then he put the pole back, leaning against the twig, and he came
slowly down to the ground.

"There!" he said. "Did you see how I did it? Do you think that you
could paint some?"

David's eyes glistened.

"Oh, could I? But I couldn't walk up the tree."

The man smiled.

"I'm afraid you couldn't, but you can paint as far as you can reach
with the pole."

The other men were busy on trees near, and they watched while David
painted the mud spots on another tree which the man found for him.

He wasn't very tall and there were only two spots which he could reach
while he stood on the ground.

But the man held him up in his arms as high as he could, and when he
had painted all those spots, the man fixed the paint brush in the end
of the pole.

It was pretty heavy for such a little boy to manage, and the end would
wave around so that he couldn't make the brush paint where he wanted
it to.

So the man helped David to hold the pole steady and paint as far as it
could reach.

Just then David heard his mother calling him.

"I've got to go now," he said to the man. "I think my mother wants me."

"Well, good-bye," the man said. "We're much obliged."

"You're welcome," David said. "Good-bye."

And he turned around and went galloping through the woods to his house.

And his cat met him, and then his mother met him.

"Where were you, dear?" his mother asked.

"I was helping the tree-men paint egg-spots. How big are moth-eggs,
mother?"

But his mother didn't know.

And that's al