n top of the planks.

Then they piled the little short ends of boards near the cellar door.
It was a great pile of wood that the people who moved into the house
could have to burn.

Then they found a couple of saw-horses that were pretty good, and they
put them on top of the boards in the wagon, and the wagon was loaded
with as much as one horse ought to pull.

So the foreman told one of them to go along with that load, and to
hurry back, and he would stay there and help the other man do a little
clearing up.

And the man climbed into the seat, and drove off.

"Now, Davie," the foreman said, "I've got to help my man, and I can't
stay here with you and do nothing, although I should like to."

"What are you going to do?" David asked.

"Oh, we're going to put all the rubbish that will burn over there on
the bare spot, where it can't set anything afire. All the stuff that
we can't burn we'll rake up into piles, and when the wagon comes back,
we'll take it away. And there's a little gravel over there that is
hardly worth taking, and we'll leave it for the graders to use."

"What are the graders?" asked David. "What do they do?"

"Oh, the graders are sort of rough gardeners. They spread the dirt
around where it is wanted, and they make it the right height all along
the foundation, and smooth it off, and they make the walks up to the
front door and the back door, and they spread gravel on the walks.
Sometimes they make terraces or banks, but they won't do that here. It
will be a nice slope from the house down to the field, all around."

David looked at the house, which stood high on its foundation, and he
saw that there was a great hole between the ground and the front
steps. He supposed that the graders would fill up that hole.

He nodded.

"I'll get my cart," he said, "and then I'll help you."

So he ran all the way home, and his cat saw him running and she ran
too, faster than David ran, and she ran right up on to the piazza.

But David didn't go there. He took up the handle of his cart, and he
ran back again.

And his cat saw that she had made a mistake, and she ran faster than
ever; and she passed David, and she was running so fast that her bushy
tail didn't stick up in the air at all, but straight out behind.

And David came where the foreman was standing, waiting for him, and
the foreman showed him where he wanted the rubbish piled to be burned,
far from the house.

And the foreman and David worked