place where there was a ladder standing up against the house.

"Ah!" said Rodolphus, "he is upon the house. Here is the ladder. I think
he is doing something on the house. I mean to go and see."

"No," said Annie, "you must not go up on such a high place."

"Oh, this is not a very high ladder," said Rodolphus. So saying he began
to go up. Annie stood below, looking up to him as he ascended, and feeling
great apprehension lest he should fall.

The top of the ladder reached up considerably above the top of the house,
and Rodolphus told Annie that he was not going to the top of the ladder,
but only high enough to see if Beechnut was on the house. He told her,
too, that if she walked back toward the garden gate, perhaps _she_ could
see too. Annie accordingly walked back, and looking upward all the time,
she presently saw a young man who she supposed was Beechnut, doing
something to the top of one of the chimneys. By this time Rodolphus had
reached the eaves of the house, in climbing up the ladder, and he came in
sight of Beechnut, too.

[Illustration.]

Up The Ladder.

"Hie-yo! Dolphin!" said Beechnut, "is that you!"

Beechnut often called Rodolphus, Dolphin.

"May I come up where you are?" said Rodolphus.

"No," said Beechnut.

When Rodolphus heard this answer, he remained quietly where he was upon
the ladder.

"What are you doing?" said Rodolphus.

"Putting a wire netting over the chimney," said Beechnut.

"What for!" asked Rodolphus.

"To keep the chimney-swallows from getting in," said Beechnut.

"Are you coming down pretty soon?" asked Rodolphus.

"Yes," said Beechnut. "Go down the ladder and wait till I come."

So Rodolphus went down the ladder again to Annie.

"What is the reason," said Annie, "that you obey Beechnut so much better
than you do my father?"

"Oh, I don't know," said Rodolphus. "He makes me, I suppose."

It was true that Beechnut made Rodolphus obey him--that is, in all cases
where he was under any obligation to obey him. One day, when he first
became acquainted with Beechnut, he went out upon the pond in Beechnut's
boat. He wished to row, but Beechnut preferred that some other boy should
row, and directed Rodolphus to sit down upon one of the thwarts. Rodolphus
would not do this, but was determined to row, and he attempted to take
away one of the oars by force. Beechnut immediately turned the head of the
boat toward t