, and----"

But just then one of the workmen in the yard called to the watchman to
come and help him pile some lumber on a wagon.

"Wait just a minute, Freddie," said James. "I'll be back soon and help
you."

"All right," answered Freddie. He sat down on a pile of shingles, and
thought of the time when he and Tommy Todd should set off on their ship
to find the shipwrecked Mr. Todd.

The watchman was gone longer than he expected. Freddie grew tired of
waiting for him, and finally said to himself:

"I'm going to look for some wood myself. I guess I can find it." He
looked for some on the ground, but, though there were many chips, and
broken pieces, there was none of the kind Freddie thought would be good
for a toy ship--the pattern after which the real one would be made.

"I guess I'll climb up on one of these piles of lumber," thought
Freddie, "and see if there are any small pieces of board on top. It is
easy to climb up."

This was true enough, and once or twice before Freddie had made his way
to the top of a pile. Each stack of lumber was made in a sort of
slanting fashion, so that the back of it was almost like a pair of
steps. Lumber is piled this way to let the rain run off better.

Freddie went up the back part of a pile, some distance away from the
bundles of shingles where he had been talking to James.

"This is an easy place to climb," Freddie said to himself. "I hope I
shall find what I want on top."

Step by step he went up the pile of lumber, until he was at the top.
But, to his disappointment, he found there nothing which he could bring
James to use in making a small ship. The boards were all too long and
wide.

"I might bring one down, and have James cut it smaller with his knife,"
said Freddie, speaking aloud. "That's what I'll do."

He lifted up one of the boards. As he did so the little boy noticed that
the pile of lumber was swaying a little from side to side as he moved
about.

"I guess I'd better get down off here," Freddie said. "This is too
jiggily." He had been told to keep off "jiggily" lumber piles, as they
were not safe.

Freddie dragged to the edge the board he had picked out for the watchman
to make smaller. The little boy was just going to slide it over the edge
of the pile to the ground, when, all at once Freddie felt himself
falling.

"Oh dear!" he cried. "Something is going to happen!"

And something did happen. The lumber pile with Freddie on top, was
falling over. F