of course he would have to do the most, as he
would have to show them how, but that they could do all the easy things,
and he said they might begin by bringing down the big wood-box out of
Mr. Crow's kitchen, and the big wood-saw, and the hammer, and some
nails, and any useful tool that they had borrowed from time to time from
Mr. Man during his absence.

[Illustration: SIGHTED ACROSS IT TO SEE THAT THEY WERE KEEPING IT
STRAIGHT]

So then Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow ran up and lugged down Mr. Crow's big
wood-box, and got the saw and all the other tools and things they could
find, and brought them out to a shady place, for it was a fine spring
day and getting quite warm, and Mr. 'Possum showed them a round tree,
quite large, that had blown down during the winter, and told them they
might saw it in two, first, and then cut off four nice slices, two large
and two smaller ones, for the four wheels. Mr. 'Possum sat down on the
end of the log and showed them just how to take hold of the saw, one at
each end, and pull first one way and then the other, and walked around
and sighted across it to see that they were keeping it straight, and got
a little cooking-grease and put on it, so it would work faster, and Mr.
Coon and Mr. Crow worked, and sweat, and tugged, and panted, and said it
was wonderful exercise, and by and by really did get the log sawed in
two.

Mr. 'Possum said they had done very well for the first cut, which was
always the hardest, and that they'd all better rest and smoke a little,
as his mind was quite tired with thinking. But in a few minutes he
said they might try now to make a wheel, and see if they could do that
as well; and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow went at it again, and after a while
got a slice of the tree cut off, quite smooth and about an inch thick,
and Mr. 'Possum said it would make a very good wheel, but that they
would be likely to improve with each slice, and that they must be very
careful to hold the saw just as he told them.

So then they rested and cut off another slice, and rested some more, and
cut off another slice, until they had four slices, and were nearly ready
to drop from being tired and hot, and were saying how fine it was to
have that job done, when Mr. 'Possum said that he had just remembered
they would need one more slice, for his steering-wheel.

Well, Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow thought they would surely die before they
got the last slice off, and Mr. 'Possum brought some water and sprin