nger of their being shaken by the weather. Harry and Tommy then
applied themselves with so much assiduity to their work that they in a
very short time had repaired all the damage, and advanced it as far as
it had been before.

The next thing that was necessary to be done, was putting on a roof, for
hitherto they had constructed nothing but the walls. For this purpose
they took several long poles, which they had laid across their building
where it was most narrow, and upon these they placed straw in
considerable quantities, so that they now imagined they had constructed
a house that would completely screen them from the weather. But in this,
unfortunately, they were again mistaken; for a very violent shower of
rain coming just as they had finished their building, they took shelter
under it, and remarked for some time, with infinite pleasure, how dry
and comfortable it kept them; but at last the straw that covered it
being completely soaked through, and the water having no vent to run
off, by reason of the flatness of the roof, the rain began to penetrate
in considerable quantities.

For some time Harry and Tommy bore the inconvenience, but it increased
so much that they were soon obliged to leave it and seek for shelter in
the house. When they were thus secured, they began again to consider the
affair of the house, and Tommy said that it surely must be because they
had not put straw enough upon it. "No," said Harry, "I think that cannot
be the reason; I rather imagine that it must be owing to our roof lying
so flat; for I have observed that all houses that I have ever seen have
their roofs in a shelving posture, by which means the wet continually
runs off from them and falls to the ground; whereas ours, being quite
flat, detained almost all the rain that fell upon it, which must
necessarily soak deeper and deeper into the straw, till it penetrated
quite through."

They therefore agreed to remedy this defect; and for this purpose they
took several poles of an equal length, the one end of which they
fastened to the side of the house, and let the other two ends meet in
the middle, by which means they formed a roof exactly like that which we
commonly see upon buildings; they also took several poles, which they
tied across the others, to keep them firm in their places, and give the
roof additional strength; and lastly, they covered the whole with straw
or thatch; and for fear the thatch should be blown away, they stuck
sev