"I think," said Ready, "that one of those two trees which are close
together will suit the best; they are not too near the house, and yet
quite near enough for the wire to attract the lightning."
"I agree with you, Ready; but we must not leave both standing."
"No, sir, but we shall require them both to get up and fix the wire;
after that we will cut down the other."
Ready put his ladder against one of the trees, and, taking with him the
hammer and a bag of large spike-nails, drove one of the nails into the
trunk of the tree till it was deep enough in to bear his weight; he
then drove in another above it, and so he continued to do, standing
upon one of them while he drove in another above, till he had reached
the top of the tree, close to the boughs; he then descended, and,
leaving the hammer behind him, took up a saw and small axe, and in
about ten minutes he had cut off the head of the cocoa-nut tree, which
remained a tall, bare pole.
"Take care, Ready, how you come down," said Mr. Seagrave anxiously.
"Never fear, sir," replied Ready; "I'm not so young as I was, but I
have been too often at the mast-head, much higher than this."
Ready came down again, and then cut down a small pole, to fix with a
thick piece of pointed wire at the top of it, on the head of the
cocoa-nut tree.
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