“Indeed he is!” replied the guide.  “He and his father, and I don’t know how many grandfathers back, have offered large rewards to any one who would procure them this fruit in its best condition.  But nobody has ever been able to get any yet.”

“The reward still holds good, I suppose,” said the head boy.

“Oh, yes,” answered the guide; “there never was a King who so much desired to taste the fruit as our present monarch.”

The oldest boy looked up at the top of the tree, shut one eye, and gave his head a little wag.  Whereupon every boy in the class looked up, shut one eye, and slightly wagged his head.  After which the oldest boy said that he thought it was about time for them to go back to the ship.

As soon as they reached the vessel, and could talk together freely, the boys had an animated discussion.  It was unanimously agreed that they would make an attempt to get some of the precious fruit from the Fragile Palm, and the only difference of opinion among them was as to how it should be done.  Most of them were in favor of some method of climbing the tree and trusting to its not breaking.  But this the oldest boy would not listen to; the trunk might snap, and then somebody would be hurt, and he felt, in a measure, responsible for the rest of the class.  At length a good plan was proposed by a boy who had studied mechanics.

“What we ought to do with that tree,” said he, “is to put a hinge into her.  Then we could let her down gently, pick off the fruit, and set her up again.

“But how are you going to do it?” asked the others.

“This is the way,” said the boy who had studied mechanics.  “You take a saw, and then, about two feet from the ground, you begin and saw down diagonally, for a foot and a half, to the centre of the trunk.  Then you go on the other side, and saw down in the same way, the two outs meeting each other.  Now you have the upper part of the trunk ending in a wedge, which fits into a cleft in the lower part of the trunk.  Then, about nine inches below the place where you first began to saw, you bore a hole straight through both sides of the cleft and the wedge between them.  Then you put an iron bolt through this hole, and you have your tree on a hinge, only she wont be apt to move because she fits in so snug and tight.  Then you get a long rope, and put one end in a slipknot loosely around the trunk.  Then you get a lot of poles, and tie them end to end, and push this slip-knot up until it is somewhere near the top, when you pull it tight.  Then you take another rope with a slip-knot, and push this a little more than half-way up the trunk.  By having two ropes, that way, you prevent too much strain coming on any one part of the trunk.  Then, after that, you take a mallet and chisel and round off the lower corners of the wedge, so that it will turn easily in the cleft.  Then we take hold of the ropes, let her down gently, pick off the fruit, and haul her up again.  That will all be easy enough.”