“Oh, no, high altitudes never make me seasick.  I’ve a very good head for such purposes.”

“Then suppose you get busy before it grows dark.  We’re in a great hurry.  And we do not want Connie to catch us putting it up.  It’ll be such fun to sit up there and swing when the wind blows, and have poor Connie down beneath wondering how we manage to stick on.  She can’t see the seat from the ground.  Won’t it be a good joke on her?”

“Oh, very,—–­yes, indeed.—­Well, let’s begin.—­Now, observe!  I will just loop this end of the rope lightly about my—­er—­middle.  The other end will dangle on the ground to be drawn up at will.  Observe also that I bestow the good but rusty nails in this pocket, and the hammer here.  Then with the admirable board beneath my arm, I mount to the heights of—­Say, twins, didn’t I see an old buggy seat out in the barn to-day?  Seems to me——­”

“Oh, Jerry!” The twins fairly smothered him.  “Oh, you darling.  You are the nicest old thing.—­Now we can understand why Prudence seems to like you.  We never once thought of the old buggy seat!  Oh, Jerry!”

Then they hastily brought the discarded seat from the barn, and with the help of Jerry it was shoved up on the woodshed.  From there, he lifted it to the lowest limb of the old maple, and a second later he was up himself.  Then it was lifted again, and again he followed,—­up, and up, and up,—­the loose end of the donated rope trailing loose on the ground below.  The twins promptly,—­as promptly as possible, that is,—­followed him into the tree.

“Oh, yes, we’ll come along.  We’re used to climbing and we’re very agile.  And you will need us to hold things steady while you hammer.”

And Jerry smiled as he heard the faithful twins, with much grunting and an occasional groan, following in his wake.

It was a delightful location, as they had said.  So heavy was the leafy screen that only by lifting a branch here or there, could they see through it.  The big seat fitted nicely on the two limbs, and Jerry fastened it with the rusty nails.  The twins were jubilant, and loud in their praises of his skill and courage.

“Oh, Jerry,” exclaimed Carol, with deep satisfaction, “it’s such a blessing to discover something really nice about you after all these months!”

“Now, we’ll just——­”

“Hush!” hissed Lark.  “Here comes Connie.  Hold your breath, Jerry, and don’t budge.”

“Isn’t she in on this?” he whispered.  He could hear Connie making weird noises as she came around the house from the front.  She was learning to whistle, and the effect was ghastly in the extreme.  Connie’s mouth had not been designed for whistling.

“Sh!  She’s the band of dark-browed gypsies trying to steal my lovely wife.”

“I’m the lovely wife,” interrupted Carol complacently.

“But Connie does not know about it.  She is so religious she won’t be any of the villain parts.  When we want her to be anything real low-down, we have to do it on the sly.  She would no more consent to a band of dark-browed gypsies than she would——­”