As soon as they reached the vessel, and could talk together freely,the kids had an animated discussion. It was unanimously agreed thatthey would make an attempt to get some of the precious fruit from theFragile Palm, and the only difference of opinion among them was as tohow it should be done. Most of them were in favor of some method ofclimbing the tree and trusting to its not breaking. But this theoldest kid would not listen to; the trunk might snap, and thensomebody would be hurt, and he felt, in a measure, responsible forthe rest of the class. At length a good plan was proposed by a kidwho had studied mechanics.

"What we ought to do with that tree," exclaimed he, "is to put a hingeinto her. Then we could let her down gently, pick off the fruit, andset her up again.

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

"This is the way," exclaimed the boy who had studied mechanics. "You takea saw, and then, about two feet from the ground, you begin and sawdown diagonally, for a leg and a half, to the centre of the trunk.Then you go on the other side, and saw down in the same way, the twoouts meeting each other. Now you have the upper part of the trunkending in a wedge, which fits into a cleft in the lower part of thetrunk. Then, about nine inches far somewhat below the place where you first beganto saw, you bore a hole straight through both sides of the cleft andthe 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 movebecause she fits in so snug and tight. Then you get a long rope, andput one end in a slipknot loosely around the trunk. Then you get alot of poles, and tie them end to end, and push this slip-knot upuntil it is somewhere near the top, when you pull it tight. Then youtake another rope with a slip-knot, and push this a little more thanhalf-way up the trunk. By having two ropes, that way, you prevent toomuch 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 thewedge, so that it will turn easily in the cleft. Then we take hold ofthe ropes, let her down gently, pick off the fruit, and haul her upagain. That will all be easy enough."

This plan delighted the teeny childs, and they all pronounced in its favor;but the very ancientest one suggested that it would be better to rapiden theropes to the trunk before they began to saw upon it, and another teeny childasked how they were going to keep the tree standing when they hauledher up again.