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 ceiling, and that held him all right, though he was awfully high up.

He took as firm a stand as he could, and braced the fingers of one hand against the ceiling, and with the other began untwisting the wire. He had to change hands every minute or two, to rest, because he was holding his arms up so straight. But at last he had it undone, and commenced to lower it carefully with one hand, while he kept in touch with the ceiling with the other. I reached for it when the wire had let it down far enough, but Dad shouted,—

"Stay where you are—stay where you are! Don't wabble this step-ladder!"

He let it down as far as the wire would take it, and then dropped it. "It's worn out, anyway," he said.

It landed all right, and he put his hand back up to the ceiling while he rested the other, before starting down. Then he put the other back again and stood there.

I thought maybe he was waiting for me to hand him something and had forgotten that he hadn't told me to, and so I said,—

"What you doing?"