Occasionally, his uncle came to watch his progress, and favor him with half-serious, half-jocular commentary. He was both interested and amused to observe how readily the new inmate fitted himself into his surroundings, and what talent he displayed in organizing various crude and chaotic elements into one harmonious whole. By turns he adapted, invented, or altered, until his room presented an aspect of pleasantness, as well as an array of conveniences, in striking contrast with the rude accommodations of the cottage, and even with the oldtime appliances that had served former occupants. His uncle wondered and admired even while he shook his head over the un-Bergan-like trait, and questioned if, after all, it were not a sign of degeneracy. This doubt wellnigh culminated in conviction when, on the afternoon of the second day, in a lull of the storm, he discovered his nephew calmly seated astride the high ridge-pole, with a bundle of shingles and a pocketful of nails, stopping the leaks with which the long rain and his visits to the garret had made him acquainted; and accompanying his work with a very sweet and deftly executed whistle. "That settles the question, Harry," he shouted to the amateur carpenter, a smile and a frown struggling for supremacy on his upturned face. "There never was a Bergan, from first to last, who could have done that!" "Do not speak so disrespectfully of our common ancestors, uncle! As if they had not the use of their hands!" "Humph! It's plain that you have the use of yours, and of your head, too! How in the world did you reach that dizzy altitude?" Bergan laughed. "'Where there's a will there's a way.' What should you say to the chimney?" "Nonsense! How _did_ you get up there?" "I really cannot answer that question as it stands. There is a mistake in the terms." "You rascal! what do you mean?'" "I did not 'get up;' I came down." And Bergan glanced at a great oak-bough, swinging full ten feet above his head. The Major uttered a cry of admiration. "You are a Bergan, and no mistake!" he cried, emphasizing the statement with an oath. "You've got the real, old, brave Bergan stuff in you, Harry, and I'm proud of you, in spite of your tinkering. But that bough is now out of your reach; you cannot come down by that route." "A new one will be more interesting. And the chimney has a most capacious throat; the builders must have contemplated the passage of other things than smoke." "Harry! you'll break your neck! Don't you dare to come down till I send you a ladder! At the same time, I'll order the carpenter to finish up that job, if it must be done." "He will be too late, uncle; I am just laying the last shingle." "Speak lower, you scamp! lest the old portraits under your feet should hear you and blush."