barn loft she wasn't so sure she could climb a ladder after, all! She
had been thinking of a nice little step-ladder such as her mother had
and this was a steep, narrow ladder made of funny little pieces of wood
nailed on to narrow strips that were fastened to the barn. Not a bit
like any ladder Mary Jane had ever seen before.

"But the basket's up there, Bob," said Mary Jane, glad of some one to
think aloud to, "and my grandmother she wouldn't tell me to go up if I
couldn't, so I guess I'll try."

She put one foot on the ladder and then the other. "Why, it's just
like climbing a gate only it isn't a gate," she announced proudly, "and
I'm way up a'ready!"

It was easy to step from the ladder to the loft because the sides of
the ladder went on up high and she simply held tight to them and
stepped off onto the floor Of the loft.

And _that_ was the funniest place Mary Jane had ever seen! Hay
everywhere, and a pleasant, fragrant smell that pleased Mary Jane even
though she hadn't an idea why. She looked around a minute and then
hunted for the basket.

Over in the corner, under a funny little, cobwebby window she found it,
half hidden by the tossed up hay.

She recognized it at once because of the curious little cover
Grandmother had spoken of. But, dear me, Grandmother would surely have
to clean it before it was used for cobwebs and scraps of hay were all
over the top!