VOLLEYS OF QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED.
Bolingbroke finished his explanation without any flourish, and when he
had done he stopped, which all orators are not able to do. He was about
to take his seat when the volley of questions was discharged at him; and
the principal was obliged to interpose so that the inquiries could be
dealt with one at a time.
"You need not answer any question, Millweed, unless you are willing to
do so," he added.
"I am perfectly willing," said Bolly. "I suppose they have all found
some objections to my plans, and I should rather like to hear them. Very
likely some of the fellows will put questions that I cannot answer, and
I don't believe I shall be able to get over all the objections that will
be made."
"I should like to know what the three corners of the boat-house that are
over the water are to rest upon," said Will Orwell, when a system of
conducting the discussion had been arranged.
"The bottom of the lake is flat rock like the shore. As the water is
only from four to four and a half feet deep where the corners come, it
will be easy enough to set stone posts on the bottom, not only at the
corners, but in as many places as may be necessary," replied the
architect.
"Such posts would weigh at least a ton apiece, and I should like to know
how we are to handle them," added Will Orwell. "One corner is over sixty
feet from the shore, and we have nothing to stand on."
This was just the kind of question the principal liked to have come
before the boys, for it assisted in developing their ingenuity, their
ability to devise expedients for overcoming difficulties.
"I could mention several ways of doing it," replied Bolly, with a
confident smile; "but I will name only the one I thought to be the best
for our case. We are to build a caisson, or box, sixty by twelve for the
wharf, if my plan is adopted. I propose to build this box first, and use
it as a sort of scow or stage in the erection of the boat-house. We need
not make the sides more than four feet high at first. We can put some
timbers across it, on which a derrick can be placed."
"Excellent!" exclaimed the fat civil engineer.
"But how will you get the stone posts from the quarry to the derrick,"
continued Will. "We have no vessel in which they can be carried."
"With the timbers to be used in raising the wharf to the required
height, we can make a raft on which two or three of the posts can be
floated at a time. It can be towed by the Sylph," answered Bolly, who
had evidently been over all these details.
"But you can't set these posts under water. If they don't happen to
stand plumb, I don't see how you can help yourself," suggested Luke
Bennington.
"But we can help ourselves, even if we have to ask the principal to send
to Boston or New York for a submarine diver who knows how to lay stone,"
said Bolly. "I should be willing to take the job of setting the posts
plumb without any outside assistance except the stone-cutters at the
quarry. The bottom is nearly level, and we can obtain the exact pitch by
measuring. We can cut a flat rock to fit the bottom."
"There is still another way," interposed Mr. Bridges.
"I have thought of a coffer-dam," added Bolly, glancing at the visitor.
"Exactly so; that is what I was thinking about," laughed the civil
engineer.
"What's a coffer-dam?" demanded Dave Winslow.
"There are several ways to make one," answered Bolly. "We could make an
island by filling in earth: then dig out a hole in it the same as we
should for a foundation on shore. Another way is to sink a wooden or
iron caisson, or box, to the bottom, where it would have to be puddled
with clay. Then it would be necessary to pump out the water. When this
is done we should have a chance to set the posts just as we should do it
on shore."
"It seems to me you don't hit on the easiest and simplest way of doing
the job," interposed Mr. Brookbine. "How high will the posts of the
boat-house be, Bolly?"
"About thirty feet."
"Very well; rest the posts on the bottom of the pond, where they will
have a good foundation," added the master carpenter. "If you take a
stick of timber and set it up endways in deep water, one half of it will
be below the surface; and in four feet of depth nearly the whole weight
of the stick would rest on the bottom. It seems to me this is the
simplest way to do it!"
The boys looked at Bolly, and their expression seemed to say, "We have
got you now!" But the amateur architect smiled as confidently as ever.
"That plan would do very well in Florida or the West Indies," he
replied; whereat the corpulent civil engineer laughed out loud.
"Why not in Vermont?" demanded the carpenter, wondering what Mr. Bridges
was laughing at.
"We sometimes have the thermometer twenty degrees below zero, and under
the new boat-house the water may freeze to the bottom. When the ice
expands, it will be likely to give three corners of the boat-house a
lift which the fourth will not get on the solid rock shore. If all the
posts were in the water it would be better."
Mr. Brookbine laughed with the civil engineer then, and admitted that he
had not thought of the ice.
"But I think it would cost more to stand the posts, thirty feet high, on
the ends in the water than it would to build the caissons for
coffer-dams," added Mr. Bridges. "I suppose you will raise the building
in sections, but you must have something to hold on to in the water, and
sink the ends of the posts to the bottom."
"Now, Millweed, you have mentioned several ways of managing the posts in
the water, I wish to ask which of these ways you think is the best one,"
said Captain Gildrock.
"The stone posts," replied Bolly promptly. "With only about four feet of
water I think there will be no difficulty in chinking them up at the
bottom."
For an hour longer the boys continued to ask questions, and Bolly was
not caught in anything, though it is probable that the architect or
civil engineer could easily have tripped him up if they had chosen to do
so. But the principal announced the suspension of the school for the
rest of the forenoon, in order to convey the visitors to Whitehall in
the steamer.
Captain Gildrock took up the two fifty-dollar bills he had laid upon the
desk, and turned to the successful competitor, who had been requested to
remain on the platform.
"As I said in the beginning, I cannot allow the money obtained for the
plans to be fooled away, for one of the most important lessons an
American boy ought to learn is how to take care of and use money, as
well as how to earn it. What do you intend to do with the hundred
dollars, Millweed?" asked the principal.
"I shall give it to my father," replied Bolly without any hesitation.
"That is an excellent use to make of it, and I hand it over to you
without asking any more questions," added the principal, suiting the
action to the words.
A round of applause saluted Bolly again. He had gone up a hundred
degrees in the estimation of his companions, who had been unable to
corner him with their questions. The order was given for the boys to put
on their steamer uniform, and take their stations on board of the Sylph.
Bates had already got up steam, and a plentiful supply of provisions had
been put on board. In half an hour the steam yacht departed, and
everything on board of her went along in as good order as though she had
been a regular packet on the lake. The passengers were to dine on board,
and cooks and stewards went to work in their departments at once.
The excursion was a very pleasant one, and the guests spent most of the
time on the way up in talking with the boys in regard to what they had
learned at the school. They were delighted with the institution, and Mr.
Bridges declared that the States could not do better than to establish
such schools in place of some of those in which Greek and Latin were the
principal branches taught.
Mr. Plint pointed out to the principal a few details in which he thought
Bolly's plan could be improved, and after making these alterations he
intended to erect the building at once.
"But you do not expect those boys to do all the work?" suggested Mr.
Ritchie.
"I expect them to do nearly the whole of it. When I return I shall set
the quarrymen to getting out the stone posts. I shall go to Burlington
at once, for Brookbine is arranging the plan for framing the building,
and will give me a list of the lumber needed, and purchase it. The boys
will tow it down in rafts, though I shall employ a number of laborers,
for I don't wish to let the boys injure themselves."
"But it will take a long time to put up and finish the building," added
Mr. Bridges.
"I don't expect to have it completed until next spring. We shall finish
the outside by December, and make a winter's job of the inside work."
At Whitehall the visitors, except Mr. Ritchie, took their leave of the
boys, and went on shore, promising to come again the next season. The
students gave them three cheers as they landed, and then the Sylph began
her homeward trip. As she passed Sandy Beach Cove, the barges of the
Chesterfields were seen pulling out from the shore. It was soon evident
that they wished to speak with those on board of the steamer. Oscar
Chester, the second pilot, at the request of the principal, rang to stop
her, and the Dasher came up to the forward gangway.
"I should like to speak to the coxswains of the barges," said Mad
Twinker, who appeared to be the commodore of the fleet.
"I am the coxswain of the Gildrock," replied Matt Randolph, at a nod
from the principal.
"We have two boats like yours, and we have been learning to row," said
Mad Twinker. "We think we can pull pretty well now, though there is room
for improvement, we grant. We desire to extend to you a friendly
invitation to row with us for a suitable prize."
"Young man," interposed Captain Gildrock, "I cannot allow the Beech
Hill students to row with you at present."
"Why not, sir?" asked Mad Twinker, apparently astonished at this
interference.
"Although they are likely to become mechanics, most of them, I wish them
to be gentlemen at the same time, and I am rather careful with whom I
allow them to associate."
"But we claim to be gentlemen, sir," exclaimed Mad, indignantly.
"The claim is not admitted. When our boys first saw you the other day
you called them 'members of the Tinkers' Institute,' 'chip-makers,'
'greasers,' and many other offensive epithets. You stole their clothes
while they were in the water, and since that you attempted with your
associates, the Topovers, to steal our boats. When you have learned to
be true gentlemen, I will withdraw all objection. Go ahead, pilot!"
The commodore of the barge fleet wanted to discuss the matter, but the
Sylph steamed away before he had a chance to get in a word. Ben Ludlow
thought they were even with the Chesterfields then, and in half an hour
the boys were looking over the site of the boat-house and wharf.