CHAPTER X. IMPORTANT TO BOY ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS.
The principal said a few words to Mr. Darlingby, one of the instructors, as soon as all the rebels had left the schoolroom. The teacher followed the eight boys who had decided not to wear a uniform to the dormitory. He sad nothing, but merely saw that the rebels went to their rooms, as they had been directed. He then called Bates, the old sailor who had been quartermaster and mate under Captain Gildrock for may years, who did any kind of duty at Beech Hill required of him, from running the steamer down to blacking the principal's boots.
The old seaman always obeyed orders, and never asked any questions or made any speeches. Mr. Darlingby stationed him in the hall of the dormitory, and directed him not allow any of the eight boys to leave the building, or more than one of them to come out of his room at a time. Bates knew what discipline was, for he had been thoroughly trained by his employer. The instructor returned to the schoolroom, and reported the orders executed.
After the rebels had departed from the room, Captain Gildrock made no allusion whatever to them. He pointed no moral for the benefit of the rest of the students, and did not seem to be in the least degree disturbed by the event of the morning. He picked up his papers, and went on with his announcements as though nothing had occurred to interrupt them.
"You have had valuable instruction in drawing from Mr. Jepson," continued Captain Gildrock; "but you have not yet had a great deal of practice. Of course I don't expect finished drawings from you, and the nicety of the work will not affect the result. All the plans must be drawn by scale, and must be intelligible, but the prizes are to be given for the ideas, and not for the artistic finish of the plans."
"On what scale must the plans be drawn?" asked Luke Bennington.
"Mr. Jepson must answer that question."
"A quarter of an inch to the foot," added Mr. Jepson, the master machinist and instructor in drawing.
"Do you all understand what rooms and closets we want in the boat-house? That is what the new building will be called," continued the principal. "I think you had better make a list of these things, so that you won't forget anything."
"Are the sailboats to be provided for in the building?" asked George Duane.
"Certainly not; it would take too high a building to cover the topmast of the Gold wing," replied the principal. "The safest place for the sailboats is at their moorings in the lake."
"I don't quite understand how the two barges are to be accommodated under cover," suggested Harry Franklin.
"There must be two slips, or docks for them, at least fifty-four feet long by eight or nine feet wide, with doors at the water end of them, so that the boats can be locked in. I shall say no more about the docks; but you can put them down at the head of your list. Then we want about forty dressing-rooms, for we must provide for the future as well as the present. They must be at least three feet square and light enough to enable the occupant to see what he is about."
"But where are these dressing-rooms to be located?" inquired Dave Winslow.
"You must answer that question for yourselves; and of course the value of the plan will depend upon the convenience and fitness of the apartments. Add dressing-rooms to the list. Then we want as many as four store-rooms, one for a sail-room, one for a paint-shop, and two for boat furniture."
"What must be the size of these rooms?" asked John Brattle.
"You know what these rooms are for, and you may determine the size of them for yourselves," replied Captain Gildrock. "I desire to measure each student's judgment in the decision of just such questions as this, and I shall leave a great many of them open for this purpose."
The boys looked at each other, and thought that whoever got the prizes would earn them, for it would take no end of hard thinking to make the plans.
"The next requirement is the hall for meetings, which will be on the second story," continued the principal, as the students added the apartment to their list. "The size and proportions will be left to your own judgment, but I will add that you may want to use this hall in the winter for exhibitions of declamation, dialogues, and concerts, to which the people of Genverres may be invited. I give you the uses to which the hall may be put, and it is for you to determine how large it should be."
"Are we to make it big enough to accommodate the whole town?" inquired Corny Minkfield.
"You must judge for yourself how many people the hall ought to hold; for I have no clearer idea of the matter than you have, and I have no plan for the winter entertainments," answered Captain Gildrock. "If there are any exhibitions at all, they will be given at your request, and not at my desire."
"Are we to decide now whether we will have exhibitions or not?" Steve Baxter wanted to know.
"You are to decide for yourselves whether or not a large hall is likely to be needed. I have nothing more to say on this subject. I have now given you the essential points in the new building. In the matter of halls, corridors, entrances, I shall say nothing. You need not confine yourselves to the essentials I have mentioned. If you can add any apartments that are worth having, you are at liberty to do so, and the value of any such additions or improvements will be carried to your credit on the total fitness of the plan. I hold the comfort and recreation of the pupils of the school to be entitled to consideration as well as usefulness in the narrower sense. I have said all I have to say in regard to the boat-house, and after this I shall answer no questions."
"Are the dressing-rooms to be on the lower story or the upper?" inquired Matt Randolph.
"They will be just where you choose to put them," answered the principal. "That is a question of convenience which each must decide for himself."
"But we have the two docks for the boats, the forty dressing-rooms, the four store-rooms, and the corridors and entries to put on the lower story, with nothing but the hall on the second floor," persisted Matt.
"I did not stipulate that any of the apartments you mention should be on the lower floor," said the principal, laughing. "If you think it best to put the two docks for the barges on the second floor, of course you have a perfect right to do so."
"A boat is a good thing to have, but it isn't particularly valuable on the top of a mountain for sailing purposes, and I should rather have it where there is a body of water," persisted Matt. "The docks will take up about fifteen hundred square feet, and that is space enough for a hall that will hold one hundred and fifty or two hundred people. It seems to me that the parts don't balance well."
"It is for you to balance them, then. I have given you the essentials of the boat-house, and I leave all the rest of it to you," replied Captain Gildrock. "If you please, Randolph, we will not argue the matter, for you are giving your associates points that I wish them to study out for themselves. Now we will consider the location and the engineering work."
"I don't see why these are put together," said Oscar Chester.
"Because they are very closely connected," answered Captain Gildrock. "If one of you decides that the boat-house ought to be built in the middle of the lake, he ought to tell us how the foundation is to be laid, and how we are to reach it."
"I see; and I understand it now," added Oscar.
"The location of the building, and of the wharf for the steamer or other craft we may have, are included in the offer. The same student may compete for both prizes, and plan both the building and the location. If you locate the wharf where it cannot be conveniently reached by the Sylph or the Goldwing, the site selected would have to be rejected."
"But perhaps the plan of the fellow who wins the prize for the boat-house may not fit the location that gets the prize," suggested Oscar Chester, who seemed to be taking the deepest interest in the subject, though he had been the hardest boy in the whole before his admission to the school.
"I have considered that difficulty, and the two plans which are the best on the whole will be modified to adapt them to each other. Now, we will see the map, Mr. Jepson," said the principal. The instructor in drawing unrolled a chart on the wall behind the principal, and it proved to be Beech Hill Lake, drawn after the manner of the chart of Lake Champlain, with the compass, soundings, and character of the bottom upon it.
"This chart will be available for the inspection of all the students. It shows Beech Hill Lake, which is about eighty rods long by forty wide. It is simply an enlargement or basin of Meadow Creek. I own the land on both sides of it down to Lake Champlain, and therefore we can do what we please with it, even if we fill it up. When you locate the wharf you must indicate how it is to be built, and how it is to be reached both on the land and the water side."
"I suppose there is only one way to build a wharf, and that is by driving piles," said Harry Franklin.
"The wharf may be of wood or of stone. If you look at the chart, Franklin, you will see that the bottom on this side of the lake is composed of rocks, into which no piles can be driven. Our present wharf was built like a log house, by piling logs one upon another, and filling in with earth. But the timbers are rotting, and it will soon need to be rebuilt, and I don't care to have another of that kind. On the other side of the lake the bottom is mud, brought in by the creek. That is all we need say about the wharf and location."
But half a dozen of the boys who had ideas on the subject before the school proceeded to ask questions, which the principal declined to answer.
"The season is advancing, and I wish to have this building up and covered in before the cold weather comes, and we want these plans at once," continued the principal, after he had quieted the inquirers. "After consultation with the instructors, I have decided to give you three days vacation, at the end of which time the prizes will be awarded. These three days are given you to study the subject and draw the plans."
"That is a short time," said Matt Randolph.
"But it is just as much for one as for another. You must do the best you can in that time. Fifty dollars is a considerable sum for a boy to have; and I must say now that the winner will not be allowed to fool it away. If they have no immediate use for it, the money will be placed to their credit in the Genverres Savings Bank; but it may be used at once for any proper purpose."
The students wondered, as they left the schoolroom, if the vacation had not been given on account of the rebellion. But all of them hastened to the lake to look for a site for the boat-house.