CHAPTER XXIII. 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.