As our vacation was drawing to a close, we began to make plans for the Christmas holidays. Our previous Christmas vacation had been so completely taken up with preparations for the trip to Willow Clump Island that we had had no time for the trip itself. We resolved this time to have everything ready beforehand, so that we could spend the entire two weeks in solid pleasure. Our skate sails and snow shoes were stored in the attic, ready for use. If we were to make a trip in the snow we would need a sledge, and then, too, we wanted to make an ice boat. It would hardly pay to build these on the island and then cart them home, so it was decided to break up camp a couple of weeks before school commenced.
Breaking Camp.
Consequently, on the first day of September we gathered up our belongings, corraled our chickens, packed our goods, and the next day started for home. Mr. Schreiner, in response to a letter from the secretary, came down with a large wagon in which the majority of the things were packed. The rest of our luggage was stowed in the scow and the canoes, and these were towed down the canal, as before. We reached home late in the afternoon, tired and hungry. It was a treat to sit at the table again and eat some of Mother’s appetizing dishes. And say, wasn’t that pie great, though! My, how ravenous we were! And then a soft, comfortable bed with spotless white sheets and pillow cases. How soundly we did sleep that night! You can just bet we were all glad enough to get back to civilization, though, of course, no one could have dragged out the confession from a single one of us.
The Ice Boat.
School commenced on the 20th of September that year, so we hadn’t much time to spare. Work was begun immediately on the ice boat. Our first ice boat was rather a crude one. A 2 by 4 inch scantling 14 feet long was used for the backbone of the boat. The scantling was
Fig. 163. The Backbone. placed on edge, and to lighten it and improve its appearance it was tapered fore and aft from a point 4 feet from the bow end. The thickness of the ends of the backbone was but 2 inches, as shown in Fig. 163. To the under edge of the backbone, 5 feet from the forward end, a crosspiece was nailed. This crosspiece was a 1-inch board 6 inches wide and 9 feet long. Braces were then
Fig. 164. Frame of the Ice Boat. run from the ends of the crosspiece to the forward and rear ends of the backbone, and at the rear end several boards nailed across the braces served as a seat for the boat.
Our next task was to rig up the runners. For these we used skates, which were so arranged that we could remove them whenever we wanted to. Three blocks of wood were used for the runner shoes. Two of