"What does the examination cover?" I enquired.
"It is contrary to the rules to answer such a question," was the navy man's reply.
"But a man ought to have some line on what he is going up against. For all I know the questions may be on theology," I said with a smile. "Can't you give me a general idea what the test will cover?"
The officer then informed me that the examination would include several questions on dredges, blasting and explosives and the use of a sextant and a protractor, and would test the applicant's knowledge of geometry and arithmetic. After expressing my gratitude for the information I wandered out into the street with my hopes somewhat shattered. As I aimlessly sauntered along the water front leading from the Naval Station, I began to ponder over the various items to be included in the examination. The more I reflected the lower my hopes descended. I couldn't tell a sextant from a churn, a protractor was as strange a device to me as a doctor's forceps, and I knew no more about a stick of dynamite than a turtle does about music.
But in spite of this apparently insurmountable wall of ignorance, we both agreed to take a chance at the examination, and I was designated to gather the information. I borrowed a sextant from the skipper of a ship lying in the harbour and practised with the instrument in the vacant lots of the city. I made several trips to Pearl Harbour and studied the different types of dredges at work in the channel, drawing diagrams and taking notes on each. I obtained a book on explosives and among other volumes I came across a publication entitled "Inspector's Handbook," which contained most of the information we desired in concise form.
While I was busy gathering data for the approaching examination, Richardson was earning two dollars a day on a job he had picked up from the Honolulu Telephone Company. His tedious duties consisted of installing a switch-board in the company's new building, and he spent his ten long hours a day in the monotonous task of connecting an endless number of small metallic fibres. At the close of his second day on the job he struck his boss for a lay-off.
Our Kaneohe Cottage
