"That's what they call them, but we will try to be original and I propose an Indian with war clubs."
"Whew! That sounds interesting!"
Ralph's sketch of the Indian is shown in [Fig. 96]. The figure was sawed out of 1⁄2-inch pine, a 3⁄8-inch hole bored for the arms, and a 1⁄4-inch hole bored for the dowel pivot at the feet. The arms were made of a piece of dowel, six inches long, with 3⁄16-inch holes bored near the ends to receive the "clubs." These were whittled out of pine, each club being a propeller blade. When fastened into the dowel they formed a complete two-bladed propeller, but this was not done until the dowel had been inserted through the Indian's shoulders, and a brad driven through on each side of the body to keep the arms in place.
Fig. 96. Happy jack
Harry was so anxious to see it work that he came near spoiling it, and had to be restrained by the older boy, as in making these toys a well balanced figure is very important. When it was finally finished, and placed out in the wind, the antics of the Indian made Harry laugh till the tears ran down his cheeks.
"That's the finest thing we ever made," he said. Ralph smiled. It seemed that he had heard something like that several times before.
An athlete was suggested, and a bold figure with outstretched arms was sketched, as shown in [Fig. 97].
The Indian clubs he is supposed to be swinging were propeller blades, and to give them more uniform motion than in the case of the Indian, the hands were drilled and a piece of 1⁄4-inch dowel inserted. At each end of the dowel was fastened a blade which had been drilled to fit. Brads were driven through the dowel on each side of the hand to keep the clubs swinging freely.