As a preliminary, we made a critical survey of the pond and surroundings, when it appeared that upon one side was a quagmire, abounding in cat-tail (cooper’s) flags, abutting on some sandy land covered with a thick growth of pitch-pine and brush. In view of these circumstances, we resolved to make a wherry only large enough to contain our own person, and so light that we could carry it on the shoulder, or, by tying the ends of our neckerchief together, and flinging it over the stem, drag it through this flag swamp, where no one could follow, and hide it in the woods. We had also ascertained a fact not known to the boys—that the roots of the flag will support one; but if you step between, down you go.
What a nice thing it would have been, then, to have had some one tell us how to make the boat! But there was no one, and, like Charlie on Elm Island, we were flung upon our own resources; nor was material so plentiful with us as with him: however, we procured some apple tree limbs, where Jacob Abbot had been trimming his orchard, for timbers, and went into Mr. Hidden’s carpenter’s shop to build her.
I shan’t tell you how wide she was, but when we sat in the middle of her, there was very little room between our body and the sides; and in order to have her as light as possible, the planks were only three sixteenths of an inch thick, and the timbers and knees in proportion. It was necessary to keep a little ballast in, both to keep her steady, and to put at one end when we were in the other, and which, to economize room, consisted of some flat, thick pieces of iron. In so narrow a craft, which it required almost the skill of a rope-dancer to keep on her bottom, it is evident the seat must be low: it consisted of a board laid across the bottom, with three cleats, three inches thick, nailed across the under side, to keep it up a little from the bottom; for though she was perfectly tight, as far as leakage was concerned, her planks were so thin, as, after a while, to soak water, which was at length in a great degree remedied by painting her; she was as light as an Indian canoe of the same size, which we, at one time, thought of making, but were prevented from want of bark.
When she was done, and a paddle made, one evening when there were stars, but no moon, we carried her on our shoulder to the sandy ground at the edge of the flag swamp, and dug a hole large enough to receive her, carrying all the earth dug out, in a basket, and throwing it into the pond; we then put her in the hole, and covered the mouth of it with brush that had lain a long time in the woods, so that nothing appeared to attract notice.
Great was the surprise of the visitors to the pond, the next Saturday afternoon, to see a person in a boat, anchored, and quietly fishing.
Strenuous were the efforts of the Academy students to find where this new craft was kept, increasing in vigor as pond-lily time drew near. Every nook and corner of the woods was searched, and every bush peeped under in vain.
It was equally idle to watch and see where he landed: all they knew was, that he disappeared among the flags, and before they could make their way through the mud and thick mat of bushes that margined that side of the pond, the boat was no longer visible, and he would be found sitting under a tree, or with his hands full of lilies.
Equally unsuccessful were all attempts to persuade him to let them get into her, a very good reason for which being the certainty of their upsetting, which the following occurrence will attest.
One sunshiny morning we were strolling with a friend, who has since made some stir in the world, along the shores of the pond in quest of berries. There were a great many lilies in bloom, some of which he desired to present to a friend.