"Then I will begin with the location," replied the successful competitor, as he took a crayon and turned to the blackboard, where he rapidly sketched the shore-line of the northeast corner of Beech Hill Lake.
This part of the lake formed a considerable bay, abreast of which was the school building and shops, while the dormitory was near the rocks at the foot of Beech Hill. About one third of the way across the lake was a low peninsula, whose surface was nearly flat, and not more than three feet above the usual level of the lake. This point projected out into the lake about ten rods, and formed the western shore of the bay,—called by the boys Hornet Bay, on account of a quarrel some of them had had with insects of that name, in which the hornets got the better of them.
"This is Chowder Point," Bolly began, indicating with the pointer the projection of rocks, which had formerly been much used for picnic purposes. "This is the location I have chosen for the boat-house."
"Why didn't you put it on the other side of the lake?" asked one of the students, who thought it was too far from the old wharf.
"Chowder Point is just the same distance from the shop and schoolroom as the old wharf, and only half the distance from the dormitory," replied Bolly, with patient dignity.
"And about the same distance from the mansion-house," added the principal. "I must ask the students not to interrupt the speaker, and not to ask any more questions until he has finished his explanation."
While the captain was making this remark, Bolly dashed off a parallelogram, rather more than twice as long as it was wide. It covered the end of Chowder Point, the extremity of which extended a short distance outside of it.
"This figure represents the location of the boat-house," continued Bolly, using the pointer. "You observe that about one third of the building is on the land, or rocks, and the rest of it is over the water."
"But where does the wharf come in?" asked an excited student.