"You need not answer any question, Millweed, unless you are willing to do so," he added.
"I am perfectly willing," said Bolly. "I suppose they have all found some objections to my plans, and I should rather like to hear them. Very likely some of the fellows will put questions that I cannot answer, and I don't believe I shall be able to get over all the objections that will be made."
"I should like to know what the three corners of the boat-house that are over the water are to rest upon," said Will Orwell, when a system of conducting the discussion had been arranged.
"The bottom of the lake is flat rock like the shore. As the water is only from four to four and a half feet deep where the corners come, it will be easy enough to set stone posts on the bottom, not only at the corners, but in as many places as may be necessary," replied the architect.
"Such posts would weigh at least a ton apiece, and I should like to know how we are to handle them," added Will Orwell. "One corner is over sixty feet from the shore, and we have nothing to stand on."
This was just the kind of question the principal liked to have come before the boys, for it assisted in developing their ingenuity, their ability to devise expedients for overcoming difficulties.
"I could mention several ways of doing it," replied Bolly, with a confident smile; "but I will name only the one I thought to be the best for our case. We are to build a caisson, or box, sixty by twelve for the wharf, if my plan is adopted. I propose to build this box first, and use it as a sort of scow or stage in the erection of the boat-house. We need not make the sides more than four feet high at first. We can put some timbers across it, on which a derrick can be placed."
"Excellent!" exclaimed the fat civil engineer.