"You will take your places at the top ends of the posts, and be hoisted up with them. Hold on to the slings, and don't get your hands jammed in them," continued the principal. "I shall want three more to go up on the next section, and Glovering, Short, and Chester will be ready for this duty. None of you will come down till the entire frame is raised."
The fall from the derrick had been brought over in a boat, and hooked on to the loops from the slings. The order to ring was given, for the power was supplied by the engine in the shops, as before, and the section began to rise. Mr. Miker, the lessee of the quarry, and his men, had volunteered to assist at the raising. The grounds contained a great many people who had come as spectators, and there were more volunteers to take part than could be employed.
Mr. Brookbine stood at one corner post, and Mr. Miker at the other, with a stone-cutter at the middle one, all armed with iron bars. The principal difficulty in raising the sections was in preventing the foot of the post from moving from its place. A sling had been rigged three feet from the tenon on each post, kept from slipping by a pin through the hole in the brace mortise, to which a twofold purchase, made fast at the other end to the sill, was attached. The purchase-tackle was hauled taut, and a student was to slack it with a double turn around a timber, as the post ascended. The iron bars were to be used in guiding the tenon into the mortise.
Everything worked precisely as had been intended; for Captain Gildrock took no chances and incurred no risks. The machinery and the ropes were strong, and all sorts of possible accidents had been provided for. The students on the top of the moving section waved their caps when they were well up in the air, and those below cheered them; but the principal would not allow any boys' play which might distract the attention of the workers.
"Now man the check lines," called the principal, when the section approached a perpendicular position.
These were ropes passing through a single block, leading down in the rear from the plates. Without these the section might have fallen over upon the derrick when it reached an upright position. The check lines were hauled taut, and paid out as the derrick rope brought it to its permanent place. The tenons were successfully directed into the mortises, and the men with the iron bars were relieved from the duty of using them. Each of them had a spirit level, which was also a plumb. As the section approached its proper position, the men applied the plumb.
"Ring!" shouted the master carpenter; and the student on the caisson pulled his rope. The section was not yet finally plumbed, but was secured by ropes and board stays. The sailors on the plates cast off the slings and the check lines, which were immediately attached to the second section; and this one was raised in the same manner as the first had been.
By the check lines the students on the frame hauled up five single blocks, which were made fast at the head of the long posts. A single whip was rigged at each, and with these the side plates and the girders were hoisted to the places where they were required. The sailors inserted the tenons in the mortises, as the timbers were elevated in a horizontal position, and drove in the pins.
A great many contrivances unknown to carpenters were used, by the aid of which many of the boys became men; but the reading about them will not be half so exciting as was the actual use of them. When the timbers had all been put in place, including the studs in the sides, but not the floor joists, the two sections were plumbed.
The rest of the raising was done in the same manner. At noon all the volunteers dined with the students, and a grand dinner was given in honor of the occasion. Before night the raising was finished.