"There must be two slips, or docks for them, at least fifty-four feet long by eight or nine feet wide, with doors at the water end of them, so that the boats can be locked in. I shall say no more about the docks; but you can put them down at the head of your list. Then we want about forty dressing-rooms, for we must provide for the future as well as the present. They must be at least three feet square and light enough to enable the occupant to see what he is about."
"But where are these dressing-rooms to be located?" inquired Dave Winslow.
"You must answer that question for yourselves; and of course the value of the plan will depend upon the convenience and fitness of the apartments. Add dressing-rooms to the list. Then we want as many as four store-rooms, one for a sail-room, one for a paint-shop, and two for boat furniture."
"What must be the size of these rooms?" asked John Brattle.
"You know what these rooms are for, and you may determine the size of them for yourselves," replied Captain Gildrock. "I desire to measure each student's judgment in the decision of just such questions as this, and I shall leave a great many of them open for this purpose."
The boys looked at each other, and thought that whoever got the prizes would earn them, for it would take no end of hard thinking to make the plans.
"The next requirement is the hall for meetings, which will be on the second story," continued the principal, as the students added the apartment to their list. "The size and proportions will be left to your own judgment, but I will add that you may want to use this hall in the winter for exhibitions of declamation, dialogues, and concerts, to which the people of Genverres may be invited. I give you the uses to which the hall may be put, and it is for you to determine how large it should be."
"Are we to make it big enough to accommodate the whole town?" inquired Corny Minkfield.
"You must judge for yourself how many people the hall ought to hold; for I have no clearer idea of the matter than you have, and I have no plan for the winter entertainments," answered Captain Gildrock. "If there are any exhibitions at all, they will be given at your request, and not at my desire."