The carpenters had plenty to do in the shop, with abundant opportunity to learn many things which are not required in the ordinary experience of such mechanics. There was also room enough for the exercise of their inventive powers.
With so many enthusiastic workmen, who found abundant variety in their operations as the schooner advanced towards completion, the planking was soon finished. Then a dozen of the carpenters went to work upon it with the smoothing-planes, and the outer surface was made as smooth as a floor.
The hull rested in the cradle which had been erected for it, and the tops of the timbers were secured in their places by cross-stays. So far, little or nothing had been said about the interior of the hull, for the reason that the frame and planking had absorbed all the attention of the workmen. The next step was to put in the deck-beams, and secure the shelves on which they were to rest.
"Now, boys, we must decide upon the plan for the inside of the schooner," said the principal, when he had called the students together in the building-shed. "What accommodations shall we provide on board?"
"A cabin and a standing-room," replied Life Windham.
"Like the Goldwing," suggested Matt Randolph.
"The Goldwing contains a cabin, cook-room and standing-room. We can have all these on a larger scale in the Lily; and there will be space in the run for a store-room and ice-house, with a door into it from the cabin."
"Behind the steps at the companion-way," added Matt.
"There is no other way to reach it unless you put a scuttle in the floor of the standing-room, which is liable to leak," replied the principal. "The steps can be hung on hinges and turn up, but I think it is better to slip them back out of the way. How long will you have the cabin?" "How much clear space have we inboard?" asked Luke Bennington.