"Compare the two and you will see they look alike," said George.
"What shall we tell the Professor!" asked Harry.
"Well but I am not yet through with the paper. Suppose we moisten it, and that may bring out something we didn't see before."
This was done, but it made the entire document worse than before.
"Too bad we have spoiled it," remarked Harry, "but I think we are safe in telling the Professor and John what we have found out."
For the time being, however, the boys had other urgent work to do. The day for launching had been set, and every working hour was valuable, so they were over at the ship yard early, and the boys did not see either John or the Professor during the day.
The vessel as designed by Harry, and supervised by John, was ninety feet long, and had a beam of eighteen feet, with a very deep keel, and high bulwarks. It was constructed of a species of oak, found in abundance in the forest west of the town, and was cut up into boards, and dried in specially-prepared kilns which were put up for the purpose.
While lumber dried in this way is not the best for ordinary uses, it will serve for shipping purposes, because there is always more or less moisture present in the hull of the vessel, and the object was to enable them to get the material in the speediest way.
The saw mill was one of their first experiments in building machinery, and it was in constant service[p. 42] from the day it was first erected, getting out lumber for building purposes.