At nine o'clock the depth was four feet eight and a half inches, and the men at the quarry had a raft ready, and were beginning to load it. Ten o'clock brought four feet eleven inches of water, and at noon there were five feet and four inches.
"I've missed it a little," said Hamp. "I said the water would run over the dam by noon, and it has still eight inches to rise before doing that."
"Well, that sort o' a miss don't count," said Riley. "You've worked the sum out right anyhow, an' the water's deep enough for raftin', an' still a-risin'. It'll go over the dam in two or three hours more, an' I'll do what I said: I'll choke any man 'at says John Hampden See's a dunce or anything like it. An' that ain't all," said the old man, rising and striking his fist in the palm of his hand. "They've been a-sayin' that ole Riley Vaughn didn't vally edication; now I'll show 'em. I'm a-goin' to make this dam a permanent institution. I'm a-goin' to build Vaughn & See's foundry an' agricultooral implement factory right down the creek there, an' put a big lot o' improved machinery in it; an' I'm a-goin' to send my pardner, John Hampden See, off next week to get the rest o' his edication where they sell the sort o' edication as is good fer him—not a lot o' words, but principles an' facts. You tell your mother you're a-goin' to New York right away, boy, an' 'at ole Riley Vaughn's a-goin' to foot all the bills outen your interest in the comin' factory. You'll study all sorts o' figgerin' work an' machine principles in the big school in New York what's called the School o' Mines, an' then you'll go to all the big factories an' things."
This scheme was carried out. Hamp spent three years in study, and returned an accomplished mechanical engineer. He went into the factory as old Riley's partner, and his work has been to improve machinery and processes. The firm own many patents now on things of his invention, and the factory is the centre of a prosperous region, in which Mr. Hampden See is an especially respected citizen.
[KNOTS.]
BY LIEUTENANT WORTH G. ROSS.
There are many knots used by sailors that would prove of good service to people on shore if they only knew how to make and apply them. Boys on a farm can put to excellent advantage these simple contrivances when they have to rely upon their own resources in the use of ropes and small lines. On shipboard there is a great variety of knots, hitches, bends, splices, etc., but the larger portion of these can only be adapted to the particular requirements of a vessel, many of them having a special duty to perform. The chief virtue of a knot is to hold well and be easily cast off.
There are three parts to a rope besides the ends: the standing part, which is the part leading from the end made fast; the running part, which is the part used or hauled; and the bight, which is the curve of the rope.
