CHAPTER VIII.

HOW TO BUILD AN UNDERGROUND CLUB-HOUSE.

The muffled sound of voices, interrupted by peals of hollow laughter, issuing from the apparently solid earth, is a sufficiently startling phenomenon of itself; but when a group of boys and a dog suddenly emerge from the ground it is calculated to induce the most prosaic of persons to believe that the gnomes of fairy stories are, after all, living realities. For the peace of mind of all who may hear the mysterious voices and see the apparitions just described, it may be well to state that the gnomes are human and are members of the Bank-Swallows’ Club, and if you hear their voices under your feet it is because you happen to be standing on the roof of their underground club-house.

These

American Gnomes

use only such magic as their healthy brains and sturdy arms can supply, and if they “cast a charm” upon you it will be one of the most delightful of all spells--the charm of boyhood!

The club-house may be built with

A Doorway at the Top

of the bank, concealed by a trap-door, or with an entrance from the hillside, as shown in the diagrams. If the reader chooses the first style he has simply to follow the diagrams here given, and reversing the proportions of the ventilator and entrance (Fig. 79), make an entrance of the vent and a vent of the entrance.

The Trap-Door

must be placed high enough above the surface of the ground to prevent the water from running into the house in wet weather, and a ladder should be provided, by which the boys may climb in and out of the house with ease.

Dimensions of the House.

The house should be big enough to allow room for a table and some chairs, stools, or benches, and the roof be so arranged that the tallest boy in the crowd may stand erect, with no fear of bumping his head.

The furniture must be placed inside the frame as soon as the floor is laid, because after the house is finished the entrance is too small to admit the passage of any object of more bulk than a creeping boy.

The hardest work is digging the foundation in the hillside, but if six or seven boys take a hand at this, “for the fun of the thing,” the work is soon done.

A Cross-Section

is a picture showing how half an object looks. Fig. 76 is a cross-section of the excavation shown in Fig. 76a. The latter shows the finished foundation.

In Fig. 79 a cross-section of the earth-bank and

The Boys’ Underground Club-House

is given, affording an idea of the proper proportions of the cave. When the foundation is entirely finished, collect your building material.

If you have

New Lumber,

use it; if not, use old lumber, and if you are building in the woods the house may be built of logs and roofed with poles, covered with bark and boughs. The better the material the stronger will be the house. Secure some good sound planks and a supply of long strips two inches thick and four inches wide. Use two-by-fours for the frame of the house.

To give a

Pitch to the Roof,

to allow the water which filters through the dirt above to drain off at the eaves, make the rear posts, A, B and C, D (Fig. 77), exactly equal in length, but considerably longer than E, F and G, H, as in Fig. 79.

To add strength, erect another post midway between A, B and C, D.

Framing.

Cut the sticks A, C and B, D exactly equal in length and nail them to the uprights A, B and C, D, as in Fig. 77, using one nail at each corner; this will adjust the frame and make the four corners square, after which you may secure them in position by diagonal pieces similar to those shown on the end, A, E, B, F, Fig. 77. The corners may then be nailed. In nailing a temporary piece it is only necessary to drive the nails far enough to hold for the time.

Next make the frame E, G, H, F, and in the middle of this frame nail on the two door-jambs I, J, and K, L. While some of the boys hold the front and rear frames in an upright position and the proper distance apart, others can nail on diagonals at the two ends, and, after all is square and plumb, the two string-pieces, A, E and C, G, may be securely nailed in place, and the rafter M, O nailed to M, N and O, P. This finishes the framework proper, for the club-house.

Passageway.

To make the frame for the underground hall or passageway, first nail Q, S across the door-jambs, to form the top to the doorway, after which put in the supports Q, R and S, T. Next build the frame U, V, X, W, and join it to Q, S by the two pieces, Q, U and S, V, and put in the middle frame-support marked Z, Z, Z, Z.

The passageway should be about six feet long, and the front doorway (U, V, X, W, Fig. 80) of just sufficient size to enable you to creep through with comfort. The bottom-piece, W, X, can be nailed to a couple of stakes driven in the ground for that purpose. The next thing in order is the floor, and to make this firm you must lay a number of two-by-fours, parallel to B, D and F, H and see that they are level. You will need a number of shorter pieces of the same material, to run parallel to F, H and W, X for the hall floor, as may be seen in Fig. 79. Across these nail your floor securely, as shown in Fig. 79.

There Are No Windows

to the underground house, and but two openings: one in the roof for the ventilator, and the doorway, Q, S, L, J, Fig. 77. Since the outside of the wall of this sort of a house is hidden by earth, it is not necessary to remove the diagonal braces upon the ends or sides, but the inside should be neatly finished, and the four sides must be boarded up from the inside, after which the side-walls to the passageway may be nailed on from the outside, the boards running from the floor to the string-pieces, Q, U and S, V, as shown in Fig. 79. When this is finished, roof the house, laying the boards parallel with A, E and C, G, and allowing them to project front and rear and overlap at the sides. Over each crack in the roof nail another plank, as shown in Fig. 79.

The Roof

may be made without the overlapping boards and the cracks covered with strips of tar-paper or old oil-cloth, or the roof may be preserved and the cracks filled by treating the whole to a coating of hot tar, daubed on with a brush made from rags tied to the end of a stick. Any sort of roof which will keep out the rain will answer the purpose.

Gumption.

The plans given may be, and are expected to be, altered to suit requirements. If you use this roofing you must use substantial supports, in the way of rafters, and put them close together. In all cases, use your common-sense.

Don’t put much earth on a frail roof; it is only necessary to cover the boards with sufficient earth or sod to conceal the wood.

Make a long box, of four boards (Fig. 82), for

A Ventilator,

and set this over a square hole cut in the roof for this purpose. The ventilator should project at least one foot and a half above ground, and the top or vent be protected by wire-netting or cross-pieces, nailed on as shown in Fig. 82. Now spread small brush over the boards, and dry leaves or straw over the brush, then shovel the dirt back in the excavation until the club-house is entirely covered; pack the soil firmly all around the house, leaving only the top of the ventilator and the front door uncovered.

When all is finished to your satisfaction, conceal the ventilator by brush or transplanted weeds or shrubs, and scatter grass and clover-seed over the new earth. Make a strong door, after the plan in Fig. 81, and fasten it on the front entrance with good hinges and a padlock, and place some brush or growing shrubs in front of the door.

After the Grass Begins to Grow

there will be little to cause the passers-by to suspect that the green bank conceals a room well supplied with chess, checkers, boys’ books, and everything to make a boy happy.

Dangerous Caves.

There is an impulse implanted in all boys, which impels them to dig caves in every convenient bank, and these caves are always more or less dangerous from their liability to cave in upon the youthful miners. It not infrequently occurs that sad accidents do happen to youngsters, who, on account of lack of instruction, attempt to make underground retreats in some sandy bank, by boring a hole in the face of the hill. If, however, they make an excavation as here directed, and illustrated by Figs. 76 and 76a, their parents need feel no apprehension, for there is no more liability to accident than if they were digging in the home garden. Many of these houses have already been constructed.