CHAPTER IX.

A BOYS’ CLUB-HOUSE ON THE WATER.

We cannot all be Robinson Crusoes, and real desert islands are scarce, but with a little work we can build artificial islands, upon which Robinson Crusoe cabins of novel designs may be erected, and by forming

Crusoe-Clubs,

consisting of as many members as the island homes will accommodate, we shall have plenty of company. The President of such a club may be called “Robinson Crusoe”; the Secretary, “Man Friday”; the Treasurer, “The Goat,” and the Captain, “The Parrot.” In selecting a site for the club-house, choose a bar or shallow place in some small lake or pond.

Not only is the

Foundation of the Club-House Submerged,

but it must be built under water, and every foot of water adds to the difficulties. The following plans are made for foundations to be laid in water not much over waist-deep. For the convenience of the draughtsman, the bottom in the diagrams is supposed to be level.

The Building Material

necessary is such as the lumber-pile, the farm-yard, wood-shed or forest will supply, and the necessary tools consist of some mauls, a saw, auger, and hatchet. Make your own mauls, by sawing off the ends of hardwood posts and fitting handles in holes bored in the pieces of hardwood for that purpose. Fig. 84 shows a boy using a home-made maul.

Should you be so fortunate as to be able to locate your house over

A Soft Bottom,

make the corner piers by driving a number of stakes in a circle (Fig. 84), over which slip a barrel (Fig. 85) which has previously had both its heads removed. If you have no barrels a box, similarly treated, will answer the purpose, and in case you have no boxes, cribs, made in the form of boxes open at the top and bottom, may be used. Should you be ambitious to build in

True Robinson Crusoe Style,

drive a number of long stakes securely, in the form of a circle, in the bottom of the pond, as in Fig. 84, and then with grape-vines and other creepers weave a basket (Fig. 86). “Crusoe” should know how to do all these things. “The Parrot” should have charge of the transportation of material, and “The Goat” collect the lumber, cobblestones, stakes, and vines. All kinds of vines and creepers are good for basket-work, and almost any sort of stakes will answer, but “The Goat” must see that neither poison-sumac nor poison-ivy is used. Both of these plants must be avoided in any work of this kind, as they are extremely dangerous to comfort, and may cause an amount of irritation which will confine the victim to his bed for days.

Where vines are scarce, almost any sort of green branches may be made to answer the purpose, willow being especially adapted for basket-work; but all the larger branches should be split in half to make them pliable enough to bend without breaking. You may now

Weave a Basket

by passing the vine alternately inside and outside of the stakes in the circle (Fig. 86), and when the end of the first piece in hand is reached you must duck your head under water and push the vine to the bottom of the stakes. Beginning where the last piece ended, weave a second piece of vine and push it down to the bottom, and so on until the top of the water is reached. It is great fun to make these cribs, and not at all difficult work, and when they are done and filled with cobblestones they make fine piers for a club-house or an artificial island.

The Foundation Posts

of the club-house should be four or five inches in diameter and sharpened at their lower ends, but even then you will probably find that the united strength of several boys is not sufficient to force them far enough into the bottom to prevent swaying. Drive your foundation posts in the middle of the basket-crib and then

Fill the Crib with Stones.

When the cribs are full, as the barrels are in Fig. 87, they wall form durable stone piers. Four such piers will support a house big enough for from two to four boys. In this case the foundation posts should be long enough to form the four corners of the house. To make the posts steady, nail two diagonal binders on the posts, from corner to corner, crossing them in the centre (Fig. 87).

Let these diagonals be just above the water, and above these, and out of reach of waves, nail four

More Binders,

in the form of a square, as A, B, C, D, in Fig. 88 are arranged. These form the support for the floor, and four more at the top of the corner or foundation poles will make a support for the roof. The rest of the work is simple; it is only necessary to lay a floor, put on a roof, and to board up the sides to have as snug a cabin as boys need want in summer-time. By using more piers you can make a foundation of any size.

When

The Bottom of the Pond

is hard sand, or stones, the basket-cribs may be built on shore in the same manner as described, but in this case it is neither necessary nor advisable to drive the stakes far into the earth. When finished the crib will hold together and may be removed from the land without dislocating the stakes, as the vines will hold them tightly in the structure.

You cannot possibly force your corner posts into the soil through hard sand or stones, and you must, therefore, be content to rest their lower ends upon the bottom, in which case make a stand for them by spiking two short boards, in the form of a cross, on the lower end of the posts, then slip your cribs over the posts (Fig. 89). While two boys hold the post and crib in place the others can fill the crib with cobble-stones, which will steady the post until it is made entirely secure by diagonal braces and the four binders, A, B, C, D. No matter how uneven the ends of the posts may be at first, the top of the binders, A, B, C, D, must be exactly level.

The water, when calm, is

Always Level,

and if you measure three feet from its surface, and mark the point on each post, you can make the binders exactly level by nailing them with their top edge exactly even with the three-foot mark on the corner posts. The posts may now be sawed off even with the binders (Fig. 88) and the floor laid.

In a Large Building,

four extra binders nailed to the top of the crib (E, F, G, H, Fig. 88), will give finish to the structure, especially if they are floored over to the edge of the top floor, thus making a step at the surface or under the water. Stairs may be built, as shown in Fig. 88. On hard bottoms they are anchored at the lower end by a large stone placed upon a board, which joins the lower ends of the side-boards; but on soft bottoms the stairs may be first nailed to two stakes, which are afterward driven into the mud. Fig. 90 shows the platform finished, and skeleton house erected. To build this house place the two two-inch by four-inch strips, J, N and M, Q, on the platform at the required distance apart, and “toe-nail” them in place--driving the nails slantingly from the sides into the floor (Fig. 92).

Temporary Diagonal Braces

may be used until you have your skeleton house far enough advanced to fit in some horizontal cross-pieces between the uprights, and to “toe-nail” them in place. Put in two sets of braces on each side, one above and one below the window openings, and in the front frame, J, K, L, M, one over the proposed doorway, and two more in the rear frame, N, O, P, Q, the latter extending from the upright, N, O, to the upright P, Q, and parallel to N, Q, as explained by Fig. 91. When these braces are in place your frame will be stiff enough to nail on the sidings of slabs, boards or poles, and after they are in position the roof may be put on with no fear of the structure’s falling. The roof may be made of boards, as described in the underground club-house.

An Artificial Island

can be made, by erecting the corner cribs and bracing them, as described for the club-house, and then packing brush, loaded with stones, between the boundaries of the foundation.

Lay the brush with the stems pointing one way and place stones on top, one layer of weighted brush over another, until you have reached a level two feet above the water. Cover the top brush with hay, straw, or old leaves, and place a layer of sods over the leaves.

Upon this foundation you can place as much earth as your industry will permit, and you will have a substantial little island, upon which grass or plants will grow, and beneath which the little fishes can live amid the submerged brush.