Chapter 45

EASTER VACATION.

Just before Easter that year Bill's Aunt Dorothy invited him to spend Eastertide with her and bring along his roommate. I accepted the invitation with alacrity. Bill had once spent a whole summer at his aunt's home, and when we arrived there he had many old haunts to visit. We spent the first day rambling through the woods, in the hills and back of the house.

BILL'S CAVE.

He introduced me to a cave which he believed was known to only two other boys, both of whom had since moved to New York city. The mouth of the cave was almost closed by a large boulder that had lodged in front of it. We had to climb to the top of this rock, and then letting ourselves down with a rope we slid down the sloping rear face of the boulder into a crevice in the rocks. Then after squirming under a ledge we emerged into a large chamber, which appeared to be as dark as night after our sudden entrance from the outer light.

Bill lighted a candle which projected from a chink in the wall. By its light I saw that there was a pool in the center of the cave fed from a spring at one point. From the pool the water trickled off into a tiny stream to the mouth of the cave, where it was lost in a crack in the rocks. The water was ice cold and clear as crystal. Around the pool were several chairs and a table made by Bill and his two friends. That was evidently where Bill had gotten his idea of a subterranean club.

THE BARREL STAVE HAMMOCK.

Hanging between a couple of projecting rocks was a hammock made of barrel staves. The hammock was a very simple affair, made by drilling a 1-inch hole in each end of each barrel stave. The staves were then connected by two ropes on each side, woven alternately in and out through these holes, that is, one rope would be passed down through one stave, up through the next, down through the third, etc., and through the same holes another rope would be threaded in and out but in the opposite direction. The end staves of the hammock were provided with double holes, as shown in Fig. 228, so as to make them lie flat, then the ropes were threaded through them.

THE BARREL ARMCHAIR.

Aside from the hammock and the rustic furniture there was a fine armchair, made from a barrel that had been sawed off, as in Fig. 229, to form the arms and back. The barrel was raised from the ground by setting it on a couple of boards arranged in the form of a V. Then a caster was fastened to the point of the V and another at each end, making a three-legged chair of it. The chair was upholstered with ticking stuffed with straw. First a piece of ticking large enough for the back was laid on the ground and covered over with an even layer of straw. Over the straw a second piece of ticking was laid, making what Bill called a "straw sandwich." This was nailed to the chair back along the edge and at the bottom, drawing the cloth as taut as possible. To make a better finish for the chair, the ticking was covered with dark red denim. Then strips of braid were laid on the chair back, crossing each other like a lattice. At the crossing points of the braid brass-headed tacks were nailed right through the sandwich into the wood, producing the padded upholstered effect. Next a long, thin sandwich was made to run along the edge of the back, and another one to run around the chair just below the seat, also a couple of small sandwiches to cover the legs and the brackets leading to them. These were all covered with denim before being tacked to the chair and then they were bound with tape at intervals to produce the padded effect. The rest of the woodwork was covered with denim, and a neat ruffle made by Aunt Dorothy hung about the bottom of the chair. A thick, round sandwich was now made to cover the seat board. This was also given a padded effect by binding it with tape. The seat board was not nailed to the chair, but rested on four cleats nailed to the barrel on the inside. When the seat was lifted out it uncovered a shallow chest in which various things could be stored.

THE SUMMER TOBOGGAN.

Bill informed me that he and his two chums used to spend hot summer afternoons in this cool place whittling out various ornaments and making furniture for the cave. In one corner were a number of home-made amusement devices, one of which struck me as rather odd. It consisted of a pair of large barrel staves, hollow side up and connected with two short boards, as in Fig. 233. Bill said it was a summer toboggan, to be used on grass instead of snow. I had never heard of such an affair, and, of course, had to have a demonstration. Bill went to the top of the hill and from there coasted down the grassy slope in fine style.

TAILLESS KITES.

"There's a better place over on the other side of the hill," he said, and led the way to his favorite coasting spot. But here our attention was diverted from coasting by the curious sight of a full-grown man flying a kite. We found out afterward that he was a Professor Keeler, who had made a great scientific study of kites. Professor Keeler was very affable, and we soon got acquainted with him. His kite was way up in the air, almost out of sight, and was pulling like everything. Neither Bill nor I could hold it long. But the most remarkable part of it all to me was the fact that the kite had no tail. I had heard of tailless kites made like a box, but this one appeared to be very much like the kites I had made in my younger days, and I well knew the importance of a long tail to keep such a kite steady. We asked the professor about it, and were informed that this kite was of the Malay type, which is so designed that the cloth bellies out into pockets on each side of the central stick or backbone, and these pockets balance the kite while the backbone acts as a rudder.

Finding that we were interested in the subject he gave us full instructions for making kites from 5 to 8 feet long, and these I jotted down for future use. In a 5-foot kite he said the stick should be 3/8 inch thick and 1/2 inch wide, in a 6-foot kite 7/16 inch thick and 9/16 inch wide, in a 7-foot kite 5/8 inch thick and 3/4 inch wide, and in an 8-foot kite 3/4 inch thick and 1 inch wide. On the following summer we built a 5-footer and also an 8-footer.

A FIVE-FOOT MALAY KITE.

For the 5-foot kite we used two sticks of hickory 3/8 of an inch wide, 1/2 an inch thick, and each 5 feet long. According to directions, one stick was laid across the other at a point two-elevenths of its length from the top. Two-elevenths of 5 feet is a little less than 11 inches, and so we fastened on the cross stick 11 inches from the upper end of the backbone. The sticks were not nailed together, because this would have weakened the frame just at the point where it was under the greatest strain. Instead we followed the professor's directions and tied cleats to each stick, as shown in Fig. 235, so as to form sockets. Then the sticks were laid across each other, each stick fitting into the socket of the other, just like a mortised joint. A coat of shellac on the bottom of each cleat glued it temporarily to the stick, after which it was very tightly bound with fine cord. The stick and cleats were now thoroughly shellaced. The end of each stick was tapered off to receive a brass ferrule of the kind used on chisel handles. They can be bought at any hardware store. At the end of the backbone we fastened hooks made of brass, bent to the form shown in Fig. 236. The cross sticks were also provided with hooks, but these were double, as shown in Fig. 237, so that a hook lay on both the front and the rear side of the frame.

The frame was covered with a kind of cloth called "percaline." The cloth was hemmed along each edge over heavy picture wire, and at each corner the wire was twisted around a small solid ring of brass. The rings were now slipped over the hooks on the frame and then the cross stick was bowed back by fastening a wire to the rear hooks and drawing it taut. Professor Keeler told us to tighten this bowstring until the distance from the wire to the cross stick at the center was equal to one-tenth of the length of the stick. As our sticks were each 5 feet long we tightened the wire until the cross stick bowed out 6 inches, as in Fig. 239. The belly band of the kite was fastened at one end to the lower end of the backbone and at the upper end to a wire hook at the juncture of the two sticks. The hook was fastened to the cross stick by flattening the ends and running them under the cord used for binding on the cleats (see Fig. 240). A buttonhole was made in the cloth covering to let this hook project through. The belly band was just long enough, so that it could be stretched over to one end of the cross stick, as in Fig. 241, and at this point, that is, 30 inches from the upper end of the belly band, a brass ring was made fast, to which the main kite string was tied. The kite possessed the advantage that it could be quickly taken apart and folded into a small space.

AN EIGHT-FOOT MALAY KITE.

Our 8-foot kite was made in the same way only the sticks were 3/4 inch thick, 1 inch wide and 8 feet long. The cross stick was fastened 17-1/2 inches (two-elevenths of 8 feet) from the top of the backbone and it was bowed back 9-1/2 inches (one-tenth of 8 feet). The wire in the hem of the covering was a double thickness of the heaviest picture wire obtainable.

THE ELASTIC BELLY BAND.

An important change was made in the belly band of the kite. The lower strand was made elastic by tying it fast to a number of heavy rubber bands, as in Fig. 242. When flying the kite, if a sudden, strong puff of wind struck it, the elastic belly band would give, tilting up the lower end of the kite so that the wind passed under; but as soon as the gust had passed the rubber bands would draw the lower end of the kite back against the wind. The elastic belly band had the effect of making the kite rise almost vertically. Sometimes it would even sail square overhead. The 8-foot kite was a very powerful one. To hold it we had to use a very strong cord, the kind used by upholsterers for tying down the springs in a chair or a sofa.

PUTTING THE KITES TO WORK.

Bill tested the strength of the kite once by hooking a spring scale to the kite string. The scale was made to register weights up to 25 pounds. But our kite yanked the pointer immediately past the 25-pound mark as far as it would go. We judged from this that the kite would lift at least 40 pounds. Such a pull as this it seemed a pity to waste, but how to utilize the power was a problem until one day, when the kite was soaring up on a south wind, Dutchy suggested that we tie it to one of the canoes and go sailing up-stream. We tried the trick at once, but it didn't work very well, because the canoe was too light. The kite would drop unless there was a heavy pull on the string. We had better success with the scow, however, which provided a sufficient drag on the kite, and with the two kites to pull us we sailed a long ways up-stream, drifting down with the current when we had gone as far as we cared to.

THE DIAMOND BOX KITE.

Professor Keeler also gave us instructions for making a diamond-shaped box kite, and though we never built one, it may not be amiss to publish his instructions here. I quote from the chronicles of the S. S. I. E. E. of W. C. I.:

"Materials: Four sticks, 1/4 inch thick by 5/8 inch wide by 44 inches long, for the corner sticks. Two sticks, 1/4 inch thick by 5/8 inch wide by 15 inches long, for the short spreaders. Two sticks, 1/2 inch square by about 38 inches long, for the long spreaders. Two strips of cloth 81 inches long, hemmed at each edge to a width of 13 inches. Whittle out twelve cleats to the form shown in Fig. 244. At the ends of the 15-inch spreaders nail cleats on each side with long wire brads, so as to form forks, as shown in Fig. 245, in which two of the corner sticks are held. The short spreaders are fastened to the corner sticks, 7 inches from the ends, with brads driven through the cleats, making the frame (as in Fig. 246). To prevent the frame from skewing off sidewise it should be braced with wire running diagonally across from one corner stick to the other. Ordinary soft stovepipe wire will do. Care must be taken to have the spreaders meet the corner sticks squarely or at right angles. Now take one of the cloth strips and sew its ends together to form a band. The end should be lapped about an inch and fastened with the sailor stitch (see Fig. 223). The same should be done to the other cross strip, and then each band should be marked off with pencil lines at four points, all equidistant from each other. The two bands may now be tacked to the two ends of the frame with opposite pencil lines over the edges of the corner sticks, as in Fig. 247. The two remaining corner sticks are then nailed to the bands at the two other pencil lines. These corner sticks will now be braced apart by the long spreaders, which are notched to the right length to stretch the cloth taut. A cleat is nailed over each notch, as shown in Fig. 248, forming forks to hold the corner pieces. The long spreaders are now forced down until they meet the short spreaders, to which they are tied with waxed string. The long spreaders may be nailed to the corner sticks by driving brads right through the cloth into the cleats and the sticks. The belly band may be fastened to any one of the corner sticks at the spreaders, and from the points where it is tied it should measure about 45 inches in length. The point where the main string should be attached to the belly band may be best determined by experiment."