The Scientific American Boy

Excerpt: ...Mr. Schreiner, in response to a letter from the secretary, came down with a large wagon in which the majority of the things were packed. The rest of our luggage was stowed in the scow and the canoes, and these were towed down the canal, as before. We reached home late in the afternoon, tired and hungry. It was a treat to sit at the table again and eat some of Mother's appetizing dishes. And say, wasn't that pie great, though! My, how ravenous we were! And then a soft, comfortable bed with spotless white sheets and pillow cases. How soundly we did sleep that night! You can just bet we were all glad enough to get back to civilization, though, of course, no one could have dragged out the confession from a single one of us. The Ice Boat. Illustration: Fig. 163. The Backbone. School commenced on the 20th of September that year, so we hadn't much time to spare. Work was begun immediately on the ice boat. Our first ice boat was rather a crude one. A 2 by 4 inch scantling 14 feet long was used for the backbone of the boat. The scantling was placed on edge, and to lighten it and improve its appearance it was tapered fore and aft from a point 4 feet from the bow end. The thickness of the ends of the backbone was but 2 inches, as shown in Fig. 163. To the under edge of the backbone, 5 feet from the forward end, a crosspiece was nailed. This crosspiece was a 1-inch board 6 inches wide and 9 feet long. Braces were then run from the ends of the crosspiece to the forward and rear ends of the backbone, and at the rear end several boards nailed across the braces served as a seat for the boat. Illustration: Fig. 164. Frame of the Ice Boat. Illustration: Fig. 165. Runner Shoe. Illustration: Fig. 166. The Rudder Shoe. Our next task was to rig up the runners. For these we used skates, which were so arranged that we could remove them whenever we wanted to. Three blocks of wood were used for the runner shoes. Two of them were cut from a 2 by 4 scantling and measured a...