[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 131. Making the Frame of the Straw Hut.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 132. Doorway of the Hut.]

The gra.s.s lodge appealed to us as very picturesque, and we set to work immediately on its construction. We made our hut much smaller, however, only 12 feet in diameter, and 8 or 9 feet high. First we procured two dozen light poles between 10 and 12 feet long. These we set up about 18 inches apart in a circle like a stockade, the sticks being buried in the ground to a depth of 12 inches. At one side a s.p.a.ce of 3 feet was allowed for a doorway. Inside the stockade we erected a working platform of planks supported on barrels, and standing on this we took two opposite poles, bent them inward and lashed their upper ends together.

Then a second pair of opposite poles were similarly bent inward and tied, and so we proceeded until the entire stockade had been converted into a dome-shaped cage. Around these poles we laid lighter sticks, or bands, tying them at the points of intersection. At the doorway two posts were set firmly in the ground, projecting upward to a height of 4 feet. A lintel nailed across the top of the posts completed the door frame. Sticks were nailed to the lintel and to the side posts, extending to the main frame of the hut, to which they were tied. We were now ready to thatch our hut. Reddy and Dutchy went over to Lumberville for several bales of straw. We tied the straw in bunches and applied it to the frame, copying, as best we could, the process ill.u.s.trated in the photograph.

But for its location the hut would have proved a very serviceable habitation. In order to have a good, dry dwelling without laying down a board flooring, we had selected for its site the sandy sh.o.r.e at Point Lookout. This part of the island was not sheltered with trees, and the hot sun beat down on our hut so strongly that we found the quarters very uncomfortable indeed. It was this fact that led to the construction of a tree hut--a building that would be perfectly dry and yet shaded and cool. Bill had read of such houses in the Philippines and felt confident that we could build one. We couldn't decide at first where to locate our hut until Dutchy moved that we build it in the gnarled oak tree overlooking the "Goblins' Dancing Platform." Immediately the motion was seconded and unanimously carried.

THE GOBLINS' DANCING PLATFORM.

Just above the town of Lumberville there was a cliff which rose sheer 200 feet above the level of the river. So perpendicular was the cliff that a stone dropped from the overhanging ledge at the top would fall straight down to the railroad track below without touching a twig in its course. Back of this broad ledge there was a very peculiar formation. A column of stone rose abruptly 40 feet higher and was topped with a large slab about 12 feet in diameter. This was known all over that region as the Goblins' Dancing Platform. The only possible way of gaining the summit of the column was by climbing a scraggly oak tree which grew on the high ground back of the pillar, crawling out on an overhanging limb, and then dropping down to the platform below. It was in this oak that we decided to build our house. It was a very inaccessible spot, and to reach it we had to make a wide detour around the back of the hill, and through the fields of a cranky farmer, who more than once threatened to fill us with bird shot for trespa.s.sing on his property. How were we to carry all our building materials up to this great height? One would think that the difficulties would be enough to discourage us, but not so with the S. S. I. E. E. of W. C. I. Nothing daunted us.

DUTCHY TAKES A DARE.

Our first task was to try some other approach to the top of the cliff.

At one side of the overhanging ledge there was a fissure in the rocks which ran from the base of the pillar to the foot of the cliff. Down this zigzag crevice Dutchy had scrambled, one afternoon, on a dare. We were rather frightened when he started, because it was a very hazardous undertaking, and we watched him anxiously, peering over the edge of the precipice. By bracing his back against one of the walls of the rock, and digging his feet into the niches and c.h.i.n.ks of the opposite wall, he safely made his way to a shelf about half-way down, where he paused to rest. From that point on the fissure widened out, and a steep, almost vertical incline, spa.r.s.ely covered with vegetation, led to the railroad track below. I think he must have become rather frightened at his position, because he hesitated long before he resumed his downward course, and when he finally did make the attempt his foot slipped upon the moss-covered rocks and down he fell, scratching and clawing at every shrub within reach. Believing him to be killed, we rushed down the hill and around to the foot of the cliff. It probably took us about fifteen or twenty minutes, though it seemed ages before we came upon our venturesome comrade coolly trying to pin together a rent of inconvenient location and dimensions in his trousers.

"Say, Dutchy, are you killed?" cried Bill, breathlessly.

"Killed, nothing," he replied, with scorn. "I suppose you fellows think I had a fall. Well, I didn't."

"You didn't, eh? We saw you slip."

"Oh, go on. I came down that way on purpose. There was no use in picking my way down like a 'fraid cat, when I could just as well take a smooth and easy toboggan slide on the bushes all the way down."

Smooth and easy toboggan slide! Well, you should have seen the hillside.

The course was well defined by the torn and uprooted shrubs and the pile of branches and vines at Dutchy's feet. Whether the hare-brained Dutchy really imagined he could glide easily down on the shrubbery, his frantic movements on the way certainly belied his story, and when, the next day, we proposed that he repeat the trick, somehow he didn't seem to be very enthusiastic on the subject.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wichita Indians Building a Straw Hut.]

A PATH UP THE FISSURE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 133. The Jacob's Ladder.]

It was up this fissure that we decided to haul materials for our tree hut. Our first task was to build steps and ladders in the steepest parts. We had no tool for cutting out niches in the rock, but wherever natural depressions were formed we wedged in sticks of wood between the side walls to serve as ladder rungs. If no such niches appeared for considerable height, we would stretch a rope ladder to the next fixed rung. In most places the natural formation of the rock was such as to afford sufficient footing.

ROPE LADDERS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 134. Rope Ladder.]

The rope ladders were made of two parallel side straps, tightly stretched between the fixed sticks, and then at intervals of fifteen inches we inserted the ends of the ladder rung between the strands of the rope. Below and above each rung the rope was bound with cord. The rungs were notched at the ends to prevent them from slipping out.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 135. A Ladder Rung.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 136. The Derrick.]

After providing a means for scaling the cliff (we called it the Jacob's Ladder), we were still confronted with the problem how to cart our building materials to the top. It was a very hard task and you couldn't have hired us to do it under any other circ.u.mstances. First, Bill planned out on paper just how the house was to be built, and we cut all the pieces to the right size so as not to carry up any superfluous matter. When all was ready the boards and sticks were loaded on the scow, and ferried over to the cliff. Then we carried them on our backs, three or four at a time, up the slanting hillside to the first ledge.

From there up, owing to the steepness of the ascent, we had to employ different tactics.

THE DERRICK.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 137. The Derrick in Use.]

A derrick was constructed of two sticks 10 feet long, which were bolted together at the top, and secured about five feet apart at the bottom by a cross piece, as shown in Fig. 136. The derrick was then taken apart and with some difficulty hauled piecemeal up to the next ledge above.

Here it was put together again. The fall and tackle used in our aerial railway was attached to the apex of the derrick, and the latter was then erected with the legs set into depressions in the ledge and the upper ends slanting outward but kept from falling over the edge by a rope tied to one of the fixed rungs set in the fissure. With this derrick we hoisted up the boards in a few hauls. The job was a very ticklish one, but Bill used the greatest care to prevent accident. The derrick, rope and tackle were carefully tested before used, and as soon as the load was attached to the lower pulley block the two who did the loading were instructed to crawl back into the fissure so as to be out of danger in case anything gave way. At one time a stick which had been carelessly tied did fall, and it might have badly hurt some one had we not observed this precaution. When we had raised the material to the second ledge we transferred operations to the top ledge, and when the materials had been hauled up to this point we finally rigged up our fall and tackle in the old oak tree itself.

THE TREE HOUSE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 138. Main Girder of the Tree House.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig 139. Top View of the Platform.]

The tree had two large limbs which extended out at a wide angle from the main trunk. Across these two limbs, at about seven feet out, we laid our first girder, nailing it securely in place. Then to the main trunk we nailed the second girder on a level with the first. Diagonal braces were extended from the trunk to support the ends of this girder, and a tie piece was nailed to the braces, as shown in Fig. 138, to prevent them from spreading. The girders were rough sticks about 4 inches in diameter and 10 feet long. We cut flat faces on them at the points where they were nailed to the tree, and then, to make them doubly secured, we nailed cleats, or blocks of wood, to the tree under them. The floor beams were then laid across and nailed to the girders. They were cut to a length of 10 feet so as to project beyond the outer girder to provide for a piazza overhanging the Goblins' Platform. Six floor beams were used, s.p.a.ced 20 inches apart. All branches projecting up between the beams were then cut away and a flooring of slabs was laid on. To the main trunk six feet above the flooring, a stick or (to use the technical term), "wall plate," was nailed on, and its ends were supported by upright posts resting on the platform. Thirty inches from the outer end of the platform two more posts were erected eight feet high and secured by sticks nailed across from the other posts, and also by a second wall plate connecting their upper ends. Four more posts were erected, one between each pair of the corner posts, and then we were ready to enclose the framing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 140. The Frame of the House.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 141. Nailing on the Clapboards.]

The sidewalls were first clapboarded, because we were afraid the roof would not hold us until the framing had been strengthened by nailing on the siding. Slab boards were used for this purpose. Beginning at the bottom, the boards were laid on, each lapping over the one below, as shown in Fig. 141, so as to shed water. In each side we cut a window opening and nailed on a window casing of the type shown in Fig. 142, which will be described in a moment. As soon as the clapboards were applied, we nailed on the rafters and then applied the roofing. The same principle was here used for shedding water. The lowest board was first laid on, and then the others were successively applied, each lapping over the one below.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 142. The Window Casing.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 143. The Window Sash.]

The window casings we used each consisted of a frame about 15 inches square, but with the upper and lower pieces extending 12 inches beyond one of the side pieces. On these extended pieces a slideway was formed for the window sash by nailing on two strips of wood about 3/4 inch square and over them a pair of wider strips projecting inward, so as to overlap the edges of the sash. The window sash consisted of a frame 13-1/2 inches square, made of 3/4-inch square strips over which canvas was tightly stretched and tacked. A spool was nailed on at one side for a handle. These windows were closed only in rainy weather, to keep the water out.

SLIDING DOORS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 144. Section of the Door and Frame.]

We had two doors; one at the back of the house, from which a ladder extended down to the ground, and another opening out onto the veranda, from which we dropped a ladder down to the Goblins' Dancing Platform. In order to save s.p.a.ce we used sliding instead of swinging doors. The back door frame was 5-1/2 feet high and the front door frame 6 feet high. The doors were mounted on the outside of the building. The side posts of each frame were 2-1/2 feet apart, and the lintel and sill extended 3 feet beyond the side post at one side. The upper face of the lintel was planed down perfectly smooth, and its edges were tapered off to make a track for the rollers on the door. The rollers consisted of two spools, which turned on tenpenny nails driven into the top of the door. At the lower end two more spools were mounted, turning on nails driven in the bottom edge of the door. The rims of the spools extended slightly beyond the outer face of the door and rolled against the sill. To keep the water from leaking in at the top a slanting board was fastened above it, as shown in Fig. 144. The back door was similarly constructed. Our tree house was completed by a running bal.u.s.trade around the veranda.

It strangely happened that just after our tree house had been built we received a photograph from Uncle Ed of a Filipino tree house made of bamboo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Filipino Bamboo Tree House.]

CHAPTER XII.