The scouts worked so industriously that the new side walls were completed, and they were eager to begin work on the roof. The hut was much longer than the old one, but its width was the same, as it used the end wall of the old hut for one side of its own.
The meeting of the two front walls of the huts, however, had been a problem. The scouts could not figure out how to nail any boards or logs to a corner post already used for that purpose. But Julie thought out a scheme.
"We"ll leave that meeting place in front, for the door. Then we"ll use a post for the other side of our door, and begin _there_ with the wall."
This was hailed as a fine idea, so they tried it. But the door-lintel was not as secure as it might be, and the girls dodged in and out to avoid having it come down upon their heads should it topple. They had no doubt but that it _would_ fall in sooner or later.
"We"re all ready for a roof, Verny, and don"t know where to find any wood for rafters or ridgepole," said Joan, when the Captain walked over to pa.s.s judgment upon the structure.
"That"s a dangerous looking lintel, girls."
"Best we could do with what we had," replied Ruth.
"The material is all right, but the construction is careless. Now I have finished my door, but I wouldn"t dare swing it from that frame,"
continued the Captain.
"Oh, were you building a door of those boards?" asked the girls.
"Yes, and I feel quite proud of it, too. Come and see it."
The door was made of boards all the same lengths and thickness but of different widths. So Mrs. Vernon had grouped them to have all the wide boards at top and bottom of the door, and the others graduating in widths until a narrow center one was reached. This made a pretty effect.
They were all securely fastened to a frame made of rough planks, but this frame would be on the inside so it would not be seen. "We can hang a drapery, or some vines on this back to hide the unsightly frame," said the Captain.
Heavy leather hinges were secured to the back edge of the door, and a latch and handle made of some sheet iron, were bent and cut to fit.
"How did you ever do that without a blacksmith?" asked Joan.
"I played my own blacksmith while you were on your hike this morning. I heated an old piece of wagon-tire and hammered it flat, then heated it red-hot and cut it with tools I found in the box."
"All right, Verny! You shall take the prize this time," Julie commended heartily.
"But that doesn"t give us a roof or rafters," said Ruth.
"I have them all ready for you. I remembered them to-day when I inspected your work," said Mrs. Vernon, leading the way down to the buckboard.
"Help me lift the seats off," ordered the Captain.
This was done, and the curious girls then saw Mrs. Vernon pry out some small wooden wedges and lo! a board came from the floor of the buckboard. But stay! It was not _from_ the floor, but one of the extra boards that had been laid down to form a double flooring.
Several boards were thus removed, and then it was found that the original floor of the buckboard was as good as ever.
"Why did you have another floor laid?" asked Julie.
"Jim suggested that we might need a few boards for see-saws, or some other fun, so he fitted these down over the real bottom of the buckboard. I forgot about them until I found your need of just such boards for your roof."
"They"re not very thick or heavy," said Joan, doubtfully.
"You don"t want them heavy for a roof. The lighter the better, as long as they are steady and secure."
The boards were carried up to the new hut, and found to be several inches too long for the roof.
"That"s an error on the right side, if there can be such a "bull,"" said Mrs. Vernon. "For now you can have overhanging eaves instead of having the roof come flush with the sides."
"We haven"t half enough of these boards for a roof, if we propose covering it with tar-paper as we did the old hut," said Julie.
"We only need enough to form bases for us to nail the laths to. You will find a large bundle of laths in the material Jim sent out by the Freedom delivery-wagon. The laths are easy to nail down and then the paper goes over that, you know."
So the roof was finally completed, but it was not as neat and exact as the work on the old roof, so Mrs. Vernon wondered! The week had gone by and the next day would be Sunday, but the scouts grumbled at the forced vacation.
"Dear me! I was sure we would be through building and ready to play by this time," complained Joan.
"I think you have accomplished wonders this week. I thought it would take us two weeks, at least, to build this new hut," said Mrs. Vernon.
"If we hadn"t had such glorious weather perhaps it might have taken us that long," said Betty. "But the wood was all dry, and we had no delays in any way."
"I think the door is the best-looking thing about the whole place," said Julie, with head on one side, admiring the craftsman"s work.
"That commendation makes me yearn to try other ideas," laughed the Captain.
"Maybe you are thinking of building a cobblestone chimney in our house,"
laughed Julie.
"Why didn"t we think of it in time! We could have had one as easy as anything!" exclaimed Mrs. Vernon.
"Are you joking?" asked the girls.
"No, but now we must see where we could have it. I am afraid we will have to lean it up in the corner against the stone-wall at the back of the hut."
The girls laughed at this, for now they were sure Mrs. Vernon was only fooling them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SUNDAY VISITORS
Sunday morning was so fine that the scouts declared it was too bad they couldn"t finish the hut, as they felt so full of energy. Mrs. Vernon laughed, and said: "Bottle it up for Monday."
"But there isn"t anything we can do on a day like this," said Ruth, plaintively.
"Oh, yes, there is. Girl scouts can hike, visit, or do any of the recreations suitable for Sunday. It does not say that we must sit down and pull long faces," replied Joan.
"Well, what would you do, Verny?" Ruth asked of the Captain.
"First of all I would eat my breakfast and hasten to clear away all signs of it from camp."