The Young Wireless Operator--As a Fire Patrol | Page 4

after another period of
calculation, "will take ten feet more."
Again Lew set down the number.
"That provides for everything but the decks," said Charley. "They will
take seven or eight feet more. Better call it ten. That's all. What does it
make?"
Lew put down ten and added the column of figures. "One hundred feet
exactly," he said.
"Bully good!" replied Charley. "A hundred feet oughtn't to cost much
of anything. The rub's going to be to get the oars. You say they want
five dollars for the cheapest pair at the hardware store, and the sporting
goods store wants six-fifty."
"The robbers!" cried Lew. "Think of it. Six-fifty for about fifteen cents'
worth of wood. Maybe we can get a pair of second-hand oars
somewhere. Six-fifty is as much as we can afford to spend on the whole
outfit."
"It will be all right to get second-hand oars," said Charley, "for we can
get new ones later, when we have the money. Besides, we want to put
most of our money into the boat itself. As long as we are going to build
it, we want to make it the very best boat possible. We want the best
wood in the market and we want our boat light enough so that the two

of us can carry it. I reckon it may cost two or three dollars if we buy
such good wood as that. But it will be worth while. We can get along
with cheap oars for a time. Let's go down to the lumber-yard and get
our boards."
The two chums left the shop and hurried down the street toward the
lumber-yard.
"If we can get our lumber to-day," said Charley, "I'm certain we can get
our boat made before the spring vacation. We ought to be able to put in
three hours apiece every afternoon after high school lets out, and we
can get in another hour apiece before school, if we get up early enough.
That's four hours apiece, or eight hours a day. We certainly ought to get
it finished and painted inside of ten days."
"Sure," replied Lew. "We'll have her done all right. And we'll have just
about the finest boat in town."
"And I reckon we'll have just about the finest trip ever," went on
Charley. "If we start right after school closes for the Easter vacation we
can row up-stream that afternoon as far as Hillman's Grove, and camp
there for the night. That will give us almost half a day's extra time.
Then we can reach our old camping ground the next day and get the
tent up and our wood cut and maybe even catch some fish before dark.
We'll have everything ready so we can jump right into the boat and pull
out the minute school is over."
"Sure," assented Lew. Then, after a moment's pause, he added, "Ain't it
a shame none of the other members of the Wireless Patrol can go along?
We'll miss 'em, particularly Roy. And now that he's wireless man on
the Lycoming, he'll probably never go on another trip with the
Camp Brady Patrol."
"It's too bad for us, but mighty nice for Roy," said Charley. "Just think
of being the wireless man on a great ocean steamship when you're only
nineteen. He's made for life. Gee! I wish I knew what I am going to
do."

"I know how you feel, Charley. Maybe something will turn up so that
you won't need to go into the factory after all. But here we are at the
lumber-yard. Let's get the boards and begin our boat at once. We'll have
a good time this vacation, no matter what happens afterward."
"Well, boys, what can I do for you?" inquired the lumber dealer, as
Charley and Lew approached him.
"We want one hundred feet of the lightest and best boards you have,"
replied Charley. "We are going to build a boat and we want it to be
strong but light, so that the two of us can handle it."
"White pine would be just the thing for you," replied the dealer, "but I
haven't a foot of it in the place and can't get any. I have some fine cedar
boards that would make a good light boat. Just come over to this pile of
lumber." And he led the way across the yard.
"That will suit us all right if it's wide enough," said Charley. "We want
foot boards."
"Well, that's what these are. And a good inch thick, too. They're mighty
good boards. Hardly a knot in 'em. We don't see much lumber like that
nowadays."
"They'll do all right," assented Charley, after examining the boards.
"What do they cost a hundred?"
"Ten dollars."
"Ten dollars!" cried Charley in consternation. Then