"We'll need two sixteen-foot boards, each a foot wide for the sides," he
said, looking across the table at his chum, who sat ready, with pencil and
paper, to jot down the figures Charley gave him.

"Thirty-two feet," said Lew, setting down the number on his paper.

Charley bent over his patterns, measuring and estimating in silence.
"It'll take three more like 'em for the bottom," he said presently.

"That's forty-eight more," replied Lew, jotting down the number.

"And these cross braces," added Charley, 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'