Page:The Winning Touchdown.djvu/166

152 the scheme, was, by common consent, made a sort of foreman. "Get busy, and do some of the lifting yourselves," he advised.

"I say, Tom," demanded Sid, "what makes these boards split every time I try to nail them on these four-by-fours? I must be a hoodoo, for I've split half a dozen."

"Those aren't four-by-fours," declared Tom. "They're two-by-fours, or scantling, and there are a lot of reasons why you split the boards."

"Give me one, and I'll be satisfied."

"Well, you're using cut nails, and you ought to use wire ones there, as the boards are old and dry. Then you have to nail so close to the edge that they split easier than they would if you could put the nails nearer the middle. But use wire nails.

"You mean those round ones?"

"Yes. The cut nails are those black, squareheaded ones, and when you do use them, drive 'em with the widest part of the end at right angles to the grain of the wood."

"What's that, a lesson in geometry, young gentlemen?" asked a voice, and the students turned quickly, to observe President Churchill observing them with an amused smile."

"No, sir," answered Sid, "Tom was telling me how to drive nails."

"Ah, yes, a very useful accomplishment, I believe," remarked the doctor. "Though I never