One of our schoolmates, a day scholar, came to the rescue. His name was
Chester Hill, a little bit of a chap, about the shortest for his age that
I have ever seen. His name was so at variance to his size that we called
him "Hillock," for short. Now Hillock lived on a farm about eight miles
from school, and used to drive in every day on a farm wagon. He had helped
us dig the cave under the cedar tree, and when he learned that we would
need some lumber to build a safe cave, he told us that he had an uncle who
owned a lumber mill on the Morris River, from whom he was sure we could
get all the slabs we wanted. Of course, we were delighted, and laid our
plans for an elaborate cave house. Hillock promised to be on hand on the
following Saturday afternoon with his load of lumber.
Excavating for the Cave.
We immediately set out to make the necessary excavation. The side of a
bushy knoll was chosen as a suitable site. First we carefully transplanted
the bushes that grew in the square we had marked out for the cave, and
cutting the sod into squares, piled it all neatly to one side. Then we
shoveled away the top-soil and heaped it up for future use. After that we
dug away the sandy subsoil. The cave proper we planned to make about 8
feet by 10 feet, with a passageway 2 feet wide and 6 feet long, leading in
from a large bush at the base of the knoll.
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