A number of years
later I saw it still faithfully at work pumping water for his cattle. The
original pump had been worn out and a new one substituted, but otherwise
the old windmill remained just as we had first rigged it up.
[Illustration: Fig. 295. Fig. 296. Action of the Pump.]
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE GRAVITY RAILROAD.
"About all we lack now," said Dutchy, when the windmill had been
completed, "is a railroad."
"Then suppose we build one," was Bill's unexpected rejoinder.
We all thought he was joking, but he wasn't.
"I don't mean a steam railroad," he said, "but a gravity railroad."
"A what?"
"A gravity railroad. Oh, you know what that is--a roller toboggan--the
kind they have down at Coney Island." And he went on to explain how we
could rig up a simple roller toboggan on our island.
His plan was to build an inclined trestle on the high ground just below
the lagoon, and then run wooden tracks along the shore down to the pontoon
bridge, and across the mill-race to Kite Island. We started first to dig a
road down to the bridge, because the bank was quite high at this point.
The task was rather greater than we anticipated, but we kept steadily at
it until we had cut a fairly good road through the bank, though the grade
was rather steep.
Pages:
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245