ifted out it uncovered a
shallow chest in which various things could be stored.

THE SUMMER TOBOGGAN.

[Illustration: Fig. 233. The Summer Toboggan.]

Bill informed me that he and his two chums used to spend hot summer
afternoons in this cool place whittling out various ornaments and making
furniture for the cave. In one corner were a number of home-made
amusement devices, one of which struck me as rather odd. It consisted of
a pair of large barrel staves, hollow side up and connected with two
short boards, as in Fig. 233. Bill said it was a summer toboggan, to be
used on grass instead of snow. I had never heard of such an affair, and,
of course, had to have a demonstration. Bill went to the top of the hill
and from there coasted down the grassy slope in fine style.

TAILLESS KITES.

"There's a better place over on the other side of the hill," he said,
and led the way to his favorite coasting spot. But here our attention
was diverted from coasting by the curious sight of a full-grown man
flying a kite. We found out afterward that he was a Professor Keeler,
who had made a great scientific study of kites. Professor Keeler was
very affable, and we soon got acquainted with him. His kite was way up
in the air, almost out of sight, and was pulling like everything.
Neither Bill nor I could hold it long. But the most remarkable part of
it all to me was the fact that the kite had no tail. I had heard of
tailless kites made like a box, but this one appeared to be very much
like the kites I had made in my younger days, and I well knew the
importance of a long tail to keep such a kite steady. We asked the
professor about it, and were informed that this kite was of the Malay
type, which is so designed that the cloth bellies out into pockets on
each side of the central stick or backbone, and these pockets balance
the kite while the backbone acts as a rudder.

Finding that we were interested in the subject he gave us full
instructions for making kites from 5 to 8 feet long, and these I jotted
down for future use. In a 5-foot kite he said the stick should be 3/8
inch thick and 1/2 inch wide, in a 6-foot kite 7/16 inch thick and 9/16
inch wide, in a 7-foot kite 5/8 inch thick and 3/4 inch wide, and in an
8-foot kite 3/4 inch thick and 1 inch wide. On the following summer we
built a 5-footer and also an 8-footer.

[Illustration: Fig. 234. Coasting in Summer.]

A FIVE-FOOT MALAY KITE.

[Illustration: Fig. 235. Tying on th