were being placed in
position. So we merely cut a piece out of the top log to make room for a
saw when we were ready to cut the complete opening. As our fireplace was
to be 5 feet in width, a 5-foot piece was cut out of the center of the
log. Then the ends were supported by cleats nailed on each side, as
shown in Fig. 269. This done the building was continued as before, but
as the walls grew we found it more and more difficult to raise the logs
to position. We could not lift them directly to the top of the wall, but
had to roll them up on "skids"; that is, on a pair of 14-foot logs which
were laid against the top of the wall. When the walls had reached a
height of about 5 feet above the foundation logs, a length 4 feet 9
inches long was cut out of the top log to allow space for sawing out the
front door and window, and also a 30-inch piece was cut out for the side
window. Cleats temporarily held the sawed ends of the logs, while the
walls were carried on up to a height of a little over 6 feet from the
foundation logs.

THE ROOF OF THE LOG CABIN.

[Illustration: Fig. 270. Skids]

Then we started laying the roof. A 16-foot log was now notched in place
at each side, with its forward end projecting about 3 feet over the
front of the cabin to form a shelter in front of the building. A pair of
12-foot logs were then laid in position. The next pair of 16-foot logs
were laid about 20 inches in from the sides, and after a pair of the
cross logs had been set in place a third pair of logs were laid about 40
inches from the sides. Finally, a single 16-foot log was set in place at
the center, to serve as the ridge beam of the roof. The roof logs were
all carefully tested to see if they were sound before we laid them in
place, because we did not want to run any risk of the roof falling in,
particularly in the winter time, when it would be heavily covered with
snow. A chalk line was drawn from the ridge beam to the lower roof beam,
and the cross logs were sawed off along this line, as indicated in Fig.
271. Several slabs were now procured and laid across the roof beams to
serve as rafters. These rafters projected about 18 inches beyond the
side walls of the cabin, so as to support the eaves. Over the rafters we
laid a roofing of slabs, starting with the bottom and lapping them, as
we had done on our tree house.

[Illustration: Fig. 271. How the Roof Logs were Laid.]

THE DOOR AND WINDOW FRAMES.

We were now ready to cut out