rom
correct."

MAPPING THE ISLAND.

Most of our surveying was done by actual measurement, the surveying
instrument being used only to determine the exact direction of the
measurement. However, there were some measurements which we could not
make directly with the chain. For example, we wished to know just how
far it was from our tent to the Jersey shore of the river. We measured
off a base line along our shore 400 feet long and sighted to a point
directly across the river from our tent. The angle in front of our tent
was 90 degrees, and at the other end of the base line was 73 degrees.
When we drew out our triangle on the scale of 100 feet to the inch we
found that the shorter side directly in front of the tent was almost
exactly 13 inches long. This meant that the river at this point was
1,300 feet wide, nearly a quarter of a mile. On the other side of the
island we found, in the same way, that the river at its narrowest point
was about 500 feet wide. This portion of the river we named Lake Placid,
as the water was very still and quite deep. This was due to a sort of
natural dam formed at the lower end of our island. The small island that
Dutchy found was kite-shaped, with a tail of boulders which extended
almost all the way across to a rocky point on the Pennsylvania shore.
The channel between "Kite Island," as we called it, and Willow Clump
Island was not more than fifteen feet wide in some places, and through
this the water swept with a swift current down past a narrow neck of
land to join the main current. This narrow stretch of land we named the
Tiger's Tail, owing to its peculiar shape. It was in the hook at the end
of this tail that we discovered the old bridge wreck above referred to.
From the tip of the Tiger's Tail to Point Lookout, at the extreme upper
end of Willow Clump Island, it was a little under a half-mile. The shore
all along Lake Placid was very steep, except near Point Lookout. At one
place there was a shallow bay which we called the lagoon.

CHAPTER VIII.

SWIMMING.

[Illustration: Fig. 85. The Diving Tree.]

Lake Placid was a favorite swimming place for us. We used to plunge in
from the branches of a tree which overhung the water a little ways above
the lagoon and made a natural springboard. We could all swim like ducks,
except Dutchy, who couldn't do anything but paddle. However, Uncle Ed
was an expert, and he took Dutchy in hand and soon made a pretty good
swimmer out of him.