"Very true," said the Commodore, "but our boats don't seem to leak so very much more than yours do, for all that." "How are they built any how?" and the Purser and the Vice simultaneously arose and examined the Red Lakers by moonlight and firelight. Mention has already been made of the characteristic indifference of Chrysalid owners to all canoes which are not Chrysalids until some chance occurrence forces them to make examination. In this respect they strikingly resemble certain ecclesiastical sects, which rest serenely ignorant of other denominations, until they stumble upon information inadvertently, which startles into respectful investigation. "Why they are perfectly smooth inside and out,"--"no timbers at all,"--"what lots of rivets," were some of the remarks. "Certainly, haven't we told you so a dozen times," said the Cook, "and you never looked at them before." "How do you suppose they are made?" asked the Vice. "I am informed," replied the Commodore, "that thin strips of white cedar are steamed and bent transversely over an exact model or "last" of the intended canoe. The edges are straight so that they fit closely against one another. When all these are in place, a longitudinal outside sheathing of cedar or other wood, butternut in the case of our boats, is copper-fastened to the inner lining, the nails being driven through both thicknesses at short intervals, and clinched on the inside. The ribs and sheathing as used by the builder are each a quarter-inch thick, so that the total thickness is half an inch. The canoe is perfectly free from ribs inside, and from the raised edges outside, and cannot leak while she remains sound. Her strength is necessarily immense from the way in which she is put together." "I think," added the Cook, "that we get a good deal of speed out of this model from the absence of the over-laps which are unavoidable in clinker built boats. These necessarily hold the water to an extent which must be appreciable in so light a craft. Moreover, the fore and aft curve of the bottom line rids them of a deal of what builders call 'skin-friction.' Recent experiments indicate that a shape like the bowl of a spoon offers the least resistance in passing over the surface of water." "Your boats approximate to the spoon shape, that's a fact," said the Purser. "Look at those rivets," remarked the Vice, "they make her look as though she were freckled." "Granted," was the Cook's answer, "but are not freckles beautiful when they indicate a sound constitution?" "The rib-and-batten, and the paper boats are quite as smooth outside," the Commodore admitted, "but, they all have internal projections which are sometimes inconvenient, as for instance when you wish to sleep on board, or when you are trying to sponge out sand and so forth."