[Illustration:  Fig. 226.  Sliding Down into the Cave.]

Bill lighted a candle which projected from a chink in the wall.  By its light I saw that there was a pool in the center of the cave fed from a spring at one point.  From the pool the water trickled off into a tiny stream to the mouth of the cave, where it was lost in a crack in the rocks.  The water was ice cold and clear as crystal.  Around the pool were several chairs and a table made by Bill and his two friends.  That was evidently where Bill had gotten his idea of a subterranean club.

The Barrel Stave Hammock.

Hanging between a couple of projecting rocks was a hammock made of barrel staves.  The hammock was a very simple affair, made by drilling a 1-inch hole in each end of each barrel stave.  The staves were then connected by two ropes on each side, woven alternately in and out through these holes, that is, one rope would be passed down through one stave, up through the next, down through the third, etc., and through the same holes another rope would be threaded in and out but in the opposite direction.  The end staves of the hammock were provided with double holes, as shown in Fig. 228, so as to make them lie flat, then the ropes were threaded through them.

[Illustration:  Fig. 227.  The Barrel Stave Hammock.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 228.  Tying the Staves Together.]

The Barrel Armchair.

[Illustration:  Fig. 229.  The Armchair Frame.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 230.  Casters on the Chair.]

Aside from the hammock and the rustic furniture there was a fine armchair, made from a barrel that had been sawed off, as in Fig. 229, to form the arms and back.  The barrel was raised from the ground by setting it on a couple of boards arranged in the form of a V. Then a caster was fastened to the point of the V and another at each end, making a three-legged chair of it.  The chair was upholstered with ticking stuffed with straw.  First a piece of ticking large enough for the back was laid on the ground and covered over with an even layer of straw.  Over the straw a second piece of ticking was laid, making what Bill called a “straw sandwich.”  This was nailed to the chair back along the edge and at the bottom, drawing the cloth as taut as possible.  To make a better finish for the chair, the ticking was covered with dark red denim.  Then strips of braid were laid on the chair back, crossing each other like a lattice.  At the crossing points of the braid brass-headed tacks were nailed right through the sandwich into the wood, producing the padded upholstered effect.  Next a long, thin sandwich was made to run along the edge of the back, and another one to run around the chair just below the seat, also a couple of small sandwiches to cover the legs and the brackets leading to them.  These were all covered with denim before being tacked to the chair and then they were bound with tape at intervals to produce the padded