"Yahn," he said, offering him a two-foot rule, "can ye tell me how
many foot of air is in this room for every scholar when the seats is
full?"
"You mean cubic feet?"
"Le's see," and Raften and Moore, after stabbing at the plans with
huge forefingers and fumbling cumberously at the much-pawed documents,
said together: "Yes, it says cubic feet." Yan quickly measured the
length of the room and took the height with the map-lifter. The three
graybeards gazed with awe and admiration as they saw how _sure_
he seemed. He then counted the seats and said, "Do you count the
teacher?" The men discussed this point, then decided, "Maybe ye
better; he uses more wind than any of them. Ha, ha!"
Yan made a few figures on paper, then said, "Twenty feet, rather
better."
"Luk at thot," said Raften in a voice of bullying and triumph; "jest
agrees with the Gover'ment Inspector. I _towld_ ye he could. Now
let's put the new buildin' to test."
More papers were pawed over.
"Yahn, how's this--double as many children, one teacher an' the
buildin' so an' so."
Yan figured a minute and said, "Twenty-five feet each."
"Thar, didn't I tell ye," thundered Raften; "didn't I say that that
dhirty swindler of an architect was playing us into the conthractor's
hands--thought we wuz simple--a put-up job, the hull durn thing.
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