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cross ways, to make my raft strong. Though these planks would bear my

own weight, they were too slight to bear much of my freight. So I took a

saw which was on board, and cut a mast in three lengths, and these gave

great strength to the raft. I found some bread and rice, a Dutch cheese,

and some dry goat's flesh. There had been some wheat, but the rats had

got at it, and it was all gone.

My next task was to screen my goods from the spray of the sea; and it

did not take me long to do this, for there were three large chests on

board which held all, and these I put on the raft. When the high tide

came up it took off my coat and shirt, which I had left on the shore;

but there were some fresh clothes in the ship.

"See here is a prize!" said I, out loud, (though there were none to hear

me), "now I shall not starve." For I found four large guns. But how was

my raft to be got to land? I had no sail, no oars; and a gust of wind

would make all my store slide off. Yet there were three things which I

was glad of; a calm sea, a tide which set in to the shore, and a slight

breeze to blow me there.

I had the good luck to find some oars in a part of the ship, in which

I had made no search till now. With these I put to sea, and for half a

mile my raft went well; but soon I found it drove to one side. At length

I saw a creek, to which, with some toil, I took my raft; and now the

beach was so near, that I felt my oar touch the ground.

Here I had well nigh lost my freight, for the shore lay on a slope, so

that there was no place to land on, save where one end of the raft would

lie so high, and one end so low, that all my goods would fall off. To

wait till the tide came up was all that could be done. So when the sea

was a foot deep, I thrust the raft on a flat piece of ground, to moor

her there, and stuck my two oars in the sand, one on each side of the

raft. Thus I let her lie till the ebb of the tide, and when it went

down, she was left safe on land with all her freight.

I saw that there were birds on the isle, and I shot one of them. Mine

must have been the first gun that had been heard there since the world

was made; for at the sound of it, whole flocks of birds flew up, with

loud cries, from all parts of the wood. The shape of the beak of the one

I shot was like that of a hawk, but the claws were not so large.

I now went back to my raft to land my stores, and this took up the rest

of the day. What to do at night I knew not, nor where to find a safe

place to land my stores on. I did not like to lie down on the ground,

for fear of beasts of prey, as well as snakes, but there was no cause

for these fears, as I have since found. I put the chests and boards

round me as well as I could, and made a kind of hut for the night.

As there was still a great store of things left in the ship, which would

be of use to me, I thought that I ought to bring them to land at once;

for I knew that the first storm would break up the ship. So I went on

board, and took good care this time not to load my raft too much.

The first thing, I sought for was the tool chest; and in it were some

bags of nails, spikes, saws, knives, and such things: but best of all I

found a stone to grind my tools on. There were two or three flasks,

some large bags of shot, and a roll of lead; but this last I had not

the strength to hoist up to the ship's side, so as to get it on my raft.

There were some spare sails too which I brought to shore.

I had some fear lest my stores might be run off with by beasts of prey,

if not by men; but I found all safe and sound when I went back, and no

one had come there but a wild cat, which sat on one of the chests. When

I came up I held my gun at her, but as she did not know what a gun was,

this did not rouse her. She ate a piece of dry goat's flesh, and then

took her leave.

Now that I had two freights of goods at hand, I made a tent with the

ship's sails, to stow them in, and cut the poles for it from the wood.

I now took all the things out of the casks and chests, and put the casks

in piles round the tent, to give it strength; and when this was done,

I shut up the door with the boards, spread one of the beds (which I had

brought from the ship) on the ground, laid two guns close to my head,

and went to bed for the first time. I slept all night, for I was much in

need of rest.

The next day I was sad and sick at heart, for I felt how dull it was to

be thus cut off from all the rest of the world. I had no great wish for

work: but there was too much to be done for me to dwell long on my sad

lot. Each day as it came, I went off to the wreck to fetch more things;

and I brought back as much as the raft would hold. One day I had put too

great a load on the raft, which made it sink down on one side, so that

the goods were lost in the sea; but at this I did not fret, as the chief

part of the freight was some rope, which would not have been of much use

to me.

The twelve days that I had been in the isle were spent in this way, and

I had brought to land all that one pair of hands could lift; though if

the sea had been still calm, I might have brought the whole ship, piece

by piece.

The last time I swam to the wreck, the wind blew so hard, that I made up

my mind to go on board next time at low tide. I found some tea and some

gold coin; but as to the gold, it made me laugh to look at it. "O drug!"

said I, "Thou art of no use to me! I care not to save thee. Stay where

thou art, till the ship go down, then go thou with it!"

Still, I thought I might as well just take it; so I put it in a piece

of the sail, and threw it on deck that I might place it on the raft.

Bye-and-bye, the wind blew from the shore, so I had to swim back with