o-morrow we shall have daylight, and we shall
see what is to be done:"--came back to my mind, and for a short time
occupied my thoughts.

My Indians brought back a large quantity of shell-fish, sufficient
for our supper, and Alila ran up quite breathless, saying:

"Master, I have made a discovery! A hundred steps from this I have
found a canoe, which the sea has cast upon the beach; it is large
enough to hold us three. We can make use of it to get to Binangonan,
and there we shall be safe from the poisoned arrows of these dogs
the Ajetas."

This discovery was either that Providence had come to our aid, or it
was a complication of dangers greater than those reserved to us on
land on awaking in the morning.

I went instantly to the spot where Alila had made his important
discovery, and having disencumbered the canoe from the sand with which
it was partly covered, I soon became certain that, with some bamboos,
and by stopping a few cracks, it would be staunch enough to take us
over the Pacific ocean, away from the Ajetas.

"Well," said I to Alila, "you see I was right, and you must admit the
hand of Providence is here. Is it not evident that this fine boat,
built, perhaps, several thousand leagues from this, has arrived
express from the Polynesian islands to carry us away from the claws
of the savages."

"True, master, true; it is our luck. To-morrow they will finely be
taken in on not finding us here; but let us set to work, for we have
much to do before this fine boat, as you call it, will be in a fit
state for going through the water."

We immediately made a large fire on the shore, and went into the
woods to cut down bamboos and rattans; then we set to work to stop
the holes, which decreased fast enough under our handy-work upon the
abandoned canoe.

Persons who have never travelled amongst the savages cannot imagine
how, without having been instructed in the arts, and without nails,
one could stop up the fissures in such a boat, and put it in a state
fit for sea. Yet the means were very simple; our poignards, bamboos,
and rattans supplied everything; by scraping a bamboo we obtained from
it something like tow, which we put into the chinks, so that the water
could not enter. If it was necessary to stop any breach a few inches
in width, we took from the bamboo a little plank, somewhat larger
than the opening we wished to close, and then with the point of the
poignard we pierced it all round with little holes,