of all, he had to finish his signal-staff and set it up. He was
very much troubled about the proper material for a flag. The canvas
was rather too heavy; but as he had nothing else, he had to take this.
He fastened a bit of the rope to the head of the staff, so as to form a
loop, and through this he ran a piece which was long enough to serve
for halyards. Thus far he had not used up more than a quarter of the
coil of rope; but he needed all that was left for other purposes. The
next thing was to set up his staff. To do this required much labor. He
had already selected the place which seemed most suitable. It was at
the extreme point of a tongue of land which projected beside the brook,
and only a little distance from his resting-place. Here the ground was
soft; and choosing a sharp stone, he worked diligently for about a
couple of hours, until at length he succeeded in digging a hole which
was about eighteen inches in depth. Then he fastened ropes to the
staff, where the pole joined it, so that four lines came down far
enough to serve as stays. Having done this, he inserted the end of the
staff in the hole, and thrust in the earth all around it, trampling it
in, and beating it down as tight as he could with a stone. After this
he procured some sticks from the drift-wood, and, sharpening the ends,
he secured the stays by fastening them to these sticks, which he drove
into the ground. The staff then seemed to be as secure as was
necessary. It only remained now to hoist up his flag; and this he did
without any difficulty, securing it at half mast, so that it might
serve unmistakably as a signal of distress.

Upon completing this, Tom rested on the mound, and from that distance
he contemplated the signal with a great deal of calm and quiet
satisfaction. It was his own device, and his own handiwork, and he was
very proud of it. But he did not allow himself a long rest. There yet
remained much to be done, and to this he now directed his attention.

He had been thinking, during his last employment, upon the necessity
which he had of some shelter. A plan had suggested itself which he
felt confident that he could carry into execution without any very
great trouble. The fog that now prevailed, and which was far different
from the light mist of the previous day, accompanied also, as it was,
by the damp south-west wind, made some sort of a shelter imperatively
necessary, and that, too, before another night. To pa