where he proposed erecting the first cross. He had only a stout
pocket-knife, but he could employ fire, and that only required constant
watching. A large sharp stone helped him. When he had thus felled the
tree, he had to cut off the branches, and to drag it to the end of the
island. With great labour he partly burned, and partly cut, a deep
notch, into which he fixed the cross-beam, securing it with wedges. He
had observed a cleft in the rock: in this he placed the butt-end, and
gradually raised it with far more ease than he could otherwise have
done. Some large stones placed round it kept it secure. The other
cross was erected much in the same manner.

His fishing was very successful, and he was soon able to catch an ample
supply for his daily food. He found, too, some roots which were
perfectly wholesome. When cultivated by the natives, they formed one of
their chief articles of food. He was not disappointed in finding, after
a time, some turtles' and sea-fowls' eggs; indeed, he had an abundance
of nutritious food, gained, however, by his own exertions and
perseverance. It might have been possible for a person to have died of
starvation on the island, simply on account of not looking for the means
of subsistence which it afforded. Ben not only collected for present
use, but preserved what he could for the future, knowing that at certain
seasons the turtle and wild-fowl would cease to lay eggs, that the fish
might leave the coast, or that stormy weather might prevent his catching
them; that the cocoa-nuts would dry up, as might the roots, and that the
wild-fowl might become more wary. He was thus never idle, from morning
till night; and though, of course, he thought very often of home and
Ned, and of how he should get away, yet he never was unhappy or out of
spirits. He was as fond as ever of saying, "Do right, whatever comes of
it, and trust in God."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

ESCAPE: AND THE END OF BEN'S HISTORY.

Ben had recollected the day of the week on which, he was cast on the
island. By means of a stick which he notched regularly, a plan he had
often heard of being adopted under similar circumstances, he kept an
exact note of the days as they passed. Sunday he made a day of rest.
It was not, however, a day of weariness. He read much more than usual
of his Testament, and, recollecting the way the natives had repeated
portions of it, he set to work to commit some of its chapters to memory.

Th