shed, only requiring a few touches to make it perfect, the most
important being the arrangement of the lock, that he might let the bolt
fly immediately he touched the spring. This done he set to work to form
some bolts. The shafts were easily manufactured, but the bolt heads
required more time. Hunting in the carpenter's chest he discovered a
ladle and a quantity of lead. He then searched about for some clay for
forming moulds. He remembered the white appearance of the bank of the
stream at a certain spot, and hastening to it, he found, greatly to his
satisfaction, that it was composed of exactly the clay suited for his
purpose. He soon returned with a sufficient supply to form a mould,
hoping to be able to make it of a proper shape with a stem to fit into
the shaft. By boring a hole into the stem he was able to secure it with
wire firmly to the wood. To give the bolt a sharp point he fixed a
large nail ground fine, in the centre of the lead, thus obtaining
sufficient weight and sharpness for his object. Although this bolt
might be blunted should it strike a bone, yet it was well calculated to
pierce the thin skin of a deer, which, from the size of the island,
should it only be wounded, he would be certain to find again by tracing
the blood stains on the grass.

Having formed half a dozen bolts in the way which has been described, he
set off on his first hunting expedition. He had not gone far, when a
herd of small deer--the only species which existed in the island--came
in sight. He had observed on former occasions that when he got to the
windward of them they invariably scampered off to a distance, and
although no hunter, suspecting the cause, he determined to try and get
near them by creeping up from an opposite direction. Hiding himself as
much as possible behind the trees and bushes, he made his way towards
the herd, making a long circuit until he got well to leeward. Then
stooping down he crawled gradually forward, stopping every now and then
when he saw their heads turned towards him, but they still continued
cropping the grass and the leaves of the bushes and lower branches of
the trees. At last he got to within thirty yards of one of the herd,
which had separated from its companions. He stood almost breathless,
eager to shoot, and yet afraid of missing. He let fly his bolt, which
entered the breast of the animal. It staggered for a moment, then
turning round, set off with the rest of the herd al