y
degrees they rose to the surface of the water, and in two days more we
calculated that the pond would be ready to receive the turtle. We had
killed one turtle in the morning, and we now lived upon it altogether,
as we wished to save our salt provisions. The captain and I had many
consultations as to what we should do, and what attempts we should make
to get off from this spot. Build a boat we could not, as we had not a
carpenter among us, or the means of making the iron-work necessary. We
had some tools, such as are usually used on board of vessels, and
several pounds of large nails, but none fit for boat-building. I
proposed that we should examine the bottom of the xebeque, and see what
damage was done to it. We did so, and found that the garboard strake
was broken and two of her timbers, but they were easy to repair; in
every other respect she was sound. I then proposed that we should cut
down the xebeque to a large boat, which we could easily do by ripping
off her planks and decks, and sawing down her timbers to the height we
required. It would be a heavy boat, it was true, but we should be able
to launch her with rollers, and the draught of water would be so small
that we could get her over the reefs, which we could not possibly do the
xebeque. The captain approved of the idea, and we agreed that as soon
as the turtle-pond was finished we would make the attempt. In two days
more we had finished the pond, and had turned thirty turtle, which we
put into it. The men, now that they found that they had plenty to eat,
began to show signs of laziness, and did not very readily commence the
work upon the xebeque. They ate and slept, ate and slept again, on the
mattresses spread in the tent. At times they would fish, but it was
with difficulty that the captain and I could persuade them to work, and
if they did work half an hour, they then threw down their axes and
crowbars, and went back to the tent. They had plenty of tobacco, and
they smoked half the day, ate turtle, and then slept again.
Nevertheless, as the captain and I worked hard, the work progressed; in
about ten days after we began the work, we had ripped off her decks and
her side-planks as as low as we thought right, and we were now sawing
through the timbers, when the quiet of our party was disturbed by what
may be considered a very strange quarrel. One of the men asserted in
conversation that Saint Antony was born in Padua; one or two of the
other