balls. Ernest drew his ramrod from his gun, and struck so vigorously
right and left among the birds, that he killed some, and put the rest to
flight. We then hastily cut off some pieces of the skin of the monster,
which I thought might be useful, and placed them in our boat. But this
was not the only advantage we gained by landing. I perceived an immense
quantity of wrecked timber lying on the shore of the island, which
would spare us our voyage to the ship. We selected such planks as were
fit for our purpose; then, by the aid of our _jack-screw_ and some
levers we had brought with us, we extricated the planks from the sand,
and floated them; and, binding the spars and yards together with cords,
with the planks above them, like a raft, we tied them to the stern of
our boat, and hoisted our sail.

Fritz, as we sailed, was drying the shark's skin, which I hoped to
convert into files. And Ernest, in his usual reflective manner, observed
to me, "What a beautiful arrangement of Providence it is, that the mouth
of the shark should be placed in such a position that he is compelled to
turn on his back to seize his prey, thus giving it a chance of escape;
else, with his excessive voracity, he might depopulate the ocean."

At last, we reached our landing-place, and, securing our boat, and
calling out loudly, we soon saw our friends running from the river; each
carried a handkerchief filled with some new acquisition, and Francis had
over his shoulder a small fishing-net. Jack reached us first, and threw
down before us from his handkerchief some fine crawfish. They had each
as many, forming a provision for many days.

Francis claimed the merit of the discovery. Jack related, that Francis
and he took a walk to find a good place for the bridge.

"Thank you, Mr. Architect," said I; "then you must superintend the
workmen. Have you fixed on your place?"

"Yes, yes!" cried he; "only listen. When we got to the river, Francis,
who was looking about, called out, 'Jack! Jack! Fritz's jackal is
covered with crabs! Come!--come!' I ran to tell mamma, who brought a net
that came from the ship, and we caught these in a few minutes, and could
have got many more, if you had not come."

I commanded them to put the smaller ones back into the river, reserving
only as many as we could eat. I was truly thankful to discover another
means of support.

We now landed our timber. I had looked at Jack's site for the bridge,
and thought my little archi