, so far as it goes," she said; "but I
must tell you that the mid-day heat is more than we can bear, and that
if we stay here we may have to keep watch at night, for there are, no
doubt, wild beasts of some kind that will find us out; and we should
not trust too much to our dogs, who may lose their lives in a fight with
them."

"I dare say you are right," said I; "but I do not yet see how we can
cross the stream. We shall first have to build a bridge."

The boys were now all out of their beds; and while my wife went to milk
the cow and cook some food, I made my plans known to them. They were all
glad when they heard that we were to leave, and each said he, would help
to build the bridge.

The first thing to be done was to find some strong planks; and Fritz,
Ernest, and I went down to the shore, and got in the boat, which the
tide took down to the bay.

On a piece of land which lay to the left we could see some large dark
thing, round which flew a flock of sea gulls. We put up a sail and
caught a gust of wind which had sprung up, and this soon brought the
boat to the spot. We made no noise, but crept up the shore step by step,
and we got so near that Ernest brought down some of the birds with a
stick. Fritz was the first to find out that what the sea gulls had just
left was the huge fish he had shot in the sea. We cut off some rough
skin, which we thought might serve for files, and then went back to the
boat. I took a glance at the shore ere I got in, and to my great joy saw
some of the planks and spars from the wreck lay on the ground not far
off. Our next care was to bind these so as to make a raft, which we tied
to the stern of the boat, and then, by the use of our oars, soon made
our way up the stream to the place where the bridge was to be built. Our
young friends were glad to see us back so soon, and ran to meet us; Jack
had a cloth in his hand, in which was a store of cray fish and crabs
just caught in some of the nooks of a rock up the stream.

"Do not fail to give God thanks," said I, "that our lot has been cast
where we can pick up more food than we can eat."

It would take a long time to tell how we brought all the wood up to the
spot, built piers of stone in the stream, and put the planks one by one
in the place; it was late at night when we left off work, and once more
sought our tent.

The next day we saw the sun rise, and took our first meal in haste, for
we knew we should have a long day's toil. A