ome more of these leaves,
and bring me the most you can of them. With these I can make you hose,
shirts, clothes, thread, rope; in short, give me flax, and make me a
loom and some frames, and I shall be at no loss for work when the rain
comes."

I could not help a smile at my wife's joy when she heard the name of
flax; for there was still much to do ere the leaves could take the shape
of cloth. But two of the boys set off at once to try to find some more
of the flax.

While they were gone, my wife, full of new life, and with some show of
pride, told me how I should make the loom by means of which she was to
clothe us from head to foot. In a short time they came back, and brought
with them a good load of the plant, which they laid at her feet. She now
said she would lay by all else till she had tried what she could make of
it. The first thing to be done was to steep the flax. To do this we took
the plant down to the marsh, tied up in small bales, as they pack hemp
for sale. The leaves were then spread out in the pond, and kept down
with stones, and left there in that state till it was time to take them
out and set them in the sun to dry, when they would be so soft that we
could peel them with ease. It was two weeks ere the flax was fit for
us to take out of the marsh. We spread it out on the grass in the sun,
where it dried so quick that we took it home to The Nest the same day.
It was then put by till we could find time to make the wheels, reels,
and combs which my wife said that she would want to turn our new found
plant to its best use.

We now made haste to lay up a store of canes, nuts, wood, and such
things as we thought we might want; and took care, while it was still
fine, to sow wheat, and all the grain we had left in our bags was soon
put in the ground. The fear that the rain might come and put a stop to
our work led us to take our meals in haste, and to make the days as long
as we could see. We knew the rain was close at hand, for the nights were
cold; large clouds could be seen in the sky, and the wind blew as we had
not felt it since the night our ship had struck on the rock.

The great change came at last. One night we were woke up out of our
sleep with the noise made by the rush of the wind through the woods,
and we could hear the loud roar of the sea far off. Then the dense storm
clouds which we had seen in the sky burst on us, and the rain came down
in floods. The streams, pools, and ponds on all sid