he tried again. He succeeded in drawing in some
very beautiful large fish. Their sides shone as burnished gold and
silver. "Now," he thought, "I will have a feast." He carried them home,
carefully cleaned and dressed them, seasoned them with his salt, and
broiled them over his fire. Imagine his disappointment when they proved
unfit to eat. Their flesh was coarse and tough and ill-tasting. He saw
that the catching of fish for his table was a more difficult thing than
he thought it. He must not only catch fish, but catch ones that could be
eaten. He could only tell the good from the bad by trying them.

He was more fortunate in his next venture. He was going along the shore
at the mouth of the creek which ran near his cave when he noticed a
group of fishes, dark bluish above with silvery sides. The largest of
them were about two feet long. They were feeding on the bottom in the
brackish water at the mouth of the creek, which at its mouth opened out
into quite a little bay or inlet. They would take up a mouthful of earth
from the bottom and let it wash through their mouths, keeping all the
bits of food that happened to be in it. When one fish got a good place
to feed the others swam around it and tried to get some of the food.

Robinson watched his chance and slipped his net under a group, while
each one was busy trying to get the best mouthful of mud. He drew up
three quite large fish, but just as he was about to lift them from the
water, one of the cords which bound the net to the poles broke and he
saw his catch fall back into the creek and dart away in the deepest
water. But Robinson was not to be discouraged. He soon mended his net
and at last was successful. In a short time he drew out another catch of
two fish.

These proved excellent food and were so abundant as to furnish Robinson
with all the fish he wanted as long as he stayed on the island.

XXXIII

ROBINSON BUILDS A BOAT

Robinson had wished for a boat many times. He wished to explore the
shore of his island. He wanted to go clear around it so that he might
see it on every side. But he knew the work of making a boat would be
great, if not wholly impossible.

The shaping of boards to build a boat with his rude tools was not to be
thought of. He knew how the Indians made boats out of bark of trees. But
he saw that for his purpose so light a boat would not do. He finally
remembered a second Indian way of making a boat by hollowing out a large
log