ork, the making of yarn
of thread gave him the most trouble. He learned to twist it by knotting
the thread around the spindle or bobbin on which he wound it and
twirling this in the air. He remembered sadly the old spinning wheel he
had seen at his grandmother's house.

His next care was something to hold the threads while he wove them in
and out. He had never seen a loom.

After long study Robinson set two posts in the ground and these he bound
with seventy-two strands horizontally under each other. Then he tied in
the top at the left another thread and wove it in and out through the
seventy-two threads. So he tied seventy-two vertical strands and wove
them in and out. Thus he had a net three times as long as his foot and
as wide as long. He tied the four corners together. He made a woven
handle for it and put it on his shoulder like a sack, saying gleefully,
"This shall be my hunting bag."

[Illustration: ROBINSON'S LOOM]

XIII

ROBINSON EXPLORES THE ISLAND

After Robinson made his hunting bag he was anxious to set off on his
journey of exploring the island. So he arose very early next morning.
"Before it is hot," thought he, "I will be quite a distance on my
journey." He ate a couple of bananas, scooped up a few handfuls of water
from the spring, stuck a few ears of corn in his hunting bag, took his
stick in his hand and went forth. As he left his cave the thought struck
him: "What if I could not find my cave again? How can I manage so that I
can come back to it? I will go away in one direction and return the same
way; but suppose I were to lose the way?"

Then he noticed his shadow pointing like a great finger from the sea
toward the land. He could direct himself by that. He kept his shadow in
front of him. He had noticed, too, that the wind always blew north of
the point where the sun rose. This helped him. But sometimes the wind
died down.

[Illustration: COCOANUT PALM TREE]

He had to climb over many rocks and pierce many thickets. At each step
he saw a rich growth of plants, stems, leaves, flowers, but nothing to
eat, no fruits, or nuts. At length he came to a tree as high as a small
church steeple. Then he thought of what his father had once said about
the trees in strange countries. "Many are as tall as a church steeple
and the nuts are as big as one's head." He looked again. Yes, there
they hung among the leaves, concealed high above in the crown! But so
high, it was well that Robinson had