w his spear with all his might. But the spear did not reach
the rabbits. It fell far short and the rabbits sprang up and ran quickly
away. He tried it several times with the same result. Then Robinson,
discouraged, turned back home and ate his corn, bananas, and cocoanuts
without meat. In the meantime he found a new kind of food. He
discovered a nest of eggs. How good they tasted to him!

But his longing for meat was still very great. "I will try to make a bow
and arrow," he said. No sooner said than done. He bent a long piece of
tough, young wood and stretched between the ends a cord twisted out of
the fiber taken from the cocoanut shell. He then sought for a piece of
wood for arrows. He split the ends with his flint knife and fastened in
splinters of stone. At the other end he fastened on some feathers found
on the ground. The arrows flew through the air with great swiftness.
"They will go far enough," thought Robinson, "if I could only hit
anything."

He practised shooting. He stuck his stone knife in a tree and shot at it
the whole day long. At first he could not hit it at all. The arrows flew
far from the mark. After a while he could hit the tree, but not the
knife. Then as he practised, his arm grew ever surer, until at last he
could hit the knife at almost every attempt. After a few days he again
went rabbit hunting. He thought that the rabbit did not offer a mark so
high as his knife, so he stuck a stone in the ground and practised
shooting at that. He gradually increased the distance until he could hit
the mark at twenty or thirty yards.

The next morning Robinson took his bow and arrows and went out to hunt.
He aimed at a rabbit, shot, and it fell, pierced by the arrow. His very
first shot was successful.

He hastened up and took the dead rabbit on his shoulder, carried it to
his cave and skinned it. Then he cut off a nice, large piece of meat and
was going to roast it, but alas, he had no fire!

XV

ROBINSON'S SHOES AND PARASOL

The next morning Robinson could not get up. His feet were swollen and
sore in consequence of walking without shoes over thorns and stones. He
must remain the whole day in his cave.

Before him, in the sun, his walking stick stuck in the ground. He
thought how he had been troubled yesterday to find his way and about the
shadow. He had now time to study it. He watched it the whole day
through. In the morning it pointed toward the land. In the evening
toward the sea. Th