hey must be with water."

"Then we must get up a sort of derrick. There are plenty of blocks and
ropes on that foremast. The difficulty will be about light spars. We shall
have to go ashore and cut down two or three young trees to make our tripod
with.

"I think, captain, we had better make up our minds to live on board until
we have got this job done. There is less fear of our being attacked by
natives, and we could do nothing in the way of searching for game until we
get something to shoot it with. We must make a raft of some sort for
coming backwards and forwards with. There are plenty of bits of timber on
the beach that will do for that."

Breakfast was greatly enjoyed, and it was not until an hour afterwards
that the sea was sufficiently smooth for them to begin their preparations
for landing. The foremast was dragged alongside, the shrouds cut away, and
the running rigging unrove and coiled on deck ready for future use. A
couple of coils were fastened to the mast, and late in the afternoon the
captain and Stephen swam ashore, taking with them the end of one of the
coils, while Jacopo remained on board to pay out the other, so that until
the main raft was made the mast could be towed backwards and forwards. As
soon as they were on shore they hauled at their rope and brought the mast
to the beach. Then they set to work examining the casks. As the captain
had predicted, most of the contents of the lazarette had been cast up, and
they found that they had an ample supply of food to last them for some
months. The mast had towed so easily that they agreed that it would be the
best way to use it as the main portion of their raft. They dragged pieces
of timber close to the mast and lashed them side by side there, so as to
form a platform some three feet wide on each side of it, the length
varying from four to twelve feet, according to that of the pieces of
timber.

Having accomplished this, after two or three hours' hard work, they took
their places on it, and shouted to Jacopo, who hauled them back to the
side of the wreck. They had fastened one end of the other rope to a tree,
and at daylight next morning they again landed, and proceeded with their
knives to cut down three young trees of some four inches in diameter. This
took them the best part of the day. The heads were then cut off leaving
three stout poles of some fourteen feet in length, and with these they
returned to the ship, taking with them a bag of coffee-b