abin he had found a piece of chalk,
which he preserved carefully. He reflected that he might have some marks
to make.

A fire-bucket and several pails in pretty good condition completed this
stock of working materials.

All that remained of the store of coal of the Durande he carried into
the warehouse.

In a week this salvage of debris was finished; the rock was swept clean,
and the Durande was lightened. Nothing remained now to burden the hull
except the machinery.

The portion of the fore-side bulwarks which hung to it did not distress
the hull. The mass hung without dragging, being partly sustained by a
ledge of rock. It was, however, large and broad, and heavy to drag, and
would have encumbered his warehouse too much. This bulwarking looked
something like a boat-builder's stocks. Gilliatt left it where it was.

He had been profoundly thoughtful during all this labour. He had sought
in vain for the figure-head--the "doll," as the Guernsey folks called
it, of the Durande. It was one of the things which the waves had carried
away for ever. Gilliatt would have given his hands to find it--if he had
not had such peculiar need of them at that time.

At the entrance to the storehouse and outside were two heaps of
refuse--a heap of iron good for forging, and a heap of wood good for
burning.

Gilliatt was always at work at early dawn. Except his time of sleep, he
did not take a moment of repose.

The wild sea birds, flying hither and thither, watched him at his work.

X

THE FORGE

The warehouse completed, Gilliatt constructed his forge.

The other recess which he had chosen had within it a species of passage
like a gallery in a mine of pretty good depth. He had had at first an
idea of making this his lodging, but the draught was so continuous and
so persevering in this passage that he had been compelled to give it up.
This current of air, incessantly renewed, first gave him the notion of
the forge. Since it could not be his chamber, he was determined that
this cabin should be his smithy. To bend obstacles to our purposes is a
great step towards triumph. The wind was Gilliatt's enemy. He had set
about making it his servant.

The proverb applied to certain kinds of men--"Fit for everything, good
for nothing"--may also be applied to the hollows of rocks. They give no
advantages gratuitously. On one side we find a hollow fashioned
conveniently in the shape of a bath; but it allows the water to run away