in slime upon those fungi which filled the end of the little
valley nearest to our encampment, and here also we discovered many of
them fresh broken or uprooted, and there was the same mark of the beast
upon them all, and now I remember the dull thuds that I had heard in the
night, and made little doubt but that the creatures had climbed the great
toadstools so that they might spy us out; and it may be that many climbed
upon one, so that their weight broke the fungi, or uprooted them. At
least, so the thought came to me.

And so we made an end of our search, and after that, the bo'sun set each
one of us to work. But first he had us all back to the beach to give a
hand to turn over the boat, so that he might get to the damaged part.
Now, having the bottom of the boat full to his view, he made discovery
that there was other damage beside that of the burst plank; for the
bottom plank of all had come away from the keel, which seemed to us a
very serious matter; though it did not show when the boat was upon her
bilges. Yet the bo'sun assured us that he had no doubts but that she
could be made seaworthy, though it would take a greater while than
hitherto he had thought needful.

Having concluded his examination of the boat, the bo'sun sent one of the
men to bring the bottom-boards out of the tent; for he needed some
planking for the repair of the damage. Yet when the boards had been
brought, he needed still something which they could not supply, and this
was a length of very sound wood of some three inches in breadth each
way, which he intended to bolt against the starboard side of the keel,
after he had gotten the planking replaced so far as was possible. He had
hopes that by means of this device he would be able to nail the bottom
plank to this, and then caulk it with oakum, so making the boat almost
so sound as ever.

Now hearing him express his need for such a piece of timber, we were all
adrift to know from whence such a thing could be gotten, until there came
suddenly to me a memory of the mast and topmast upon the other side of
the island, and at once I made mention of them. At that, the bo'sun
nodded, saying that we might get the timber out of it, though it would be
a work requiring some considerable labor, in that we had only a hand-saw
and a small hatchet. Then he sent us across to be getting it clear of the
weed, promising to follow when he had made an end of trying to get the
two displaced planks back into posit