till calm, I might have brought the whole ship, piece
by piece.

The last time I swam to the wreck, the wind blew so hard, that I made up
my mind to go on board next time at low tide. I found some tea and some
gold coin; but as to the gold, it made me laugh to look at it. "O drug!"
said I, "Thou art of no use to me! I care not to save thee. Stay where
thou art, till the ship go down, then go thou with it!"

Still, I thought I might as well just take it; so I put it in a piece
of the sail, and threw it on deck that I might place it on the raft.
Bye-and-bye, the wind blew from the shore, so I had to swim back with
all speed; for I knew that at the turn of the tide, I should find it
hard work to get to land at all. But in spite of the high wind, I came
to my home all safe. At dawn of day I put my head out, and cast my eyes
on the sea. When lo! no ship was there!

This change in the face of things, and the loss of such a friend, quite
struck me down. Yet I was glad to think that I had brought to shore all
that could be of use to me. I had now to look out for some spot where I
could make my home. Half way up a hill there was a small plain, four or
five score feet long, and twice as broad; and as it had a full view of
the sea, I thought that it would be a good place for my house.

I first dug a trench round a space which took in twelve yards; and in
this I drove two rows of stakes, till they stood firm like piles, five
and a half feet from the ground. I made the stakes close and tight with
bits of rope; and put small sticks on the top of them in the shape of
spikes. This made so strong a fence that no man or beast could get in.

The door of my house was on the top, and I had to climb up to it by
steps, which I took in with me, so that no one else might come up by the
same way. Close to the back of the house stood a high rock, in which I
made a cave, and laid all the earth that I had dug out of it round my
house, to the height of a foot and a half. I had to go out once a day in
search of food. The first time, I saw some goats, but they were too shy
and swift of foot, to let me get near them.

At last I lay in wait for them close to their own haunts. If they saw
me in the vale, though they might be on high ground, they would run off,
wild with fear; but if they were in the vale, and I on high ground, they
took no heed of me. The first goat I shot had a kid by her side, and
when the old one fell, the kid stood near her, til