l night.

In a short time the corn grew strong, and at last ripe but, just as the
hares had hurt it in the blade, so now the birds ate it in the ear. At
the noise of my gun, whole flocks of them would fly up; and at this rate
I saw that there would be no corn left; so I made up my mind to keep a
look out night and day. I hid by the side of a hedge, and could see the
birds sit on the trees and watch, and then come down, one by one, at
first. Now each grain of wheat was, as it were, a small loaf of bread to
me. So the great thing was to get rid of these birds. My plan was this,
I shot three, and hung them up, like thieves, to scare all that came to
the corn; and from this time, as long as the dead ones hung there, not
a bird came near. When the corn was ripe, I made a scythe out of the
swords from the ship, and got in my crop.

Few of us think of the cost at which a loaf of bread is made. Of course,
there was no plough here to turn up the earth, and no spade to dig it
with, so I made one with wood; but this was soon worn out, and for want
of a rake, I made use of the bough of a tree. When I had got the corn
home, I had to thrash it, part the grain from the chaff, and store it
up. Then came the want of a mill to grind it, of sieves to clean it, and
of yeast to make bread of it.

Still, my bread was made, though I had no tools; and no one could say
that I did not earn it, by the sweat of my brow. When the rain kept me
in doors, it was good fun to teach my pet bird Poll to talk; but so mute
were all things round me, that the sound of my own voice made me start.

My chief wants now were jars, pots, cups, and plates, but I knew not how
I could make them. At last I went in search of some clay, and found some
a mile from my house; but it was quite a joke to see the queer shapes
and forms that I made out of it. For some of my pots and jars were too
weak to bear their own weight; and they would fall out here, and in
there, in all sorts of ways; while some, when they were put in the sun
to bake, would crack with the heat of its rays. You may guess what my
joy was when at last a pot was made which would stand the heat of the
fire, so that I could boil the meat for broth.

The next thing to be made was a sieve, to part the grain from the husks.
Goat's hair was of no use to me, as I could not weave or spin; so I made
a shift for two years with a thin kind of stuff, which I had brought
from the ship. But to grind the corn with the