ow tide; so we at once set to work, and were thankful
to find that the nails answered very well: fortunately, I should have
said, I had a small bradawl in my knife, and also a file, with which I
sharpened the points of the nails. The whole work was accomplished
sooner than I could have expected; and Tillard declared his belief that
not a drop of water would come through the damaged part of the boat,
whatever it might do elsewhere.

"I wish we could try her," I said, when our last nail was expended.

"Wait patiently, Mr Rayner," answered Dick; "when the tide rises, we'll
get her afloat."

He was mistaken, however, for with all our efforts we could not succeed
in launching her. We had to wait, therefore, for the return of our
companions. Getting into the boat, however, we made another thorough
search; and while doing so I found jammed into a corner of the
after-locker a large fishing-hook, such as is used for catching sharks,
bonitos, and other finny monsters of the deep. Besides this, we
discovered a ball of twine and some spare pieces of rope.

Dick examined the fishing-hook. "We must keep it as it is," he
observed. "At first I thought that I might form it into smaller hooks;
but we have still some iron remaining, and I will try my hand at making
such as will catch the moderate-sized fish we are likely to find in the
lagoon or outside the reef."

Returning to the forge, Dick at once set to work, and succeeded in
shaping four hooks, though he and I burned our fingers in the operation.
On trying them, however, they were found to be too soft for use.

"We must temper them," I observed; and I ran and filled a
cocoa-nut-shell with water.

We again heated the hooks, and plunged them into the water, when we
found that they were considerably hardened. I then worked away with the
file till I had sharpened the barbs and reduced them to a fair shape.
With the twine we manufactured a couple of serviceable lines, to which
we attached some small pieces of coral.

Our companions not having returned, we agreed to walk along the shore to
the northward of the oyster creek, where Harry had been so nearly caught
by the shark. Having made up our fire so that it was not likely to go
out before our return, we set forth with our sticks in our hands. We
walked on rapidly, anxious to get back to receive our friends,--who
would, we thought, at all events return before nightfall. Having
doubled the creek, which did not run far i