em;
so pushing on a little further, he was fortunate enough to discover an
orange-tree laden with both blossoms and fruit in every stage, from the
little hard green ball the size of a marble, up to the perfect fruit
just changing from dark olive green to a golden yellow. The leaves of
this tree would suit his purpose admirably; so gathering as many as he
required, as well as three or four of the finest specimens of the
ripened fruit, he returned to the beach. Here he at once proceeded to
mould a portion of the clay into a rough semblance of a long narrow dish
of dimensions suitable for the reception of the fish. This clay dish he
thickly lined with orange leaves, upon which he laid his fish entire as
it had come out of the water, covering it with another thick layer of
orange leaves, and then with a thick coating of clay, so that the
completed structure resembled a roughly moulded clay pie with the fish
wrapped in orange leaves in its centre. He now proceeded to light a
fire, and when the brushwood of which it was composed had been reduced
to a mass of glowing red-hot embers, his clay pie was carefully
deposited in the centre; fresh brushwood was heaped thickly on the top,
and he then sat down to await results. In about half an hour the clay
showed signs of cracking, which told him that his culinary operations
were complete; so dragging the mass out from among the embers, he
proceeded to carefully break away the top layer of clay, and there lay
his fish cooked to perfection, a dish fit for a king. Upon this fish,
and a portion of the bread which he had procured from the wreck on the
previous evening, he breakfasted royally; washing down the whole with a
moderate libation of wine, and topping off with a couple of oranges,
after which he was ready to start on his homeward journey. Before
going, however, he hauled up his raft as high as he could get it on the
beach, placed the two oars in safety beside the carpenter's tool-chest,
and roughly thatched over the latter with palm-leaves to protect it from
the weather.

The long pull of a mile up the steep slope leading to the base of the
cliff tested his unaccustomed energies very severely, and the toilsome
scramble up through the precipitous incline of the gap taxed them still
more; so that when he at length reached the top of the cliff, he was
glad enough to fling himself down in the long grass and allow himself
half an hour's rest and the refreshment of a pipe. At t