rder to transfer these articles from the hulk to the shore a raft would
be necessary; and a raft would also be required to eventually convey
those goods round to the islet. The latter transfer would involve the
expenditure of an immense amount of labour and time unless the wind or
some other motive power could be pressed into their service; and Gaunt
had already learned during the course of his professional experience
that when any important work had to be performed it was better and more
economical in every way to provide efficient "plant" in the first
instance. Now the construction of the vessel which he had in
contemplation was a simple and easy enough matter to a shipwright with
all the usual appliances at his disposal, but was really an important
and formidable task to people situated as these were; and, therefore,
when talking the matter over together, they had, influenced by Gaunt's
arguments, resolved to devote the time and labour required to construct
such aids as he seemed to think would be necessary and desirable. To
convey from where they then were round to the islet all that they would
require for the construction of their vessel would, with an ordinary
raft propelled by oars alone, involve a vast amount of labour and time;
and it was ultimately decided that it would be more expeditious in the
long run if a raft could be constructed of such a character that she
could be moved in any required direction by sails.

After a little thinking, Gaunt came to the conclusion that it would be
possible to construct such a raft, and he set to work to plan it. The
structure, as decided upon by him, consisted of two flat-bottomed
straight-sided pontoons, each twenty-four feet long by six feet wide,
and six feet deep, their ends being curved up from the bottom until they
met the deck in a sharp chisel-like form. These pontoons were built
with their fore-and-aft centre lines parallel, and were constructed on
separate pairs of ways, the whole of the materials being obtained from
the wreckage already strewn along the beach, and such portions of the
deck-planking of the wreck as could be removed without exposing the
cargo to the risk of damage by sea or rain. The bottom-planking was
laid athwartships, and four of the planks at equal distances from each
other were carried right through from pontoon to pontoon--the pontoons
being built with a space of six feet clear between them--thus securely
connecting the two pontoons to