ure picking his nuts after dinner.

It was somewhere near mid-winter, by Mark's calculations, when the young
man commenced a new task that was of great importance to his comfort,
and which _might_ affect his future life. He had long determined to lay
down a boat, one of sufficient size to explore the whole reef in, if not
large enough to carry him out to sea. The dingui was altogether too
small for labour; though exceedingly useful in its way, and capable of
being managed even in pretty rough water by a skilful hand, it wanted
both weight and room. It was difficult to float in, even a raft of
sea-weed, with so light a boat; and as for towing the raft, it was next
to impossible. But the raft was unwieldy, and when loaded down, besides
carrying very little for its great weight, it was very much at the mercy
of the currents and waves. Then the construction of a boat was having an
important purpose in view, and, in that sense, was a desirable
undertaking.

Mark had learned so much in putting the pinnace together, that he
believed himself equal to this new undertaking. Materials enough
remained in the ship to make half-a-dozen boats, and in tumbling over
the lumber he had found a quantity of stuff that had evidently been
taken in with a view to repair boats, if not absolutely to construct
them. A ship's hold is such an omnium gatherum, stowage being
necessarily so close, that it usually requires time for who does not
know where to put his hand on everything, to ascertain how much or how
little is to be found in it. Such was the fact with Mark, whose
courtship and marriage had made a considerable inroad on his duties as a
mate. As he overhauled the hold, he daily found fresh reasons for
believing that Friend Abraham White had made provisions, of one sort and
another, of which he was profoundly ignorant, but which, as the voyage
had terminated, proved to be of the greatest utility. Thus it was, that
just as he was about to commence getting out these great requisites from
new planks, he came across a stem, stern-frame, and keel of a boat, that
was intended to be eighteen feet long. Of course our young man profited
by this discovery, getting the materials of all sorts, including these,
round to the ship-yard by means of the raft.

For the next two months, or until he had reason to believe spring had
fairly set in, Mark toiled faithfully at his boat. Portions of his work
gave him a great deal of trouble; some of it on account o