,
furnished with a stern-post at the stern and a stem at the bows, lay
along the sand.

Cyrus Harding was not working in the dark at this new trade. He knew
as much about ship-building as about nearly everything else, and he
had at first drawn the model of his ship on paper. Besides, he was
ably seconded by Pencroft, who, having worked for several years in a
dockyard at Brooklyn, knew the practical part of the trade. It was not
until after careful calculation and deep thought that the timbers were
laid on the keel.

Pencroft, as may be believed, was all eagerness to carry out his new
enterprise, and would not leave his work for an instant.

A single thing had the honour of drawing him, but for one day only,
from his dockyard. This was the second wheat-harvest, which was
gathered in on the 15th of April. It was as much a success as the
first, and yielded the number of grains which had been predicted.

"Five bushels, captain," said Pencroft, after having scrupulously
measured his treasure.

"Five bushels," replied the engineer; "and a hundred and thirty
thousand grains a bushel will make six hundred and fifty thousand
grains."

"Well, we will sow them all this time," said the sailor, "except a
little in reserve."

"Yes, Pencroft, and if the next crop gives a proportionate yield, we
shall have four thousand bushels."

"And shall we eat bread?"

"We shall eat bread."

"But we must have a mill."

"We will make one."

The third cornfield was very much larger than the two first, and the
soil, prepared with extreme care, received the precious seed. That
done, Pencroft returned to his work.

During this time Spilett and Herbert hunted in the neighbourhood, and
they ventured deep into the still unknown parts of the Far West, their
guns loaded with ball, ready for any dangerous emergency. It was a
vast thicket of magnificent trees, crowded together as if pressed for
room. The exploration of these dense masses of wood was difficult in
the extreme, and the reporter never ventured there without the
pocket-compass, for the sun scarcely pierced through the thick
foliage, and it would have been very difficult for them to retrace
their way. It naturally happened that game was more rare in those
situations where there was hardly sufficient room to move; two or
three large herbivorous animals were however killed during the last
fortnight of April. These were koalas, specimens of which the settlers
had already seen to th