he wall perfectly tight and solid. Nor did we
have any trouble in building up a little fireplace and chimney along
with it.

"We had some discussion as to what use there was in taking all this
pains, since we had no fire to put in our fireplace. But then, if we
should in the end find that we could make a fire, we saw that we would
have to tear the wall down again if we did not build the fireplace and
chimney up at once; therefore it was clearly better to take a little
extra trouble now, and save it possibly in the end,--an observation that
might apply to people who were never cast away in the cold, and did not
have to build chimneys without knowing what use to put them to.

"We labored very hard, and were well satisfied with the progress we had
made, when we found it necessary to knock off, and eat some more raw
eggs, and sleep away our fatigue again.

"By this time we had grown tired enough of these raw eggs, and, in
truth, were very sick of them. But we had nothing else to eat unless we
should devour the duck which the Dean had caught; and this we could
never, as we thought, bring ourselves to do, uncooked as it was.

"The Dean had by this time grown pretty strong again, but still he was
so weak that I should not have allowed him to work had he not insisted
upon it; so, when his turn came to go to sleep, I was glad to be at work
by myself, and I much surprised the Dean, when he got up again, with
what I had done.

"'Do you know what I was thinking of?' said the Dean, as we paused to
rest, after we had again worked awhile together.

"'What's that?' said I; 'for I dare say it's something clever, as you
have a wise head on your young shoulders, Dean.'

"'Thank you,' said the Dean; 'being cast away in the cold don't stop us
from paying compliments, anyway; but I was thinking that we ought to
save all the blubber of that old narwhal down there; we'll want the oil
by and by.'

"'What for?' said I.

"'To burn,' said he.

"'Nonsense!' said I; 'how are you going to burn it?'

"'That's just what we're going to find out,' said the Dean; 'we'll get a
fire somehow, of that I'm sure.'

"'I should like to know how,' said I. 'Perhaps you have another bright
idea.'

"'To be sure I have,' answered the Dean.

"'What is it this time?' said I.

"'Well, I don't know,' said he, 'as there's much in it, but I'm going to
try the lens again.'

"'That's of no use,' said I.

"'I'm not so sure,' said he; 'you know we made a