of a rope, his sweetheart hauling up the rope by means of the cord.

Now it seemed to me a possible thing to substitute a bow for the mortar,
if only we could find the material with which to make such a weapon, and
with this in view, I took up one of the lengths of the bamboo-like reed,
and tried the spring of it, which I found to be very good; for this
curious growth, of which I have spoken hitherto as a reed, had no
resemblance to that plant, beyond its appearance; it being
extraordinarily tough and woody, and having considerably more nature
than a bamboo. Now, having tried the spring of it, I went over to the
tent and cut a piece of sampsonline which I found among the gear, and
with this and the reed I contrived a rough bow. Then I looked about until
I came upon a very young and slender reed which had been cut with the
rest, and from this I fashioned some sort of an arrow, feathering it with
a piece of one of the broad, stiff leaves, which grew upon the plant, and
after that I went forth to the crowd about the leeward edge of the hill.
Now when they saw me thus armed, they seemed to think that I intended a
jest, and some of them laughed, conceiving that it was a very odd action
on my part; but when I explained that which was in my mind, they ceased
from laughter, and shook their heads, making that I did but waste time;
for, as they said, nothing save gunpowder could cover so great a
distance. And after that they turned again to the bo'sun with whom some
of them seemed to be in argument. And so for a little space I held my
peace, and listened; thus I discovered that certain of the men advocated
the taking of the boat--so soon as it was sufficiently repaired--and
making a passage through the weed to the ship, which they proposed to do
by cutting a narrow canal. But the bo'sun shook his head, and reminded
them of the great devil-fish and crabs, and the worse things which the
weed concealed, saying that those in the ship would have done it long
since had it been possible, and at that the men were silenced, being
robbed of their unreasoning ardor by his warnings.

Now just at this point there happened a thing which proved the wisdom of
that which the bo'sun contended; for, suddenly, one of the men cried out
to us to look, and at that we turned quickly, and saw that there was a
great commotion among those who were in the open place in the
superstructure; for they were running this way and that, and some were
pushing to the