if his clothes and his umbrella, and especially his
hat, were not very good to look at, they were useful, and he could now
go about in any weather.

During the next five years nothing out of the common happened, and
Robinson's time was mostly taken up with the getting of food, the
yearly sowing and reaping of his crops, and the curing of his raisins.
But towards the end of that time he made another attempt to build a
boat, and this time he made one much smaller than the first, and
though it took him nearly two years to finish, in the end he got her
into the sea. She was not big enough for him to try to sail in to the
far-off land that he had seen, and he used her only for cruising about
the shores of his own island, and for fishing. In her he fixed a
little mast, on which he rigged a small sail, made from a bit of one
of the old ship's sails, and, using a paddle to steer with, he found
that she sailed very well. Over the stern he fixed his big umbrella,
to shade him from the sun, like an awning.

Eager to go all round the island, one day Robinson put a lot of food
on board, and, taking his gun, started on a voyage. All went well till
he came to the east end of the island, where he found that a ledge of
rocks, and beyond that a sand-bank, stretched out to sea for eight or
nine miles. Robinson did not like the idea of venturing so far in a
boat so small, and he therefore ran the boat ashore, and climbed a
hill, to get a good view of the rocks and shoals before going near
them. From the hill, he saw that a strong current was sweeping past
the sand-bank, which showed just clear of the water, and on which the
sea was breaking; but he thought there was an eddy which would swing
him safely round the point, without bringing him near the breakers.
However, that day and the next, there was a good deal of wind blowing
in the direction contrary to the current, which, of course, raised a
sea too big for a small boat, so Robinson stopped on shore where he
was.

On the third day it was calm, and he set off. But no sooner had he
come abreast of the sand-bank than he found himself in very deep
water, with a current running like a mill-race, which carried the boat
further and further away from the land, in spite of all that he could
do with his paddle. There was no wind, and the sail was useless.

Now he gave himself up for lost, for the harder he worked, only the
further away seemed the boat to be swept. The island was soon so far