on. How can they get to us?"

Devereux and O'Grady were soon convinced that they were their shipmates.
O'Grady proposed swimming to them, as the distance was not great; but
Paul remembered the shark from which he had so narrowly escaped in the
morning, and urged him not to make the attempt. It was then agreed that
they must either hollow out a canoe or build a raft.

"But where is the tree from which the canoe is to be formed, and the
axes with which it is to be cut down?" asked Paul. "There are no trees
nearer than the fountain."

The midshipmen had in their eagerness overlooked that consideration, and
there did not seem much greater probability of their finding materials
for the raft. Still, something must be done to rescue their shipmates,
and that speedily, or they would die of thirst if not of hunger. Paul
recollected the spar he had stuck up, and which had some rope attached
to it, and O'Grady had observed some driftwood on the beach. They had
passed some low shrubs, with thick stems, of a bamboo character, and
they would assist to make the platform for the raft if a framework could
be formed. The rope, by being unlaid, would serve to bind the raft
together. No time was to be lost. Paul set off for the spar, while the
other two, making signals to their friends that they would try to help
them, went along the shore to collect what wood they could find. There
was plenty of driftwood fit for burning, but too small for their object.
At last they found a plank, and not far off a spar, and then another
plank. Their spirits rose.

"What is one man's poison is another man's meat," cried O'Grady, as he
found several planks together. "Some craft has been lost hereabouts,
and probably all hands with her, and we are likely to benefit by her
remains."

They had now, they fancied, got enough wood, with the aid of the shrubs,
to form a raft, on which they might ferry themselves across to the rock.
They accordingly began to drag them towards the spot where they had
parted from Paul. It was a work, however, of no little labour, as they
could draw only one plank at a time over the heavy sands. They had
made, three trips, and still Paul did not appear. They began to fear
some accident might have happened to him, and, now that they had found
so large a supply of wood, to regret that they had sent him for the
spar. They had brought together all they had found; and while Devereux
began to form the framework, O'Grad