rought in, and oysters, for which each
morning they went to the bank or the shore. All this took time, and the
hours passed away quickly.

The "dinner things" consisted now of large bivalve shells, which served
for dishes or plates. It is true that for the kind of food to which the
hosts of Will Tree were reduced, others were not needed.

There was also the washing of the linen in the clear water of the
stream, which occupied the leisure of Tartlet. It was to him that this
task fell; but he only had to see to the two shirts, two handkerchiefs,
and two pairs of socks, which composed the entire wardrobe of both.

While this operation was in progress, Godfrey and Tartlet had to wear
only waistcoat and trousers, but in the blazing sun of that latitude the
clothes quickly dried. And so matters went on without either rain or
wind till July 3rd. Already they had begun to be fairly comfortable in
their new home, considering the condition in which they had been cast on
the island.

However, it was advisable not to neglect the chances of safety which
might come from without. Each day Godfrey examined the whole sector of
sea which extended from the east to the north-west beyond the
promontory.

This part of the Pacific was always deserted. Not a vessel, not a
fishing-boat, not a ribbon of smoke detaching itself from the horizon,
proclaimed the passage of a steamer. It seemed that Phina Island was
situated out of the way of all the itineraries of commerce. All they
could do was to wait, trusting in the Almighty who never abandons the
weak.

Meanwhile, when their immediate necessities allowed them leisure,
Godfrey, incited by Tartlet, returned to that important and vexed
question of the fire.

He tried at first to replace amadou, which he so unfortunately lacked,
by another and analogous material. It was possible that some of the
varieties of mushrooms which grew in the crevices of the old trees,
after having been subjected to prolonged drying, might be transformed
into a combustible substance.

Many of these mushrooms were collected and exposed to the direct action
of the sun, until they were reduced to powder. Then with the back of his
knife, Godfrey endeavoured to strike some sparks off with a flint, so
that they might fall on this substance. It was useless. The spongy
stuff would not catch fire. Godfrey then tried to use that fine
vegetable dust, dried during so many centuries, which he had found in
the interior of Wi