a very slow process.

The doctor was constantly charging Jerry and Tim to be careful when
using the took. He was especially anxious about the auger. "If that
goes we shall be brought pretty well to a standstill, for I doubt if I
can replace it," he remarked. At last he determined not to let it out
of his own hands, and to bore all the bolt holes himself.

One day, however, as he was working away, a crack was heard, the auger
refused to advance. He drew it out; the tip had broken. Examining it
with a look of dismay, he sighed deeply, "Our shipbuilding must come to
an end, I fear, unless we can replace this simple instrument."

"We will try, however, and see what we can accomplish in the forge,"
said Tom.

"You forget that it is steel," observed the doctor; "it will be
difficult to soften it and afterwards to restore its temper."

"We can but try," repeated Tom; "a day or two won't make much
difference, and we can go on with the other parts of the vessel in the
mean time."

Tom was not disappointed; after repeated experiments he and the doctor
succeeded in putting a head to the auger, and their success encouraged
them to repair the first which had been broken; but they found that
neither worked as well as they had done before. At last, however, they
again broke.

Neither Tom nor Desmond were made of stuff which could easily be
defeated.

"We must try again," said Tom. "I have heard of a missionary in the
South Seas who built a vessel entirely by himself, without a single
white man to help him, in the course of three or four months. He had to
begin without tools, and with only a ship's anchor and chain cable, and
trees still growing in the forest. He set up a forge, manufactured
tools, saws, and axes, then taught the natives to use them. They cut
down trees, which they sawed up. He made ropes out of fibre, and sails
from matting; and the necessary iron-work, of which there was very
little in the whole craft, was formed from the remainder of the old
anchor; yet that vessel performed long voyages and during several years
visited numerous islands in the Pacific. Surely if one man can
accomplish such a work, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves if, with
materials all ready to our hands, we cannot build such a craft as we
want."

"Yes, my friend; but the missionary you speak of--the late lamented
Williams, who was murdered not far off to the west of us--was a
practical mechanic. He had studied blacksmit