ild a
fire, and he always wanted to build a fire on such occasions, whether
there was anything to be cooked by it or not.
The island was rocky, and it was covered with trees. On the sheltered
side of it there was a beach, where the party landed. Although this
beach was somewhat protected from the wind, still the waves which rolled
in kept the water in a state of agitation. They, however, landed here,
running the head of the boat upon the sand.
There was a large tree lying here, with its top in the water, and
butt-end upon the beach. It was a tree which some settler had cut down
at some place near the shore of the pond, and when the water was high it
had been washed off, and, after drifting about the pond for some time,
it had got lodged upon this beach, where it remained in the position in
which our adventurers found it. It had been lying there for more than a
year, and the branches which were out of the water were dead and dry.
The foliage had long since disappeared.
The boatman brought the boat up alongside of this tree, so that Forester
and Marco stepped out upon the trunk, and walked to the land. The
boatman then tied the boat to one of the dead branches of the tree, and,
taking the basket of provisions and the hatchet, they all walked along,
in search of a place for their dinner.
They found a sheltered and pleasant place, at a little distance, under
the trees. Marco soon struck a light, and began to build a fire. He
found it somewhat difficult, however, to procure dry wood enough for the
fire, until, at last, he thought of the branches of the tree to which
the boat was fastened. He accordingly went to the place and began to cut
them off.
The boat was somewhat in the way while he was doing this, and he thought
he would move it. He could fasten it just as well, he thought, by a
stake driven into the sand. He therefore cut off one of the branches,
and, after squaring one end and sharpening the other, he drove it down
as well as he could into the sand. He then fastened the boat to this
stake, thus removing it from the tree, and clearing the way so that he
could conveniently cut off the branches.
This was not, however, a very wise operation, for it is very difficult
to drive a stake securely into sand. Sand, even when wet, has so little
tenacity that it yields to the slightest force, and the stake soon began
to work loose, by the motion of the boat, agitated by the waves; and, in
fact, before Marco had fini
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