IN WHICH THERE HAPPENS WHAT HAPPENS AT LEAST ONCE IN THE LIFE OF EVERY CRUSOE, REAL OR IMAGINARY.
And now the future looked less gloomy. But if Tartlet¹ saw in the possession of the instruments, the tools, and the weapons only the means of making their life of isolation² a little more agreeable, Godfrey was already thinking of how to escape from Phina Island. Could he not now construct a vessel⁴ strong enough to enable them to reach if not some neighbouring land, at least some ship passing within sight of the island?
 
Meanwhile the weeks which followed were principally spent in carrying out not these ideas, but those of Tartlet. The wardrobe at Will Tree was now replenished⁵, but it was decided⁶ to use it with all the discretion⁷ which the uncertainty⁸ of the future required. Never to wear any of the clothes unless necessity compelled him to do so, was the rule to which the professor was forced to submit.
 
"What is the good of that?" grumbled⁹ he. "It is a[Pg 168] great deal too stingy, my dear Godfrey! Are we savages¹⁰, that we should go about half naked?"
 
"I beg your pardon, Tartlet," replied Godfrey; "we are savages, and nothing else."
 
"As you please; but you will see that we shall leave the island before we have worn the clothes!"
 
"I know nothing about it, Tartlet, and it is better to have than to want."
 
"But on Sunday now, surely on Sunday, we might dress up a little?"
 
"Very well, on Sundays then, and perhaps on public holidays," answered Godfrey, who did not wish to anger his frivolous¹¹ companion; "but as to day is Monday we shall have to wait a whole week before we come out in our best."
 
We need hardly mention that from the moment he arrived on the island Godfrey had not omitted to mark each day as it passed. By the aid of the calendar he found in the box he was able to verify that the day was really Monday.
 
Each performed his daily task according to his ability. It was no longer necessary for them to keep watch by day and night over a fire which they had now the means of relighting.
 
Tartlet therefore abandoned, not without regret, a task[Pg 169] which suited him so well. Henceforwards he took charge of the provisioning with yamph and camas roots—of that in short which formed the daily bread of the establishment, so that the professor went every day and collected them, up to the lines of shrubs¹³ with which the prairie was bordered behind Will Tree. It was one or two miles to walk, but he accustomed himself to it. Between whiles he occupied his time in collecting oysters¹⁴ or other mollusks, of which they consumed a great quantity.
 
Godfrey reserved for himself the care of the domestic animals and the poultry¹⁵. The butchering trade was hardly to his taste, but he soon overcame his repugnance¹⁶. Thanks to him, boiled meats appeared frequently on the table, followed by an occasional joint¹⁷ of roast meat to afford a sufficiently¹⁹ varied²⁰ bill of fare. Game abounded²¹ in the woods of Phina Island, and Godfrey proposed to begin his shooting when other more pressing cares allowed him time. He thought of making good use of the guns, powder, and bullets in his arsenal²², but he in the first place wished to complete his preparations. His tools enabled him to make several benches inside and outside Will Tree. The stools were cut out roughly with the axe²³, the table made a little less roughly became more worthy²⁴ of the dishes and dinner things with which Professor Tartlet adorned²⁵ it. The beds were arranged in wooden boxes and their[Pg 170] litter of dry grass assumed a more inviting²⁶ aspect. If mattresses²⁷ and palliasses were still wanting, counterpanes at least were not. The various cooking utensils²⁸ stood no longer on the ground, but had their places on planks²⁹ fixed³⁰ along the walls. Stores, linen³¹, and clothes were carefully put away in cavities hollowed out in the bark of the sequoia³². From strong pegs³³ were suspended the arms and instruments, forming quite a trophy³⁴ on the walls.
 
Godfrey was also desirous of putting a door to the house, so that the other living creatures—the domestic animals—should not come during the night and trouble their sleep. As he could not cut out boards with his only saw, the handsaw, he used large and thick pieces of bark, which he got off very easily. With these he made a door sufficiently massive to close the opening into Will Tree, at the same time he made two little windows, one opposite to the other, so as to let light and air into the room. Shutters³⁵ allowed him to close them at night, but from the morning to the evening it was no longer necessary to take refuge in flaring³⁶ resinous³⁷ torches which filled the dwelling³⁸ with smoke. What Godfrey would think of to yield them light during the long nights of winter he had as yet no idea. He might take to making candles with the mutton fat, or he might be contented³⁹ with resinous torches more carefully prepared. We shall see.
 
[Pg 171]
 
Another of his anxieties was how to construct a chimney in Will Tree. While the fine weather lasted, the fire outside among the roots of the sequoia sufficed for all the wants of the kitchen, but when the bad weather came and the rain fell in torrents⁴¹, and they would have to battle with the cold, whose extreme rigour during a certain time they reasonably feared, they would have to have a fire inside their house, and the smoke from it must have some vent⁴². This important question therefore had to be settled.
 
One very useful work which Godfrey undertook was to put both banks of the river in communication with each other on the skirt of the sequoia-trees.
 
He managed, after some difficulty, to drive a few stakes into the river-bed, and on them he fixed a staging of planks, which served for a bridge. They could thus get away to the northern shore without crossing the ford¹⁸, which led them a couple of miles out of their road.
 
But if Godfrey took all these precautions so as to make existence a little more possible on this lone⁴³ isle⁴⁴ of the Pacific, in case he and his companion were destined⁴⁵ to live on it for some time, or perhaps live on it for ever, he had no intention of neglecting in any way the chances of rescue.
 
Phina Island was not on the routes taken by the ships—that was only too evident. It offered no port of call, nor means of revictualling. There was nothing to encourage[Pg 172] ships to take notice of it. At the same time it was not impossible that a war-ship or a merchant-vessel might come in sight. It was advisable therefore to find some way of attracting attention, and showing that the island was inhabited.
 
With this object Godfrey erected⁴⁶ a flagstaff at the end of the cape³ which ran out to the north, and for a flag he sacri............