The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 222: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

218 “In that house we can have accom- modations for Miss Donaldson, and such of us as are not in active service managing our craft. A railing of split rails running around the deck might serve as an added security in case of heavy seas.” “ Admirable!”’ exclaimed Mr. Don- aldson. “ With your faculty of inven- tion, your axes, and the vast quantity of lumber at command, this can be ac- complished. But there will be work for Mary and me as well. You will require vast quantities of rope. You will also need a sail. Now, there are fibrous leaves and fibrous barks on this island from which Mary has-woven the cloth for her gowns. We will set to work at once and weave a sail, and also some long ropes of this strong grass ef which I have frequently made hammocks.” “ Oh, give me a home on the rolling wave,” sang Ross, “ with a kaybee for company so brave.” “Shut up!” said Foster. “ Can’t you let a sailor sing his sal— I mean his song? ” “Td let you sing if you could sing, but you are as bad as a kaybee.” “A raft, or, as we will call it, our cat- amaran, will be safe except im the case of the severest hurricanes,’ said Mr. Donaldson. ‘*‘ Now let us get to work. Mary, you are engaged as spinner.” “But my loom was broken in the storm.” “Tt will not be difficult to make an- other. Ah, I have improved wonder- fully in the past hour. I breathe! I feel that again J may see civilization. I feel that you, my daughter, may know what this world is. And I hope that the days that are to come will be happy ones. A home in old England again! Girl, you do not know what it means.” There were tears running down the old man’s cheeks, and his daughter ten- derly put her arm through his and they walked away. CHAPTER X. THE BUILDING OF THE HANDICAP. ~ OnE day was like another after that. There was but little change to the reg- ularity of our work and method of liv- ing. THE ARGOSY. Occasionally the professor would steal away and go to look longingly at the rock of the kaybees, but the rest of us were now too eager and interested in our work on the catamaran even to think of the big birds. There was a huge species of bamboo on the island, and after cutting them the pulp and plugging the ends to make them water proof. Nothing could exceed the industry of Mr. Donaldson and his daughter. He reconstructed the broken loom, and they gathered the fibers necessary for the cloth sail. ° We selected for the construction of the raft a spot that was convenient and safe. It was a pretty little bay, in which the water was shallow, and the bottom sandy, thus permitting us to wade out and pursue our labors. Day after day we worked from day- light till dark. At times Donaldson and Mary would come and see how the ves- sel was progressing, but they stuck gen- erally to their own work. By the time we needed ropes they had a large quantity on hand. This was made strong and in long pieces, the skill of Mary at this work rivaling that of her father. We had several times to undo our work, and that delayed us. But this was no haphazard affair. We had now given up all hope of the Siren, and the raft was the only means by which we could hope to leave the island. We laid the hollow bamboos in tiers and laced them together firmly with the grass ropes. We made two rows of these a hundred feet long. Then to each, on either side, we lashed trunks of trees of the same length. The bamboos, being shorter, needed this bracing. In about a week we had two immense rows of logs well] lashed together, each a hundred feet long, which stood, when alone in the water, at least four feet above it. They floated well, these bamboos, and with the added strength of the trunks it was certainly to be supposed they would travel safely from one end of the Indian Ocean to the other. Then came the more difficult task of decking the vessel* GOI OOoO ‘we set the professor at work getting out — SS (GO) awa