CHAPTER V.
Attempt to make a fire. Distil salt water. First meal. Reflections. Hat-making. Repose.
I slept all night soundly in spite of the cool air and the novelty ofmy situation. When I awoke, the sun was about two hours high, and Icame out from under my cedar-tree feeling quite refreshed, with theexception of an intolerable thirst. The want of water had troubled meon the preceding day, and it flashed across my mind, What shall I do ifI find no fresh water?--what shall I do if I find no fresh water?--andthis refrain kept now running through my head, accompanied with anothertune, What will you do for fire?--what will you do for fire? Thesetwo melodies filled my ears without cessation. I arose from my seaton the bank, and proceeded to the sea in front of me, and washed myface and combed out my hair. I then fell upon my knees and invoked theassistance of Divine Providence in my distress. Having ended theseduties I began to look about me for water,--water.
Should I start off at a venture and run the chance of finding water,failing in which I should perish, or should I at once begin to workwith the brains that God had given me, to procure in a scientificmanner that which Nature had refused? If, thought I, I start offand use up all my strength in a vain search, I can then but lay downand die; whilst on the other hand, by commencing now whilst I amcomparatively fresh, to try and overcome this obstacle, I have twochances of life: for, failing here, I can as a last resort push forwardinto the island till I find water or lie down and die for want of it.Having thus firmly made up my mind, I began to think. To procure waterI must first make fire. How should I do it? Matches I had none; flint,steel, or tinder I was without, and no means of procuring them. I_must_ find steel, flint, and tinder, but where? how? My eyes fell uponthe anchor, and that gave me an idea, but I knew that the iron of whichit was composed was too soft and rusty to be of use for my purpose. Ibethought me of the nails in the planking, but upon examination theyalso were too soft.
An inspiration struck me. I drew off one of my shoes, and by means ofone of the larger nails and a pebble soon had one of the heels off,displaying a row of nails that I hoped were hard enough for my purpose.I pounded one of the most likely looking ones out of the leather, andfound it quite hard and polished. I ran towards the line of pebblesthat the sea had for ages cast up, and looked for a flinty stone tostrike my nail upon. I tried several, but could get no spark. I beganto despair. I had in boyhood thrown large stones together in the nighttime on purpose to see the sparks fly, but I was well aware that,obtained in this manner, they would be too weak to ignite any tinder,and my only salvation was in my shoe nail and a flint, or at least aflinty stone. I sought and sought, and tried and tried, without theslightest success. The sweat began to drop from my brow in great beadsof excitement; finally I edged more towards the upper part of the beachand towards a small cluster of rocks further inland, whose base wasalso surrounded by small pebbles. I had almost given up hope, when,pushing the pebbles to one side, I turned up to the light one of adirty yellow color that I was convinced was a veritable piece of flint.I seized upon it and wiped it upon my clothes, for it was damp, andfelt convinced that it was genuine flint. I had to lay it in the sun todry before I could prove it, and you can little know the agony that Iendured in that short interval. At last the flint was dry, and, takingit in my hand, I struck it against the nail. Eureka! Eureka! A faintbut perfect spark shone for an instant in the open air. I rushed backwith my prize to my cedar-tree, and placing the nail and flint where Icould easily find them, I plunged into the grove to look for tinder.I took within half an hour a hundred different substances in my handto examine them and see if they would serve my purpose. Walking on, Icame to a little open field with a short, sour grass, and it was herethat I hoped to find my prize. Do you ask what I was looking for? Iwas looking for one of those dried-up balls, that, as boys, we used toburst open and see the dust fly, that we called nigger-balls. Movingalong I came upon a plant that is sometimes used to make pickles of,and I knew that the pod contained a soft silky substance something likecotton. I seized upon this and pulled off an old last year's pod, andfound the substance I was in search of. I did not know whether it woulddo for tinder or not, but I hoped so. I ran about the field looking tothe right and the left, and as I was about to give the search up, rightunder my nose I espied a large nigger-ball. I fastened upon it andposted back to my bank near the cedar-tree. The time for the final testhad come. Now to the supreme trial.
I burst open the nigger-ball and extracted a small quantity of thedark, dust-like powder that it contained, and laid it carefully upona small, smooth stone. I then extracted some of the cotton-like fibrefrom my milkweed pod, and picked it carefully apart into minute atomswith my fingers, and mixed it into the dust before me on the stone. Igathered together minute dry twigs and leaves all ready to place uponthe tinder should I be able to ignite it. I leaned over my tinder,and with the shoe nail grasped carefully and firmly in the left handI placed it near to it, and with the right hand containing the flintstruck it a smart blow. The first spark missed the tinder entirely. Imoved my hand slightly, and the next stroke sent a fine spark into thevery centre of the pile, and in one moment it was ignited, and a littlesnake of fire began to run in and out of the tinder. I blew carefullyupon this and put little pieces of wood in the right places, pettedand worked upon it until, with a careful but increasing blast, it burstinto flame. I piled on wood and sticks till I felt sure of the result,and then commenced dancing and singing round about the flame, till inmy weakness and excitement I fell down in a dead faint. I opened myeyes again to see my fire burning cheerily away as if it was the mostnatural thing in the world.
STRIKING FIRE WITH FLINT AND STEEL.--PAGE 48.]
Now for water! water! I seized upon the canister of garden seeds, whichwas an old powder canister formerly, and would contain, I should say,a gallon of water, and poured out the seeds through the screw hole inthe top upon a large flat stone, and covered them with a few leaves.Weak as I then was, I recognized beans, wheat, rice, corn, cucumbers,&c. I took the empty canister to the sea and washed it carefully outand brought it back filled with salt water, and placed it upon myfire, which was now burning splendidly. I rushed again to the seashoreand picked up several long pieces of kelp, which we boys used to calldevil's apron, and which I knew were long, hollow tubes that would suitmy purpose admirably. With the small twine in my pocket, and a piece ofmy flannel shirt and various leaves, I bound one of these long tubesof kelp to the screw hole of the canister on the fire, and supportedit clear of the flames by means of crotched sticks, which I tore fromtrees near by, and also built a wall round about the fire, to confineit more, made out of stones, upon which I rested the opposite edges ofthe canister. I led this tube of kelp, which was at least ten feetlong, gradually down hill towards the ocean, and, digging a long furrowin the sand, I filled it with wet kelp and seaweed, placed my tubetherein, and covered it up again with sand; at the orifice I dug quitea deep hole, and set one of the empty meat-cans under it to catch thedropping water that I knew must appear as soon as my powder canistercommenced to boil. I took the bailer and rushed to the ocean, andsaturated, by repeated trips, the sand under which my tube was buried.By this time my thirst was fearful, and having heard that bathing issometimes useful in such circumstances, I dragged off my clothes, and,too weak to swim, I lay down in the cool water at full length uponthe sandy bottom, within view of my fire and condenser. Anxious as Iwas, I knew that I must sustain my strength, and I could think of nobetter method than this. The cool sea water revived me greatly, morethan I could have believed possible, and, fearing to stay in too long,I tottered ashore and to my little well. Water! water! There it wasdribbling out of the tube of kelp into the meat-can--already an inchor two had collected. Although tasting badly of the salt kelp tubethrough which it had passed, you can little know the rapture with whichI swallowed it and thanked God. In a few moments more I had enough foranother swallow, and of a much better quality, less brackish, and byquietly waiting I soon had two or three inches of quite good water,
brackish to be sure, but pure enough to support life and to course likequicksilver through my veins and give me a new lease of life. Sufficeit to say that, by renewing my canister on the fire, I had in a fewhours both the meat-cans full of water, and my craving thirst entirelyquenched. Brains had won. I had both fire and water--two of the fourelements--at my command. As soon as my thirst was appeased I commencedto feel the pangs of hunger, but this gave me little disquietude, forI had not been digging in the sand without observing that there wereplenty of clams on every side of me, and with a short stick I soonhad as many as I wanted on the surface, and from thence to the hotstones of my fire, where I covered them with wet seaweed and allowedthem to roast. Whilst this was going on I strayed away to the left ashort distance, where I had seen many gulls gathered together, andsure enough, as I suspected, I found the crevices of the rocks full ofeggs. I took upon myself, as proprietor of the island, to abstract somedozen of them, and taking the large canister and rinsing it out with avery little of the precious fresh water, I poured the remainder into itfrom the meat-can, and started with the latter to the sea, and returnedwith it filled with sea water, which I placed upon my fire, and droppedinto it half a dozen of my new-found eggs, which soon commenced toboil right merrily. By this time my clams were baked or roasted, and Isat down to my first meal, consisting of boiled eggs, baked clams, andfresh water, with a thankful and even a cheerful heart; for had I notovercome impossibilities almost, and made sure of the two great wantsof humanity, fire and water, which meant food, life, everything?
Nature being satisfied, I began to think of the horror of my situation,the only survivor of a company of gallant fellows that had left Englandin such good spirits only a few months ago. Here was I, a poor RobinsonCrusoe, alone and desolate on an unknown island. I tried to penetratethe dark future and discover what fate still held in store for me. Bythis time the day had passed into afternoon, and I felt the necessityof preparing for the coming night. My great fear was that the islandwas inhabited by savages, and if so I had preserved my life to littlepurpose, for I should, upon being discovered, probably be killed atonce, or else be made to drag out a miserable existence as their slave,or be kept a captive by them for the term of my natural life.
I glanced about me and saw that the island was fair to look upon, andevidently of considerable extent. I desired to explore it, but prudenceand fear restrained me. My first care was to get some covering for myhead; the rays of the sun, although not oppressive, were uncomfortable.I passed again through the grove of cedars and into the open field, andlooked about for something to make a hat of, but found nothing then tosuit me. I returned to the seaside again, and what would do for thepurpose struck my eye at once, namely, a sort of saltwater rushes whichgrew out of the sand in large quantities, not far from me to the right,similar to what we used to call at home sedge. I gathered sufficientof the riper and less green leaves and stalks for my purpose, andcommenced to lay them up into what sailors call five-strand sennit, andwhat young ladies would call five-strand braiding. I soon had severalyards of this material laid up, and found it quite well suited for mypurpose. When I had what I deemed sufficient I took the nail I hadbefore used to open the meat-can with, and which I kept in my pocket,and commenced to bring its end to a sharp point by grinding it upona soft pebble that lay beside me, and having brought it to a point Iwent to work and unlaid about a fathom of my manilla rope, and, takingthe edge of a clam-shell, sawed off one of the strands, and from thatI selected a few threads, which I laid up again into a good strongtwine. I then commenced at the crown of my straw hat, and by turningthe sennit round upon itself I soon had that part completed, for as Ipassed once round, I, with the sharp nail as a pricker, forced holesthrough each part at distances of every two or three inches of thecircumference, and passed my manilla twine through, knotted it, andcut it off with the edge of my clam-shell. In this way, in an hour ortwo I had quite a good straw hat with a large wide brim, and, althoughhastily tacked together instead of being sewed, it answered my purposeadmirably. My hand being now in, I made, in the same manner and ofthe same stock, quite a long, deep bag, which I fitted with a strongmanilla string to pass over my shoulder and hang by my side.
My next task was to get together plenty of wood for my preciousfire during the night. But this was an easy affair, the very edge ofthe grove abounding in fallen and dried branches of every kind anddescription.
I made another trip to the gulls' eggs, equipped in my new hat and withmy bag slung at my side, and returned with it filled with as many as Idesired, and for contingencies I boiled quite a large number of them insalt water in my meat-can over the fire.
As a last thing, I went to the field and brought back an armful ofgrass, which I strewed under my cedar-tree, and increased it with alarge bundle of dried seaweed for bed-clothing, and a good-sized stonefor a pillow. Having completed all these arrangements, eaten again ofmy gulls' eggs and baked clams, and carefully attended to my fire, Icut up some of the small quantity of tobacco remaining to me with myclam-shell, and placing it in my pipe had a quiet smoke.
By this time the sun was sinking to rest, and I took care to make therecord of the day upon the boat-planking, and also opened a calendaraccount upon one of the branches of my cedar-tree by means of mypointed nail and clam-shell.
As the dusk came on I began to think, What is the next most importantthing for me to do? My mind answered me, Preserve your fire, or inventmeans so that you can light it without trouble. I should say that Ihad already burned a piece of the cotton lining of my trousers, andcarefully preserved it between two clean, large sea-clam shells fortinder.
I thought that I saw my way clear to protect my fire on the morrow,and also to give myself some weapons of offence, and after havingasked God's pity upon my condition I dropped asleep in my seaweed bed,thinking of these things, with my fire near by me well covered up withashes.