Story Hour Readers Part 24

Wave after wave washed him further and further upon the beach. At last a wave left him beside a rock, to which he clung until the water flowed back to the sea. Then he jumped up and ran for his life.

Robinson Crusoe was the only person from the ship who was not drowned.

He was thankful indeed for his escape.

After resting for a time, Crusoe looked about him. He was wet, cold, and hungry. It was growing very dark, and he was afraid of wild animals.

He found his knife still in his pocket, so he cut a stick with which to protect himself. Then he climbed into a tree and hid among the branches.

He was soon sound asleep.

When Crusoe awoke in the morning, the storm was over, and the sea was calm. He found that the ship had been driven by the waves much nearer to the sh.o.r.e. By noon the water was low. The tide had ebbed so far out that he could walk almost to the ship.

He swam for a short distance. When lie reached the vessel, he could find no way to climb up, but at last he discovered a rope hanging over the side. By the help of the rope, he managed to pull himself to the deck.

Everything in the stern of the ship was safe and dry, and the food was not spoiled. Crusoe filled his pockets with biscuits and ate them as he went about his work. He had no time to spare.

Crusoe needed a boat, to carry to the sh.o.r.e many necessary things.

"It is of no use to wish for a boat," he thought, "I must set to work to make one."

First he took some spars of wood and a topmast or two, that were on the deck, and threw them overboard, tying each with a rope so that it would not drift away.

Then he climbed down the side of the ship, and fastened the spars together to make a raft. It was a long time before he was able to make the raft strong enough to hold the things that he wished to take ash.o.r.e.

Crusoe loaded the raft with three seamen's chests. He had filled these chests with bread, rice, cheese, dried goat's flesh, and other articles of food. He also took all the clothing he could find.

Then Crusoe dragged a carpenter's tool chest to the side of the ship. He placed this on the raft. Nothing on the ship was of more use to him than the tools in this chest.

He secured guns, pistols, and shot, also two barrels of dry gunpowder.

The trouble now was to land his cargo safely.

Crusoe had only a broken oar, but he rigged up a sail, and the tide helped him. At last he reached the mouth of a little river. The strong tide carried him to land.

He was able to push the raft into a little bay. When the tide flowed out, the raft was left high and dry on the sand, and everything was taken safely ash.o.r.e.

Then Crusoe thought he would look about the country. He climbed to the top of a high hill. He found that he was on an island, and that there was no sign of people, and nothing living in sight excepting great flocks of birds.

Day after day, Crusoe returned to the ship. He built more rafts and brought from the vessel everything that he considered useful.

He made a tent of sails to protect the things that could be spoiled by the sun or rain.

After several weeks, the weather changed, and a high wind began to blow.

One morning, when Crusoe awoke, he found that the ship had broken to pieces and was no longer to be seen. However, he had saved from the wreck everything that he needed.

Then Robinson Crusoe decided to find a better place for his tent. There was a little plain on the bide of a hill. At the further end was a rock with a hollow place like the entrance to a cave; but there was really not any cave or way into the rock at all. Here he placed his tent.

In a half circle, in front of the tent, Crusoe drove two rows of strong stakes sharpened at the top, about six inches apart. He laid pieces of rope between the stakes. The fence was about five arid a half feet high and so strong that no one could enter.

There was no door, so Crusoe climbed in and out by means of a ladder which he always drew up after him.

Before closing up the end of the fence, Crusoe carried within all the articles that he had saved from the wreck. He rigged a double tent inside the fence, to protect all from the sun and rain.

When this was finished, Crusoe began to dig out the rock. It was not very hard, and soon, behind his tent, he had a cave in which he placed his powder, in small parcels.

Robinson Crusoe was very comfortable. He had saved from the wreck two cats and a dog. He had ink, pens, and paper, so that he could write down all that happened.

"But what shall I do when the ink is gone?" thought Crusoe. "I must find some way of keeping track of the time."

He set up a wooden cross, upon which he cut with a knife the date of his landing. Each day he cut another notch in the wood.

Every seventh notch was twice as long as those for the days between, and the notch for every first day of the month was twice as long again. Thus Crusoe kept a calendar, or weekly, monthly, and yearly reckoning of time.

By and by, he found that there were many goats on the island, and many pigeons which he could obtain for food.

After a time, Crusoe decided that his cave was too small.

As he was sure that there were no wild beasts on the island, he began to make his cave larger, and he finally built a tunnel through the rock outside his fence.

Then he began to hang his belongings upon the sides of the cave, and to arrange them in order. He even built shelves on the walls, and made a door for the entrance. He also made a table and some chairs.

During all this time, Robinson Crusoe climbed the hill daily.

He looked over the lonely waters hoping--always hoping--to see the sail of a ship. At last he gave up all hope of ever leaving the island.

Several years pa.s.sed by. The clothing that Crusoe had saved from the ship was worn out. He made himself clothes from the skins of the goats on the island. He made also an umbrella of goat skins, to shield him from the hot rays of the sun.

Though the food which he had taken from the ship had long since been eaten, he raised plenty of barley from seed which he had found in a little bag on the ship. The goats and pigeons on the island supplied him with meat.

He had become very tired of never hearing a voice. There were many green parrots among the trees and he decided to catch one and teach it to talk. He found it difficult to obtain one, but finally he did catch a young parrot.

At first he could not teach it to say a word, but at last when he came back to his tent from a day on the island, the parrot called, "Robin, Robin Crusoe! Poor Robin Crusoe, where have you been?"

One morning, as Crusoe started for his canoe, a strange thing happened.

He was walking along, and what do you suppose he saw? The print of a man's foot in the sand! The sight made him cold all over. He looked around.

He listened, but there was not a sound, yet there in the sand was the print of a man's foot--the toes, the heel, and the sole.

He did not go to the boat. Instead he hastened back to his cave. He was so frightened that it was some time before he ventured out again.

About a year after this, Crusoe was surprised one morning to see a bonfire on the sh.o.r.e. He looked through his spygla.s.s and saw a company of savages who had landed in canoes and had built a fire.

They had two prisoners whom they were about to kill. One of them saw a chance to escape, and he made a sudden dash for his life, running with great speed straight toward Robinson Crusoe.

Crusoe rescued this man. The man was very grateful.

Crusoe made him understand, after a time, that his name was to be Friday. It was on Friday that the man had been saved.

Crusoe taught him to say "Yes," and "No," and also to say "Master."