When I had gotten together a sufficient quantity of lime, hair, and nice dry sand, and an immense pile of the largest stones that I could move, I commenced to build my house.
I marked out a parallelogram of what I should judge by my eyes to be about twelve feet in width by eighteen feet in length, and upon these staked-out lines I dug atrench some three feet in depth, and into it I pushed my heaviest stones for the foundations, taking care to place particularly large and smooth ones at the corners.
Luckily building material was plenty and at no great distance. Rocks of all sizes were to be found at the base of the rocky point that was just below me on Stillwater Cove. Of course I used much larger stones than I could lift, which I got to where I wanted them, and into place, by means of small rollers, which were sections of quite large tree-limbs, that I had cut off with infinite care and patience with my knife, into the requisite length, and large, strong stakes of wood, made in the same manner, which I used as crowbars, or as we sailors should call them, and more properly, handspikes. After my first tier was laid round about the whole trench, I rolled in other stones on top, putting mortar between them before I pried them into place. When the trench was filled I commenced to use smaller stones, but still ones that were quite large and almost unmanageable; and as the walls got higher, I had to content myself with stones that I could lift with my hands. But then, again, I at this point commenced to double my wall, using two stones side by side where I had formerly at the base used one. In this way my house, gradually, after some three months' incessant labor, began to take shape. On the front, sides, and rear, at proper distances and height, I inserted large timbers so as to form windows. These timbers, which were often as large as my thigh, I obtained by finding deadtrees that would suit my purpose in the woods, and burning them off at the proper length, so that I could handle them. Of course a foot or two or a burned end was of no consequence, as it was laid upon the wall in a horizontal position, and mortared into its place with the stones that were piled upon it. In this way I formed rough but strong uprights and cross-pieces for my door and windows, all of them firmly built into the wall, and forming part of the solid walls themselves.
BUILDING THE STONE HUT.--PAGE 120.
BUILDING THE STONE HUT.—Page 120.
At the end of some three months, after incessant and exhaustive labor, I had the satisfaction of seeing the stone work to my house all done, the top of the walls being at least two feet above my head, and I should say at least twelve inches thick; this was all mortared up both on the outside and inside, and was as strong as a fort. The last layers of stone gave me the most trouble, but by means of a large, nearly round stone, upon which I stood, I was enabled to finish my task, although at great pains. The erection of the roof was comparatively an easier matter, although that also took me a long time and was only completed after great patience. I found growing on the shores of Rapid River a species of cane, and I found that I could cut these down without difficulty, and gathering a large number of them, I spliced them together for my uprights and ridge-pole, with manilla yarns, and then laid the remainder close together from the ridge-pole to the eaves, projecting over the latter some two feet. These were secured to the ridge-pole by manilla strands,and in the centre of my house a strong forked tree as large as my leg received the ridge-pole from both ends of the house, and sustained it. This cane roofing, which was both light and strong, I thatched heavily with sedge, similar to that with which I had covered my hut. I fastened up the openings that I had left for windows with goat skins for the present, hanging them on wooden pegs which I could remove when the weather was fine. At the rear end of my house I had, I should have said, built me a nice open fire-place and a tall chimney, which I had had to finish after the roof was done, so as to stand upon the latter to carry the chimney up high enough to make it safe to carry away the sparks from my thatch. Into this large, dry, airy, and clean room, I brought by different trips all my worldly goods. I had put out the lamps in the tower at the landing-place hut long ago, having no further need of it, but I still kept it as a receptacle for my spare flint, steel, and tinder, and knew that I could go there to obtain them to start a fire should I by chance be without them on my own person.
Whilst my house was in course of construction I had not been idle about a thousand and one other things, but I had let nothing of importance interfere with this—to me—imperative duty. After my house was all finished I commenced setting out round about it, at about fifty paces distant, a species of alder, which I noticed grew rapidly and thickly, and which I foresaw would in a very few years entirely conceal my habitation.When I had gotten things well about me, I found by my journal that I was in the month of March,—in other words, that the summer had passed and that I had been none too soon in preparing myself for the winter, which was yet to visit me.
Make a hatchet of my iron hammer. Make matches and utensils for house. Team of goats, chairs, table, etc. Birch-bark canoe. Arrangements for winter.
I havesaid that when the Hermitage was finished the summer had passed away. Let me describe what the weather had been, and something concerning the climate and fruits and plants that had been coming to maturity, whilst I was hard at work on my house.
I found the summer days often hot, but never very unpleasantly so. I experienced the usual amount of rainy weather that it would be natural to find in a similar latitude in the northern hemisphere. There were days, of course, in which it was very hot, and there were other days in which large quantities of rain fell, but upon the whole the climate was delightful, more like that of the inland sea in southern Japan than anything else to which I can compare it. The island was singularly free from fogs and mists, but then I might reasonably look for these later in the season. When the day was very sultry, I had always the beautiful sandy basin of Stillwater Cove to bathe in. So far I had nothing to complain of on this score, and felt confident that the winter would be mildand short. It was about this time that I felt the need of more tools, and especially a hatchet, which I finally concluded to make out of my hammer, which, be it remembered, I had constructed out of the boat's anchor. I took this hammer, and by repeated heatings and beating with a piece of the remaining shank, I forged it into the shape of a hatchet, still leaving the eye as it was when used for a hammer. I then went to the place where I had been cast on shore, and procured some clay like that from which I had made my lamp tower, and formed some rough crucibles by burning them in hot wood fires. Into one of these I put my hatchet-head and filled round about it with small pieces of charcoal and slips of the skin of my goats and small pieces of unburned, soft wood, and carefully sealed up the orifice with a quantity of the moist clay, and cast the crucible into a hot fire; not hot enough to fuse the iron, however, and kept it there, watching it carefully from time to time, nearly three days, when I dragged it out of the flames, broke open the crucible, and took out my hatchet-head, converted into excellent steel of superior hardness and temper. I soon procured a soft species of stone as a whetstone, and by the labor of a few hours brought the edge to a fine degree of sharpness, and, having fitted a handle by means of my knife, I had a splendid instrument to aid me. No mortal ever looked upon the works of his own hands with more admiration than did I upon my steel hatchet. Many things which I had not before deemed possible I could now attempt. After Ihad made my hatchet I commenced many improvements round about me. I made several trips to my vegetable garden, and saw with the utmost satisfaction that all my seeds had sprouted, and I supplied myself with all kinds of vegetables during the whole season. I took great care to preserve carefully a great plenty of the seeds of each species, and thought more of that than enjoying them, but they were so plenty that I had ample of nearly all for food. My wheat, however, I saved every kernel of for sowing next year.
I had by this time several very tame goats tied up about the hermitage, and I made up my mind to break a span or two of them to harness, and for this purpose, as I could not construct wheels, I made a sled by bending two small limbs in the shape I desired, and fastening them by cross pieces, all of which I held together by straps of manilla lashings and by holes burned with a hot nail from one part into the other, into which I drove small pegs of hard, seasoned wood, and finally turned out quite a respectable sled, about twice as large as a common boy's sled, and the runners much wider, so as not to sink into the soil. To this I attached my four goats, making the harness out of the hides of those that I had killed, which I sewed together in good shape with strong manilla twine by means of my bradawl, making real good, strong work. The traces I made by laying up small strands of the manilla rope, and ended by turning out four sets of breast-plate harnesses; strong and durable, and easilyadjusted.
I found very little difficulty in breaking my team into drawing this sled, and by means of it I brought home many useful acquisitions for my winter's use, but chiefly coal from my coal mine, which was about two miles distant. I used to carry my sled across Rapid River, below the falls, and then drive over my team upon a sort of rocky causeway that I had built so that they did not have to tread very deep in the water, and then, harnessing them up, I used to start for the mine, and by means of the anchor-fluke, I dug out easily enough coal in a short time to load my sled, and dragged it home to the river, whence I transported it across in a basket of willow twigs that I had made in my leisure moments. In this way, before winter, I had at least two tons of coal near the door-way of the hermitage, all handy for winter use. With this same sled and team, I gathered also a large amount of wood, which I could now cut into proper lengths with my hatchet. I constructed of small stones and mortar in one side of my large fire-place, a sort of grate, with a chimney made of sections of pottery pipe manufactured of clay from the landing place, that led up into the main chimney, in which I could burn my coal if I wished to, or make a wood fire beside it. I found very little difficulty in making several clumsy but useful vessels of clay, which I baked successfully and glazed with salt; my book of useful arts and sciences giving me an idea how to do it. My next task was tomake matches, and the information necessary for this I also procured from my book. The wood I easily obtained by splitting up small, thin sections of well-seasoned pine with my hatchet, and these again I sub-divided into matches with my knife. I then caught a quantity of fish with my harpoon, which I had no difficulty in doing at any time, especially the small dog-shark species, and chopped up the bones of the head with my hatchet, placing them at a distance from my habitation. These I allowed to putrify till they were luminous with phosphorus, which I gathered carefully in the night-time by separating it from the putrid mass and carefully pressing it. I then procured some turpentine from the resinous trees near to me, and made a mixture of sulphur, phosphorus, and turpentine, which I heated, and into which I dipped each match singly, and laid it aside to dry. I afterwards dipped each into a melted solution of pure spruce gum, very thin, to preserve them from the weather. I made several attempts before I was successful, but at last I obtained the right proportions and made me a stock of matches that worked well if they were used with care, and if the weather was not too damp, when I was often driven to the use of my flint and steel. For winter provisions I visited, with my sled and team, the sweet-potato fields, and laid in a large stock, also picking a quantity of the tobacco plant and curing it for my own use, and this was my greatest solace in my loneliness.
I found upon the island a species of gourd, and I soon had in my home a set of these useful utensils, which, by dividing, I also made into bowls and saucers. I also, from Breakwater ledge, procured any number of the large deep mussel-shells, nearly a foot in length, which were useful as receptacles for all sorts of things.
I found no difficulty, by a treatment which I found in my book, in preserving, by means of tannin procured from the inner bark of a species of scrub oak with which the island abounded, all the skins of my goats, and I soon gathered together a stock of both tanned and untanned ones, some with the hair on and some with it removed. I hated to attack my friends the seals, and yet it was about this time that I made a trip across the island and killed ten of them for the purpose of procuring their skins, which I added to my stock.
I found no difficulty, by means of my knife, in cutting out quite a respectable pair of trousers, and a sort of hunting jacket from the goat-skins; but the sewing of them together was a harder task. Still, before winter set in, I was clothed in quite a nice buckskin suit, and had, with my seal-skins and goat-skins with the hair left on, the withal to make at any time a winter suit that would protect me from the cold, so that I had that trouble off my mind. As for shoes, I easily made me a pair of moccasins of the goat-skin, with the hair side within, which were very comfortable and useful. I also from my skins made me a much more useful and ornamental cap to replace the one of rushes that I had worn throughout thesummer.
I also made me a nice tobacco pouch, and several other useful articles of skin, including a sort of game bag, which I carried over my shoulder by a broad skin band; this latter was especially useful to me. I also made from my clay several useful but rather clumsy pipe-heads, and with a reed stem I was fitted on this score and had no more fears about breaking my old clay one. For meat for the winter I laid in large stocks of my dried or jerked goat's flesh, and I had little fears on this score, as I could always procure fresh meat now, when I desired it, for my goats had begun to propagate already. From them I already obtained milk, in larger quantities than I had any use for, but had too many things to think of, of more importance than to try at this time to make cheese. I caught in the river large quantities of a species of herring, and also a few fine salmon, which visited the river, but only for a short time, being unable to ascend the falls. All of these I cured by smoking, by building a hut round about them and keeping them for a long time in the densest smoke by burning green wood underneath them. I cured also in this way some few hams of my goats.
After having gotten these things about me, I tackled others of less importance, perhaps, but necessary for my comfort. In one of my excursions to the coal-mine I discovered what I felt convinced was limestone, and upon bringing a piece home, and testing it by fire, I found I was correct, so here I had all the lime I should ever needfor any purpose, easily procured by burning the stone and gathering up the residue. I now commenced upon the interior of my house, and in the first place made myself a nice hammock of four goat-skins, with the hair inside, which I stretched from the central post of my room to one of the window jambs. I then went to work upon a bed, and cut first with my hatchet four uprights with forked ends, like the letter Y, from as many limbs, about four inches in diameter and three feet high; into these forks I placed two long poles, some two inches in diameter, and fastened them there securely by means of manilla strands. I then braced the ends and sides by lashing, both lengthwise and endwise, poles about one foot from the ground, which kept the whole in shape, and although it was not so strong as if dovetailed together by a cabinet-maker, it answered all purposes, and when pushed up against the wall, in the corner, was further supported upon two sides. Across this I stretched cords of manilla, and over them I laid long, soft, pliable rushes, and over them again seal-skins, with the hair side upward; and I had at last a capital bed. My chairs did not give me so much trouble, for I found two old roots of trees, that, with a little hacking off here and there with my hatchet and a goat skin for a seat, made as easy chairs as any body ever sat in; of course they were too heavy to be moved about, but for all practical purposes they were perfect, and I could rest in them with the greatest comfort and ease.
With my clay I easily baked some shallow dishes with a handle, into which I poured my sharks' liver oil and fitted with pith wick and had no want of light. One of these lamps I suspended from the ridgepole in nearly the centre of the room, just clear of the upright, and two or three feet above my head, fitted with three wicks, which, when lit at night gave me a pleasant and abundant light. I made favorites of one or two of my young goats, and used to allow them to occupy the house with me, and became much attached to them, and in the evening when not too busy, amused myself by teaching them to walk on their hind legs, and other playful tricks which seemed for a moment to make me forget my loneliness. I was not satisfied with what I had yet done for the interior of my house, and I therefore went to work, and made myself a table on the same plan as the bed, except that it was higher and much lighter, and across this I stretched a large section of birch bark which I stripped from a tree; this table pleased me so much that I went to work and made a lighter one still for my ink, pens, and books, etc., retaining the other for eating purposes. In fact, before the winter was ended I had four of these tables in the house, which were very handy, and yet after all were not difficult to make. For a door, I cut several canes and lashed them together with manilla rope strands, and hung it by the same material, but it would not open or shut very well, and I was forced to lift it carefully, but then I only closed and opened it once a day, morning and night. The floor of my house troubled me more than anythingelse, but finally I covered it with a coating of clay that I brought on the sled by repeated trips to the clay field; this I mixed with a quantity of lime and sand and put it down whilst moist, and it formed a sort of cement, and soon became hard and firm, but it was always dusty to a degree and not as clean as I could have wished, but it did very well,—at least, I could think of nothing to improve it.
It was at this time, when I seemed to have gotten everything well about me for the winter, which was sensibly approaching, for it was now the month of May, and some of the days had been quite chilly and unpleasant, that I was taken with the insane idea of building a boat. I do not know for what earthly purpose I desired one, except, possibly, I might coast along in Stillwater Cove or the margin of Perseverance Bay and if I found anything that I needed I could transport it better in the boat than any other way. I was well aware that I had no tools to make a boat with, but for that very reason I was determined to make one. I had made up my mind, if I must play the part of Robinson Crusoe, that I would at least prove to myself, if to no one else, that thousands of things can be accomplished by a little ingenuity and contrivance that seem difficult upon first view. For instance, I thought at once of several ways in which I could make a boat: one, by hollowing out a log with my hatchet and by means of fire; another by making a light frame of twigs and stretching skins over it; or still another andvery much the best method, by taking the bark from a birch tree and making an Indian birch-bark canoe. This latter was the easiest and simplest, and a plan that I knew something about, so I went about in the woods till I found a splendid great birch that pleased my eye, some two feet or more in diameter, with a bark seemingly without a flaw. It took me nearly a day to build up a kind of platform of wood and stones, so as to reach high enough up the trunk of the tree to make a circular incision with my knife at about fifteen feet from the ground, and then one perpendicular till within about two feet of the ground, where I made another round about the tree, leaving me a strip of bark some thirteen feet in length. This I forced off, using great care not to tear or split it, by means of a series of wedges which I forced in under the bark with my hatchet. At last the piece lay before me upon the ground, and the worst part of my task was done, for I soon brought the ends together, filling them first with melted pitch, and lashed them with thin withes of a kind of willow which I split for the purpose, the same as the Indians do; and having sewed and lashed up both ends, after cutting the bark with my knife in the right shape, I split up with my hatchet long, limber, thin pieces of a species of ash, in the green state, something like hoops to a flour barrel, but somewhat wider and stronger, and with these cut in different lengths, and inserted within the bark, I gave the canoe its shape, the longest, widest, and strongest onesbeing in the centre, from which they shortened towards each end. Inside of the gunwale the whole length on each side I stretched a pliable cane pole, rolling the bark round about it and sewing the whole down with manilla strands and green withes of willow.
It was amazing to see what a beautiful, light, and graceful boat I had produced with only about a week's labor; one that I could put upon my head and carry towards the water with ease. I soon, by means of my hatchet and knife, fashioned out a paddle, and my canoe was complete. I launched her in Stillwater Cove, and she floated like a duck, and was besides of a beautiful model, and, as I well knew, would stand terrific weather if properly handled, being one of the best sea-boats in the world, not excepting the famous Nantucket whale-boats. I was delighted with my success.
I did not gather all these things about me without many bitter hours of loneliness and despair; but their constructions and the reading of my book, which I consulted almost nightly, kept me often from miserable repinings. I felt that I was gaining, and that I had not yet done making nature, ingenuity, and industry improve my condition and increase my comforts.
Make chairs, and arrange my house, seal-skins, and goat-skins. Provide provisions for winter. Discover wild grapes, and make wine and vinegar. Find potassium, or saltpetre. Make gunpowder, and by means of my compass discover iron. Thoughts of the future.
Thecompletion of my canoe, which I named the "Fairy," was a great delight to me, and I made several trips in her along the coast in Stillwater Cove, and made an exploration near the place where I had first landed. Somewhat into the interior of the island, I came upon what was a great discovery for me,—although I had the seeds amongst my stores, and had already planted some,—and that was grapes, in large and abundant clusters, growing wild and naturally. Here was both food and drink for me, and they were at this time in their prime. From them I could make vinegar, wine, and raisins. I gathered a large quantity, which I placed in the canoe and transported to the Hermitage, and although late in season hung up many bunches to dry in the still quite warm sun, and from the remainder I extracted the juice by pressing them between my hands and catching the liquor in several of my numerous earthen jars. The flavor of these grapes was a little wild, but pleasant and agreeable. I knew that fermentation would take place, and that in time I should have a light claretwine, and thereafter good wine vinegar. To cause fermentation, and to improve the flavor, I put a piece of goat's flesh into each vessel, and covered up the mouths with earthen covers that I had made to each.
I was no longer in any fear about expending my manilla rope, for I had some time since begun to use strips of rawhide of the goats skins for lashings, than which nothing could be better, and I also cut many skins into very fine strips after they were tanned, which served me for smaller strings, and even thread for rough sewing. For finer sewing I often used the sinews of these creatures, and I had by this time converted several of my nails into steel, after having pierced them with an eye, and by grinding them down and polishing them upon stones I had made several very good sail-needles, which were extremely useful, and it was a small matter to make a "palm," or sailor's thimble, from the skin of a goat, to go upon the right hand, to force the needle through any material, exactly the same as is done by sailors in all their stitching and sail-making. In place of the little round thimble fixed into the centre of the palm, to receive the head of the needle in pushing, I inserted a flint-stone with a roughened surface, which answered the purpose very well, and I could now do all kinds of rough sewing without the use of my awl, which had been a slow and laborious manner of proceeding. From this time forth I had no difficulty in sewing my jackets and trousers with strong sinews, which held them firmly together in the seams. Itis scarcely credible how many things I gathered around about me that were useful as well as ornamental.
Before I had done completely furnishing my house I set about making me a movable chair, as well as the easy ones that I had made of old roots, and this I did by means of my hatchet. I procured four smooth limbs of trees, two of which were about four feet in length and two about one foot six inches. The latter were to serve as the front legs, the former as the back legs and also the back of the chair. These limbs were about two inches in diameter, as I did not wish the chair to be heavy, but light and portable. Into all these uprights I bored holes at proper distances by means of my anchor shank, heated to a red heat, which I thrust through them, and cutting smaller round limbs for rungs I forced them into the holes made by the hot iron, and soon had the skeleton of a nice light chair made to my hand. I was so pleased with it that I set about another immediately, and soon had it also finished. It was not at all a difficult job for a mechanic. For the seat of these chairs, upon one I wove rushes thick and strong, and upon the other I laced a fine piece of seal skin with the fur left on. They were both useful and comfortable, but rather straight in the back, like the old ancestral chairs that I used to see in the attics in Vermont.
I had got tired by this time shooting at the wild pigeons with my arrows, and found no difficulty in capturing all I wanted by means of snares, made from the hair of mygoats, which I set at the watering-place whenever I wanted any of them for food, and gave over firing ten or fifteen shots before I could kill one, when I could capture a dozen in an hour should I need them.
I took down my goat-skins at the windows and replaced them by thin skins of the same animal, almost parchment, which gave some light through them, and fastened them up with thorns, driven into the wood, for the winter, the open door giving me, with their subdued light, enough to see by so as to perform all the work that I wanted to inside, and when night came I had my lamps in full blast, for oil cost me nothing.
I made, before winter set in, several excursions, in all directions, and especially one in the direction of the mountain that lay upon my right hand, only about a mile from the Hermitage, when I went to the coal-mine. This mountain I made up my mind to ascend, and see if I could not make some new discovery. I fought my way up its steep sides till I had arrived at nearly one-half the distance, apparently, from its summit, when I was halted by the appearance of a small brook that trickled past my feet. I noticed that the water and the stones were both of a brown, rusty color, and it flashed upon me that it must be caused by iron. If I could only find that substance I thought that I could be almost happy, even in my solitude. What could I not do with that metal to aid me? the handling of it would be to me child's play. I could make of it cast-steel, and of cast-steel all manner of toolsby means of moulds. This working in iron had been my trade, and I had no occasion to consult my book to know how to avail myself of it should I be so fortunate as to find it. I followed this little trickling brook, not over six inches wide, till it branched into two smaller ones, and, still following the smaller one, traced it till I came to a place where, in a bubbling spring, the water issued from the mountain's side. The discoloration of all the stones near me proved to me that I was near iron, and that the mountain whence the tiny streams issued contained it; but in how large masses I could not judge.
I left my little stream and looked about me carefully, to the right and left, for I did not want to pierce the mountain whence the water issued, as I wanted a dryer spot to make my explorations, and knew that if there was iron it would be found near by the brook as well as in the exact spot whence the spring burst forth. I finally, at a little distance to the left hand and rather down the hill, found a place that looked as if it might prove a good locality to prosecute my search. The ground was covered with boulders, of different sizes, and there was quite an opening on the mountain side, the undergrowth being only shrubs and plants, with the trees and groves below me in larger groups. In this opening I set to work, turning over such boulders as I could lift, and there were many that by aid of a handspike, cut from a sapling with my hatchet, I was able to remove and send bounding down the mountain side. I scratched into the side ofthe mountain in this way till I had made quite a little excavation, but I was obliged to give it up and return home for my pickaxe, as I called my anchor-fluke, and with this instrument, and carrying my dinner with me, I attacked the mountain the next day and made more progress. After working some little, in an irregular way, into the mountain side,—for I had to avoid the heavier boulders and solid stone,—I came upon a crystallized mass between two rocks that seemed to be exuding from the mountain side. It looked something like common salt, and I put some of it in my mouth to see if I could recognize what it was by the taste. It had hardly reached my palate before I sank down upon the earth where I stood, with the excitement of the knowledge of the discovery that I felt sure I had made. My sense of taste told me plainly that I had found saltpetre, and saltpetre meantgunpowder!GUNPOWDER!and gunpowder meant strength to protect myself with and power to blow the mountain to atoms to come at my iron should nature try to resist me by enfolding it concealed in its bosom. I grasped my pickaxe and picked out quite a lump of my precious discovery, and started hastily for home.
It was too late to do much on that day, as my usual household cares and the milking of my goats and getting supper took up most of my time; besides I wanted to consult my book as to the proportions in which to mix my ingredients to make gunpowder. I knew nearly the right proportions, and felt confident that I could get it exactlyby repeated experiment, but I also knew that my book would give it to me exactly and save me much loss of time in this direction. I knew also that willow or alder made the best charcoal for gunpowder, and, thank God, there was no lack of these trees upon the island. If I obtained gunpowder I could make some kind of a gun, for I knew that, in ancient history, cannon even had been made ofleather, and fired repeatedly without bursting. I could certainly make a tube of some kind, so strongly reinforced with skin and twine and raw hide, that it would stand the discharge of a small quantity of powder without bursting, and if I found iron I would soon solve all the difficulties about a gun barrel, let me once get hold of the raw material in any quantity.
A thought struck me in this connection. I would soon prove whether there was iron in the mountain side by taking my compass there on the next trip, and seeing if it was drawn from the true north towards the mountain side, and if so, in what direction: this would tell me how to dig towards my treasure, and not waste time by going in any wrong direction. This seemed a happy thought, and I was jubilant over having conceived it. The only thing that I did to help things along for the morrow was to pick out carefully, from my wood-fire ashes, small pieces of charcoal that I thought would serve my purpose, and to pick off from several pieces of my coal a quantity of sulphur all ready for my experiments. The next morning I set to work in good earnest, and having discovered the proportionsin which to add my different ingredients, I soon had the pulverized charcoal, sulphur, and saltpetre together, and then, moistening the mass slightly, I kneaded them together till they were completely incorporated. I then, by a slow heat, dried my gunpowder cake upon hot stones that I heated at the fire and then carried to a distance, first carefully dusting them, and placed my gunpowder paste upon them in an earthen jar to be dried. As my cake was not very large, I was not very many hours in doing this; and as I knew that I ought not to use any iron or stone in pulverizing the mass, whilst this was going on, I procured a smooth rolling-pin made from the round branch of a tree, and smoothed quite a surface on the upper side of a large fallen tree with my hatchet, so that I had a sort of table to roll my powder upon. Again, to prevent all accidents, when my cake was thoroughly dry, I carried it bit by bit, having broken it by a blow of my wooden rolling-pin, to my fallen-tree table, where I crushed it under the roller, putting pieces no larger than my thumb-nail under the roller at one time, so if there should be an explosion, it would be on so small a scale that it would not injure me in the least, should it take place. As fast as this small amount was pulverized, I carried it again to a distance and placed it in a gourd for safe keeping, but I pulverized very little before I interrupted my task to rush with quite a handful to my fire, and, taking a pinch, I cast it into the flame, and, puff, puff, puff, it ignited as it struck the fire, just as the particlesused to do in my boyhood days. Even this did not, however, satisfy me. I laid the rest down upon the floor, and standing at a distance with a coal in one end of a cleft stick, touched it, when it exploded as quickly and completely as any ever turned out by any mill. One more proof and I would be convinced. I ran and got from the sea-shore one of the large shells for which I have no name, but which I had formerly used as lamp reservoirs, and going to my powder table, soon pulverized enough to pour a handful into it, and to close up the lips with moist clay, except one orifice; to this I laid a piece of manilla soaked in the dampened powder as a slow match, and having set fire to the same, and retired to a safe distance, I awaited the result. It seemed an eternity before the slow match burned to the orifice, but when I had almost given up hope, in one instant, with a loud report, the sea-shell was burst into a thousand fragments. I was successful; power and strength were added to my resources. I lay down upon the sand by the sea-shore where I had retired to watch the explosion, and fell into a brown study, which enwrapped me, body and soul, for many hours, till I was called to myself again by the decreasing light of the setting sun. The next day I sallied forth, armed with my compass, for the mountain side, and upon arrival I noted the direction of the magnetic north by my compass, the card of which I had released from its packing and set upon its pivot. Having carefully ascertained this, I entered the small hole that I had made in the mountain side, and heldthe compass in several places against the earth, when the needle turned perceptibly away from the magnetic north and pointed in towards the interior of the mountain, and by several experiments I found out in just what direction I ought to advance, and by the attraction of the needle I felt sure that the ore, which I now was convinced was there, could not be very far distant from where I stood, and that one large blast would lay it open to me. I therefore went to work and gathered quite a quantity of the saltpetre and started for home to make my gunpowder for the blast that was to open up to me my long-sought treasure, valuable to me far beyond any other metal on this earth in the circumstances in which I was placed.
In five days' time I found myself in possession of over twenty pounds, I should judge, of good gunpowder. I found by my book that it was not at all peculiar to find potassium as I had found mine, and further, that to purify it I needed to mix it with equal parts of wood-ashes, and then add water and allow it to stand a few hours, and then draw off the lye and place it for three days in the sun, in shallow vessels, to evaporate, and then boil down what was left, to procure absolutely pure saltpetre, all of which I did. And when I had manufactured my powder, and observed by experiment that it was much sharper and louder in explosions than before, showing the improvement of purifying the saltpetre, I placed the whole lot in my goatskin bag and started for the mountain.Arriving at my excavation, I looked about to see what I could do to make my explosion effectual and do the most good. By examination, I found that there was quite a space between the two inner boulders that obstructed my way, and a sort of vent-hole that led, I knew not where. Into this I commenced to pour my powder, and used up over two-thirds of all I possessed before I saw any result. Finally, the crevice, just as I began to despair and thought I had thrown away and lost it all, showed that it was full by refusing to receive any more. As soon as I noticed this, I knew that I had an excellent chance to make a good blast, and I therefore pushed in the powder in sight, and was able, by shoving it downwards, to add at least two pounds more. I then carefully inserted a strand of manilla previously soaked in wet powder, and dried, into the mouth of this crevice, and well down into the powder; I then stuffed the whole with small pebbles and moist earth, and finally placed quite a large rock against the vent, and, with a prayer for success I lighted the fuse and retired to a safe distance to watch the effect. As before, it seemed as if it would never ignite, and I waited and waited, taking care to be well distant and well sheltered behind a large boulder, till finally, with a dull, low, smothered noise, the charge exploded. I was disappointed, and was afraid that my powder was too weak or ill-made, but when I arrived at the spot I was amazed at the execution that had taken place: the whole roof had been uplifted and thrown open, andthe boulders that had resisted my further entrance cast to one side, and the whole side of the mountain pierced and opened in a wonderful manner. I dashed into the opening that had been made, and the first fragment that my hand closed upon was pure iron ore. I was like one mad with joy. I acted as insanely as I had once or twice before since landing upon the island, and danced and sang, and ended by sitting down and bursting into tears. Upon further examination I was inclined to believe that the whole mountain was composed of iron, and that I only needed to pierce the crust in any direction to get the precious metal. My discovery lay just about one mile from my home, and quite accessible.
I found that the blast had brought to view quite a large surface, on one side, of my saltpetre, whilst further to the southward appeared the iron ore in masses that I could pry out with my pickaxe. After having feasted my eyes long enough upon my treasure, I started down the mountain, smoothing the pathway wherever it was rough, and opening up a way for my team and sled to bring down the ore to the hermitage.
I absolutely saw no end to the improvements that I could make now that I had iron to work with. I could do anything within reason, and make anything I chose to make. A thousand and one schemes of escape by its means rose up before me. If at this moment I could have had the companionship of my fellow-kind, I should, I think, have been unable to ask any blessing to be added to my lot.Here was I in evidently one of the finest climates of the earth, with everything about me even now to sustain life, and with many of its luxuries, and with the foundation laid for many more.
Upon a close examination of the specimen that I had brought away with me in my bag, home to the Hermitage, and by consultation with my book, I felt convinced that I had discovered what is called magnetic iron; that is, iron ore that is most universally dispersed over the earth. The action of the compass added to this belief, and the limestone formation was exactly fitted to this kind of ore, which is the same as is generally called the Swedish iron ore, one of the best-known irons in the world. The color was a sort of black iron shade, and the ore brittle and attracted by the magnet of my compass; whereas, if my iron ore had been hematite it would have been of a dull steel color, and probably without magnetic properties.
How I revelled in what I was going to do. First, I was to build my kiln and put the ore through that to purify it of sulphur, arsenic, water, &c., then to a blast furnace, to be heated with a flux of limestone and coal, and in the melted form run into pigs in the sand of the smelting-room. Once in this melted form I could make, from moulds, chisels, axes, hatchets, plane-irons, and saws, by a treatment of the melted iron ore. By means of blasts of cold air I could change the whole mass into Bessemer steel. With the tools I have named, in my hand, I could go to work at once to erect a sawmill on Rapid River,near the Hermitage, and with the greatest ease saw out all the plank I should want for any purpose under the sun. Then my thoughts strayed away to nautical instruments, some kind of a quadrant, then the latitude and longitude of my island, and then a chart on Mercator's projection from my Epitome; and then turning-lathes, iron boats, electric wire, gunmaking, steam engine and propeller boat, torpedoes for defence, and all the means to escape from this miserable solitude. All these things, I say, ran through my head like wildfire. Nothing was now impossible. I had got my genie, and I was determined to make him work. The weather was getting cooler and cooler, and one or two storms had already warned me of the approach of winter. The leaves began to fall, and the whole island commenced to look dreary and forsaken; the grass, however, retained its freshness in a remarkable degree.
It was in the latter part of May that I discovered my iron ore, and I knew that this was the same month comparatively as November would be in the northern hemisphere; and although there had as yet been no actual frost, much less any ice or snow, yet I saw signs, not to be disregarded, that the weather would be more severe and colder before the spring days would come, and yet evidently I had not much to fear from a very great degree of cold, as my theory concerning the climate had so far been singularly correct. I commenced, therefore, at once, without loss of time, to collect my ore by means of my team of goats, and transport it from the mountainto Rapid River. I did not bring it over as I had the coal, for I determined to erect my blast furnace and kiln on the further side, and opposite to my home, as being more convenient in many respects.
I worked hard myself, and worked my team hard, in bringing to Rapid River both the iron ore and coal, and also quite a large quantity of the potassium, which I carefully took into the hermitage till I should need it to make more powder. It did not take very many trips, however, after all, to get the iron ore that I should use during the winter, at least, but the coal to smelt it took me longer. After I had gathered all of each that I thought I should need I gave my goats a rest, and set to work to make arrangements for my smelting-furnace, kiln, and smelting-room, and how I proceeded I will now go on to relate.
Make a mould for bricks. Build a brick-kiln and make bricks. Build a smelting-house, blast-furnace, kiln for cleansing ore. Meditations. Build water-wheel and fan-wheel, and set my machinery for an air-blast to reduce the ore.
Inthe first place I went to work, and with my knife and hatchet fashioned out two quite smooth pieces of wood about four feet long, three inches wide, and perhaps one inch thick. I smoothed these on one side with a great deal of care, and finished them off by means of dry shark's skin, which stood me admirably in place of sandpaper. I placed these two slips of wood parallel to each other, about four inches apart, and fastened them in that position by means of blocks of wood of the same size and thickness, placed between them at equal distances of about six inches, which subdivided the whole into eight equal compartments, fastening the cross-pieces in by means of hardwood pegs driven into holes in the side, made by a red-hot nail. When my labor was finished my affair looked like a set of pigeon holes, such as are used in an office, except they were open on both sides and had no back, and each compartment was four inches wide, three inches deep, and six inches long. This was an insignificant looking thing in itself, and, except the smoothing of the inside in all parts, was not a labor of any great magnitude, and yetby means of this instrument I intended to make a great stride forward in civilization. The thing that I had made was a press or mould for bricks. I do not know the technical name, but I knew that if I placed this instrument upon the level hewn side of any fallen tree for a table, and filled each compartment with clay properly moistened, I should at each filling and emptying turn out eight equal-sized, unburned bricks, all ready for the kiln.
To enable me to prosecute this work I moved for a few days to the landing-place, where clay in abundance was to be found, and where my old hut would give me shelter. When I say I moved there for a few days I should say that I came home to the Hermitage every second day to care for my flock of goats and look after my household cares. Upon my arrival at the clay pits I soon set to work, and my clay was so pure that I had little trouble in moulding it; and, after having fixed a smooth plane upon a fallen tree as a table for the bottom of my mould, by levelling the same with my hatchet, smoothing with my knife, and finishing with my shark-skin sandpaper, I set to work moulding, getting my water at a short distance inland from a boggy piece of ground abounding in springs, which existed right under my nose, a little to the left, when I was so anxiously distilling water upon my first arrival at this very spot. I transported this water, by means of gourds and my canister, easily, to the clay pits, and soon had a fine array of bricks, the moulding being simple, and I found I could work quite fast; and bymeans of my knife and a sharp clam-shell or two, and with a large mussel-shell for a shovel, I had no difficulty in filling the mould quickly and trimming off all superfluous clay very rapidly. As fast as I finished one set I dashed the mould over with fresh water, so that the next lot moulded would slip out easily after being carefully pressed in. As fast as I made the bricks I allowed them to lie for a day or two in the air till they hardened, and then commenced to pile them up in shape to be burned and perfected into bricks. As a boy I had often examined brick-kilns, and I knew that I must make, or rather leave, a sort of oven under them, and, throughout the whole pile, apertures through which the flames and heat would penetrate so as to bake the whole mass. I built my kiln with care and on the above principles, and in less than a week had a goodly array of bricks all built up in complete form. I then with my goat team drew to the kiln all the old dead wood I could manage, and with my hatchet cut it into suitable lengths to be thrust into my ovens, for I had three of them in the whole pile, and with great glee set fire to them all one evening, and saw that they had a good draft and burned fiercely. I worked like ten men to keep these fires perpetually going, and, prepared as I had been in the commencement by laying in a large supply, I, with the aid of the team of goats, was able to keep up with them and feed them regularly. I do not remember now how many days I burned these bricks, but it was very easy to examine them and see when they were sufficiently hardenedand burned; and when they suited my eye, and I experimented upon several by breaking them open, I let the fires gradually go down, and found myself in possession of a nice stack of bricks, fit for any purpose. These, as they cooled, I transported in the canoe to the landing opposite to the Hermitage, where I had determined to arrange all my appurtenances for smelting the iron ore.
In the first place I commenced a house or workshop, about twenty feet long and twenty wide, by building up walls of stone, as I had done for my Hermitage, but in a much rougher and coarser manner, without foundations, and very much lower, not over six feet in height. Over this I erected the usual bamboo roof and rushes for thatch, with one opening for a window, and one for an entrance, in opposite sides. The floor of this room I covered with pure white sea-sand for one half, and the other half with soft, pulverized, dry, clayey loam that would do me for castings. In one end of this smelting-house, as I called it, with the feeding-place outside, I built, in an aperture in the wall left for that purpose, a solid blast furnace of my bricks, which I lined with my pottery cement, and made in every way complete to receive the ore and smelt it. This was to me, except the manual labor, boy's play. The opening for the fused iron was within the smelting-house, and I could run the ore on to the sandy floor in channels made for that purpose, and thus procure my pig iron or Bessemer steel as the case might be. In this blast-furnace I left several channels tobe connected in some way with a blast of cold air, for without this blast I could not of course expect to smelt the ore. To improve the draught, and to have Nature help me all possible, I built the chimney or cone of the blast furnace at least twenty feet high, of bricks, tapering the same in a cone form from the base to the apex. I worked upon this matter like a beaver, and felt well satisfied with my work when it was done. My smelting-house stood quite near to Rapid River Falls on the further side, for I had foreseen that I should have to use some power to get up speed to move some kind of a fan wheel, and I knew that I could only do it by means of water, and had therefore, for that very reason, placed the house near to the bank and had built the blast-furnace on the end of the house nearest the river.
After finishing my blast-furnace completely I left it to dry and harden, and set to work at my roasting-kiln, on which my ore was to be first purified and cleansed. This was comparatively an easy affair, and was made wholly of bricks, underneath which large fires could be built, and through the numerous interstices the flame would reach the ore placed upon the bed above; the flame, after passing through and over the ore, to be carried out at the other end of the bed by means of a brick chimney about twelve feet in height, high enough to give a good draught.
As soon as I had my kiln done I commenced drying it by lighting a fire under it, and found that it had a good draught and would answer my purpose admirably. I thenwent to work again with my team of goats, and dragged near to the smelting-house all the dead wood—and there were large quantities of it—that I could lay hands upon, that was anyway near or convenient. Being now in the month of June, I found the mornings often quite snappishly cold, and was glad of a little fire often in my home. But I worked so hard in these days that I scarcely had time, after finishing my supper, to smoke a pipe of tobacco before I was ready to throw myself upon my seal-skin bed and fall asleep. In these times I worked so hard and persistently that I often cooked enough corned meat to last me a week at a time, and could always draw upon my stores of salted fish and smoked salmon, and goats' hams, vegetables, etc., whenever I needed them. Of course many days I was unable to work in the open air on account of rain and storms. Those were the times that I took to improve my clothing, patch up my moccasins, and make up warm skins for the cold weather; look after my little flock of goats, which often strayed away short distances, but by being careful to feed them each night regularly on a little delicacy of some kind, mostly sweet potatoes, they always came back to the shelter of a nice warm shed that I had constructed for them near my home, made on exactly the same principle as my hut at the landing-place.
It would take too long to enumerate the various little articles that I had gathered around about me, and how perfectly my mind was at rest on the following subjects:First, that I could not suffer for want of food, for I had enough and to spare of everything; amongst many others the following principal ones,—dried goats' flesh, jerked goats' flesh, smoked goats' flesh, smoked goats' hams, wild pigeons, eggs, fresh fish for the catching, smoked and salted herring and salmon, sweet potatoes, cabbages, turnips, beets, etc., vinegar, wine, salt, milk, etc. Second, that I had a large quantity of nice skins, both cured and uncured, of seals and goats, to last me a lifetime; with fuel, light, and covering against all contingencies, and tobacco for my solace. Third, that I felt confident and perfectly satisfied that the island was uninhabited and unknown, and I went to sleep each night without fear of being interrupted on the next day. My nerves had wholly regained their tone, and I was grown strong, rugged, and hearty, whilst my experiments with my iron ore and my hard work upon the smelting-house gave me the necessary incentives to keep me from thinking of my own sad fate. I saw such a future before me, could I have iron in all its forms ready to my hand, that I was kept in a state of excitement just right for my temperament, and was restrained thereby from gnawing at my own heart with bitter regrets which would avail me nothing. I do not mean to say that I did not have bitter and dreadful moments of despair and utter hopelessness, but these occurred usually in the evening when I felt my loneliness the greater than when I was at work in the open air. But I began to dispel this even by givinganother current to my thoughts, making my pet goats go through their little series of tricks to amuse me and draw me away from myself. A good smoke at my pipe, and a glass of quite fair claret wine used often at these times to freshen me up and dispel my mournful thoughts. When these would not work I used to seek oblivion from my thoughts by plunging into my "Epitome" and studying out some problem that would aid me in, at some future day, fixing the latitude of my island, or else amused myself by reading something from my book of useful arts and sciences that might be of service to me some time.
Up to this season of the year no snow had as yet fallen, but ice had skimmed the little fresh-water pools outside of the main river, and some few nights had been cold outside; but, thanks to God who had been so merciful to me, I was warmly clothed and housed, and had nothing to fear from wind or weather.
During some of the stormy days I puzzled over the problem of how I was to get blasts of air forced into my furnace. And this is how I did it eventually. I cleared away a small portion of the fall of Rapid River, so that the water rushed with great force through a sort of flume of about four feet in width and three feet deep. I secured and regulated this floor by means of a series of gates and pieces of wood that I drove into the soil on either side. I procured them by cutting a tree, about twelve inches in diameter, into sections of about five feet in lengthwith my hatchet, by infinite labor, and splitting them with hard-wood wedges into long rough clapboarding or scantling about an inch thick and I had no time to smooth them, but had to use them as they came to hand, rough from being split with the wedges; but as the wood was straight-grained I got quite a quantity of very fair pieces of board that suited my purpose, although not smoothed. I drove these, as I have said, into each side of the flume in the dam to protect the sides from being washed away, and arranged a sort of gate so as to keep all water from passing through when I so desired. It was a bungling sort of a job, and not very strong, but answered my present purposes quite well. I then went to work upon my water-wheel, which I intended to hang in this flume, and, by opening the gate above, allow the water to flow down upon it with great force and turn it, so as to obtain motion, and power to which to connect pulleys and wheels on the land side upon the axle of the wheel. I studied long over the formation of this wheel, and finally constructed it by taking for the axle a smooth, strong limb of a hard-wood tree, about four inches in diameter, and apparently perfectly circular in form. From this I stripped the bark, polished it with shark's skin, and cut it off so as to leave it about seven feet in length. I then, by means of rawhide and willow withes, fastened, at right angles to this axle, light but strong arms made of cane, extending about three feet in each direction from the main axle. These I again strengthened by means of crosspiecesparallel to the main axle, which I bound across the arms, and over these again lighter canes yet, crossing the whole fabric from the extremity of one arm to the base of another, till I had a framework of a wheel, light and fragile to be sure, but very tough and well bound together, and each withe and rawhide string set well taut and securely fastened in real sailor style,—and sailors can make immensely strong articles bound together only with string, the secret being that they know how to make each turn do its work, and how to fasten the whole securely. I sunk into the ground on each side of the flume a strong post of wood some eight inches in diameter, each ending at the top in two natural branches, or a crotch, like the letter Y, which I smoothed out by means of my knife and fire so as to receive the axle of my wheel and allow it to revolve in them. These posts I set in the ground very deep and very securely, and battered down stones around their foundation, and braced them also with other stakes driven into the ground near to them, at an angle, and lashed securely to them. Upon my framework of the wheel I tied on, with rawhides, slats or "buckets," as they are called, of my split clapboarding, to be acted upon by the water and cause the wheel to revolve. Outside the axle, upon the shore side, I fitted a wheel of cane, about three feet in diameter, constructed in the same way as the main wheel, but not more than six inches in width. This was to receive a belt to communicate the power and motion of the water-wheel to a series of pulliesthat I was yet to make. After getting the wheel in place, and the axle set in the crotches of the two uprights, I opened my gateway and saw with pleasure that it revolved very rapidly, evenly, and with great strength. I also observed that the paddles were submerged just as they ought to be, only about a foot in the water, and that the rest of the wheel revolved in air. I also discovered that I could regulate the speed exactly by letting a larger or smaller quantity of water into the flume by means of my gate. I did not do all this without infinite detail and hard work, and it was at least a month before my wheel was completed and hung in its position. This brought me into July, and now I commenced to see ice form in the smooth pools near the river, and once, upon the fifteenth, was visited with a severe snow storm, but a day or two of pleasant weather soon carried it off. There were days also in this month when storms arose and lashed the ocean into monstrous billows, and at these times I visited the breakwater and East Signal Point and looked upon its grandeur. These were the days in which I felt blue and dispirited. But I also knew that the winter must ere this have reached its greatest severity, and although it was now really cold and everything frost-bound, yet it was not like zero weather at home. There were more mild and pleasant days than cold and unpleasant ones. There was evidently a warm current of the ocean embracing the island and keeping the climate mild. I felt confident that cold weather would soon begone, and that I had nothing to fear on that account, for I found no difficulty in keeping myself perfectly warm at any time in the open air by a little exercise. As for my moccasins, they were warmer than any shoes I had ever worn, and my skin clothing was, even in this winter weather, uncomfortably warm, and on mild days I often used to change my sealskin coat that I had made myself for one of pliable goatskin leather without any hair upon it. My water-wheel I found was, although wonderfully light, of excellent strength, and when I constructed it I was well aware of the tough properties of the cane used in its formation, which might writhe and give, but would not break. I kept the axle down in the crotches or "journals" formed for it, by means of greased straps of rawhide, so that it could not jump upward, and yet would revolve easily without being bound or cramped. My next task was to connect my water-wheel with a series of pullies on the shore and near to the blast-furnace, so as to force a column of air into and through the ore that I intended to smelt, by means of the different channels that I had left for that purpose when building it, all of which ended or entered into one opening in the side nearest the water-wheel.
Near this opening I built, at about three feet distant, a little room completely of brick, about two feet wide and six feet high, with the narrow end pointing towards the opening in the blast-furnace that connected with all the interior air-channels that I had left when buildingit. This room I covered on top with flat stones firmly cemented down, and closed it up air-tight, except an opening left in the brickwork at the top, six inches in diameter. Opposite the opening into the blast-furnace, which was at the same height, and on the two sides of the structure, equidistant from the ground and the top, I left two similar holes in the brickwork, and opposite to them planted two stakes in the form of the letter Y. In other words, I constructed this building to contain a wheel similar to my water-wheel, about six feet in diameter, which was to revolve in air instead of water, and force a column into the blast-furnace. I should say that I made such a wheel with paddles and hung it in its bearings before putting on the top of flat stones or building up all around it. When completed I had a wheel enclosed in an air-tight place, the paddles of which would, when revolving, push the air into the opening left at the top of the end facing the blast-furnace. Around about the axle on each side the openings were not closed, purposely; for it was here that the machine was to suck in the air which it discharged into the blast-furnace opening by means of a tube made of goatskin which connected the two together. On the outside of the axle I built a small and very light wheel of cane, only a foot in diameter, to receive the pulley for the wheel on the axle of the water-wheel. I had only to connect these two together and my task was done. The two pulleys were distant about fifteen feet, andI had to make a band of goatskin, about three inches wide, over thirty feet in length, to connect the two. This I did by cutting strip after strip and sewing them strongly together in length till I completed my band. I had only to place this upon my pulleys, open the gate, let on the water, and the task would be finished. Having arranged everything so as to be all ready the next day, I got across the river on my stepping-stones, and went to my home to think matters over. I knew, as a mechanic, that the affair would work, and that I had much more power even than I had any need of. But I could not rest. I should not be content till on the next day I saw all the wheels, already greased and lashed into their sockets with rawhide, revolving by the mere motion of my lifting the gateway and letting on the water. I smoked and thought and paced my room for hours, and finally, when I went to bed from sheer weariness of mind and body, I passed a disturbed night. Morning saw me bright and early upon my feet, and, snatching a hasty morsel of food, I started for the smelting-house, got out my band and stretched it from pulley to pulley, and with trembling hands went to the gateway at the dam and let on the water to my undershot water-wheel. It did not hesitate a moment to obey the force of nature and the law of mechanics, and the volume of water had scarcely struck the paddles before the whole apparatus began to work, the axle to revolve, and the band to move.