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AN AMERICAN
ROBINSON CRUSOE
FOR AMERICAN BOYS AND GIRLS
THE ADAPTATION, WITH ADDITIONAL INCIDENTS
BY
SAMUEL B. ALLISON, Ph.D.
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, CHICAGO, ILL.
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO
COPYRIGHT, 1918
BY
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
CONTENTS
I Robinson with His Parents 7
II Robinson as an Apprentice 10
III Robinson's Departure 13
IV Robinson Far from Home 17
V The Shipwreck 19
VI Robinson Saved 21
VII The First Night on Land 23
VIII Robinson on an Island 28
IX Robinson's Shelter 30
X Robinson Makes a Hat 34
XI Robinson's Calendar 38
XII Robinson Makes a Hunting Bag 41
XIII Robinson Explores the Island 44
XIV Robinson as a Hunter 48
XV Robinson's Shoes and Parasol 51
XVI Getting Fire 53
XVII Robinson Makes Some Furniture 55
XVIII Robinson Becomes a Shepherd 57
XIX Robinson Builds a Home for His Goats 60
XX Robinson Gets Ready for Winter 64
XXI How Robinson Lays up a Store of Food 67
XXII Robinson's Diary 70
XXIII Robinson is Sick 74
XXIV Robinson's Bower 77
XXV Robinson Again Explores His Island 81
XXVI Robinson and His Birds 84
XXVII Robinson Gets Fire 89
XXVIII Robinson Makes Baskets 93
XXIX Robinson Becomes a Farmer 98
XXX Robinson as Potter 104
XXXI Robinson as Baker 108
XXXII Robinson as Fisherman 112
XXXIII Robinson Builds a Boat 116
XXXIV Robinson as a Sailor 120
XXXV A Discovery 127
XXXVI The Landing of the Savages 133
XXXVII Robinson as Teacher 139
XXXVIII Another Shipwreck 144
XXXIX Saving Things from the Ship 149
XL The Return of the Savages 155
XLI Deliverance at Last 162
XLII Robinson at Home 167
PREFATORY NOTE
"An American Robinson Crusoe" is the outcome of many years of experience
with the story in the early grades of elementary schools. It was written
to be used as a content in giving a knowledge of the beginning and
development of human progress. The aim is not just to furnish an
interesting narrative, but one that is true to the course of human
development and the scientific and geographical facts of the island on
which Robinson is supposed to have lived.
The excuse for departing so widely from the original story is to be
found in the use which was desired to be made of it. The story here
presented is simply the free adaptation of the original narrative to the
demand for a specific kind of content in a form which would be
interesting to the children.
The teacher is and should be justified in using with entire freedom any
material accessible for the ends of instruction.
The text as here given has been published with an introduction and
suggestive treatments as a Teacher's Manual for Primary Grades--"The
Teacher's Robinson Crusoe." Explicit directions and ample suggestions
are made for the use of the story as material for instruction in all the
language arts, drawing, social history, and the manual arts.
Published by the Educational Publishing Company.
AN AMERICAN
ROBINSON CRUSOE
I
ROBINSON WITH HIS PARENTS
There once lived in the city of New York, a boy by the name of Robinson
Crusoe. He had a pleasant home. His father and mother were kind to him
and sent him to school. They hoped that he would study hard and grow up
to be a wise and useful man, but he loved rather to run idle about the
street than to go to school. He was fond of playing along the River
Hudson, for he there saw the great ships come and go. They were as big
as houses. He watched them load and unload their cargoes and hundreds of
people get off and on. His father had told him that the ships came from
far distant lands, where lived many large animals and black men. His
father told him too, that in these faraway countries the nuts on the
trees grew to be as large as one's head and that the tree were as high
as church steeples.
When Robinson saw the ships put out to sea he would watch them till they
would disappear below the horizon far out in the ocean, and think, "Oh,
if I could only go with them far away to see those strange countries!"
Thus he would linger along the great river and wish he might find an
opportunity of making a voyage. Often it would be dark before he would
get home. When he came into the house his mother would meet him and say
in a gentle voice, "Why, Robinson, how late you are in getting home! You
have been to the river again."
[Illustration: ROBINSON WATCHING THE SHIPS]
Then Robinson would hang his head and feel deeply ashamed, and when his
father, who was a merchant, came home from the store, his mother would
tell him that Robinson had again been truant.
This would grieve his father deeply and he would go to the boy's bedside
and talk earnestly with him. "Why do you do so?" he would say. "How
often have I told you to go to school every day?" This would for a time
win Robinson back to school, but by the next week it had been forgotten
and he would again be loitering along the river in spite of his father's
remonstrances.
II
ROBINSON AS AN APPRENTICE
In this way one year after another slipped by. Robinson was not more
diligent. He was now almost sixteen years old and had not learned
anything. Then came his birthday. In the afternoon his father called him
into his room. Robinson opened the door softly. There sat his father
with a sad face. He looked up and said, "Well, Robinson, all your
schoolmates have long been busy trying to learn something, so that they
may be able to earn their own living. Paul will be a baker, Robert a
butcher, Martin is learning to be a carpenter, Herman a tailor, Otto a
blacksmith, Fritz is going to high school, because he is going to be a
teacher. Now, you are still doing nothing. This will not do. From this
time on I wish you to think of becoming a merchant. In the morning you
will go with me to the store and begin work. If you are attentive and
skillful, when the time comes you can take up my business and carry it
on. But if you remain careless and continue to idle about, no one will
ever want you and you must starve because you will never be able to earn
a living."
So the next morning Robinson went to the store and began work. He
wrapped up sugar and coffee, he weighed out rice and beans. He sold meal
and salt, and when the dray wagon pulled up at the store, loaded with
new goods, he sprang out quickly and helped to unload it. He carried in
sacks of flour and chests of tea, and rolled in barrels of coffee and
molasses. He also worked some at the desk. He looked into the account
books and saw in neat writing, "Goods received" and "Goods sold." He
noticed how his father wrote letters and reckoned up his accounts. He
even took his pen in hand and put the addresses on the letters and
packages as well as he could.
But soon he was back in his careless habits. He was no longer attentive
to business. He wrapped up salt instead of sugar. He put false weights
on the scales. He gave some too much and others too little. His hands,
only, were in the business, his mind was far away on the ocean with the
ships. When he helped unload the wagons, he would often let the chests
and casks drop, so that they were broken and their contents would run
out on the ground. For he was always thinking, "Where have these casks
come from and how beautiful it must be there!" And many times packages
came back because Robinson had written the name of the place or the
country wrong. For when he was writing the address, he was always
thinking, "You will be laid upon a wagon and will then go into the
ship." One day he had to write a letter to a man far over the sea. He
could stand it no longer. His father had gone out. He threw down the
pen, picked up his hat and ran out to the Hudson to see the ships, and
from that time on he spent more time loitering along the river than he
did in the store.
III
ROBINSON'S DEPARTURE
Robinson's father soon noticed that his son was no longer attending to
his work, and one morning sent for him to come to his office. When
Robinson came in his father arose from his chair and looked him long and
earnestly in the face. Then he said, "I am very sorry, Robinson, that
you seem determined to continue your evil ways. If you do not do better
you will grow up to be a beggar or worse." Robinson cast his eyes down
and said, "I do not want to be a merchant, I would rather sail in a ship
around the world." His father answered, "If you do not know anything you
cannot be of use on a ship, and no one will want you. In a strange land
you cannot live without working. If you run away from your parents you
will come to be sorry for it." Robinson wept, for he saw that his father
was right, and he promised to obey.
After two or three weeks, Robinson went to his mother and said,
"Mother, won't you go to father and tell him that if he will only let me
take one voyage and it proves to be unpleasant, I will come back to the
store and work hard?" But the mother cried. With tears in her eyes, she
said: "Robinson, your brothers are both dead. You are the only child
left to us and if you go away, we shall be entirely alone. How easy it
would be to be drowned in the sea, or torn to pieces by wild animals
away there in a foreign country. Both your father and myself are getting
along in years and who will take care of us when we are sick? Do not
cause us the grief we must suffer if you go away so far amid so many
dangers. I cannot bear to have you speak of it again."
Robinson did not speak of it again, but he did not forget it. He was
nineteen years old. It was one day in August that Robinson stood at the
wharf looking longingly after the departing ships. As he stood there,
someone touched him on the shoulder. It was a ship captain's son. He
pointed to a long ship and said, "My father sails to-day in that ship
for Africa and takes me with him."
"Oh, if I could only go with you!" cried Robinson.
"Do come along," cried his comrade.
"But I have no money," said Robinson.
"That doesn't make any difference," returned the captain's son. "We will
take you anyway."
Robinson, without thinking for a moment, gave his friend his hand and
promised to go with him.
So without saying "Good-bye" to his parents, Robinson went immediately
on board the ship with his friend. This happened on the 10th of August.
[Illustration: ROBINSON AND THE CAPTAIN'S SON]
IV
ROBINSON FAR FROM HOME
ROBINSON'S VOYAGE
Once on board, Robinson watched the preparations for departure. At
command the sailors clambered up into the rigging and loosened the
sails. Then the captain from his bridge called out, "Hoist the anchor!"
Then the great iron hooks that held the ship fast were lifted up, a
cannon sounded a final farewell. Robinson stood on the deck. He saw the
great city shimmer in the sunshine before him. Very fast now the land
was being left behind. It was not long until all that could be seen of
his native city was the tops of the highest towers. Then all faded from
sight. Behind, in front, right and left, he saw nothing but waters.
[Illustration]
He became a little afraid. At noon there arose a strong wind and the
ship rocked to and fro. He became dizzy and had to hold fast to
something. The masts and rigging began to dance. It seemed to him as if
all was turning around. Suddenly he fell full length on the deck and it
was impossible for him to get up. He was seasick. He wailed and cried,
but no one heard him, no one helped him. Then he thought of his home,
his parents whom he had so ungratefully left.
He had been on the water about two weeks when one day as he lay in his
room, Robinson heard people over his head running about and crying, "A
storm is coming!" The ship's sides trembled and creaked. The ship was
tossed like a nutshell. Now it rolled to the right, now to the left. And
Robinson was thrown from one side to the other. Every moment he expected
the ship to sink. He turned pale and trembled with fear. "Ah, if I were
only at home with my parents, safe on the land," he said. "If I ever get
safe out of this, I will go home as quickly as I can and stay with my
dear parents!" The storm raged the whole day and the whole night. But on
the next morning the wind went down and the sea was calm. By evening the
sky was clear and Robinson was again cheerful. He ran about the ship. He
looked at the glittering stars and was contented and happy.
V
THE SHIPWRECK
Several weeks went by. Robinson had long ago forgotten his resolutions
to return home. It was very hot. The glowing sun beat down upon the
ship. The wide surface of the sea glistened. No breeze stirred. The
sails hung loose on the top of the mast. But far away on the shore could
be seen a black bank of clouds.
All at once the ship was thrown violently to one side by a fierce gust
of wind. Robinson threw himself on the deck. The sea began to rise and
fall. The waves were as high as mountains. Now the ship was borne aloft
to the skies, and now it would seem that it must be overwhelmed in the
sea. When it sank down between the great waves of water, Robinson
thought it would never again rise. The waves beat violently on the
ship's side. Robinson went down the steps into his little room, but he
came back full of anxiety. He believed every minute he would meet death
in the waves. The night at last came on. The lightning flashed. The
storm howled. The ship trembled. The water roared. So the night wore on.
The storm raged for six days. Then on the seventh day it was somewhat
abated. But the hope was soon dashed. The storm had abated but to get
new strength. Suddenly it bore down with frightful power on the doomed
vessel, struck it, and shot it like an arrow through the water. Then
Robinson felt a fearful crash. The ship groaned as if it would fall into
a thousand pieces. It had struck a rock and there held fast. At the same
moment the sailors raised the cry, "The ship has sprung a leak!" The
water surged into the ship. All called for help. Each one thought only
of himself. There was only one boat. The others had all been torn away.
It was soon let down into the sea. All sprang in. For a moment the
sailors forgot the waves, but all at once a wave, mountains high, struck
the boat and swallowed it up. Robinson shut his eyes. The water roared
in his ears. He sank into the sea.
VI
ROBINSON SAVED
Robinson was borne down far, far into the ocean. He attempted to work
himself up, so that he could see light and breathe the air. But again
and again the waves carried him down. Finally a wave threw him up and he
saw, for a moment, the light of day and got a breath of air, but the
next instant he was deep under the water. Then another wave bore him on
its crest. He breathed a deep breath and at the same time saw land not
far away. He bent all his strength toward reaching the land. He got
almost to it, when a wave caught him and hurled him on a jutting rock.
With all his strength he seized the rock with both hands and held on.
Presently he worked himself up a little and at last got a foothold. But,
scarcely had he done so, when his strength left him and he fell on the
ground as one dead. But he soon revived. He opened his eyes and looked
around. He saw above him the blue sky, and under him the solid brown
earth, and before him the gray angry sea. He felt to see if he still
breathed. The storm had destroyed the ship. The waves had overwhelmed
the boat. The water wished to draw him into the deep. The rocks seemed
to want to hurl him back, but storm and wave and rock had accomplished
nothing. There was One who was stronger than they.
Then Robinson sank on his knees and folded his hands. Tears came to his
eyes. He breathed hard. At last he said, "Dear Father in Heaven, I live.
Thou hast saved me. I thank Thee."
VII
THE FIRST NIGHT ON LAND
"Where are my companions?" That was his first thought. He began to call
and halloo: "Where are you? Come here!" But no one answered. Then he
wished to see if anyone lived on the land, and he cried, "Is there no
one here? Hello!" but all remained still.
All at once he drew himself together and shrank back. He heard a bush
rustle and the thought came like a flash, "That is a wild animal that
will pounce upon me and tear my flesh with his teeth and claws. How
shall I save myself? Where shall I fly for safety? Where shall I turn? I
have nothing but my clothes and my life saved from the water. All that I
had the waves have swallowed up."
And then hunger and thirst began to trouble him. He had eaten nothing
the whole day and the salt water had made him sick.
In the meantime the night had come on. Robinson was very tired.
Everything was new and strange. He did not know which way to move. He
was in the greatest terror.
He expected to hear the roar of wild beasts from every secluded spot.
Lions and tigers and dreadful serpents filled his thoughts. He must find
shelter from them. But where should he pass the night? Not a house, a
hut or a cave was to be seen. He stood a long time hesitating and did
not know what to do. Finally he thought, "I will do as the birds do and
get into a tree." He very soon found a tree which had such thick
branches that it would hold him up.
Robinson climbed up into the tree, made himself as comfortable as
possible, said his prayers, and as he was thoroughly exhausted, he soon
fell asleep. When he awoke the sun was high in the sky. At first he
could not remember where he was. Then the truth burst upon him. He tried
to move. He was stiff and sore. His flesh was bruised from being thrown
against the rocks and beaten by the waves.
He was dreadfully thirsty. His mouth and throat were dry and parched
from the salt water. His tongue was thick and swollen. He said, "I must
find some water to drink or I shall die!"
It was hard work to get down from the tree. His limbs and back ached
from sitting in the tree all night. At last he slipped down and fell on
the ground. He clasped his hands in prayer and thanked God for keeping
him through the night.
[Illustration]
Then he got up and tried to walk. He was so weak he could not stand.
He threw himself down on the ground and began to sob and cry, "O Lord,
do not let me die! Do not let me die!" As he lay there he heard a queer
sound. He listened. It sounded like water running over rocks. He tried
to get to the place from which the sound came. He tried to walk. When he
fell he crawled on his hands and knees. At last the sound was close by.
He dragged himself up on the rocks. Yes, there was a spring of clear,
cool, sparkling water bubbling up and trickling over the stones.
Robinson was so thirsty he put his face into the water and drank and
drank.
Then he sat down, and after a while he drank again and again.
After Robinson had satisfied his thirst and rested awhile, he felt much
better. He said, "I must try to walk and see whether I can find
something to eat." He found many kinds of fruits and berries all around
him, but he was afraid to eat them, as they were strange to him and he
feared they might be poisonous.
As he was walking along, all at once he spied a tall plant in the
distance which had a familiar look. It looked like corn. He said to
himself, "I wonder if it can be corn." At last he came near enough to
recognize it. Yes, it was corn. It did not look exactly like the corn
that he saw at home, but still he knew it would be safe to eat it. He
broke off an ear and eagerly ate the kernels raw. Oh, how good it was!
Robinson could not remember anything that tasted half so good.
He ate as much as he wanted and then filled his pockets with ears of
corn for his supper. Then he went back to the spring to get another
drink.
[Illustration]
VIII
ROBINSON ON AN ISLAND
After his hunger and thirst were satisfied, Robinson thought he would
try to find another dwelling place. "My legs are stiff and sore from
sitting so uncomfortably last night, and there is so much danger of
falling," he said. "I will climb yonder hill and look around and see on
which side the houses are. I will find me a stick to help me on my way."
He broke a stick from a dry bush and climbed up the steep sides of the
hill. After a half hour's climb he was on top. What a sight met his
eyes! There were no houses, no huts to be seen, no smoke arose from the
forest, no field could be seen. Nothing but trees and bush, sand and
rock.
"I am then upon an island alone, without food, without shelter, without
weapons! What will become of me?" he cried. "I am a prisoner. The island
is my prison, the waves are the guards which will not allow me to get
away. Will no ship ever come to set me free?"
He stretched his gaze out to the sea till his eyes ached, but he saw no
ship.
Robinson came down and seated himself on a stone and considered what he
should do. It was not yet noon, yet he feared greatly the next night. "I
must find me a better bed," was his first clear thought.
[Illustration]
IX
ROBINSON'S SHELTER
Robinson saw at a little distance what seemed to be a cleft or an
opening in a huge rock. "If I could only get inside and find room to
stay over night. The rock would protect me from rain, from the wind and
wild animals better than a tree."
He long sought in vain for a place wide enough to allow him to get into
the opening in the rock. He was about to give up, when he seized hold of
a branch of a thorn tree growing on the side of the rock. He looked
closer and saw that it grew out of the cleft in the rock. He saw, too,
that at this point the opening was wider and that he had only to remove
the tree in order to get in. "The hole shall be my dwelling," he said.
"I must get the thorn tree out so that I can have room."
That was easily said. He had neither axe nor saw, nor knife nor spade.
How could he do it? He had nothing but his hands. He tried to pull it
out by the roots, but in vain. He wasn't strong enough.
"I must dig it out," said Robinson.
He scratched with his nails, but the earth was too hard. What should he
do? He sought a stick with a fork in it and dug in the earth, but it was
slow work. Then he found a clam-shell. He did better with it, but it was
hard work, and Robinson was not used to hard work. The sweat ran down
his face and he had often to stop and rest in the shade. The sun burned
so hot and the rock so reflected the heat that he was all but overcome.
But he worked on. When evening came, he would sleep in the tree and next
morning he would go at it again. On the third day the roots were all
laid bare.
But the roots were fast in the clefts of the rock and he could not
loosen it, try ever so hard. What would he not have given for an axe, or
at least a knife. And yet he had never thought of their value when at
home. He attempted to cut one root through with his clam-shell, but the
shell crumbled and would not cut the hard wood.
He stood for a long time thinking, not knowing what next to do. He made
up his mind that he must have something harder than the shell to cut
with. Then he tried a stone with a sharp edge, but soon found he needed
another one, however. He found one. Then he set the sharp one on the
wood and struck it with the heavy one. In this way he slowly cut the
roots in two.
On the fifth day there was yet left one big root, bigger than any of the
others. Robinson got up early in the morning. He worked the whole day.
Finally it gave a crack and it, too, was broken.
Robinson had only now to remove the loose earth inside the cleft. He
found the opening could be made large and roomy. It was choked up with
dirt. He dug out enough to allow him room enough to make a place to lie
down. "In the future," he thought, "I will take out all the dirt and
then I shall be comfortable."
It was then dark and the moon shone bright in the heavens. Robinson
gathered a heap of dry grass and made himself a safe bed. But as he lay
there he saw the moonbeams shining into his cave. He sprang up. "How
easy," he thought, "for wild animals to creep in here upon me."
He crawled out and looked around. Not far from the cave he saw a large
flat stone. With great trouble he rolled it to the opening of his cave,
but before this the morning began to dawn. He went inside the shelter,
seized the stone with both hands and rolled it into the opening till it
almost closed it. "I have now a closed home. I can again stretch my
legs. Wind and rain cannot get at me, nor wild animals."
X
ROBINSON MAKES A HAT
Refreshed and with renewed strength, Robinson awoke late the next
morning, but he had a bad headache. The day before the hot tropic sun
had beat down on his bare head, as he worked at his cave. He was so busy
that he forgot to go into the shade from time to time in order to shield
himself from the scorching sunshine. He felt a new need.
"I must make me a hat," said Robinson to himself. "But how?" He had no
straw, no thread and no needle. He looked around for a long time, but
found nothing. The sun mounted even higher in the heavens, and shone
hotter and hotter. He went to seek shelter at last in the deep shade of
a nearby tall plant.
As he stood there he examined the plant more carefully. "Out of these
leaves," he said, "I might make a hat." He climbed up the short stem of
the plant and saw that it had not only leaves as long as himself, but
between the leaves were big bunches of long, thin fruit, as thick as
three fingers and similar in shape to a cucumber.
He plucked the leaves and fruit and was about to eat some of the fruit
when he heard near him a light stir as of some animal. He rolled the
leaves and fruit together and hastened back to the cave.
[Illustration: THE BANANA TREE]
The bananas, for that is what the fruit proved to be, were sweet and
refreshing. After he had eaten enough he set immediately about making
his hat. He broke off a couple of reeds. He bent one into a hoop. But
the hoop would not hold without thread. Sometimes it was too large and
sometimes too small. But it must fit his head. He pulled up grass and
bound its ends together, but the grass stalks were not strong enough. He
hunted until he found a tree whose inner bark was soft and came out in
long fibres. He bound his reed with this. This, too, made the hoop soft
so that it did not hurt his head.
When the hoop was ready and fitted to his head he found the banana
leaves could not be used. Their veins ran straight out from the midrib.
This made them easily torn, and besides, they were too large. They were
not the best shape. He saw that leaves about a foot long with broad and
tapering points would be best. He saw too, that if the leaves had their
veins running parallel with the midrib they would be stronger. He made
search and at length found leaves that seemed made for his purpose. They
were thick and leathery and tapered from base to apex like a triangle.
He now proceeded with his hat-making. He would take a leaf and lay it on
the ground with the base toward him. Then he laid the hoop on the base
of the leaf, wrapped it around the hoop and fastened it with thorns. He
did the same with the other leaves. The thorns were his pins. At last
he pinned the tips of the leaves together at the top and the hat was
ready. It looked just like a big cone, but it kept out the heat of the
sun.
Robinson now had corn and bananas and when he was thirsty he drank a
handful of water from the spring. He had been now nine days on the
island. Every day he looked out on the sea until his eyes ached to see
if he might discover a ship.
He could not understand why no ship came his way. "Who knows how long I
must wait here?" said he sorrowfully. Then the thought came to him: "You
will not be able to keep track of the days unless you write it down."
XI
ROBINSON'S CALENDAR
The matter of keeping track of time puzzled Robinson very much. It was
getting more difficult every day to keep it in his memory. He must write
down the days as they slip by, but where and how? He had neither pen,
ink, nor paper. Should he mark every day with a colored stone on the
smooth side of the huge rock wall within whose clefts he had dug out his
cave? But the rain would wash off the record and then he would lose all
his bearings. Then he thought of the beach, but there the wind and waves
would soon also erase it.
He thought a long time. "I must find something," he said to himself on
which to keep a record. "I must also know when Sunday is. I must rest
one day in the week. Yes, I must find something," he said, "on which to
write." And finally he found it. He chose two trees standing near each
other and then sought for a small sharp stone, which he could make
still sharper by striking it on another. When he had got this pen ready
he cut into the bark of one tree:
_Shipwreck, Sunday, 10th of September, 1875._
He made seven cuts in a row for the seven days in the week. The first
cut was longer than the others. This was to represent the Sunday. At
sundown every day he made a new cut in the bark.
The other tree he called the month tree. On its stem he was to cut a
mark every time his week tree told him a month had passed. But he must
be careful, for the months were not of equal length. But he remembered
that his teacher had once said in school that the months could be
counted on the knuckles and hollows of the hand, in such a way that the
long and short months could be found easily and he could tell in this
way the number of days in each.
Robinson worked at enlarging his shelter a little every day. He was
sorely at loss to find something in which to carry the dirt away from
the entrance, or enough so that it would not choke up the opening. A
large clam shell was all he could think of at present. He would carry
the dirt to the entrance and some distance away, and then throw it.
Fortunately the ground sloped away rapidly, so that he needed a kind of
platform before his door.
He was careful to open the cleft at some distance above the large
opening. For the air was damp and impure in the shelter. But with the
opening made high above, fresh air was constantly passing into, and
impure air out of, his cave. Light, too, was admitted in this way.
XII
ROBINSON MAKES A HUNTING BAG
Several days passed with Robinson's hat-making and his calendar-making
and his watching the sea. Every day his corn and bananas became more
distasteful to him. And he planned a longer journey about the island to
see if something new to eat could be found.
But he considered that if he went a distance from his cave and found
something it would really be of little use to him. "I could eat my
fill," he said, "but that is all. And by the time I get back to my cave
I will again be hungry. I must find something in which I can gather and
carry food." He found nothing.
"The people in New York," he said, "have baskets, or pockets, or bags
made of coarse cloth. Of them all, I could most easily make the net,
perhaps, of vines. But the little things would fall out of the net. I
will see whether I can make a net of small meshes."
But he soon saw that the vines did not give a smooth surface. He
thought for a long while. In his garden at home his father had sometimes
bound up the young trees with the soft inner bark of others. He wondered
if he could use this. He stripped away the outer bark from the tree,
which before had yielded him a fibre for his hat, and pulled off the
long, smooth pieces of the inner bark. He twisted them together. Then he
thought how he could weave the strands together. He looked at his shirt.
A piece was torn off and unravelled. He could see the threads go up and
down. He saw that some threads go from left to right (woof), others
lengthwise (the warp).
From his study of the woven cloth, Robinson saw he must have a firmer
thread than the strips of bark gave alone. He separated his bark into
long, thin strips. These he twisted into strands of yarn by rolling
between his hands, or on a smooth surface. As he twisted it he wound it
on a stick. It was slow, hard work. Of all his work, the making of yarn
of thread gave him the most trouble. He learned to twist it by knotting
the thread around the spindle or bobbin on which he wound it and
twirling this in the air. He remembered sadly the old spinning wheel he
had seen at his grandmother's house.
His next care was something to hold the threads while he wove them in
and out. He had never seen a loom.
After long study Robinson set two posts in the ground and these he bound
with seventy-two strands horizontally under each other. Then he tied in
the top at the left another thread and wove it in and out through the
seventy-two threads. So he tied seventy-two vertical strands and wove
them in and out. Thus he had a net three times as long as his foot and
as wide as long. He tied the four corners together. He made a woven
handle for it and put it on his shoulder like a sack, saying gleefully,
"This shall be my hunting bag."
[Illustration: ROBINSON'S LOOM]
XIII
ROBINSON EXPLORES THE ISLAND
After Robinson made his hunting bag he was anxious to set off on his
journey of exploring the island. So he arose very early next morning.
"Before it is hot," thought he, "I will be quite a distance on my
journey." He ate a couple of bananas, scooped up a few handfuls of water
from the spring, stuck a few ears of corn in his hunting bag, took his
stick in his hand and went forth. As he left his cave the thought struck
him: "What if I could not find my cave again? How can I manage so that I
can come back to it? I will go away in one direction and return the same
way; but suppose I were to lose the way?"
Then he noticed his shadow pointing like a great finger from the sea
toward the land. He could direct himself by that. He kept his shadow in
front of him. He had noticed, too, that the wind always blew north of
the point where the sun rose. This helped him. But sometimes the wind
died down.
[Illustration: COCOANUT PALM TREE]
He had to climb over many rocks and pierce many thickets. At each step
he saw a rich growth of plants, stems, leaves, flowers, but nothing to
eat, no fruits, or nuts. At length he came to a tree as high as a small
church steeple. Then he thought of what his father had once said about
the trees in strange countries. "Many are as tall as a church steeple
and the nuts are as big as one's head." He looked again. Yes, there
they hung among the leaves, concealed high above in the crown! But so
high, it was well that Robinson had learned to climb while on board the
ship. He quickly laid down his hunting bag and clambered up the smooth
stem of the high tree, a palm. He picked off a nut and threw it down and
then several more, and climbed down again.
But the nuts were very hard. How should he open them? He had brought
along his sharp stone with which he had stripped off the inner bark.
With this he forced off the thick outer shell. But now came the hard nut
within, and how hard it was! Striking it was of no use.
Then he threw a great stone on the nut. The shell was crushed and a
snow-white kernel lay before him. It tasted like almond. With
astonishment Robinson saw in the middle of the nut a large empty space
which must have been filled with fluid as the inside was wet. He wished
that he had the juice to drink, for he was very thirsty. With this in
view, he examined another and riper nut, and the outside came off more
easily. But how could he break it and at the same time save the juice?
He studied the hull of the cocoanut on all sides. At the ends were three
little hollows. He attempted first to bore in with his fingers, but he
could not. "Hold!" he cried. "Maybe I can cut them there with the point
of my stone knife." This was done without trouble and out of the hole
flowed the sweet, white juice.
Robinson put a couple of nuts in his hunting bag, and also the shells
from the broken nuts. "Now," he thought, "I shall no longer have to
drink from my hand." With this thought he went on his way.
As Robinson came to a rock in his path, out jumped what Robinson took to
be a rabbit. He ran after him to catch him, but the rabbit was much the
swifter. So Robinson hastened home, but before he reached it the stars
were shining with their lustrous light. Tired Robinson stretched his
limbs on his bed of grass and leaves and slept soundly.
XIV
ROBINSON AS A HUNTER
All the time Robinson was confined to the cave he kept thinking about
the rabbit he had seen and how he might catch one. Finally, he
determined to make a spear. He broke down a thin, young sapling,
stripped off its branches and in one end fastened a sharp stone. He then
went to bed, for he wanted to be up early for his first hunting trip on
the morrow.
With his hunting sack and spear, Robinson began to creep very, very
cautiously through the underbrush. But he did not go far before he saw a
lot of rabbits feeding peacefully on the soft leaves and grass. He drew
back and threw his spear with all his might. But the spear did not reach
the rabbits. It fell far short and the rabbits sprang up and ran quickly
away. He tried it several times with the same result. Then Robinson,
discouraged, turned back home and ate his corn, bananas, and cocoanuts
without meat. In the meantime he found a new kind of food. He
discovered a nest of eggs. How good they tasted to him!
But his longing for meat was still very great. "I will try to make a bow
and arrow," he said. No sooner said than done. He bent a long piece of
tough, young wood and stretched between the ends a cord twisted out of
the fiber taken from the cocoanut shell. He then sought for a piece of
wood for arrows. He split the ends with his flint knife and fastened in
splinters of stone. At the other end he fastened on some feathers found
on the ground. The arrows flew through the air with great swiftness.
"They will go far enough," thought Robinson, "if I could only hit
anything."
He practised shooting. He stuck his stone knife in a tree and shot at it
the whole day long. At first he could not hit it at all. The arrows flew
far from the mark. After a while he could hit the tree, but not the
knife. Then as he practised, his arm grew ever surer, until at last he
could hit the knife at almost every attempt. After a few days he again
went rabbit hunting. He thought that the rabbit did not offer a mark so
high as his knife, so he stuck a stone in the ground and practised
shooting at that. He gradually increased the distance until he could hit
the mark at twenty or thirty yards.
The next morning Robinson took his bow and arrows and went out to hunt.
He aimed at a rabbit, shot, and it fell, pierced by the arrow. His very
first shot was successful.
He hastened up and took the dead rabbit on his shoulder, carried it to
his cave and skinned it. Then he cut off a nice, large piece of meat and
was going to roast it, but alas, he had no fire!
XV
ROBINSON'S SHOES AND PARASOL
The next morning Robinson could not get up. His feet were swollen and
sore in consequence of walking without shoes over thorns and stones. He
must remain the whole day in his cave.
Before him, in the sun, his walking stick stuck in the ground. He
thought how he had been troubled yesterday to find his way and about the
shadow. He had now time to study it. He watched it the whole day
through. In the morning it pointed toward the land. In the evening
toward the sea. This comes from the daily movement of the sun. He
determined to study the matter more carefully.
Robinson got up and with great effort walked to the spring. There he
cooled his burning feet, and gathered some large leaves, which he bound
on them. He decided to remain in his cave a few days, for he had enough
food stored up to last him some length of time. He planned how he might
make himself a pair of shoes. As soon as his feet were well, he sought
out some thick bark and put fastenings of tough, strong fiber on it.
These served very well to protect his feet.
But he must have some further protection from the sun. It beamed so hot
that his hat was not enough. He made a parasol out of leaves like his
hat. He took a straight stick for a handle. He tied some reeds together
and bent them into a hoop. He then fastened the upper end of the stick
in the center of the hoop by means of six reeds which formed the ribs of
the parasol. To keep out the sun he covered this framework with large,
broad leaves. With a cord he tied the stem ends of the leaves to the
stick just above where the reeds were tied.
Spread out, these broad leaves completely covered the ribs. Their tips
reached over the hoop. They were fastened together by means of small,
needle-like fish-bones Robinson had found on the beach.
XVI
GETTING FIRE
Now Robinson had heard that savages take two dry pieces of wood and rub
them so long on each other that they at length begin to burn.
He tried it. The sweat ran down his cheeks, but every time the wood was
about to catch fire his strength would give out, and he was obliged to
rest, and when he began again the wood was cold.
"How will it be in winter," he cried, "when it is cold, and I have no
fire?" He must try other ways of preparing meat for his table. He must
think of some other way of getting fire. He remembered that once, when a
boy at home, he had in playing with a stick made it hot by twirling it
on end on a piece of wood. "I will try this," he thought. He searched
for a good hard stick and a piece of wood upon which to turn or twirl it
with his hands. Having found the best materials at hand, he began to
twirl the stick. He made a little hollow in the block of wood in which
to turn his upright stick. There was heat but no fire. He twirled and
twirled, but he could not get the wood hot enough to blaze up or ignite.
He had not skill. Besides his hands were not used to such rough
treatment. Soon they blistered and this method had to be given up.
"I must have fire," he still thought, and recalled the sparks that flew
from the stone pavements of the streets when the iron shoes of the
horses struck them as they slipped and strained at their cruel loads.
Why may I not get fire by striking together two stones? He sought out
two hard stones and with great diligence kept striking them together
until his strength gave out, and he was obliged again to acknowledge
failure.
He remembered that sometimes travelers put the meat underneath the
saddle and ride on it until it is soft. He tried it with pounding. He
laid some of the meat on a flat stone and pounded it. It became quite
soft and tasted very well. He then tried hanging it in the sun and
finally wrapped it in leaves and buried it for a few hours in the hot
sand.
XVII
ROBINSON MAKES SOME FURNITURE
One thing troubled Robinson very much. He could not sit comfortably
while eating. He had neither chair nor table. He wished to make them,
but that was a big job. He had no saw, no hammer, no auger and no nails.
Robinson could not, therefore, make a table of wood.
Not far from his cave he had seen a smooth, flat stone. "Ay," thought
he, "perhaps I can make me a table out of stone." He picked out the best
stone and built up four columns as high as a table and on these he laid
his large, flat stone. It looked like a table, sure enough, but there
were rough places and hollows in it. He wanted it smooth. He took clay
and filled up the holes and smoothed it off. When the clay dried, the
surface was smooth and hard. Robinson covered it with leaves and decked
it with flowers till it was quite beautiful.
When the table was done, Robinson began on a chair. He made it also of
stone. It had no back. It looked like a bench. It was uncomfortable to
sit on. Robinson covered it with moss. Then it was an easy seat.
Table and chair were now ready. Robinson could not move them from one
corner to another, nor when he sat on the chair could he put his feet
under the table, and yet he thought them excellent pieces of furniture.
Every day Robinson went hunting and shot a rabbit, but the meat would
not keep. At home they would have put it in the cellar. If only he had a
cellar! He saw near his cave a hole in the rock. He dug it out a little
with his mussel shell and found that it led back under a rock.
From much bending over in digging, Robinson's back, unused to severe
toil, ached wretchedly. He decided to make a spade. With his flint he
bored four holes in a great, round mussel shell. They formed a rectangle
as long as a little finger and as wide. Through these holes he drew
cocoanut fibre and bound the shell to a handle fast and strong.
With his spade he dug a hole so deep that he could stand in it upright.
Then he put in a couple of shelves made of flat stones. In this cellar
he put his rabbit meat and his eggs. Then he laid branches over it and
finally covered the whole with leaves.
XVIII
ROBINSON BECOMES A SHEPHERD
With his bow and arrow, Robinson went hunting every day. The rabbits
soon learned to know him and let themselves be seldom seen. As soon as
they saw him, they took alarm. They became timid and shy. One day
Robinson went out as usual to shoot rabbits. He found none. But as he
came to a great rock he heard from behind a new sound, one he had not
heard before in the island. Ba-a-a, it sounded.
"A kid," thought Robinson, "like that with which I have so often played
at home."
He slipped noiselessly around the rock and behold, really there stood a
kid. He tried to call it, but the kid sought safety in flight. He
hastened after it. Then he noticed that it was lame in one fore foot. It
ran into some brush, where Robinson seized it by the horns and held it
fast.
How Robinson rejoiced! He stroked it and fondled it. Then he thought,
how could it come into this wilderness on this lonesome island? "Has
your ship been cast upon the rocks too, and been broken to pieces? You
dear thing, you shall be my comrade." He seized the goat by the legs,
and no matter how it kicked, carried it to his cave.
Then he fetched quickly a cocoanut shell full of water and washed and
bathed the goat's wounded leg. A stone had rolled down from the hill and
had inflicted a severe wound on its left fore leg, or perhaps it had
stepped into a crack in the rocks. Robinson tore off a piece of linen
from his shirt, dipped it in water and bound it with shreds of the
cocoanut upon the wound. Then he pulled some grass and moss and made a
soft bed near the door of the cave. After he had given it water, it
looked at him with thankful eyes and licked his hand.
Robinson could not sleep that night. He thought continually of his goat
and got up time and again to see if it was safe. The moon shone clear in
the heavens. As Robinson sat before the goat's bed he looked down on his
new possession as lovingly as a mother on her child.
The next morning Robinson's first thought was, "I am no longer alone. I
have a companion, my goat." He sprang up and looked for it. There she
lay on her side, still sleeping.
As he stood and considered, the thought came to him that perhaps the
goat had escaped from its keeper. There must then be some one living on
the land. He quickly put on his shoes and his hat, took his parasol, and
ran to the rock where he had found the goat.
He called, he sought, he peered about to see if some shepherd were there
somewhere. He found nothing. He found no trace of man. There was no
road, no bridge, no field, no logs, not even a chip or shaving to show
that the hand of man had been there.
But what was that? In the distance ran a herd of goats over the rocks.
But no dog followed them and no shepherd. They ran wild on the island.
They had perhaps been left there by some ship. As he came home he
noticed the goat sorrowfully. The bandage had become dry. The goat might
be suffering pain. Robinson loosened the bandage, washed the wound again
and bound it up anew. It was so trustful. It ran after him and he
decided always to protect it.
"I will always be your shepherd and take care of you," he said.
XIX
ROBINSON BUILDS A HOME FOR HIS GOAT
But the goat was a new care. Wild animals could come and kill and carry
Robinson's goat away while he slept, and if the goat got frightened
while he was hunting it would run away.
"I will have to make me a little yard in front of my cave," he said,
"for my goat to live in." But from whence must come the tools? He had
neither hatchet nor saw. Where then were the stakes to come from? He
went in search of something. After hunting for a long time he came upon
a kind of thistle about two feet higher than himself, having at its top
a red torch-like blossom. There were a great many of them.
"Good!" thought Robinson. "If I could only dig up enough of them and
plant them thick around the door of my cave, I would have just the
thing. No one could get at me, nor at the goat, either. The thorns would
keep anything from creeping through, peeping in or getting over."
So he took his mussel-shell spade and went to work. It was pretty hard,
but at length he succeeded in laying bare the roots of quite a number.
But he could not drag them to his cave on account of the thorns sticking
in him. He thought a long time. Finally, he sought out two strong poles
or branches which were turned up a little at one end and like a sled
runner. To these he tied twelve cross-pieces with bark. To the foremost
he tied a strong rope made from cocoa fiber. He then had something that
looked much like a sled on which to draw his thistle-like brush to his
cave. But for one day he had done enough. The transplanting of the
thistles was hard work. His spade broke and he had to make a new one. In
the afternoon he broke his spade again. And as he made his third one, he
made up his mind that it was no use trying to dig with such a weak tool
in the hard ground. It would only break again.