Page:Adrift in the Pacific, Sampson Low, 1889.djvu/67

Rh main-boom and the gaff, had been taken to a part of the river beach which the water only covered at high tide. The boys waited till the tide rose, and then the wood was brought out into the stream. There the largest pieces were placed side by side, and bound together, with the others placed crossways.

In this way a solid framework was obtained, measuring about thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide. All day long the boys worked hard at the raft, and by nightfall the framework was complete. Briant then took care to moor it to the trees on the bank, so that the rising tide could not carry it up stream, or the ebb take it out to sea. Then every one, thoroughly tired out after such a hard day, sat down to supper with a formidable appetite, and slept soundly till the morning. At dawn they again set to work. A platform had now to be built on the framework. The deck planks and streaks of the schooner's hull now came into use. Nails driven in with heavy hammer-strokes, and ropes passed over and under, fastened everything firmly together.

Working at the hardest, this took three days, although there was not an hour to lose. A little ice had already appeared on the surface of the pools among the reefs and along the edge of the stream. The shelter of the tent became insufficient in spite of the fire. Sleeping close to each other, covered with the thickest wraps, Gordon and his companions found it difficult to put up with the cold. Hence the necessity of pushing on with the work for taking up their quarters in the cave, where they hoped to defy the winter, which in these latitudes is very severe.

The deck had been fixed on as firmly as possible, so that it should not be displaced on the voyage; for that meant the swallowing up of the cargo in the bed of the stream; and to save such a disaster it was better to delay the departure for a day. "However," said Briant, "we must not delay our departure beyond the 6th of May."