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 This he has done by placing the results of his past work at the disposal of the others, so that they by working on it, and with it, can more easily earn a subsistence for themselves, providing a surplus value for him and—for themselves, to the benefit of all parties concerned.

If we ask why, when once the second boat has been built, Crusoe should have any right to any extra catch of fish that is secured by its use, the answer is that by devoting the work of those who came and asked him for food in return for their labour to increasing the productive equipment of the island, he has in fact made that effort of abstinence which so much amused Mr. Bernard Shaw, as was shown by a quotation from him in a previous chapter. Instead of employing those who built the second boat upon this work, which was going to increase the food supply of the community, Crusoe might very well have turned their labour in the direction of increasing his enjoyment of comfort and luxury for the moment. He might, for example, have put one of them on to the task of singing songs to him, or telling him stories, or making faces at him just as entertainers do at a twentieth-century cinema show. He might have set them to work on making