Page:The Swiss Family Robinson, In Words of One Syllable.djvu/22

14 chinks of the rocks, and that shell fish were not scarce.

"Then why have you not brought some with you?" said I.

"To get at them," said he, "I should have had to wet my feet."

"Well, my boy, if you are sure you saw them, I will ask you to go back for some. We must each do some work for the good of all; and as for your feet, the sun will dry them as you walk back."

He went, and soon found the salt, left by the sea on the rocks, which the sun had made quite dry. There was some sand with it, and this I said would spoil our soup; but my wife did not take long to find a way to cure that. She had been to a fresh stream with a large jug; from this I saw her pour some on the salt, strain it through a cloth, and let it drip in a cup, so that all the sand was left on the cloth.

When the soup was made hot we had each a taste, and all said that it was good.

"Be not in too great hast," said my wife, "we must wait for Fritz; but if he were here, I do not see how we are to take our soup, for we have no plates nor spoons; we can't lift this huge pot to our mouths and sup from it."

"If we had but some large nuts," said Ernest,"we might cut them in half, and they would make great bowls."

"Quite true," said I; "but as there are none, we may