Page:The Swiss Family Robinson, In Words of One Syllable.djvu/38

28 but crept up the shore step by step, and we got so near that Ernest brought down some of the birds with a stick. Fritz was the first to find out that what the sea gulls had just left was the huge fish he had shot in the sea. It was a large shark, and we could see the wound in its head made by the two balls in Fritz's gun. We cut off some parts of the rough skin, which we thought might serve for files, and then went back to the boat. I took a glance at the shore ere I got in, and to my great joy saw some of the planks and spars from the wreck lay on the ground not far off. Our next care was to bind these so as to make a raft, which we tied to the stern of the boat, and then, by the use of our oars, soon made our way up the stream to the place where the bridge was to be built. Our young friends were glad to see us back so soon, and ran to meet us; Jack had a cloth in his hand, in which was a store of cray fish and crabs just caught in some of the nooks of a rock up the stream; Frank was full of glee, and told how that he had been the first to find them out, and how Jack had to wade up to his knees to get them.

"Do not fail to give God thanks," said I, "that our lot has been cast where we can pick up more food than we can eat."

It would take a long time to tell how we brought all the wood up to the spot,