But when that was gone, I could write no more for I did not know how to make ink.
I soon found that I needed many things to make me comfortable.
First, I wanted a chair and a table; for without them I must live like a savage.
So I set to work. I had never handled a tool in my life. But I had a saw, an ax, and several, hatchets; and I soon learned to use them all.
If I wanted a board, I had to chop down a tree. From the trunk of the tree I cut a log of the length that my board was to be. Then I split the log and hewed it flat till it was as thin as a board.
All this took time and much hard work. But I had nothing else to do.
I made the table and chair out of short pieces of board I had brought from the ship.
Of the large boards which I hewed from trees, I made some wide shelves along the side of my cave or kitchen.
On these shelves I laid my tools, nails, and other things.
I had a place for everything, and kept everything in its place.
My cave looked like some stores you have seen where a little of everything is kept for sale.
From time to time I made many useful things.
From a piece of hard wood that I cut in the forest I made a spade to dig with. The handle I shaped just like the handles you buy at the stores. But the shovel part was of wood and would not last long.
While I was digging my cave, I found it very hard work to carry the earth and small stones away. I needed a wheelbarrow very much.
I could make the frame part of this, but I did not know how to make the wheel. I worked four days at it, and then had to give it up.
At last I made me a kind of hod, like that which masons use. It was better than a basket and almost as good as a wheelbarrow.
I HAVE A GREAT FRIGHT
THE very next day after my cave was finished
I will tell you about it
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