An American Robinson Crusoe Read online

  After Robinson had satisfied his thirst and rested awhile, he feltmuch better. He said, "I must try to walk and see whether I can findsomething to eat." He found many kinds of fruits and berries allaround him, but he was afraid to eat them, as they were strange tohim and he feared they might be poisonous.

  As he was walking along, all at once he spied a tall plant in thedistance which had a familiar look. It looked like corn. He said tohimself, "I wonder if it can be corn." At last he came near enoughto recognize it. Yes, it was corn. It did not look exactly like thecorn that he saw at home, but still he knew it would be safe to eatit. He broke off an ear and eagerly ate the kernels raw. Oh, how goodit was! Robinson could not remember anything that tasted half so good.

  He ate as much as he wanted and then filled his pockets with ears ofcorn for his supper. Then he went back to the spring to get anotherdrink.

  VIII

  ROBINSON ON AN ISLAND

  After his hunger and thirst were satisfied, Robinson thought he wouldtry to find another dwelling place. "My legs are stiff and sore fromsitting so uncomfortably last night, and there is so much danger offalling," he said. "I will climb yonder hill and look around and seeon which side the houses are. I will find me a stick to help me onmy way."

  He broke a stick from a dry bush and climbed up the steep sides ofthe hill. After a half hour's climb he was on top. What a sight methis eyes! There were no houses, no huts to be seen, no smoke arosefrom the forest, no field could be seen. Nothing but trees and bush,sand and rock.

  "I am then upon an island alone, without food, without shelter,without weapons! What will become of me?" he cried. "I am a prisoner.The island is my prison, the waves are the guards which will not allowme to get away. Will no ship ever come to set me free?"

  He stretched his gaze out to the sea till his eyes ached, but he sawno ship.

  Robinson came down and seated himself on a stone and considered whathe should do. It was not yet noon, yet he feared greatly the nextnight. "I must find me a better bed," was his first clear thought.

  IX

  ROBINSON'S SHELTER

  Robinson saw at a little distance what seemed to be a cleft or anopening in a huge rock. "If I could only get inside and find room tostay over night. The rock would protect me from rain, from the windand wild animals better than a tree."

  He long sought in vain for a place wide enough to allow him to getinto the opening in the rock. He was about to give up, when he seizedhold of a branch of a thorn tree growing on the side of the rock. Helooked closer and saw that it grew out of the cleft in the rock. Hesaw, too, that at this point the opening was wider and that he hadonly to remove the tree in order to get in. "The hole shall be mydwelling," he said. "I must get the thorn tree out so that I can haveroom."

  That was easily said. He had neither axe nor saw, nor knife nor spade.How could he do it? He had nothing but his hands. He tried to pullit out by the roots, but in vain. He wasn't strong enough.

  "I must dig it out," said Robinson.

  He scratched with his nails, but the earth was too hard. What shouldhe do? He sought a stick with a fork in it and dug in the earth, butit was slow work. Then he found a clamshell. He did better with it,but it was hard work, and Robinson was not used to hard work. Thesweat ran down his face and he had often to stop and rest in theshade. The sun burned so hot and the rock so reflected the heat thathe was all but overcome. But he worked on. When evening came, he wouldsleep in the tree and next morning he would go at it again. On thethird day the roots were all laid bare.

  But the roots were fast in the clefts of the rock and he could notloosen it, try ever so hard. What would he not have given for an axe,or at least a knife. And yet he had never thought of their value whenat home. He attempted to cut one root through with his clam-shell,but the shell crumbled and would not cut the hard wood.

  He stood for a long time thinking, not knowing what next to do. Hemade up his mind that he must have something harder than the shellto cut with. Then he tried a stone with a sharp edge, but soon foundhe needed another one, however. He found one. Then he set the sharpone on the wood and struck it with the heavy one. In this way he slowlycut the roots in two.

  On the fifth day there was yet left one big root, bigger than any ofthe others. Robinson got up early in the morning. He worked the wholeday. Finally it gave a crack and it, too, was broken.

  Robinson had only now to remove the loose earth inside the cleft. Hefound the opening could be made large and roomy. It was choked up withdirt. He dug out enough to allow him room enough to make a place tolie down. "In the future," he thought, "I will take out all the dirtand then I shall be comfortable."

  It was then dark and the moon shone bright in the heavens. Robinsongathered a heap of dry grass and made himself a safe bed. But as helay there he saw the moonbeams shining into his cave. He sprang up."How easy," he thought, "for wild animals to creep in here upon me."

  He crawled out and looked around. Not far from the cave he saw a largeflat stone. With great trouble he rolled it to the opening of hiscave, but before this the morning began to dawn. He went inside theshelter, seized the stone with both hands and rolled it into theopening till it almost closed it. "I have now a closed home. I canagain stretch my legs. Wind and rain cannot get at me, nor wildanimals."

  X

  ROBINSON MAKES A HAT

  Refreshed and with renewed strength, Robinson awoke late the nextmorning, but he had a bad headache. The day before the hot tropic sunhad beat down on his bare head, as he worked at his cave. He was sobusy that he forgot to go into the shade from time to time in orderto shield himself from the scorching sunshine. He felt a new need.

  "I must make me a hat," said Robinson to himself. "But how?" He hadno straw, no thread and no needle. He looked around for a long time,but found nothing. The sun mounted even higher in the heavens, andshone hotter and hotter. He went to seek shelter at last in the deepshade of a nearby tall plant.

  As he stood there he examined the plant more carefully. "Out of theseleaves," he said, "I might make a hat." He climbed up the short stemof the plant and saw that it had not only leaves as long as himself,but between the leaves were big bunches of long, thin fruit, as thickas three fingers and similar in shape to a cucumber.

  He plucked the leaves and fruit and was about to eat some of the fruitwhen he heard near him a light stir as of some animal. He rolled theleaves and fruit together and hastened back to the cave.

  THE BANANA TREE]

  The bananas, for that is what the fruit proved to be, were sweet andrefreshing. After he had eaten enough he set immediately about makinghis hat. He broke off a couple of reeds. He bent one into a hoop. Butthe hoop would not hold without thread. Sometimes it was too largeand sometimes too small. But it must fit his head. He pulled up grassand bound its ends together, but the grass stalks were not strong enough.He hunted until he found a tree whose inner bark was soft and cameout in long fibres. He bound his reed with this. This, too, made thehoop soft so that it did not hurt his head.

  When the hoop was ready and fitted to his head he found the bananaleaves could not be used. Their veins ran straight out from themidrib. This made them easily torn, and besides, they were too large.They were not the best shape. He saw that leaves about a foot longwith broad and tapering points would be best. He saw too, that if theleaves had their veins running parallel with the midrib they wouldbe stronger. He made search and at length found leaves that seemedmade for his purpose. They were thick and leathery and tapered frombase to apex like a triangle.

  He now proceeded with his hat-making. He would take a leaf and layit on the ground with the base toward him. Then he laid the hoop onthe base of the leaf, wrapped it around the hoop and fastened it withthorns. He did the same with the other leaves. The thorns were hispins. At last he pinned the tips of the leaves together at the topand the hat was ready. It looked just like a big cone, but it keptout the heat of the sun.

  Robinson now had corn and bananas and when he was thirsty he d
ranka handful of water from the spring. He had been now nine days on theisland. Every day he looked out on the sea until his eyes ached tosee if he might discover a ship.

  He could not understand why no ship came his way. "Who knows how longI must wait here?" said he sorrowfully. Then the thought came to him:"You will not be able to keep track of the days unless you write itdown."

  XI

  ROBINSON'S CALENDAR

  The matter of keeping track of time puzzled Robinson very much. Itwas getting more difficult every day to keep it in his memory. He mustwrite down the days as they slip by, but where and how? He had neitherpen, ink, nor paper. Should he mark every day with a colored stoneon the smooth side of the huge rock wall within whose clefts he haddug out his cave? But the rain would wash off the record and then hewould lose all his bearings. Then he thought of the beach, but therethe wind and waves would soon also erase it.

  He thought a long time. "I must find something," he said to himselfon which to keep a record. "I must also know when Sunday is. I mustrest one day in the week. Yes, I must find something," he said, "onwhich to write." And finally he found it. He chose two trees standingnear each other and then sought for a small sharp stone, which he couldmake still sharper by striking it on another. When he had got thispen ready he cut into the bark of one tree:

  _Shipwreck, Sunday, 10th of September, 1875._

  He made seven cuts in a row for the seven days in the week. The firstcut was longer than the others. This was to represent the Sunday. Atsundown every day he made a new cut in the bark.

  The other tree he called the month tree. On its stem he was to cuta mark every time his week tree told him a month had passed. But hemust be careful, for the months were not of equal length. But he rememberedthat his teacher had once said in school that the months could becounted on the knuckles and hollows of the hand, in such a way thatthe long and short months could be found easily and he could tell inthis way the number of days in each.

  Robinson worked at enlarging his shelter a little every day. He wassorely at loss to find something in which to carry the dirt away fromthe entrance, or enough so that it would not choke up the opening.A large clam shell was all he could think of at present. He would carrythe dirt to the entrance and some distance away, and then throw it.Fortunately the ground sloped away rapidly, so that he needed a kindof platform before his door.

  He was careful to open the cleft at some distance above the largeopening. For the air was damp and impure in the shelter. But with theopening made high above, fresh air was constantly passing into, andimpure air out of, his cave. Light, too, was admitted in this way.

  XII

  ROBINSON MAKES A HUNTING BAG

  Several days passed with Robinson's hat-making and his calendar-makingand his watching the sea. Every day his corn and bananas became moredistasteful to him. And he planned a longer journey about the islandto see if something new to eat could be found.

  But he considered that if he went a distance from his cave and foundsomething it would really be of little use to him. "I could eat myfill," he said, "but that is all. And by the time I get back to mycave I will again be hungry. I must find something in which I cangather and carry food." He found nothing.

  "The people in New York," he said, "have baskets, or pockets, or bagsmade of coarse cloth. Of them all, I could most easily make the net,perhaps, of vines. But the little things would fall out of the net.I will see whether I can make a net of small meshes."

  But he soon saw that the vines did not give a smooth surface. Hethought for a long while. In his garden at home his father hadsometimes bound up the young trees with the soft inner bark of others.He wondered if he could use this. He stripped away the outer bark fromthe tree, which before had yielded him a fibre for his hat, and pulledoff the long, smooth pieces of the inner bark. He twisted themtogether. Then he thought how he could weave the strands together.He looked at his shirt. A piece was torn off and unravelled. He couldsee the threads go up and down. He saw that some threads go from leftto right (woof), others lengthwise (the warp).

  From his study of the woven cloth, Robinson saw he must have a firmerthread than the strips of bark gave alone. He separated his bark intolong, thin strips. These he twisted into strands or yarn by rollingbetween his hands, or on a smooth surface. As he twisted it he woundit on a stick. It was slow, hard work. Of all his work, the makingof yarn or thread gave him the most trouble. He learned to twist itby knotting the thread around the spindle or bobbin on which he woundit and twirling this in the air. He remembered sadly the old spinningwheel we had seen at his grandmother's house.

  His next care was something to hold the threads while he wove themin and out. He had never seen a loom.

  After long study Robinson set two posts in the ground and these hebound with seventy-two strands horizontally under each other. Thenhe tied in the top at the left another thread and wove it in and outthrough the seventy-two threads. So he tied seventy-two verticalstrands and wove them in and out. Thus he had a net three times aslong as his foot and as wide as long. He tied the four cornerstogether. He made a woven handle for it and put it on his shoulderlike a sack, saying gleefully, "This shall be my hunting bag."

  ROBINSON'S LOOM]

  XIII

  ROBINSON EXPLORES THE ISLAND

  After Robinson made his hunting bag he was anxious to set off on hisjourney of exploring the island. So he arose very early next morning."Before it is hot," thought he, "I will be quite a distance on myjourney." He ate a couple of bananas, scooped up a few handfuls ofwater from the spring, stuck a few ears of corn in his hunting bag,took his stick in his hand and went forth. As he left his cave thethought struck him: "What if I could not find my cave again? How canI manage so that I can come back to it? I will go away in one directionand return the same way; but suppose I were to lose the way?"

  Then he noticed his shadow pointing like a great finger from the seatoward the land. He could direct himself by that. He kept his shadowin front of him. He had noticed, too, that the wind always blew northof the point where the sun rose. This helped him. But sometimes thewind died down.

  He had to climb over many rocks and pierce many thickets. At each stephe saw a rich growth of plants, stems, leaves, flowers, but nothingto eat, no fruits, or nuts. At length he came to a tree as high asa small church steeple.

  COCOANUT PALM TREE]

  Then he thought of what his father had once said about the trees instrange countries. "Many are as tall as a church steeple and the nutsare as big as one's head." He looked again. Yes, there they hung amongthe leaves, concealed high above in the crown! But _so_ high, itwas well that Robinson had learned to climb while on board the ship.He quickly laid down his hunting bag and clambered up the smooth stemof the high tree, a palm. He picked off a nut and threw it down andthen several more, and climbed down again.

  But the nuts were very hard. How should he open them? He had broughtalong his sharp stone with which he had stripped off the inner bark.With this he forced off the thick outer shell. But now came the hardnut within, and how hard it was! Striking it was of no use.

  Then he threw a great stone on the nut. The shell was crushed and asnow-white kernel lay before him. It tasted like almond. Withastonishment Robinson saw in the middle of the nut a large empty spacewhich must have been filled with fluid as the inside was wet. Hewished that he had the juice to drink, for he was very thirsty. Withthis in view, he examined another and riper nut, and the outside cameoff more easily. But how could he break it and at the same time savethe juice? He studied the hull of the cocoanut on all sides. At theends were three little hollows. He attempted first to bore in withhis fingers, but he could not. "Hold!" he cried. "Maybe I can cut themthere with the point of my stone knife." This was done without troubleand out of the hole flowed the sweet, white juice.

  Robinson put a couple of nuts in his hunting bag, and also the shellsfrom the broken nuts. "Now," he thought, "I shall no longer have todrink from my hand." With this thought he went on his wa
y.

  As Robinson came to a rock in his path, out jumped what Robinson tookto be a rabbit. He ran after him to catch him, but the rabbit was muchthe swifter. So Robinson hastened home, but before he reached it thestars were shining with their lustrous light. Tired Robinson stretchedhis limbs on his bed of grass and leaves and slept soundly.

  XIV

  ROBINSON AS A HUNTER

  All the time Robinson was confined to the cave he kept thinking aboutthe rabbit he had seen and how he might catch one. Finally, hedetermined to make a spear. He broke down a thin, young sapling,stripped off its branches and in one end fastened a sharp stone. Hethen went to bed, for he wanted to be up early for his first huntingtrip on the morrow.

  With his hunting sack and spear, Robinson began to creep very, verycautiously through the underbrush. But he did not go far before hesaw a lot of rabbits feeding peacefully on the soft leaves and grass.He drew back and threw his spear with all his might. But the speardid not reach the rabbits. It fell far short and the rabbits sprangup and ran quickly away. He tried it several times with the same result.Then Robinson, discouraged, turned back home and ate his corn, bananas,and cocoanuts without meat. In the meantime he found a new kind offood. He discovered a nest of eggs. How good they tasted to him!

  But his longing for meat was still very great. "I will try to makea bow and arrow," he said. No sooner said than done. He bent a longpiece of tough, young wood and stretched between the ends a cordtwisted out of the fiber taken from the cocoanut shell. He then soughtfor a piece of wood for arrows. He split the ends with his flint knifeand fastened in splinters of stone. At the other end he fastened onsome feathers found on the ground. The arrows flew through the airwith great swiftness. "They will go far enough," thought Robinson,"if I could only hit anything."