The dead swell evinced the neighborhood of
some previous gale.
"I might as well search the lockers," he said to himself. "There might
be something eatable in them."
There was nothing to eat aboard; but in the locker at the stern he
discovered a small keg filled with water, overlooked probably when the
boat was unloaded, for it was the same craft in which the trip up the
African river had been made.
"That's a good find," he ejaculated. "Crickey! what is this?"
He drew forth from under the bow a strip of canvas and an old rusty
hatchet. The possession of these articles raised his spirits for a
time, so that he set to work to rig up a sort of jury mast and sail.
There were three thwarts. From one of these he managed to split two
pieces some six feet long without impairing its strength as a brace to
stiffen the boat. He lashed the three together with a few bits of spun
yarn from his pocket, making a mast nearly ten feet long.
Next he split from the other thwarts a piece or two for a boom, then he
turned his attention to the sail.
Part of the canvas he tore into strips, and by the help of these he
manufactured a sort of lug sail of sufficient size to keep the boat
steady in a seaway, and in running with a fair wind to make two or
three miles an hour.
To step and wedge the mast with the aid of the hatchet and more
splinters from the thwarts, did not take long. The only thing that
bothered him was the main sheet, or--to explain--the rope which should
hold the sail taut and trim.
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