Again I went to the pool and cut two more bamboos, each twenty feet long. I then cut them in halves, making four poles each ten feet long. Carrying these to the house, I lashed one across the upright palings midway between the upper pole and the ground, lashing them firmly to each of the palings. This strengthened the structure, and shaking it with all my strength I was gratified to find that, though naturally elastic, it was firm and strong.
As I now had a safe protection from any wild animal of moderate size and strength, I felt that I should be secure at night. I was on an island somewhere to the northeast of the Caribbean sea, in fact, I reasoned that I could be nowhere else; and from this, together with what I had read, I concluded that there could be no very large or ferocious wild animals in the forests about me.
I still had some time to work before sunset, and I therefore went to the bank of the stream to cut a quantity of wild canes which I proposed to weave in the form of basket work, between the palings, thus forming the walls of my house.
Cutting the canes was easy work, and by sunset I had a great pile of them landed by the house.
Again satisfying the cravings of hunger with oranges and cocoanuts, washed down with water from the brook, I cut another notch in the cocoanut-shell calendar, and after sitting and listening to the varied insect sounds until it was quite dark, I retired, to my couch within the inclosure.
Lying upon my couch, until I fell asleep, I revolved in my mind various plans for the future. The details for the construction of my house were pretty well worked out in my mind; and the desirability of surrounding my abode with some sort of a stockade occurred to me. I had little fear of attacks from wild animals, but I presumed that the island was inhabited in some part of it, by what sort of people I had not yet considered.
Indeed, it was extremely improbable that an island in this quarter of the world could be totally uninhabited. Whether the islanders proved friendly or otherwise, the idea of a stockade as a protection against possible surprise met with my immediate approval.
Another question of extreme importance to be considered was that of a permanent food supply. Perhaps only cocoanuts and oranges abounded in my near vicinity; at any rate, I resolved to carefully survey the adjacent region for the purpose of ascertaining its resources.
Then the question of providing clothing for myself must be considered, for, at best, my present raiment would not long survive the rough usage which it was now receiving, and to which it would hereafter be subjected in the bush. I even thought it might be well to construct a suit from the cocoanut-fibre cloth, and thus save my civilized clothes for the day of my rescue.
Many other things passed through my mind in rapid succession as I lay upon my couch, among them the project of starting out upon a tour of discovery in an endeavor to ascertain the extent of my domain, and if it was inhabited in any part of it.