"This comes of beginning at the wrong end," he said; "I went to work like a fool. I should have begun by making a cart."
"But you can't do that," said Helen, soothingly; "no gentleman can make a cart."
"Oh, surely anybody can make a cart, by a little thinking," said he.
"I wish," said Helen, listlessly, "you would think of something for me to do; I begin to be ashamed of not helping."
"Hum! you can plait?"
"Yes, as far as seven strands."
"Then you need never be unemployed. We want ropes, and shall want large mats for the rainy weather."
He went to the place where he had warned her of the snakes, and cut a great bundle of long silky grass, surprisingly tough, yet neither harsh nor juicy; he brought it her and said he should be very glad of a hundred yards of light cord, three ply and five ply.
She was charmed with the grass, and the very next morning she came to breakfast with it nicely prepared, and a good deal of cord made and hanging round her neck. She found some preparations for carpenter's work lying about.
"Is that great log for the cart?" said she.