Also there was discovered in a clump of mango bushes, half buried in the mud, an old broken five-gallon demijohn. The basketwork enclosing it was nearly intact, and Marian thought they might use it for something some time.
The wreck of an old barrel was also rescued from the mud. Only three of its staves were gone. Who knew what might not some time be done with what remained? Several rusty tin cans were acquired. Marian could mend them by drawing a tiny rag through the holes in them; and Esther came up with a piece of scrap iron that might be made into a spear-head if a body only knew how; Delbert knew Clarence could have done it all right. They found three little boards, too, and an old shoe whose top was not yet stiff. Besides all this, there were innumerable armloads of driftwood. They gathered it up into piles beyond the reach of high tides.
But the most exciting discovery of all was the remains of an old canoe. One side and a goodly portion of the bottom were gone, but it was undeniably a canoe. It had been tossed up on the rocks by some storm and had lain bleaching in the sun ever since. Nothing would do but Delbert must get that old fragment into the water. They all caught his enthusiasm and worked with a will.
The canoe was of native manufacture, having been hollowed out from one big log, and what was left of it seemed to be quite solid. After they had it floating they hunted up poles and practiced the art of navigation for a while. It was a clumsy thing, and of course everybody connected with it got wet, but already Delbert had visions of what it might lead to.
“Marian,” he said, “let’s pile a lot of that wood on this and take it around that way. It will be a lot easier than carrying it over.”
“The waves are too high,” she objected, “and we should have to tie the wood on good and solid, for the way this thing dips and tips and turns it would all be off before we were out of the cove.”
“The waves are high,” he conceded, “and, of course, we should have to tie the wood on. This thing won’t stay anywhere. What’s left of it knows it used to be the side and it doesn’t understand that it is the bottom now.”
“I’ll tell you,” she said; “let’s wait till to-morrow. Maybe the wind will not pile the waves quite so high then, and we can tie your rope to it. See there is the hole in the prow they made to moor it by, and we can tow it round, if you like. That is splendid wood and it will certainly be easier getting it home that way than carrying it up over the hill.”
But Delbert was not quite satisfied.
“I’ll tell you,” he said; “if we can get it around the point there, we can take it the other way, in back of the Island. It’s a lot longer way, but there are no breakers in there.”