Meanwhile the castaways had not been idle, as far as the preparation of wood was concerned. Even the youngest of my readers must be well aware that no ship or boat even can be built of wood that has not been properly seasoned. Here on this strange island timber was certainly not lacking, but the seasoning of it, as experience soon proved to our heroes, was by no means so easy as might be supposed; for it is as much the wind as the sun that dries the wood, and if done too quickly it not only warps but cracks, and is therefore practically useless.
Many different kinds of trees were cut down and sawn up and placed in various situations by way of experiment; some out in the open, others in the woods, while planks were even steeped for a time in salt water and afterwards dried.
It was found that planks of the pandanus tree, first steeped for a week and afterwards dried in the shade, would, as nearly as possible, suit the purpose for which they were required; so with greater hopes now in their hearts they went merrily and earnestly to work.
But many months went by before they had sufficient wood of a reliable nature to fairly commence work with. Wooden pegs had meanwhile been carefully fashioned, and these had all to be fire-hardened, and were, of course, of different sizes; they were stored in the woods under dry fibre from the cocoanut and pandanus trees. The next thing to be done was to build a neat little furnace in which different sized boring-irons could be heated to redness, for Fred laughingly confessed that his plan of making holes with rifle bullets, though eminently practicable in warfare and house building, was inapplicable to the building of ships.
Many and many was the sleepless night that the planning of the yacht gave Fred, or at all events parts of nights, for he would lie and toss about and think till well on in the middle watch, and very often even after he did fall asleep his tired brain kept on working at all kinds of ridiculously impossible vessels, on the stocks and off, till it was time to get up.
Frank did not trouble himself so much about it
"I leave it all to you, Fred," he said; "your head is far longer than mine, and not half so thick, so you must be like Noah of old—master, ship-builder, and engineer all in one."
"Poor Noah," sighed Fred, "I have a higher opinion of him now than ever; my work is nothing compared to what his must have been."
"And I guess, sah," said Quambo, "de tools he hab am not so good as ours, sah."
"No, Quambo, so I mustn't grumble."