Bry nodded.
“That way we make axe in Jolo-Jolo,” he said, proudly.
He now handed the rude implement to Nux, who seemed to comprehend without words what was required of him, for he at once began rubbing the edge of the stone axe upon a rough portion of rock to smooth and sharpen it more perfectly.
Meanwhile Bry pried up more rock and formed a second axe-head, and so for several hours the men labored patiently at their task, while I, unable to be of assistance, sat watching them with breathless interest.
When the second axe was ready for Nux to sharpen, Bry climbed up the trunk of one of the tall pines and, selecting a branch of the size he desired, with much effort cut it from the tree with his knife.
Then he descended, trimmed the branch, and began fashioning it into an axe-handle. He made no attempt to render it graceful or beautiful, you may be sure. The one requirement was service, and the wood was tough and strong enough to answer the purpose required.
By the time the handle was ready Nux had worn the edge of the first rude stone axe to a fair degree of sharpness, and with it Bry split the end of the handle far enough down to wedge the axe-head between the pieces. Then he bound the top together with strips of bark cut from a young limb, which was far stronger than any cord would have been.
A clumsy instrument it seemed to be, when it was finished; but Bry balanced it gravely in his hands, and swung it around his head, and nodded his full approval and satisfaction.
“Now we chop down tree,” he announced.
Of the three trees that fortunately grew upon the column of rock, two were evidently too short to reach across the gulf from where they stood. But the third was close to the edge, and towered well above its fellows; so this was the one Bry selected. A woodsman would probably have laughed at the strokes dealt by the Sulu; but Bry knew what he was about, for he had chopped trees in this way before. Too hard a blow would have crushed the stone edge of the weapon, and a prying motion would have broken it at once; so the black struck straight and true, and not with too much force, and slowly but surely wore through the stalwart trunk of the tree.