He scooped a hollow place out in the sand until he had quite a hole. This he banked up with stones until he had a small oven. By arching the stones over toward the top there was left a sort of circular opening. Over this Jack fitted a monster clam shell, with the concave side uppermost.
This made an improvised stew pan. Underneath was piled small bits of dry drift-wood, which a match soon set on fire. In a little while the water in the big shell was boiling.
"Now get some other shells for dishes," said Jack to Mark.
Soon Mark had piled up a lot of smaller shells.
"Help me gather some eggs now," said Jack, "and we'll put them in to boil. Then we'll invite the rest of the folks to breakfast."
The two boys soon uncovered from the sand a pile of the eggs, and in a little while they were steaming in the hot water. Then Jack arranged the shell-dishes on the sand. He went over to where the others were gloomily considering their plight.
"Breakfast is ready," he announced.
"This isn't any time for joking," spoke Professor Henderson, rather sternly.
"But I mean it," went on Jack. "Just come over and see. I'm not fooling you."
Wondering what he had done they all followed him.