*CHAPTER VIII.*
_*Thoughts of the Future; Making a Bow-Gun*_*.*
My house was now finished, and I began, with a light heart to thinkabout starting on a long exploring trip. Before taking my departure,however, two questions of importance must be solved, if possible,namely, that of devising a weapon with which I could shoot game, if anywas found; and some means of procuring fire.
The morning following the completion of the house and stockade, as I waswalking toward the orange tree which continued to furnish me with anample supply of fruit, an idea came to me, and so astonished was I thatI had not thought of it before that I stopped short and gazed straightahead of me for several minutes.
My knife!
Here was steel; now for a flint, and fire would be procurable at anymoment. I understood the use of flint and steel, for many times, in ourboyhood, my brother and I, on our excursions in the woods, had madefires with old gun-flints and our pocket-knives as steel, for cookinggrey squirrels when we were fortunate enough to shoot any. We did thisfrom choice, because of the novelty.
Without further thought of breakfast I turned toward the shore to searchfor a substitute for flint, for I did not expect to find the realarticle here, as I had only seen soft, calcareous rock which appeared tobe the prevailing kind.
A long search up and down the beach failed to disclose any hard rock,not even a pebble of sufficient size. Shells were abundant, but theywould not answer the purpose. I next turned my attention to the brook,and searched along the shallowest places for a hard stone. I found oneat last, round and flat, about the size of a silver dollar. It was verydark, almost black, and appeared to be quite hard. Wiping it with myhand I laid it down in the sun and waited impatiently for it to dry.When perfectly free of moisture, I opened my knife, and holding theblade firmly in my left hand, I struck the stone sharply against theback of the blade, with a quick downward stroke. No spark appeared.Over and over again I tried but without success, but I saw that thestone scratched the steel, which gave me hope that the stone wassufficiently hard.
After several more trials, a tiny spark shot downward from the blade.My joy knew no bounds. Tinder must be procured. Like a flash came tomy mind the feathery heads of the wild cane. If I could find one dryenough I thought it would do. I at once ran up stream to where thecanes grew, and after a little search I found a plume that was dead andquite dry. Bending the cane down I gathered a handful of the floss fromthe head, and going to the foot of a cocoanut tree, I lay the cane flossdown by the foot of the tree and once more tried to produce a spark. Iwas soon able to obtain a spark frequently, but they invariably failedto reach the floss, or to ignite when they touched it. But I saw that Ihad fire within reach, and it only required perseverance to procure it.Holding the knife blade closer to the floss, I struck again. This timea shower of tiny sparks descended to the floss, and, yes, it had caught!Quickly dropping the knife and stone I partially covered it with myhands and very gently blew upon it. A tiny wreath of smoke arose as thefire spread through the wad of floss. Blowing upon it still harder, inshort quick puffs, a tiny flame leaped up; and quickly gathering suchdry leaves and grass as I could reach, I heaped them upon the flame.These were followed by small dry sticks until I had a good fire going.I now only needed something to cook, and that I proposed to search for.But fire was desirable as company at night, and to ward off wild beastsshould any be found; also in the future I might wish to make signals bythe aid of smoke.
Not wishing to injure my faithful friend the cocoanut tree, I allowedthe fire to go out, feeling full confidence in my ability to procure itany time I wished.
I now set about preparing for my journey of exploration, meanwhilecarefully watering, several times each day, the creepers that I had setout along the walls of the stockade, until they showed no further signsof wilting during the greatest heat of the day. The water I brought,with much labor and many trips, from the brook, in cocoanut shells.
It occurred to me to plant vines in front of the door of the stockade,so that, should I be absent for a great length of time, they would growup over the door and still further obscure my retreat. Acting on thisidea, I searched about the bush for a vine less woody than those plantedalong the stockade. At length, on the further side of the clearing, Idiscovered a vine, not unlike a morning glory vine, only it had largerleaves, climbing up a tall, smooth tree, and this seemed to answer mypurpose. So, getting down upon my knees I began to dig around the rootin order to move it without disturbing the earth immediately surroundingit; when but a few inches below the top of the ground I came across around, hard object which I at first thought to be a large root of thetree, but in digging still further around it I saw that the supposedroot moved, until finally I lifted it out of the ground. As I did so Inoticed that it had one end attached to the vine that I was after. Theroot was fully a foot and a half long, and about five inches indiameter, slightly rounded at the ends. I cut off the vine with myknife, and ran with the root to the brook and washed it clean. I nowsaw that I had found some kind of a tuber. With my knife I cut throughthe thin rough skin, disclosing a white substance beneath. Quicklycutting it in halves I found that the inside of the tuber was white andstarchy. I wondered what it could be. It was not a sweet potato, forthe latter is yellow. Then I began to think of the roots that I hadread about in books of travel in the tropics, and the first that came tomy mind was the yam. Yes, this must be the yam, though I did not knowbefore that its foliage was in the form of a vine.
Here food was in plenty, healthful and nourishing, and sufficient tosustain life even if I found no other, it being only necessary to roastthem in ashes.
I resolved to plant yam vines in front of the gate to the stockade, for,while the vines were growing up to conceal it, they would, in themeantime be storing away food for me against my return. This plan I putinto immediate execution.
My next thought was of devising a weapon for offence and defence, alsoto be used in killing game. The idea of a bow and arrows at firstsuggested itself, but this was abandoned for the bow-gun, for, as boys,we were able to do good execution with the latter as it had a stock andbreech, admitting of securing better aim.
Looking about for material from which to construct the bow-gun, thebamboo seemed to be the most available for the barrel; so I cut down oneabout two inches in diameter, from which I selected the longest andstraightest section between the joints. Next I cut a deep notch aboutfour inches from the larger end, and extending to the centre of thebamboo. From the lower end of the notch I split away the upper half ofthe tube, thus forming a spout about four feet long which was to carrythe arrow. For a breech I selected a forked stick, the butt of which Icarefully rounded and smoothed until it would fit tightly into the roundsocket at the larger end of the barrel, above the notch. This, thoughcrude, furnished a very fair substitute for a breech to rest against myshoulder when taking aim, particularly as I had thought to select aforked stick which had the butt slightly bent so that, when fixed in thebreech-end of the barrel, the proper elevation was given.
The next step was to make a bow and fix it firmly across the under sideof the barrel, at right angles to it, I searched about in the bush along time before I found a tree of the right size, straight and withoutbranches; and, on bending it down toward the ground and cutting it, Ifound that it was elastic and quite hard. From the tree I cut a sectionabout three feet long, which I squared for a distance of two inches inthe middle, whittling what was to be the inner side down flat fromeither side of the squared part to either end, each half taperingslightly from the middle. I did not remove the bark from the back ofthe bow.
Next I cut a square slot about the width of the squared part in thecentre of the bow, in the under side of the bamboo about a foot fromwhat was to be the muzzle, being careful, however, not to cut throughinto the groove of the barrel. Into this I carefully fitted the squaredportion of the bow, after which notches opening in opposite directionswere cut on the
lower side of the barrel, one on each side of the bow.With one of the supple vines I then lashed the bow firmly, drawing thevine over the notches. When the vine was thoroughly dry the bow would beheld firmly and rigidly in place.
The question of arrows was quickly solved, for I could think of nothingthat could serve the purpose better than the long smooth stem whichsupported the heads of the wild canes These were of just the right sizeand length. I cut several dozens of them, sharpening one end of each,and notching the other to receive the string. To give sufficient weightto the execution end of the arrow, I split a piece of the tough vineinto fine strips, with which I closely wound the arrows near the ends,until the proper weight was secured to balance them during their flightand thus render them accurate. For the wings of the arrows I used spraysfrom the plumes of the wild cane, until I could find something moresuitable, fastening them to the string end with fibres from the everuseful vine.
It now only remained to provide a string for the bow, before the weaponcould be tested. Carefully separating the longest fibres of the cocoanutcloth. I braided them into a strong cord of uniform size, which Ifastened to the bow.
And now for the test! Drawing the string back to the notch, I placedone of the arrows in the groove of the gun and, raising the gun to myshoulder, I released the string with an upward pressure of my rightthumb, at the same time pointing the gun in the direction of the brook.
As straight as a line could be drawn, the arrow sped away over the brookand was lost in the thicket beyond. I felt confident of the success ofmy bow-gun, and after constructing a quiver for the arrows from a pieceof the cocoanut cloth fastened together with thorns, and braiding a cordwith which to sling it over my shoulder, I turned my attention to thefinal preparations for departure.
These consisted of providing a store of provisions in case I did notimmediately find food on the way. I roasted several of the yams, andgathered two dozen oranges which were stored in a bag made of thecocoanut cloth. I did not include cocoanuts, for I was sure to findplenty as I went along.
I took the precaution to gather a quantity of the cane floss for tinder,which I placed in a short piece of bamboo, which I stopped up tightly atboth ends with wooden plugs. This was to protect it from moisture incase of rain. I also took the cocoanut calendar.
The morning for departure arrived. Taking a farewell plunge in thebrook, I made a hearty breakfast of yams and oranges, after which,closing the door of the stockade and fastening it with withes of thevine, I slung the quiver of arrows and the bag of provisions over myshoulder, took the bow-gun and started away along the shore, going in asoutherly direction.
A Boy Crusoe; or, The Golden Treasure of the Virgin Islands Page 8