CHAPTER III.
On the wreck--Efforts to kindle a fire--My flagstaff--Clothing impossible--Growing corn in turtles' blood--My house of pearl shells--How the pelicans fished for me--Stung by a "sting-rae"-- My amusements--A peculiar clock--Threatened madness--I begin to build a boat--An appalling blunder--Riding on turtles--Preaching to Bruno--Canine sympathy--A sail--How I got fresh water--Sending messages by the pelicans--A wonderful almanac--A mysterious voice of hope--Human beings at last.
That morning I made my breakfast off raw sea-gulls' eggs, but was unable to get anything to drink.

Between nine and ten o'clock, as the tide was then very low, I was delighted to find that it was possible to reach the wreck by walking along the rocks.

So, scrambling aboard, I collected as many things as I could possibly transfer ashore.

I had to take dangerous headers into the cabin, as the whole ship's interior was now full of water, but all I could manage to secure were a tomahawk and my bow and arrows, which had been given me by the Papuans.

I had always taken a keen interest in archery, by the way, and had made quite a name for myself in this direction long before I left Switzerland.