In trying to make some better arrangement of the spars on which he rested, he discovered the corner of a sail sticking between two of them.

This he hauled out of the water, and found it to be a portion of the gaff.

It was a fortunate discovery; because, in the event of long exposure, it would prove to be a most useful covering.

Wringing it out, he spread it over the logs to dry.
The doing of all this occupied the shipwrecked youth so long that it was nearly midday before he could sit down on his raft and think calmly over his position.

Hunger now began to remind him that he was destitute of food; but Henry had been accustomed, while roaming among the mountains of his island home, to go fasting for long periods of time.