Chapter 5 Learning to live alone
I still needed a lot of things.
'Well,' I said, 'I'm going to have to make them.'
So, everyday,I worked.
First of all, I wanted to make my cave bigger.
I carried out stone from the cave, and after many day's hard work, I had a large cave in the side
of the hill.
Then I needed a table and a chair, and that was my next job.
I had to work on them for a long time.
I also wanted to make places to put all my food, and all my tools and guns.
But every time I wanted a piece of wood, I had to cut down a tree.
It was long, slow, difficult work, and during the next months I learnt to be very clever with my
tools.
There was no hurry. I had all the time in the world.
I also went out everyday, and I always had my gun with me.
Sometimes I killed a wild animal, and then I had meat to eat.
But when it got dark, I had to go to bed because I had no light.
I couldn't read or write because I couldn't see.
For a long time, I didn't know what to do.
But in the end, I learnt how to use the fat of dead animals to make a light.
The weather on my island was usually very hot, and there were oftern storms and heavy rain.
The next June, it rained all the time, and I couldn't go out very often.
I was also ill for some weeks, but slowly, I got better.
When I was stronger, I began to go out again.
The first time I killed a wild animal, and the second time I caught a big turtle.
I was on the island for ten months before I visited other parts of it.
During those months I worked hard on my cave and my house and my fence.
Now I was ready to find out more about the rest of the island.
First, I walked along the side of a little river.
There, I found open ground without trees.
Later, I came to more trees with many different fruits.
I decided to take a lot of the fruit, and to put it to dry in the sun for a time.
Then I could keep it for many months.
That night I went to sleep in a tree for the second time, and the next day I went on with
my journey.
Soon I came to an opening in the hills.
In front of me, everything was green, and there were flowers everywhere.
There were also a lot of different birds and animals.
I saw that my house was on the worst side of the island.
But I didn't want to move from there. I t was my home now.
I stayed away for three days, and then I came home.
But I often went back to the other, greener side of the island.
And so my life went on.
Every month I learnt to do or to make something new.
But I had troubles and accidents too.
Once there was a terrible storm with very heavy rain.
Then roof of my cave fell in, and nearly killed me!
I had to build it up again with many pieces of wood.
I had a lot of food now.
I cooked it over a fire or dried it in the sun.
So I always had meat during the rainy months when I could not go out with a gun.
I learnt to make pots to keep my food in.
But I wanted very much to make a harder, stronger pot - a pot that would not break in a fire.
I tried many times, but I could not do it.
Then one day I was lucky.
I made some new pots and put them in a very hot fire.
They changed colour, but did not break.
I left them there for many hours, and when they were cold again, I found that they were hard
and strong.
That night I was very happy.
I had hot water for the first time on the island.
By then, I also had my own bread.
That was luck, too.
One day I found a little bag.
We used it on the ship, to keep the chicken's food in.
There was still some of the food in the bag, and I dropped some of it onto the ground.
A month later I saw something bright green there, and after six months I had a very small
field of corn.
I was very excited. Perhaps now I could make my own bread!
It was easy to say, but not so easy to do.
It is a lot of work to make bread from corn.
Many people eat bread, but how many people can take corn from a field and make bread out of it
without help?
I had to learn and to make many new things, and it was a year before I cooked and ate my first
bread.
During all this time I never stopped thinking about escape.
When I travelled across to the other side of the island, I could see the other islands, and I
said to myself,'Perhaps I can get there with a boat. Perhaps I can get back to England one day.'
So I decided to make myself a boat.
I cut sown a big tree, and then began to make a long hole in it.
It was hard work, but about six months later, I had a very fine canoe.
Next, I had to get it down to the sea.
How stupid I was!
Why didn't I think before I began work?
Of course, the canoe was too heavy.
I couldn't move it!
I pulled and pushed and tried everything, but it didn't move.
I eas very unhappy for a long time after that.
That happened in my fourth year on the island.
In my sixth year I did make myself a smaller canoe, but I did not try to escape in it.
The boat was too small for a long journey, and I did not want to die at sea.
The island was my home now, not my prison, and I was just happy to be alive.
A year or two later, I made myself a second canoe on the other side of the island.
I also built myself a second house there, and so I had two homes.
My life was still busy from morning to night.
There were always things to do or to make.
I learnt to make new clothes for myself from the skins of dead animals.
They looked very strange, it is true, but they kept mt dry in the rain.
I kept food and tools at both my houses, and also wild goats.
There were many gosts on the island, and I made fields with high fences to keep them in.
They learnt to take food from me, and soon I had goats's milk to drink everyday.
I also worked hard in my cornfields.
And so many years went by.