envied those who had died at once. The woman set us a good example.
She spent her time tending her child and praying to God; and we
sailors, who are rough, you know - but who know that God protects
us, and never go for a long voyage without going to the chapel and
paying for a mass for our safety - we prayed too, and the third
morning there were three turtles asleep on the shore. We turned them
over on their backs, and there was meat for us for a long time.

"We killed one and drank the blood, and ate our first meal raw.
Then we cut up the rest of the flesh and hung it up in the sun to
dry. That very night we saw the clouds banking up, and knew it
was going to rain.

"'Now,' our mate said, 'if we had but a barrel we could catch water
and start in our boat, but without that the water will last only a
day or two; for if we kill all the turtles and fill their shells,
it will evaporate in a day under this hot sun, and it may be weeks
before there is rain again, and we might as well have died at once.

"'For shame,' the woman said. 'You are doubting the good God again,
after he has saved your life and has sent you food and is now going
to send you water. Do you think he has done all this for nothing?
There must be some way out of the difficulty if we could but think
of it.'

"She sat looking at the turtle for two or three minutes, and then
said:

"'It is easy. Why have you not thought of it? See there. Cut off
one of their heads, and then you can get your arm in, if you take