and forks that we had found in the ship we ate a dish of hot ham and
eggs, nor did we fail to test the wine that I had brought with me in a
small cask from the wreck.

Ere bed-time my wife had told me that while I was at the wreck she had
gone in search of some place in which we could build a house.

"And did you find one, my dear?" I said.

"Oh, yes," said she. "We can take you to a great tree that will serve
us well, if we can but get across the stream with our goods."

"But would you have us roost, like fowls, in a tree? How do you think
we could get up to our perch?"

"Was there not a large lime tree in our town in which they built a ball
room, with stairs up the trunk?"

"To be sure there was," said I; "and if we can not build in it, we can
at least make use of its shade, and dwell in a hut on the roots."

Ernest said that he took a string, and found that it was twelve yards
round. This led me to think that my wife's scheme was by no means a bad
one, and that I would have a look at the tree the next day.

When I had heard all they had to tell, we knelt down to pray, and then
sought a good night's rest, which the toils of the day made us much in
need of.