set great store by them. There were all sorts of odd clothes, which she
had made of the skin of the sea calf; fish lines wrought out of the
hair of her head; pins made from the bones of fish; a lamp made out of
a shell, with a wick of the threads which she had drawn from her hose.
There were the shells she used to cook her food in; a hat made from the
breast of a large bird, the tail of which she had spread out so as to
shade her neck from the sun; belts, shoes, and odd things of a like
kind.

My wife, who had now a friend of her own sex to talk with, did not feel
dull when the boys left us for a time, so they had leave to roam where
their wish led them, and to stay as long as they chose. In the course
of time they knew the whole of the isle on which we dwelt. Ernest drew
a map of it to scale, so that we could trace their course from place to
place with ease. When they went for a long trip they took some doves
with them, and these birds brought us notes tied to their wings from
time to time, so that we knew where they were, and could point out the
spot on the map.

I will not dwell on what took place now for some time, for I find that
each year was very much like the last. We had our fields to sow, our
crops to reap, our beasts to feed and train; and these cares kept our
hands at work, and our minds free from the least thought of our lone
mode of life.

I turn to my log as I write this, and on each page my eye falls on some
thing that brings back to my mind the glad time we spent at Rock House.


CHAPTER XV.