Dick, who had before this gone out, had returned with a supply of palm
leaves, and sat down to make a hat, while Lord Reginald opened one of
the books, and with considerable fluency translated a portion of its
contents. Dick listened attentively while he plaited away at the hat,
stopping every now and then to ask for an explanation.
"I am glad to see you take interest in the subject," said Lord Reginald,
"and if we continue it, I shall not only improve myself, but be able to
give you a good notion of navigation. The instruments, which are the
same as we use, will help us, and in a short time you will become as
good a navigator as I am, as this book is evidently a capital one."
Dick looked up and smiled. "You see, you can instruct me in some
things, as well as I can teach you how to handle a saw or a plane."
"All right!" said Lord Reginald, laughing; "so much the better; we are
quits, as I said."
Dick was longer than he otherwise might have been in making the hat.
When it was finished, his companion declared that it was capital, and
that it would thoroughly defend his head from the rays of the sun. Dick
had made the top very thick, while the sides were strong and light, with
openings all round, which allowed of ample ventilation. He then
insisted on Lord Reginald lying down while he went out to attend to his
turtle-pens and garden, and to prepare a large saw to use on the boat.
In the evening Lord Reginald declared that he felt quite able to
commence work.
"I don't want to hinder you," said Dick; "but I am afraid that you will
find your strength not equal to the task."
Lord Reginald, however, insisted on trying, and Dick, notching the wood,
fixed the saw ready for work, he taking one end and Lord Reginald the
other, but before the latter had pulled it backwards and forwards a
dozen times he had to confess that he could not go on, and sat down
completely exhausted. Dick instantly ran and got some broth he had
prepared for supper. Though the young lord revived after he had
swallowed some of it, Dick insisted that he should not again make the
attempt, and persuaded him to sit down in the shade, while he, with his
axe, began stripping off the bark.
Dick pursued the plan followed by boys when cutting out a model boat.
He first carefully planed the upper surface, using a level, until he was
satisfied that it was perfectly even. He then began pencilling out the
form of the upper works, so that both sides might be exactly even,
avoiding the risk of making the boat lop-sided.
"You seem to me, Hargrave, to bestow a great deal of pains on the work
you are about," observed Lord Reginald. "You will have to scoop out the
whole centre part; what can be the use of polishing it down in that
fashion?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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