That night I went to bed early, so as to have a good “think” as to how I could make a boat of these boxes, with the help of my deal boards and tools.

I soon hit on a plan, and could scarcely get a wink of sleep for thinking and maturing my plans; in fact, at two a.m.  I got up, dressed, and went and re-measured the cases and re-inspected them, to see if they were really eligible for my purpose.  They were, and I retired to bed again perfectly overjoyed, so that I only dozed and woke continually till five a.m., when I finally arose and commenced operations in the boathouse.

“Begum” knew there was something in the wind, for I had little to say to him, so full was I of my scheme.

I found my cases with their tin linings were quite water-tight, which was a necessary condition for keeping my craft afloat, and having prepared my tools and got my timber ready for a start, went homeward to breakfast, shooting a very fine pigeon on the way, which had probably strayed over from Guernsey.  Here was a dinner provided for me which only required cooking.  Indeed, it frequently happened that at breakfast time my dinner would be flying about round the island.

To help me in the description of the building of my craft I here give sketches of her construction.  First I took my cases 2, 3, and 4, and firmly screwed them together, and afterwards added number 5, which was not so wide by six inches, but still served admirably for a stern.  Then came my first difficulty.  How should I form the bows?  This I got over by making another case, No. 1, of a triangular form with a bulkhead running across, to which I nailed my side timbers, so as to give them an outward curve.  These streaks I put on clinker-wise—­that is, overlapping, and thoroughly caulked them with oakum soaked in grease.

[Illustration:  The Yellow-Boy]

Next, to strengthen the hull and hold everything firmly in position, I nailed a top streak along from stem to stern, so as to form a gunwale, and another at the lower edges of the cases, tarring everything as I proceeded, including myself; but as the weather was hot a pair of old pants cut off at the knee, and a ragged shirt, were my only encumbrance in the way of clothing.  Now I proceeded to cut down the partitions between the various sections for a depth of six inches.  I then carefully caulked the tiny crack between each of these bulkheads, and turning the surplus tin over, nailed it to the wood.  Over these bulkheads I placed thwarts six inches wide, and then proceeded to make a keel.  This I did by bolting two thicknesses of board together and cutting them down, so that it measured three inches deep at the stem and six at the stern.  The fastening on of this keel gave me more trouble than anything else connected with the boat, for I had no bolts long enough to go through six inches of timber, and then through the bottom of the boat.  There was only one way, and that was to make some bolts eight inches long, and this I did from some pieces of three-eight iron rod I found.  Nine bolts took me a whole day to make—­from six in the morning till six in the evening.  My anvil was a granite rock, which I had to carry on my shoulders from the beach; but it served its purpose capitally.