Tar was produced from trees.  Were there no trees here that produced some sticky and glutinous substance like tar?  There was the resin of pine trees, but there were no pines on the island.  What then?  These fir trees had a sort of sticky, balsamic juice that exuded plentifully from them wherever they were cut.  Might he not make some use of that?  Suddenly, in the midst of reflections like these, he thought of the gum that is found on spruce trees—­ spruce gum!  It was an idea that deserved to be followed up and carried out.  Thus far he had never thought of spruce gum, except as something which he, like most boys, was fond of chewing; but now it appeared before his mind as affording a possible solution of his difficulty.  The more he thought of it, the more did it seem that this would be adapted to his purpose.  The only question was, whether he could obtain enough of it.  He thought that he might easily obtain enough if he only took the proper time and care.

With this new plan in his mind, Tom retired for the night, and awaked the next morning by the dawn of day.  It was still foggy; but he was now so resigned, and was so full of his new plan, that it did not trouble him in the slightest degree.  In fact, he was so anxious to try this, that the sight of a boat landing on the beach, all ready to take him off, would not have afforded him an unmixed satisfaction.

He took his tin dipper, and went up at once into the woods.  Here he looked around very carefully, and soon found what he wanted.  He knew perfectly well, of course, how to distinguish spruce trees from fir, by the sharp, prickly spires of the former, and so he was never at a loss which trees to search.  No sooner had he begun, than he was surprised at the quantities that he found.  To an ordinary observer the trunk of the spruce tree seems like any other tree trunk—­no rougher, and perhaps somewhat smoother than many; but Tom now found that on every tree almost there were little round excrescences, which, on being picked at with the knife, came off readily, and proved to be gum.  Vast quantities of a substance which goes by the name of spruce gum are manufactured and sold; but the pure gum is a very different article, having a rich, balsamic odor, and a delicate yet delicious flavor; and Tom, as he filled his pan, and inhaled the fragrance that was emitted by its contents, lamented that his necessities compelled him to use it for such a purpose as that to which this was destined.  After four or five hours’ work, he found that he had gathered enough.  He had filled his pan no less than six times, and had secured a supply which was amply sufficient to give a coating of thick gum over all the fractured place.  The tide, which had already risen, was now falling, and, as soon as the boat was aground, and the water out of her, Tom proceeded to raise her bows, in precisely the same manner as he had raised the boat on a former occasion.