On coming up, we found that Peterkin was vainly endeavouring to pull
the axe out of the oar, into which, it will be remembered, Jack struck
it while endeavouring to cut away the cordage among which it had become
entangled at the bow of the ship. Fortunately for us, the axe had
remained fast in the oar, and even now all Peterkin's strength could
not draw it out of the cut.
"Ah! that is capital indeed," cried Jack, at the same time giving the
axe a wrench that plucked it out of the tough wood. "How fortunate this
is! It will be of more value to us than a hundred knives, and the edge
is quite new and sharp."
"I'll answer for the toughness of the handle, at any rate," cried
Peterkin; "my arms are nearly pulled out of the sockets. But see here,
our luck is great. There is iron on the blade." He pointed to a piece
of hoop-iron as he spoke, which had been nailed round the blade of the
oar to prevent it from splitting.
This also was a fortunate discovery. Jack went down on his knees, and
with the edge of the axe began carefully to force out the nails. But as
they were firmly fixed in, and the operation blunted our axe, we
carried the oar up with us to the place where we had left the rest of
our things, intending to burn the wood away from the iron at a more
convenient time.
"Now, lads," said Jack, after we had laid it on the stone which
contained our little all, "I propose that we should go to the tail of
the island, where the ship struck, which is only a quarter of a mile
off, and see if anything else has been thrown ashore.
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