[anemon-devs] N,-- Come away, away, sto-r-m along, John, Get a-long,

[Griffy <spherulitic@xxxxxxxxxx>]

O us was, that it was so near our hut,--being within sight,
and only a few steps across some rough rocks; but among these
rocks we contrived, in course of time,

to make, by filling in with small
stones, a pretty smooth
walk. "As we caught and put away the ducks in our storehouse, we began at length to preserve their skins. At first we could see no value in them, and threw them away; but we imagined at length that, in case we could not catch the foxes, they would serve to make us some sort of clothing, while out of the seal-skin which I mentioned before we could make boots,
if we only had anything to sew with. "Thus one difficulty after another

continued to beset us; but this last one was soon partly overcome, for the Dean, on the very first day

of our landing, discovered that he had in his pocket his palm and needle, carrying it always about him when on shipboard, like any other good sailor; but
we lacked thread." "What is a palm and needle, Captain Hardy?" inquired William. "A palm," answered the Captain,
"is a band of leather going around the hand, with a thimble fitted into it where it comes across the root of the thumb. The sailor's needle differs only from the common one in being longer and three-cornered, instead of round. It is used for sewing sails

and other coarse work
on shipboard.
The needle is held
between the thumb and forefinger, and is pushed through
with the thimble in the palm of the hand, and hence the name. "To come back to our story (having, as I hope, made the palm and needle question clear
to you), let me ask you to remember that I told you, when I landed on the island, I had four things,--that is:--
"1st. My life; "2d. The
clothes on my back; "3d. A jack-knife; and "4th. The mercy of Providence. "But now,
you see, I had added a fifth article to that list, in the Dean's needle; and I might also say that I had a sixth one, too, in the Dean himself,
which I did not dare enumerate in the list at first, as

I felt pretty sure that the Dean
was going to die, or at least wake up crazy. "But
you see a
sailor's palm and needle could be of very little use unless we had some

thread, of which
we did not possess a single part