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5 Learning to live alone |
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I still needed a lot of things. |
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'Well，'I said，'I'm going to have to make them. |
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'So，every day，I worked. |
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First of all，I wanted to make my cave bigger. |
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I carried out stone from the cave，and after many days'hard work |
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I had a large cave in the side of the hill. |
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Then I needed a table and a chair，and that was my next job. |
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I had to work on them for a long time. |
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I also wanted to make places to put all my food，and all my tools and guns. |
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But every time I wanted a piece of wood，I had to cut down a tree. |
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It was long，slow，difficult work， |
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And during the next months I learnt to be very clever with my tools. |
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There was no hurry.I had all the time in the world. |
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I also went out every day，and I always had my gun with me. |
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Sometimes I killed a wild animal，and then I had meat to eat. |
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But when it got dark，I had to go to bed because I had no light. |
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I couldn't read or write because I couldn't see. |
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For a long time，I didn't know what to do. |
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But in the end，I learnt how to use the fat of dead animals to make a light. |
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The weather on my island was usually very hot， |
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And there were often storms and heavy rain. |
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The next June，it rained all the time，and I couldn't go out very often. |
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I was also ill for some weeks，but slowly，I got better. |
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When I was stronger，I began to go out again. |
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The first time I killed a wild animal，and the second time I caught a big turtle. |
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I was on the island for ten months before I visited other parts of it. |
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During those months I worked hard on my cave and my house and my fence. |
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Now I was ready to find out more about the rest of the island. |
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First，I walked along the side of a little river. |
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There，I found open ground without trees. |
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Later，I came to more trees with many different fruits. |
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I decided to take a lot of the fruit，and to put it to dry in the sun for a time. |
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Then I could keep it for many months. |
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That night I went to sleep in a tree for the second time， |
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And the next day I went on with my journey. |
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Soon I came to an opening in the hills. |
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In front of me，everything was green，and there were flowers everywhere. |
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There were also a lot of different birds and animals. |
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I saw that my house was on the worst side of the island. |
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But I didn't want to move from there.It was my home now. |
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I stayed away for three days，and then I came home. |
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But I often went back to the other，greener side of the island. |
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And so my life went on.Every month I learnt to do or to make something new. |
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But I had troubles and accidents too. |
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Once there was a terrible storm with very heavy rain. |
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The roof of my cave fell in，and nearly killed me！ |
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I had to build it up again with many pieces of wood. |
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I had a lot of food now.I cooked it over a fire or dried it in the sun. |
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So I always had meat during the rainy months when I could not go out with a gun. |
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I learnt to make pots to keep my food in. |
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But I wanted very much to make a harder，stronger pot— |
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A pot that would not break in a fire.I tried many times，but I could not do it. |
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Then one day I was lucky.I made some new pots and put them in a very hot fire. |
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They changed colour，but did not break. |
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I left them there for many hours，and when they were cold again， |
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I found that they were hard and strong.That night I was very happy. |
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I had hot water for the first time on the island. |
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By then，I also had my own bread.That was luck，too. |
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One day I found a little bag.We used it on the ship，to keep the chickens'food in. |
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There was still some of the food in the bag， |
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And I dropped some of it onto the ground. |
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A month later I saw something bright green there， |
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And after six months I had a very small field of corn. |
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I was very excited.Perhaps now I could make my own bread！ |
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It was easy to say，but not so easy to do. |
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It is a lot of work to make bread from corn. |
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Many people eat bread，but how many people can take corn from a field |
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And make bread out of it without help？ |
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I had to learn and to make many new things， |
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And it was a year before I cooked and ate my first bread. |
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During all this time I never stopped thinking about escape. |
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When I travelled across to the other side of the island， |
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I could see the other islands，and I said to myself， |
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'Perhaps I can get there with a boat.Perhaps I can get back to England one day.' |
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So I decided to make myself a boat. |
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I cut down a big tree，and then began to make a long hole in it. |
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It was hard work，but about six months later，I had a very fine canoe. |
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Next，I had to get it down to the sea.How stupid I was！ |
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Why didn't I think before I began work？ |
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Of course，the canoe was too heavy.I couldn't move it！ |
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I pulled and pushed and tried everything，but it didn't move. |
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I was very unhappy for a long time after that. |
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That happened in my fourth year on the island. |
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In my sixth year I did make myself a smaller canoe，but I did not try to escape in it. |
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The boat was too small for a long journey，and I did not want to die at sea. |
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The island was my home now，not my prison，and I was just happy to be alive. |
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A year or two later，I made myself a second canoe on the other side of the island. |
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I also built myself a second house there，and so I had two homes. |
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My life was still busy from morning to night. |
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There were always things to do or to make. |
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I learnt to make new clothes for myself from the skins of dead animals. |
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They looked very strange，it is true，but they kept me dry in the rain. |
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I kept food and tools at both my houses，and also wild goats. |
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There were many goats on the island， |
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And I made fields with high fences to keep them in. |
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They learnt to take food from me，and soon I had goat's milk to drink every day. |
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I also worked hard in my cornfields.And so many years went by. |
