Swiss Family Robinson, Johann David Wyss [tools of titans ebook txt] 📗
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with a hearty `God speed and bless you, my boys!’ I let them depart.
We who remained behind passed the day in a variety of useful
occupations.
The bears’ meat, which was being cured in a smoking-shed such as that
we set up for the peccary hams, required a good deal of attention from
my wife. Ernest had a fancy for making ornamental cups from the ostrich
eggs, while I investigated the interior of the cave.
I found the inner wall to consist of a kind of talc, mingled with
threads of asbestos, and also indications of mica. Examining further, I
detached a large block, and found to my joy that I could split it into
clear transparent sheets, which would serve admirably for window panes.
My wife saw this substitute for glass with unfeigned satisfaction,
declaring, that although she would not complain, yet the want of glass
for windows had been a downright trouble to her.
As evening approached, the bears’ paws, which were stewing for supper,
sent forth savoury odours; and we sat talking round the fire, while
listening anxiously for sounds heralding the return of our young
explorers.
At last the tramp and beat of hoofs struck our ears; the little troop
appeared, crossing the open ground before us at a sharp trot, and a
shrill ringing cheer greeted us as we rose and went to meet them.
They sprang from their saddles, the animals were set at liberty to
refresh themselves, and the riders eagerly came to exhibit their
acquisitions and give an account of themselves.
Funny figures they cut! Franz and Jack had each a young kid slung on
his back, so that the four legs, tied together, stuck out under their
chins.
Fritz’s game-bag looked remarkably queer—round lumps, sharp points,
and an occasional movement seemed to indicate a living creature or
creatures within.
`Hurrah, for the chase, father!’ cried Jack. `Nothing like real
hunting after all. And just to see how Storm and Grumble go along over
a grassy plain! It is perfectly splendid! We soon tired out the little
antelopes, and were able to catch them.’
`Yes, father,’ said Franz, `and Fritz has two angora rabbits in his
bag, and we wanted to bring you some honey. Only think! Such a clever
bird—a cuckoo, showed us where it was!’
`My brothers forget the chief thing,’ said Fritz. `We have driven a
little herd of antelopes right through the Gap into our territory; and
there they are, all ready for us to hunt when we like—or to catch and
tame!’
`Well done!’ cried I. `Here is indeed a list of achievements. But to
your mother and me, the chief thing of all, is God’s goodness in
bringing you safe back to us. Now, let us hear the whole story that we
may have a definite idea of your performances.’
`We had a splendid ride,’ said Fritz, `down Glen Verdant, and away to
the defile through our Rocky Barrier, and the morning was so cool and
fresh that our steeds galloped along, nearly the whole way, at the top
of their speed. When we had passed through the Gap we moderated our
furious pace and kept our eyes open on the look-out for game; we then
trotted slowly to the top of a grassy hill, from whose summit we saw
two herds of animals, whether antelopes, goats or gazelles, we did not
know, grazing by the side of the stream below us.
`We were about to gallop down and try to get a shot at them, when it
struck me that it would be wiser to try and drive the whole herd
through the Gap into our own domain, where they would be shut up, as it
were, in a park, free and yet within reach.
`Down the hill we rode as hard as we could go, formed in a semicircle
behind the larger herd magnificent antelopes—and, aided by the dogs,
with shouts and cries drove them along the stream towards the Gap; as
we came near the opening they appeared inclined to halt and turn like
sheep about to be driven into the butcher’s yard; and it was all we
could do to prevent them from bolting past us; but, at length, one made
a rush at the opening and, the rest following, they were soon all on
the other side of the frontier and inhabitants of New Switzerland.’
`Capital,’ I said, `capital, my boy! But I don’t see what is to make
them remain inhabitants of our domain, or to prevent them from
returning through the Gap whenever they feel inclined.’
`Stop, father,’ he replied, `you interrupted me too soon; we thought of
that possibility too, and provided against it. We stretched a long line
right across the defile and strung on it feathers and rags and all
sorts of other things, which danced and fluttered in the wind, and
looked so strange that I am perfectly certain that the herd will never
attempt to pass it; in fact, Levaillant, from whom I learnt the trick,
says in his Voyage au Cap de Bonne Esperance that the Hottentots make
use of the method for penning in the antelopes they have caught in the
chase.’
`Well done,’ said I, `I am glad to see that you remember what you have
read. The antelopes are welcome to New Switzerland, but, my boy,’ I
added, `I cannot say the same for the rabbits you have there; they
increase so rapidly that if you establish a colony of the little
wretches your next difficulty will be to get rid of them.’
`True,’ he replied, `but my idea was to place them upon Whale Island,
where they would find abundant food, and at the same time in no way
trouble us. May I not establish a warren there? It would be so useful.
Do you know my eagle caught these pretty little fellows for me? I saw a
number of them running about and so unhooded him, and in a few minutes
he brought me three—one dead, with whose body I rewarded him, and
these two here, unhurt.’
`Now, father,’ said Jack, interrupting him, `do listen to me and hear
my story, or else Fritz will begin upon my adventures and tire you out
with his rigmarole descriptions.’
`Certainly, Jack,’ I said, `I am quite ready to listen to you. First
and foremostly, how did you bring down those beautiful little animals
you have there?’
`Oh, we galloped them down. The dogs sniffed about in the grass while
Fritz was away after the rabbits, out popped these little fawns and
away they went bounding and skipping, at the rate of thirty miles an
hour, with Storm, Grumble and the dogs at their heels. In about a
quarter of an hour we had left the dogs behind and were close upon our
prey. Down went the little creatures in the grass, and, overcome with
terror and fatigue, were at our mercy. So we shouted to Fritz, and—’
`My dear boy,’ said I, `according to your statement, Fritz must have
been seven miles and a half off.’
`Oh, well, father, perhaps we did not ride for quite a quarter of an
hour, and, of course, I can’t say exactly how fast we were going; and
then, you see, the fawns did not run in a straight line; at any rate
Fritz heard us, and he and Franz and I leashed the legs of the pretty
creatures, and then we mounted again, and presently saw a wretch of a
cuckoo, who led us ever so far out of our course by cuckooing and
making faces at us and then hopping away. Franz declared it must be an
enchanted princess, and so I thought I would rid it of its spell; but
Fritz stopped me shooting it, and said it was a “Honey Indicator”, and
that it was leading us probably to a bees’ byke, so we spared its life,
and presently, sure enough, it stopped close by a bees’ nest in a
hollow tree.
`This was capital, we thought, and, as we were in a great hurry to
taste the honey, I threw in a lot of lighted lucifer matches, but
somehow it did not kill the bees at all, but only made them awfully
angry, and they flew out in a body and stung me all over. I rushed to
Storm and sprang on his back, but, though I galloped away for bare
life, it was an age before I got rid of the little wretches, and now my
face is in a perfect fever. I think I will get mother to bathe it for
me,’ and off rushed the noisy boy, leaving Fritz and me to see to the
fawns and examine the rabbits.
With these latter I determined to do as Fritz proposed, namely, to
colonize Whale Island with them. I was all the more willing to do this
because I had been considering the advisability of establishing on that
island a fortress to which we might retreat in any extreme danger, and
where we should be very thankful, in case of such a retreat, to possess
means of obtaining a constant supply of animal food.
Having ministered to the wants of the antelopes, I tried to interest
the boys in my discovery of the block of talc, but just then their
mother summoned us to dinner.
The principal dish in this meal consisted of the bears’ paws—most
savoury-smelling delicacies, so tempting that their close resemblance
to human hands, and even the roguish `Fee-fo-fum’ from Jack, did not
prevent a single member of the family from enjoying them most heartily.
Supper over, we lit our watch-fire, retired to our tent and slept
soundly.
We had been working very diligently; the bears’ meat was smoked, the
fat melted down and stored, and a large supply of bamboos collected.
But I wished to make yet another excursion, and at early dawn I aroused
the boys.
Fritz mounted the mule, I rode Lightfoot, Jack and Franz took their
usual steeds and, with the two dogs, we galloped off—first to visit
the euphorbia to collect the gum, and then to discover whether the
ostrich had deserted her eggs in the sand.
Ernest watched us depart without the slightest look or sigh of regret,
and returned to the tent to assist his mother and study his books.
Our steeds carried us down the Green Valley at a rapid rate, and we
followed the direction we had pursued on our former expedition. We soon
reached Turtle Marsh, and then, filling our water-flasks, we arrived at
the rising ground where Fritz discovered the mounted Arabs.
As Jack and Franz wanted a gallop, I allowed them to press forward,
while Fritz and I visited the euphorbia trees. A quantity of the red
gum had exuded from the incisions I had made, and as this had
coagulated in the sun, I rolled it into little balls and stored it in a
bamboo jar I had brought with me for the purpose.
As we rode after the boys, who were some way ahead, Fritz remarked,
`Did you not tell me that the juice of that tree was poisonous, father;
why have you collected such a quantity?’
`I did indeed say so,’ I replied, `it is a most deadly poison. The
inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope use it to poison the springs where
wild animals assemble to quench their thirst; and they thus slaughter
an immense number of the creatures for the sake of their hides. I
intend, however, to use it to destroy the apes should they again commit
depredations, and also in preparing the skins of animals to protect
them from the
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