Swiss Family Robinson(fiscle part-3 of 2), Johann David Wyss [acx book reading .TXT] 📗

Shore,  Where,  By This

Time,  The Unhappy Stranger May Have Perished miserably. By The "Smoking

Rock" Must Be Meant A Volcano. There Are None Here.'

 

Fritz Was Not Disposed to Look At The Case From This Gloomy Point Of

View; Did Not Think The Rag So Very Old; Believed smoke Might Rise From

A Rock Which Was Not Volcanic; And Evidently Cherished the Hope That He

Might Be Able To Respond Effectually To This Touching appeal. I Was In

Reality As Anxious As Himself On The Subject,  But Judged it Prudent To

Abate Rather Than Excite Hopes Of Success Which Might Be Doomed to

Bitter Disappointment.

 

After Earnest Consultation On The Subject,  We Decided that Fritz

Should Go In search Of The Writer Of The Message,  But Not Until He Had

So Altered the Canoe As To Fit It For Carrying two Persons,  As Well As

Provisions Sufficient To Admit Of His Absence For A Considerable Time.

Impatient As He Was,  He Could Not But See The Wisdom Of This Delay. We

Returned to The House,  And Saw The Boys Busily Opening the Oysters,

Which They Had Had No Time To Do The Previous Night,  And Greatly

Part 3 Chapter 8 Pg 120

Excited as Ever And Anon A Pearl Was Found.

 

`May We Not Establish A Pearl-Fishery At Once,  Father?' Shouted they.

`We Might Build A Hut On The Shore Of The Bay And Set About It

Regularly.'

 

An Excursion To Pearl Bay Was Now The Event To Which All Thoughts

Turned,  And For Which Preparations On A Grand Scale Were Made. It Was

To Form,  As It Were,  The Basis Of The More Important Voyage Fritz Had

In View,  And To Which,  Unsuspected by The Rest,  He Could Devote All His

Attention.

 

I Took An Opportunity,  One Day,  When All Were Present,  To Remark In a

Serious Tone:

 

`I Have Been Considering,  Dear Wife,  That Our Eldest Son Is Now Of An

Age To Be Dependent On Himself. I Shall,  Therefore,  Henceforth Leave

Him At Liberty To Act In all Respects According to His Own Judgement;

And,  Especially In the Matter Of Voyages Or Excursions,  He Must Not Be

Hampered by The Fear Of Alarming us Should He Choose To Remain Absent

Longer Than We Expect. I Have Such Entire Confidence In his Prudence,

And At The Same Time In his Affection For Us,  That I Am Certain He Will

Never Needlessly Cause Us Anxiety.'

 

Fritz Looked gratefully Towards Me As I Spoke; And His Mother Ratified

My Words,  Embracing him Affectionately,  And Saying,  With Emotion,  `God

Bless And Preserve Thee,  My Boy!'

 

It Took Some Time To Make Several Raking or Scraping machines,  Which I

Invented for The Purpose Of Detaching and Lifting the Oysters From

Their Native Rocks; But That Gave Fritz Leisure To Change The Fittings

Of His Canoe,  So As To Have A Spare Seat In it.

 

His Brothers Naturally Concluded he Meant To Take One Of Them As

Shipmate On Board,  And He Allowed the Mistake To Continue.

 

They Occupied themselves In making various Articles They Expected to Be

Of Use,  And Bore The Delay With Tolerable Patience.

 

At Last Came The Day,  When,  Taking leave Of My Wife And Franz,  We Went

On Board The Yacht,  Accompanied by Some Of The Dogs; While Jack,

Proudly Occupying the New Seat Beside Fritz In the Canoe,  Shared with

Him The Honour Of Leading the Way In the Character Of Pilots.

 

We Passed safely Through The Rocks And Shoals Near Walrus Island Into

An Expanse Of Calm Water,  Sheltered by Jutting cliffs,  Where The Sea

Glanced like A Mirror,  And For The First Time We Observed the

Fairy-Like Shells Of The Paper-Nautilus Sailing lightly Over The

Dazzling surface.

 

It Was Impossible To See These Lovely Seafarers Without Wishing to

Obtain Specimens; And The Canoe Accordingly Gave Chase,  Presently

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Securing half A Dozen,  Which Were Handed to Us In the Yacht To Be

Carefully Preserved for The Museum,  And The Place Was Ever After Called

Nautilus Creek.

 

Further On We Rounded a Short Promontory,  Flat,  With An Abrupt Rock At

The Extremity,  To Which We Gave The Name Of Cape Pug-Nose; And Then,  At

Some Distance,  Appeared the Grand Cliffs Of A Headland Running far Out

To Sea.

 

This I Supposed we Should Have To Weather,  But My Pilots Made No

Change In our Course,  And,  Following the Canoe,  We Soon Came In sight

Of The Majestic Archway Which Offered us A Short Passage To Pearl Bay.

 

The Wonderfully Architectural Appearance Of The Pillars,  Arches And

Pinnacles,  Surrounding and Surmounting this Noble Entrance,  Struck Me

With Admiration,  Resembling parts Of A Fine Gothic Cathedral,  And

Inducing me To Propose For It The Name Cape Minster.

 

A Perfect Cloud Of Little Swallows Darted from The Cavernous Entrance

On Our Approach,  Divided into Flocks,  Soared,  Wheeled,  Flew Right And

Left,  And Finally Returned in a Body As Swiftly As They Came,  To The

Sides Of The Long Dark Tunnel,  Which Were Festooned with Their Nests.

 

We Detached a Number Of These As We Passed,  Taking care To Leave Those

Containing eggs Or Young. The Best Were At A Considerable Height,  But

The Broken And Shelving rocks Afforded,  In some Places,  Footing for

Such Daring and Active Climbers As Fritz And Jack,  And They Quickly

Obtained as Many As We Could Possibly Require.

 

Our Progress Was Much Assisted by The Tide,  Which,  Like A Current,  Bore

Us Onward Along The Nave Of This Natural Cathedral; Aisles,  Transepts,

Screens And Side-Chapels Appearing between The Columns And Arches Which

In The `Dim Religious Light' Were Revealed to Our Wondering eyes.

 

On Emerging into The Dazzling sunshine,  We Found Ourselves Floating in

The Calm Expanse Of Pearl Bay; But It Was Some Minutes Before We Could

Look Around On The Bright And Lovely Scene.

 

Fritz Had Not Overrated its Beauty,  And The Romantic Islets Which

Studded its Waters Seemed to Give The Effect Of A Pleasant Smile To

Features Already Perfect.

 

We Cruised about For Some Time,  Surveying the Coast With Its Fertile

Meadows,  Shady Groves,  Gently Swelling hills And Murmuring brooks,

Seeking a Convenient Landing-Place In the Vicinity Of The Shallows

Where Lay The Oyster-Beds.

 

This We Found,  Close To A Sparkling streamlet; And,  As The Day Was Fast

Declining,  We Made Speedy Arrangements For Burning a Watch-Fire; After

Which We Partook Of A Hasty Supper,  And Leaving the Dogs,  With Coco,

The Jackal,  To Sleep On Shore,  We Returned on Board The Yacht For The

Night,  Anchoring within Gunshot Of The Land.

 

Part 3 Chapter 8 Pg 122

The Coast Being quite Strange To Us,  I Knew Not What Wild Beasts Might

Frequent It; But,  Though I Did Not Fear That Any Would Approach Us By

Swimming,  Yet I Was Glad To Have With Us Our Lively Little Ape,  Mercury

(The Successor Of Our Old Favourite,  Knips,  Long Since Gathered to His

Fathers),  For He Occupied at Night A Cosy Berth On Deck,  And Was

Certain To Give Vociferous Notice Should Anything alarming occur.

 

Fritz Moored the Cajack Alongside,  And Came On Board. The Night Passed

In Peace,  Although For A Time We Were Disturbed by The Yelping of

Jackals,  With Whom Coco Persisted in keeping up A Noisy Conversation.

 

We Awoke At Daybreak,  And After Breakfasting a La Fourchette*,  We

Repaired in haste With Nets,  Scrapers And All Other Requisites,  To The

Oyster-Beds,  Where We Worked with Such Diligence And Success That In

The Course Of Two Days We Had An Immense Pile Of Shells Built Up Like A

Stack On The Beach,  And Left To Decay. I Collected a Quantity Of

Seaweed to Spread Over Them,  Which Was Afterwards Burnt To Make Alkali,

When We Returned to Secure Our Harvest Of Pearls.

 

   * Lit. In the Manner Of A Fork; From A French Saying that

     Translates "The Fork Of Father Adam." In other Words,  They

     Ate Hastily With Their Fingers.

 

Every Evening we Went Out Shooting in the Neighbourhood,  And Kept

Ourselves Supplied with Game Of One Sort Or Another. The Last Day Of

Our Fishery We Started earlier,  Intending to Make A Longer Excursion

Into The Woods.

 

Ernest Set Off First With Floss; Jack And Coco Strolling after Them.

Fritz And I Were Still Employed in taking on Board The Last Load Of Our

Tools,  When We Suddenly Heard A Shot,  A Loud Cry Of Pain Or Fear,  And

Then Another Shot.

 

At The First Alarm,  The Other Two Dogs Rushed away From Us Towards The

Spot,  And Fritz,  Who Had Just Called pounce From His Perch,  To

Accompany Us In the Ramble,  Let Him Fly,  And Seizing his Rifle Darted

Off In the Same Direction.

 

Before I Could Reach The Scene Of Action,  More Shots Were Heard,  And

Then A Shout Of Victory; After Which Appeared through The Stems Of The

Trees The Disconsolate Figure Of Jack,  Hobbling along Like A Cripple,

Supported on Each Side By His Brothers.

 

When They Came Near Me They Stopped; And Poor Jack,  Moaning and

Groaning,  Began To Feel Himself All Over,  As If To Search For Broken

Bones,  Crying out:

 

`I'M Pounded like A Half-Crushed pepper-Corn!'

 

On Examination I Found Some Severe Bruises. `Who Or What Has Been

Pummelling the Boy?' I Exclaimed. `One Would Think He Had Been

Beaten.'

 

`It Was A Huge Wild Boar,' Said Ernest,  `With Fierce Eyes,  Monstrous

Part 3 Chapter 8 Pg 123

Tusks And A Snout As Broad As My Hand.'

 

We Took Jack Down To The Yacht,  Bathed his Bruises,  Gave Him A Cooling

Drink,  And He Soon Fell Fast Asleep In his Berth,  Where I Left Him And

Returned to The Shore.

 

`Now,  Ernest,' Said I,  `Enlighten Me On The Subject Of This Adventure!

What You And The Boar Did,  Is Quite A Mystery To Me.'

 

`Floss And I Were Going quietly Along,' Replied he,