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

If I Take

Care Of Our Wee Calf And Teach It To Do What I Like,  Perhaps When It

Grows Big I Shall Still Be Able To Manage It,  And Then--Oh,  Papa--Do

You Think I Might Ride Upon It?'

 

I Smiled at The Child'S Simplicity,  And His Funny Application Of The

Story Of Milo Of Crotona.

 

`The Calf Shall Be Yours,  My Boy. Make Him As Tame As You Can,  And We

Will See About Letting you Mount Him Some Day; But Remember He Will Be

A Great Bull Long Before You Are Nearly A Man. Now What Will You Call

Him?'

 

`Shall I Call Him "Grumble",  Father? Hear What A Low Muttering noise He

Makes!'

Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 17

 

`"Grumble" Will Do Famously.'

 

`Grumble,  Grumble. Oh,  It Beats Your Buffalo'S Name Hollow,  Jack!'

 

`Not A Bit,' Said He,  `Why,  You Can'T Compare The Two Names. Fancy

Mother Saying,  "Here Comes Franz On Grumble,  But Jack Riding on The

Storm." Oh,  It Sounds Sublime!'

 

We Named the Two Puppies Bruno And Fawn,  And So Ended this Important

Domestic Business.

 

For Two Months We Worked steadily At Our Salt-Cave,  In order To

Complete The Necessary Arrangement Of Partition Walls,  So As To Put The

Rooms And Stalls For The Animals In comfortable Order For The Next Long

Rainy Season,  During which Time,  When Other Work Would Be At A

Standstill,  We Could Carry On Many Minor Details For The Improvement Of

The Abode.

 

We Levelled the Floors First With Clay; Then Spread Gravel Mixed with

Melted gypsum Over That,  Producing a Smooth Hard Surface,  Which Did

Very Well For Most Of The Apartments; But I Was Ambitious Of Having one

Or Two Carpets,  And Set About Making a Kind Of Felt In the Following

Way.

 

I Spread Out A Large Piece Of Sailcloth,  And Covered it Equally All

Over With A Strong Liquid,  Made Of Glue And Isinglass,  Which Saturated

It Thoroughly. On It We Then Laid Wool And Hair From The Sheep And

Goats,  Which Had Been Carefully Cleaned and Prepared,  And Rolled and

Beat It Until It Adhered tolerably Smoothly To The Cloth. Finally It

Became,  When Perfectly Dry,  A Covering for The Floor Of Our

Sitting-Room By No Means To Be Despised.

 

One Morning,  Just After These Labours At The Salt-Cave Were Completed,

Happening to Awake Unusually Early,  I Turned my Thoughts,  As I Lay

Waiting for Sunrise,  To Considering what Length Of Time We Had Now

Passed on This Coast,  And Discovered,  To My Surprise,  That The Very

Next Day Would Be The Anniversary Of Our Escape From The Wreck. My

Heart Swelled with Gratitude To The Gracious God,  Who Had Then Granted

Us Deliverance,  And Ever Since Had Loaded us With Benefits; And I

Resolved to Set Tomorrow Apart As A Day Of Thanksgiving,  In joyful

Celebration Of The Occasion.

 

My Mind Was Full Of Indefinite Plans When I Rose,  And The Day'S Work

Began As Usual. I Took Care That Everything should Be Cleaned,  Cleared

And Set In order Both Outside And Inside Our Dwelling: None,  However,

Suspecting that There Was Any Particular Object In view. Other More

Private Preparations I Also Made For The Next Day. At Supper I Made The

Coming event Known To The Assembled family.

 

`Good People! Do You Know That Tomorrow Is A Very Great And Important

Day? We Shall Have To Keep It In honour Of Our Merciful Escape To This

Land,  And Call It Thanksgiving-Day.'

 

Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 18

Everyone Was Surprised to Hear That We Had Already Been Twelve Months

In The Country--Indeed,  My Wife Believed i Might Be Mistaken,  Until I

Showed her How I Had Calculated regularly Ever Since The 31St Of

January,  On Which Day We Were Wrecked,  By Marking off In my Almanac The

Sundays As They Arrived for The Remaining eleven Months Of That Year.

 

`Since Then,' I Added,  `I Have Counted thirty-One Days. This Is The 1St

Of February. We Landed on The 2Nd; Therefore Tomorrow Is The

Anniversary Of The Day Of Our Escape. As My Bookseller Has Not Sent Me

An Almanac For The Present Year,  We Must Henceforth Reckon For

Ourselves.'

 

`Oh,  That Will Be Good Fun For Us,' Said Ernest. `We Must Have A Long

Stick,  Like Robinson Crusoe,  And Cut A Notch In it Every Day,  And Count

Them Up Every Now And Then,  To See How The Weeks And Months And Years

Go By.'

 

`That Is All Very Well,  If You Know For Certain The Number Of Days In

Each Month,  And In the Year. What Do You Say,  Ernest?'

 

`The Year Contains 365 Days,  5 Hours,  48 Minutes And 45 Seconds,'

Returned he Promptly.

 

`Perfectly Correct!' Said I,  Smiling,  `But You Would Get In a Mess With

Those Spare Hours,  Minutes,  And Seconds In a Year Or Two,  Wouldn'T

You?'

 

`Not At All! Every Four Years I Would Add Them All Together,  Make A

Day,  Stick It Into February,  And Call That Year Leap Year.'

 

`Well Done,  Professor Ernest! We Must Elect You Astronomer Royal In

This Our Kingdom,  And Let You Superintend And Regulate Everything

Connected with The Lapse Of Time,  Clocks And Watches Included.'

 

Before They Went To Sleep,  I Could Hear My Boys Whispering among

Themselves,  About `Father'S Mysterious Allusions' To Next Day'S

Festival And Rejoicings; But I Offered no Explanation,  And Went To

Sleep,  Little Guessing that The Rogues Had Laid A Counter-Plot,  Far

More Surprising than My Simple Plan For Their Diversion.

 

Nothing less Than A Roar Of Artillery Startled me From Sleep At

Daybreak Next Morning. I Sprang Up And Found My Wife As Much Alarmed as

I Was By The Noise,  Otherwise I Should Have Been Inclined to Believe It

Fancy.

 

`Fritz! Dress Quickly And Come With Me!' Cried i,  Turning to His

Hammock. Lo,  It Was Empty! Neither He Nor Jack Were To Be Seen.

 

Altogether Bewildered,  I Was Hastily Dressing,  When Their Voices Were

Heard,  And They Rushed in shouting:

 

`Hurrah! Didn'T We Rouse You With A Right Good Thundering salute?'

 

Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 19

But Perceiving at A Glance That We Had Been Seriously Alarmed,  Fritz

Hastened to Apologize For The Thoughtless Way In which They Had Sought

To Do Honour To The Day Of Thanksgiving,  Without Considering that An

Unexpected cannon-Shot Would Startle Us Unpleasantly From Our Slumbers.

 

We Readily Forgave The Authors Of Our Alarm,  In consideration Of The

Good Intention Which Had Prompted the Deed,  And,  Satisfied that The Day

Had At Least Been Duly Inaugurated,  We All Went Quietly To Breakfast.

 

Afterwards We Sat Together For A Long Time,  Enjoying the Calm Beauty Of

The Morning,  And Talking of All That Had Taken Place On The Memorable

Days Of The Storm A Year Ago; For I Desired that The Awful Events Of

That Time Should Live In the Remembrance Of My Children With A

Deepening sense Of Gratitude Of Our Deliverance.

 

Therefore I Read Aloud Passages From My Journal,  As Well As Many

Beautiful Verses From The Psalms,  Expressive Of Joyful Praise And

Thanksgiving,  So That Even The Youngest Among Us Was Impressed and

Solemnized at The Recollections Of Escape From A Terrible Death,  And

Also Led to Bless And Praise The Name Of The Lord Our Deliverer.

 

Dinner Followed shortly After This Happy Service,  And I Then Announced

For The Afternoon A `Grand Display Of Athletic Sports',  In which I And

My Wife Were To Be Spectators And Judges.

 

`Father,  What A Grand Idea!'

 

`Oh,  How Jolly! Are We To Run Races?'

 

`And Prizes! Will There Be Prizes,  Father?'

 

`The Judges Offer Prizes For Competition In every Sort Of Manly

Exercise,' Replied i. `Shooting,  Running,  Riding,  Leaping,  Climbing,

Swimming,  We Will Have An Exhibition Of Your Skill In all. Now For It!

 

`Trumpeters! Sound For The Opening of The Lists.'

 

Uttering these Last Words In a Stentorian Voice And Wildly Waving my

Arms Towards A Shady Spot,  Where The Ducks And Geese Were Quietly

Resting,  Had The Absurd Effect I Intended.

 

Up They All Started in a Fright,  Gabbling and Quacking loudly,  To The

Infinite Amusement Of The Children,  Who Began To Bustle About In eager

Preparations For The Contest,  And Begging to Know With What They Were

To Begin.

 

`Let Us Have Shooting first,  And The Rest When The Heat Of The Day

Declines. Here Is A Mark I Have Got Ready For You,' Said I,  Producing a

Board Roughly Shaped like A Kangaroo,  And Of About The Size Of One.

This Target Was Admired,  But Jack Could Not Rest Satisfied till He Had

Added ears,  And A Long Leather Strap For A Tail.

 

It Was Then Fixed in the Attitude Most Characteristic Of The Creature,

And The Distance For Firing measured off. Each Of The Three Competitors

Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 20

Was To Fire Twice.

 

Fritz Hit The Kangaroo'S Head Each Time; Ernest Hit The Body Once; And

Jack,  By A Lucky Chance,  Shot The Ears Clean Away From The Head,  Which

Feat Raised a Shout Of Laughter.

 

A Second Trial With Pistols Ensued,  In which Fritz Again Came Off

Victor.

 

Then Desiring the Competitors To Load With Small Shot,  I Threw A

Little Board As High As I Possibly Could Up In the Air,  Each In turn

Aiming at And Endeavouring to Hit It Before It Touched the Ground.

 

In This I Found To My Surprise That The Sedate Ernest Succeeded quite

As Well As His More Impetuous Brother Fritz.

 

As For Jack,  His Flying board Escaped wholly Uninjured. After This

Followed archery,  Which I Liked to Encourage,  Foreseeing that A Time

Might Come When Ammunition Would Fail; And In this Practise I Saw With

Pleasure That My Elder Sons Were Really Skilful,  While Even Little

Franz Acquitted himself Well.

 

A Pause Ensued,  And Then I Started a Running match. Fritz,  Ernest And

Jack Were To Run To Falconhurst,  By The Most Direct Path. The