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When we took our leave, my wife and the three boys were in tears. The dog Bill we left to guard the tent, but Turk went with us, and ran by our side. |
We soon got to the banks of a stream; but then had to make our way down its course. It took us some time to reach the sea shore. There was not a boat to be seen, or any sign that the ship's crew had found the land. We left the shore, and went through a wood full of tall trees. Here Fritz struck some hard thing on the g... |
At the end of the wood we came to a plain which gave us a clear view of the place. Fritz, who was on the look out, ran off with Turk to some strange trees that he saw on the right. |
When I got up to him, it gave me no small joy to find that it was a gourd tree. |
"Try," said I, "if you can get hold of one of those queer lumps that grow on it." |
With that he brought one down, and we had a look at it. |
"Now, of this," said I, "we can make a plate, a dish, or a flask. Wild men set great store by its shell, which they use to hold their food and drink." |
We then set to work to make plates of the gourds. When we had made some eight or ten bowls, and some flat ones for plates, we laid them out in the sun to dry, and then went on our way. |
We could see, not far off, a grove of fine palm trees, but to reach them we should have to pass through reeds and long grass. I knew this was just the place to find snakes, so we each cut a cane, that we might beat them off should we meet with any. As I took hold of my staff, I felt a gum or juice ooze out of the end. ... |
"Do not suck too much of it," said I, "or it will make you ill; but let us cut some of the best and take them back with us, for those at home will prize so great a treat." |
It did not take us long to reach the place where the palms grew, and then we sat down in the shade to eat the food we had brought with us. |
"Do you see those nuts at the top of the trees, Fritz?" said I. |
"To be sure I do; but they are far too high to reach. Look, look!" he cried, "there are some MON-KEYS; let me have a shot at them." "Do not do that," I said, and held his arm; "it will do us no good to kill them, and I think I can make use of them." With that I threw some stones up at the tree where they were, though t... |
We broke some of the nuts, and put the juice of the canes in the thick white cream which forms close to the shell; and this made us a dish that Fritz said was fit for a king. |
Fritz and I then made fast some nuts to a string, which I tied round my waist, while he took up his canes, and we both set off on our road home. |
Chapter IV. |
ON our way back we took up the gourd bowls and plates, which we found quite dry and hard as bone, and put them in our bags. We had scarce got through the wood, when Turk made a dart in front of us, and we saw a troop of apes rush out of the way. But he gave a leap and brought down one that could not climb so fast as th... |
It did not take us long to reach the bank of the stream near to our home. |
I need not tell you how glad my wife and sons were to see us safe back, or with what joy the boys took the "real live ape" out of Fritz's arms. |
At length, when they got more staid, I told them that we had brought them all sorts of good things, but that we had not met with any of the men of whom we went in search. "God's will be done," said my wife, "let us thank Him that you have come back safe to us. This day to me has been an age; but put down your loads, fo... |
Fritz and I then told them, by turns, where we found the things we brought with us, how we made and dried the plates and bowls, cut the canes, and caught the ape in the wood. Our tales had not come to an end when we were told that it was time to sup. Ernest had shot a wild goose, and some fish had been caught in the st... |
That night the ape went to bed with Jack and Fritz, and we all slept in peace till the cocks on the roof of the tent woke us up. |
Next day Fritz and I went back to the wreck to save the live stock, and get what else we had left that might be of use to us. We found it no light task, for we had to make floats for the cow, the ass, the sheep, and the goats, throw them in the sea, and tie them with ropes to our raft. We put on board the raft a vast d... |
We had not gone far when I heard a loud cry of fear from Fritz, "We are lost! We are lost! See what a great shark is on its way to us!" |
Though pale with fright, he took aim with his gun, and shot the fish in the head. It sank at once, but left a track of blood in the sea, which I knew to be a sign that we were once more safe. We then got to land, and made fast our freight to the shore. Ere we had done this our friends came to give us what help they cou... |
That night we did not sup on the ground. My wife had spread a cloth on the top of a cask, and we each sat on a tub. With the knives and forks that we had found in the ship we ate a dish of hot ham and eggs, nor did we fail to test the wine that I had brought with me in a small cask from the wreck. |
Ere bed-time my wife had told me that while I was at the wreck she had gone in search of some place in which we could build a house. |
"And did you find one, my dear?" I said. |
"Oh, yes," said she. "We can take you to a great tree that will serve us well, if we can but get across the stream with our goods." |
"But would you have us roost, like fowls, in a tree? How do you think we could get up to our perch?" |
"Was there not a large lime tree in our town in which they built a ball room, with stairs up the trunk?" |
"To be sure there was," said I; "and if we can not build in it, we can at least make use of its shade, and dwell in a hut on the roots." |
Ernest said that he took a string, and found that it was twelve yards round. This led me to think that my wife's scheme was by no means a bad one, and that I would have a look at the tree the next day. |
When I had heard all they had to tell, we knelt down to pray, and then sought a good night's rest, which the toils of the day made us much in need of. |
Chapter V. |
WHEN I rose from my bed the next day, I said to my wife: "Does it not seem, my dear, as if God had led us to this place, and that we should do wrong to leave it?" |
"What you say may be quite true, so far as it goes," she said; "but I must tell you that the mid-day heat is more than we can bear, and that if we stay here we may have to keep watch at night, for there are, no doubt, wild beasts of some kind that will find us out; and we should not trust too much to our dogs, who may ... |
"I dare say you are right," said I; "but I do not yet see how we can cross the stream. We shall first have to build a bridge." |
The boys were now all out of their beds; and while my wife went to milk the cow and cook some food, I made my plans known to them. They were all glad when they heard that we were to leave, and each said he, would help to build the bridge. |
The first thing to be done was to find some strong planks; and Fritz, Ernest, and I went down to the shore, and got in the boat, which the tide took down to the bay. |
On a piece of land which lay to the left we could see some large dark thing, round which flew a flock of sea gulls. We put up a sail and caught a gust of wind which had sprung up, and this soon brought the boat to the spot. We made no noise, but crept up the shore step by step, and we got so near that Ernest brought do... |
"Do not fail to give God thanks," said I, "that our lot has been cast where we can pick up more food than we can eat." |
It would take a long time to tell how we brought all the wood up to the spot, built piers of stone in the stream, and put the planks one by one in the place; it was late at night when we left off work, and once more sought our tent. |
The next day we saw the sun rise, and took our first meal in haste, for we knew we should have a long day's toil. All the stores that we could not take with us were laid by in the tent, the door of which was made safe by a row of casks, that we put round it. My wife and Fritz soon led the way; the cow went next; then t... |
Just as we had left the bridge, Jack cried out, "Be quick! here is a strange beast with quills as long as my arm." The dogs ran, and I with them, and found a large POR-CU-PINE, in the grass. It made a loud noise, and shot out its quills at the dogs, and made them bleed. At this Jack shot at the beast, which fell dead o... |
At last our march came to an end, and I saw for the first time the great trees that my wife had told me of. They were of vast size, and were, I thought, fig trees. "If we can but fix our tent up there," I said, "we shall have no cause to dread, for no wild beasts can reach us." We sent Frank off to find sticks, with wh... |
Chapter VI. |
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