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We all three then left the ship in our boat, and as we came in sight of Shark Isle, Jack, who was on the fort, fired his guns. |
When we came to the beach, my wife and the rest were there to meet us. Jane was half wild with joy when she heard that Captain Stone had brought her good news from home. |
We led them round our house and through the grounds and Mr. West took note of all he saw. When we came to talk, I found that he had made up his mind to stay with us. I need not say how glad I was to hear this, for he had brought out with him a large stock of farm tools, of which we had long been in want. |
The boys were of course in high glee at all this, but I did not share their joy so much as I could wish. The ship which now lay close to our shore was the first we had seen since we came to the isle, and no one could tell when the next might come. My wife and I did not wish to leave. I had a love for the kind of life w... |
Fritz and Jack said they would not leave us; Ernest spoke not a word, but I saw that he had made up his mind to go. I did not grieve at this, as I felt that our isle was too small for the scope of his mind, and did not give him the means to learn all he could wish. I told him to speak out, when he said he should like t... |
I thought this would give my wife pain, but she said that the boys had made a good choice, and that she knew Ernest and Frank would make their way in the world. |
Captain Stone gave Jane, Ernest, and Frank leave to go with him, as there was room in the ship now that the Wests were to stay with us. |
The ship was brought round to Safe Bay, and Fritz and Jack went on board to fetch Mrs. West and her two girls, who were glad to find that they were not to go back to the ship, for the storm had made them dread the sea. |
I may here say, by the way, that my wife soon found that her two sons grew fond of their fair friends, and gave me a hint that some day we should see them wed, which would be a fresh source of joy to us. |
I have not much more to tell. The stores I had laid up -- furs, pearls, spice, and fruits -- were put on board the ship, and left to the care of my sons, who were to sell them. And then the time came for us to part. I need not say that it was a hard trial for my wife; but she bore up well, for she had made up her mind ... |
As the next day my boys were to leave me, I had a long talk with them. I told them to act well their part in the new sphere in which they were to move, and to take as their guide the Word of God. They then knelt down for me to bless them, and went to their beds in Rock House for the last time. |
I got no sleep all that night, nor did the two boys, who were to start the next day. |
As Ernest takes this Tale with him -- which I gave him leave to print, that all may know how good God has been to us -- I have no time to add more than a few words. |
The ship that is to take from us our two sons and our fair guest will sail from this coast in a few hours, and by the close of the day three who are dear to us will have gone from our midst. I can not put down what I feel, or tell the grief of my poor wife. |
I add these lines while the boat waits for my sons. May God grant them health and strength for the trials they may have to pass through; may they gain the love of those with whom they are now to dwell; and may they keep free from taint the good name of the Swiss Family Robinson. |
<eob> |
Mappo, The Merry Monkey: His Many Adventures |
By |
Richard Barnum |
Chapter I |
Mappo And The Cocoanut |
Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there lived in a tree, in a big woods, a little monkey boy. It was in a far-off country, where this little monkey lived, so far that you would have to travel many days in the steam cars, and in a steamship, to get there. |
The name of the little monkey boy was Mappo, and he had two brothers and two sisters, and also a papa and a mamma. One sister was named Choo, and the other Chaa, and one brother was called Jacko, and the other Bumpo. They were funny names, but then, you see, monkeys are funny little creatures, anyhow, and have to be ca... |
Mappo was the oldest of the monkey children, and he was the smartest. Perhaps that was why he had so many adventures. And I am going to tell you some of the wonderful things that happened to Mappo, while he lived in the big woods, and afterwards, when he was caught by a hunter, and sent off to live in a circus. |
But we will begin at the beginning, if you please. |
Mappo, as I have said, lived in a tree in the woods. Now it might seem funny for you to live in a tree, but it came very natural to Mappo. Lots of creatures live in trees. There are birds, and squirrels, and katydids. Of course they do not stay in the trees all the time, any more than you boys and girls stay in your ho... |
"But you will find the safest place for you is the tree," said Mappo's mother to him one day, when he had been playing down on the ground with his brothers and sisters. And, while they were down playing a game, something like your game of tag, all of a sudden along came a big striped tiger, with long teeth. |
"Run! Run fast! Everybody run!" yelled Mappo, in the queer, chattering language monkeys use. |
His brothers and sisters scrambled up into the tree where their house was, and Mappo scrambled up after them. He was almost too late, for the tiger nearly caught Mappo by the tail. But the little monkey boy managed to get out of the way, and then he sat down on a branch in front of the tree house where he lived. |
"That wasn't very nice of that tiger to chase us!" said Mappo, when he could get his breath. |
"No, indeed," said Mrs. Monkey. "Tigers are not often nice. After this you children had better stay in the tree -- until you are a little larger, at least." |
"But it's more fun on the ground," said Mappo. |
"That may be," said Mrs. Monkey, as she looked down through the branches to see if the tiger were still waiting to catch one of her little ones. "But, Mappo, you and your brothers and sisters can run much better and faster in a tree than on the ground," said Mrs. Monkey. |
And this is so. A monkey can get over the ground pretty fast on his four legs, as you can easily tell if you have ever watched a hand-organ monkey. But they can travel much faster up in the trees. For there is a hand on the end of each monkey's four limbs, and his curly tail is as good as another hand for grasping bran... |
That is why it is safer for monkeys to be up in a tree than on the ground. There are very few other animals that can catch monkeys, once the five-handed creatures are up among the leaves. And monkeys can travel a long way through the forest without ever coming down to the ground. They swing themselves along from one tr... |
"Is it safe to go down now, Mamma?" asked Mappo of his mother, in monkey talk. This was a little while after the scare. |
"No, not yet," she said. "That tiger may still be down there, waiting and hiding. You and Jacko and Bumpo, and Choo and Chaa stay up here, and pretty soon I will give you a new lesson." |
"Oh, a new lesson!" exclaimed Jacko. "I wonder what kind it will be. We have learned to swing by our tails, and to hang by one paw. Is there anything else we can learn?" |
"Many things," said the mamma monkey, for she and her husband had been teaching the children the different things monkeys must know to get along in the woods. |
So the four little monkeys sat in the tree in front of their home, and waited for their mother to teach them a new lesson. |
If you had seen Mappo's house, you would not have thought it a very nice one. It was just some branches of a tree, twined together, over a sort of platform, or floor, of dried branches. About all the house was used for was to keep off some of the rain that fell very heavily in the country where Mappo lived. |
But this house suited the monkeys very well. They did not need to have a warm one, for it was never winter in the land where they lived. It was always hot and warm -- sometimes too warm. There was never any snow or ice, but, instead, just rain. It rained half the year, and the other half it was dry. So, you see, Mappo'... |
Mappo and the other monkeys did not stay in their houses very much. They went in them to sleep, but that was about all. The rest of the time they jumped about in the trees, looking for things to eat, and, once in a while, when there was no danger, they went down on the ground to play. |
"I guess that tiger is gone now," said Jacko to Mappo. "Let's go down on the ground again, and get some of those green things that are good to eat." |
The little monkeys had been eating some fruit, like green pears, which they liked very much, when the tiger came along and frightened them. Tigers would rather eat monkeys than green pears, I guess. |
"Yes, I think we can go down now," said Mappo, looking through the leaves, and seeing nothing of the savage, striped tiger. |
"You'd better ask mamma," said Choo, one of the little girl monkeys. |
"Indeed I will not! I can see as good as she can that the tiger isn't there!" exclaimed Mappo. |
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