Swiss Family Robinson(fiscle part-3 of 2) - Johann David Wyss (desktop ebook reader .TXT) 📗

Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 1

The Winds At Length Were Lulled,  The Sun Shot His Brilliant Rays

Through The Riven Clouds,  The Rain Ceased to Fall--Spring had Come. No

Prisoners Set At Liberty Could Have Felt More Joy Than We Did As We

Stepped forth From Our Winter Abode,  Refreshed our Eyes With The

Pleasant Verdure Around Us,  And Our Ears With The Merry Songs Of A

Thousand Happy Birds,  And Drank In the Pure Balmy Air Of Spring.

 

Our Plantations Were Thriving vigorously. The Seed we Had Sown Was

Shooting through The Moist Earth. All Nature Was Refreshed.

 

Our Nest Was Our First Care: Filled with Leaves And Broken And Torn By

The Wind,  It Looked indeed dilapidated. We Worked hard,  And In a Few

Days It Was Again Habitable. My Wife Begged that I Would Now Start Her

With The Flax,  And As Early As Possible I Built A Drying-Oven,  And Then

Prepared it For Her Use; I Also,  After Some Trouble,  Manufactured a

Beetle-Reel And Spinning-Wheel,  And She And Franz Were Soon Hard At

Work,  The Little Boy Reeling off The Thread His Mother Spun.

 

I Was Anxious To Visit Tentholm,  For I Feared that Much Of Our

Precious Stores Might Have Suffered. Fritz And I Made An Excursion

Thither. The Damage Done To Falconhurst Was As Nothing compared to The

Scene That Awaited us. The Tent Was Blown To The Ground,  The Canvas

Torn To Rags,  The Provisions Soaked,  And Two Casks Of Powder Utterly

Destroyed. We Immediately Spread Such Things As We Hoped yet To

Preserve In the Sun To Dry.

 

The Pinnace Was Safe,  But Our Faithful Tub-Boat Was Dashed in pieces,

And The Irreparable Damage We Had Sustained made Me Resolve To Contrive

Some Safer And More Stable Winter-Quarters Before The Arrival Of The

Next Rainy Season. Fritz Proposed that We Should Hollow Out A Cave In

The Rock,  And Though The Difficulties Such An Undertaking would Present

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Appeared almost Insurmountable,  I Yet Determined to Make The Attempt;

We Might Not,  I Thought,  Hew Out A Cavern Of Sufficient Size To Serve

As A Room,  But We Might At Least Make A Cellar For The More Valuable

And Perishable Of Our Stores.

 

Some Days Afterwards We Left Falconhurst With The Cart Laden With A

Cargo Of Spades,  Hammers,  Chisels,  Pickaxes And Crowbars,  And Began Our

Undertaking. On The Smooth Face Of The Perpendicular Rock I Drew Out In

Chalk The Size Of The Proposed entrance,  And Then,  With Minds Bent On

Success,  We Battered away.

 

Six Days Of Hard And Incessant Toil Made But Little Impression; I Do

Not Think That The Hole Would Have Been A Satisfactory Shelter For Even

Master Knips; But We Still Did Not Despair,  And Were Presently Rewarded

By Coming to Softer And More Yielding substance; Our Work Progressed,

And Our Minds Were Relieved.

 

On The Tenth Day,  As Our Persevering blows Were Falling heavily,  Jack,

Who Was Working diligently With A Hammer And Crowbar,  Shouted:

 

`Gone,  Father! Fritz,  My Bar Has Gone Through The Mountain!'

 

`Run Round And Get It,' Laughed fritz,  `Perhaps It Has Dropped into

Europe--You Must Not Lose A Good Crowbar.'

 

`But,  Really,  It Is Through; It Went Right Through The Rock; I Heard It

Crash Down Inside. Oh,  Do Come And See!' He Shouted excitedly.

 

We Sprang To His Side,  And I Thrust The Handle Of My Hammer Into The

Hole He Spoke Of; It Met With No Opposition,  I Could Turn It In any

Direction I Chose. Fritz Handed me A Long Pole; I Tried the Depth With

That. Nothing could I Feel. A Thin Wall,  Then,  Was All That Intervened

Between Us And A Great Cavern.

 

With A Shout Of Joy,  The Boys Battered vigorously At The Rock; Piece By

Piece Fell,  And Soon The Hole Was Large Enough For Us To Enter. I

Stepped near The Aperture,  And Was About To Make A Further Examination,

When A Sudden Rush Of Poisonous Air Turned me Giddy,  And Shouting to My

Sons To Stand Off,  I Leaned against The Rock.

 

When I Came To Myself I Explained to Them The Danger Of Approaching any

Cavern Or Other Place Where The Air Has For A Long Time Been Stagnant.

`Unless Air Is Incessantly Renewed it Becomes Vitiated,' I Said,  `And

Fatal To Those Who Breathe It. The Safest Way Of Restoring it To Its

Original State Is To Subject It To The Action Of Fire; A Few Handfuls

Of Blazing hay Thrown Into This Hole May,  If The Place Be Small,

Sufficiently Purify The Air Within To Allow Us To Enter Without

Danger.' We Tried the Experiment. The Flame Was Extinguished the

Instant It Entered. Though Bundles Of Blazing grass Were Thrown In,  No

Difference Was Made.*

 

   * What Actually Happens Is That The Oxygen Supply Becomes

     Low. If There Is Sufficient Oxygen To Maintain A Flame,  The

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     Action Of The Flame Increases Air Circulation,  Which Then

     Brings In more Oxygen. The Flame Goes Out If The Oxygen

     Supply Is Insufficient For Its Supply; In this Case,  It

     Takes The Fireworks To Create Adequate Circulation. The Next

     Torch Is Able To Blaze Not Because The Air Is Purified,  But

     Because The Oxygen Is Now Sufficient To Feed the Fire.

 

I Saw That We Must Apply Some More Efficacious Remedy,  And Sent The

Boys For A Chest Of Signal-Rockets We Had Brought From The Wreck. We

Let Fly Some Dozens Of These Fiery Serpents,  Which Went Whizzing in and

Disappeared at Apparently A Vast Distance From Us. Some Flew Like

Radiant Meteors Round,  Lighted up The Mighty Circumference And

Displayed,  As By A Magician'S Wand,  A Sparkling glittering roof. They

Looked like Avenging dragons Driving a Foul Malignant Fiend Out Of A

Beauteous Palace.

 

We Waited for A Little While After These Experiments,  And I Then Again

Threw In lighted hay. It Burned clearly; The Air Was Purified.

 

Fritz And I Enlarged the Opening,  While Jack,  Springing on His

Buffalo,  Thundered away To Falconhurst To Bear The Great And

Astonishing news To His Mother.

 

Great Must Have Been The Effect Of Jack'S Eloquence On Those At Home,

For The Timbers Of The Bridge Were Soon Again Resounding under The

Swift But Heavy Tramp Of His Steed; And He Was Quickly Followed by The

Rest Of Our Party In the Cart.

 

All Were In the Highest State Of Excitement. Jack Had Stowed in the

Cart All The Candles He Could Find,  And We Now,  Lighting these,

Shouldered our Arms And Entered. I Led the Way,  Sounding the Ground As

I Advanced with A Long Pole,  That We Might Not Fall Unexpectedly Into

Any Great Hole Or Chasm.

 

Silently We Marched--My Wife,  The Boys,  And Even The Dogs Seeming

Overawed with The Grandeur And Beauty Of The Scene We Were In a Grotto

Of Diamonds--A Vast Cave Of Glittering crystal; The Candles Reflected

On The Walls A Golden Light,  Bright As The Stars Of Heaven,  While Great

Crystal Pillars Rose From The Floor Like Mighty Trees,  Mingling their

Branches High Above Us And Drooping in hundreds Of Stalactites,  Which

Sparkled and Glittered with All The Colours Of The Rainbow.

 

The Floor Of This Magnificent Palace Was Formed of Hard,  Dry Sand,  So

Dry That I Saw At Once That We Might Safely Take Up Our Abode Therein,

Without The Slightest Fear Of Danger From Damp.

 

From The Appearance Of The Brilliant Crystals Round About Us,  I

Suspected their Nature. I Tasted a Piece. This Was A Cavern Of

Rock-Salt. There Was No Doubt About It--Here Was An Unlimited supply Of

The Best And Purest Salt!

 

But One Thing detracted from My Entire Satisfaction And Delight--Large

Crystals Lay Scattered here And There,  Which,  Detached from The Roof,

Had Fallen To The Ground; This,  If Apt To Recur,  Would Keep Us In

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Constant Peril. I Examined some Of The Masses And Discovered that They

Had Been All Recently Separated,  And Therefore Concluded that The

Concussion Of The Air,  Occasioned by The Rockets,  Had Caused their

Fall. To Satisfy Ourselves,  However,  That There Were No More Pieces

Tottering above Us,  We Discharged our Guns From The Entrance,  And

Watched the Effect.

 

Nothing more Fell--Our Magnificent Abode Was Safe. We Returned to

Falconhurst With Minds Full Of Wonder At Our New Discovery,  And Plans

For Turning it To The Best Possible Advantage.

 

Nothing was Now Talked of But The New House,  How It Should Be

Arranged,  How It Should Be Fitted up. The Safety And Comfort Of

Falconhurst,  Which Had At First Seemed so Great,  Now Dwindled away In

Our Opinion To Nothing; It Should Be Kept Up We Decided merely As A

Summer Residence,  While Our Cave Should Be Formed into A Winter House

And Impregnable Castle.

 

Our Attention Was Now Fully Occupied with This New House. Light And Air

Were To Be Admitted,  So We Hewed a Row Of Windows In the Rock,  Where We

Fitted the Window-Cases We Had Brought From The Officers' Cabins.

 

We Brought The Door,  Too,  From Falconhurst,  And Fitted it In the

Aperture We Had Made. The Opening in the Trunk Of The Tree I

Determined to Conceal With Bark,  As Less Likely To Attract The Notice

Of Wild Beasts Or Savages Should They Approach During our Absence.

 

The Cave Itself We Divided into Four Parts: In front,  A Large

Compartment Into Which The Door Opened,  Subdivided into Our Sitting,

Eating and Sleeping apartments; The Right-Hand Division,  Containing our

Kitchen And Workshop,  And The Left Our Stables; Behind All This,  In the

Dark Recess Of The Cave,  Was Our Storehouse And Powder-Magazine.

 

Having already Undergone One Rainy Reason,  We Knew Well Its

Discomforts,  And Thought Of Many Useful Arrangements In the Laying-Out

Of Our Dwelling. We Did Not Intend To Be Again Smoke-Dried; We,

Therefore,  Contrived a Properly Built Fireplace And Chimney; Our Stable

Arrangements,  Too,  Were Better,  And Plenty Of Space Was Left In our

Workshop That We Should Not Be Hampered in even The Most Extensive

Operations.

 

Our Frequent Residence At Tentholm Revealed to Us Several Important

Advantages Which We Had Not Foreseen. Numbers Of Splendid Turtles Often

Came Ashore To Deposit Their Eggs In the Sand,  And Their Delicious

Flesh Afforded us Many A Sumptuous Meal. When More Than One Of These

Creatures Appeared at A Time,  We Used to Cut Off