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

into

It Himself For A Few Minutes; But As Soon As The Other Birds Came

Pressing in after Him,  He Hurried out Again And They Were Forced to

Retire.

 

We Stopped to Observe This Curious Scene,  And Were Startled suddenly By

A Mighty Rush Of Wings In the Air Above Us. We Looked up; At The Same

Moment Fritz Fired,  And An Enormous Bird Fell Heavily Head Foremost On

The Rocks,  By Which Its Neck Was Broken,  While Blood Flowed from A

Wound In the Breast.

 

We Had Been Holding back The Dogs,  But They,  With Fritz,  Now Rushed

Towards The Cave,  The Birds Rising around Them And Departing with Heavy

Ungainly Flight,  Leaving only Fritz'S Prize,  And One Of The Other

Birds,  Killed by The Large One In its Fall.

 

With The Utmost Caution I Entered the Cave,  And Rejoiced to Find That

The Tongue And Eyes Only Of The Bears Had Been Devoured: A Little Later

And We Should Have Had The Handsome Skins Pecked and Torn To Rags,  And

All Chance Of Steaks And Bears'-Paws Gone.

 

On Measuring the Wings Of The Large Bird From Tip To Tip,  I Found The

Length Exceeded eleven Feet,  And Concluded it To Be A Condor; It Was

Evidently The Mate Of The `Watcher',  As Fritz Called the First We Saw.

 

To Work We Now Went On The Bears,  And No Slight Affair We Found It To

Skin And Cut Them Up,  But By Dint Of Perseverance We At Last Succeeded

In Our Object.

 

Determining to Smoke The Meat On The Spot,  We Cut Magnificent Hams,  And

Took Off The Rest Of The Meat In slices After The Manner Of The

Part 3 Chapter 4 Pg 75

Buccaneers In the West Indies,  Preserving the Paws Entire To Be Cooked

As A Delicacy,  And Obtaining from The Two Bears Together A Prodigious

Supply Of Lard,  Which My Wife Gladly Undertook To Melt And Prepare For

Keeping.

 

The Bones And Offal We Drew To Some Distance With The Help Of Our

Cattle,  And Made The Birds Of The Air Most Welcome To Feast Upon It.

This,  With The Assistance Of All Sorts Of Insects,  They Did So

Effectually That Before We Left The Place The Skulls Were Picked

Perfectly Clean,  The Sun Had Dried them,  And They Were Ready For Us To

Carry Off To Our Museum.

 

The Skins Had To Be Very Carefully Scraped,  Washed,  Salted,  Cleansed

With Ashes And Dried,  Which Occupied fully Two Days.

 

I Was Lamenting our Distance From The Rascusara* Tree,  The Leaves Of

Which Had Flavoured our Roast Peccary So Nicely,  When I Observed among

The Brushwood Which The Boys Had Brought From The Thickets Around Us,  A

Climbing plant,  Whose Leaves Had A Very Strong Smell; The Stem

Resembled a Vine,  And The Fruit Grew In clusters Like Currants. Some

Were Red,  And Some Of A Green Colour,  Which I Supposed to Denote

Various Degrees Of Ripeness. They Were Hard,  And The Outer Skin Was

Quite Thin. I Recognized in this The Pepper Plant,  A Discovery

Particularly Agreeable At This Moment.

 

    * Previously He Called it Ravensara.

 

The Boys Soon Gathered a Large Supply; The Red berries Were Soaked in

Salt And Water For Several Days,  Then Washed and Rubbed,  And Finally,

Becoming perfectly White,  Were Dried in the Sun. The Treatment Of The

Green Berries Was Simple; They Were Merely Exposed to The Sun'S Heat

For A Day Or Two,  And Then Stored: In this Way We Obtained enough,  Both

Of Black And White Pepper,  To Last Us A Very Long Time.

 

I Took Also A Number Of Young Plants,  That We Might Have Pepper

Growing at Rockburg And Our Various Settlements. Some Roots Of Another

Plant Were Also Taken,  Which,  From The Pods,  Appeared to Be A Kind Of

Bean.

 

We Were Glad Of This Occupation During the Tedious Business Of Smoking

The Bears' Meat,  And Availed ourselves Of The Leisure Time By Also

Preparing for Stuffing the Condor And The Turkey Buzzard,  Urubu Or

Black Vulture--For I Could Not Determine To Which Species The Smaller

Bird Belonged.

 

The Four Boys At Length Became So Weary Of Inaction,  That I Determined

To Let Them Make An Excursion Alone On The Savannah.

 

Three Of Them Received this Permission With Eager Delight,  But Ernest

Said He Would Prefer To Remain With Us; To Which,  As The Expedition Was

To Be Entirely One Of Pleasure,  I Could Make No Objection.

 

Little Franz,  On The Other Hand,  Whom I Would Willingly Have Kept With

Us,  Was Wild To Go With His Brothers,  And I Was Obliged to Consent,  As

Part 3 Chapter 4 Pg 76

I Had Made The Proposal Open To All,  And Could Not Draw Back.

 

In The Highest Spirits They Ran To Bring their Steeds (As We Were Fain

To Call The Cattle They Rode) From Their Pasturage At A Short Distance.

Speedily Were They Saddled,  Bridled and Mounted--The Three Lads Were

Ready To Be Off.

 

It Was My Wish That Our Sons Should Cultivate A Habit Of Bold

Independence,  For Well I Knew That It Might Be The Will Of God To

Deprive Them Easily Of Their Parents; When,  Without An Enterprising

Spirit Of Self-Reliance,  Their Position Would Be Truly Miserable.

 

My Gallant Fritz Possessed this Desirable Quality In no Small Degree,

And To Him I Committed the Care Of His Young Brothers,  Charging them To

Look Up To And Obey Him As Their Leader.

 

They Were Well Armed,  Well Mounted,  Had A Couple Of Good Dogs; And,

With A Hearty `God Speed and Bless You,  My Boys!' I Let Them Depart.

 

We Who Remained behind Passed the Day In a Variety Of Useful

Occupations.

 

The Bears' Meat,  Which Was Being cured in a Smoking-Shed such As That

We Set Up For The Peccary Hams,  Required a Good Deal Of Attention From

My Wife. Ernest Had A Fancy For Making ornamental Cups From The Ostrich

Eggs,  While I Investigated the Interior Of The Cave.

 

I Found The Inner Wall To Consist Of A Kind Of Talc,  Mingled with

Threads Of Asbestos,  And Also Indications Of Mica. Examining further,  I

Detached a Large Block,  And Found To My Joy That I Could Split It Into

Clear Transparent Sheets,  Which Would Serve Admirably For Window Panes.

 

My Wife Saw This Substitute For Glass With Unfeigned satisfaction,

Declaring,  That Although She Would Not Complain,  Yet The Want Of Glass

For Windows Had Been A Downright Trouble To Her.

 

 

 

Part 3 Chapter 5 Pg 77

As Evening approached,  The Bears' Paws,  Which Were Stewing for Supper,

Sent Forth Savoury Odours; And We Sat Talking round The Fire,  While

Listening anxiously For Sounds Heralding the Return Of Our Young

Explorers.

 

At Last The Tramp And Beat Of Hoofs Struck Our Ears; The Little Troop

Appeared,  Crossing the Open Ground Before Us At A Sharp Trot,  And A

Shrill Ringing cheer Greeted us As We Rose And Went To Meet Them.

 

They Sprang From Their Saddles,  The Animals Were Set At Liberty To

Refresh Themselves,  And The Riders Eagerly Came To Exhibit Their

Part 3 Chapter 5 Pg 78

Acquisitions And Give An Account Of Themselves.

 

Funny Figures They Cut! Franz And Jack Had Each A Young Kid Slung On

His Back,  So That The Four Legs,  Tied together,  Stuck Out Under Their

Chins.

 

Fritz'S Game-Bag Looked remarkably Queer--Round Lumps,  Sharp Points,

And An Occasional Movement Seemed to Indicate A Living creature Or

Creatures Within.

 

`Hurrah,  For The Chase,  Father!' Cried jack. `Nothing like Real

Hunting after All. And Just To See How Storm And Grumble Go Along Over

A Grassy Plain! It Is Perfectly Splendid! We Soon Tired out The Little

Antelopes,  And Were Able To Catch Them.'

 

`Yes,  Father,' Said Franz,  `And Fritz Has Two Angora Rabbits In his

Bag,  And We Wanted to Bring you Some Honey. Only Think! Such A Clever

Bird--A Cuckoo,  Showed us Where It Was!'

 

`My Brothers Forget The Chief Thing,' Said Fritz. `We Have Driven A

Little Herd Of Antelopes Right Through The Gap Into Our Territory; And

There They Are,  All Ready For Us To Hunt When We Like--Or To Catch And

Tame!'

 

`Well Done!' Cried i. `Here Is Indeed a List Of Achievements. But To

Your Mother And Me,  The Chief Thing of All,  Is God'S Goodness In

Bringing you Safe Back To Us. Now,  Let Us Hear The Whole Story That We

May Have A Definite Idea Of Your Performances.'

 

`We Had A Splendid Ride,' Said Fritz,  `Down Glen Verdant,  And Away To

The Defile Through Our Rocky Barrier,  And The Morning was So Cool And

Fresh That Our Steeds Galloped along,  Nearly The Whole Way,  At The Top

Of Their Speed. When We Had Passed through The Gap We Moderated our

Furious Pace And Kept Our Eyes Open On The Look-Out For Game; We Then

Trotted slowly To The Top Of A Grassy Hill,  From Whose Summit We Saw

Two Herds Of Animals,  Whether Antelopes,  Goats Or Gazelles,  We Did Not

Know,  Grazing by The Side Of The Stream Below Us.

 

`We Were About To Gallop Down And Try To Get A Shot At Them,  When It

Struck Me That It Would Be Wiser To Try And Drive The Whole Herd

Through The Gap Into Our Own Domain,  Where They Would Be Shut Up,  As It

Were,  In a Park,  Free And Yet Within Reach.

 

`Down The Hill We Rode As Hard As We Could Go,  Formed in a Semicircle

Behind The Larger Herd Of Magnificent Antelopes--And,  Aided by The Dogs,

With Shouts And Cries Drove Them Along The Stream Towards The Gap; As

We Came Near The Opening they Appeared inclined to Halt And Turn Like

Sheep About To Be Driven Into The Butcher'S Yard; And It Was All We

Could Do To Prevent Them From Bolting past Us; But,  At Length,  One Made

A