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

Rush At The Opening and,  The Rest Following,  They Were Soon All On

The Other Side Of The Frontier And Inhabitants Of New Switzerland.'

 

`Capital,' I Said,  `Capital,  My Boy! But I Don'T See What Is To Make

Them Remain Inhabitants Of Our Domain,  Or To Prevent Them From

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Returning through The Gap Whenever They Feel Inclined.'

 

`Stop,  Father,' He Replied,  `You Interrupted me Too Soon; We Thought Of

That Possibility Too,  And Provided against It. We Stretched a Long Line

Right Across The Defile And Strung On It Feathers And Rags And All

Sorts Of Other Things,  Which Danced and Fluttered in the Wind,  And

Looked so Strange That I Am Perfectly Certain That The Herd Will Never

Attempt To Pass It; In fact,  Levaillant,  From Whom I Learnt The Trick,

Says In his Voyage Au Cap De Bonne Esperance That The Hottentots Make

Use Of The Method For Penning in the Antelopes They Have Caught In the

Chase.'

 

`Well Done,' Said I,  `I Am Glad To See That You Remember What You Have

Read. The Antelopes Are Welcome To New Switzerland,  But,  My Boy,' I

Added,  `I Cannot Say The Same For The Rabbits You Have There; They

Increase So Rapidly That If You Establish A Colony Of The Little

Wretches Your Next Difficulty Will Be To Get Rid Of Them.'

 

`True,' He Replied,  `But My Idea Was To Place Them Upon Whale Island,

Where They Would Find Abundant Food,  And At The Same Time In no Way

Trouble Us. May I Not Establish A Warren There? It Would Be So Useful.

Do You Know My Eagle Caught These Pretty Little Fellows For Me? I Saw A

Number Of Them Running about And So Unhooded him,  And In a Few Minutes

He Brought Me Three--One Dead,  With Whose Body I Rewarded him,  And

These Two Here,  Unhurt.'

 

`Now,  Father,' Said Jack,  Interrupting him,  `Do Listen To Me And Hear

My Story,  Or Else Fritz Will Begin Upon My Adventures And Tire You Out

With His Rigmarole Descriptions.'

 

`Certainly,  Jack,' I Said,  `I Am Quite Ready To Listen To You. First

And Foremostly,  How Did You Bring down Those Beautiful Little Animals

You Have There?'

 

`Oh,  We Galloped them Down. The Dogs Sniffed about In the Grass While

Fritz Was Away After The Rabbits,  Out Popped these Little Fawns And

Away They Went Bounding and Skipping,  At The Rate Of Thirty Miles An

Hour,  With Storm,  Grumble And The Dogs At Their Heels. In about A

Quarter Of An Hour We Had Left The Dogs Behind And Were Close Upon Our

Prey. Down Went The Little Creatures In the Grass,  And,  Overcome With

Terror And Fatigue,  Were At Our Mercy. So We Shouted to Fritz,  And--'

 

`My Dear Boy,' Said I,  `According to Your Statement,  Fritz Must Have

Been Seven Miles And A Half Off.'

 

`Oh,  Well,  Father,  Perhaps We Did Not Ride For Quite A Quarter Of An

Hour,  And,  Of Course,  I Can'T Say Exactly How Fast We Were Going; And

Then,  You See,  The Fawns Did Not Run In a Straight Line; At Any Rate

Fritz Heard Us,  And He And Franz And I Leashed the Legs Of The Pretty

Creatures,  And Then We Mounted again,  And Presently Saw A Wretch Of A

Cuckoo,  Who Led us Ever So Far Out Of Our Course By Cuckooing and

Making faces At Us And Then Hopping away. Franz Declared it Must Be An

Enchanted princess,  And So I Thought I Would Rid It Of Its Spell; But

Fritz Stopped me Shooting it,  And Said It Was A "Honey Indicator",  And

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That It Was Leading us Probably To A Bees' Byke,  So We Spared its Life,

And Presently,  Sure Enough,  It Stopped close By A Bees' Nest In a

Hollow Tree.

 

`This Was Capital,  We Thought,  And,  As We Were In a Great Hurry To

Taste The Honey,  I Threw In a Lot Of Lighted lucifer Matches,  But

Somehow It Did Not Kill The Bees At All,  But Only Made Them Awfully

Angry,  And They Flew Out In a Body And Stung Me All Over. I Rushed to

Storm And Sprang On His Back,  But,  Though I Galloped away For Bare

Life,  It Was An Age Before I Got Rid Of The Little Wretches,  And Now My

Face Is In a Perfect Fever. I Think I Will Get Mother To Bathe It For

Me,' And Off Rushed the Noisy Boy,  Leaving fritz And Me To See To The

Fawns And Examine The Rabbits.

 

With These Latter I Determined to Do As Fritz Proposed,  Namely,  To

Colonize Whale Island With Them. I Was All The More Willing to Do This

Because I Had Been Considering the Advisability Of Establishing on That

Island A Fortress To Which We Might Retreat In any Extreme Danger,  And

Where We Should Be Very Thankful,  In case Of Such A Retreat,  To Possess

Means Of Obtaining a Constant Supply Of Animal Food.

 

Having ministered to The Wants Of The Antelopes,  I Tried to Interest

The Boys In my Discovery Of The Block Of Talc,  But Just Then Their

Mother Summoned us To Dinner.

 

The Principal Dish In this Meal Consisted of The Bears' Paws--Most

Savoury-Smelling delicacies,  So Tempting that Their Close Resemblance

To Human Hands,  And Even The Roguish `Fee-Fo-Fum' From Jack,  Did Not

Prevent A Single Member Of The Family From Enjoying them Most Heartily.

 

Supper Over,  We Lit Our Watch-Fire,  Retired to Our Tent And Slept

Soundly.

 

We Had Been Working very Diligently; The Bears' Meat Was Smoked,  The

Fat Melted down And Stored,  And A Large Supply Of Bamboos Collected.

But I Wished to Make Yet Another Excursion,  And At Early Dawn I Aroused

The Boys.

 

Fritz Mounted the Mule,  I Rode Lightfoot,  Jack And Franz Took Their

Usual Steeds And,  With The Two Dogs,  We Galloped off--First To Visit

The Euphorbia To Collect The Gum,  And Then To Discover Whether The

Ostrich Had Deserted her Eggs In the Sand.

 

Ernest Watched us Depart Without The Slightest Look Or Sigh Of Regret,

And Returned to The Tent To Assist His Mother And Study His Books.

 

Our Steeds Carried us Down The Green Valley At A Rapid Rate,  And We

Followed the Direction We Had Pursued on Our Former Expedition. We Soon

Reached turtle Marsh,  And Then,  Filling our Water-Flasks,  We Arrived at

The Rising ground Where Fritz Discovered the Mounted arabs.

 

As Jack And Franz Wanted a Gallop,  I Allowed them To Press Forward,

While Fritz And I Visited the Euphorbia Trees. A Quantity Of The Red

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Gum Had Exuded from The Incisions I Had Made,  And As This Had

Coagulated in the Sun,  I Rolled it Into Little Balls And Stored it In a

Bamboo Jar I Had Brought With Me For The Purpose.

 

As We Rode After The Boys,  Who Were Some Way Ahead,  Fritz Remarked,

`Did You Not Tell Me That The Juice Of That Tree Was Poisonous,  Father;

Why Have You Collected such A Quantity?'

 

`I Did Indeed say So,' I Replied,  `It Is A Most Deadly Poison. The

Inhabitants Of The Cape Of Good Hope Use It To Poison The Springs Where

Wild Animals Assemble To Quench Their Thirst; And They Thus Slaughter

An Immense Number Of The Creatures For The Sake Of Their Hides. I

Intend,  However,  To Use It To Destroy The Apes Should They Again Commit

Depredations,  And Also In preparing the Skins Of Animals To Protect

Them From The Attacks Of Insects.'

 

The Two Boys Were Still At Some Distance From Us,  When Suddenly Four

Magnificent Ostriches Rose From The Sand Where They Had Been Sitting.

 

Jack And Franz Perceived them,  And With A Great Shout,  Drove Them

Towards Us. In front Ran A Splendid Male Bird,  His Feathers Of Shining

Black,  And His Great Tail Plume Waving behind. Three Females Of An

Ashen Grey Colour Followed him. They Approached us With Incredible

Swiftness,  And Were Within Gun-Shot Before They Perceived us. Fritz Had

Had The Forethought To Bind Up The Beak Of His Eagle So That,  Should He

Bring down An Ostrich,  He Might Be Unable To Injure It.

 

He Now Threw Up The Falcon Which,  Towering upwards,  Swooped down Upon

The Head Of The Foremost Bird,  And So Confused and Alarmed him,  That He

Could Not Defend Himself Nor Continue His Flight. So Greatly Was His

Speed checked that Jack Overtook Him,  And Hurling his Lasso,  Enfolded

His Wings And Legs In its Deadly Coils And Brought Him To The Ground.

The Other Ostriches Were Almost Out Of Sight,  So Leaving them To Their

Own Devices We Leaped from Our Steeds And Attempted to Approach The

Captured bird. He Struggled fearfully,  And Kicked with Such Violence

Right And Left,  That I Almost Despaired of Getting him Home Alive.

 

It Occurred to Me,  However,  That If We Could Cover His Eyes,  His Fury

Might Be Subdued. I Instantly Acted upon This Idea,  And Flung Over His

Head My Coat And Hunting bag,  Which Effectually Shut Out The Light.

 

No Sooner Had I Done This Than His Struggles Ceased,  And We Were Able

To Approach. We First Secured round His Body A Broad Strip Of Sealskin,

On Each Side Of Which I Fastened a Stout Piece Of Cord,  That I Might Be

Able To Lead Him Easily. Then,  Fastening another Cord In a Loop Round

His Legs That He Might Be Prevented from Breaking into A Gallop,  We

Released him From The Coils Of The Lasso.

 

`Do You Know,' Said I To The Boys,  `How The Natives Of India Secure A

Newly Captured elephant?'

 

`Oh,  Yes!' Said Fritz. `They Fasten Him Between Two Tame Elephants.

We'Ll Do That To This Fine Fellow,  And Tame Him Double Quick.'

 

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