Swiss Family Robinson(fiscle part-3 of 2) - Johann David Wyss (desktop ebook reader .TXT) 📗
- Author: Johann David Wyss
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More Dispelled; All Was Neatness And Regularity On Board; The Spotless
Decks, The Burnished steel And Brass, And The Air Of Perfect Order
Which Pervaded both Ship And Camp, Betokened that Authority And
Discipline There Reigned.
For Some Minutes Longer We Continued our Examination Of The Scene, And
Then Satisfied by The Appearance Of The Camp On Shore, That There Was
No Chance Of The Brig Quitting the Coast For Several Days, We Resolved
To Return Without Betraying our Presence, For I Was Unwilling to Appear
Before These Strangers Until We Could Do So In better Form, And In a
Manner More In accordance With Our Actual Resources.
We Again Landed at Rockburg, Where Our Family Awaited our Arrival In
Eager Expectation, And As Fully As Possible We Told Them Of All We Had
Seen. They Thoroughly Approved of Our Caution, And Even Jenny, Whose
Hopes Had Been Excited to The Highest Pitch By Our Description Of The
English Vessel, And Who Longed to Meet Her Countrymen Once More, Agreed
To Postpone The Visit Until The Following day, When, Having put Our
Yacht Into Good Order, We Might Pay Our Respects To The Captain, Not As
Poor Shipwrecked creatures Begging assistance, But As Lords And Masters
Of The Land, Seeking to Know For What Purpose Strangers Were Visiting
The Coast.
The Rest Of The Day Was Occupied in making our Preparations. Our
Dainty Little Craft Was Made To Look Her Very Best; Her Decks Were
Scrubbed, Her Brass Guns Burnished, All Lumber* Removed and Put Ashore,
And The Flag Of England Hoisted to Her Peak.
* Junk, Things Stored but Not In use.
My Wife Overhauled our Wardrobes, And The Neatest Uniforms Were Put
Ready For The Boys And Me, For Though Neither My Wife Nor Jenny Had
Ever Dreamed of Appearing otherwise Than They Would Have Done, Had They
Been At Home Amongst Civilized people In europe, Yet We, Accustomed
Daily To Rough And Often Even Dirty Work, Had Adopted just That Costume
Which Best Suited our Comfort And Inclination. We Should Indeed have
Surprised the Smart Man-O'-War'S Men, Had We Appeared in our Great
Shapeless Wide-Brimmed hats, Our Linen Coats And Trousers, Our Broad
Leathern Belts And Hairy Buskins; So We Next Day Readily Donned the
More Becoming costumes.
At The Break Of That Eventful Morn, When We Were Destined once More To
Set Our Eyes Upon Our Fellow Men, And To Hear News Of The Outer World,
From Which For So Many Years We Had Been Exiled, We Assembled in our
Little Breakfast-Room. The Meal Was Eaten Hurriedly And Almost In
Silence, For Our Hearts Were Too Full, And Our Minds Too Busily
Occupied, To Allow Of Any Outward Display Of Excitement. Fritz And Jack
Then Slipped quietly Out, And Presently Returned from The Garden With
Baskets Of The Choicest Fruits In fresh And Fragrant Profusion, And
With These, As Presents For The Strangers, We Went On Board Our Yacht.
The Anchor Was Weighed, The Sails Set, And With The Canoe In tow The
Little Vessel, As Though Partaking of Our Hopes And Joyous
Part 3 Chapter 10 Pg 145Expectation, Bounded merrily Over The Waters Of Safety Bay, Gave A Wide
Berth To The Reef, Against Whose Frowning rocks The Sea Still Lashed
Itself To Foam, And Kept Away For The Cove, Where The English Ship
Unconsciously Awaited us. The Pug-Nosed cape Was Reached, And To The
Surprise And Utter Amazement Of The Strangers, We Rounded the Point And
Brought Up Within Hail.
Every Eye On Board And On Shore Was Turned towards Us, Every Glass Was
Produced and Fixed upon Our Motions; For Of All The Strange Sights
Which The Gallant Crew May Have Looked for, Such An Anomaly As A
Pleasure Yacht, Manned by Such A Party As Ours, And Cruising upon This
Strange And Inhospitable Shore, Was The Furthest From Their Thoughts.
Fritz And I Stepped into Our Boat, And Pulled for The Brig. In another
Minute We Were Upon Her Deck. The Captain, With The Simple Frankness Of
A British Seaman, Welcomed us Cordially, And Having led us Into His
Cabin, Begged us To Explain To What Good Fortune He Owed a Visit From
Residents Upon A Coast Generally Deemed uninhabited, Or The Abode Of
The Fiercest Savages.
I Gave Him An Outline Of The History Of The Wreck, And Of Our Sojourn
Upon These Shores, And Spoke To Him, Too, Of Miss Montrose, And Of The
Providential Way In which We Had Been The Means Of Rescuing her From
Her Lonely Position.
`Then,' Said The Gallant Officer, Rising and Grasping fritz By The
Hand, `Let Me Heartily Thank You In my Own Name, And In that Of Colonel
Montrose; For It Was The Hope Of Finding some Trace Of That Brave Girl
That Led me To These Shores. The Disappearance Of The Dorcas Has Been A
Terrible Blow To The Colonel, And Yet, Though For Three Years No Word
Of Her Or Of Any Of Those Who Sailed in her Has Reached england, He Has
Never Entirely Abandoned all Hope Of Again Hearing of His Daughter. I
Knew This, And A Few Weeks Ago, When I Was About To Leave Sydney For
The Cape, I Found Three Men Who Declared themselves Survivors Of The
Dorcas, And Said That Their Boat, Of Four Which Left The Wreck, Was The
Only One Which, To Their Knowledge, Reached land In safety.
`From Them I Learned all Particulars, And Applying for Permission To
Cruise In these Latitudes, I Sailed in the Hopes Of Finding further
Traces Of The Unfortunate Crew. My Efforts Have Been Rewarded by
Unlooked-For Success.'
Fritz Replied most Modestly To The Praises Which He Received, And Then
The Captain Begged to Be Introduced to My Wife And Miss Montrose.
`And,' He Continued, `If It Be Not Contrary To Your Rules Of
Discipline, For The Whole Ship'S Company To Be Absent At Once, I Will
Now Send A Boat For The Remainder Of Your Party.'
One Of The Officers Was Accordingly Dispatched to The Yacht With A
Polite Message, And The Mother, Jenny, And The Three Boys Were
Presently On Board.
Part 3 Chapter 10 Pg 146
Our Kind Host Greeted them Most Warmly, And He And His Officers Vied
With One Another In doing us Honour. They Proved, Indeed, Most Pleasant
Entertainers, And The Time Passed rapidly Away.
At Luncheon The Captain Told Us That There Had Sailed with Him From
Sydney An Invalid Gentleman, Mr. Wolston, His Wife, And Two Daughters;
But That Though The Sea Voyage Had Been Recommended on Account Of His
Health, Yet It Had Not Done Mr. Wolston So Much Good As Had Been
Anticipated, And He Had Suffered so Greatly From The Effects Of The
Storm Which Had Driven The Unicorn Into The Bay For Repairs, That He
Had Been Eager To Rest For A Short Time On Land.
We Were Anxious To Meet The Family, And In the Afternoon It Was
Decided that We Should Pay Them A Visit. Tents Had Been Pitched for
Their Accommodation Under The Shady Trees, And When We Landed we Found
Mr. Wolston Seated by One Of Them, Enjoying the Cool Sea-Breeze. He And
His Family Were Delighted to See Us, And So Much Did We Enjoy Their
Society, That Evening found Us Still Upon The Shore. It Was Too Late
Then To Return To Rockburg, And The Captain Kindly Offered tents For
The Accommodation Of Those Who Could Not Find Room In the Yacht. The
Boys Spent The Night On Land.
That Night I Had A Long And Serious Consultation With My Wife, As To
Whether Or Not We Really Had Any Well-Grounded reason For Wishing to
Return To Europe. It Would Be Childish To Undertake A Voyage Thither
Simply Because An Opportunity Offered for Doing so.
Neither Knew To What Decision The Feelings Of The Other Inclined; Each
Was Afraid Of Expressing what Might Run Counter To Those Feelings; But
Gradually It Began To Appear That Neither Entertained any Strong Wish
To Leave The Peaceful Island; And Finally We Discovered that The Real
Wish Which Lay At The Bottom Of Both Our Hearts Was To Adopt New
Switzerland As Thenceforward Our Home.
What Can Be More Delightful Than To Find Harmony Of Opinion In those We
Love, When A Great And Momentous Decision Has To Be Taken?
My Dear Wife Assured me That She Desired nothing more Earnestly Than To
Spend The Rest Of Her Days In a Place To Which She Had Become So Much
Attached, Provided i, And At Least Two Of Her Sons, Also Wished to
Remain.
From The Other Two She Would Willingly Part, If They Chose To Return To
Europe, With The Understanding that They Must Endeavour To Send Out
Emigrants Of A Good Class To Join Us, And Form A Prosperous Colony,
Adding that She Thought The Island Ought To Continue To Bear The Name
Of Our Native Country, Even If Inhabited in future Time By Colonists
From England, As Well As From Switzerland.
I Heartily Approved of This Excellent Idea, And We Agreed to Mention
It, While Consulting with Captain Littlestone On The Subject Of Placing
The Island Under The Protection Of Great Britain.
Part 3 Chapter 10 Pg 147
Then Came The Question As To Which Of Our Sons Were Best Suited to
Remain With Us, And Which To Go Away.
This Point We Left Undecided, Thinking that In the Course Of A Few
Days, They Would Probably Make A Choice Of Their Own Accord, Which They
Did, Even Sooner Than We Anticipated. After Breakfast, It Was Proposed
That Captain Littlestone Should Bring his Ship Round To Safety Bay,
That We Might Receive A Visit From Him And His Party, At
Rockburg--Where We Invited the Invalid, Mr. Wolston, And His Family, In
Hopes That His Health Might Benefit By A Comfortable Residence On
Shore.
No Sooner Was This Plan Adopted, Than Fritz And Jack Hurried off In the
Canoe To Prepare For Their Reception, Being followed in more Leisurely
Style By The Brig And Our Yacht.
But What Words Can Express The Amazement Of Our Guests, When, Rounding
The Rocky Cape At The Entrance, Safety Bay, And The Beautiful Domain Of
Rockburg, Lay Before Them.
Still Greater Was Their Astonishment, As A Salute Of Eleven Guns
Boomed from The Battery On Shark Island, Where The Royal Standard Of
England Was Displayed and Floated majestically On The Morning breeze.
A Glow Of Surprise And Pleasure Beamed on Every Countenance, And Poor
Wolston'S Spirits Appeared to Revive With The Very Idea Of The Peace
And Happiness To Be
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