Swiss Family Robinson(fiscle part-3 of 2) - Johann David Wyss (desktop ebook reader .TXT) 📗
- Author: Johann David Wyss
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Unfasten The Shutters--You Know What Nimble Fingers They Have. Then Of
Course The Whole Posse Of Them Swarmed into Our Nice Tidy Cottage And
Skylarked with Every Single Thing they Could Lay Paws On, Till Perhaps
They Got Hungry All At Once, And Bethought Them Of The "Ginseng", As
You Call It, Out In the Woods Yonder, Where We Found Them So Busy
Refreshing themselves, The Mischievous Villains!'
`While We Were Gazing at All This Ruin In a Sort Of Bewilderment,'
Pursued fritz, `We Heard A Sound Of Rushing wings And Strange Ringing
Cries As Of Multitudes Of Birds Passing high Above Us, And Looking up
We Perceived them Flying quickly In a Wedge-Shaped flock At A Great
Height In the Air. They Began Gradually To Descend, Taking the
Direction Of The Lake, And Separated into A Number Of Small Detachments
Which Followed in a Long Straight Line, And At A Slower Rate, The
Movements Of The Leaders, Who Appeared to Be Examining the
Neighbourhood. We Could Now See What Large Birds They Must Be, But
Dared not Show Ourselves Or Follow Them, Lest They Should Take Alarm.
`Presently, And With One Accord, They Quickened their Motion, Just As
If The Band Had Begun To Play A Quick March After A Slow One, And
Rapidly Descended to Earth In a Variety Of Lively Ways, And Near Enough
For Us To See That They Must Be Cranes.
`Some Alighted at Once, While Others Hovered sportively Over Them. Many
Darted to The Ground, And, Just Touching it, Would Soar Again Upward
With A Strong But Somewhat Heavy Flight.
`After Gambolling in this Way For A Time, The Whole Multitude, As
Though At The Word Of Command, Alighted on The Rice-Fields, And Began
To Feast On The Fresh Grain.
`We Thought Now Was Our Time To Get A Shot At The Cranes And
Cautiously Approached; But They Were Too Cunning to Let Themselves Be
Surprised, And We Came Unexpectedly Upon Their Outposts Or Sentinels,
Who Instantly Sprang Into The Air Uttering loud Trumpet-Like Cries,
Upon Which The Whole Flock Arose And Followed them With A Rush Like A
Sudden Squall Of Wind.
Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 25
`We Were Quite Startled, And It Was Useless To Attempt A Shot; But
Unwilling to Miss The Chance Of Securing at Least One Of The Birds, I
Hastily Unhooded my Eagle, And Threw Him Into The Air.
`With A Piercing cry He Soared away High Above Them, Then Shot
Downwards Like An Arrow, Causing wild Confusion Among The Cranes.
`The One Which The Eagle Attacked, Sought To Defend Itself; A Struggle
Followed, And They Came Together To The Ground Not Far From Where We
Stood.
`Hastening forward, To My Grief I Found The Beautiful Crane Already
Dead. The Eagle, Luckily Unhurt, Was Rewarded with A Small Pigeon From
My Game-Bag.
`After This We Went Back To Woodlands, Got Some Turpentine And A Bag Of
Rice--And Set Off For Home.'
Fritz'S Interesting story Being ended, And Supper Ready, We Made Trial
Of The New Roots, And Found Them Very Palatable, Either Boiled or
Stewed; The Monkey Plant, However, If It Really Proved to Be The
Ginseng Of The Chinese, Would Require To Be Used with Caution, Being of
An Aromatic And Heating nature.
We Resolved to Transplant A Supply Of Both Roots To Our Kitchen
Garden.
Part 3 Chapter 2 Pg 26
On The Following morning we Were Early Astir; And As Soon As Breakfast
Was Over, We Went Regularly To Work With The Bird-Lime. The Tough,
Adhesive Mixture Of Caoutchouc Oil And Turpentine Turned out Well.
The Boys Brought Rods, Which I Smeared over, And Made Them Place Among
The Upper Branches, Where The Fruit Was Plentiful, And The Birds Most
Congregated.
The Prodigious Number Of The Pigeons, Far Beyond Those Of Last Year,
Reminded me That We Had Not Then, As Now, Witnessed their Arrival At
Their Feeding-Places, But Had Seen Only The Last Body Of The Season, A
Mere Party Of Stragglers, Compared to The Masses Which Now Weighed down
The Branches Of All The Trees In the Neighbourhood.
The Sweet Acorns Of The Evergreen Oaks Were Also Patronized; Large
Flocks Were There Congregated; And From The State Of The Ground Under
The Trees It Was Evident That At Night They Roosted on The Branches.
Seeing this, I Determined to Make A Raid Upon Them By Torchlight, After
The Manner Of The Colonists In virginia.
Part 3 Chapter 2 Pg 27
Meantime, The Bird-Lime Acted well: The Pigeons Alighting, Stuck Fast.
The More They Fluttered and Struggled, The More Completely Were They
Bedaubed with The Tenacious Mixture, And At Length, With Piteous Cries,
Fell To The Ground, Bearing the Sticks With Them. The Birds Were Then
Removed, Fresh Lime Spread, And The Snare Set Again.
The Boys Quickly Became Able To Carry On The Work Without My
Assistance; So, Leaving it To Them, I Went To Prepare Torches, With
Pinewood And Turpentine, For The Night Attack.
Jack Presently Brought A Very Pretty Pigeon, Unlike The Rest, To Show
Me, As He Felt Unwilling to Kill It; And Seeing that It Must Be One Of
Our Own European Breed, Which We Wished to Preserve Until Their Numbers
Greatly Increased, I Took The Trembling captive, And Gently Cleaned its
Feet And Wings With Oil And Ashes From The Stiff, Sticky Mess With
Which It Was Bedaubed, Placing it Then In a Wicker Cage, And Telling
Jack To Bring me Any Others Like It Which Were Caught. This He Did; And
We Secured several Pairs, Greatly To My Satisfaction, As Having
Necessarily Let Them Go Free When We Landed, They Had Become Quite
Wild, And We Derived no Advantage From Them: Whereas Now We Would Have
A Cot, And Pigeon-Pie Whenever We Liked.
When Evening drew On, We Set Out For The Wood Of Sweet Acorns,
Provided merely With Long Bamboo Canes, Torches And Canvas Sacks.
These Weapons Appeared very Curious, And Insufficient To The Children;
But Their Use Was Speedily Apparent: For Darkness Having come Upon Us
Almost Before We Reached the Wood, I Lighted the Torches, And
Perceived, As I Expected, That Every Branch Was Thickly Laden With
Ortolans And Wild Pigeons, Who Were Roosting there In amazing numbers.
Suddenly Aroused by The Glare Of Light, Confusion Prevailed among The
Terrified birds, Who Fluttered helplessly Through The Branches, Dazzled
And Bewildered, And Many Falling, Even Before We Began To Use The
Sticks, Were Picked up, And Put In the Bags.
When We Beat And Struck The Branches, It Was As Much As My Wife And
Franz Could Do To Gather Up The Quantities Of Pigeons That Soon Lay On
The Ground. The Sacks Were Speedily Quite Full. We Turned homewards,
And On Reaching falconhurst, Put Our Booty In safety, And Gladly
Withdrew To Rest.
The Following day Was Wholly Occupied in plucking, Boiling, Roasting
And Stewing, So That We Could Find Time For Nothing else; But Next
Morning a Great Expedition To Woodlands Was Arranged, That Measures
Might There Be Taken To Prevent A Repetition Of The Monkey Invasion. I
Hoped, Could I But Catch The Mischievous Rascals At Their Work Of
Destruction, To Inflict Upon Them Such A Chastisement As Would
Effectually Make Them Shun The Neighbourhood Of Our Farm For The
Future.
My Wife Provided us With A Good Store Of Provisions, As We Were Likely
To Be Absent Several Days, While She, With Franz And Turk, Remained at
Part 3 Chapter 2 Pg 28Home.
I Took With Me Abundance Of Specially Prepared birdlime, Far Stronger
Than That Which We Used for The Pigeons; A Number Of Short Posts,
Plenty Of String, And A Supply Of Cocoanut Shells And Gourds.
The Buffalo Carried all These Things, And One Or Two Of The Boys
Besides. I Myself Bestrode The Ass, And In due Time We Arrived at A
Convenient Spot In the Forest, Near Woodlands, Well Concealed by Thick
Bushes And Underwood, Where We Made A Little Encampment, Pitching the
Small Tent And Tethering the Animals. The Dogs, Too, Were Tied up, Lest
They Should Roam About, And Betray Our Presence.
We Found The Cottage Quite Quiet And Deserted; And I Lost No Time In
Preparing for The Reception Of Visitors, Hoping to Be All Ready For
Them, And Out Of Sight Before They Arrived.
We Drove The Stakes Lightly Into The Ground, So As To Form An
Irregular Paling round The House, Winding string in and Out In all
Directions Between Them, Thus Making a Kind Of Labyrinth, Through Which
It Would Be Impossible To Pass Without Touching either The Stakes Or
The Cords.
Everything was Plentifully Besmeared with Bird-Lime; And Basins Of The
Mixture Were Set In all Directions, Strewed with Rice, Maize, And Other
Dainties For Bait.
Night Came Without Any Interruption To Our Proceedings; And All Being
Then Accomplished, We Retired to Rest Beneath The Shelter Of Our Little
Tent.
Very Early In the Morning we Heard A Confused noise, Such As We Knew
Betokened the Approach Of A Large Number Of Apes. We Armed ourselves
With Strong Clubs And Cudgels, And Holding the Dogs In leash, Made Our
Way Silently Behind The Thickets, Till, Ourselves Unseen, We Could
Command A View Of All That Went On; And Strange Indeed was The Scene
Which Ensued!
The Noise Of Rustling, Crackling and Creaking among The Branches, With
Horrid Cries, And Shrieks, And Chattering, Increased to A Degree
Sufficient To Make Us Perfectly Giddy; And Then Out From The Forest
Poured the Whole Disorderly Rabble Of Monkeys, Scrambling, Springing,
Leaping from The Trees, Racing and Tumbling across The Grassy Space
Towards The House; When, At Once Attracted by The Novelties They Saw,
They Made For The Jars And Bowls.
They Seemed innumerable; But The Confused, Rapid Way In which They
Swarmed hither And Thither,
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