The Swiss Family Robinson; or, Adventures on a Desert Island. Johann David Wyss
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OUR HOME IN THE GIANT TREE
"I will spare you a description," said my wife, "of our first day's occupations; truth to tell, I spent the time chiefly in anxious thought and watching your progress and signals. I rose very early this morning, and with the utmost joy perceiving your signal that all was right, hastened to reply to it, and then, while my sons yet slumbered, I sat down and began to consider how our position could be improved. 'For it is perfectly impossible,' said I to myself, 'to live much longer where we are now. The sun beats burningly the lifelong day on this bare, rocky spot; our only shelter is this poor tent, beneath the canvas of which the heat is even more oppressive than on the open shore. Why should not I and my little boys exert ourselves as well as my husband and Fritz? Why should not we too try to accomplish something useful? If we could but exchange this melancholy and unwholesome abode for a pleasant, shady dwelling place, we should all improve in health and spirits. Among those delightful woods and groves where Fritz and his father saw so many charming things, I feel sure there must be some little retreat where we could establish ourselves comfortably; there must be, and I will find it.'
"By this time the boys were up, and I observed Jack very quietly and busily occupied with his knife about the spot where Fritz's jackal lay. Watching his proceedings, I saw that he had cut two long, narrow strips of the animal's skin, which he cleaned and scraped very carefully, and then taking a handful of great nails out of his pocket, he stuck them through the skin, points outward, after which he cut strips of canvas sailcloth, twice as broad as the thongs, doubled them, and laid them on the raw side of the skin, so as to cover the broad, flat nail heads. At this point of the performance, Master Jack came to me with the agreeable request that I would kindly stitch the canvas and (moist) skin together for him. I gave him needles and thread, but could not think of depriving him of the pleasure of doing it himself.
"However, when I saw how good-humoredly he persevered in the work with his awkward, unskillful fingers, I took pity on him, and conquering the disgust I felt, finished lining the skin dog-collars he had so ingeniously contrived. After this, I was called upon to complete in the same way a fine belt of skin he had made for himself. I advised him to think of some means by which the skin might be kept from shrinking.
"Ernest, although rather treating Jack's manufacture with ridicule, proposed a sensible enough plan, which Jack forthwith put into execution. He nailed the skin, stretched flat, on a board, and put it in the sun to dry.
"My scheme of a journey was agreed to joyously by my young companions. Preparations were instantly set on foot: weapons and provisions provided; the two elder boys carrying guns, while they gave me charge of the water flask, and a small hatchet.
"Leaving everything in as good order as we could at the tent, we proceeded toward the stream, accompanied by the dogs. Turk, who had accompanied you on your first expedition, seemed immediately to understand that we wished to pursue the same route, and proudly led the way.
"As I looked at my two young sons, each with his gun, and considered how much the safety of the party depended on these little fellows, I felt grateful to you, dear husband, for having acquainted them in childhood with the use of firearms.
"Filling our water-jar, we crossed the stream, and went on to the height, whence, as you described, a lovely prospect is obtained, at the sight of which a pleasurable sensation of buoyant hope, to which I had long been a stranger, awoke within my breast.
"A pretty little wood in the distance attracted my notice particularly, and thither we directed our course. But soon finding it impossible to force our way through the tall, strong grass, which grew in dense luxuriance higher than the children's heads, we turned toward the open beach on our left, and following it, we reached a point much nearer the little wood, when, quitting the strand, we made toward it.
"We had not entirely escaped the tall grass, however, and with the utmost fatigue and difficulty, were struggling through the reeds, when suddenly a great rushing noise terrified us all dreadfully. A very large and powerful bird sprang upward on the wing. Both boys attempted to take aim, but the bird was far away before they were ready to fire.
"'Oh, dear, what a pity!' exclaimed Ernest; 'now if I had only had my light gun, and if the bird had not flown quite so fast, I should have brought him down directly!'
"'Oh yes,' said I, 'no doubt you would be a capital sportsman, if only your game would always give you time to make ready comfortably.'
"'But I had no notion that anything was going to fly up just at our feet like that,' cried he.
"'A good shot,' I replied, 'must be prepared for surprises; neither wild birds nor wild beasts will send you notice that they are about to fly or to run.'
"'What sort of bird can it have been?' inquired Jack.
"'Oh, it certainly must have been an eagle,' answered little Franz, 'it was so very big!'
"'Just as if every big bird must be an eagle!' replied Ernest, in a tone of derision.
"'Let's see where he was sitting, at all events!' said I.
"Jack sprang toward the place, and instantly a second bird, rather larger than the first, rushed upward into the air, with a most startling noise.
"The boys stood staring upward, perfectly stupefied, while I laughed heartily, saying, 'Well, you are first-rate sportsmen, to be sure! You certainly will keep my larder famously well supplied!'
"At this, Ernest colored up, and looked inclined to cry, while Jack put on a comical face, pulled off his cap, and with a low bow, called after the fugitive:
"'Adieu for the present, sir! I live in hopes of another meeting!'
"On searching the ground carefully, we discovered a rude sort of nest made untidily of dry grass. It was empty, although we perceived broken egg shells at no great distance, and concluded that the young brood had escaped among the grass, which, in fact, we could see was waving at a little distance, as the little birds ran through it.
"'Now look here, Franz,' said Ernest, presently, 'just consider how this bird could by any possibility have been an eagle. Eagles never build on the ground, neither can their young leave the nest and run as soon as they are out of the egg. That is a peculiarity of the gallinaceous tribe of birds alone, to which then these must belong. The species, I think, is indicated by the white belly and dull red color of the wing coverts which I observed in these specimens, and I believe them to be bustards, especially as I noticed in the largest the fine mustache-like feathers over the beak, peculiar to the great bustard.'
"'My dear boy,' I said, 'your eyes were actively employed, I must confess, if your fingers were unready with the gun. And after all, it is just as well, perhaps, that we have not thrown the bustard's family into mourning.'
"Thus chatting, we at length approached my pretty wood. Numbers of birds fluttered and sang among the high branches, but I did not encourage the boys in their wish to try to shoot any of the happy little creatures. We were lost in admiration of the trees of this grove, and I cannot describe to you how wonderful they are, nor can you form the least idea of their enormous size without seeing them yourself. What we had been calling a wood proved to be a group of about a dozen trees only, and, what was strange, the roots sustained the massive trunks exalted in the air, forming strong arches, and props and stays all around each individual stem, which was firmly rooted in the center.
"I gave Jack some twine, and scrambling up one of the curious open-air roots, he succeeded in measuring round the trunk itself, and made it out to be about eighteen yards. I saw no sort of fruit, but the foliage is thick and abundant, throwing delicious shade on the ground beneath, which is carpeted with soft green herbage, and entirely free from thorns, briars, or bushes of any kind. It is the most charming resting place that ever was seen, and I and the boys enjoyed our mid-day meal immensely in this glorious palace of the woods,