Swiss Family Robinson Part 46

The sugar-mill occupied us for several days, and was made so much like our other mills that I need not now describe it.

On the evening of the first day, as we sat resting in the porch at Rockburg, we naturally talked of the absentees, wondering and guessing what they might be about.

Ernest looked rather mysterious, and hinted that he might have news of them next morning.

Just then a bird alighted on the dove-cot, and entered. I could not see, in the failing light, whether it was one of our own pigeons or an intruder. Ernest started up, and said he would see that all was right.

In a few minutes he returned with a sc.r.a.p of paper in his hand. 'News, father! The very latest news by pigeon-post, mother!'

'Well done, boys! What a capital idea!' said I, and taking the note I read:

'Dearest parents and Ernest,

'A brute of a hyaena has killed a ram and two lambs. The dogs seized it. Franz shot it. It is dead and skinned. The pemmican isn't worth much, but we are all right. Love to all.

'Fritz

'Woodlands, 15th instant

'A true hunter's letter!' laughed I. 'But what exciting news. When does the next post come in, Ernest?'

'Tonight, I hope,' said he, while his mother sighed, and doubted the value of such glimpses into the scenes of danger through which her sons were pa.s.sing, declaring she would much rather wait and hear all about it when she had them safe home again.

Thus the winged letter-carriers kept us informed from day to day of the outline of adventures which were afterwards more fully described.

On approaching the farm at Woodlands, the boys were startled by hearing, as they thought, human laughter, repeated again and again; while, to their astonishment, the oxen testified the greatest uneasiness, the dogs growled and drew close to their masters, and the ostrich fairly bolted with Jack into the rice swamp.

The laughter continued, and the beasts became unmanageable.

'Something is very far wrong!' cried Fritz. 'I cannot leave the animals; but while I unharness them, do you, Franz, take the dogs, and advance cautiously to see what is the matter.'

Without a moment's hesitation, Franz made his way among the bushes with his gun, and closely followed by the dogs; until, through an opening in the thicket, he could see, at the distance of about forty paces, an enormous hyaena, in the most wonderful state of excitement; dancing round a lamb just killed, and uttering, from time to time, the ghastly hysterical laughter which had pealed through the forest.

The beast kept running backwards and forwards, rising on its hind legs, and then rapidly whirling round and round, nodding its head, and going through most frantic and ludicrous antics.

Franz kept his presence of mind very well; for he watched till, calming down, the hyaena began with horrid growls to tear its prey; and then, firing steadily both barrels, he broke its foreleg, and wounded it in the breast.

Meanwhile Fritz, having unyoked the oxen and secured them to trees, hurried to his brother's a.s.sistance. The dogs and the dying hyaena were by this time engaged in mortal strife; but the latter, although it severely wounded both Floss and Bruno, speedily succ.u.mbed, and was dead when the boys reached the spot.

They raised a shout of triumph, which guided Jack to the scene of action; and their first care was for the dogs, whose wounds they dressed before minutely examining the hyaena. It was as large as a wild boar; long stiff bristles formed a mane on its neck, its colour was grey marked with black, the teeth and jaws were of extraordinary strength, the thighs muscular and sinewy, the claws remarkably strong and sharp altogether. But for his wounds, he would certainly have been more than a match for the dogs.

After unloading the cart at the farm, the boys returned for the carcase of the tiger-wolf, as it is sometimes called, and occupied themselves in skinning it during the remainder of the day, when after dispatching the carrier-pigeon to Rockburg, they retired to rest on their bearskin rugs, to dream of adventures past and future.

The following day they devised no less a scheme than to survey the sh.o.r.es of Wood Lake, and place marks wherever the surrounding marsh was practicable and might be crossed either to reach the water or leave it.

Fritz in the cajack, and the boys on sh.o.r.e, carefully examined the ground together; and when they found firm footing to the water's edge, the spot was indicated by planting a tall bamboo, bearing on high a bundle of reeds and branches.

They succeeded in capturing three young black swans, after considerable resistance from the old ones. They were afterwards brought to Rockburg, and detained as ornaments to Safety Bay.

Presently a beautiful heron thrust his long neck from among the reeds, to ascertain what all the noise on the lake was about.

Before he could satisfy his curiosity, Fritz unhooded his eagle, and though vainly he flapped and struggled, his legs and wings were gently but firmly bound, and he had to own himself vanquished, and submit to the inspection of his delighted captors.

It was their turn to be alarmed next, for a large powerful animal came puffing with a curious whistling sound through the dense thicket of reeds, pa.s.sing close by and sorely discomposing them by its sudden appearance. It was out of sight immediately, before they could summon the dogs, and from their description it must have been a tapir, the colour dark brown, and in form resembling a young rhinoceros, but with no horn on the nose, and the upper lip prolonged into a trunk something like that of an elephant on a smaller scale. It is a gentle creature, but when attacked becomes a fierce opponent, and can wound dogs dangerously with its powerful teeth. The tapir can swim and dive with perfect ease, and abounds in the densely wooded swamps and rivers of tropical America.

Fritz in his cajack followed for a time the direction in which the tapir proceeded, but saw no more of it. Meanwhile the other two boys returned to the farm by the rice-fields, and there fell in with a flock of cranes, five or six of which they caught alive, among them two demoiselle or Numidian cranes.

These birds they shot at with arrows arranged in a skilful and original way, with loops of cord dipped in birdlime attached to them, so that it often happened that the bird aimed at, was entangled and brought down uninjured.

The young hunters seemed to have lived very comfortably on peccary ham, ca.s.sava bread and fruit, and plenty of baked potatoes and milk.

One trial of the pemmican was sufficient, and it was handed over to the dogs. Fritz, however, determined again to attempt the manufacture, knowing its value when properly prepared.

After collecting a supply of rice and cotton, they took their way to Prospect Hill, 'and,' said Fritz, as he afterwards vividly described the dreadful scene there enacted, 'when we entered the pine wood, we found it in possession of troops of monkeys, who resolved to make our pa.s.sage through it as disagreeable as possible, for they howled and chattered at us like demons, pelting us as hard as they could with pine cones.

'They became so unbearable, that at last we fired a few shots right and left among them; several bit the dust, the rest fled, and we continued our way in peace to Prospect Hill, but only to discover the havoc the wretches had made there.

'Would you believe it, father? The pleasant cottage had been overrun and ruined by apes just as Woodlands last summer! The most dreadful dirt and disorder met our eyes wherever we turned, and we had hard work to make the place fit for human habitation; and even then we preferred the tent. I felt quite at a loss how to guard the farm for the future; but seeing a bottle of the poisonous gum of the euphorbia in the tool chest, I devised a plan for the destruction of the apes which succeeded beyond my expectations.

'I mixed poison with milk, bruised millet and anything I thought the monkeys would eat, and put it in cocoanut sh.e.l.ls, which I hung about in the trees, high enough to be out of reach of our own animals. The evening was calm and lovely; the sea murmured in the distance, and the rising moon shed a beauty over the landscape which we seemed never before to have so admired and enjoyed. The summer night closed around us in all its solemn stillness, and our deepest feelings were touched; when suddenly the spell was broken by an outburst of the most hideous and discordant noises.

'As by one consent, every beast of the forest seemed to arise from its den, and utter its wild nocturnal cry. Snorting, snarling and shrieking filled the woods beneath us.

'From the hills echoed the mournful howl of jackals, answered by Fangs in the yard, who was backed up by the barking and yelping of his friends Floss and Bruno. Far away beyond the rocky fastnesses of the Gap, sounded unearthly hollow snortings and neighings, reminding one of the strange cry of the hippopotamus; above these, occasional deep majestic roarings made our hearts quail with the conviction that we heard the voices of lions and elephants.

'Overawed and silent, we retired to rest, hoping to forget in sleep the terrors of the midnight forest; but ere long the most fearful cries in the adjoining woods gave notice that the apes were beginning to suffer from the poisoned repast prepared for them.

'As our dogs could not remain silent amid the uproar and din, we had not a wink of sleep until the morning. It was late, therefore, when we rose, and looked on the awful spectacle presented by the mult.i.tude of dead monkeys and baboons thickly strewn under the trees round the farm.

I shall not tell you how many there were. I can only say I wished I had not found the poison, and we made all haste to clear away the dead bodies and the dangerous food, burying some deep in the earth, and, carrying the rest to the sh.o.r.e, we pitched them over the rocks into the sea. That day we travelled on to the Gap.'

The same evening that the boys reached the rocky pa.s.s, a messenger-pigeon arrived at Rockburg, bearing a note which concluded in the following words:

'The barricade at the Gap is broken down. Everything laid waste as far as the sugar-brake, where the hut is knocked to pieces, and the fields trampled over by huge footmarks. Come to us, father--we are safe, but feel we are no match for this unknown danger.'

I lost not an instant, but saddled Swift, late as it was, in order to ride to the a.s.sistance of our boys, desiring Ernest to prepare the small cart, and follow me with his mother at daybreak, bringing everything we should require for camping out for some days.

The bright moonlight favoured my journey, and my arrival at the Gap surprised and delighted the boys who did not expect me till next day. Early on the following morning I inspected the footprints and ravages of the great unknown. The cane-brake had, without doubt, been visited by an elephant. That great animal alone could have left such traces and committed such fearful ravages.

Thick posts in the barricade were snapped across like reeds; the trees in the vicinity, where we planned to build a cool summer-house, were stripped of leaves and branches to a great height, but the worst mischief was done among the young sugar-cane plants, which were all either devoured or trampled down and destroyed.

It seemed to me that not one elephant, but a troop must have invaded our grounds. The tracks were very numerous, and the footprints of various sizes; but, to my satisfaction, I saw that they could be traced not only from the Gap, but back to it in evidently equal numbers.

We did not, therefore, suppose that the mighty animals remained hidden in the woods of our territory; but concluded that, after this freebooting incursion, they had withdrawn to their native wilds, where, by greatly increasing the strength of our ramparts, we hoped henceforth to oblige them to remain.

In what manner to effect this we laid many plans, during the night of my arrival, when, sitting by an enormous watch-fire, I chatted with my boys, and heard details of their numerous adventures, so interesting for them to relate, and for me to hear, that everyone was more disposed to act sentinel than retire to sleep.

My wife and Ernest arrived next day, and she rejoiced to find all well, making light of trodden fields and trampled sugar-canes, since her sons were sound in life and limb.