Swiss Family Robinson Part 5

Fritz was speedily perfect in the accomplishment of sucking sugar-cane, discovering by experience the necessity for a fresh cut at each joint or knot in the cane, through which the juice could not flow; he talked of the pleasure of initiating his brothers in the art, and of how Ernest would enjoy the cocoanut milk, with which he had filled his flask.*

* M. Wyss's acquaintance with sugar has not extended to the sugar cane. The sap does not flow; it is embedded in the very fibrous pulp, and the cane must be crushed, and its juice cooked and repeatedly refined, to make the sugar. People enjoying the cane in its natural state must chew the pulp, which is not particularly sweet.

'My dear boy,' said I, 'you need not have added that to your load; the chances are it will be vinegar by the time we get home. In the heat of the sun, it will ferment soon after being drawn from the nut.'

'Vinegar! Oh, that would be a horrid bore! I must look directly, and see how it is getting on,' cried Fritz, hastily swinging the flask from his shoulder, and tugging out the cork. With a loud 'pop' the contents came forth, foaming like champagne.

'There now!' said I, laughing as he tasted this new luxury.

'You will have to exercise moderation again, friend Fritz!

I daresay it is delicious, but it will go to your head, if you venture deep into your flask.'

'My dear father, you cannot think how good it is! Do take some.

Vinegar, indeed! This is like excellent wine.'

We were both invigorated by this unexpected draught, and went on so merrily after it, that the distance to the place where we had left our gourd dishes seemed less than we expected. We found them quite dry, and very light and easy to carry.

Just as we had pa.s.sed through the grove in which we breakfasted, Turk suddenly darted away from us, and sprang furiously among a troop of monkeys, which were gambolling playfully on the turf at a little distance from the trees. They were taken by surprise completely, and the dog, now really ravenous from hunger, had seized one, and was fiercely tearing it to pieces before we could approach the spot.

His luckless victim was the mother of a tiny little monkey, which, being on her back when the dog flew at her, had hindered her flight; the little creature attempted to hide among the gra.s.s, and in trembling fear watched the tragic fate of its mother.

On perceiving Turk's bloodthirsty design, Fritz had eagerly rushed to the rescue, flinging away all he was carrying, and losing his hat in his haste. All to no purpose as far as the poor mother ape was concerned, and a laughable scene ensued, for no sooner did the young monkey catch sight of him than at one bound it was on his shoulders, and, holding fast by his thick curly hair, it firmly kept its seat in spite of all he could do to dislodge it. He screamed and plunged about as he endeavoured to shake or pull the creature off, but all in vain, it only clung the closer to his neck, making the most absurd grimaces.

I laughed so much at this ridiculous scene, that I could scarcely a.s.sist my terrified boy out of his awkward predicament. Indeed, I told Fritz that the animal, having lost its mother, seemed determined to adopt Fritz. "Perhaps he has discovered in you something of the air of a father of a family."

"Or rather," Fritz retorted, "the little rogue has found out that he has to do with a chicken-heart, who shrinks from the idea of ill-treating an animal which has thrown itself on his protection.

But father, he is yanking my hair terribly, and I shall be obliged to you to try once more to get him off."

At last, by coaxing the monkey, offering it a bit of biscuit, and gradually disentangling its small sinewy paws from the curls it grasped so tightly, I managed to relieve poor Fritz, who then looked with interest at the baby ape, no bigger than a kitten, as it lay in my arms.

'What a jolly little fellow it is!' exclaimed he. 'Do let me try to rear it, father. I daresay cocoanut milk would do until we can bring the cow and the goats from the wreck. If he lives he might be useful to us. I believe monkeys instinctively know what fruits are wholesome and what are poisonous.'

'Well,' said I, 'let the little orphan be yours. You bravely and kindly exerted yourself to save the mother's life, now you must train her child carefully, for unless you do so its natural instinct will prove mischievous instead of useful to us.'

Turk was meanwhile devouring with great satisfaction the little animal's unfortunate mother. Fritz wished to drive him away from the feast, but I could not grudge it him, and reminded Fritz that continued hunger might have made Turk dangerous to ourselves. We did not think it necessary to wait until he had dined, so we prepared to resume our march, conversing as we walked.

"Let me remind you," I said, "in our situation, it would be dangerous to teach the dogs not to attack and kill, if they can, whatever unknown animals they meet. You will see that he will soon regard your little monkey as a member of our family. But we must not discourage him from his fancy for attacking wild beasts. Heaven has bestowed the dog on man to be his safeguard and ally, and the horse the same. A man on horseback, accompanied by a troop of well-trained dogs, need not fear any species of wild beasts, not even the lion nor the hyaena."

Thoughtfully, Fritz replied, "I feel fortunate that we are in the possession of two such creatures; but what a pity that the horses on board died during our voyage, and left us with only an a.s.s."

"Let us take care how we treat even our a.s.s with disdain," I told him. "I wish we had him safe on land. Fortunately he is large and strong. We may train him to do us the same services as are performed by the horse; and it is not improbable that he will improve under our care, given the excellent pasture we will find in this climate."

The tiny ape seated itself in the coolest way imaginable on Fritz's shoulder, I helped to carry his canes, and we were on some distance before Turk overtook us, looking uncommonly well pleased, and licking his chops as though recalling the memory of his feast.

He took no notice of the monkey, but it was very uneasy at sight of him, and scrambled down into Fritz's arms, which was so inconvenient to him that he devised a plan to relieve himself of his burden.

Calling Turk, and seriously enjoining obedience, he seated the monkey on his back, securing it there with a cord, and then putting a second string round the dog's neck that he might lead him, he put a loop of the knot into the comical rider's hand, saying gravely, 'Having slain the parent, Mr. Turk, you will please to carry the son.'

At first this arrangement mightily displeased them both, but by and by they yielded to it quietly; the monkey especially amused us by riding along with the air of a person perfectly at his ease.

'We look just like a couple of mountebanks on their way to a fair with animals to exhibit,' said I. 'What an outcry the children will make when we appear!'

My son inquired to what species of the monkey tribe I thought his protege belonged, which led to a good deal of talk on the subject, and conversation beguiling the way, we found ourselves ere long on the rocky margin of the stream and close to the rest of our party.

Juno was the first to be aware of our approach, and gave notice of it by loud barking, to which Turk replied with such hearty goodwill, that his little rider, terrified at the noise his steed was making, slipped from under the cord and fled to his refuge on Fritz's shoulder, where he regained his composure and settled himself comfortably.

Turk, who by this time knew where he was, finding himself free, dashed forward to rejoin his friend, and announce our coming. One after another our dear ones came running to the opposite bank, testifying in various ways their delight at our return, and hastening up on their side of the river, as we on ours, to the ford at which we had crossed in the morning. We were quickly on the other side, and, full of joy and affection, our happy party was once more united.

The boys suddenly perceiving the little animal which was clinging close to their brother, in alarm at the tumult of voices, shouted in ecstasy:

'A monkey! A monkey! Oh, how splendid! Where did Fritz find him?

What may we give him to eat? Oh, what a bundle of sticks! Look at those curious great nuts father has got!'

We could neither check this confused torrent of questions, nor get in a word in answer to them.

At length when the excitement subsided a little, I was able to say a few words with a chance of being listened to. 'I am truly thankful to see you all safe and well, and, thank G.o.d, our expedition has been very satisfactory, except that we have entirely failed to discover any trace of our s.h.i.+pmates.'

'If it be the will of G.o.d,' said my wife, 'to leave us alone on this solitary place, let us be content, and rejoice that we are all together in safety. I have been uneasy since you left, and imagined a thousand evils that might beset you. The day appeared an age, but now that I see you once more safe and well, I know how foolish my fears must seem.

'Now we want to hear all your adventures, and let us relieve you of your burdens,' added she, taking my game-bag.

Jack shouldered my gun, Ernest took the cocoanuts, and little Franz carried the gourds, Fritz distributed the sugarcanes amongst his brothers, and handing Ernest his gun replaced the monkey on Turk's hack. Ernest soon found the burden with which Fritz had laden him too heavy to his taste. His mother, perceiving this, offered to relieve him of part of the load. He willingly gave up the cocoanuts, but no sooner had he done so than his elder brother exclaimed:

'Hullo, Ernest, you surely do not know what you are parting with; did you really intend to hand over those good cocoanuts without so much as tasting them?'

'What? ho! Are they really cocoanuts?' cried Ernest, 'I thought they were bowls! Do let me take them again, mother, do let me look at them.'

'No, thank you,' replied my wife with a smile. 'I have no wish to see you again overburdened.'

'Oh but I have only to throw away these sticks, which are of no use, and then I can easily carry them.'

'Worse and worse,' said Fritz, 'I have a particular regard for those heavy useless sticks. Did you ever hear of sugar-canes?'

The words were scarcely out of his mouth when Ernest began to suck vigorously at the end of the cane with no better result, however, than Fritz had obtained as we were on the march.

'Here,' said Fritz, 'let me show you the trick of it,' and he speedily set all the youngsters to work extracting the luscious juice.

My wife, as a prudent housekeeper who made much use of sugar, was no less delighted than the children with this discovery; the sight of the dishes also pleased her greatly, for she longed to see us eat once more like civilized beings.

We went into the kitchen and there found preparations for a truly sumptuous meal. Two forked sticks were planted in the ground on either side of the fire, on these rested a rod from which hung several tempting-looking fish, opposite them hung a goose from a similar contrivance, slowly roasting while the gravy dropped into a large sh.e.l.l placed beneath it. Franz gave the spit another turn, a.s.suring me he had been helping all day to keep the meal from burning. In the centre sat the great pot from which issued the smell of a most delicious soup. To crown this splendid array, stood an open hogshead full of Dutch cheeses.

All this was very pleasant to two hungry travellers, but I was about to beg my wife to spare the poultry until our stock should have increased, when she, perceiving my thought, quickly relieved my anxiety. 'This is not one of our geese,' she said, 'but a wild bird Ernest killed.'

'Yes,' said Ernest, 'it is a penguin, I think, it let me get quite close, so that I knocked it on the head with a stick. Here are its head and feet which I preserved to show you; the bill is, you see, narrow and curved downwards, and the feet are webbed. It had funny little bits of useless wings, and its eyes looked so solemnly and sedately at me, that I was almost ashamed to kill it. It seemed quite dest.i.tute of any intelligence, so that I was able to kill it with a single blow from my stick. Do you not think it must have been a penguin?'

'I have little doubt on the matter, my boy,' and I was about to make a few remarks on the habits of this bird, when my wife interrupted me and begged us to come to dinner and continue our natural history conversation at some future time. Fritz now suddenly recollected his delicious wine, and producing his flask, begged his mother to taste it.

'Try it first yourself,' said I; Fritz did so, and I instantly saw by his countenance that the liquor had pa.s.sed through the first stage of fermentation and had become vinegar.

'Never mind, my boy,' said my prudent wife, when she learned the cause of his wry faces, 'we have wine already but no vinegar; I am really pleased at the transformation. Mixed with the fat which has fallen from our bird with roasting, it will make a most delicious sauce which will be as good a relish as a salad.'