Shipwrecked Six Pack (Illustrated)

Chapter II-3

"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 God, our expedition has been very satisfactory, except that we have entirely failed to discover any trace of our shipmates."

"If it be the will of God," said my wife, "to leave us alone on this solitary place, let us be content; and rejoice that we are all together in safety."

"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 sugar-canes amongst his brothers, and handing Ernest his gun replaced the monkey on Turk's back. Ernest soon found the burden with which Fritz had laden him too heavy for his taste. His mother perceiving this, offered to relieve him of part of the load. He gave up willingly 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. "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, 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 shell placed beneath it. In the center 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 travelers, 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 downward, 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. 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. We then sat down before the appetizing meal prepared for us, our gourds coming for the first time into use, and having done it full justice, produced the cocoanuts by way of dessert.

"Here is better food for your little friend," said I to Fritz, who had been vainly endeavoring to persuade the monkey to taste dainty morsels of the food we had been eating; "the poor little animal has been accustomed to nothing but its mother's milk; fetch me a saw, one of you."

I then, after extracting the milk of the nuts from their natural holes, carefully cut the shells in half, thus providing several more useful basins. The monkey was perfectly satisfied with the milk, and eagerly sucked the corner of a handkerchief dipped in it. 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 passed 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."

The sun was now rapidly sinking behind the horizon, and the poultry, retiring for the night, warned us that we must follow their example. Having offered up our prayers, we lay down on our beds, the monkey crouched down between Jack and Fritz, and we were all soon fast asleep.

We did not, however, long enjoy this repose; a loud barking from our dogs, who were on guard outside the tent, awakened us, and the fluttering and cackling of our poultry warned us that a foe was approaching. Fritz and I sprang up, and seizing our guns rushed out. There we found a desperate combat going on; our gallant dogs, surrounded by a dozen or more large jackals, were fighting bravely. Four of their opponents lay dead, but the others were in no way deterred by the fate of their comrades. Fritz and I, however, sent bullets through the heads of a couple more, and the rest galloped off. Turk and Juno did not intend that they should escape so cheaply, and pursuing them, they caught, killed, and devoured another of the animals, regardless of their near relationship. Fritz wished to save one of the jackals that he might be able to show it to his brothers in the morning; dragging, therefore, the one that he had shot near the tent, he concealed it, and we once more returned to our beds.

Soundly and peacefully we slept until c**k-crow next morning, when my wife and I awoke, and began to discuss the business of the day.

"It seems absolutely necessary, my dear wife," I began "to return at once to the wreck while it is yet calm, that we may save the poor animals left there, and bring on shore many articles of infinite value to us, which, if we do not now recover, we may finally lose entirely. On the other hand, I feel that there is an immense deal to be done on shore, and that I ought not to leave you in such an insecure shelter as this tent."

"Return to the wreck by all means," replied my wife, cheerfully. "Patience, order, and perseverance will help us through all our work, and I agree with you that a visit to the wreck is without doubt our first duty. Come, let us wake the children, and set to work without delay."

They were soon roused, and Fritz, overcoming his drowsiness before the others, ran out for his jackal; it was cold and stiff from the night air, and he placed it on its legs before the tent, in a most life-like attitude, and stood by to watch the effect upon the family. The dogs were the first to perceive their enemy, and growling, seemed inclined to dispose of the animal as they had disposed of its brethren in the night, but Fritz called them off. The noise the dogs made, however, had the effect of bringing out the younger children, and many were the exclamations they made at the sight of the strange animal.

"A yellow dog!" cried Franz.

"A wolf!" exclaimed Jack.

"It is a striped fox," said Ernest.

"Hullo," said Fritz. "The greatest men may make mistakes. Our Professor does not know a jackal when he sees one."

"But really," continued Ernest, examining the animal, "I think it is a fox."

"Very well, very well," retorted Fritz, "no doubt you know better than your father! He thinks it is a jackal."

"Come, boys," said I, "no more of this quarreling; you are none of you very far wrong, for the jackal partakes of the nature of all three, dog, wolf, and fox."

The monkey had come out on Jack's shoulder, but no sooner did it catch sight of the jackal, than it fled precipitately back into the tent, and hid itself in a heap of moss until nothing was visible but the tip of its little nose. Jack soothed and comforted the frightened little animal, and I then summoned them all to prayers, soon after which we began our breakfast. So severely had we dealt with our supper the previous night that we had little to eat but the biscuits, which were so dry and hard, that, hungry as we were, we could not swallow much. Fritz and I took some cheese to help them down, while my wife and younger sons soaked theirs in water. Ernest roamed down to the shore, and looked about for shell-fish. Presently he returned with a few whelks. "Ah," said he, "if we had but some butter." "My boy," I replied, "your perpetual if, if, quite annoys me; why do you not sit down and eat cheese like the rest of us." "Not while I can get butter," he said; "see here, father," and he pointed to a large cask, "that barrel contains butter of some sort or another, for it is oozing out at the end."

"Really, Ernest," I said, "we are indebted to you. I will open the cask." So saying, I took a knife and carefully cut a small hole, so that I could extract the butter without exposing the mass of it to the effects of the air and heat. Filling a cocoanut shell, we once more sat down, and toasting our biscuits before the fire, spread them with the good Dutch butter. We found this vastly better than the dry biscuits, and while we were thus employed I noticed that the two dogs were lying unusually quiet by my side. I at first attributed this drowsiness to their large meal during the night, but I soon discovered that it arose from a different cause; the faithful animals had not escaped unhurt from their late combat, but had received several deep and painful wounds, especially about the neck. The dogs began to lick each other on the places which they could not reach with their own tongues, and my wife carefully dressed the wounds with butter, from which she had extracted the salt by washing.

A sudden thought now struck Ernest, and he wisely remarked, that if we were to make spiked collars for the dogs, they would in future escape such dangerous wounds. "Oh, yes," exclaimed Jack, "and I will make them; may I not, father?"

"Try, by all means, my little fellow," said I, "and persuade your mother to assist you; and now, Fritz," I continued, "we must be starting, for you and I are to make a trip to the wreck." I begged the party who were to remain on shore to keep together as much as possible, and having arranged a set of signals with my wife, that we might exchange communications, asked a blessing on our enterprise. I erected a signal post, and, while Fritz was making preparations for our departure, hoisted a strip of sailcloth as a flag; this flag was to remain hoisted so long as all was well on shore, but should our return be desired, three shots were to be fired and the flag lowered.