Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (microsoft ebook reader TXT) 📖

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 scrap 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 passing, 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 assistance. 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 succumbed, 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

shores 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 shore, 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, passing 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,

cassava 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

passage 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 shells, 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 multitude 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 shore, 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 pass, 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 assistance 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 sugarcane 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,