`At last who should appear but my faithful Fangs! He knew my voice and came close up to me, right over the swamp, but all the poor beast could do, was to help me to make a row; I wonder you did not hear us! The very rocks rang, but nothing came of it, so despair drove me to think of an expedient. I cut down all the reeds I could reach round and round me, and bound them together into this bundle, which made a firm place on which to lean, while I worked and kicked about to free my feet and legs, and after much struggling, I managed to get astride on the reeds.
`There I sat, supported above the mud and slime, while Fangs ran yelping backwards and forwards between me and the bank, seeming surprised I did not follow. Suddenly I thought of catching hold of his tail. He dragged and pulled, and I sprawled, and crawled, and waded, sometimes on my reeds like a raft, sometimes lugging them along with me, till we luckily got back to terra firma But I had a near squeak for it, I can tell you.'
`A fortunate escape indeed, my boy!' cried I, `And I thank God for it. Fangs has really acted a heroic part as your deliverer, and you have shown great presence of mind. Now go with your mother, and get rid of the slimy traces of your disaster! You have brought me splendid canes, exactly what I want for a new scheme of mine.'
The fact was, I meant to try to construct a loom for my wife, for I knew she understood weaving, so I chose two fine strong reeds, and splitting them carefully, bound them together again, that when dry they might be quite straight and equal, and fit for a frame. Smaller reeds were cut into pieces and sharpened for the teeth of the comb. The boys did this for me without in the least knowing their use, and great fun they made of `father's monster toothpicks'.
In time all the various parts of the loom were made ready and put together, my wife knowing nothing of it, while to the incessant questions of the children, I replied mysteriously, `Oh, it is an outlandish sort of musical instrument; mother will know how to play upon it.'
And when the time came for presenting it, her joy was only equalled by the amusement and interest with which the children watched her movements while `playing the loom', as they always said.
About this time, a beautiful little foal, a son of the onager, was added to our stud, and as he promised to grow up strong and tractable, we soon saw how useful he would be. The name of `Swift' was given to him, and he was to be trained for my own riding.
The interior arrangements of the cavern being now well forward, I applied myself to contriving an aqueduct, that fresh water might be led close up to our cave, for it was a long way to go to fetch it from Jackal River, and especially inconvenient on washing days. As I wanted to do this before the rainy season began, I set about it at once.
Pipes of hollow bamboo answered the purpose well, and a large cask formed the reservoir. The supply was good, and the comfort of having it close at hand so great, that my wife declared she was as well pleased with our engineering as if we had made her a fountain and marble basin adorned with mermaids and dolphins.
Anticipating the setting-in of the rains, I pressed forward all work connected with stores for the winter, and great was the in-gathering of roots, fruits, and grains, potatoes, rice, guavas, sweet acorns, pine-cones; load after load arrived at the cavern, and my wife's active needle was in constant requisition, as the demand for more sacks and bags was incessant.
Casks and barrels of all sorts and sizes were pressed into the service, until at last the raft was knocked to pieces, and its tubs made to do duty in the store-rooms.
The weather became very unsettled and stormy.
Heavy clouds gathered in the horizon, and passing storms of wind, with thunder, lightning, and torrents of rain swept over the face of nature from time to time.
The sea was in frequent commotion; heavy groundswells drove masses of water hissing and foaming against the cliffs. Everything heralded the approaching rains. All nature joined in sounding forth the solemn overture to the grandest work of the year.
It was now near the beginning of the month of June, and we had twelve weeks of bad weather before us.
We established some of the animals with ourselves at the salt-cave. The cow, the ass, Lightfoot, Storm and the dogs, were all necessary to us, while Knips, Fangs and the eagle were sure to be a great amusement in the long evenings.
The boys would ride over to Falconhurst very often to see that all was in order there, and fetch anything required.
Much remained to be done in order to give the cave a comfortable appearance, which became more desirable now that we had to live indoors.
The darkness of the inner regions annoyed me, and I set myself to invent a remedy.
After some thought, I called in Jack's assistance, and we got a very tall, strong bamboo, which would reach right up to the vaulted roof. This we planted in the earthen floor, securing it well by driving wedges in round it. Jack ascended this pole very cleverly, taking with him a hammer and chisel to enlarge a crevice in the roof so as to fix a pulley, by means of which, when he descended, I drew up a large ship's lantern, well supplied with oil, and as there were four wicks, it afforded a very fair amount of light.
Several days were spent in arranging the different rooms.
Ernest and Franz undertook the library, fixing shelves, and setting the books in order.
Jack and his mother took in hand the sitting-room and kitchen, while Fritz and I, as better able for heavy work, arranged the workshops. The carpenter's bench, the turning lathe, and a large chest of tools were set in convenient places, and many tools and instruments hung on the walls.
An adjoining chamber was kitted up as a forge, with fire-place, bellows, and anvil, complete, all which we had found in the ship, packed together, and ready to set up.
When the great affairs were settled, we still found in all directions work to be done. Shelves, tables, benches, movable steps, cupboards, pegs, door-handles and bolts---there seemed no end to our requirements, and we often thought of the enormous amount of work necessary to maintain the comforts and conveniences of life which at home we had received as matters of course.
Our rocky home was greatly improved by a wide porch which I made along the whole front of our rooms and entrances, by levelling the ground to form a terrace, and sheltering it with a verandah of bamboo, supported by pillars of the same.
Ernest and Franz were highly successful as librarians.
The books, when unpacked and arranged, proved to be a most valuable collection, capable of affording every sort of educational advantage.
Besides a variety of books of voyages, travels, divinity, and natural history (several containing fine coloured illustrations), there were histories and scientific works, as well as standard fictions in several languages; also a good assortment of maps, charts, mathematical and astronomical instruments, and an excellent pair of globes.
I foresaw much interesting study on discovering that we possessed the grammars and dictionaries of a great many languages, a subject for which we all had a taste. With French we were well acquainted. Fritz and Ernest had begun to learn English at school, and made further progress during a visit to England. Their mother, who had once been intimate with a Dutch family, could speak that language pretty well.
After a great deal of discussion, we agreed to study different languages, so that in the event of meeting with people of other nations, there should be at least one of the family able to communicate with them.
All determined to improve our knowledge of German and French.
The two elder boys were to study English and Dutch with their mother.
Ernest, already possessing considerable knowledge of Latin, wished to continue to study it, so as to be able to make use of the many works on natural history and medicine written in that language.
Jack announced that he meant to learn Spanish `because it sounded so grand and imposing'.
I myself was interested in the Malay language, knowing it to be so widely spoken in the islands of the Eastern Seas, and thinking it as likely as any other to be useful to us.
Our family circle by and by represented Babel in miniature, for scraps and fragments of all these tongues kept buzzing about our ears from morning to night, each sporting his newly acquired word or sentence on every possible occasion, propounding idioms and peculiar expressions like riddles, to puzzle the rest.
In this way, the labour of learning was very considerably lightened, and everyone came to know a few words of each language.
Occasionally we amused ourselves by opening chests and packages hitherto untouched, and brought unexpected treasures to light---mirrors, wardrobes, a pair of console tables with polished marble tops, elegant writing tables and handsome chairs, clocks of various descriptions, a musical-box, and a chronometer were found; and by degrees our abode was fitted up like a palace, so that sometimes we wondered at ourselves, and felt as though we were strutting about in borrowed plumes.
The children begged me to decide on a name for our salt cave dwelling, and that of Rockburg was chosen unanimously.
The weeks of imprisonment passed so rapidly that no one found time hang heavy on his hands.
Books occupied me so much that but little carpenting was done, yet I made a yoke for the oxen, a pair of cotton-wool carders, and a spinning-wheel for my wife.
As the rainy season drew to a close, the weather for a while became wilder, and the storms fiercer than ever. Thunder roared, lightning blazed, torrents rushed towards the sea, which came in raging billows to meet them, lashed to fury by the tempests of wind which swept the surface of the deep.
The uproar of the elements came to an end at last.
Nature resumed her attitude of repose, her smiling aspect of peaceful beauty; and soon all traces of the ravages of floods and storms would disappear beneath the luxuriant vegetation of the tropics.
Gladly quitting the sheltering walls of Rockburg to roam once more in the open air, we crossed Jackal River, for a walk along the coast, and presently Fritz with his sharp eyes observed something on the small island near Flamingo Marsh, which was, he said, long and rounded, resembling a boat bottom upwards.
Examining it with the telescope, I could form no other conjecture, and we resolved to make it the object of an excursion next day, being delighted to resume our old habit of starting in pursuit of adventure.
The boat was accordingly got in readiness; it required some repairs, and fresh pitching, and then we made for the point of interest, indulging in a variety of surmises as to what we should find.
It proved to be a huge stranded whale.
The island being steep and rocky, it was necessary to be careful; but we found a landing-place on the further side. The boys hurried by the nearest way to the beach where lay the monster of the deep, while I clambered to the highest point of the islet, which commanded a view of the mainland from Rockburg to Falconhurst.
On rejoining my sons, I found them only half-way to the great fish, and as I drew near they shouted in high glee: `Oh, father, just look at the glorious shells and coral branches we are finding! How does it happen that there are such quantities?'
`Only consider how the recent storms have stirred the ocean to its depths! No doubt thousands of shellfish have been detached from their rocks and dashed in all direction by the waves, which have thrown ashore even so huge a creature as the whale yonder.'
`Yes; isn't he a frightful great brute!' cried Fritz. `Ever so much larger than he seemed from a distance. The worst of it is, one does not well see what use to make of the huge carcass.'
`Why, make train oil, to be sure,' said Ernest. `I can't say he's a beauty, though, and it is much pleasanter to gather these lovely shells, than to cut up blubber.'
`Well, let us amuse ourselves with them for the present,' said I, `but in the afternoon, when the sea is calmer, we will return with the necessary implements, and see if we can turn the stranded whale to good account.'
We were soon ready to return to the boat, but Ernest had a fancy for remaining alone on the island till we came back, and asked my permission to do so, that he might experience, for an hour or two, the sensations of Robinson Crusoe.
To this, however, I would not consent, assuring him that our fate, as a solitary family, gave him quite sufficient idea of shipwreck on an uninhabited island, and that his lively imagination must supply the rest.
The boys found it hard work to row back, and began to beg of me to exert my wonderful inventive powers in contriving some kind of rowing machine.
`You lazy fellows!' returned I. `Give me the great clockwork out of a church tower, perhaps I might be able to relieve your labours.'
`Oh father!' cried Fritz. `Don't you know there are iron wheels in the clockwork of the large kitchen-jacks? I'm sure mother would give them up, and you could make something out of them, could you not?'
`By the time I have manufactured a rowing-machine out of a roasting-jack, I think your arms will be pretty well inured to the use of your oars! However, I am far from despising the hint, my dear Fritz.'
`Is coral of any use?' demanded Jack suddenly.
`In former times it was pounded and used by chemists; but it is now chiefly used for various ornaments, and made into beads for necklaces et cetera. As such, it is greatly prized by savages, and were we to fall in with natives, we might very possibly find a store of coral useful in bartering with them.
`For the present we will arrange these treasures of the deep in our library, and make them the beginning of a Museum of Natural History, which will afford us equal pleasure and instruction.'
`Why father, here we are at the landing-place!' exclaimed Jack.
The animated recital of our adventures, the sight of the lovely shells and corals, and the proposed work for the afternoon, inspired my wife and Franz with a great wish to accompany us.
To this I gladly consented, only stipulating that we should go provided with food, water and a compass.
`For,' said I, `the sea has only just ceased from its raging, and being at the best of times of uncertain and capricious nature, we may chance to be detained on the island, or forced to land at a considerable distance from home.'
Dinner was quickly dispatched, and preparations set on foot.
The more oil we could obtain the better, for a great deal was used in the large lantern which burnt day and night in the recesses of the cave; therefore all available casks and barrels were pressed into the service; many, of course, once full of pickled herrings, potted pigeons and other winter stores, were now empty, and we took a goodly fleet of these in tow.
Knives, hatchets, and the boys' climbing buskins, were put on board, and we set forth, the labour of the oar being greater than ever, now that our freight was so much increased.
The sea being calm, and the tide suiting better, we found it easy to land close to the whale; my first care was to place the boat, as well as the casks, in perfect security, after which we proceeded to a close inspection of our prize.
Its enormous size quite startled my wife and little boy; the length being from sixty to sixty-five feet, and the girth between thirty and forty, while the weight could not have been less than 50,000 lbs.
`And now, boys,' cried I, `fasten on your buskins, and let me see if you can face the work of climbing this slippery mountain of flesh, and cutting it up.'
Fritz and Jack stripped, and went to work directly.
Presently we had a multitude of unbidden guests.
The air was filled by the shrill screams and hoarse croaks and cries of numbers of birds of prey; they flew around us in ever narrowing circles, and becoming bolder as their voracity was excited by the near view of the tempting prey, they alighted close to us, snatching morsels greedily from under the very strokes of our knives and hatchets.
Our work was seriously interrupted by these feathered marauders, who, after all, were no greater robbers than we ourselves. We kept them off as well as we could by blows from our tools, and several were killed, my wife taking possession of them immediately for the sake of the feathers.
It was nearly time to leave the island, but first I stripped off a long piece of the skin, to be used for traces, harness, and other leather-work. It was about three-quarters of an inch thick, and very soft and oily---but I knew it would shrink and be tough and durable.
With a heavy freight we put to sea, and made what haste we could to reach home and cleanse our persons from the unpleasant traces of the disgusting work in which we had spent the day.
Next morning we started at dawn.
My wife and Franz were left behind, for our proposed work was even more horrible than that of the preceding day; they could not assist, and had no inclination to witness it.
It was my intention to open the carcass completely, and, penetrating the interior, to obtain various portions of the intestines, thinking that it would be possible to convert the larger bones into vessels fit for holding the oil. This time we laid aside our clothes and wore only strong canvas trousers when we commenced operations, which were vigorously carried on during the whole of the day; then, satisfied that we could do so with a clear conscience, we abandoned the remains to the birds of prey, and, with a full cargo, set sail for land.
On the way, it appeared to strike the boys (who had made not the slightest objection to the singularly unpleasant task I had set them) as very strange that I should wish to possess what they had been working so hard to procure for me,
`What can have made you wish to bring away that brute's entrails, father? Are they of any use?'
`There are countries,' I replied, `where no wood grows of which to make barrels, and no hemp for thread, string and cordage. Necessity, the mother of all the more valuable inventions, has taught the inhabitants of those countries, Greenlanders, Esquimaux and others, to think of substitutes, and they use the intestines of the whale for one purpose, the sinews and nerves for the other.'
We were right glad to land, and get rid, for the present, of our unpleasant materials, the further preparation of which was work in store for the following day.
A refreshing bath, clean clothes, and supper, cheered us all up, and we slept in peace.