Swiss Family Robinson Part 31

While we were yet gazing after them, they reappeared, and settled quietly on the dove-cot; but as we congratulated ourselves on a return which showed they accepted this as a home, up sprang the three blue pigeons, the n.o.ble foreigners, for whom chiefly I had planned the house, and rising in circles high in air, winged their rapid way direct towards Falconhurst.

Their departure had such air of determination and resolve about it, that I feared them lost to us for ever.

Endeavouring to console ourselves by petting our four remaining birds, we could not forget this disappointment, and all day long the dove-cot remained the centre of attraction.

Nothing, however, was seen of the fugitives until about the middle of next day; when most of us were hard at work inside the cavern, Jack sprang in full of excitement, exclaiming:

'He is there! He is come! He really is!'

'Who? Who is there? What do you mean?'

'The blue pigeon, to be sure! Hurrah! Hurrah!'

'Oh, nonsense!' said Ernest. 'You want to play us a trick.'

'Why should it be "nonsense"?' cried I. 'I fully believe we shall see them all soon!'

Out ran everybody to the dove-cot, and there, sure enough, stood the pretty fellow, but not alone, for he was billing and cooing to a mate, a stranger of his own breed, apparently inviting her to enter his dwelling; for he popped in and out at the door, bowing, sidling, and cooing, in a most irresistible manner, until the shy little lady yielded to his blandishments, and tripped daintily in.

'Now, let's shut the door. Pull the cord and close the panel!' shouted the boys, making a rush at the string.

'Stop!' cried I. 'Let the string alone! I won't have you frighten the little darlings. Besides, the others will be coming--would you shut the door in their faces?'

'Here they come! Here they come!' exclaimed Fritz, whose keen eye marked the birds afar, and to our delight the second blue pigeon arrived, likewise with a mate, whom, after a pretty little flirtation scene of real and a.s.sumed modesty on her part, he succeeded in leading home.

The third and handsomest of the new pigeons was the last in making his appearance. Perhaps he had greater difficulty than the others in finding a mate as distinguished in rank and beauty as himself. However, we fully expected them, and the boys talked of the arrival of 'Mr. and Mrs. Nicobar' as a matter of course.

Late in the day Franz and his mother went out to provide for supper, but the child returned directly, exclaiming that we must hasten to the dove-cot to see something beautiful.

Accordingly a general rush was made out of the cave, and we saw with delight that the third stranger also had returned with a lovely bride, and encouraged by the presence of the first arrivals, they soon made themselves at home.

In a short time nest-building commenced, and among the materials collected by the birds, I observed a long grey moss or lichen, and thought it might very possibly be the same which, in the West Indies, is gathered from the bark of old trees, where it grows, and hangs in great tuft-like beards, to be used instead of horse-hair for stuffing mattresses.

My wife no sooner heard of it, than her active brain devised fifty plans for making it of use. Would we but collect enough, she would clean and sort it, and there would be no end to the bolsters, pillows, saddles, and cushions she would stuff with it.

For the discovery of nutmegs we had also to thank the pigeons, and they were carefully planted in our orchard. For some time no event of particular note occurred, until at length Jack, as usual, got into a sc.r.a.pe causing thereby no little excitement at home.

He went off early on one of his own particular private expeditions.

He was in the habit of doing this that he might surprise us with some new acquisition on his return.

This time, however, he came back in most wretched plight, covered with mud and green slime; a great bundle of Spanish canes was on his back, muddy and green like himself; he had lost a shoe, and altogether presented a ludicrous picture of misery, at which we could have laughed, had he not seemed more ready to cry!

'My dear boy! What has happened to you? Where have you been?'

'Only in the swamp behind the powder magazine, father,' replied he. 'I went to get reeds for my wickerwork, because I wanted to weave some baskets and hen-coops, and I saw such beauties a little way off in the marsh, much finer than those close by the edge, that I tried to get at them.

'I jumped from one firm spot to another, till at last I slipped and sank over my ankles; I tried to get on towards the reeds, which were close by, but in I went deeper and deeper, till I was above the knees in thick soft mud, and there I stuck!

'I screamed and shouted, but n.o.body came, and I can tell you I was in a regular fright.

'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 G.o.d 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.'*

* He has forgotten his dictum about truth even in jest.

And when the time came for presenting it, her joy was only equalled by the amus.e.m.e.nt 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.

Antic.i.p.ating 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 pa.s.sing 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 ma.s.ses 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 a.s.s, Lightfoot, Storm and the dogs, were all necessary to us, while Knips, Fangs and the eagle were sure to be a great amus.e.m.e.nt 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 a.s.sistance, 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.