CHAPTER II.
WE were all up at the break of day, and knelt down to thank God that Hehad kept us from harm through the night.
We then put all the things on the raft, and ten live hens and two cockswere put in one of the tubs. Some ducks and geese we let go, in the hopethat they would swim to the shore; and a pair of doves were set free, asthey could fly to the land.
There was a place in the raft for each of us. In the first tub sat mywife; in the next Frank, who was eight years old; in the third Fritz,not quite twice the age of Frank; in the fourth were the fowls, and someold sails that would make us a tent; the fifth was full of good thingsin the way of food; in the sixth stood Jack, a bold lad, ten years old;in the next Ernest, twelve years of age, well taught, but too fond ofself, and less fond of work than the rest; while I sat in the eighth, toguide the raft that was to save all that was dear to me in the world.
As soon as the dogs (Bill and Turk by name) saw us push off from theship they leaped in the sea, swam near the raft, and kept well up withus.
The sea was calm; so that we felt quite safe. We made good use of theoars, and the raft bore its freight straight to the land; but as we drewnear to the shore the sight of the bare rocks led us to think that wemight still be in need of food and drink when that which we had wasgone.
As we got near, the coast lost its bare look, and we were glad to seethat there was no lack of trees. We soon found a bay, to which the ducksand geese had found their way, and here we saw a place where we couldland.
As soon as we had made the raft fast with a strong rope, we took out allour wealth, and made a tent with the old sail cloth we had brought withus, and stuck a pole in the ground to keep it up. This done, I sentthe boys to get some moss and dry grass to make our beds with. With theflint and steel we soon set fire to some dry twigs, and my wife made apot of soup with what she had brought from the ship.
Fritz, who had charge of the guns, chose one, and took a stroll by theside of a stream, while Jack went in search of shell fish, which hethought he might find on the rocks. My share of the work was to save twolarge casks which were near the shore. While I was up to my knees in thesea I heard a shrill cry, which I knew to come from Jack. I got out atonce, took up an axe, and ran to his help. I found him with his legs ina rock pool, where a large crab held him by his toes. It soon made offas I came near; but I struck at it with the axe, and brought it out ofthe pool. Jack then took it up, though it gave him a pinch or two ere hefound out how to hold it, and ran off in high glee to show what he hadcaught.
When I got back to the tent, I found that Ernest had brought us newsthat he had seen salt in the chinks of the rocks, and that shell fishwere not scarce.
"Well, my boy, if you are sure you saw them, I will ask you to go backfor some. We must each do some work for the good of all."
He went, and soon found the salt, left by the sea on the rocks, whichthe sun had made quite dry. There was some sand with it, but my wife didnot take long to find a way to cure that. She had been to a fresh streamwith a large jug; from this I saw her pour some on the salt, strain itthrough a cloth, and let it drip in a cup, so that all the sand was lefton the cloth.
When the soup was made hot we had each a taste, and all said that it wasgood.
"Be not in too great haste," said my wife, "we must wait for Fritz; butif he were here, I do not see how we are to take our soup, for we haveno plates nor spoons."
"If we had but some large nuts," said Ernest, "we might cut them inhalf, and they would make good bowls."
"Quite true," said I; "but as there are none, we may as well wish fordelf bowls and real spoons at once."
"Now I have it," quoth Ernest. "Let us use the shells I saw on theshore."
Off ran Jack to the shore, with Ernest at his heels, and back they bothcame with large and small shells for us all.
Just then Fritz came in, with a look of gloom on his face, which I couldsee was a sham.
"You do not mean to tell me you have come back with nought?" said I, ashe put out his hands as if to prove that such was the case. But Jack,who had been round him, cried out, "No, no! he's got a pig!--such a fineone. Tell us where you found it."
Fritz now brought forth his prize. When I saw it, I knew, from whatI had read, that it was not a pig, but a swift beast, known in theseparts, that lives on fruit and nuts, and hides in the earth. (*TheAgouti.)
"I like the place much more than I do this spot," said he. "The shorelies low, and there are planks, casks, chests, and all sorts of things,that the sea has thrown up. Why not leave this place at once, and gothere?"
"There is a time for all things," said I. "We must at least rest herefor one night."
We all sat down to take our soup with the shell spoons. Ernest took fromhis coat a large shell, which he had hid till now, put it in the soup,and then set it down to cool.
"You do not show want of thought," said I to him. "But I am not glad tosee that you think so of your-self, and do so much for your own ease,when all the rest do so much for yours. Now, that shell full of soup youmust give to our two dogs. We can all dip our small shells in the pot,and you must do as we do."
I knew he felt hurt at this, but he gave it to the dogs at once, andthey soon made quick work of their share of the soup.
The sun was low when our meal came to an end. The fowls came round us topick up the stray crumbs we had let fall, and my wife took out her bagof grain and fed the cocks and hens, and sent them to roost on the topof our tent.
We took care to load our fire-arms, in case we might need them in thenight; sang a hymn of praise to God, and then left our fate in Hishands.
CHAPTER III.
As soon as I heard the cock crow, and saw by the light that it was breakof day, I got out of bed and spoke to my wife as to what we should donext.
"First," said I, "Fritz and I will make a tour of the coast and try tofind some of the men who left the ship, for if they are here they may bein want."
"But," said Fritz, who had heard me from his bed, "why should we searchfor those who left us to die on the wreck?"
"Well, I will tell you," said I. "First, we should do to them as wewould wish them to do to us, not as they have done; next, we know thatthey took no food with them, and we should not leave them to starve;and last, it may be that they can help us, though now they stand more inneed of our aid."
The boys were soon up, and we all sat down to a good meal. That done,Fritz and I got our guns. I put a pair of small arms in his belt, gavehim a game bag, and told him to take an axe. I took some food for usboth, and a full flask, out of which we could drink if we should strayfar from a stream.
When we took our leave, my wife and the three boys were in tears. Thedog Bill we left to guard the tent, but Turk went with us, and ran byour side.
We soon got to the banks of a stream; but then had to make our way downits course. It took us some time to reach the sea shore. There was not aboat to be seen, or any sign that the ship's crew had found the land. Weleft the shore, and went through a wood full of tall trees. Here Fritzstruck some hard thing on the ground with his foot, which we found to bea CO-COA NUT. He gave it a blow with his axe, and broke the shell, andwe both sat down to rest, and eat the nut.
At the end of the wood we came to a plain which gave us a clear viewof the place. Fritz, who was on the look out, ran off with Turk to somestrange trees that he saw on the right.
When I got up to him, it gave me no small joy to find that it was agourd tree.
"Try," said I, "if you can get hold of one of those queer lumps thatgrow on it."
With that he brought one down, and we had a look at it.
"Now, of this," said I, "we can make a plate, a dish, or a flask. Wildmen set great store by its shell, which they use to hold their food anddrink."
We then set to work to make plates of the gourds. When we had made someeight or ten bowls, and some flat ones for plates, we laid them out inthe sun to dry, and then went on our way.
We could see, not far o
ff, a grove of fine palm trees, but to reach themwe should have to pass through reeds and long grass. I knew this wasjust the place to find snakes, so we each cut a cane, that we might beatthem off should we meet with any. As I took hold of my staff, I felt agum or juice ooze out of the end. I put my tongue to it, and found it ofa sweet taste. This led me to suck the reed, and I then knew that we hadmet with the SUG-AR CANE. By this time Fritz had done the same, for Icould see that he held his cane to his mouth.
"Do not suck too much of it," said I, "or it will make you ill; but letus cut some of the best and take them back with us, for those at homewill prize so great a treat."
It did not take us long to reach the place where the palms grew, andthen we sat down in the shade to eat the food we had brought with us.
"Do you see those nuts at the top of the trees, Fritz?" said I.
"To be sure I do; but they are far too high to reach. Look, look!" hecried, "there are some MON-KEYS; let me have a shot at them." "Do notdo that," I said, and held his arm; "it will do us no good to kill them,and I think I can make use of them." With that I threw some stones up atthe tree where they were, though they had got safe out of my reach. Theythen made a loud noise, took hold of the nuts that were near, and flungthem straight at us. The trick made Fritz laugh, who soon had hard workto pick up the nuts that were thrown at him.
We broke some of the nuts, and put the juice of the canes in the thickwhite cream which forms close to the shell; and this made us a dish thatFritz said was fit for a king.
Fritz and I then made fast some nuts to a string, which I tied round mywaist, while he took up his canes, and we both set off on our road home.