CHAPTER VIII.
HABITANT OF THE MOON, ANTHROPOPHAGIAN OR HOBGOBLIN?--THE LACEDEMONIANSTEW OF MADAME DACIER--UTILE DULCI--TETE-A-TETE BETWEEN WILLIS AND HISPIPE--TOBACCO VERSUS BIRCH--IS IT FOR EATING?--MOSQUITOES--THEALARM--TOBY--THE NOCTURNAL EXPEDITION--WE'VE GOT HIM.
Some days passed without anything having occurred to ruffle thetranquil existence of the island families. Every morning the _elite_of the sea and land forces continued to divide themselves into threesquadrons of observation; one of which remained at Rockhouse on somepretext or other, whilst the other two were occupied in exploring thecountry, or in carrying on the works at Falcon's Nest.
The mysterious stranger, whether shipwrecked seaman, savage, orhobgoblin, who kept all the bearded inhabitants of Rockhouse on thealert, had reappeared in his old quarters, where another litter ofleaves had been miraculously strewn exactly in the same place theformer had occupied.
Beyond this, however, and sundry gashes here and there--of whichFritz's knife was clearly guilty, but which could not have beenperpetrated without an accomplice--nothing had transpired to enablethem to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion as to who or what thispersonage could be.
Though the hypothesis was highly improbable, still Willis persisted inhis theory of the shipwreck; he only doubted whether the individual onshore was a marine or the cabin-boy, an officer or a foremast man,and, if the latter, whether it was Bill, Tom, Bob, or Ned.
Ernest rather inclined to think that the invisible stranger was aninhabitant of the moon, who, in consequence of a false step, hadtumbled from his own to our planet.
The warlike Fritz was impatient and irritated. He would over and overagain have preferred an immediate solution of the affair, even were itbathed in blood, rather than be kept any longer in suspense.
Frank, on the contrary, took a metaphysical view of the case; and,believing that Providence had not entirely dispensed with miracles indealing with the things of this world, came to the conclusion that itwas no earthly visitor they had to deal with; and he even went so faras to hint that prayer was a more efficacious means of solving themystery than the methods his brothers were pursuing.
Jack, coinciding in some degree with Ernest, shifted his view from anape to an anthropophagian, and blamed the latter for not comingearlier; when he and his brothers were younger, and consequently moretender, they would have made a better meal, and been more easilydigested.
As to what opinion Becker himself entertained, with regard to theoccurrence at Falcon's Nest that kept his sons in a feverish state ofanxiety, and had awakened all the fears of the Pilot for the safety ofhis friends on board the _Nelson_, nothing could be clearlyascertained; in so far as this matter was concerned he kept his owncounsel; and, to use an expression of Madame de Sevigne, "had thrownhis tongue to the dogs."
The close of the day had, as usual, collected all the members of thefamily round the domestic hearth; and it may be stated here that Mrs.Wolston, Mary, and Mrs. Becker alternately undertook the preparationsof the viands for the diurnal consumption of the community. By thismeans, uniformity, that palls the appetite, was entirely banished fromtheir dishes. One day they would have the cooked, or ratherhalf-cooked, British joints of Mrs. Wolston and her daughter, variedoccasionally, to the great delight of Willis, with a tureen ofhotch-potch or cocky-leekie. The next there would be a display of thecosmopolite and somewhat picturesque cookery of Mrs. Becker; there washer famous peccary pie, with ravansara sauce, followed by herdelicious preserved mango and seaweed jelly. Nor did she hesitate todraw upon the raw material of the colony now and then for a new hashor soup, taking care, however, to keep in view the maxim thatprudence is the mother of safety--an adage that was rather roughlyhandled by the renowned French linguist, Madame Dacier, who, on oneoccasion nearly poisoned her husband with a Lacedemonian stew, thereceipt for which she had found in Xenophon.
Luckily Becker's wife did not know Greek, consequently he ran no riskof being entertained with a classic dinner; but he was often remindedby his thoughtful partner of Meg Dod's celebrated receipt: before youcook your hare, first--catch it.
Sophia desired earnestly to have a share in the culinary government;but having shown on her first trial, too decided a leaning towardspuddings and pancakes, her second essay was put off till she becamemore thoroughly penetrated with the value of the eternal precept_utile dulci_, which signifies that, before dessert it is requisite tohave something substantial.
As soon as they had finished their afternoon meal, Willis departed onone of his customary mysterious excursions; and Jack, who, like thebirds that no sooner hop upon one branch than they leap upon another,had also disappeared. It was not long, however, before he made hisappearance again; he came running in almost out of breath, and criedat the top of his voice,
"I have discovered him!"
"Whom?" exclaimed half a dozen voices.
"The inhabitant of the moon?" inquired Ernest.
"No."
"I know," said Sophia playfully, "your go-cart and my doll."
"No, I have discovered Willis' secret."
"If you have been watching him, it is very wrong."
"No, father; seeing some thin columns of smoke rising out of athicket, I thought a bush was on fire; but on going nearer, I saw thatit was only a tobacco-pipe."
"Was the pipe alone, brother?"
"No, not exactly, it was in Willis' mouth; and there he sat, socompletely immersed in ideas and smoke, that he neither heard nor sawme."
"That he does not smoke here," remarked Becker, "I can easilyunderstand; but why conceal it?"
"Ah," replied Mrs. Wolston, "you do not know Willis yet;--beneath thatrough exterior there are feelings that would grace a coronet: he is,no doubt, afraid of leading your sons into the habit."
"That is very thoughtful and considerate on his part."
"He was always smoking on board ship, and it must have been a greatsacrifice for him to leave it off to the extent he has done lately."
"Then we shall not allow him to punish himself any longer; and as forthe danger of contagion from his smoking here, that evil may perhapsbe avoided."
"Do not be afraid, father; it will not be necessary to establisheither a quarantine or a lazaretto on our account."
"Besides, any of the boys," said Mrs. Becker, "that acquire the habit,will, by so doing, voluntarily banish themselves from my levees."
"It is an extraordinary habit that, smoking," observed Mrs. Wolston.
"Yes," said Becker; "and what makes the habit more singular is, thatit holds out no allurements to seduce its votaries. Generally, thepath to vice, or to a bad habit, is strewn with roses that hide theirthorns, but such is not the case with smoking; in order to acquirethis habit, a variety of disagreeable difficulties have to beovercome, and a considerable amount of disgust and sickness must beborne before the stomach is tutored to withstand the nauseous fumes."
"In point of fact," observed Wolston, "if, instead of being made partand parcel of the appliances of a fashionable man, cigars andmeershaums were classed in the pharmacopoeia with emetics andcataplasms, there is not a human being but would bemoan his fate ifcompelled to undergo a dose."
"Just so," added Becker; "the great and sole attraction of tobacco toyoung people consists in its being to them a forbidden thing; theapple of Eve is of all time--it hangs from every tree, and takesmyriads of shapes. If I had the honor of being principal of a collegeI should no more think of forbidding the pupils to use tobacco than Ishould think of commanding them not to use the birch for purposes ofself-chastisement."
"Perhaps you would be quite right."
"Instead of lecturing them on the pernicious effects of tobacco, Ishould hang up a pipe of punishment in the class-room, and obligeoffending pupils to inhale a fixed number of whiffs proportionate tothe gravity of their delinquency."
"An excellent idea," observed Wolston; "for it is often only necessaryto show some things in a different light in order to give them a newaspect and value. This puts me in mind of
an illustration in point;these two girls, when children, were the parties concerned, and I willrelate the circumstance to you."
"In that case," said Mary, "I shall go and feed the fowls."
"And I," said Sophia, "must go and water the flowers."
"Oh, then," cried Jack laughing, "it is another doll story, is it?"
"No, Master Jack, it is not a doll story; and, besides, we girls wereno bigger at the time than that."
On saying this Sophia placed her two hands about a foot and a halffrom the floor and then the two girls vanished.
"When Mary was about six years old," began Wolston, "a slight rashthreatened to develope itself, and the doctor ordered a small blisterto be applied to one of her arms. Now, there was likely to be somedifficulty about getting her to submit quietly to this operation, so,after an instant's reflection, I called both her and her sister, andtold them that the most diligent of the two should have a vesicatoryput on her arm at night. 'Oh,' cried both the girls quite delighted,'it will be me, papa, I shall be so good. Mamma, mamma--such atreat--papa has promised us a vesicatory for to-night!'"
"That was simplicity itself," said Mrs. Becker, laughing till thetears came into her eyes.
"The day passed, the one endeavoring to excel the other in thequantity of leaves they turned over; and, from time to time, I heardthe one asking the other in a low voice, 'Have you ever seen avesicatory? What is it made of? Is it for eating? And each in turnregarded her arms, to judge in advance the effect of the marvellousornament."
"I should like much to have seen them."
"Night came, and I declared gravely that the eldest was fairlyentitled to the prize. The latter jumped about with joy, and Sophiabegan to cry. 'Don't cry,' said Mary, 'if you are good, papa will,perhaps, give you one to-morrow, too,' Then the joyful patient,turning to me, said, 'On which arm, papa?' and I told her that theceremony of placing it on must take place when she was in bed. To bedaccordingly she went, the ornament was applied, she looked at it, waspleased with it, thanked me for it, and fell asleep as happy as aqueen. But, alas! like that of many queens, the felicity did not lastlong; before morning, I heard her saying to her sister, in a dolefultone, 'Soffy, will you have my vesicatory?' 'Oh, yes, just lend it tome for a tiny moment.' At this I hurried to the spot, and, as you mayreadily suppose, opposed the transfer."
"Poor Sophia!"
"Yes; she was quite heart-broken, and said, sobbing, 'It is alwaysMary that gets everything, nobody ever gives anything to me.'"
Next day, Willis laid hold of his sou'-wester, and was starting off onhis customary pilgrimage, when Becker stopped him.
"Willis," said he, "have you any objections to state what theengagements are, that require you to leave us at pretty much the samehour every day?"
"I merely go for a walk, Mr. Becker."
"Ah!"
"You see I require to take a turn just after dinner for the sake of myhealth."
"A habit that you contracted on board ship; eh, Willis?"
"On board ship; yes Mr. Becker, that is to say--"
"Just so," observed Mrs. Wolston; "and by the way, Willis, I regretthat you do not smoke now; they say there is plenty of tobacco on theisland."
"Smoke!" cried Willis, raising his ears like a war-horse at the soundof the trumpet, "why so, Mrs. Wolston?"
"Because we are dreadfully tormented with those horrid mosquitoes, andyou might help us to get rid of them. You smoked at sea, did you not?"
"Yes, madam; but then my constitution--"
"Bah!" said Wolston, "I thought you were as strong as a horse,Willis."
"Well, I have no cause to complain neither; but then they say tobaccowould kill even a horse."
"Of course, Willis, your health is a most necessary consideration."
"Still for all that, if the mosquitoes really do annoy Mrs. Wolston, Ishould have no objection to take a whiff now and then."
"You must not put yourself about though, on our account, Willis."
"About; no, it would not put me about."
"Very good; then it only remains to be seen whether there is a pipe inthe colony."
"Ah," said Willis, feeling his pockets, "yes, exactly--here is one."
"Curious how things do turn up, isn't it, Willis?" said Becker; "butthe mosquitoes would not be frightened away by the smoke, if appliedat long intervals, so you will have to repeat the dose at least two orthree times every day, always supposing it does not affect yourconstitution."
"Sailors, you see," replied Willis, "are like chimneys, they alwayssmoke when you want them, and sometimes a great deal more than youwant them," And on turning round, he beheld Sophia holding a light,and a good-sized case of Maryland, which had been preserved from thewreck.
Ever after that time the mosquitoes had a most persevering enemy inWillis; and, notwithstanding his health, his daily walks entirelyceased.
For some time the Pilot and the four young men passed the night in atent erected about midway between Rockhouse and the Jackal River. Theapparent reason for this modification of their plans was the greaterfacility it afforded for their all meeting at daybreak, breakfastingtogether, and setting out for Falcon's Nest before the temperaturereached ninety degrees in the shade, which junction could not be soeasily effected with one party encamped at Rockhouse and the otherbivouacked on Shark's Island, with an arm of the sea between them.
The real motive, however, was that all might be within hail of eachother, and prepared for every emergency, in the event of the strangerappearing in a more palpable shape, and assuming a hostile attitude.We say the stranger, because, judging from the indications, there wasonly one--still that did not prove that there might not be several.
One night, as Fritz was lying with one eye open, he observed Mary'slittle black terrier suddenly prick up the fragments of its ears, andbegin sniffing at the edge of the tent. This shaggy little cur wascalled Toby; it had accompanied the Wolstons on their voyage, and wasMary's exclusive property; but Fritz had found the way to the animal'sheart as usual through its stomach, and Mary was in no way jealous ofhis attentions to her favorite, but rather the reverse.
Fritz, feeling convinced by the actions of the dog, which was of thetrue Scotch breed, that something extraordinary was passing outsidethe tent, seized his rifle, hastened out, and was just in time todistinguish a human figure on the opposite bank of the Jackal River,which, on seeing him, took to its heels and disappeared in the forest.
He was soon joined by the Pilot and his brothers; the dogs leapedabout them, and the alarm became general throughout the encampment.Fritz re-established order, enjoined silence, and said,
"I am determined this time to follow the affair up; who will accompanyme?"
"I will!" said all the four voices at once.
"Scouting parties ought not to be numerous," said Fritz; "I will,therefore, take Willis, in case this mystification has anything to dowith the _Nelson_."
"And me," said Jack, "to serve as a dessert, in case the individualshould turn out to be an anthropophagian."
"Be it so; but no more. Frank and Ernest will remain to tranquilizeour parents, in case we should not return before they are up."
"And if so, what shall we say?"
"Tell them the truth. We shall proceed direct to Falcon's Nest; and ifthe stranger--confiding in our habit of sleeping during the night--bethere as usual, we shall do ourselves the honor of helping him to getup."
"Providing he does not nightly change his quarters like OliverCromwell--not so much to avoid enemies, as to calm his uneasyconscience."
"Well, we shall be no worse than before; we shall have tried torestore our wonted quietude, and, if we fail, we can say, like FrancisI. at Pavia, '_All is lost except our honor_.'"
Some minutes after this conversation, three shadows might have beenseen stealing through the glades in the direction of Falcon's Nest.Nothing was to be heard but the rustling of the leaves--the deafenedbeating of the sea upon the rocks--and, to use the words of Lamartine,"those unknown tongues
that night and the wind whisper in the air."The trees were mirrored in the rays of the moon, and the ground, atintervals, seemed strewn with monstrous giants; their hearts beat, notwith fear, but with that feverish impatience that anticipates decisiveresults.
When they arrived at the foot of the tree on which the aerial dwellingwas situated, Fritz opened the door, and resolutely, but stealthily,ascended.
Willis and Jack followed him with military precision.
They reached the top of the staircase, and held the latch of the doorthat opened into the apartment.
A train of mice, in the strictest incognito, could not have performedthese operations with a greater amount of secretiveness. On openingthe door they stood and listened.
Not a sound. Jack fired off a pistol, and the fraudulent occupier ofthe room instantly started up on his feet. Fritz rushed forward, andclasped him tightly round the body.
"Ho, ho, comrade," said he, "this time you do not get off so easily!"