Jack shouldered my gun, Ernest took the cocoanuts, and little Franz carried the gourds, Fritz distributed the sugarcanes amongst his brothers, and handing Ernest his gun replaced the monkey on Turk's hack. Ernest soon found the burden with which Fritz had laden him too heavy to his taste. His mother, perceiving this, offered to relieve him of part of the load. He willingly gave up the cocoanuts, but no sooner had he done so than his elder brother exclaimed:
`Hullo, Ernest, you surely do not know what you are parting with; did you really intend to hand over those good cocoanuts without so much as tasting them?'
`What? ho! Are they really cocoanuts?' cried Ernest, `I thought they were bowls! Do let me take them again, mother, do let me look at them.'
`No, thank you,' replied my wife with a smile. `I have no wish to see you again overburdened.'
`Oh but I have only to throw away these sticks, which are of no use, and then I can easily carry them.'
`Worse and worse,' said Fritz, `I have a particular regard for those heavy useless sticks. Did you ever hear of sugarcanes?'
The words were scarcely out of his mouth when Ernest began to suck vigorously at the end of the cane with no better result, how-
ever, than Fritz had obtained as we were on the march.
`Here,' said Fritz, `let me show you the trick of it,' and he speedily set all the youngsters to work extracting the luscious juice.
My wife, as a prudent housekeeper who made much use of sugar, was no less delighted than the children with this discovery; the sight of the dishes also pleased her greatly, for she longed to see us eat once more like civilized beings.
We went into the kitchen and there found preparations for a truly sumptuous meal. Two forked sticks were planted in the ground on either side of the fire, on these rested a rod from which hung several tempting-looking fish, opposite them hung a goose from a similar contrivance, slowly roasting while the gravy dropped into a large shell placed beneath it. Franz gave the spit another turn, assuring me he had been helping all day to keep the meal from burning. In the centre sat the great pot from which issued the smell of a most delicious soup. To crown this splendid array, stood an open hogshead full of Dutch cheeses.
All this was very pleasant to two hungry travellers, but I was about to beg my wife to spare the poultry until our stock should have increased, when she, perceiving my thought, quickly relieved my anxiety. `This is not one of our geese,' she said, `but a wild bird Ernest killed.'
`Yes,' said Ernest, `it is a penguin, I think, it let me get quite close, so that I knocked it on the head with a stick. Here are its head and feet which I preserved to show you; the bill is, you see, narrow and curved downwards, and the feet are webbed. It had funny little bits of useless wings, and its eyes looked so solemnly and sedately at me, that I was almost ashamed to kill it. It seemed quite destitute of any intelligence, so that I was able to kill it with a single blow from my stick. Do you not think it must have been a penguin?'
`I have little doubt on the matter, my boy,' and I was about to make a few remarks on the habits of this bird, when my wife interrupted me and begged us to come to dinner and continue our natural history conversation at some future time. Fritz now suddenly recollected his delicious wine, and producing his flask, begged his mother to taste it.
`Try it first yourself,' said I; Fritz did so, and I instantly saw by his countenance that the liquor had passed through the first stage of fermentation and had become vinegar.
`Never mind, my boy,' said my prudent wife, when she learned the cause of his wry faces, `we have wine already but no vinegar; I
am really pleased at the transformation. Mixed with the fat which has fallen from our bird with roasting, it will make a most delicious sauce which will be as good a relish as a salad.'
And so it proved, as a corrective of the wild and fishy flavor of the penguin, as well as improving the taste of the fish. We did full justice to the appetizing meal prepared for us, our gourds coming for the first time into use, and having done it full justice, I produced the cocoanuts by way of dessert.
16
`Here is better food for your little friend,' said I to Fritz, who had been vainly endeavouring to persuade the monkey to taste dainty morsels of the food we had been eating. `The poor little animal has been accustomed to nothing but its mother's milk; fetch me a saw, one of you.'
I then, after extracting the milk of the nuts from their natural holes, carefully cut the shells in half, thus providing several more useful basins. The monkey was perfectly satisfied with the milk, and eagerly sucked the corner of a handkerchief dipped in it.
The sun was now rapidly sinking behind the horizon, and the poultry retiring for the night warned us that we must follow their example. Having offered up our prayers, we lay down on our beds, the monkey crouched down between Jack and Fritz, and we were all soon fast asleep.
We did not, however, long enjoy this repose; a loud barking from our dogs, who were on guard outside the tent, awakened us, and the fluttering and cackling of our poultry warned us that a foe was approaching. Fritz and I sprang up, and seizing our guns rushed out. There we found a desperate combat going on, our gallant dogs, surrounded by a dozen or more large jackals, were fighting bravely, four of their opponents lay dead, but the others were in no way deterred by the fate of their comrades.
Fritz and I, however, sent bullets through the heads of a couple more, and the rest galloped off. Turk and Juno did not intend that they should escape so cheaply, and pursuing them, they caught, killed, and devoured another of the animals, regardless of their near relationship. Fritz wished to save one of the jackals that he might be able to show it to his brothers in the morning; dragging therefore the one that he had shot near the tent, he concealed it, and we once more returned to our beds. I told him that in justice, if Turk and Flora were still hungry, we should give this last jackal to them. But they, surfeited, curled up to sleep.
Soundly and peacefully we slept until cock-crow next morning, when my wife and I awoke. I observed to her that I could not but view with alarm the many cares and exertions to be made. `In the first place, a journey to the vessel must be made. This is of absolute necessity, at least, if we would not be deprived of the livestock and other useful things, all of which from moment to moment we risk losing by the first heavy sea. What ought we first to resolve on? For example, should not our very first endeavour to be the contriving of a better sort of habitation and a more secure retreat from wild beasts, as well as a separate place for our provisions? I own I am at a loss what to begin first.'
`Return to the wreck by all means,' replied my wife, cheerfully. `Patience, order and perseverance will help us through all our work, and I agree with you that a visit to the wreck is without doubt our first duty. Come, let us wake the children, and set to work without delay.'
They were soon roused, and Fritz overcoming his drowsiness before the others, ran out for his jackal; it was cold and stiff from the night air, and he placed it on its legs before the tent, in a most life-like attitude, and stood by to watch the effect upon the family.
The dogs were the first to perceive their enemy, and growling, seemed inclined to dispose of the animal as they had disposed of its brethren in the night, but Fritz called them off. The noise the dogs made, however, had the effect of bringing out the younger children, and many were the exclamations they made at the sight of the strange animal.
`A yellow dog!' cried Franz.
`A wolf !' exclaimed Jack.
`It is a striped fox,' said Ernest.
`Hullo,' said Fritz. `The greatest men may make mistakes. Our
Professor does not know a jackal when he sees one.'
`But really,' continued Ernest, examining the animal, `I think it is a fox.'
`Very well, very well,' retorted Fritz, `no doubt you know better than your father! He thinks it is a jackal.'
`Come boys,' said I, `no more of this quarrelling; you are none of you very far wrong, for the jackal partakes of the