The Swiss Family Robinson, Told in Words of One Syllable
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CHAPTER V.
WHEN I rose from my bed the next day, I said to my wife: "Does it notseem, my dear, as if God had led us to this place, and that we should dowrong to leave it?"
"What you say may be quite true, so far as it goes," she said; "but Imust tell you that the mid-day heat is more than we can bear, and thatif we stay here we may have to keep watch at night, for there are, nodoubt, wild beasts of some kind that will find us out; and we shouldnot trust too much to our dogs, who may lose their lives in a fight withthem."
"I dare say you are right," said I; "but I do not yet see how we cancross the stream. We shall first have to build a bridge."
The boys were now all out of their beds; and while my wife went to milkthe cow and cook some food, I made my plans known to them. They were allglad when they heard that we were to leave, and each said he, would helpto build the bridge.
The first thing to be done was to find some strong planks; and Fritz,Ernest, and I went down to the shore, and got in the boat, which thetide took down to the bay.
On a piece of land which lay to the left we could see some large darkthing, round which flew a flock of sea gulls. We put up a sail andcaught a gust of wind which had sprung up, and this soon brought theboat to the spot. We made no noise, but crept up the shore step by step,and we got so near that Ernest brought down some of the birds with astick. Fritz was the first to find out that what the sea gulls had justleft was the huge fish he had shot in the sea. We cut off some roughskin, which we thought might serve for files, and then went back to theboat. I took a glance at the shore ere I got in, and to my great joy sawsome of the planks and spars from the wreck lay on the ground not faroff. Our next care was to bind these so as to make a raft, which we tiedto the stern of the boat, and then, by the use of our oars, soon madeour way up the stream to the place where the bridge was to be built. Ouryoung friends were glad to see us back so soon, and ran to meet us; Jackhad a cloth in his hand, in which was a store of cray fish and crabsjust caught in some of the nooks of a rock up the stream.
"Do not fail to give God thanks," said I, "that our lot has been castwhere we can pick up more food than we can eat."
It would take a long time to tell how we brought all the wood up to thespot, built piers of stone in the stream, and put the planks one by onein the place; it was late at night when we left off work, and once moresought our tent.
The next day we saw the sun rise, and took our first meal in haste, forwe knew we should have a long day's toil. All the stores that we couldnot take with us were laid by in the tent, the door of which was madesafe by a row of casks, that we put round it. My wife and Fritz soon ledthe way; the cow went next; then the ass, with Frank on its back. Jackled the goats, and on the back of one of them sat the ape. Ernest tookcharge of the sheep, and I brought up the rear as chief guard. We tookcare to cross the bridge one at a time, and found it bore our weightwell; but once or twice we thought the cow would step in the stream, orfall off the boards, when she went to the sides to drink.
Just as we had left the bridge, Jack cried out, "Be quick! here is astrange beast with quills as long as my arm." The dogs ran, and I withthem, and found a large POR-CU-PINE, in the grass. It made a loud noise,and shot out its quills at the dogs, and made them bleed. At this Jackshot at the beast, which fell dead on the spot. My wife's first thoughtwas to dress the wounds made by the quills, which had stuck in thenose of one of the dogs, while the boys made haste to pluck some of thequills from the skin of their strange prize.
At last our march came to an end, and I saw for the first time the greattrees that my wife had told me of. They were of vast size, and were, Ithought, fig trees. "If we can but fix our tent up there," I said, "weshall have no cause to dread, for no wild beasts can reach us." We sentFrank off to find sticks, with which to make a fire, and my wife madesome soup of the flesh of the beast we had slain, though we did not likeit so well as we did the ham and cheese we brought with us.