CHAPTER IX.
FRITZ and I spent the whole of the next day in the woods. We took theass and one of the dogs with us, but left all else at home.
Our way first lay through a dense wood, where we saw no end of smallbirds, but such game could not now tempt Fritz to waste his shot. Wethen had to cross a vast plain, and to wade through the high grass,which we did with care, lest we should tread on some strange thing thatmight turn and bite us.
We came at last to a grove of small trees, and in their midst I saw abush, which I knew to be the wax tree, for the wax grew on it like whitebeads. I need not say how glad I was to find so great a prize. We hadup to this time gone to bed as soon as the sun went down, for we had nolamp to use; but as we could now make wax lights, I told Fritz that wehad found what would add two or three hours per day to our lives. Wetook as much of the wax as would serve us for some time, and then madeour way out of the grove.
"How came you," said Fritz, "to know so much of the queer beasts, trees,and plants that we have found here?"
"When young," said I, "I used to read all the books that fell in my way;and those that told of strange lands and what was to be seen in them hadfor me as great a charm as they have for Ernest, who has read a greatdeal, and knows more of plants than you do."
"Well," said he, "I will do the same if I but get the chance. Can youtell what is the name of that huge tree on the right? See, there areballs on the bark."
We went close to it, and found that these balls were of thick gum, whichthe sun had made quite hard. Fritz tried to pull one of them off, butfelt that it clung tight to the bark, though he could change its shapewith his warm hands. "Look," said he, "I feel sure that this is theIN-DI-A RUB-BER which we used to clean our school books." I took a pieceof it in my hand, and said, "To be sure it is. What shall we not findin this rich land?" I then told him how the men in the New World madeflasks of this gum, in which form it is sent to all parts of the world."And I do not see why we should not make boots of it in the same way. Wehave but to fill a sock with sand, then put gum all round it, while in asoft state, till it is as thick as we need, then pour the sand out,and we shall have made a shoe or a boot that will at least keep out thedamp, and that is more than mine do just now."
Not far from this we came to a bush, the leaves of which were strewnwith a white dust; and close by were two or three more in the samestate. I cut a slit in the trunk of one of these, and found it full ofthe white dust, which I knew by the taste to be SA-GO. We took all ofthis that we could get out of the tree, for it would add to our stock offood; and when our bags were full we laid them on the back of the ass,and set off to find our way back to The Nest.
"Each day brings us fresh wealth," said my wife; "but I think we mightnow try to add to our goods." I knew that she had some fear lest weshould one day get lost in the woods, or meet with wild beasts, so I atonce said that we would now stay at home, at least for some days.
My first work was to make some wax lights, for my wife could then mendour clothes at night, while we sat down to talk. This done, the nexttask they gave me was to make a churn. I took a large gourd, made asmall hole in the side, and cut out as much as I could, so as to leavebut the rind. In this I put the cream, laid a piece on the hole, andbound it up so that none could come out. The boys then held a cloth, andon it I put the gourd, which they rolled from side to side. They kept upthis game with great mirth for near an hour, when my wife took off thestring, and found that the churn had done its work well.
As our sledge was not fit to use on rough roads, my next work was tomake a cart. I had brought a pair of wheels from the wreck, so that mytask did not prove a hard one.
While I was thus at work, my wife and the boys took some of the fruittrees we had brought with us, and put them in the ground where theythought they would grow best. On each side of the path that led from TheNest to the Boy's Bridge they put a row of young nut trees. To make thepath hard we laid down sand from the sea shore, and then beat it downwith our spades.
We were for six weeks at this and such like work. We were loth to spareany pains to make The Nest, and all that could be seen near it, lookneat and trim, though there were no eyes but our own to view the scene.
One day I told my sons that I would try to make a flight of stairs inplace of the cane steps with rope sides, which were, to tell the truth,the worst part of our house. As yet we had not used them much, but therain would some day force us to keep in The Nest, and then we shouldlike to go up and down stairs with more ease than we could now climbthe rude steps. I knew that a swarm of bees had built their nest in thetrunk of our tree, and this led me to think that there might be a voidspace in it some way up. "Should this prove to be the case," I said,"our work will be half done, for we shall then have but to fix thestairs in the tree round the trunk." The boys got up and went to the topof the root to tap the trunk, and to judge by the sound how far up thehole went. But they had to pay for their want of thought; the wholeswarm of bees came out as soon as they heard the noise, stung theircheeks, stuck to their hair and clothes, and soon put them to flight.
We found that Jack, who was at all times rash, had struck the bees' nestwith his axe, and was much more hurt by them than the rest. Ernest, whowent to his work in his slow way, got up to it last, and thus did notget more than a sting or two, but the rest were some hours ere theycould see out of their eyes. I took a large gourd, which had long beenmeant to serve for a hive, and put it on a stand, We then made a strawroof to keep it from the sun and wind, and as by this time it grew dark,we left the hive there for the night.
Next day, the boys, whose wounds were now quite well, went with me tohelp to move the bees to the new home we had made for them. Our firstwork was to stop with clay all the holes in the tree but one throughwhich the bees were wont to go in to their nest. To this I put the bowlof a pipe, and blew in the smoke of the weed as fast as I could. Atfirst we heard a loud buzz like the noise of a storm afar off; but themore I blew my pipe the less grew the sound, till at last the bees werequite still.
We now cut out a piece of the trunk, three feet square, and this gave usa full view of the nest. Our joy was great to find such a stock of wax,for I could see the comb reached far up the tree. I took some of thecomb, in which the bees lay in swarms, and put it by on the plank.
We then put the gourd on the comb that held the swarm, and took carethat the queen bee was not left out. By these means we soon got a hiveof fine bees, and the trunk of the tree was left free for our use.
We had now to try the length of the hole. This we did with a long pole,and found it reached as far up as the branch on which our house stood.
We now cut a square hole in that side of the trunk next the sea shore,and made one of the doors that we had brought from the ship to fit inthe space. We then made the sides smooth all the way up, and with planksand the staves of some old casks, built up the stairs round a pole whichwe made fast in the ground. To do this we had to make a notch in thepole and one in the side of the trunk for each stair, and thus go upstep by step till we came to the top. Each day we spent a part of ourtime at what we could now call the farm, where the beasts and fowls werekept, and did odd jobs as well, so that we should not make too great atoil of the flight of stairs, which took us some six weeks to put up.
One day Fritz caught a fine EA-GLE, which he tied by the leg to a branchof the tree, and fed with small birds. It took him a long while to tame,but in time he taught it to perch on his wrist, and to feed from hishand. He once let it go, and thought he would have lost it, but the birdknew it had a good friend, for it came back to the tree at night. Fromthat time it was left free, though we thought that some day its love ofwar and wild sports would tempt it to leave us for the rocks of the seashore, where Fritz had first found it.
Each of my boys had now some pet to take care of, and, I may say, totease, for they all thought they had a fair right to get some fun out ofthe pets they could call their own; but they were kind to them, fed themwell, and kept them clean.
/> In what I may term my spare time, which was when I left off work out ofdoors, I made a pair of gum shoes for each of my sons, in the way I hadtold Fritz it could be done. I do not know what we should have done hadwe not found the gum tree, for the stones soon wore out the boots wehad, and we could not have gone through the woods or trod the hard rockswith bare feet.
By this time our sow had brought forth ten young pigs, and the hens hadeach a brood of fine chicks. Some we kept near us, but most of them wentto the wood, where my wife said she could find them when she had need touse them.
I knew the time must now be near when, in this clime, the rain comesdown day by day for weeks, and that it would wash us out of The Nest ifwe did not make a good roof to our house. Then our live stock would needsome place where they could rest out of the rain. The thatch for TheNest was of course our first care; then we made a long roof of canes forour live stock, and on this we spread clay and moss, and then a thickcoat of tar, so that it was rain proof from end to end. This was held upby thick canes stuck deep in the ground, with planks made fast to themto form the walls, and round the whole we put a row of cask staves toserve for rails. In this way we soon had a barn, store room, and hayloft, with stalls for the cow, the ass, and what else we kept that hadneed of a place to live in.
The Swiss Family Robinson, Told in Words of One Syllable Page 8
