Willis the Pilot : A Sequel to the Swiss Family Robinson

by Adrien Paul

  CHAPTER VI.

  THE QUEEN'S DOLL--ROCKHOUSE TO FALCON'S NEST--THEWIND--GLASSES--ADMIRAL HOMER--THE THREE FROGS--OAT JELLY--ESQUIMAUXASTRONOMY--AN UNKNOWN.

  Next morning, Sophia came running in with a sealed letter in her hand,which she opened and read as follows:--

  "HEAD QUARTERS, SAFETY BAY, DAYBREAK.

  "The Admiral commanding the Fleet stationed in Safety Bay to her Most gracious Majesty Sophia, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland.

  "May it please your Majesty,

  "The crews of your Majesty's yachts, the _Elizabeth_ and the _Morse_, are quite entire and in perfect health. The enemy having kept at a respectful distance, we have not had as yet an opportunity of proving our courage and devotion. Mr. Midshipman Jack fell asleep on the carriage of a four-pounder, like Marshal Turenne before his first battle; but, in all other respects, the conduct of the officers has been most exemplary, and merits the utmost commendation.

  "It is the admiral's intention to push out a reconnaissance towards the east, in the direction of Pearl Bay, which he has not yet explored. If, however, your Majesty should regard this expedition as likely to interfere with the good understanding that subsists between that government and your own, it will be only necessary to fire a gun, in which case we shall return to port. Under other circumstances, the squadron will proceed with the enterprise, and endeavor to obtain a collar for your Majesty's doll."

  "For my doll!" exclaimed Sophia angrily; "when did Jack find out thatI had a doll?"

  "Is that, then, your secret?" inquired her mother.

  "Yes, mamma, Master Jack took a pigeon with him for the expresspurpose of playing me this trick."

  "And what is worse, included yourself in the conspiracy. Dreadful!"

  "Is it not--to speak of a young person of thirteen's doll?"

  "Say nearer fourteen, my dear."

  "Therefore, to punish your confederates, I shall fire a gun, and put astop to their excursion," said Becker, turning to one of thesix-pounders that flanked Rockhouse in the direction of the river.

  "Clemency being one of the dearest rights of the royal prerogative,"replied Sophia, "I shall pardon them, and I pray you not; to throw anyobstacle in the way of their expedition."

  "Very good, your Majesty; but there are state reasons which should beallowed to overrule the impulses of your heart; those gentlemen haveforgotten that we were to go and lay the first stone, or rather tocut, to-day, the first branch of your aerial residence at Falcon'sNest."

  Admiral Willis and his officers having obeyed the preconcerted signal,the whole party started on their land enterprise. One of the young menwas harnessed to a sledge, containing saws, hatchets, a bamboo ladderthat had formerly done duty as a staircase to the Nest, and everythingelse requisite for the contemplated project.

  Jack had already started when Sophia called him back, and he hastilyobeyed the summons.

  "What are your Majesty's commands?"

  "Oh, nothing particular, only should you meet my doll in company withyour go-cart, be pleased to pay my respects to them." Saying this, shemade a low curtsy, and turned her back upon him.

  "Your Majesty's behests shall be obeyed," said Jack, and he ran off torejoin the caravan.

  The sad ravages of the tempest presented themselves as they proceeded;tall chestnuts lay stretched on the ground, and seemed, by theirappearance, to have struggled hard with the storm.

  "After all," inquired Frank, "what is the wind?"

  "Wind is nothing more than air rushing in masses from one point toanother."

  "And what causes this commotion in the elements?"

  "The equilibrium of the atmosphere is disturbed by a variety ofactions;--the diurnal motion of the sun, whose rays penetrate the airat various points; absorption and radiation, which varies according tothe nature of the soil and the hour of the day; the inequality of thesolar heat, according to seasons and latitude; the formation andcondensation of vapor, that absorbs caloric in its formation, anddisengages it when being resolved into liquid."

  "I never thought," remarked Willis, "that there were so many mysteriesin a sou'-easter. Does it blow? is it on the starboard or larboard?was all, in fact, that I cared about knowing."

  "In a word, the various circumstances that change the actual densityof the air, making it more rarefied at one point than another, producecurrents, the force and direction of which depend upon the relativeposition of hot and cold atmospheric beds. Again, the winds acquirethe temperature and characteristics of the regions they traverse."

  "That," observed Frank, "is like human beings; you may generallyjudge, by the language and manners of a man, the places that he isaccustomed to frequent."

  "There are hot and cold winds, wet and dry; then there are the tradewinds."

  "Ah, yes," cried Willis, "these are the winds to talk of, especiallywhen sailing with them--that is, from east to west; but when yourcourse is different, they are rather awkward affairs to get ahead of.The way to catch them is to sail from Peru to the Philippines."

  "Or from Mexico to China."

  "Yes, either will do; then there is no necessity for tacking, you haveonly to rig your sails and smoke your pipe, or go to sleep; you may,in that way, run four thousand leagues in three months."

  "Stiff sailing that, Willis."

  "Yes, Master Ernest, but it does not come up to your yarn about thestars, you recollect, ever so many millions of miles in a second!"

  "The trade winds, I was going to observe," continued Becker, "thatblow from the west coast of Africa, carry with them a stifling heat."

  "That might be expected," remarked Frank, "since they pass over thehot sands of the desert."

  "Well, can you tell me why the same wind is cooler on the east coastof America?"

  "Because it has been refreshed on crossing the ocean that separatesthe two continents?"

  "By taking a glass of grog on the way," suggested Willis.

  "Yes; and so in Europe the north wind is cold because it carries, orrather consists of, air from the polar regions; and the same effect isproduced by the south wind in the other hemisphere."

  "It is for a like reason," suggested Ernest, "that the south wind inEurope, and particularly the south-west wind, is humid, and generallybrings rain, because it is charged with vapor from the AtlanticOcean."

  "How is it, father, that the almanac makers can predict changes in theweather?"

  "The almanac makers can only foresee one thing with absolutecertainty, and that is, that there are always fools to believe whatthey say. A few meteorological phenomena may be predicted withtolerable accuracy; but these are few in number, and range within verynarrow limits."

  "Their predictions, nevertheless, sometimes turn out correct."

  "Yes, when they predict by chance a hard frost on a particular day inJanuary, it is just possible the prediction may be verified; out of amultitude of such prognostications a few may be successful, but thegreater part of them fail. Their few successes, however, have theeffect with weak minds of inspiring confidence, in defiance of thefailures which they do not take the trouble to observe."

  "At what rate does the wind travel?"

  "The speed of the wind is very variable; when it is scarcely felt, thevelocity does not exceed a foot a second; but it is far otherwise inthe cases of hurricanes and tornados, that sweep away trees andhouses.

  "And sink his Majesty's ships," observed Willis.

  "In those cases the wind sometimes reaches the velocity of forty-fiveyards in a second, or about forty leagues in an hour."

  "Therefore," remarked Jack, "the wind is a blessing that could verywell be dispensed with."

  "Your conclusions, Jack, do not always do credit to yourunderstanding. The wind re-establishes the equilibrium of thetemperature, and purifies the air by dispersing in the massexhalations that would be pernicious if they remained in one spot; itclears away miasma, it dissipates the smoke of towns, it waters somecountries by dr
iving clouds to them, it condenses vapor on the frozensummits of mountains, and converts it into rivers that cover the landwith fruitfulness."

  "It likewise fills the sails of ships and creates pilots," observedWillis.

  "And brings about shipwrecks," remarked Jack.

  "It conveys the pollen of flowers, and, as I had occasion to state theother day, sows the seeds of Nature's fields and forests. It islikewise made available by man in some classes of manufactures--mills,for example."

  "And it causes the simoon," persisted Jack, "that lifts the sand ofthe desert and overwhelms entire caravans; how can you justify suchravages?"

  "I do not intend to plead the cause of either hurricanes or simoons;but I contend that, if the wind sometimes terrifies us by disasters,we have, on the other hand, to be grateful for the infinite good itdoes. In it, as in all other phenomena of the elements, the evils arerare and special, whilst the good is universal and constant."

  Fritz, as usual, with the dogs and his rifle charged, acted as pioneerfor the caravan, now and then bringing down a bird, sometimes adding aplant to their collection, and occasionally giving them someinformation as to the state of the surrounding country.

  "Father," said he, "I chased this quail into our corn-field; the grainis lying on the ground as if it had been passed over by a roller, butI am happy to say that it is neither broken nor uprooted."

  "Now, Jack, do you see how gallantly the wind behaves, prostrating thestrong and sparing the weak? If you had been charged with the safetyof the grain, no doubt you would have placed it in the tops of thehighest trees."

  "Very likely; and, until taught by experience, everybody else wouldhave done precisely the same thing."

  "True; therefore in this, as in all other things, we should admire thewisdom of Providence, and mistrust our own."

  "Whoever would have thought of trusting the staff of human life tosuch slender support as stalks of straw?"

  "If grain had been produced by forests, these, when destroyed by war,burned down by imprudence, uprooted by hurricanes, or washed away byinundations, we should have required ages to replace."

  "Very true."

  "The fruits of trees are, besides, more liable to rot than those ofgrain; the latter have their flowers in the form of spikes, oftenbearded with prickly fibres, which not only protect them frommarauders, but likewise serve as little roofs to shelter them from therain; and besides, as Fritz has just told us, owing to the pliancy oftheir stalks, strengthened at intervals by hard knots and thespear-shaped form of their leaves, these plants escape the fury of thewinds."

  "That," said Willis, "is like a wretched cock-boat, which oftencontrives to get out of a scrape when all the others are swamped."

  "Therefore," continued Becker, "their weakness is of more service tothem than the strength of the noblest trees, and they are spread andmultiplied by the same tempests that devastate the forests. Added tothis, the species to which this class of plants belong--thegrasses--are remarkably varied in their characteristics, and bettersuited than any other for universal propagation."

  "Which was remarked by Homer," observed Ernest "who usuallydistinguishes a country by its peculiar fruit, but speaks of theearth generally as _zeidoros_, or grain-bearing."

  "There, Willis," exclaimed Jack, "is another great admiral for you."

  "An admiral, Jack?"

  "It was he who led the combined fleets of Agamemnon, Diomedes, andothers, to the city of Troy."

  "Not in our time, I suppose?"

  "How old are you, Willis?"

  "Forty-seven."

  "In that case it was before you entered the navy."

  "I know that there is a Troy in the United States, but I did not knowit was a sea-port."

  "There is another in France, Willis; but the Troy I mean is, or ratherwas, in Asia Minor, capital of Lesser Phrygia, sometimes called Ilion,its citadel bearing the name of Pergamos."

  "Never heard of it," said Willis.

  "To return to grain," continued Becker, laughing. "Nature has renderedit capable of growing in all climates, from the line to the pole.There is a variety for the humid soils of hot countries, as the riceof Asia; immense quantities of which are produced in the basin of theGanges. There is another variety for marshy and cold climates--as akind of oat that grows wild on the banks of the North American lakes,and of which the natives gather abundant harvests."

  "God has amply provided for us all," said Frank.

  "Other varieties grow best in hot, dry soils, as the millet in Africa,and maize or Indian corn in Brazil. In Europe, wheat is cultivateduniversally, but prefers rich lands, whilst rye takes more readily toa sandy soil; buckwheat is most luxuriant where most exposed to rain;oats prefer humid soils, and barley comes to perfection on rocky,exposed lands, growing well on the cold, bleak plains of the north.And, observe, that the grasses suffice for all the wants of man."

  "Yes," observed Ernest, "with the straw are fed his sheep, his cows,his oxen, and his horses; with the seeds, he prepares his food andhis drinks. In the north, grain is converted into excellent beer andale, and spirits are extracted from it as strong as brandy."

  "The Chinese obtain from rice a liquor that they prefer to the finestwines of Spain."

  "That is because they have not yet tasted our Rockhouse malaga."

  "Then of roasted oats, perfumed with vanilla, an excellent jelly maybe made."

  "Ah! we must get mamma to try that--it will delight the young ladies."

  "And, no doubt, you will profit by the occasion to partake thereofyourself, Master Jack."

  "Certainly; but I would not, for all that, seek to gratify my ownappetite under pretence of paying a compliment to our friends."

  "I know an animal," said Willis, "that, for general usefulness, beatsgrain all to pieces."

  "Good! let us hear what it is, Willis."

  "It is the seal of the Esquimaux; they live upon its flesh, and theydrink its blood."

  "I scarcely think," said Jack, "that I should often feel thirsty undersuch circumstances."

  "The skin furnishes them with clothes, tents, and boats."

  "Of which our canoe and life-preservers are a fair sample," saidFritz.

  "The fat furnishes them with fire and candle, the muscles with threadand rope, the gut with windows and curtains, the bones with arrowheads and harness; in short, with everything they require."

  "True, Willis, in so far as regards their degree of civilization,which is not very great, when we consider that they bury their sickwhilst alive, because they are afraid of corpses; that they believethe sun, moon, and stars to be dead Esquimaux, who have beentranslated from earth to heaven."

  Whilst chatting in this way, the party had imperceptibly arrived atFalcon's Nest, wherein they had not set foot for a fortnightpreviously.

  Fritz went up first, and before the others had ascended, came runningdown again as fast as his legs would carry him.

  "Father," he cried, in an accent of alarm, "there is a fresh litter ofleaves up stairs, which has been recently slept upon, and I miss aknife that I left the last time we were here!"