Perseverance Island; Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century

by Douglas Frazar

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  Chess and backgammon playing. Fortification of the island. Team of white swans. Goats as servants, and opponents in backgammon playing.

  Yes, here I was, with the wealth of an emperor around me, and not onepenny available, in any shape or manner. The acquisition of so muchwealth had changed my whole plans; I no longer dared to leave theisland, for fear that somebody might discover it during my absence andclaim it for their own, and not even allow me to land upon it again,much less become possessed of the immense treasure that I had buriedupon it, and which I could only take away by the assistance of others,and they under my own command and discipline. Much as I had bemoanedmy fate in being cast on shore, I now feared to leave the island thatI had so long hated. The acquisition of riches had brought its usualcurse, and from being almost happy and contented I had returned to astate of petulance and nervousness, similar to that which I sufferedunder during the first two years of my enforced captivity.

  The time had come when I felt confident that I could leave the islandin some way, in safety, and I did not dare to,--did not dare to run therisk of someone's coming to the island during my temporary absence, andremaining upon it. My common sense told me that I had waited yearsenough, and seen no one, and that no one would come in my absence,whilst my miserly cupidity and unnatural nervousness told me that itwould be just my luck to leave it and return and find it occupied,and all my labors lost; for how could I expect to obtain any legalproceedings to help me, or prove my claim, should such happen. I wellknew that in these seas justice was little recognized, and that myreturn and claims would be scoffed at by any who might have replaced meduring my absence. I was at last placed in the woeful predicament ofseeing myself aching and longing for freedom, and afraid to accept itshould it be offered me. In fact, my cupidity overcame my other desiresso greatly that I passed my time at this season in improving all myfortifications, and making myself as strong as possible to resist anyattack that might be made upon me. I even went so far as to experimentin the direction of torpedoes, to be placed at the mouth of StillwaterCove, and in Perseverance Bay and Mirror Bay, to be exploded byelectricity should I be attacked. I did not, however, consummate thiswork, but had it strongly in mind.

  I also, at this time, built a small harbor at the mouth of StillwaterCove, and enclosed the entrance by old stumps and broken limbs oftrees, to conceal it, into which I conveyed the submarine boat andsteam yacht, when not in use. The "Fairy" I could easily conceal nearthe Hermitage,--but then, if an enemy ever got as far as this, itwould be impossible for me to conceal the sawmill and foundry, andother works below the falls. I was so frightened at this time of beingvisited, that I built a battery of four guns, to rake the whole ofStillwater Cove, about half a mile below the Hermitage, and to stop theadvance of any enemy in that direction. I well knew that, if it wasknown what wealth I had accumulated, I should stand little chance ofever enjoying it, unless some man-of-war should discover me. It wouldbe very easy for some trader or whaler to dispose of me, and acquire mywealth, and the world never hear of it. Thousands of tragedies occur inthese seas of which the world never hears, as I was well aware. My goldand silver I had buried at Mirror Bay, and my pearls I now buried, withcare, in a corner of the Hermitage.

  At one time I bethought me of making a trip to Easter Island, in mysubmarine boat, and see if I could not induce the natives, if any, tomake me their chief, and if so, to return and, with their aid, build alarge vessel, and carry off my treasure to their island, or carry backenough of them to mine to aid me in navigating me to some neutral port,having first fully armed her and taught them seamanship. But if I leftthe island, I had, in the first place, to run the chance of strikingEaster Island, and, having done that, the greater chance of ever againbeing able to find my own island. This, added to the risk of submarinenavigation, which I had before thought over, deterred me. I only seemedto be able to make up my mind to one thing, and that was to protectmyself in all possible ways from assault, and to try and study outsome way to escape with my treasure in safety.

  PLAYING BACKGAMMON WITH THE GOAT.--PAGE 313.]

  After some months of this worry, I commenced to return to myself againin a measure, and, having no work of any magnitude on hand, I amusedmyself in many ways to change the monotony of my existence. Amongstother things that I invented for my amusement were a nice chess-boardand men. I had been fond of the game for many years, and I used in theevening to pit myself against an imaginary opponent and set to work. Ialways played strictly according to rule, and never took a move backor allowed my adversary to do so; and it was amusing to see how hardI tried to beat my other self. I wiled away many weary evening hoursin this way, and also with a pack of parchment cards, with which Iplayed solitaire, to my heart's content. But my greatest game, and onein which I took the most interest, was backgammon, which I played withmy pet goat. I had here to move for both the goat and myself; but theexcitement consisted in the fact of my making him take the dice-box inhis mouth and shake out his own dice, so that I really played againstsomebody in part. I increased this excitement by pitting one goatagainst the other and making each throw the dice, when I would make themove and reward the winner by a little morsel of sugar, or something ofwhich he was fond. I also managed to make myself quite a serviceableflute, upon which I performed by ear all the old tunes I couldremember; and, to preserve them, I marked the notes in a rough styleon parchment; but, only knowing their names as A, B, C, etc., I simplymarked down these letters to denote any tune, heading it with the name,as "Yankee Doodle," _a_, _a_, _b_, _c_, _a_, _a_ _g#_, _e_,--_a_, _a_,_b_, _c_, _a_, _g#_. I did not know enough about music to keep anyother record, but by this method I felt that I could preserve the tunesthat I now knew, so as to enjoy them in my old age, if God willed itthat I should never escape from this cursed island. At this time Idid not know what it was to want for anything: each year my harvestshad been greater and greater, and I now enjoyed both apples and pearsin great abundance. With saltpetre and salt, and my smoking-house, Iwas able to preserve all the meat of all kinds that I desired, and mylarder and ice-house was overstocked instead of understocked, and Ihad everything that heart could desire; and yet, since my successfulattempt at both the pearl fishery and the sunken treasure, I had beenunhappy and discontented. Up to this time I had scarcely seen an hour'ssickness since being upon the island.

  It was wonderful how good God had been to me; but the delightfulclimate, and my out-door life and pure water and good wholesome food,had all tended to sustain me; but, with my inventive mind, I did notintend to be caught napping, even in this respect, so to work I wentto educate my goats as servants, in case I should be seriously ill.I taught one, after repeated attempts and great attention, to takea little pail that I had made for him, and, at my command, go to theriver and fill it with water, and bring it to me at my bedside. Aftermonths of teaching, this goat would at last do this duty as well asthe best trained servant, and finally I taught him so perfectly that Icould get into my bed, touch a little bell that I had made, one tap,when he would immediately look about for his little pail, in whateverpart of the Hermitage it might be, and, finding it, march off to theriver, fill it with water, and bring it back, and place it always injust the same spot, upon the low sideboard or table, beside my bed.The other pet I taught to bring me a small bag of flour that was keptfor that purpose. As I have before said, on a shelf near the bed I hadalready placed a lamp, spare oil, matches, flint and steel, and all thesimple remedies that I had, with candles and a sort of night lamp thatI had constructed, with kettle and basin attached. I did not know howsoon I might be attacked at any moment with fever and delirium, andI was determined to do all possible beforehand, so as to be able tohelp myself in my days of necessity; hence my teaching, so that, whentoo weak to move, I might rely upon my pet goats for good, pure, freshwater and a little food fit for gruel. This teaching was an amusementfor me, and not a task; and it was amazing how intelligent theseanimals became, and how fond I was of them and they of me.

>   I had noticed that there were upon Mirror Lake, when I had visited itupon several occasions, some magnificent swans, and, having nothingbetter in my head to do, I made up my mind to capture some of them totransplant to the Hermitage. I made many futile attempts before I couldfix upon a plan to secure any of them. I could at times have shot someof them, for they were not very wild, but that was not what I wanted.Finally, after studying their habits, I ascertained exactly wherethey nestled on shore at night to roost, which was near some stuntedtrees on the westerly side of the lake. I made myself a large net ofstrong grass twine and rawhide, nearly forty feet square, with themeshes at least a foot apart, so that the work was not a very hard orlaborious one. Armed with this in the daytime, whilst the swans wereaway, either in the centre of the lake or elsewhere, I visited theirresting-place, and attached it to the trees and different uprights, andarranged it so that it could be drawn down and over them at one pull bya cord which I led out into the lake a long distance and buoyed there.Having arranged all my apparatus to suit me, I left it alone for atleast a month, not even going near it; when one fine moonlight night Istarted early, before sundown, across the island to the lake. Hidingmyself in the long grass and trees on the border, I saw my friendsthe swans, about eighteen in number, take their way for their usualroosting-place, and as the light shut down I stripped off my clothingand swam out boldly for the buoy in the lake, which was not over twohundred yards distant from me, but at least four hundred from them.Arriving at it, I grasped the line and gave one tremendous pull withall my strength, and such a flapping of wings and squalling was neverheard. All the fowl in the vicinity--and there were large numbers--goton the wing and commenced making night hideous. I hastened ashore,and, slipping on a few clothes, made my way at a run to the placewhere the net had been sprung. It was as I expected; several of theswans had become entangled, and, having thrust their heads through thelarge meshes, were endeavoring to make their enormous bodies followthrough the same hole, at the same time foolishly threshing about withtheir wings and trying to fly. It was well that my net was mostly ofrawhide, for I found the creatures terribly strong and fierce, butafter a fight of over two hours I was in possession of six fine largeswans, as beautiful creatures as could well be imagined. All of these Ibound with rawhide, with their wings to their sides, and small lashingsaround their bills, for I found that they could attack with them quitefiercely. After having carefully bound them so that they could notescape, and for further protection drawn the net about them, I made myway home, leaving them where they lay for the night.

  The next morning early I appeared on the scene with the canoe, havingcome around in the steam yacht to the river, which I had ascended asfar as practicable, and then taken to the canoe. I soon had my splendidgreat fellows all in the boat, and thence into the steam yacht in avery short time, when I proceeded leisurely home by the Western Cape,as I wanted to see how that part of my island looked. I saw nothingstrange or novel, except the penguins on Penguin Point, who were drawnup as usual in martial array, and I could not help wishing that I had afew brave and devoted sailors with me at this time. How soon we wouldmake the forests of this island echo with the stroke of our axes,and how soon would a strong, staunch vessel arise from the stocks atRapid River; one that could stand the weather well enough to make thetrip with ease to Valparaiso or the Sandwich Islands, or some othercivilized place.

  Arriving home, I made some arrangements for my new guests, and rivetedupon one leg of each a long rawhide rope, which was made fast to astake on the border of the river. For the first few days there was agreat deal of fluttering, sputtering, and squalling, but, being carefulnot to feed them all this time, I soon brought them to subjection,and in less than a month's time they would eat out of my hand. I thenwent to work and made a long, light whip, with which I educated themeach day for two more months. In the intervals, I was at work in theworkshop, and turned out two cylinders, shaped like cigars, about eightfeet long and one foot in diameter, made of rolled iron little thickerthan common sheet-iron. Upon these, placed distant from each otherabout six feet, I fitted a nice little deck and an easy, comfortablechair. Having this all completed and arranged, I launched it inStillwater Cove, and brought it over near the Hermitage. I then made abroad piece of skin that would slip over the head of each swan and restagainst the breast, to which was attached a small cord. Putting one ofthese yokes upon each of my swans, I drove them down to where the boator car was resting; for I had trained them so that they would obey thewhip just as well if not better than a yoke of oxen. Having arrived atthe car, I attached them by yokes of two to a central rope attachedto the car, and, cracking my whip, set off on a tour of pleasure downStillwater Cove. Did ever man drive such a car and team before? and yetit was by just such artifices as these that I kept myself from goingmad and gave myself excitement and pleasure. No one knows, till theyhave tried, how easily the birds of the earth are taught. I had oftenseen a Chinaman make the cormorant fish for him all day long, and makehis body of ducks that he was watching as obedient as so many dogs. Iknew that my team of swans was of no practical use to me, but it was apleasure, and that was sufficient. They certainly made a magnificentsight, moving over the quiet, pure waters of Stillwater Cove, and Icould not help thinking that, if I should be discovered now, I shouldbe taken for Neptune or some merman of the ocean disporting himselfwith his favorite team. Having taken a good long ride, I, with a snapof my whip, turned my team about and made towards home. Home! yes, thatwas the word; it had really become home, and more so than ever sinceI had become so rich. I could not make up my mind to try and solvethe problem which, if solved, would separate me from my island and myriches, and yet I could not go on in this way; I must make up my mind,and that quickly; I must do something; I must choose. If I feared totrust my submarine boat, I could make a catamaran on a large scale,almost exactly on the same plan as the car I was now seated upon,which could not capsize or sink; a life raft, or, better yet, I couldconstruct a boat wholly of iron, with water-tight compartments; but whowas to steer whilst I slept,--my goat?--and who was to take care of myisland during my absence and keep it safe from all inquisitive eyes? Isuppose I should have, perhaps, used up years thinking of this matter,if my attention had not been drawn to other affairs almost as startlingas any that had yet befallen me, making me almost believe that I wasto be driven crazy by accumulation of wealth which I was not to beallowed ever to enjoy or spend. It occurred to me to make a gunningexpedition to Mirror Lake, to obtain some of the wild ducks that wereso plenty there. And having now a little lead, I was able to make shot,with which I was more successful than with the steel bullets. With thisintention I went to Mirror River in the steam yacht, prepared to stopfor a few days and enjoy the sport, and what happened me there I willgo on to relate.