Johann David Wyss

“ Ernest and Fritz were quickly running up the bank, with arms full of plants, branches, and fruit, when Fritz handed to Jack a dripping wet bag which he had brought along partly under water. A curious pattering noise proceeded from this bag, but they kept the contents a secret for the present, Jack running with it behind a bush before peeping in, and I could just hear him exclaim,—
“Hollo! I say, what monsters they are! It's enough to make a fellow's flesh creep to look at them!” ”

“ Much as I wished that we could obtain a constant supply of these fish fresh, I was obliged to reject the naïve proposal from Jack, that we should tether a shoal of salmon by the gills to the bottom of the bay as we had secured the turtles.
Many quiet uneventful days passed by, and I perceived that the boys, wearied by the routine of farm work at Rockburg, were longing for a cruise in the yacht or an expedition into the woods, which would refresh both mind and body.
“Father,” said Fritz at length, “we want a quantity of hurdles, and have scarcely any more bamboos of which to make them. ”

“ I landed, and scrambled to where he lay; but I took care to give him the contents of my pistol before going close up, having a salutary recollection of the big serpent's parting fling at you, Jack.”
“You ran a very great risk,” said I. “The walrus is an inoffensive creature; but when attacked and wounded, it often becomes furious, and, turning upon its pursuer, can destroy, with its long tusks, a strongly-built whale-boat. However, thank God for your safety! I value that above a thousand such creatures. ”

“ The same evening that the boys reached the rocky pass, a messenger pigeon arrived at Rockburg, bearing a note which concluded in the following words:—
“The barricade at the Gap is broken down. Everything laid waste as far as the sugar brake, where the hut is knocked to pieces, and the fields trampled over by huge foot-marks. Come to us, father—we are safe, but feel we are no match for this unknown danger.” ”

“ It was their turn to be alarmed next, for a large powerful animal came puffing with a curious whistling sound through the dense thicket of reeds, passing close by and sorely discomposing them by its sudden appearance. It was out of sight immediately, before they could summon the dogs, and from their description it must have been a tapir, the colour dark brown, and in form resembling a young rhinoceros, but with no horn on the nose, and the upper lip prolonged into a trunk something like that of an elephant on a smaller scale. ”

“ The day before our return to Rockburg, Fritz went again to the inland region beyond the river to obtain a large supply of young banana plants, and the cacao fruit. He took the cajack, and a bundle of reeds to float behind him as a raft to carry the fruit, plants, and anything else he might wish to bring back. ”

“ The pleasant cottage had been over-run and ruined by apes just as Woodlands last summer! The most dreadful dirt and disorder met our eyes wherever we turned, and we had hard work to make the place fit for human habitation ”

“ He must be quite fourteen feet long, although not full grown.”
“I am very glad you followed me, father,” said Fritz; “but our united strength will not move this prodigious weight from among these rocks; only do let me carry away the head, with these grand snow-white tusks! I should so like to fasten it on the prow of the cajack, and name it the Sea-horse”
“We must certainly carry away the beautiful ivory tusks,” said I; “but make haste! the air feels so excessively close and sultry, I think a storm is brewing.”
“But the head! the head! we must have the whole head,” cried Jack ”

“ As our little tent was unsuited to a long residence of this sort, I adopted Fritz's idea of a Kamschatchan dwelling, and, to his great delight, forthwith carried it out.
Instead of planting four posts, on which to place a platform, we chose four trees of equal size, which in a very suitable place, grew exactly in a square, twelve or fourteen feet apart. Between these, at about twenty feet from the ground, we laid a flooring of beams and bamboo, smoothly and strongly planked. From this rose, on all four sides, walls of cane ”

“ I was pleased to find that the various birds taken by the boys during this excursion seemed likely to thrive; they were the first inmates of the new sheds, and even the black swans and cranes soon became tame and sociable.
Constantly roaming through the woods, the children often made new discoveries.
Fritz brought one day, after an excursion to the opposite side of the stream beyond the Gap, a cluster of bananas, and also of cacao-beans, from which chocolate is made. ”

“ Trial of the Cajack—Fritz kills a walrus—We carry home its head—The storm—Where is Fritz?—Safe at last—The fishing season—An expedition proposed—Three of the boys start for Woodlands—Pigeon post—Encounter with a hyæna—Wood Lake explored—A tapir—Prospect Hill pillaged—A tragedy—The boys in danger—We join them—We build a summer-house—Discover the cacao plant—Fritz ascends the stream—He sees elephants and hippopotami—Jack's “moist secret”—We return to Rockburg—Grace and Beauty—Shark Island is fortified. ”

“ Ernest started up, and said he would see that all was right.
In a few minutes he returned with a scrap of paper in his hand.
“News, father! The very latest news by pigeon-post, mother!”
“Well done, boys! what a capital idea!” said I, and taking the note I read:
⁠“Dearest Parents and Ernest,—
⁠“A brute of a hyæna has killed a ram and two lambs. The dogs seized it. Franz shot it. It is dead and skinned. The pemmican isn't worth much, but we are all right. Love to all.
“Fritz.” ”