Lucy Aikin

“ Fritz said he could see that the faces of the men were not so dark as our own.
"If that be the case," said I, "we are safe, and we may trust their flag."
We both sang a Swiss song, and then I cried out at the top of my voice these words: "Ship hoy! good men!" But they made no sign that they heard us. Our song, our boat, and, more than all, our dress, made them no doubt guess that we were wild men of the woods; for at last one of the crew on board held up knives and glass beads, which I knew the wild tribes of the New World were fond of. ”

“ I can not tell how glad we all were when we at last saw a change in the sky, and felt once more the warm rays of the sun. In a few days the floods sank in the earth, and left the ground of a bright green hue; the air grew warm and dry, and there were no more dark clouds to be seen in the sky. ”

“ I need not tell you how glad we were when we saw the first gleam of light shine through the chink of the door that shut us in from the cold night air. At dawn the wind did not blow so strong, the sky was clear of clouds, and we saw the sun rise, and with it rose our hopes. ”

“ We went all round the cliffs, in the hope that we might find a cave, but in vain.
"There is no way but to hew one out of the rock," said Fritz, "for we must not be beat."
"Well said, Fritz," said Jack; "we have each an axe. Why not try this cliff at once?" ”

“ We had scarce got through the wood, when Turk made a dart in front of us, and we saw a troop of apes rush out of his way. But he gave a leap and brought down one that could not climb so fast as the rest, for she had a young one in her arms. Turk made short work of the poor thing, for ere Fritz could call the dog off, the ape was dead. The young one, as soon as it saw Fritz, sprang on his back, put its paws in his curls, and would not let go, but made a noise as if to chide him. Fritz did not like this, for he was in fear lest it should bite him. ”

“ Fritz would say; "to leave our cave, that we dug with our own hands; to part with our dear kind beasts and birds; to bid good by to our farms, and so much that is our own, and which no one in the world wants. ”

“ When I got back to the tent, I found that Ernest had brought us news that he had seen salt in the chinks of the rocks, and that shell fish were not scarce.
"Then why have you not brought some with you?" said I.
"To get at them," said he, "I should have had to wet my feet."
"Well, my boy, if you are sure you saw them, I will ask you to go back for some. We must each do some work for the good of all; and as for your feet, the sun will dry them as you walk back." ”

“ The wild sports of the East in which she took part had made her strong of limb, and she had been taught to make light of such things as would vex most of her sex.
She built a hut to sleep in, and made snares to catch birds. Some of them she made use of for food, and some she let go, with bits of cloth tied to their legs, on which she wrote words, in the hope that they might meet the eye of some one who could help her. This, as we knew, had led Fritz to make his search, the end of which had brought as much joy to us as to the young friend who now sat in our midst. ”

“ As the nuts were far from ripe, I was at a loss to know how they could fall off the tree, for I could not see an ape nor a bird near. All at once Jack cried out, "See, see! here comes our friend, but I can't say much for his looks." ”

“ When Fritz had told us this, and much more, we came in sight of Safe Bay. He then took Ernest with him in his small boat, and left us to go up to the stream as fast as he could to Rock House, so as to make the place look neat by the time we brought home our guest. The two boys—for to us they were still boys—met us on the beach. Fritz, with a look of pride, gave his hand to Jane, and I could see a slight blush rise to her cheek as she gave him hers. He then led her up the path, on each side of which grew a row of young trees, and took her to a seat in our grounds. ”

“ The floor of our store room was now as hard as a rock, for the sun had dried it, and there was not a crack to be seen. On this we laid the ears of ripe corn, from which the long straw had been cut, and sent the boys to bring in such of our live stock as were fit for the work to be next done. Jack and Fritz were soon on the backs of their steeds, and thought it fine fun to make them course round the floor and tread out the grain. ”

“ It was not far away from us, for we could see the eng-lish flag float in the breeze from one of its masts. I seek in vain to find words by means of which I can set forth in print what I then felt. Both Fritz and I fell on our knees and gave thanks to God that He had thus led the ship to our coast. If I had not held him back, Fritz would have gone into the sea with a leap and swam off to the ship.
"Stay," said I, "till we are quite sure what they are. There are bad men on the seas who put up false flags to lure ships out of their course, and then rob and kill the crew." ”

“ We soon heard Turk give a loud bark, and a long deep grunt told us that the dogs had found the beast, and were no doubt at his throat. But just then we heard Ernest laugh, and saw the two dogs come through a clump of brush wood, with our old sow fast by the ears. She did not seem to like the way in which they had put an end to her feast of fruit, so she ran back as soon as we told the dogs to let go their hold of her ears.
"But with all our sport," said Fritz, "we have a poor show of game. Let us leave the young ones, and set off to see what we can meet with." ”

“ The joy of Fritz, to have caught such a strange bird, was so great that he would have us at once bind it by the neck and take it back with us. "Look," said Ernest, "what fine plumes he has, and you see he has web feet like a goose, and has long legs like a stork: thus he can run on land as fast as he can swim,"
"Yes," said I, " and he can fly with more speed through the air, for these birds have great strength in their wings. In fact, few birds have such means of flight as the Fla-min-go." ”

“ Our march was slow, for the livestock would stray here and there to graze on the rich grass that grew by the way; but still we got on. We took care to cross the bridge one at a time, and found it bear our weight well; but once or twice we thought the cow would step in the stream, or fall 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 a strange beast with quills as long as my arm." ”

“ In the ground round the mouth of the Cave we drove a row of strong canes, bound at the top to a piece of wood, so as to form a fence, up which grew a vine, and, at each side, plants that threw a good show of gay bloom crept up to meet it. ”

“ The vines were put round the roots of our tree, in the hope that they would grow up the trunk. On each side of the path that led from The Nest to the Boys' Bridge they put a row of young nut trees, which would, as they grew up, shade us from the sun all the way to the stream. To make the path hard we laid down sand from the sea shore, and then beat it down with our spades. ”

“ At this Jack put his hand to his belt, drew forth one of the small arms I gave him, and shot straight, with good aim, at the beast, which fell dead on the spot. Jack was proud of his feat, but Fritz, who did not like to be beat by one so young as Jack, told him to use more care, or he might shoot one of the dogs, if not one of us. My wife's first thought was to dress the wounds made by the quills, which had stuck in the nose of one of the dogs, while the boys made haste to pluck some of the quills from the skin of their strange prize. ”

“ This view of the case did not at all please them, as by this time they well knew what sounds their guns made.
"It will be a strange thing," said I, "if the hope to which I have so long clung should at last come to be a fact; but we must have a care that we do not hail a ship the crew of which may rob and kill us for the sake of our wealth. I feel that we have as much cause to dread a foe as we have grounds of hope that we may meet with friends."
Our first course was to make the cave quite safe, and then to mount guard where we could see a ship if one should come near the coast. ”

“ We all sat down to take our soup with the shell spoons. Ernest took from his coat a large shell, which he had hid till now, put it in the soup, and then set it down to cool.
"You do not show want of thought," said I to him. "But I am not glad to see that you think so of yourself, and do so much for your own ease, when all the rest do so much for yours. Now, that shell full of soup you must give to our two dogs. We can all dip our small shells in the pot, and you must do as we do; but as we have nought else that the poor dogs can eat out of, that shell shall be theirs." ”

“ When he came back he told us a long tale of what he had seen and where he had been, and how he had brought with him birds, beasts, moths, and such strange things as he thought Ernest would like to see. When he had done, he drew me out into our grounds and said he had a strange thing to tell me. It seems that he found a piece of white cloth tied to the foot of a bird which he had struck down with a stick, on which were these words: "Save a poor soul, who is on the rock from which you may see the smoke rise." ”

“ When the boat had made a fair start, we all sat down on the deck, with Jane in our midst, while Fritz told his tale to the end.
Jane Rose was born in in-di-a. She was the child of one Cap-tain Rose, whose wife died when Jane was but a babe in arms. When ten years of age he sent her to a first class school, where she was taught all that was fit for the child of a rich man to know. In course of time she could ride a horse with some skill, and she then grew fond of most of the field sports of the East. ”

“ I need not say that in the course of ten years we had made great strides in those arts which our wants had first led us to learn. When we first came the land near Tent House was a bare waste; now it bore fine crops, and was kept as neat as a Swiss farm. At the foot of the hill by the side of Rock Cave, was a large plot of ground, which we laid out in beds, and here we grew herbs and shrubs, and such plants as we used for food. ”

“ The King was true to his word. From time to time ships came to the Home of Earth, and each bore the name of some dire evil. At last a great ship was sent, the name of which was The Grave, which bore the flag of Death. ”

“ To make a flight of stairs of such great length was no slight task, and each time that I thought of it I gave it up as a thing we could not do. But I now had a mind to try our skill at this kind of work. I knew that a swarm of bees had built their nest in the trunk of our tree, and this led me to think that there might be a void space 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 the stairs in the tree round the trunk." ”

“ There was to be seen so much that was new to us, and so much to be found that we could make good use of, that Fritz and I spent the whole of the next day in the woods. We took the ass 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 small birds, but such game could not now tempt Fritz to waste his shot. We then 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 that might turn and bite us. ”

“ On a piece of land which lay to the left we could see some large dark thing, round which flew a flock of sea gulls. We put up a sail and caught a gust of wind which had sprung up, and this soon brought the boat 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 a stick. Fritz was the first to find out that what the sea gulls had just left was the huge fish he had shot in the sea. It was a large shark, and we could see the wound in its head made by the two balls in Fritz's gun. ”

“ It made me pray to God that he would save us all from so dire a fate as to die far from the sound of the voice of man, with no one to hear our last words, or lay us in the earth when He should call us to our rest. ”