the cliff, uttering parting screams.
The young woman realised that she must do as her husband advised, and
regretfully she said:
“Let us go.”
Suddenly the boatswain sprang to his feet, and making an ear-trumpet of
his hand, listened intently.
A report, muffled by the distance, was audible from the north.
“A gun!” exclaimed John Block.
CHAPTER X
THE FLAG ON THE PEAK
All stood motionless, their hearts tense with excitement, their eyes
turned towards the northern horizon, listening intently, scarcely
breathing.
In the distance a few more shots rang out, the sound borne to them on
the faint breath of the breeze.
“It’s a ship passing off the coast!” said Captain Gould at length.
“Yes; those reports can only come from a ship,” John Block replied;
“when night falls, perhaps we shall see her lights.”
“But couldn’t those shots have been fired on land?” Jenny suggested.
“On land, Jenny dear?” Fritz exclaimed. “You mean there may be some land
near this island?”
“I think it is more likely that there is some ship off there to the
northward,” Captain Gould said again.
“Why should it have fired the gun?” James asked.
“Yes, why?” Jenny echoed him.
If the second surmise were the right one, it followed that the ship
could not be very far from the shore. Perhaps when it was quite dark
they would be able to distinguish the flashes from the guns, if they
were fired again. They might also see her lights before long. But, since
the sound of the guns had come from the north, it was quite possible
that the ship would remain invisible, since the sea in that direction
could not be seen.
No longer did anyone think of going through the ravine, back to Turtle
Bay. Whatever the weather might be, they would all remain where they
were until day. Unfortunately, in the event of a ship coming down on the
west or east, lack of wood would prevent them from lighting a fire to
signal it.
Those distant reports had stirred their hearts to the very depths. They
seemed united by them once more to their kind, felt as though this
island were now not so utterly isolated.
They would have liked to go at once to the far end of the plateau, and
to watch the sea to the northward, whence the cannon shots had come. But
the evening was getting on, and night would fall quite soon--a night
without moon or stars, darkened by the low clouds that the breeze was
chasing to the south. They could not venture among the rocks in
darkness. It would be difficult enough by day; it was impossible by
night.
So it became necessary to settle themselves for the night where they
were, and everyone got busy. After a long search the boatswain
discovered a kind of recess, a space between two rocks, where Jenny,
Susan, Dolly, and the little boy could lie close to the ground, as there
was no sand or sea-weed for them to lie on. They would at least have
shelter from the wind if it should freshen, even shelter from the rain
if the clouds broke.
The provisions were taken from the bags and all ate. There was food for
several days, in any case. And might not all fear of spending a winter
in Turtle Bay soon be banished for ever?
Night fell--an endless night it seemed, whose long drawn hours no one
could ever forget, except little Bob, who slept in his mother’s arms.
Utter darkness reigned. From the sea-coast the lights of a ship would
have been visible several miles out at sea.
Captain Gould, and most of the others, insisted on remaining afoot until
daybreak. Their eyes incessantly wandered over the east and west and
south, in the hope of seeing a vessel passing off the island, and not
without fears that she might leave it astern, never to return to it. Had
they been in Turtle Bay at this moment, they would have lighted a fire
upon the end of the promontory. Here, that was impossible.
No light shone out before the return of dawn, no report broke the
silence of the night, no ship came in sight of the island.
The men began to wonder whether they had not been mistaken, if they had
not taken for the sound of cannon what might only have been the roar of
some distant storm.
“No, no,” Fritz insisted, “we were not mistaken! It really was a cannon
firing out there in the north, a good long way away.”
“I’m sure of it,” the boatswain replied.
“But why should they be firing guns?” James Wolston urged.
“Either in salute or in self-defence,” Fritz answered.
“Perhaps some savages have landed on the island and made an attack,”
Frank suggested.
“Anyhow,” the boatswain answered, “it wasn’t savages who fired those
guns.”
“So the island would be inhabited by Americans or Europeans?” James
enquired.
“Well, to begin with, is it only an island?” Captain Gould replied. “How
do we know what is beyond this cliff? Are we perhaps upon some very
large island--”
“A very large island in this part of the Pacific?” Fritz rejoined.
“Which one? I don’t see--”
“In my opinion,” John Block remarked, with much good sense, “it is
useless to argue about all that. The truth is we don’t know whether our
island is in the Pacific or the Indian Ocean. Let us have a little
patience until dawn, which will break quite soon, and then we will go
and see what there is up there to the northward.”
“Perhaps everything--perhaps nothing!” said James.
“Well,” the boatswain retorted, “it will be something to know which!”
About three o’clock the first glimmer of dawn began to show. Low on the
horizon the east grew pale. The weather was very calm, for the wind had
dropped towards morning. The clouds which had been chased by the breeze
were now replaced by a veil of mist, through which the sun eventually
broke. The whole sky gradually cleared. The streak of light drawn
sharply across the east grew wider-spread over the line of sky and sea.
The glorious sun appeared, throwing long streamers of light over the
surface of the waters.
Eagerly all eyes travelled over so much of the ocean as was visible.
But no vessel was to be seen!
At this moment Captain Gould was joined by Jenny, Dolly, and by Susan
Wolston, who was holding her child’s hand.
The albatross fluttered to and fro, hopped from rock to rock, and
sometimes went quite far off to the northward, as if it were pointing
out the way.
“It looks as if he were showing us where to go,” said Jenny.
“We must follow him!” Dolly exclaimed.
“Not until we have had breakfast,” Captain Gould replied. “We may have
several hours’ marching in front of us, and we must keep up our
strength.”
They shared the provisions hurriedly, so impatient were they to be off,
and before seven o’clock they were moving towards the north.
It was most difficult walking among the rocks. Captain Gould and the
boatswain, in advance, pointed out the practicable paths. Then Fritz
came helping Jenny, Frank helping Dolly, and James helping Susan and
little Bob.
Nowhere did the foot encounter grass or sand. It was all a chaotic
accumulation of stones, what might have been a vast field of scattered
rocks or moraines. Over it birds were flying, frigate-birds, sea-mews,
and sea-swallows, in whose flight the albatross sometimes joined.
They marched for an hour, at the cost of immense fatigue, and had
accomplished little more than two miles, steadily up hill. There was no
change in the appearance of the nature of the plateau.
It was absolutely necessary to call a halt in order to get a little
rest.
Fritz then suggested that he should go on ahead with Captain Gould and
John Block. That would spare the others fresh fatigue.
The proposal was unanimously rejected. They would not separate. They all
wanted to be there when--or if--the sea became visible in the northward.
The march was resumed about nine o’clock. The mist tempered the heat of
the sun. At this season it might have been insupportable on this stony
waste, on which the rays fell almost vertically at noon.
While still extending towards the north, the plateau was widening out to
east and west, and the sea, which so far had been visible in both these
directions, would soon be lost to sight. And still there was not a tree,
not a trace of vegetation, nothing but the same sterility and solitude.
A few low hills rose here and there ahead.
At eleven o’clock a kind of cone showed its naked peak, towering some
three hundred feet above this portion of the plateau.
“We must get to the top of that,” said Jenny.
“Yes,” Fritz replied; “from there we shall be able to see over a much
wider horizon. But it may be a rough climb!”
It probably would be, but so irresistible was the general desire to
ascertain the actual situation that no one would have consented to
remain behind, however great the fatigue might be. Yet who could tell
whether these poor people were not marching to a last disappointment, to
the shattering of their last hope?
They resumed their journey towards the peak, which now was about half a
mile away. Every step was difficult, and progress was painfully slow
among the hundreds of rocks which must be scrambled over or gone round.
It was more like a chamois track than a footpath. The boatswain insisted
on carrying little Bob, and his mother gave the child to him. Fritz and
Jenny, Frank and Dolly, and James and Susan kept near together, that the
men might help the women over the dangerous bits.
It was past two o’clock in the afternoon when the base of the cone was
reached. They had taken three hours to cover less than a mile and three
quarters since the last halt. But they were obliged to rest again.
The stop was of short duration, and in twenty minutes the climbing
began.
It had occurred to Captain Gould to go round the peak, to avoid a tiring
climb. But its base was seen to be impassable, and, after all, the
height was not great.
At the outset the foot found hold upon a soil where scanty plants were
growing, clumps of stone-crops to which the fingers could cling.
Half an hour sufficed to bring them half-way up the peak. Then Fritz,
who was in front, let a cry of surprise escape him.
All stopped, looking at him.
“What is that, up there?” he said, pointing to the extreme top of the
cone.
A stick was standing upright there, a stick five or six feet long, fixed
between the highest rocks.
“Can it be a branch of a tree, with all the leaves stripped off?” said
Frank.
“No; that is not a branch,” Captain Gould declared.
“It is a stick--a walking-stick!” Fritz declared. “A stick which has been
set up there.”
“And to which a flag has been fastened,” the boatswain added; “and the
flag is still there!”
A flag at the summit of this peak!
Yes; and the breeze was beginning to stir the flag, although from this
distance the colours could not be identified.
“Then there are inhabitants on this island!” Frank exclaimed.
“Not a doubt of it!” Jenny declared.
“Or if not,” Fritz went on, “it is clear, at any rate, that someone has
taken possession of it.”
“What island is this, then?” James Wolston demanded.
“Or, rather, what flag is this?” Captain Gould added.
“An English flag!” the boatswain cried. “Look: red bunting with the
yacht in the corner!”
The wind had just spread out the flag, and it certainly was a British
flag.
How they sprang from rock to rock! A hundred and fifty feet still
separated them from the summit, but they were no longer conscious of
fatigue, did not try to recover their wind, but hurried up without
stopping, carried along by what seemed supernatural strength!
At length, just before three o’clock, Captain Gould and his companions
stood side by side on the top of the peak.
Their disappointment was bitter when they turned their eyes towards the
north.
A thick mist hid the horizon. It was impossible to discover whether the
plateau ended on this side in a perpendicular cliff, as it did at Turtle
Bay, or whether it spread much further beyond. Through this dense fog
nothing could be seen. Above the layer of vapour the sky was still
bright with the rays of the sun, now beginning to decline into the west.
Well, they would camp there and wait until the breeze had driven the fog
away! Not one of them would go back without having examined the northern
portion of the island!
For was there not a British flag there, floating in the breeze? Did it
not say as plainly as words that this land was known, that it must
figure in latitude and longitude on the English charts?
And those guns they had heard the day before, who could say that they
did not come from ships saluting the flag as they moved by? Who could
say that there was not some harbour on this coast, that there were not
ships at anchor there at this very moment?
And, even if this land were merely a small islet, would there be
anything wonderful in Great Britain having taken possession of it, when
it lay on the confines of the Indian and the Pacific Oceans?
Alternatively, why should it not belong to the Australian continent, so
little of which was known in this direction, which was part of the
British dominions?
As they talked a bird’s cry rang out, followed by a rapid beating of
wings.
It was Jenny’s albatross, which had just taken flight, and was speeding
away through the mists towards the north.
Whither was the bird going? Towards some distant shore?
Its departure produced a feeling of depression, even of anxiety. It
seemed like a desertion.
But time was passing. The intermittent breeze was not strong enough to
disperse the fog, whose heavy scrolls were rolling at the base of the
cone. Would the night fall before the northern horizon had been laid
bare to view?
But no; all hope was not yet lost. As the mists began to decrease, Fritz
was able to make out that the cone dominated, not a cliff, but long
slopes, which probably extended as far as the level of the sea.
Then the wind freshened, the folds of the flag stiffened, and, nearly
level with the mists, everyone could see the declivity for a distance of
a hundred yards.
It was no longer a mere accumulation of rocks, it was the other side of
a mountain, where showed growths on which they had not set eyes for many
a long month!
How they feasted their sight on these wide stretches of verdure, on the
shrubs, aloes, mastic-trees, and myrtles which were growing everywhere!
No; they would not wait for the fog to disperse, and besides, it was
imperative that they should reach the base of the mountain before night
enveloped them in its shadows!
But now, eight or nine hundred feet below, through the rifts in the
mist, appeared the top of the foliage of a forest which extended for
several miles; then a vast and fertile plain, strown with clumps of
trees and groves, with broad meadows and vast grass-lands traversed by
water-courses, the largest of which ran eastwards towards a bay in the
coast-line.
On the east and west, the sea extended to the furthest limit of the
horizon. Only on the north was it wanting to make of this land, not an
islet, but a large island.
Finally, very far away, could be seen the faint outlines of a rocky
rampart running from west to east. Was that the edge of a coast?
“Let us go! Let us go!” cried Fritz.
“Yes; let us go!” Frank echoed him. “We shall be down before night.”
“And we will pass the night in the shelter of the trees,” Captain Gould
added.
The last mists cleared away. Then the ocean was revealed over a distance
which might be as much as eighteen or twenty miles.
This was an island--it was certainly an island!
They then saw that the northern coast was indented by three bays of
unequal size, the largest of which lay to the north-west, another to the
north, while the smallest opened to the north-east, and was more deeply
cut into the coast-line than the other two. The arm of the sea which
gave access to it was bounded by two distant capes, one of which had at
its end a lofty promontory.
No other land showed out to sea. Not a sail appeared on the horizon.
Looking back towards the south the eye was held by the top of the crest
of the cliff which enclosed Turtle Bay, five miles or so away.
What a contrast between the desert region which Captain Gould and his
companions had just crossed and the land which now lay before their
eyes! Here was a fertile and variegated champaign, forests, plains,
everywhere the luxuriant vegetation of the tropics! But nowhere was
there a hamlet, or a village, or a single habitation.
And then a cry--a cry of sudden revelation which he could not have
restrained--broke from the breast of Fritz, while both his arms were
stretched out towards the north.
“New Switzerland!”
“Yes; New Switzerland!” Frank cried in his turn.
“New Switzerland!” echoed Jenny and Dolly, in tones broken by emotion.
And so, in front of them, beyond that forest, and beyond those prairies,
the rocky barrier that they could see was the rampart through which the
defile of Cluse opened on to the Green Valley! Beyond lay the Promised
Land, with its woods and farms and Jackal River! There was Falconhurst
in the heart of its mangrove wood, and beyond Rock Castle and the trees
in its orchards! That bay on the left was Pearl Bay, and farther away,
like a small black speck, was the Burning Rock, crowned with the smoke
from its crater; there was Nautilus Bay, with False Hope Point
projecting from it; and Deliverance Bay, protected by Shark’s Island!
And why should it not have been the guns from that battery whose report
they had heard the day before, for there was no ship to be seen either
in the bay or out in the open sea?
Joyful exceedingly, with throbbing hearts and eyes wet with tears of
gratitude, all of them joined with Frank in the prayer which went up to
God.
CHAPTER XI
BY WELL-KNOWN WAYS
The cave in which Mr. Wolston, Ernest, and Jack had spent the night four
months before, on the day before the English flag was planted at the
summit of Jean Zermatt peak, was that evening full of happiness. If no
one enjoyed a tranquil sleep, sleeplessness was not due to bad dreams
but to the excitement of the recent happenings.
After their prayer of thanksgiving, they had all declined to delay a
minute longer at the summit of the peak. Not for two hours would day
yield to night, and that time would be long enough for them to reach the
foot of the range.
“It would be very strange,” Fritz remarked, “if we could not find some
cave large enough to shelter us all.”
“Besides,” Frank answered, “we shall be lying under the trees--under the
trees of New Switzerland!--New Switzerland!”
He could not refrain from saying the dear name over and over again, the
name that was blessed by all.
“Speak it again, Dolly dear!” he exclaimed. “Say it again, that I may
hear it once more.”
“New Switzerland!” laughed the girl, her eyes shining with happiness.
“New Switzerland!” Jenny repeated, holding Fritz’s hand in her own.
And there was not one of them, not even Bob, who did not echo it.
“Well, good people,” said Captain Harry Gould, “if we have made up our
minds to go down to the foot of the mountain we have no time to lose.”
“What about eating?” John Block enquired. “And how are we to get food on
the way?”
“In forty-eight hours we shall be at Rock Castle,” Frank declared.
“Besides,” Fritz said, “isn’t there any quantity of game on the plains
of New Switzerland?”
“And how are you going to hunt it without guns?” Captain Gould enquired.
“Clever as Fritz and Frank are, I hardly imagine that merely by pointing
a stick--”
“Pooh!” Fritz answered. “Haven’t we got legs? You’ll see, captain!
Before mid-day to-morrow we shall have real meat instead of that turtle
stuff.”
“We must not abuse the turtles, Fritz,” said Jenny, “if only out of
gratitude.”
“You are quite right, wife, but let us be off! Bob doesn’t want to stay
here any longer; do you, Bob?”
“No, no,” the child replied; “not if papa and mama are coming too.”
“And to think,” said the boatswain slily, “to think that down there, in
the south, we have got a beautiful beach where turtles and mussels
swarm--and a beautiful cave where there are provisions for several
weeks--and in that cave a beautiful bed of sea-weed--and we are going to
leave all that for--”
“We will come back for our treasures by and by!” Fritz promised.
“But still--” John Block persisted.
“Oh, shut up, you wretched fellow!” Captain Gould ordered, laughing.
“I’ll shut up, captain; there are only two words more I should like to
say.”
“What are they?”
“Cut away!”
As usual, Fritz took the lead. They descended the cone without any
difficulty, and reached the foot of the range. Some happy instinct, a
genuine sense of direction, had led them to take the same path as Mr.
Wolston, Ernest, and Jack had taken, and it was barely eight o’clock
when they reached the edge of the vast pine-forest.
And by a no less happy chance--there seemed nothing surprising in it, for
they had entered upon the season of happy chances--the boatswain found
the cave in which Mr. Wolston and the two brothers had taken shelter. It
was rather small, but large enough for Jenny and Dolly and Susan and
little Bob. The men could sleep in the open air. They could tell, from
the white ashes of a fire, that the cave had been occupied before.
Perhaps all the members of the two families had crossed this forest and
climbed the peak on which the British flag was waving!
After supper, when Bob had fallen asleep in a corner of the cave, they
talked long, notwithstanding all the fatigue of the day, and the talk
turned upon the flag.
During the week that they had been held prisoners, the ship must have
sailed northwards. The only explanation of that could be the persistence
of contrary winds, for it was manifestly to the interest of Robert
Borupt and the crew to reach the far waters of the Pacific. If they had
not done so it was because the weather had prevented them.
Everything now went to show that the -Flag- had been driven towards the
Indian Ocean, into the proximity of New Switzerland. Reckoning the time
that had passed, and the course that had been followed, since the boat
had been cast adrift, the incontestable conclusion followed that on that
day Harry Gould and his companions could not have been much more than a
couple of hundred miles from the desired island, though they had
imagined themselves separated from it by a thousand or more.
The boat had touched land on the southern coast, which Fritz and Frank
did not know at all, the other side of the mountain range which they had
seen for the first time when they came out into the Green Valley. Who
could have dreamed that there could be such an amazing difference in the
nature of the soil and its products between the rich country to the
north of the range and the arid plateau which extended from the peak to
the sea?
Now they could understand the arrival of the albatross on the other side
of the cliff. After Jenny Montrose’s departure the bird had probably
returned to Burning Rock, whence it flew sometimes to the shore of New
Switzerland, though it had never gone either to Falconhurst or Rock
Castle.
What a big part the faithful bird had played in their salvation! It was
to him that they owed the discovery of that second cavern into which
little Bob had followed him, and, as a consequence, the finding of the
passage which came out on the top of the cliff.
The conversation lasted far into the night. But at last fatigue overcame
them, and they slept. But at early dawn they took some food and set out
again in high spirits.
Besides the traces of a fire in the cave, the little band encountered
other signs in the forest and the open country. The trampled grass and
broken branches were caused by the constant movement of animals,
ruminants or beasts of prey, but it was impossible to be under any
misapprehension when they came upon the traces of encampments.
“Besides,” Fritz pointed out, “who but our own people could have planted
the flag on the summit of that peak?”
“Unless it went and planted itself there!” the boatswain replied with a
laugh.
“Which would not be a surprising thing for an English flag to do!” Fritz
replied cheerfully. “There are quite a lot of places where it would seem
to have grown by itself!”
Led by Fritz, the party descended the first slopes of the range, which
were partly covered by the forest.
Great obstacles to overcome or serious risks to be incurred seemed
unlikely on the way from the range to the Promised Land.
The distance between the two points might be estimated at twenty miles.
If they did ten miles a day, with a halt for two hours at mid-day, and
slept one night on the way, they could reach the defile of Cluse in the
evening of the following day.
From the defile to Rock Castle or to Falconhurst would be a matter of a
few hours only.
“Ah,” said Frank, “if we only had our two good buffaloes, Storm and
Grumbler, or Fritz’s onager, or Whirlwind, Jack’s ostrich, it would only
take us one day to get to Rock Castle!”
“I am sure that Frank forgot to post the letter we wrote, asking them to
send the animals to us,” Jenny answered merrily.
“What, Frank, did you forget?” asked Fritz. “A thoughtful, attentive
fellow like you?”
“No,” said Frank, “it was Jenny who forgot to tie a note to her
albatross’s leg before he flew off.”
“How thoughtless of me!” the young woman exclaimed.
“But it is not certain that the postman would have taken the letter to
the right address,” Dolly said.
“Who knows?” Frank replied. “Everything that is happening now is so
extraordinary.”
“Well,” said Captain Gould, “since we can’t count upon Storm or Grumbler
or Whirlwind or the onager, the best thing we can do is to trust to our
own legs.”
“And to step lively,” John Block added.
They started with the firm intention only to halt at mid-day. From time
to time James and Frank and the boatswain carried Bob, although the
child wanted to walk. So they lost no time crossing the forest.
James and Susan Wolston, who knew nothing of the marvels of New
Switzerland, were filled with constant admiration of the luxuriant
vegetation, which is far finer than that of Cape Colony.
And yet they were only in the part of the island which was left to
itself, and had never been touched by the hand of man! What would it be
like when they came to the cultivated portion of the district, to the
farms at Eberfurt, Sugar-cane Grove, Wood Grange, and Prospect Hill, the
rich territory of the Promised Land?
Game abounded everywhere--agoutis, peccaries, cavies, antelopes, and
rabbits, besides bustards, partridges, grouse, hazel-hens, guinea fowls,
and ducks. Fritz and Frank had good reason to regret not having their
sporting guns with them. The cavies and peccaries and agoutis would not
let anyone come near them, and it seemed likely that they would be
reduced to finishing what was left of their provisions for their next
meal.
But then the question of food was resolved by a stroke of luck.
About eleven o’clock, Fritz, walking in front, made a sign for everyone
to stop at the edge of a little clearing crossed by a narrow stream, on
the bank of which an animal was quenching its thirst.
It was an antelope, and it meant wholesome and refreshing meat if only
they could contrive to capture it somehow!
The simplest plan seemed to be to make a ring around the clearing,
without allowing themselves to be seen, and directly the antelope
attempted to break out, to stop its way, regardless of danger from its
horns, overpower, and kill it.
The difficulty was to carry through this operation without alarming an
animal whose sight is so keen, hearing so sharp, and scent so delicate.
While Jenny and Susan and Dolly and Bob halted behind a bush, Fritz,
Frank, James, Captain Gould, and the boatswain, armed only with their
pocket knives, began to work round the clearing, keeping well under
cover in the thickets.
The antelope went on drinking at the stream, showing no signs of
uneasiness, until Fritz got up sharply and uttered a loud shout.
At once the animal sprang up, stretched out its neck, and jumped towards
the brake, which it could have cleared in a single leap.
It made for the side where Frank and John Block were standing, each with
knife in hand.
The beast sprang, but took off badly, fell back, bowled the boatswain
over, and struggled to rise.
Then up came Fritz, and throwing himself upon the animal, succeeded in
driving his knife into its flank. But this one blow would not have been
sufficient if Captain Gould had not succeeded in cutting its throat.
The animal lay motionless among the branches, and the boatswain got up
nimbly.
“Confounded brute!” exclaimed John Block, who had escaped with a few
bruises. “I’ve shipped more than one heavy sea in my time, but never
been bowled over like that!”
“I hope you are not much hurt, Block?” Captain Gould asked.
“No: only scratched, and that don’t matter, captain. What annoys me is
to have been turned upside down like that.”
“Well, to make up for it we will keep the best bit for you,” Jenny
answered.
“No, Mrs. Fritz, no! no! I would rather have the bit that pitched me on
to the ground. That was its head. I want that animal’s head!”
They set to work to cut up the antelope and take out the edible parts.
Since they were now assured of food to last them until the evening of
the following day, there would be no need for them to trouble further
about it before they got to the defile of Cluse.
Fritz and Frank were no novices where the preparation of game was
concerned. Had they not studied it in theory and in practice in twelve
years’ hunting among the grass-lands and woods of the Promised Land? Nor
was the boatswain clumsy over the job. He seemed to derive real
revengeful pleasure in skinning the animal. Within a quarter of an hour
the haunches, cutlets, and other savoury portions were ready to be
grilled over the embers.
As it was nearly noon, it seemed best to camp in the clearing, where the
stream would furnish clear, fresh water. Captain Gould and James lighted
a wood fire at the foot of a mangrove. Then Fritz placed the best bits
of the antelope over the glowing embers and left Susan and Holly to
superintend the cooking.
By a lucky chance Jenny had just found a quantity of roots such as can
be roasted in the ashes. They were of a kind to satisfy hungry stomachs,
and would agreeably complete the bill of fare for luncheon.
No flesh is more delicate than that of the antelope, which is both
fragrant and tender, and everybody agreed that this was a real treat.
“How good it is,” John Block exclaimed, “to eat real meat which has
walked in its lifetime, and not crawled clumsily over the ground!”
“We won’t cry down turtles,” Captain Gould replied; “not even to sing
the praises of antelope.”
“The captain is right,” said Jenny. “Without those excellent creatures,
which have fed us ever since we got to the island, what would have
become of us?”
“Then here’s luck to turtles!” cried the boatswain. “But give me another
chop.”
When this refreshing meal was finished, they set out once more. They had
no time to lose if the afternoon stage was to complete the ten miles
planned for the day.
If Fritz and Frank had been alone, they would have paid no heed to
fatigue. They would have marched all night and made but a single stage
of the whole journey to the defile. They may have had the idea now, and
it was certainly very tempting, for they could have got to Rock Castle
in the afternoon of the following day. But they did not venture to
suggest going on ahead.
Besides, think of the happiness of all arriving together at their
much-desired goal, to throw themselves into the arms of the relations
and friends who had been waiting so long for them, who might have lost
all hope of ever seeing them again!
The second stage was done under the same conditions as the first, in
order to husband the strength of Jenny and Dolly and Susan Wolston.
No incident occurred, and about four o’clock in the afternoon the edge
of the forest was reached.
A fertile champaign extended beyond. Its vegetation was entirely due to
the productivity of the soil, verdant grass-lands and woods or clumps of
trees studding the country right up to the entrance to the Green Valley.
A few herds of stags and deer passed in the distance, but there was no
question of hunting them. Numerous flocks of ostriches were also seen,
reminding Fritz and Frank of their expedition to the country near the
Arabian Watch-tower.
Several elephants appeared as well. They moved quietly through the thick
woods, and one could imagine the longing eyes with which Jack would have
regarded them if he had been there!
“While we have been away,” Fritz said, “Jack may have succeeded in
capturing an elephant, and taming and training it, as we did Storm and
Grumbler and Lightfoot!”
“It’s quite possible, dear,” Jenny answered. “After fourteen months’
absence we must expect to find something new in New Switzerland.”
“Our second fatherland!” Frank said.
“I am already picturing other houses there,” Holly exclaimed, “and other
farms--perhaps a village even!”
“Well,” said the boatswain, “I could be quite content with what we see
about us; and I can’t imagine anything better in your island than we
have here.”
“It is nothing compared with the Promised Land, Mr. Block,” Dolly
declared.
“Nothing,” Jenny agreed. “M. Zermatt gave it that Bible name because it
deserved it, and we, more blest than the children of Israel, are about
to set foot in the land of Canaan.”
And John Block admitted they were right.
At six o’clock they stopped for the night.
There was little likelihood of change in the weather at this season, and
the cold was not formidable. Indeed, they had suffered rather from heat
during the day, in spite of the fact that they were in the shelter of
the trees during the hottest hours. After that, a few isolated woods and
copses had enabled them to walk in the shade without wandering too far
from the direct route.
Supper was prepared, as the earlier meal had been, before a crackling
fire of dry wood. This night would not be spent within a cave, but, with
fatigue to rock them, not one of them lay awake.
As a matter of precaution, however, Fritz and Frank and the boatswain
decided to keep alternate watch. When darkness fell, roaring could be
heard in the far distance. There were wild beasts in this part of the
island.
Next morning a start was made at daybreak. They hoped to get through the
defile of Cluse in the second stage of the journey, if they met with no
obstacles on the way.
There were no more hardships about the march to-day than there had been
the day before. They went from wood to wood, so to speak, avoiding as
much as possible the rays of the sun.
After the mid-day meal, taken by the side of a fast-running river twenty
to thirty yards in width, flowing towards the north, they merely had to
go along the left bank.
Neither Fritz nor Frank knew this river, since their expeditions had
never brought them into the heart of the island. They had no idea that
it had already received a name, that it was called the Montrose, as they
had no knowledge of the new name of Jean Zermatt peak, on whose summit
the British flag was floating. What a pleasure it would be to Jenny to
learn that this river bore the name of her family!
After marching for an hour they left the Montrose, which bore off
sharply to the east. Two hours later Fritz and Frank, who had taken the
lead, set foot at length on country known to them.
“The Green Valley!” they shouted, and saluted it with a cheer.
It was the Green Valley, and now they only had to get to the rampart
enclosing the Promised Land to be at the defile of Cluse.
This time, no consideration, no hunger or fatigue, could have availed to
hold back any of them. Following Fritz and Frank, they all hurried
forward, although the path was steep. They seemed to be impelled
forcibly towards the goal which they had despaired of ever attaining!
Oh, if only by some extraordinary good luck M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston
might be at the hermitage at Eberfurt, and their families with them, as
the custom was during the summer season!
But that would have been too good to be true, as people say. Not even
John Block dared to hope for it.
The beams across the entrance were all in place, fixed firmly between
interstices among the rocks so as to resist the efforts of even the most
powerful animals.
“That is our door!” Fritz cried.
“Yes,” said Jenny, “the door into the Promised Land where all our dear
ones live!”
They only had to remove one of the beams, a task which took but a few
minutes.
And then at last they were through the defile, and all had the feeling
that they were entering their own home--home, which, only three days ago,
they had supposed to be hundreds and hundreds of miles away!
Fritz and Frank and John Block replaced the beam in its proper grooves
so as to bar the way against wild beasts and pachyderms.
About half-past seven night was falling with the suddenness peculiar to
the tropics when Fritz and his companions reached the hermitage at
Eberfurt.
Nobody was at the farm, and, although they regretted this, there was no
occasion for them to be surprised.
The little villa was in perfect order. They opened all the doors and
windows, and proceeded to make themselves comfortable for the ten hours
or so they would stay.
In accordance with M. Zermatt’s practice, the house was quite ready for
the reception of the two families, who visited it several times in the
course of the year. The bedsteads were given to Jenny and Dolly, Susan
and little Bob, and to Captain Gould. Dry grass spread on the floor of
the out-house would be good enough for the others this last night before
their return home.
Moreover, Eberfurt was always provided with stores to last a week.
So Jenny only had the trouble of opening large wicker hampers, to find
preserves of various kinds, sago, cassava, or tapioca flour, and salted
meat and fish. As for fruit--figs, mangoes, bananas, pears and
apples--they only had to take a step to pick them from the trees, and
only another to gather vegetables in the kitchen garden.
Of course the kitchen and larder were properly equipped with all
necessary utensils. Directly a good wood fire was crackling in the
stove, the pot was set upon its tripod. Water was drawn from an
off-shoot from the Eastern River, which supplied the reservoir belonging
to the farm. And it was with special pleasure that Fritz and Frank were
able to offer their guests glasses of palm wine drawn from the barrels
in the cellar.
“Ah-ha!” cried the boatswain. “We’ve been teetotallers a very long
time.”
“Well, we will pledge you now, good old Block!” Fritz exclaimed.
“As much as you like,” the boatswain answered. “Nothing could be more
pleasant than drinking one another’s health in this excellent wine.”
“Let us drink then,” said Frank, “to the happiness of seeing our parents
and our friends again at Falconhurst or Rock Castle!” And, clinking
glasses, they gave three cheers for the Zermatts and the Wolstons.
“Seriously,” John Block remarked, “there are plenty of inns in England
and elsewhere which aren’t nearly so good as this hermitage of
Eberfurt.”
“Moreover, Block,” Fritz answered, “here the entertainment is free!”
When supper was finished all sought the repose of which they had such
need after their long day’s march.
Every one of them slept until the sun rose next morning.
CHAPTER XII
ENEMIES IN THE PROMISED LAND
At seven o’clock next morning, after breakfasting off the remains of
supper and drinking a stirrup-cup of palm wine, Fritz and his companions
left the hermitage at Eberfurt.
They were all in haste, and intended to cover the seven and a half miles
that lay between the farm and Falconhurst in less than three hours.
“It is possible that our people may be settled now in their dwelling in
the air,” Fritz remarked.
“If so, dear,” said Jenny, “we shall have the joy of meeting them quite
an hour sooner.”
“Provided they have not gone into summer quarters on Prospect Hill,”
Frank observed. “In that case we should be obliged to go back to False
Hope Point.”
“Isn’t that the cape from which M. Zermatt must watch for the
-Unicorn-?” Captain Gould enquired.
“That is the one, captain,” Fritz replied; “and as the corvette must
have completed her repairs, it will not be long before she reaches the
island.”
“However that may be,” the boatswain remarked, “the best thing we can
do, in my opinion, is to start. If there is nobody at Falconhurst we
will go to Rock Castle, and if there is nobody at Rock Castle we will go
to Prospect Hill, or anywhere else. But let us get on the march!”
Although there was no lack of kitchen utensils and gardening tools at
the hermitage, Fritz had looked in vain for any sporting guns and
ammunition. When his father and brothers came to the farm they brought
their guns, but never left them there. However, there was nothing to be
afraid of in crossing the Promised Land, since no wild beasts could get
through the defile of Cluse.
A cart road--and how often already had it been rolled by the waggon which
the buffaloes and the onager drew!--ran between the cultivated fields,
now in their full vegetation, and the woods in their full verdure. The
sight of all this prosperity gladdened the eye. Captain Gould and the
boatswain, and James and Susan Wolston, who saw this district for the
first time, were amazed. Most certainly might colonists come here; it
could support hundreds, the island as a whole could thousands!
After marching for an hour and a half, Fritz stopped for a few moments,
nearly midway between the hermitage of Eberfurt and Falconhurst, before
a stream which he did not know existed in this part of the district.
“That is something new,” he said.
“It certainly is,” Jenny answered. “I do not remember any stream in this
place.”
“It is more like a canal,” Captain Gould remarked.
“You are right, captain,” said Fritz. “Mr. Wolston must have conceived
the idea of drawing water from Jackal River to supply Swan Lake and keep
it full during the hot weather, which would enable them to irrigate the
land round Wood Grange.”
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