THE BULL FIGHT
As the boys grew more and more familiar with the island the greater was
its store of abundance shown to them. Each journey to the interior
brought some surprise in the way of fruit, flower or vegetable. Some
were of species well known to them; others unknown, and most of such
came to them under names of chemicals only.
"There is one plant, at any rate," said Harry, "that makes this seem
like home, and that is the thistle."
"Yes, and it is the one common enemy of man in every part of the world.
It is the most successful business plant, in this particular, that it is
equipped to resist attacks from other plants and from animals as well."
"But donkeys and some cattle will eat them."
"For the reason that nature has given such animals the proper coating
and linings of mouth and stomach that the thorns do not affect them.
There is hardly a plant which is as nutritious as the thistle. In
England, the thistle leaves, in early days, were used as salads."
Harry was an ardent admirer of flowers, and was constantly bringing in
some specimen for examination. "Here is a very pretty flower which is
differently colored from any that I have seen before. It looks like the
wood sorrel."
"It is the sorrel, but if you should be in Ireland, the people there
would call it the shamrock. St. Patrick taught the people that it
typifies the trinity with its three leaves. The plant has some very
peculiar qualities. It actually goes to sleep at night. It folds up its
leaves. It is so sensitive to light that it has at least four different
methods by which it can adjust itself with the greatest nicety to the
amount of light which it receives."
[Illustration: _Fig. 21. Fruit and Flower of Vanilla._]
"I think I have found vanilla; or it is something that smells like it,
but I did not know that the vanilla was a climber."
"You have found the wild vanilla, the flowers of which have, as you see,
disappeared and the bean is the product."
"I have often wondered why it is that we are able to smell or to
recognize different odors."
"Smell, like everything else in nature, is produced by vibrations. So is
sound, and light, and taste. Each odor has its particular rate of
vibration. They resemble very much the notes of a musical instrument,
and, as in music, odors can be harmonized, or they may be so mixed
together as to produce discord. Some perfumes, when used on the
handkerchief, and are about to fade away, have a sickly and disagreeable
odor. This is due to the admixture of the wrong or discordant tones.
Thus, heliotrope, vanilla, orange blossom and almond blend together;
citron, lemon, vervain and orange peel belong together, but they produce
a stronger impression on the sense of smell, and are of a higher octave;
and so with a still higher class, as patchouly, sandal-wood and
vitavert."
"But what is it in the flowers or essences which make them smell as they
do?"
"Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. It is one of the most remarkable things in
nature that many of the odors in plants are formed by the combination of
only carbon and hydrogen, and the wonderful thing about it is, that
while turpentine is composed of 88 parts of carbon and 12 parts of
hydrogen, the odors of oils of lemon, orange and juniper and rosemary
have the exact proportions of those elements."
It was one of the duties of the colony to preserve the seeds of
different vegetables and grain, because the Professor intended to put
out for their use, as soon as spring came, a garden, which would avoid
the necessity of constantly putting them on the alert to hunt the
different foods. Sometimes it was necessary to go considerable distances
to get the various foods. As long as they were on the island it was the
part of prudence to act like sensible business men, and prepare for the
future.
"We haven't a very big variety of vegetables, and I wish we could find
some real good sweet potatoes and peas; and tomatoes would come in
handy."
"Of course, variety, or the wish for different kinds, is largely a
matter of desire. It is not a necessity."
"But does not the desire for different kinds grow out of the need of man
to get the different substances which vegetables have?"
"To a certain extent, yes; but it is a singular thing that the world
over there seems to be a natural instinct to combine two or three
vegetables, and those vegetables, although they may be different in
different countries, make chemical combinations, when eaten, which are
almost identically similar. Thus, the Irishman mixes cabbages with his
potatoes; the Englishman bacon with his beans, and the Italian rich
cheese with macaroni."
One morning the boys were surprised to find a startling increase in
their herd of yaks. When the Professor arose and went out for his
regular morning stroll he noticed the unusual number, and was not slow
in informing the boys.
"I suppose," said the Professor, "that they are coming to board with us
for the season."
"Well, I am going to inform them, in a not very polite way, that we
don't need company."
He was off with a club, Harry following.
"Look at that immense fellow. Wouldn't he make good sole leather? What
is that on his side; that funny patch?"
Harry called to the Professor. "Did you see the peculiar mark on the
side of the big bull?"
The Professor was on hand at once. "That is certainly a mark of some
kind. See if you can get near enough to ascertain just what it is."
George, who had been so anxious to get rid of them, was now just as
eager to hold them. The bull was a magnificent specimen. Like all this
species he was a dark red, and had immense horns. All yaks, male and
female, have horns, and the Texas steer has no horns to compare with the
yaks in size and gracefulness of curve.
As George advanced there was no action on the part of the herd to
scatter. Their own stock took no notice as he walked among them, and
this, in all probability, gave the wild herd confidence. The bull paid
no attention, until George was within twenty-five feet, when, with a
deep-voiced roar and an ominous lowering and shaking of his shaggy head,
made a beeline for him. The Professor called out, and he and Harry both
sprang forward to aid him, but the bull's rush was a fierce one, and as
we have previously stated, they are very active creatures. George saw
his peril, and now realized that he could not possibly reach a place of
safety, so he sprang behind one of the cows, and from that point sought
to find a way through the herd. The warning voice of the bull, and his
mad rush, excited the entire herd, which started a stampede.
[Illustration: _"George saw his peril and now realized that he could not
possibly reach a place of safety"_]
In the meantime they had not noticed the presence of their own bull,
which was a fine animal, and was now thoroughly domesticated. The
Professor was the first to notice the appearance of their bull, who, it
seems, had been relegated to the background when their neighbors came to
town for their holiday.
Apollo was Harry's name for the bull, and when George got mixed up in
the herd, the strange bull made his charge and emitted the challenging
bellow, the scene was a truly terrific one. George was carried along
with the rush, and his only danger now was to escape being trampled
under foot.
Harry stopped suddenly: "Look at Apollo!" He was making a charge down
into the herd, and headed straight for the big bull.
"I thought it strange that we didn't hear our herd give them a welcome
during the night."
"Welcome! what do you mean?"
"It is singular that Apollo didn't dispute the governorship of the herd
when the new arrivals came, as that is one of the customs. One of them
must be master."
"Just look at him! Good old Apollo!"
At that moment Apollo was within ten feet of the wild bull. He did not
cease his onslaught. The wild animal saw his enemy attacking him from
the right quarter, but his rush had been so impetuous that when Apollo
struck him he rolled over, one of his large horns striking the earth and
serving as a fulcrumed lever to turn him around in his path. He was up
in an instant, and now began the battle for mastery.
"Get the guns, Harry; get the guns," and this was a sufficient reminder
that neither of them had a weapon.
Harry bounded over to the house, and within a minute was back with them.
In the meantime, where was George? He did not need to be told that he
must run for his life, and was wise enough to seek the security among
the cows, but he could not foresee a stampede. It was fortunate that the
big bull was behind the herd when the stampede began, and it was lucky
that there was plenty of room for the animals, or he surely would have
been trampled to death. Naturally, the noise of the rushing animals
drowned the roar of the fighting bulls, but the stampeded yaks gradually
checked themselves, and George was the most surprised individual
imaginable when he found the bull was not behind them.
And now another curious thing happened. They had run fully a quarter of
a mile, and when the running stopped, the yaks leisurely turned around
and slowly walked back. The movement seemed to be a concerted one.
George accompanied them. He didn't know what else to do.
When Apollo and the bull locked horns, after the latter had again gained
his feet, his tremendous bulk pushed Apollo back, at the first onset;
but they noticed a peculiar tactic on the part of Apollo. The latter at
each forward plunge twisted his head, first to the right, and then to
the left, as though he was boring his way in. This was an astonishing
thing to the stranger. This was done by Apollo over and over again, and
now, every time they met, and the twisting motion was repeated, his
enemy would be thrown back on his haunches.
For a period of twenty minutes the combat continued. Back and forth they
ranged. Harry, although intensely excited, wanted to give the bull a
shot, but the Professor restrained him. He felt that the youth of Apollo
was enough to overbalance the strength of his enemy.
"No, Harry, when they get through with this battle the big fellow will
not cause us any more trouble, and we need him."
The herd of cows came up and remained standing at a respectable
distance. They seemed instinctively to know that the question of
kingship was being decided. It was entirely immaterial to them who won.
George did not wait with the herd. He saw the combat, and beyond the
Professor and Harry.
"Well, you did kick up a fuss, didn't you?" said Harry.
"Apollo's got him; he'll lick him sure. See that lunge? My, what a
shaking he gave him that time!" George was a dancing Dervish by this
time. Then noticing the guns for the first time, seized one of them.
"I'll finish him."
"No, no, George," was Harry's reply, as he grasped the gun. "The
Professor is right; Apollo will finish him."
There was now no question of the fighting ability of Apollo, and of his
youth and vigor, and he knew it. His antagonist did not rush any more.
Apollo did that; the bull's main business now was to keep out of
Apollo's way.
He had been whipped, and he knew it. He turned and fled. Did he go
toward the cows? Not at all; but in the opposite direction. Instinct
told him that if he had gone toward the cows it would have meant another
fight. To leave them was the bovine manner of saying, "Well, then, take
them."
The big bull did not go far. His head hung low, and the heaving flanks
showed he was tired. But Apollo's head was high in the air. Dejection on
one side and absolute mastery on the other were as plainly exhibited in
the manners of the animals as though it had been written out and
proclaimed.
"What will he do if I go up to him now?"
"The fight is all out of him."
This was true. He exhibited no alarm when they approached, and when they
walked around to get a view of his other side, the mark plainly showed
the following brand: "M--V."
"That is undoubtedly the brand of some person who captured the animal
when young."
"How old do you suppose he is?"
"It is difficult to fix his age with any certainty, but I do not think
he is over ten."
"What do you suppose the brand means!"
"It is some arbitrary term, the initials of a person, or it may be
intended to designate something. Branding is a very common way of
marking cattle, so as to indicate ownership; nearly all savage tribes
have a habit of branding, or tattooing; and sailors also. Various
civilized countries in the past have branded criminals as a means of
identifying them."
[Illustration: _Fig. 22. The Mysterious Brand on the Yak._]
They now had an opportunity of taking an inventory of their stock. The
original herd comprised Apollo, six cows and four calves, or half-grown
cattle. The new acquisition brought the count up to twenty-six cows and
twenty young animals. The vanquished bull was very meek from that time
forward, and the surprising thing was that Apollo was thereafter the
same quiet, unobtrusive animal he had been before.
But there was work to do in the factory. Harry was now engaged in
building an iron lathe for their further work. A drilling machine was
his next tool, and as the weeks passed the boys devoted much of their
time to making such articles of machinery as could be used
advantageously to turn out the simple products which future needs might
demand.
The leather vats were examined and the skins found in excellent
condition. These were then taken out, and grease and oil worked into
them until they were pliable. The thick parts of the hides had been
previously cut out, so that they could be used for the soles of
contemplated boots and shoes, which they soon hoped to turn out.
Every morning the yaks would leave the enclosure and start out on trips
to the feeding grounds, and sometimes Harry or George would follow them
and hunt for game. On one occasion, while Harry was on the opposite
hill, George saw the flash of Harry's gun, and almost immediately
thereafter heard the report. This was the first time the difference
between the flash and the noise attracted his attention.
"Will you tell me why I saw Harry's fire before the sound reached me?"
"Did you say 'sound' or 'noise'?"
George looked at the Professor quizzically. "Is there any difference
between sound and noise?"
"Technically, there is a difference, although in common practice one
word is used for the other without discriminating. Sound means a
succession of vibrations produced in their regular order, like music,
whereas noise is a disorganized vibration. For instance, falling water,
like our cataract here, is sound, but the report of George's gun was a
noise."
"I can see the difference. Would a wagon going rapidly over a pavement
be a noise or a sound?"
"It would be a noise if the pavement should be irregular, but if the
pavement is regular and the vibrations or beats are uniform, it is then
called a sound. But you wanted to know why you saw the shot before you
heard it. Simply because sound does not travel as fast as light. Sound
moves 1,040 feet in a second, and light over 186,000 miles a second,
which is about 850,000 times faster than sound."
"Do soft and light sounds travel at the same speed?"
"Theoretically, yes; but numerous experiments have been made, and many
of them go to show that a loud noise really travels faster than a soft
noise."
[Illustration: _Fig. 23. MEASURING SOUND PITCH_]
"What is the cause of that?"
"It is attributed to the belief that a loud noise causes greater wave
motions, although the sound waves may be the same lengths in both cases.
Or, it might be said that loud noises have greater strength."
"When we were going to New York in the cars, a train was coming toward
us, and the engineer on that train blew his whistle when he was off
quite a distance, and kept it up until long after he had passed us. I
noticed that when the whistle started the sound had a very low pitch,
which kept increasing to a higher and higher pitch until the train
passed; what was the cause of that?"
"As the sound waves are uniform movements, and are at regular intervals,
the vibratory action of the whistle, in case the trains were at rest,
would all be the same distance apart; but as the two trains were coming
together two things happened. At each moment your ear came nearer the
whistle, and the distance through which the sound had to travel
decreased. This made increasingly shorter waves, and not long, regular
waves, as when at rest. Short waves make a high pitch, and long waves
low pitch. After you passed the train the waves began to get longer, but
they increased in length more rapidly than when you were approaching
each other, so that if the whistle kept on blowing the waves would
finally get to be so long and so far below their original pitch that the
sound would cease.
"A little sketch will show this. (Figure 23.) The line A is the pitch of
the whistle; B its pitch when you first heard it; C shows the point
where you passed the whistle, and D shows how low the pitch was when it
died away."