Big as was the body of the peacock, there was not much of it left after
that _dejeuner aux doigts_! Only the bones; and so clean picked were
they, that had Fritz not already been made welcome to the giblets, he
would have had but a scanty meal of it.
The savoury roast did a good deal towards restoring the spirits of the
party; but they could not help dwelling upon the indifferent prospect
they now had of procuring a fresh stock of provisions--so much changed
were circumstances by their powder having been destroyed.
The bow and arrows of Ossaroo were still left, and other bows could be
made, if that one was to get broken. Indeed, Caspar now determined on
having one of his own; and practising archery under the tutelage of the
shikaree, until he should be able to use that old-fashioned and
universal weapon with deadly effect.
Old-fashioned we may well term it: since its existence dates far beyond
the earliest times of historical record; and universal: for go where you
will into the most remote corners of the earth, the bow is found in the
hands of the savage, copied from no model, introduced from no external
source, but evidently native to the country and the tribe, as if when
man was first created the weapon had been put into his hands by the
Creator himself!
Indeed, the occurrence of the bow--with its necessary adjunct, the
arrow--among tribes of savages living widely apart, and who, to all
appearance, could never have communicated the idea to one another--is
one of the most curious circumstances in the history of mankind; and
there is no other way of explaining it, than by the supposition that the
propelling power which exists in the recoil of a tightly-stretched
string must be one of the earliest phenomena that presents itself to the
human mind; and that, therefore, in many parts of the world this idea
has been an indigenous and original conception.
The bow and arrow is certainly one of the oldest weapons on the earth--
as well as one of the most universally distributed. It is a subject
that, in the hands of the skilled ethnologist, might become one of the
most interesting chapters in the history of the human race.
I have said that after eating the peacock our adventurers were in better
spirits; but for all that, they could not help feeling some little
apprehension as to how their food was to be obtained for the future.
Ossaroo's skill had provided their breakfast; but how about their
dinner? And after that their supper? Even should something turn up for
the next meal, they might not be so fortunate in obtaining the next
after that; and this precarious way of subsistence--living, as it were,
from hand to mouth--would be a constant exposure of their lives to the
chances of starvation.
As soon, therefore, as they had finished with the flesh of the peacock--
and while Ossaroo, who continued eating longer than any of them, was
still engaged in polishing off the "drumsticks"--the point of
replenishing the larder became the subject of their conversation; and
all agreed that to get up a stock of provisions had now become a matter
of primary importance. They resolved, therefore, to devote themselves
entirely to this business--using such means as were in their power for
capturing game, and devising other means should these prove
insufficient.
First and foremost, then, what were they to have for dinner? Was it to
be fish, flesh, or fowl? They did not think of having all three: for in
their situation they had no desire for a fashionable dinner. One course
would be sufficient for them; and they would only be too thankful to
have one course assured to them.
Whether they would choose to go fishing with Ossaroo's net, and have
fish for their dinner, or whether they would try for another peacock, or
an argus pheasant, or a brace of Brahminy geese; or whether they would
take to the woods and search for grander game, had not become a decided
point; when an incident occurred that settled the question, as to what
they were to have for dinner. Without any exertion on their part--
without the wasting of a single shot, or the spending of an arrow, they
were provided with meat; and in quantity sufficient, not only for that
day's dinner, but to ration them for a whole week, with odds and ends
falling to the share of Fritz.
They had gone out of the hut again; and were seated, as oft before, on
some large stones that lay upon the ground in front. It was a fine
bright morning; and, although cold in the shade, the sun shining down
upon them, reflected from the white snow on the mountains above, made it
warm enough to be pleasant. For that reason, and because there was some
smoke inside the hut, where they had cooked their breakfast, they had
preferred eating it in the open air; and here also they were holding
council as to their future proceedings.
While thus engaged, a sound fell upon their ears that bore some
resemblance to the bleating of a goat. It appeared to come down from
the sky above them; but they knew that it must be caused by some animal
on the cliffs overhead.
On looking upwards, they beheld the animal; and if its voice had already
appeared to them to be like that of a goat, the creature itself in its
_personal_ appearance, to a very great extent, carried out the
resemblance.
To speak the truth, it _was_ a goat; though not one of the common kind.
It was an _ibex_.
Once more Karl had the advantage of his companions. His knowledge of
natural history enabled him to identify the animal. At the first glance
he pronounced it an ibex; although he had never seen a living ibex
before. But the goat-like shape of the animal, its shaggy coat, and
above all, the immense ringed horns curving regularly backward over its
shoulders, were all characteristic points, which Karl was able to
identify by a comparison with pictures he had seen in books, and stuffed
skins he had examined in a museum.
Ossaroo said it was a goat--some kind of a wild goat, he supposed; but
as Ossaroo had never before been so high up the mountains, and therefore
never in the regions frequented by the ibex, he knew it not. His
conjecture that it was a goat was founded on the general resemblance
which it bore to a goat; and this Caspar had observed as well as
Ossaroo.
They could see the creature from head to foot, standing in a majestic
attitude on a prominent point of the cliff; but although it was in
reality much larger than the common domestic goat, it was so distant
from them as not to appear bigger than a kid. It was _en profile_,
however, to their eyes; and against the blue sky they could trace the
outlines of the animal with perfect distinctness, and note the grand
sweeping curvature of its horns.
The first thought of Caspar was to lay hold of his gun with the idea of
taking a shot at it; but both the others interposed to prevent this--
pointing out the impossibility of hitting at such a distance. Although
seemingly much nearer, the ibex was considerably more than a hundred
yards from where they were seated: for the point of the precipice upon
which it stood was quite four hundred feet above the level.
Caspar, reflecting upon this, was easily dissuaded from his design; and
the next moment was wondering why he had been so near playing the fool
as to throw away a shot--his penultimate one, too--at an animal placed
full fifty yards beyond the carry of his gun!