THE START OF AN EXPEDITION
On the 1st of January good wishes were exchanged between the Zermatts
and the Wolstons. They also gave one another presents, valuable chiefly
for the goodwill of the givers--such trifles as time transforms into
souvenirs. There were mutual congratulations, too, and much handshaking
when the day dawned, a day observed as a holiday all over the world,
when the new year
Makes its bow upon the stage
Of the unknown future age,
as a French poet has said. This New Year's day was very different from
the twelve that had preceded it since the survivors of the wreck of
the _Landlord_ had first set foot on the beach at Tent Home. Heartfelt
joy now entered into their emotions. It was a chorus of pure happiness
and merriment they raised, and Jack took part in it with the lively
enthusiasm which he put into everything.
M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston embraced each other. They were old friends
now, and had had time to learn to appreciate and esteem one another in
the common life they led together. M. Zermatt treated Hannah as if
he were her father, and Mr. Wolston, Ernest and Jack as if they were
his sons. It was the same with the two mothers who made no difference
between their respective children.
Hannah Wolston must have been particularly touched by the
congratulations which Ernest offered to her. It will be remembered
that this young man was somewhat addicted to poetry. Once before,
when the worthy donkey had had its fatal encounter with the enormous
boa-constrictor, he had adorned its tomb with a few quite respectable
lines. On the present occasion, in honour of this maiden, his
inspiration stood him in good stead, and Hannah's cheeks flushed warmly
when the young poet congratulated her on having recovered her health in
the good air of the Promised Land.
"Health--and happiness, too," she answered, kissing Mme. Zermatt.
The day, which was Friday, was observed like a Sunday in that thanks
were offered to the Most High, whose protection of the absent ones was
invoked, while heartfelt gratitude was expressed for all His blessings.
Then Jack exclaimed:
"And what about our animals?"
"Well; what about our animals?" M. Zermatt enquired.
"Turk, and Brownie and Fawn; our buffaloes, Storm and Grumbler; our
bull, Roarer; our cow, Paleface; our onager, Lightfoot; our asses,
Arrow and Fleet and Swift; our jackal, Coco; our ostrich, Whirlwind;
our monkey, Nip the Second; and indeed all our friends two and four
footed."
"Come, come, Jack," said Mme. Zermatt, "you are not suggesting that
your brother should write poetry for the whole farm and poultry yard,
are you?"
"Of course not, Mamma, and I don't suppose the excellent creatures
would appreciate the most beautiful verses in the world. But they do
deserve that we should wish them a happy new year and give them double
rations and fresh litter."
"Jack is quite right," said Mr. Wolston; "to-day all our beasts----"
"Including Jenny's jackal and cormorant," said Hannah Wolston.
"Well said, my dear," said Mrs. Wolston. "Jenny's pets shall have their
share."
"And since to-day is the first day of the year the whole world over,"
said Mme. Zermatt, "let us think of those who have left us, who are
certainly thinking of us."
And affectionate thoughts were wafted by both families to the beloved
passengers on the _Unicorn_.
All the animals were treated according to their high deserts, and
sugar was lavished upon them as well as caresses.
Then the whole party sat down in the dining-room at Rock Castle to an
appetising luncheon, the gaiety of which was increased by a few glasses
of old wine presented by the commander of the corvette.
There was no question of doing any of the usual daily work on a holiday
like this, so M. Zermatt proposed a walk to Falconhurst, a short two
and a half miles that could be travelled without much fatigue beneath
the shade of the fair avenue which connected the summer and winter
residences.
The weather was splendid, although the heat was great. But the double
row of trees along the avenue barred the sun's rays with their dense
foliage. It was just a pleasant trip along the shore, with the sea upon
the right hand and the country on the left.
A start was made about eleven o'clock so as to allow of a whole
afternoon's rest at Falconhurst and a return in time for dinner. The
two families had not stayed at Wood Grange this year, nor yet at
Prospect Hill or the hermitage at Eberfurt, because these farmsteads
required enlargements which would not be undertaken until the _Unicorn_
came back. The arrival of new colonists would probably necessitate
other changes in the Promised Land.
After leaving the kitchen garden and crossing Jackal River by Family
Bridge, the party went along the avenue of fruit trees, which had grown
with tropical luxuriance.
There was no need to hurry, as an hour would take them to Falconhurst.
The dogs, Brownie and Fawn, gambolled in front. On either hand fields
of maize, millet, oats, wheat, barley, cassava, and sweet potatoes
displayed their rich stores. The second harvest promised to be a good
one, without taking into account that which would be reaped on the land
farther to the north, irrigated from Swan Lake.
"It was a fine idea to utilise that water from Jackal River, which
until then was wasted, since the sea had no need of it!" Jack remarked
thoughtfully to Mr. Wolston.
Every few hundred yards a halt was made, and the talk was resumed
with new enjoyment. Hannah gathered some of the pretty flowers whose
perfume scented the whole avenue. Hundreds of birds fluttered among the
branches laden with fruit and leaves. Game of all kinds sped across
the meadow lands, hares, rabbits, grouse, hazel-hens, snipe. Neither
Ernest nor Jack had been allowed to bring a gun, and it seemed as if
the winged tribe knew this.
Before they had started Mme. Zermatt, seconded by Hannah, had urged the
point.
"I beg," she said, "I beg that to-day all these unoffending creatures
may be spared."
Ernest had agreed with good grace. He had no burning desire to shine as
a hunter. But Jack had protested. To go out without his gun, if he were
to be believed, was like being deprived of an arm or a leg.
"I can take it, even if I don't use it," he said. "I promise not to
fire, not even if a covey of partridges gets up within half-a-dozen
yards."
"You would not be able to keep your promise, Jack," Hannah replied.
"With Ernest there would be no need for anxiety, but you----"
"And suppose some wild beast appeared, a panther, a bear, a tiger, a
lion? There are some on our island."
"Not in the Promised Land," Mme. Zermatt answered. "Come, Jack, give in
to us this time. You will still have three hundred and sixty-four days
in the year."
"Isn't it Leap Year by any chance?"
"No," Ernest replied.
"No luck!" the young sportsman exclaimed.
It was about an hour later when the two families stopped at the foot of
Falconhurst, after crossing the mangrove wood.
M. Zermatt's first care was to ascertain that the fence which enclosed
the poultry yard was in sound condition. Neither the monkeys nor the
wild boars had indulged their instinct to destroy. There really would
have been no need for Jack to make reprisals on these marauders on this
occasion.
The party began by taking a rest on the semi-circular terrace of clay
made above the roots of the huge mangrove and rendered water-proof by a
mixture of resin and tar. They all took a little refreshment there from
the barrels of mead which were stored under the terrace. Then they went
up the winding staircase, built inside the tree, to the platform forty
feet above the ground.
It was an unfailing pleasure to the Zermatts to be among the broad
leaves of the tree. Was not this their first nest, the one which held
so many memories for them? The nest had become a fresh and delightful
habitation, with its two trellised balconies, its double floor, its
rooms roofed in with nicely fitted bark, and its light furniture.
Henceforward it would be no more than a mere resting place. More
spacious buildings were to be erected at Prospect Hill. But M. Zermatt
meant to preserve the old "falcon's nest" as long as the gigantic tree
would hold it in its arms, until, worn out by years, it fell to pieces
from old age.
That afternoon, while they chatted on the balcony, Mrs. Wolston made
a remark which called for consideration. She was a woman of such
enlightened piety, and so steeped in religious feeling, that no one was
surprised when she spoke in this way.
"I have often marvelled, my dear friends, and I marvel still at all
you have done in this corner of your island. Rock Castle, Falconhurst,
Prospect Hill, your farms, your plantations, your fields, all prove
your intelligence to be as great as your courage in hard work. But I
have already asked Mme. Zermatt how it is that you have not got----"
"A chapel," Betsy answered quickly. "You are right, Merry dear, and we
do undoubtedly owe it to God to build to His glory----"
"Something better than a chapel--a temple," exclaimed Jack, whom
nothing ever dismayed; "a monument with a splendid steeple! When shall
we begin, Papa? There is material enough and to spare. Mr. Wolston will
draw the plans and we will carry them out."
"Excellent!" replied M. Zermatt with a smile; "but if I can see the
temple with my mind's eye, I cannot see the pastor, the preacher."
"Frank will be that when he comes back," said Ernest.
"Meantime do not let that worry you, M. Zermatt," Mrs. Wolston put in.
"We will content ourselves with saying our prayers in our chapel."
"It is an excellent idea of yours, Mrs. Wolston, and we must not forget
that new colonists will be coming very soon. So we will look carefully
into the matter in our spare time during the rainy season. We will look
for a suitable site."
"It seems to me, dear," said Mme. Zermatt, "that if we cannot use
Falconhurst as a dwelling-place any longer, it would be quite easy to
alter it into an aerial chapel."
"And then our prayers would be half way to heaven already, as Frank
would remark," Jack added.
"It would be a little too far from Rock Castle," M. Zermatt replied.
"I think it would be better to build this chapel near our principal
residence, round which new houses will gradually gather. But, as I said
before, we will look carefully into the idea."
During the three or four months which remained of the fine weather
all hands were employed in the most pressing work, and from the 15th
of March until the end of April there was not a single holiday. Mr.
Wolston did not spare himself; but he could not take the place of Fritz
and Frank in providing the farmsteads with fodder for the winter keep.
There were now a hundred sheep, goats and pigs at Wood Grange; the
hermitage at Eberfurt and Prospect Hill, and the cattlesheds at Rock
Castle would not have been large enough to accommodate all this stock.
The poultry was all brought into the poultry yard before the rainy
season, and the fowls, bustards, and pigeons were attended to there
every day. The geese and ducks could amuse themselves on the pond, a
couple of gunshots away. It was only the draught cattle, the asses and
buffaloes, and the cows and their calves that never left Rock Castle.
Thus, irrespective of hunting and fishing, which were still very
profitable from April to September, supplies were guaranteed merely
from the produce of the yards.
On the 15th of March, however, there was still a good week before the
field work would require the service of all hands. So, during that
week, there would be no harm done by devoting the whole time to some
trip outside the confines of the Promised Land. And this was the topic
of conversation between the two families in the evening.
Mr. Wolston's knowledge was limited to the district between Jackal
River and False Hope Point, including the farms at Wood Grange, the
hermitage at Eberfurt, Sugar-cane Grove and Prospect Hill.
"I am surprised, Zermatt," he said one day, "that in all these twelve
years neither you nor your children have attempted to reach the
interior of New Switzerland."
"Why should we have tried, Wolston?" M. Zermatt replied. "Think! When
the wreck of the _Landlord_ cast us on this shore, my boys were only
children, incapable of accompanying me on a journey of exploration. My
wife could not have gone with me, and it would have been most imprudent
to leave her alone."
"Alone with Frank, who was only five years old," Mme. Zermatt put in.
"And besides, we had not abandoned hope of being picked up by some
ship."
"Before all else," M. Zermatt went on, "it was a matter of providing
for our immediate needs and of staying in the neighbourhood of the ship
until we had taken out of her every single thing that might be useful
to us. At the mouth of Jackal River we had fresh water, fields that
could be cultivated easily on its right bank, and plantations all ready
grown not far away. Soon afterwards, quite by chance, we discovered
this healthy and safe dwelling-place at Rock Castle. Ought we to have
wasted time merely satisfying our curiosity?"
"And besides," Ernest remarked, "might not leaving Deliverance Bay have
meant exposing ourselves to the chance of meeting natives, like those
of the Nicobars and Andamans perhaps who are such fierce savages?"
"At all events," M. Zermatt went on, "each day brought some task that
sheer necessity forbade us to postpone. Each new year imposed upon us
the work of the year before. And gradually, with habits formed and an
accustomed sense of well-being, we struck down roots in this spot, if
I may use the phrase; that is why we have never left it. So the years
have gone by, and it seems only yesterday that we first came here. What
would you have had us do, Wolston? We were very well off here, in this
district, and it did not occur to us that it would be wise to go out of
it to look for anything better."
"That is all perfectly reasonable," Mr. Wolston answered, "but for my
part, I could not have resisted for so many years my desire to explore
the country towards the south, east and west."
"Because you are an Englishman," M. Zermatt replied, "and your native
instinct urges you to travel. But we are Swiss, and the Swiss are a
peaceful, stay-at-home people who never leave their mountains without
regret; and if circumstances had not compelled us to leave Europe----"
"I protest, Papa!" Jack answered. "I protest, so far as I am concerned.
Thorough Swiss as I am, I should have loved to travel all over the
world!"
"You ought to be an Englishman, Jack," Ernest declared, "and please
understand that I do not blame you a bit for having this inborn desire
to move about. Besides, I think that Mr. Wolston is right. It really is
necessary that we should make a complete survey of this New Switzerland
of ours."
"Which is an island in the Indian Ocean, as we know now," Mr. Wolston
added; "and it would be well to do it before the _Unicorn_ comes back."
"Whenever Papa likes," exclaimed Jack, who was always ready to take a
hand in any new discovery.
"We will talk about that again after the rainy season," M. Zermatt
said. "I have not the least objection to a journey into the interior.
But let us acknowledge that we were highly favoured in being permitted
to land upon this coast which is both healthy and fertile. Is there
another equal to it?"
"How do we know?" Ernest answered. "It is true, the coast we passed
in the pinnace, when we doubled Cape East on our way to Unicorn Bay,
was nothing but naked rocks and dangerous reefs, and even where the
corvette was moored there was nothing but sandy shore. But beyond that,
to the southward, it is quite likely that New Switzerland presents a
less desolate appearance."
"The way to make sure of that," said Jack, "is to sail all round it in
the pinnace. We shall know then what its configuration is."
"But if you have never been beyond Unicorn Bay to the eastward," Mr.
Wolston insisted, "you have been much further along the northern coast."
"Yes, for something like forty miles," Ernest answered; "from False
Hope Point to Pearl Bay."
"And we had not even the curiosity to go to see Burning Rock," Jack
exclaimed.
"A desert island, which Jenny never wanted to see again," Hannah
remarked.
"The best thing to do," M. Zermatt decided, "will be to explore the
territory near the shore of Pearl Bay, for beyond that there are green
prairies, broken hills, fields of cotton trees, with leafy woods."
"Where are the truffles!" Ernest put in.
"You glutton!" Jack exclaimed.
"Yes, truffles," M. Zermatt replied, laughing, "and where there are
creatures too that dig the truffles up."
"Not forgetting panthers and lions!" Betsy added.
"Well," said Mr. Wolston, "the net result of all that is that we must
not venture that way or any other without taking precautions. But since
our future colony will be obliged to spread beyond the Promised Land,
it seems to me that it would be better to explore the interior than to
sail round the island."
"And to do so before the corvette comes back," Ernest added. "My view,
indeed, is that it would be best to cross the defile of Cluse and go
through the Green Valley so as to get right up to the mountains that
one can see from the rising ground at Eberfurt."
"Did they not seem a very long way off from you?" Mr. Wolston asked.
"Yes; about twenty-five miles," Ernest replied.
"I am sure Ernest has mapped out a journey already," said Hannah with a
smile.
"I confess I have, Hannah," the young man answered, "and I am longing
to be able to draw an accurate map of the whole of our New Switzerland."
"My good people," said M. Zermatt, "this is what I suggest to begin to
satisfy Mr. Wolston."
"Agreed to in advance!" replied Jack.
"Wait, you impatient fellow! It will be ten or twelve days before we
are required for the second harvest, and if you like we will spend
half that time in visiting the portion of the island which skirts the
eastern shore."
"And while M. Zermatt with his two sons and Mr. Wolston are on this
trip," Mrs. Wolston objected disapprovingly, "Mme. Zermatt, Hannah and
I are to remain alone at Rock Castle; is that it?"
"No, Mrs. Wolston," M. Zermatt answered; "the pinnace will hold us all."
"When do we start?" cried Jack. "To-day?"
"Why not yesterday?" M. Zermatt answered, with a laugh.
"Since we have surveyed the inside of Pearl Bay already," said Ernest,
"it really is better to follow up the eastern coast. The pinnace would
go straight to Unicorn Bay and then southwards. We might perhaps
discover the mouth of some river which we might ascend."
"That is an excellent idea," M. Zermatt declared.
"Unless perhaps it were better to make a circuit of the island," Mr.
Wolston remarked.
"The circuit of it?" Ernest replied. "Oh, that would take more time
than we have to give, for when we made our first trip to the Green
Valley we could only make out the faint blue outline of the mountains
on the horizon."
"That is precisely what it is important to have accurate information
about," Mr. Wolston urged.
"And what we ought to have known all about long ago," Jack declared.
"Then that is settled," said M. Zermatt in conclusion; "perhaps we
shall find on this east coast the mouth of a river which it will be
possible to ascend, if not in the pinnace at any rate in the canoe."
And the plan having been agreed upon, it was decided to make a start on
the next day but one.
As a matter of fact, thirty-six hours was none too long a time to ask
for preparation. To begin with, the _Elizabeth_ had to be got ready
for the voyage, and at the same time provision had to be made for the
feeding of the domestic animals during an absence which might perhaps
be protracted by unforeseen circumstances.
So one and all had quite enough to get through.
Mr. Wolston and Jack made it their business to inspect the pinnace
which was moored in the creek. She had not been to sea since her trip
to Unicorn Bay. Some repairs had to be done, and Mr. Wolston was clever
at this. Navigation would be no new thing to him, and Jack, too, could
be relied upon, as the fearless successor to Fritz, to handle the
_Elizabeth_ as he handled the canoe.
M. Zermatt and Ernest, Mme. Zermatt, Mrs. Wolston and Hannah, were
entrusted with the duty of providing the cattlesheds and the poultry
yard with food, and they did it conscientiously. There was a large
quantity left of the last harvest. Being graminivorous, the buffaloes,
onager, asses, cows and the ostrich would lack nothing. The fowls,
geese, ducks, Jenny's cormorant, the two jackals, the monkey, were made
as sure of their food supply. Brownie and Fawn were to be taken, for
there might be need to hunt on this trip, if the pinnace put in at any
point on the coast.
All these arrangements of course made visits necessary to the
farmsteads at Wood Grange, the hermitage at Eberfurt, Sugar-cane Grove,
and Prospect Hill, among which the various animals were distributed.
All these places were carefully kept in a state to receive visitors for
a few days. But with the help of the waggon, the delay of thirty-six
hours, stipulated for by M. Zermatt, was not exceeded.
There really was no time to be lost. The yellowing crops were on the
point of ripening. The harvest could not be delayed beyond a fortnight,
and the pinnace must be back by that time.
At last, in the evening of the 14th of March, a case of preserved meat,
a bag of cassava flour, a cask of mead, a keg of palm wine, four guns,
four pistols, powder, lead, enough shot for the _Elizabeth's_ two small
cannon, bedding, linen, spare clothes, oilskins, and cooking utensils
were put on board.
Everything being ready for the start, all that had to be done was to
take advantage, at the very first break of day, of the breeze which
would blow off the land in order to reach Cape East.
After a peaceful night the two families went on board, at five o'clock
in the morning, accompanied by the two dogs which gambolled and
frolicked to their hearts' content.
As soon as the party had all taken their place on deck, the canoe
was triced up aft. Then, with mainsail, foresail, and jib set, with
M. Zermatt at the helm and Mr. Wolston and Jack on the lookout, the
pinnace picked up the wind, and after passing Shark's Island speedily
lost sight of the heights of Rock Castle.