The fishpond was commenced the next morning. Ready, Mr. Seagrave, and
William went down together to the beach, and, after much examination,
chose a spot about one hundred yards from the turtle-pond as most
eligible for the purpose; the water being shallow, so that at the part
farthest from the shore there would not be more than three feet.
"Now, sir," said Ready, "this is a very simple job; all we have to do
is to collect small rocks and stones, pile them up wall-fashion inside,
and with a slope outside, so as to break the force of the waves when
the water is a little rough; of course, the water will find its way
through the stones, and will be constantly changed. It's very true,
that we can at most times catch fish when we want them, but it is not
always that we can spare the time, so it's just as well to have always
a certain quantity at hand, to take out at a moment's warning; and we
can, of course, catch them and put them in here when we have nothing
else to do. Juno will be able to come down and take them out with a
spear, when we are away and she wants something for dinner."
"But there are few stones about here, Ready; we shall have to fetch
them a long way," said William.
"Well, then, William, let us get the wheels down here, and then we can
carry a quantity at a time."
"But how shall we carry them, Ready?"
"We will sling a tub on the axle; I will go up and get that ready and
bring it down; in the meantime, you and Mr. Seagrave can collect all
the stones which are near at hand."
Ready soon returned with the wheels, and the tub slung with rope on the
axle, and by that means they found that they could collect the stones
very fast; Mr. Seagrave and William bringing them, and Ready in the
water, building up the wall.
"We have quite forgot another job which we must put in hand, sir,"
observed Ready; "but the fish-pond reminds me of it."
"What is that, Ready?"
"A bathing-place for the children, and indeed for us all; we shall want
it when the hot weather comes on, but we will put it off till then. I
can tell you, sir, that although I don't mind building this wall in the
shallow water, I shall be very careful when the water is up to my
knees, for you don't know how bold the sharks are in these latitudes.
When I was at St. Helena, not very long ago, we had a melancholy proof
of it."
"Tell us the story, Ready."
"Well, two soldiers were standing on the rocks at St. Helena; the rocks
were out of the water, but the swell just broke over them. Two sharks
swam up to them, and one of them, with a blow of his tail, turning
round the same way, tripped one of them into the water, which was very
deep. His comrade was very much frightened, and ran to the barracks to
tell the story. About a week afterwards, a schooner was in Sandy Bay,
on the other side of the island, and the people seeing a very large
shark under the stern, put out a hook with a piece of pork, and caught
him; they opened him, and found inside of him, to their horror, the
whole of the body of the soldier, except the legs below the knees: the
monster had swallowed him whole, with the exception of his legs, which
it had nipped off when it closed its jaws."
"I really had no idea that they were so bold, Ready."
"It is a fact, I assure you; and therefore we cannot be too careful how
we go into the water: you saw how soon the poor pig was despatched."
"I wonder how the pigs get on, Ready," said William.
"I dare say they have littered by this time, sir; they have no want of
food."
"But can they eat the cocoa-nuts?"
"Not the old ones, but they can the young ones, which are constantly
dropping from the trees, and then there's plenty of roots for them. If
we stay long here we shall soon have good sport hunting them; but we
must be very careful; for although they were tame pigs when we brought
them on shore, they will be wild and very savage in a very short time."
"How must we hunt them?" said Mr. Seagrave.
"Why, sir, with the dogs, and then shoot them. I am glad that Vixen
will have pups soon; we shall want more dogs."
"Shall we not have more mouths than we can find food for?"
"Never fear that, sir, as long as we have the sea to fish in. Dogs live
very well upon fish, even if it is raw."
"We shall have some lambs soon, Ready, shall we not?"
"Yes, sir, I expect very soon. I wish we had more food for the animals:
they are put rather hard to it just now; but next year, if we find more
food on the island, we must keep the grass near home, to make hay and
stack it for the winter time - or the rainy season rather, for there is
no winter in these latitudes. I'm pretty sure we shall find some clear
land on the south of the island, for the cocoa-nut grove does not
extend so close to the water on that side as it does on the north."
"I do so long to go on our exploring party," said William.
"We must wait a little," replied Ready; "but I don't know whether you
will go; we must not all three go at once, and leave Mrs. Seagrave
alone."
"No," replied Mr. Seagrave, "that would not be fair; either you or I
must remain, William."
William made no reply, but it was evident that he was annoyed at the
idea of not being of the party. They worked very hard that day, and the
walls rose fast out of the water.
After supper, Ready continued his narrative. "We remained concealed
until it was dark, and then Hastings and Romer, each with a musket on
his shoulders and a ham at his back; and I, being the smallest, with
the rifle and the great loaf of bread, set off on our journey. Our
intention was to travel north, as we knew that was the road leading
from the colony; but Hastings had decided that we should first go to
the eastward, so as to make what we sailors call a circumbendibus,
which would keep us out of the general track. We passed through the
deep sands of False Bay, and after that gradually ascended, getting
among brushwood and young trees; but we saw no signs of cultivation,
nor did we pass one house after we had left False Bay astern of us.
About twelve o'clock we were very much fatigued, and longed for a drink
of water, but we did not find any, although the moon shone as bright as
day. We distinctly heard, however, what we did not much like, the
howling and cries of the wild beasts which increased as we went on;
still we did not see any, and that was our comfort. At last we were so
tired that we all sat down on the ledge of a rock. We dared not go to
sleep, so we remained there till daylight, listening to the howling of
the animals. We none of us spoke, and I presume that Hastings' and
Romer's thoughts were the same as my own, which were, that I would have
given a great deal to find myself safe and sound again within the
prison walls. However, daylight came at last; the wild beasts did not
prowl any more; we walked on till we found a stream of water, where we
sat down and took our breakfast, after which our courage revived, and
we talked and laughed as we walked on, just as we had done before. We
now began to ascend the mountains, which Hastings said must be the
Black Mountains that the soldiers had talked to us about. They were
very desolate; and when night came on we collected brushwood, and cut
down branches with our knives, that we might make a fire, not only to
warm ourselves, but to scare away the wild beasts, whose howling had
already commenced. We lighted our fire and ate our supper; the loaf was
half gone, and the hams had been well cut into - we knew, therefore,
that very soon we should have to trust to our guns for procuring food.
As soon as we had finished our meal, we lay down by the fire, with our
muskets loaded close to us, and our ammunition placed out of danger. We
were so tired that we were soon fast asleep. It had been agreed that
Romer should keep the first watch, and Hastings the middle, and I the
morning; but Romer fell asleep, and the consequence was, that the fire
was not kept up. It was about midnight that I was awakened by something
breathing hard in my face, and just as I could recall my senses and
open my eyes, I found myself lifted up by my waistband, and the teeth
of some animal pinching my flesh. I tried to catch at my musket, but I
put out my wrong hand, and laid hold of a still lighted brand out of
the fire, which I darted into the animal's face; it let me drop
directly, and ran away."
"What a providential escape!" said Mrs. Seagrave.
"Yes, it was, ma'am; the animal was a hyena. Fortunately they are a
very cowardly sort of beast; still, had it not been for the lighted
stick, it would have carried me off, for I was very small then, and it
lifted me up as if I was a feather in its mouth. The shout I gave woke
Hastings, who seized his musket and fired. I was very much frightened,
as you may suppose. As for Romer, he never woke till we pushed him
hard, he was so completely knocked up. This affair, of course, made us
more cautious, and afterwards we lighted two fires, and slept between
them, one always remaining on the watch. For a week we travelled on,
and as soon as we were over the mountains, we turned our heads to the
northward. Our provisions were all gone, and we were one day without
any; but we killed an antelope called a spring-bock, which gave us
provisions for three or four days: there was no want of game after we
had descended into the plain. I forgot to mention, however, a narrow
escape we had, just before we had left an extensive forest on the side
of the mountain. We had walked till past noon, and were very much
tired; we decided upon taking our dinner under a large tree, and we
threw ourselves down in the shade. Hastings was lying on his back, with
his eyes looking upwards, when he perceived on the lower branch of the
tree a panther, which lay along it, his green eyes fixed upon us, and
ready to spring; he seized his musket, and fired it without taking aim,
for there was no time; but the ball entered the stomach of the animal,
and, as it appeared, divided its back-bone. Down came the beast, within
three or four feet of where we lay, with a loud roar, and immediately
crouched to spring upon Romer; but it could not, for the back-bone
being broken, it had not any power in its hinder quarters, so it raised
up its fore quarters, and then dropped down again. I never saw such
rage and fury in an animal in my life. At first we were too much
frightened to fire; but, perceiving that the beast could not spring,
Hastings snatched the musket from Romer and shot it through the head.
"We were now obliged to hunt for our livelihood, and we became bolder
than ever. Our clothes were all in rags; but we had plenty of powder
and ammunition; there were hundreds and hundreds of antelopes and gnus
in the plain - indeed, sometimes it was impossible to count them. But
this plentiful supply of game was the cause of our being in greater
danger, for now, for the first time, we heard the roar of the lions
every night. We made large fires to keep them off, but they often made
us tremble when they came near to us."
"Did you ever meet with one in the day-time?" said William.
"Yes, sir; we often saw them, but they never attacked us, and we were
too much afraid to fire at them. Once we met one face to face. We had
killed an antelope called a hartebeest, and, with our muskets on our
shoulders, were running to secure it. Just as we came up to the spot,
we beard a roar, and found ourselves not ten yards from a lion, who was
lying on the top of the beast we had killed, his eyes flashing fire at
us, and half raising himself, as if ready for a spring. We all took to
our heels as fast as we could. I never looked back till I was out of
breath: but the lion was content with our running away, and did not
take the trouble to follow us. Well, sir, we had been travelling, we
really hardly knew where, but certainly in a northerly direction, for
three weeks, and were quite worn out: we now all agreed that we had
done a very foolish thing, and would gladly have gone back again. For
my part, I declare that I was willing to lie down and die, if I could
have so done, and I became quite indifferent to the roaring of the
lions, and felt as if I should be glad if one would have made a meal of
me. At length, one morning, we fell in with a party of natives. They
were of the Karroo tribe, as they told us by pointing to themselves,
and saying, `Karroos', and then they pointed to us, and said `Dutch'.
We shot game, and gave it to them, which pleased them very much, and
they remained with us for five or six days. We tried by signs to
inquire of them, if there were any Dutch settlement about there; and
they understood us, and said that there was, in a direction which they
pointed out to us, to the north-east. We offered them a present if they
would show us the way. Two of the men agreed to go with us; the rest of
the tribe, with the women and children, went southward. The next day we
arrived at a Dutch settlement of three or four farmhouses, called
Graaff Reinet; but I must leave off now, for it is past bed-time."