Conversation, and a Walk
Jack had finished the trial of his arrows: they flew to admiration;
and he practised his new art incessantly. Little Francis waited with
impatience for the moment when he should try also, and followed with
his eyes every stroke I made. But when I had finished my bow, and
prepared some little arrows for him, I must next undertake to make
him a quiver. I took some bark from the branch of a tree, which came
off in a round form; and folding the edges over each other, I stuck
them together with some glue produced from our soup-cakes. I next
stuck on a round piece to serve for the bottom; and then tied to it
a loop of string which I hung round his neck. He put his arrows into
it: and, quite happy, took his bow in his hand, and ran to try his
skill by the side of his brother. Fritz had also cleaned and prepared
his materials for the cases, when his mother summoned us to dinner.
We cheerfully placed ourselves under the shade of our tree, round
the table I had manufactured. At the end of the repast, I made the
following proposition to the boys, which I was sure would give them
pleasure.
“What think you, my good friends,” said I, “of giving a name to the
place of our abode, and to the different parts of the country which
are known to us? I do not mean a general name to the whole islands,
but to the objects we are most concerned with.”
They all exclaimed, joyfully, that the idea was excellent.
_Father._--We shall naturally begin with the bay by which we entered
this country. What shall we call it? What say you, Fritz? You must
speak first, for you are eldest.
_Fritz._--Let us call it _Oyster Bay_: you remember what quantity of
oysters we found in it.
_Jack._--Oh, no; let it rather be called _Lobster Bay_: for you
cannot have forgotten what a large one it was that caught hold of my
leg, and which I carried home to you.
_My Wife._--My advice would be, that, out of gratitude to God, who
conducted us hither in safety, we ought to call it _Providence Bay_,
or the _Bay of Safety_.
_Father._--These words are both appropriate and sonorous, and please
me extremely. But what name shall we give to the spot where we first
set up our tent?
_Fritz._--Let us simply call it _Tent House_.
_Father._--That will do very well. And the little islet at the
entrance of _Providence Bay_, in which we found so many planks and
beams that enabled us to make our bridge, how shall it be named?
_Ernest._--It may be called _Sea-Gull Island_, or _Shark Island_; for
it was here we saw those animals.
_Father._--I am for the last of these names, _Shark Island_; for it
was the shark that was the cause of the sea-gulls being there; and
thus we shall also have a means of commemorating the courage and the
triumph of Fritz, who killed the monster.
_Jack._--For the same reason, we will call the marsh, in which you
cut the canes for our arrows, _Flamingo Marsh_.
_Father._--Quite right, I think. But now comes the great question:
What name shall we give to our present abode?
_Ernest._--It ought to be called simply _Tree Castle_.
_Fritz._--No, no, that will not do at all; that is the same as if,
when we wanted to name a town, we called it _The Town_. Let us invent
a more noble name.
_Jack._--Yes, so we will. I say _Fig Town_.
_Fritz._--Ha, ha, ha! a noble name, it must be confessed! Let us
call it the _Eagle’s Nest_, which I am sure has a much better sound.
Besides, our habitation in the tree is really much more like a nest
than a town, and the eagle cannot but ennoble it, since he is the
king of birds.
_Father._--Will you let me decide the question for you? I think our
abode should be called _The Falcon’s Nest_; for you are not arrived
at the dignity of eagles, but are, too truly, poor simple birds of
prey: and like the falcon, you also are, I trust, obedient, docile,
active and courageous. Ernest can have no objection to this; for, as
he knows, falcons make their nests in large trees.
All exclaimed, clapping their hands, “Yes, yes; we will have it _The
Falcon’s Nest_! the sound is quite chivalrous; so health to _Falcon’s
Nest Castle_!” cried they, all looking up to the tree, and making
low bows. I poured out a small quantity of sweet wine, and presented
it to each, to solemnize our baptism. “Now then,” said I, “for the
promontory, where Fritz and I in vain wearied our eyes in search of
our companions of the vessel;--I think it may properly be called
_Cape Disappointment_.”
_All._--Yes, this is excellent. And the river with the bridge----
_Father._--If you wish to commemorate one of the greatest events
of our history, it ought to be called _The Jackal’s River_; for
these animals crossed it when they came and attacked us, and it was
there that one of them was killed. The bridge I should name _Family
Bridge_, because we were all employed in its construction, and all
crossed it together on our way to this place. Let me ask you all,
if it will not be a great pleasure to converse about the country we
inhabit, now that we have instituted names as if everything belonged
to us?
_Ernest._--It will be just as if we had farms and country houses, all
dependent upon our castle.
In this pleasing kind of chat, the time of dinner passed agreeably
away. We settled the basis of a geography of this our new country;
and amused ourselves with saying it must go by the first post to
Europe.
As the evening advanced, and the intense heat of the day began to
diminish, I invited all my family to take a walk. “Leave your work
for this time, my boys,” said I, “and let us make a short excursion;
let us seek, in the beautiful face of nature, the traces of the
wisdom and goodness of the Creator. Which way shall we direct our
steps?”
_Fritz._--Let us go to Tent House, father; we are in want of powder
and shot for the little consumers of our figs; nor must we miss our
dinner for to-morrow, or forget that we are to secure a supply for
winter.
_My Wife._--I too vote for Tent House; my butter is nearly gone, for
Fritz took an unreasonable share for his new trade of tanning.
_Father._--To Tent House, then, we will go; but we will not take our
accustomed road along the seashore, but rather vary our pleasure, by
trying to explore some other way. We will keep along our own little
stream as far as the wall of rocks; it will be easy for us to cross
it by jumping from stone to stone, and so to get to Tent House:
we will return with our provisions by the road of Family Bridge,
and along the seashore. This new route may possibly furnish some
additional discoveries.
My idea was highly applauded, and all was soon arranged for our
setting out. Our route along the stream was at first extremely
agreeable, being sheltered by the shade of large trees, while the
ground under our feet was a short and soft kind of grass. To prolong
the pleasure of our walk, we proceeded slowly, amusing ourselves with
looking about us to the right and left; the eldest boys made frequent
escapes on before, so that we sometimes lost sight of them. In this
manner we reached the end of the wood; but the country now appearing
to be less open, we thought it would be prudent to bring our whole
company together.
On looking forward, we saw the boys approaching us full gallop, and
this time, for a wonder, the grave Ernest was first. He reached me
panting for breath, and so full of joy and eagerness that he could
not pronounce a single word distinctly: the rest soon came up, and
our expedition was resumed.