The Tortoise Harnessed
The wind was favourable, and briskly swelled our sail. The sea was
calm, and we advanced at a considerable rate. Fritz had for some time
fixed his eyes on something of a large size which was floating on
the water, and he now desired me to take the glass, and see what it
could be. I soon perceived that it was a tortoise, which had fallen
asleep in the sun on the surface of the water. No sooner had Fritz
learned this, than he entreated me to steer softly within view of so
extraordinary a creature. I readily consented; but as his back was
towards me, and the sail between us, I did not observe his motions,
till a violent jerk of the boat, a sudden turning of the windlass,
and then a second jerk, accompanied by a rapid motion of the boat,
gave me the necessary explanation. “For Heaven’s sake, what are you
about, Fritz?” exclaimed I, somewhat alarmed.
“I have caught him!--I touched him!” cried Fritz, without hearing one
word I had been saying.--“The tortoise is ours; it cannot escape,
father! Is not this, then, a valuable prize, for it will furnish
dinners for us all for many weeks?”
I soon perceived that the harpoon had caught the animal, which,
feeling itself wounded, thus agitated the vessel in its endeavours
to get away. I quickly pulled down the sail, and seizing a hatchet,
sprang to the boat’s head to cut the rope, and let the harpoon and
the tortoise go; but Fritz caught hold of my arm, conjuring me to
wait a moment, and not so hastily bring upon him the mortification of
losing, at one stroke, the harpoon, the rope, and the tortoise: he
proposed watching himself, with the hatchet in his hand, to cut the
rope suddenly should any sign of danger appear; and I yielded to his
entreaties.
Thus, then, drawn along by the tortoise, we proceeded with a
hazardous rapidity. I soon observed that the creature was making
for the sea; I therefore again hoisted the sail; and as the wind
was to the land, and very brisk, the tortoise found resistance of
no avail; he accordingly fell into the track of the current, and
drew us straight towards our usual place of landing, and, by good
fortune, without striking upon any of the rocks. We, however, did not
disembark without one difficult adventure. The state of the tide was
such as to throw us upon a sand-bank; we were at this time within
a gun-shot of the shore; the boat, though driven with violence,
remained upright in the sand. I stepped into the water, which did
not reach far above my knees, for the purpose of conferring upon our
conductor his just reward for the alarm he had caused us, when he
suddenly gave a plunge, and then disappeared. Following the rope, I
presently saw the tortoise stretched at length at the bottom of the
water, where it was so shallow that I soon found means to put an end
to his pain, by cutting off his head with the hatchet. Being now near
Tent House, Fritz gave a halloo, and fired a gun, to apprise our
relatives that we were not only arrived, but arrived in triumph. This
soon produced the desired effect: the mother and her three young ones
soon appeared, running towards us; upon which Fritz jumped out of the
boat, placed the head of our sea-prize on the muzzle of his gun, and
walked to shore, which I reached at the same moment.
I requested my wife to go with two of the younger boys to Falcon’s
Stream, and fetch the sledge and the beasts of burden, that we might
see at least a part of our booty from the ship put safely under
shelter the same evening. A tempest, or even the tide, might sweep
away the whole during the night. We took every precaution in our
power against the latter danger, by fixing the boat and the raft,
now, at the time of its reflux, as securely as we could without an
anchor.
While we were employed on this scheme, the sledge arrived, and we
placed the tortoise upon it, and also some articles of light weight,
such as mattresses, pieces of linen, etc. Our first concern, on
reaching our abode, was the tortoise, which we immediately turned on
his back, that we might strip off the shell, and make use of some
of the flesh while it was fresh. Taking my hatchet, I separated
the upper and under shell all round, which were joined together by
cartilages. The upper shell of the tortoise is extremely convex; the
under, on the contrary, is nearly flat. I cut away as much of the
flesh of the animal as was sufficient for a meal, and laid the rest
carefully on the under shell, which served as a dish, recommending
to my wife to cook what I had cut off, on the other shell, with no
other seasoning than a little salt, and pledged myself that she would
produce a luxurious dish.
_Fritz._--I thought, father, of cleaning the shell thoroughly, and
fixing it by the side of our river, and keeping it always full of
pure water for my mother’s use, when she has to wash the linen, or
cook our victuals.
_Father._--Excellent, excellent, my boy! all honour to the founder of
the _pure water-tub_! This is what I call _thinking for the general
good_. And we will take care to execute the idea as soon as we can
prepare some clay, as a solid foundation for its bottom.
_Ernest._--When the water-tub is complete, I will put some roots I
have found to soak a little in it, for they are now extremely dry.
I do not exactly know what they are: they look something like the
radish, or horse-radish; but the plant from which I took them was
almost the size of a bush.
_Father._--If my suspicion is right, you have made a beneficial
discovery, which, with the assistance of our own wild roots, may
furnish us the means of existence as long as we may remain in this
island! I think your roots are _manioc_, of which the natives of the
West Indies make a sort of bread or cake which they call _cassava_.
But we must first carry the production through a certain preparation,
without which it possesses pernicious properties. Try to find the
same place, and bring a sufficient quantity for our first experiment.
We had finished unloading the sledge, and I bade the three eldest
boys accompany me to fetch another load before it should be dark.
Having reached the raft, we took from it as many effects as the
sledge could hold, or the animals draw along. One object of my
attention was to secure two chests which contained the clothes of
my family. I reckoned also on finding in one of the chests some
books on interesting subjects, and principally a large handsomely
printed Bible. I added to these, four cart-wheels and a hand-mill for
grinding; which, now that we had discovered the manioc, I considered
of signal importance. These and a few other articles completed our
present load.
[Illustration: “He accordingly fell into the track of the current,
and drew us straight towards our usual place of landing.”]
On our return to Falcon’s Nest, we found my wife looking anxiously
for our arrival, and ready with the welcome she had promised of an
ample and agreeable repast. Before she had well examined our new
stores, she drew me, with one of her sweetest smiles, by the arm.
“Step this way,” said she, and leading to the shade of a tree,--“this
is the work I performed in your absence,” pointing to a large cask
half sunk in the ground, and the rest covered over with branches of
trees. She then applied a small corkscrew to the side, and filling
the shell of a cocoa-nut with the contents, presented it to me. I
found the liquor equal to the best canary I had ever tasted. “How
then,” said I, “have you performed this new miracle? I cannot believe
the enchanted bag produced it.” “Not exactly,” replied she; “for this
time it was an obliging white wave which threw it on shore. I took a
little ramble in your absence yesterday, to see what I could find,
and well my trouble was rewarded! The boys ran for the sledge, and
had but little difficulty in getting the cask to Falcon’s Stream,
where we dug this place in the earth to keep it cool.”
My wife now proposed that all should be regaled with some of the
delicious beverage. My own share so invigorated me, that I found
myself able to complete my day’s work, by drawing up the mattresses
we had brought from the ship, to our chamber in the tree, by means
of a pulley. When I had laid them along to advantage, they looked so
inviting that I could scarcely resist my desire of at once committing
myself to the kind relief they seemed to offer to my exhausted
strength.
But now the savoury smell of the tortoise laid claim to my attention.
I hastened down, and we all partook heartily of the luxurious treat.
We returned thanks to God, and speedily retired to taste the blessing
of sound repose upon the said mattresses.