The westerly wind being, of course, fair for the _Pilot's Bride_ in her
run back to Tristan d'Acunha, she soon disappeared in the distance--the
snow-capped cone of the larger island being presently the only object to
be seen on the horizon, looking in the distance like a faint white cloud
against the sky. The evening haze shut out everything else from their
gaze: the lower outlines of the land they had so recently left: the
vessel that had conveyed them to their solitary home.
Nothing was to be seen but the rolling tumid sea that stretched around
them everywhere, as far as the eye could reach, heaving and swelling and
with the breeze flecking off the tops of the billows into foam as its
resistless impetus impelled them onwards, away, away!
"Well," exclaimed Eric, after a long pause, during which neither of the
brothers had spoken, both being anxiously watching the _Pilot's Bride_--
until, first, her hull and then her gleaming sails, lit up for awhile by
the rays of the setting sun, had sunk out of sight--"well, here we are
at last!"
"Yes, here we are," said Fritz, "and we've now got to make the best of
our little kingdom with only our own companionship."
"We won't quarrel, at all events, brother," replied Eric, laughing in
his old fashion at the possibility of such a thing. The lad was quite
overwrought with emotion at parting with the old skipper as well as his
late companions in the ship; and, tears and mirth being closely allied,
he would have felt inclined to laugh at anything then--just because he
couldn't cry!
"I don't suppose we will," said the other--"that is, not intentionally.
But, brother, we will have to guard our tempers with a strong hand; for,
when two persons are thrown together in such close association as we
shall be during the next ensuing months--with no one else to speak to
and no authority to control us, save our own consciences and the
knowledge of the all-seeing Eye above, weighing and considering our
actions--it will require a good deal of mutual forbearance and kindly
feeling on the part of one towards the other to prevent us from falling
out sometimes, if only for a short while. Even brothers like us, Eric,
who love each other dearly, may possibly fall out under such trying
circumstances!"
"Aye, but we mustn't," said Eric. "Instead of falling out, we'll fall
into each other's arms whenever we agree to differ, as old nurse
Lorischen would have said!" and he gave his brother an enthusiastic hug
as he spoke, putting his words into action with a suddenness that almost
threw Fritz off his feet.
"Hullo!" exclaimed the latter good-humouredly, smiling as he disengaged
himself from Eric's bear-like embrace. "Gently lad. Your affectionate
plan, I'm afraid, would sometimes interfere with the progress of our
work; but talking of that, as the vessel has now disappeared, there's no
use in our standing here any longer looking at the sea. Suppose we
begin to make ourselves at home and arrange our things in the snug
little cottage which our good friends have built for us?"
"Right you are!" responded Eric, starting off towards the cliff, under
the lee of which the Tristaner had directed the hut to be built, so that
it might be sheltered from the strong winds of the winter, which would
soon have blown it down had it been erected in a more exposed situation.
Fritz followed more leisurely to the level plateau by the waterfall,
where stood their cottage.
Here, arresting his footsteps, he remained a moment surveying the little
domain before joining his brother, who had already rushed within the
building.
That boy was all impulse: always eager to be doing something!
The territory of the young crusoes was of limited dimensions. Extending
about a mile laterally, it was bounded on either side by lofty headlands
that projected into the sea, enclosing the narrow strip of beach that
lay between in their twin arms. The depth of the valley inwards was
even more confined by a steep cliff, down whose abrupt face slipped and
hopped through a gorge, or gully, a little rivulet. This stream, on its
progress being arrested by a shelf in front of the rocky escarpment,
tumbled over the obstacle in a sheet of cloud-like spray, being thus
converted into a typical "waterfall" that resembled somewhat that of
Staubbach, as the brothers had noticed when making their first
observations from the ship. The rivulet, collecting its scattered
fragments below, made its way to the beach in a meandering course,
passing by in its passage the slight hollow in the plateau at the base
of the furthermost crag, close by where the cottage was situated.
The "location," as Captain Brown would have termed the sloping ground
between the cliff and the sea, was certainly not an extensive one; for,
in the event of their wishing to expand their little settlement, in the
fashion of squatters out West, by "borrowing" land from adjacent lots,
the inexorable wall of volcanic rock to the rear of the plateau and on
its right and left flank forbade the carrying out of any such scheme;
still, the place was big enough for their house, besides affording room
for a tidy-sized garden--that is, when the two had time to dig up the
soil and plant the potatoes and other seed which the skipper had
provided them with, so that they might have a supply of vegetables anon.
At first sight, there did not appear to be any means of exit from this
little valley; for, the steep cliffs that hedged in its sides and back
lifted themselves skywards to the height of nearly a thousand feet,
while their fronts were generally so smooth and perpendicular that it
would have been impossible even for a monkey to have climbed them--much
less human beings, albeit one was a sailor and pretty well accustomed to
saltatory feats! But, on their inspecting the apparently insurmountable
breastwork a little closer, Fritz noticed, as the young Tristaner had
pointed out to them, that, by the side of the gorge through which the
waterfall made its erratic descent to the lower level, the face of the
cliff was more strongly indented; so that, by using the tussock-grass,
which grew there in great abundance, as a sort of scaling ladder, and
taking advantage of the niches in the rock to step upon where this
failed, the summit could be thus easily gained. The top, however, was
so far away from the beach and the foothold so insecure that the work of
ascending the crag would be a most hazardous proceeding at the best of
times, to the elder brother at all events.
While Fritz was thus cogitating, and diligently studying the features of
the scene around, Eric was waiting for him impatiently at the door of
the rough-looking hut which the sailors had built for them under the
superintendence of Captain Brown and the Tristaner.
The young sailor was too restless to remain quiet very long.
"Do come along, brother!" he called out after a while. "What a time you
are, to be sure; we'll never be able to unpack our things before it's
dark, unless you look sharp!"
"All right, I'm coming," replied the other; and he was soon by the side
of Eric, who had already begun to overhaul the various articles that had
been brought up from the boat by the sailors and piled up in a corner of
the hut.
"What a lot of things!" exclaimed the lad. "Why, there are ever so many
more parcels than I thought there were!"
"Yes," said his brother; "it is all that good Captain Brown's doing, I
suppose. When we were parting, he told me that he had left me a few
`notions,' besides our own traps."
"He has too, brother. Just look here at this barrel of beef; you didn't
pay him for that, eh?"
"No," said Fritz; "I only bought some pork and ship's biscuits, besides
flour and a few groceries."
"Then he has thought of much that we forgot," remarked Eric with
considerable satisfaction. "I don't think our groceries included
preserved peaches and tinned oysters, Fritz; yet, here they are!"
"You don't say so--the kind old fellow!" exclaimed Fritz; and then he,
too, set to work examining the stores as eagerly as his brother.
Before leaving Providence, the two had purchased a couple of spades and
shovels, an American axe, a pick, a rake, a wheelbarrow, and a hoe for
agricultural purposes--the skipper having told them that the soil would
be fertile enough in the summer at Inaccessible Island for them to plant
most sorts of kitchen produce, which they would find of great help in
eking out the salted provisions they took from the ship, besides being
better for their health; while, to give emphasis to his advice, he
presented them with a plentiful stock of potatoes to put into the
ground, besides garden seed.
For cooking, the brothers were provided with a large kettle and frying
pan, a couple of saucepans, several knives and forks, some crockery,
and, in addition, a large iron cauldron for melting down seal blubber;
for hunting purposes, to complete the list of their gear, they had two
harpoons, a supply of fishing hooks and a grapnel, two Remington
rifles--besides Fritz's needle-gun which he had used in the first part
of the Franco-German war, before he became an officer and was entitled
to carry a sword--a supply of cartridges, five pounds of loose powder,
lead for making bullets, and a mould.
Among their weapons, also, was an old muzzle-loading fowling piece for
which shot had been taken, Fritz thinking that it might come in handy
for shooting birds--although, as he subsequently found out, all of the
feathered tribe they saw were penguins, and these did not require any
expenditure of powder and shot on their behalf, being easily knocked
down with a stick.
Nor did they forget to bring with them three or four strong sheath
knives, for skinning the seals and any other use for which they were
applicable; and, to add to their stock of cutlery implements, the
skipper had presented Fritz with a serviceable bowie knife, whose broad
double-dagger-like blade was powerful enough to cut down a tree on an
emergency or make mince-meat of an enemy!
Fritz had likewise purchased in Rhode Island a good stock of winter
clothing for himself and Eric, a couple of thick blanket rugs, and two
empty bed-tick covers--to be afterwards filled with the down they should
procure from the sea birds. He bought, too, a strong lamp, with a
supply of paraffin oil, and several dozen boxes of matches; so that he
and Eric should not have to adopt the tinder and flint business, or be
obliged to rub two pieces of dry stick together, in the primitive
fashion of the Australian aborigines, when they wanted a light.
So much for their equipment.
For their internal use, Fritz had selected from the ship's stores a
barrel of salt pork, two hundred-weight of rice, one hundred pounds of
hard biscuit, two hundred-weight of flour, twenty pounds of tea and
thirty of coffee, and a barrel of sugar; besides which, in the way of
condiments and luxuries, their stores included three pounds of table
salt, some pepper, a gallon of vinegar, a jar of pickles, a bottle of
brandy and some Epsom salts in the view of possible medical
contingencies. The skipper also advised their taking a barrel of coarse
salt to cure their sealskins with, as well as empty casks to contain
what oil they managed to boil down.
These were their own stores; but, imagine the surprise of Fritz and his
brother, when they found that Captain Brown had added to their stock the
welcome present of a barrel of salt beef and a couple of hams, a good-
sized cheese, and some boxes of sardines, besides the preserved fruits
and pickled oysters which Eric had already discovered.
Nor did the skipper's kindness stop here. He had packed up with their
things a couple of extra blankets, which they subsequently found of
great comfort in the cold weather, in addition to their rugs; a wide
piece of tarpaulin to cover their hut with; a few short spars and spare
timber; and, lastly, a clock--not to speak of the valuable whale-boat
which he had thought of just as he was going away and had presented to
them all standing, with oars, mast and sails in complete trim.
"I declare," said Fritz, "he has been better than a father to us all
through. I never heard of such good nature in my life!"
"Nor I," responded Eric, equally full of gratitude. "Celia, too, before
I left Providence, gave me a nice little housewife, wherewith I shall
mend all our things when they want repairing, besides which, she made ma
a present of quite a little library of books."
"And I've brought all mine as well," said Fritz, unrolling a large
package as he spoke.
"We'll not be hard up for reading, at any rate," remarked Eric, laughing
joyously. "Food for the mind as well as food for the body, eh?"
"Yes," said Fritz; "plenty of both."
"But, how on earth shall we ever be able to get through all this lot of
grub?"
"Ah, we won't find it a bit too much," said Fritz.
"What, for only us two, brother?" exclaimed Eric in astonishment.
"You forget it has got to last us more than a year, for certain; while,
should the _Pilot's Bride_ not visit us again next autumn, it will be
all we may have to depend on for twice that length of time."
"Oh, I forgot that."
"If you could see the pile of rations which one regiment alone of men
manages to consume in a week, the same as I have, Eric, you would not
wonder so much at the amount of our supplies."
"But think, brother, a regiment is very different to two fellows like
us!"
"Just calculate, laddie," answered the other, "the food so many men
would require for only one day; and then for us two, say, for seven
hundred days--where's the difference?"
"Ah, I see," said Eric, reflecting for a moment. "Perhaps there won't
be too much, after all, eh?"
"Wait till this time next year, and see what we shall have left then,
laddie!"
"But, remember the goats and pigs on the top of the mountain which the
Tristaner spoke to us about. We'll have those for food as well, won't
we?"
"Wait till we catch them," remarked Fritz dryly; adding shortly
afterwards, "We'd better stop talking now, however, and see about
getting our bed things ready for turning in for the night. Recollect,
we'll have a busy day of it to-morrow."
"Ah, I shall go up and explore the mountain top, brother, the first
thing in the morning," said Eric impulsively. "I'm dying to see what
it's like!"
"We have more important things to do, before satisfying our curiosity,"
observed the other. "Don't you recollect the garden?"
"I declare I forgot it, brother, for the moment, although there's no
need for us to hurry about that."
"The sooner we plant the seed, the sooner it will grow up," said Fritz
gravely. "Remember, old fellow, it is late in the spring now here; and,
unless the things are put into the ground without further delay, Captain
Brown said we need not hope to have any return from them this year."
"All right, Fritz," replied Eric cheerfully, the name of the skipper
having the talismanic effect of making him curb his own wishes anent the
immediate exploration of the island, which he had planned out for the
next day's programme. "We'll do the garden first, brother, if you
like."
"I think that will be wisest," said Fritz. "But now let us arrange our
bunks and have a bit of something to eat from the little basket the
steward put up for us before coming ashore. After that, we must go to
roost like the penguins outside, for it is nearly dark."
"Aye, aye, sir," responded Eric, touching his cap with mock deference.
"You just do that again!" said Fritz, threatening him in a joking way.
"Or, what?" asked the other, jumping out of his reach in make-believe
terror.
"I'll eat your share of this nice supper as well as mine."
"Oh, a truce then," cried Eric, laughing and coming back to his
brother's side; when the two, sitting down in the hut, whose interior
now looked very comfortable with the lamp lit, they proceeded to
demolish the roast fowl and piece of salt pork which Captain Brown had
directed the steward to put into a basket for them, so that they should
be saved the trouble of cooking for themselves the first day of their
sojourn on the island, as well as enjoy a savoury little repast in their
early experience of solitude.
"I say," remarked Eric, with his mouth full. "This is jolly, ain't it!"
"Yes, pretty well for a first start at our new life," replied Fritz,
eating away with equal gusto. "I only hope that we'll get on as
favourably later on."
"I hope so, too, brother," responded the other. "There's no harm in
wishing that, is there?"
"No," said Fritz. "But, remember, the garden to-morrow."
"I shan't forget again, old fellow, with you to jog my memory!"
"Ah, I'll not omit my part of it, then," retorted Fritz, joining in
Eric's laughter. Then, the brothers, having finished their meal, turned
out their lamp; and, throwing themselves down on a heap of rugs and
blankets which they had piled together in a corner of the hut, they were
soon asleep, completely tired out with all the fatigues and exertions of
the eventful day.