It was well on in the month of September--the spring of the year in
South Atlantic latitudes--when the brothers commenced their crusoe-like
life on Inaccessible Island; and, by the time that Fritz had recovered
from the effects of his sprained ankle, so far as to be able to hobble
about the place, it was nearly the end of October. This was the
beginning of the early summer at Inaccessible Island; and, the season
being but a short one, not an hour of it could be wasted if they wished
to carry out to advantage the special purpose that had taken them away
from the haunts of men.
The sealing season would soon begin; and, it behoved them to be ready
for it, so that they should lose no chance of securing as many skins as
they could get. The amount of oil they might procure from the boiled-
down blubber was also a consideration, but only a secondary one in
comparison with the pelts; for, owing to the market demand for sealskins
and the wholesale extermination of the animal that supplies them that is
now continually going on in arctic and antarctic seas alike, the pursuit
is as valuable as it is more and more precarious each year--the
breeding-grounds now being almost deserted to what they once were, even
in the most out-of-the-way spots, the Esquimaux to the north and
American whalers in the south having depopulated the whilom numerous
herds.
The garden was the first point Fritz aimed for, when he found he could
put his foot to the ground; and he proceeded thither slowly, with the
aid of a stick to lean upon and with Eric "frisking round him," as he
said, just like old Gelert would have done!
In the comparatively short space of time since Fritz had last seen the
little plot, a wonderful transformation had been effected--thanks to the
richness of the virgin soil, the productiveness of the climate, and,
lastly, the super-stratum of guano which Eric had suggested being placed
over the clearing.
The sailor lad, too, had not forgotten each morning to water the newly
planted land, which was exposed all day to the sun's heat, with the
exception of a brief period in the afternoon when the shade of the
cliffs extended over it; so, now, the garden presented a smiling
appearance, with the potatoes just sprouting above their ridges, and
cabbages and radishes coming up in clusters, while rows of peas and
scarlet runners were sprouting as thick as hedges--not to speak of the
slender onion stems, like tiny spears, each bearing its own seed back
above ground after it had performed its creative mission below the
surface, leaving a root behind.
"This looks well," said Fritz, delighted at the result of their joint
handiwork. "Bye-and-bye, we ought to reap a good return for all our
labour. I'm glad we got the job done when we did; otherwise, we should
not have such a charming prospect before us."
"I'm jolly glad we haven't got to do it now!" replied Eric, with a shrug
of his shoulders and laughing as usual. "Himmel! I shall never forget
that digging!"
"Nor the penguins either, I suppose, when you went to get the guano that
day?" said Fritz slyly, with a meaning glance.
"Ah, brother, `no more of that, an thou lovest me!'" quoted Eric.
"Still, the guano, perhaps, has made the things come on so well, eh?"
"No doubt of that," replied Fritz. "But, we'll have to thin out those
cabbage plants shortly, laddie; that will necessitate our digging up
some more ground, so as to make a place ready for them."
"Oh!" groaned the other in a lachrymose way, making a hideous grimace.
"However, we needn't hurry about it," continued Fritz, smiling at his
grimace.
"Ah!" exclaimed Eric, much relieved. He knew that if the thing had to
be done, he should have to accomplish it; for, in spite of all his
disgust for spade work, he certainly would not have allowed Fritz to
attempt gardening so soon with his invalided foot.
"No, there's no hurry," went on Fritz, as if thinking aloud. "We'll
have to confine our attention to the seals now for the next two months
or so, as that is our special business here. When we can capture no
more of those gentry, we'll have plenty of time to attend to the garden;
although, probably, we shall get something out of it ere long, if only a
few radishes--at all events we ought to have some new potatoes by
Christmas, that is if they ripen as rapidly as they have jumped out of
the ground!"
"Fancy, new potatoes at Christmas!" cried Eric. "I wonder what they
would say to that at home in Lubeck?"
"Aye, what!" repeated Fritz; and, in a second, his thoughts were far
away across the rolling Atlantic. His mental eyes could see--as plainly
as if the scene was there before him, now, in that little valley between
the cliffs of the desert isle where the two brothers were--the house in
the Gulden Strasse, with the dear home faces belonging to it. Yes,
there they were in a loving vision, the "little mother," Lorischen, and
Madaleine, not forgetting Gelert or Mouser even; while the old-fashioned
town, with its antique gateway and pillared market platz, and quaint Dom
Kirche and clock of the rolling eyes, seemed moving past in a mental
panorama before him!
Eric recalled him presently to himself by a pertinent inquiry.
"We'll have to see to our boat to hunt the seals in, won't we?" he
asked.
"Yes, certainly," said Fritz, fixing his mind on present things with an
effort. "I hope it's all right!"
"You may make sure of that," answered Eric. "I wasn't going to let any
harm happen to the boat which the good captain so kindly gave us! No.
I have been down to look at and overhaul it every day--keeping water in
it besides, that the seams should not open with the heat and make it
leak."
"Then it is quite seaworthy?"
"Oh, yes, without doubt."
"Well, I tell you what we'll do," said Fritz. "As the exertion will not
compel me to have any walking to speak of, nor interfere with the
strengthening of my poor foot, I vote that we sail round the headland to
the western beach on the other side of the island. We can then see
whether there is any appearance yet of the seals coming to take up their
summer residence here."
"Won't that be jolly!" shouted out Eric. "Why, it is the very thing I
have been longing to do since we went up the cliffs and saw the beach
there from the tableland! I would not speak to you about it, because I
knew, of course, you could not move, and feared that talking of it might
excite you."
"That was very considerate of you, laddie," replied Fritz; "so, now to
reward you for your thoughtfulness, I vote that we proceed there as soon
as we can get the boat ready and prepare for the excursion. Apart from
its being in the nature of a little pleasure trip--my convalescent tour,
as it were, for change of air--it is really necessary work for us to
know when we can begin, if we are going to be seal hunters and trade in
skins and oil!"
"Right you are," said Eric, quite convinced by this argument that
nothing could be more wise or sensible than a voyage round the island in
the whale-boat, especially as the plan agreed with his own views of the
matter to an iota; and, in his usually impulsive way, in spite of having
already inspected the little craft that morning, he rushed off down to
the beach, scaring multitudes of penguins on his way, to see whether she
was as sound and seaworthy as he had said, and thoroughly fit for the
cruise.
Everything was right, fortunately; so, early on the following day, they
shoved off the whale-boat from the beach. This was a rather fatiguing
operation, although it was greatly facilitated by some rollers which
Eric sawed off a spare topgallant mast that was amongst the old spars
the skipper gave them. The brothers then started on their trip round
the island, the wind being fair from the south-east--the same point,
indeed, from which it had blown almost entirely during their stay, with
the exception of a short spell from the south-west just after their
arrival.
The coast, after clearing the headland, was bold and precipitous, the
wall of rock continuing round to the west side; although here it broke
away, with a lower ridge of soft dolomite that had caves worn into its
face from the action of the sea, and one or two creeks that the boat
could run into. This was evidently the haunt of the seals, for numbers
of fish bones were scattered about on the floor of the caves and on the
fragments of volcanic rock that were scattered on the beach below, piled
and heaped up in pyramid fashion.
Landing at one of the little caves, just under a tussock-grass-grown
gully, like that close to their hut on the eastern side, Eric ascended
with his rifle to the ridge above. He soon gained the tableland,
returning anon with a well-grown kid which Fritz had told him to shoot,
so that they might take it home with them. The ascent to the plateau,
the lad said, was much easier from this part of the coast than by the
waterfall; but, of course, as it would necessitate a voyage almost round
the island whenever they attempted it, the other way was more
preferable, although dangerous by contrast.
One or two seals were seen sunning themselves on the rocks; but these
quickly slid off into the sea when the boat approached. Their breeding-
season had certainly not yet arrived, else they would not only have been
more numerous, but have been too much engaged with their families to
mind ordinary intruders. When separated from their fellows, as the
brothers now saw them, however, they were naturally extremely timid
animals.
Proceeding round the southern extremity of the island, the cliff that
encircled the coast seemed the more precipitous the further they
advanced, frowning down destruction on any ship that might approach it
unawares in the darkness--should the wind blow on shore and the set of
the sea prevent escape from its terrors!
Eric steered the boat out a bit here, so that they might tack further on
inwards and so weather the eastern promontory, which stretched to the
left of the bay outwards into the ocean. They were thus able to have a
grand view of the whole island, getting back to their little home, not
long before sundown. Nor did they return empty-handed, either; for, the
kid furnished fresh meat for their dinner, to which their trip besides
added a piquant relish.
What with making things more comfortable in their hut and attending to
the garden, which bloomed out apace each day, the hours did not lag on
their hands by any means during the next week or two. There was
occupation enough, even in this interval, to pass the time pleasantly
away; but, when the month of November was ushered in, the seals then
coming to the island in shoals, they found plenty to do from morning
till night.
There was work of all kinds to be done:-- first, boating round the coast
after their prey; secondly, hunting the animals into their caves and
killing them, taking care to secure their bodies before they sank into
deep water and were thus irrecoverably lost; thirdly, getting off the
skins and salting them down to prevent their putrefying; and, lastly,
boiling blubber--oh, yes, they had enough work to employ them, and no
time to be idle!
Before this busy period, however, every morning, again at midday, and in
the afternoon, Eric would go up and down the tussock-grass ladder by
which he scaled the precipice on to the tableland above, whence he was
able to reconnoitre the west coast, the favourite resort of the seals,
according to the information of young Glass, the Tristaner who
instructed them in the matter.
The lad did this daily as a matter of duty, "climbing the fore cross-
trees for a look-out," as he termed the scramble up the gorge; and, as
regularly, three times every day, after his morning, midday, and
afternoon observations, he would come back to Fritz with the same
unsatisfactory tale--that no seals were in sight.
One afternoon, however, towards the end of the month, he reported more
cheering news.
"Oh, there are such a lot of seals on the rocks!" he called out from the
top of the cliff, without waiting to come down. "Why, there must be
hundreds of them there, crawling in and out of the caves on their
flappers, to and from the sea! Which will be the best way to tackle
them, brother, we can reach them from here, you know?"
Fritz, who was below seated outside the hut, just preparing to mend some
of his clothes that had long needed looking after, in a moment became
equally excited, pitching the dilapidated garments back inside the hut
and putting off the work of repairing to some future day.
"Come down sharp, Eric, and help me to get the boat out," he cried. "We
must attack them from seaward; for, if we went at them from the cliff,
they would at once take to the water, and so escape us. Descend at
once, while I am getting the guns and tackle ready!"
"Right you are!" shouted the sailor lad in answer. "I'll be down with
you in a brace of shakes!"
No sooner had he uttered the words than he was scrambling down by the
tussock-grass through the waterfall gully; while, at the same time,
Fritz below was proceeding hurriedly to collect the various articles
required for the sealing expedition, which had been put away on one side
so as to be handy for just such an emergency:-- the loaded rifles, with
spare cartridges; the two harpoons, to each of which a long coiled-up
line was attached; the strong boat-hook to pull in the carcases of their
victims; and, other little etceteras.
The common seal, which is frequently seen on the north coast of Scotland
amongst the Hebrides and Shetland Islands, and the sea bear of Cape Horn
and the Magellan Straits, are both very similar in their general habits
to the Greenland seal of the Esquimaux; and the animals usually herd
together in flocks or droves of some thirty to a hundred, each male
having a certain number of females under his charge--the males being
some six to eight feet long and the females of less dimensions.
The seals invariably frequent the most desolate rocks and caverns, where
they can have ready access to the sea, which is their proper element;
and, in the north and extreme south, they live on the ice-peaks as a
rule, getting the fish they require for their food by diving off and
catching their prey in the same way that an otter does.
The wildest and stormiest seas appear to delight them most. In such
they may be seen, sporting amidst the breakers and rough water, in the
highest of spirits apparently, and escaping scatheless where other
creatures would be dashed to pieces on the rocks that form their
temporary homes. Although they do not assemble on shore in any numbers,
except during the summer months of the latitudes in which they are
found, they are never far-distant from their favourite haunts at any
time, the reason for their not being seen, most probably, being that
they only leave the water at night during the winter, or else because
the stormy weather prevents those who go after them from approaching
their habitats and so noticing them.
By the time Eric descended the cliff, Fritz had the boat ready to shove
off, with their hunting gear inside and all necessary weapons for the
chase; so, the two were soon on their way round the headland, steering
towards the seal-caves on the western side of the island.
"You never saw such a lot, brother," Eric went on to say, when they had
embarked and were working round the coast. "There were hundreds of
small ones, while some were big monsters that had long noses and seemed
to be double the size of the others!"
"Ah, those were probably sea elephants," said Fritz. "I should like to
catch one. The fur, they say, is not so good as that of the common
seal, but they yield an immense lot of oil from their blubber--from
eight to ten barrels, I have been told."
"Really?" observed Eric. "Why, one or two of those gentlemen would soon
fill up our casks!"
"Yes, and I shouldn't regret it," said Fritz. "We should then have a
good stock ready against the time Captain Brown returns to visit us with
the _Pilot's Bride_!"
"Aye, I should like that," replied the other; and then, as both rowing
and sailing--for the wind was light--the boat neared the rock caves of
the western coast, the brothers grew too excited to talk any more.
Presently, they hove in sight of their hunting-ground; whereupon, they
at once stopped the way of the boat in order to map out their campaign.
It did not take long for them to do this; and the gist of the plan could
be seen in the arrangements they made for battle.
Fritz and Eric both put their rifles ready on the thwarts of the boat,
and the harpoons were also placed handy in the bows along with the boat-
hook; then, lowering the lugsail which the little craft carried, they
muffled their oars with some rags they had prepared and pulled in
steadily towards the beach.
As they got nearer, the seals could be seen swarming on the rocks, while
the noise they made--something like the bleating of sheep mingled with a
hoarse growling roar, not dissimilar to that of an angry bull in the
distance--could be heard plainly while the brothers were yet more than a
mile off.
Some of the seals were swimming about in the water, but the majority
were basking on the huge slabs of rocks that had been broken off from
the face of the cliff by the onslaught of the waves and which now lay on
the beach at its base, partly in and partly out of the sea.
"Now, Eric, be ready!" called out Fritz in a hoarse whisper. "Do you
see those two fellows on that boulder nearest us?"
"Yes," whispered Eric in return, almost breathless with excitement.
"Then, you take the right-hand one, and I will make sure of the one to
the left. Aim low and steadily at the head, for that is the only vital
part a ball will reach. Remember, if you only wound him, he'll slip
into the water and dive out of our reach!"
"Right you are; I'm ready," was Eric's reply.
"Wait till I give the word, then," said Fritz.
There was a moment of suspense as the boat crept closer to the poor
seals, who were playing away, thoughtless of danger, and then--
"Fire!" exclaimed Fritz.
The two murderous rifles, at the same instant, at once belched forth
their contents; and, a moment after, the dropped heads of the animals
aimed at showed that the respective bullets had accomplished their
mission.
"Now, let us push in," cried Fritz, seizing his oar again, when, his
brother following his example, they beached the boat in a few strokes.
Then, each taking up a harpoon, they attacked the cluster of animals,
killing fifteen before the frightened creatures could escape into their
native element, although they came off the rocks with a rush, looking
most formidable as they opened their mouths and showed their fangs,
emitting the while terrific roars; and, as they waddled in a crowd into
the water, they rolled down the brothers with their impetus as if they
had been ninepins.
"I don't mind the bruises," said Fritz, picking himself up again with a
laugh. "Not when I have such a sound salve for them as the thought of
the oil we'll get out of all the carcases!"
"Nor I," chimed in Eric, rubbing his nose ruefully though all the same.
"Think of fifteen--no, seventeen sealskins, counting in the two we shot
first on the rocks! They ought to fetch something handsome when we send
them to the States, eh?"
"Yes," said Fritz; "but now, out with your knife, laddie! Let us set to
work, taking off the pelts while they are still warm."
"Right you are," replied Eric; and the two were soon at work, skinning
the animals and taking off the layer of blubber which lay immediately
beneath the inner lining of the skin--rolling up the greasy and reeking
mass of skin and fat together in bundles and placing them in the boat as
soon as each seal had his toilet thus attended to.
It was very dirty work and neither was sorry when all the blubber and
skins were stowed in the whale-boat; their last care being to roll the
poor bodies of the seals now bereft of those coveted coats which had
caused their destruction, into the sea. This was done in order that the
remains might not scare away others of the herd from such inhospitable
shores. The task was soon accomplished, for the rocks shelved down
abruptly into the water; and, when the place was made tidy again, the
brothers set sail for home with their cargo, going back the contrary way
they came, so as to have the advantage of the wind and save the labour
of rowing.
Since their onslaught, not another live seal was to be seen in the
vicinity, the first to make off before the boat was pulled into the
beach after Fritz and Eric had fired being the couple of sea elephants
which they had noticed amongst the mass of animals, clustered together
on the rocks; and these, consequently, they were unable to secure.
However, they consoled themselves on their way back to the bay with the
reflection that they had done a very good day's work. They were by no
means dissatisfied with the result of their sport--seventeen seals at
one haul were not to be despised!
For some time after reaching the hut they were busily engaged, cleaning
the skins and salting them down for preservation. They had both been
instructed how to do this on board the whaler; although Eric, having had
previous practical experience with all the details of the operation, now
acted as superintendent.
They had also to boil the blubber in the iron cauldron, which they had
brought from the States for the purpose of "trying out the oil," as
whaling men technically term the procedure; and they found when they had
finished that the result realised some ten barrels full.
This was a splendid start for them and it made them so contented that it
was upwards of a fortnight before they undertook another expedition to
the west beach.
But, apart, from the satisfactory results of their first venture, they
thought it best to let the seals have a little interlude of calm before
attacking them again. Besides this, Eric's reports from his look-out
station on the tableland were most unfavourable, as, for some days after
their last foray, hardly a seal was to be seen in the neighbourhood of
the scene of the fray.
However, one fine morning in December, Eric reported the arrival of a
fresh batch of the fur-bearing animals on the west rocks; so, making
their boat ready, the brothers soon sailed round thither once more.
They had turned the last projecting point of the headland, before
opening the beach frequented by the seals, and Fritz had brought up the
boat's head to the wind, preparatory to their lowering the sail and
taking to their oars to pull into shore, when Eric, who had been looking
out over the bows, arrested his brother's intention.
"Hullo, Fritz!" he exclaimed, "there's some one there before us. I can
see a boat, with a lot of men in it, close to the beach!"
"Indeed!" said Fritz, quite as much astonished. "I wonder who they
are?"
He felt almost as indignant as a landlord on finding that a party of
poachers had invaded his choicest preserves and were ruthlessly
appropriating his pet pheasants!
"Himmel!" he repeated, "I wonder who the fellows can be?"
Just then, the discharge of several rifles all together, as if
practising platoon firing, struck on his ear; and, as Fritz sniffed the
smell of the burnt gunpowder floating by him in the air to seaward,
driven off from shore by the wind, the saltpetrous scent did not tend to
restore his equanimity!