This plan was nothing else than their attempting the feat of swimming
round the headland, in order to reach the western shore, from whence, of
course, they knew from past experience they could easily ascend to the
tableland above--the happy hunting-ground for goats and pigs, their
legitimate prey.
"Nonsense," exclaimed Fritz, when Eric mooted the project; "the thing
can never be done!"
"Never is a long day," rejoined the sailor lad. "I'm sure I have
covered over twice that distance in the water before now."
"Ah, that might have been in a calm sea," said Fritz; "but, just
recollect the terrible rough breakers we had to contend with that time
in December when the whale-boat got smashed! Why, we might never get
out of the reach of that current which you know runs like a mill-race
under the eastern cliff."
"We won't go that way," persisted Eric. "Besides, the sea is not always
rough; for, on some days the water, especially now since the frost has
set in, is as calm as a lake."
"And terribly cold, too," cried his brother. "I dare say a fellow would
get the cramp before he had well-nigh cleared the bay."
"Well, I never saw such a chap for throwing cold water on any suggestion
one makes!" exclaimed Eric in an indignant tone. He was almost angry.
"It is cold water this time with a vengeance," retorted Fritz, laughing;
whereupon Eric calmed down again, but only to argue the point more
determinedly.
"Mind, I don't want you to go, brother," he pleaded. "I'm much the
stronger of the two of us, although I am the youngest; so, I'll try the
feat. It will be easy enough after rounding the headland, which will be
the hardest part of the job; but when I have weathered that, it will be
comparatively easy to reach the seal-caves. Once arrived there, I shall
only have to climb up to the plateau and shoot some pigs and a goat and
fling them down to you here, returning at my leisure; for, there'll be
no hurry. As for the swim back, it will not be half so difficult a task
as getting round there, for the wind and tide will both be in my
favour."
But, Fritz would not hear of this for a moment.
"No," he said; "if anybody attempts the thing, it must be me, my
impulsive laddie! Do you think I could remain here quietly while you
were risking your life to get food for us both?"
"And how do you expect me to do so either?" was the prompt rejoinder.
"I am the eldest, and ought to decide."
"Ah, we are brothers in misfortune now, as well as in reality; so the
accident of birth shall not permit you to assert a right of self-
sacrifice over me!" cried Eric, using almost glowing language in his
zealous wish to secure his brother's safety at the expense of his own.
"What fine words, laddie!" said Fritz, laughing again at the other's
earnestness, as if to make light of it, although he well recognised the
affection that called forth Eric's eloquence. "Why, you are speaking in
as grand periods as little Burgher Jans!"
Eric laughed, too, at this; but, still, he was not going to be defeated
by ridicule.
"Grand words or not, brother," he said, with a decision that the other
could not bear down; "you shall not venture upon the swim while I stop
here doing nothing!"
"Nor will I allow you to go and I remain behind," retorted Fritz.
"I tell you what, then," cried Eric; "as we're two obstinate fellows and
have both made up our minds, suppose we attempt the feat together, eh?"
Fritz urged at first that it was unnecessary for both to run the risk;
however, Eric's pleadings made him finally yield.
"You see," argued the sailor lad, "we can swim side by side, the same as
we have done many a time in the old canal at Lubeck; and then, should
either of us get the cramp, or feel `played-out,' as the skipper used to
say, why the other can lend a helping hand!"
And, so it was finally settled, that, on the first bright calm day when
there should be but little wind, and while the tide was setting out of
the bay in the direction favourable for them, which was generally at the
full and change of the moon, they were to attempt the task of swimming
round the headland to the west shore of the island. Thence they could
ascend the plateau in search of that animal food which they so sadly
required, the two having been restricted for some weeks to a diet of dry
potatoes, without even a scrap of butter or grease to make them go down
more palatably.
This being determined on, the two quickly made their preparations for
the undertaking, which to them appeared almost as formidable as poor
Captain Webb's feat of trying to go down the Falls of Niagara; although,
it might be mentioned incidentally, that, at the time they attempted
their natatory exploit, that reckless swimmer's name was unknown to
fame.
Of course, they had to consider that, should they reach the beach on the
other side all right and thus get up to the tableland, they would
require some weapon to bring down the animals they were going in chase
of; and, as both the Remington rifles as well as Fritz's shot gun had
been lost with the whale-boat, the only firearm remaining was the
needle-gun, which the elder brother had brought with him from Germany--
more, indeed, as a reminiscence of the campaign in which he had been
engaged than from any idea of its serviceableness.
However, for want of anything better, there it was; and, as Fritz had
plenty of cartridges which would fit it, the weapon had a chance of now
being employed for a more peaceful purpose than that for which it was
originally intended. It would, certainly, still take life, it is true;
but it would do so with the object of ultimately saving and not
destroying humanity.
There was the weapon and the cartridges; but, how to get them round with
them was the question?
The brothers could swim well enough without any encumbrance, still, they
would be crippled in their efforts should they be foolish enough to load
themselves with a heavy gun, as well as sundry other articles which they
thought it necessary to take with them for the success of their
expedition.
Why, such a procedure would be like handicapping themselves heavily for
the race!
What was to be done?
Eric, the "inventive genius," very soon solved this difficulty.
"I tell you what we'll do, brother," he said; "let us put our blankets,
with the kettle and rifle and the other things we require, in one of the
oil casks. We can then push this before us as we swim along, the cask
serving us for a life buoy to rest upon when we are tired, besides
carrying our traps, eh?"
"Himmel, Eric, you're a genius!" exclaimed Fritz, clapping him on the
back. "I never knew such a fellow for thinking of things like you,
laddie; you beat Bismark and Von Moltke both rolled into one!"
"Ah, the idea only just flashed across my mind," said the other,
somewhat shamefaced at his brother's eulogy and almost blushing. "It
came just on the spur of the moment, you know!"
"But, how are we going to get the needle-gun into the barrel?" asked
Fritz suddenly, taking up the weapon and seeing that its muzzle would
project considerably beyond the mouth of the said article, even when the
butt end was resting on the bottom.
"Why, by unscrewing the breech, of course," said Eric promptly.
Fritz gazed at him admiringly.
"The lad is never conquered by anything!" he cried out, as if speaking
to a third person. "He's the wonder of Lubeck, that's what he is!"
"The `wonder of Lubeck' then requests you'll lose no time in getting the
gun ready," retorted Eric, in answer to this chaff. "While we're
talking and thus wasting time, we may lose the very opportunity we wish
for our swim out of the bay!"
This observation made Fritz set to work: and the two had shortly placed
all their little property in one of the stoutest of the oil casks, which
they then proceeded to cooper up firmly, binding their old bed tarpaulin
round it as an additional precaution for keeping out the salt water when
it should be immersed in the sea.
Rolling the cask down to the beach, they tried it, to see how it
floated; and this it did admirably, although it was pretty well loaded
with their blankets wrapped round the needle-gun and other things. It
still rose, indeed, quite half out of the water.
Eric then plaited a rope round it, with beckets for them to hold on by;
and so, everything being ready, they only waited for a calm day to make
the venture.
Some three days afterwards, the south-east wind having lulled to a
gentle breeze and the sea being as smooth as glass, only a tumid swell
with an unbroken surface rolling into the bay, the brothers started,
after having first stripped and anointed their bodies with seal oil--a
plan for the prevention of cold which Eric had been told of by the
whalers.
Until they reached the headland, they had easy work; but, there, a cross
current carried them first one way and then another, so much interfering
with their onward progress that it took them a good hour to round the
point.
That achieved, however, as the sailor lad had pointed out when they were
first considering the feasibility of the attempt, all the rest of the
distance before them was "plain sailing"; so that, although they had to
cover twice the length of water, if not more, another couple of hours
carried them to the west beach. Here they arrived not the least
exhausted with their long swim; for, by pushing the cask before them in
turn and holding on to it by the beckets, they, were enabled to have
several rests and breathing spells by the way.
Arrived again on terra firma, they at once opened their novel
portmanteau; and, taking out a spare suit of clothes for each, which
they had taken the precaution to pack up with the rest of their gear,
they proceeded to dress themselves. After this, they carried up their
blankets and other things to a little sheltered spot on the plateau
above, where they had camped on their previous expedition.
They did not find the tableland much altered, save that a considerable
amount of snow was scattered about over its surface, accumulating in
high drifts at some points where the wind had piled it in the hollows.
The ground beneath the various little clumps of wood and brush, however,
was partly bare; so, here, they expected to find their old friend
"Kaiser Billy" and the remains of his flock.
But, high and low, everywhere, in the thickets and out on the open
alike, they searched in vain for the goats. Not a trace of them was to
be seen; so, Fritz and Eric had finally to come to the conclusion that
the islanders--along with their enemy, as they now looked upon him, Nat
Slater--had paid another secret visit to the plateau and destroyed the
animals. They believed the Tristaners did this with the object of
expediting their departure from Inaccessible Island, where there could
be no doubt they must have spoiled their sealing, thus depriving them of
a valuable article of barter.
"Never mind," said Eric the indomitable, when Fritz lamented the
disappearance of the goats. "We've got the wild hogs left; and, for my
part, I think roast pig better than dry potatoes!"
"Himmel, the idea is good!" replied Fritz, who had already screwed on
the breech of the needle-gun, making it ready for action. "We must go
pig-chasing, then."
And, so they did, shooting a lusty young porker ere they had travelled
many steps further.
Eric's matches were then produced, the inevitable box of safety lights
being in the pocket of the sealskin jacket he had headed up in the oil
cask; when, a fire being lit, the game was prepared in a very impromptu
fashion, the animal being roasted whole.
On previously tasting the flesh of these island hogs, they had thought
the pork rather fishy; but now, after weeks of deprivation from any
species of animal food, it seemed more delicious than anything they had
ever eaten before.
"Why, Eric, it beats even your roast beef!" said Fritz jokingly.
The lad looked at him reproachfully; that was all he could do, for his
mouth was full and this prevented him from speaking.
"I beg your pardon," interposed the other. "I shan't say so again; I
forgot myself that time."
"I should think you did," rejoined Eric, now better able to express
himself. "It's best to let bye-gones be bye-gones!"
"Yes," replied Fritz; and the two then went on eating in silence, so
heartily that it seemed as if they would never stop. Indeed, they made
such good knife-and-fork play, that they were quite weary with their
exertions when they had finished, and were obliged to adjourn to their
little camp in the sheltered hollow where, curling themselves up
comfortably in their blankets, they went cosily to sleep.
The next day, they killed several of the younger hogs and threw their
carcases down to the bottom of the gully by the waterfall; for, besides
planning out the manufacture of some hams out of the island porkers,
they intended utilising the lard for frying their potatoes, in. This,
in the event of their finding the pig's flesh too rank after a time,
would then afford them an agreeable change of diet to the plain boiled
tubers with which hitherto they had had only salt to eat for a relish.
On the third day, as the wind seemed about to change and ominous clouds
were flying across the face of the sky, they determined to return home,
having by that time consumed the last of their roast pig as well as all
the potatoes they had brought with them in their floating cask.
They were taking a last walk over the plateau, which they thought they
might never see again--for the swim round the headland was not a feat to
be repeated often, even if the weather allowed it, the currents being so
treacherous and the sea working itself up into commotion at a moment's
notice--when, suddenly, Eric stopped right over the edge of the gully.
He arrested his footsteps just at the spot where the tussock-grass
ladder had formerly trailed down, enabling them to reach their valley,
without all the bother of toiling round the coast as they had to do now.
"Don't you think this spot here has altered greatly?" said the sailor
lad to Fritz.
"No, I can't say I do," returned the other. "The grass has only been
burnt away; that, of course, makes it look bare."
"Well, I think differently," replied Eric, jumping down into the
crevice. "This place wasn't half so wide before."
"Indeed?"
"No, it wasn't I couldn't have squeezed myself in here when I last came
up the plateau."
"Why, that was all on account of the space the tussock-grass took up."
Eric did not reply to this; but, a moment after, he shouted out in a
tone of great surprise, "Hullo, there's a cave here, with something
glittering on the floor!"
"Really?"
"Yes, and it looks like gold!"