CHAPTER XVIII

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.

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.