CHAPTER XXVII

The Wild Ass—Difficulty in breaking it—The Heath Fowl’s Nest

We were scarcely up one morning, and had just got to work in putting the last hand to our winding staircase, when we heard at a distance two strange kinds of voices, that resembled the howlings of wild beasts mixed with hissings and sounds of some creature at its last gasp; and I was not without uneasiness: our dogs too pricked up their ears, and seemed to whet their teeth for a sanguinary combat with a dangerous enemy.

From their looks we judged it prudent to put ourselves in a state of defence; we loaded our guns and pistols, placed them together within our castle in the tree, and repaired to repel vigorously any hostile attack from that quarter. The howlings having ceased an instant, I descended from our citadel, well armed, and put on our two faithful guardians their spiked collars and side-guards; I assembled our cattle about the tree to have them in sight, and I then re-ascended to look around for the enemy’s approach.

At this instant the howlings were renewed, and almost close to us. Fritz got as near the spot as he could, listened attentively, and with eager looks, then threw down his gun, and burst into a loud laughter, exclaiming, “Father, it is our ass! the deserter comes back to us, chanting the hymn of return: listen! do you not hear his melodious brayings in all the varieties of the gamut?” I listened, and a fresh roar, in sounds unquestionable, raised loud peals of laughter amongst us. Shortly after we had the satisfaction of seeing among the trees our old friend Grizzle, moving towards us leisurely, and stopping now and then to browse; but, to our great joy, he was accompanied by one of his own species, of very superior beauty; and when it was nearer, I knew it to be a fine onagra, or wild ass, which I conceived a strong desire to possess, though at the same time aware of the extreme difficulty there would be in taming and rendering him subject to the use of man. Without delay I descended the ladder with Fritz, desiring his brothers to keep still; and I consulted my privy-counsellor on the means of surprising and taking the stranger captive.

I got ready, as soon as possible, a long cord with a running knot, one end of which I tied fast to the root of a tree; the noose was kept open with a little stick slightly fixed in the opening, so as to fall of itself on the cord being thrown round the neck of the animal, whose efforts to escape would draw the knot closer. I also prepared a piece of bamboo about two feet long, which I split at the bottom, and tied fast at top, to serve as nippers. Fritz attentively examined my contrivance, without seeing the use of it. Prompted by the impatience of youth, he took the ball-sling, and proposed aiming at the wild ass with it, which he said was the shortest way of proceeding. I declined adopting this Patagonian method, fearing the attempt might fail, and the beautiful creature avail itself of its natural velocity to evade us beyond recovery; I therefore told him my project of catching it in the noose, which I gave him to manage, as being nimbler and more expert than myself. The two asses drew nearer and nearer to us. Fritz, holding in his hand the open noose, moved softly on from behind the tree where we were concealed, and advanced as far as the length of the rope allowed him. The onagra started on perceiving a human figure; it sprang some paces backward, then stopped, as if to examine the unknown form; but as Fritz now remained quite still, the animal resumed its composure, and continued to browse. Soon after he approached the old ass, hoping that the confidence that would be shown by it would raise a similar feeling in the stranger; he held out a handful of oats mixed with salt. Our ass instantly ran up to take its favourite food, and greedily devoured it: this was quickly perceived by the other. It drew near, raised its head, breathed strongly, and came up so close, that Fritz, seizing the opportunity, succeeded in throwing the rope round its neck; but the motion and stroke so affrighted the beast that it instantly sprang off. It was soon checked by the cord, which, in compressing the neck, almost stopped its breath: it could go no farther, and, after many exhausting efforts, it sank panting for breath upon the ground. I hastened to loosen the cord, and prevent its being strangled. I then quickly threw our ass’s halter over its head; I fixed the nose in my split cane, which I secured at the bottom with packthread. Thus I succeeded in subduing the first alarm of this wild animal, as farriers shoe a horse for the first time. I wholly removed the noose that seemed to bring the creature into a dangerous situation; I fastened the halter with two long ropes to two roots near us, on the right and left, and let the animal recover itself, noticing its actions, and devising the best way to tame it in the completest manner.

In a few moments the onagra got up again, struck furiously with its foot, and seemed resolved to free itself from all bonds; but the pain of its nose, which was grasped and violently squeezed in the bamboo, forced it to lie down again. Fritz and I now gently undid the cords, and half led, half dragged it, between two roots closely connected, to which we fastened it afresh, so as to give the least scope for motion, and thus render its escape impracticable, whilst it enabled us to approach securely, and examine the valuable capture we had made. We also guarded against master Grizzle playing truant again, and tied him fast with a new halter, confining its fore legs with a rope. I then fastened it and the wild ass side by side, and put before both plenty of good provender to solace their impatience of captivity.

We had now the additional occupation of training the onagra for our service or our pleasure, as might turn out to be most practicable: my boys exulted in the idea of riding it, and we repeatedly congratulated each other on the good fortune which had thus resulted from the flight of our ass.

During the training of the onagra, which we named Lightfoot, a triple brood of our hens had given us a crowd of little feathered beings; forty of these at least were chirping and hopping about us, to the great satisfaction of my wife, whose zealous care of them sometimes made me smile. Some of these we kept near us, while others were sent in small colonies to feed and breed in the desert, where we could find them as they were wanted for our use.

This increase of our poultry reminded us of an undertaking we had long thought of, and was not in prudence to be deferred any longer; this was the building between the roots of our great tree covered sheds for all our bipeds and quadrupeds. The rainy season, which is the winter of these countries, was drawing near; and to avoid losing most of our stock, it was requisite to shelter it.

We began by forming a kind of roof above the arched roots of our tree, and employed bamboo canes for the purpose; the longest and strongest supported the roofing in the place of columns, the smaller more closely united and composed the roof itself. I filled up the interstices with moss and clay, and I spread over the whole a thick coat of tar. By these means I formed a compact and solid covering, capable of bearing pressure. I then made a railing round it, which gave the appearance of a balcony, under which, between the roots, were various stalls, sheltered from rain and sun, that could be easily shut and separated from each other by means of planks nailed upon the roots: part of them were calculated to serve as a stable and yard, part as an eating-house, a store-room, etc., and as a hay-loft, to keep our hay and provisions dry in. This work was soon completed; but afterwards it was necessary to fill these places with stores of every kind for our supply throughout the wet season. In this task we engaged diligently, and went daily here and there with our cart to collect everything useful, and that might give us employment when the weather prevented our going far.

One evening, on our return from digging up roots, as our cart, loaded with bags, drawn by the buffalo, ass, and cow, was gently rolling along, seeing still a vacant place in the vehicle, I advised my wife to go home with the two youngest boys, whilst I went round by the wood of oaks with Ernest and Fritz, to gather as many sweet acorns as we could find room for. We had still some empty sacks. Ernest was accompanied by his monkey, who seldom left him; and Fritz, horsemanlike, was on the onagra, which he had appropriated to himself, inasmuch as he had helped to take and tame it, and indeed because he knew how to manage it better than his brothers. Ernest was too lazy, and preferred walking at ease with the monkey on his shoulder, and the more so because it spared him the trouble of gathering fruit.

When we reached the oaks, Lightfoot was tied to a bush, and we set actively to work to gather the acorns that had dropped from the trees. While all were busily employed, the monkey quitted its master’s shoulder, and skipped unperceived into an adjoining bush. It had been there some time, when we heard on that side loud cries of birds and flapping of wings, and this assured us a sharp conflict was going on betwixt master Knips and the inhabitants of the bushes. I dispatched Ernest to reconnoitre. He went stoutly towards the place, and in an instant we heard him exclaim, “Come quickly, father! A fine heath-fowl’s nest, full of eggs.”

Fritz ran up directly, and in a few moments brought out alive the male and female heath-fowl, both very beautiful. I was rejoiced at this discovery, and helped my son to prevent their escape, by tying their wings and feet, and hold them while he returned to the bush for the eggs. And now Ernest came forward, driving the monkey before him, and carrying his hat with the utmost care. He had stuck his girdle full of narrow sharp-pointed leaves, in shape like a knife-blade, which reminded me of the production named sword-grass; but I did not pay much attention, as I was too busily engaged in our egg-hunt. On coming up to me he uncovered his hat, and gave it me in a transport of joy, crying out, “Here, father, are some heath-fowl’s eggs. I found them in a nest so well concealed under these long leaves, that I should not have observed them had not the hen, in defending herself against the monkey, scattered them about. I am going to take them home, they will please my mother; and these leaves will amuse Francis, for they are like swords, and he will like them for a plaything.” It was now time to think of moving homeward: my two sons filled the bags with acorns, and put them on Lightfoot. Fritz mounted, Ernest carried the eggs, I took charge of the hen, and we proceeded to Falcon’s Stream, followed by our train-waggon. When arrived, our first care was to examine the eggs: the female bird was too frightened and wild to sit upon them; fortunately we had a hen that was hatching: her eggs were immediately removed, and the new ones put in their place: the female heath-fowl was put into the parrot’s cage, and hung up in the room, to accustom it to our society. In less than three days all the chickens were hatched; they kept close to their foster-mother, and ate greedily a mixture of sweet acorns bruised in milk, such as we gave our tame poultry. As they grew up I plucked out the large feathers of their wings, lest they should naturally take flight; but they and their real parent gradually became so domesticated, that they daily accompanied our feathered stock in search of food, and regularly came back at night to the roost I had prepared for them, and in which this little new colony of feathered beings seemed to delight.