CHAPTER VI

A Troop of Animals in Cork Jackets

Early the next morning, though it was scarcely light, I mounted the vessel, hoping to gain a sight of our beloved companions through a telescope. Fritz prepared a substantial breakfast of biscuit and ham; but, before we sat down, we recollected that in the captain’s cabin we had seen a telescope of a much superior size and power, and we speedily conveyed it to the deck. While this was doing, the brightness of the day had come on. I fixed my eye to the glass, and discovered my wife coming out of the tent, and looking attentively towards the vessel, and at the same moment perceived the motion of the flag upon the shore. A load of anxiety was thus taken from my heart; for I had the certainty that all were in good health, and had escaped the dangers of the night.—“Now that I have had a sight of your mother,” said I to Fritz, “my next concern is for the animals on board; let us endeavour to save the lives of some of them at least, and to take them with us.”

“Would it be possible to make a raft, to get them all upon it, and in this way get them to shore?” asked Fritz.

“But what a difficulty in making it! and how could we induce a cow, an ass, and a sow, either to get upon a raft, or, when there, to remain motionless and quiet? The sheep and goats one might perhaps find means to remove, they being of a more docile temper: but for the larger animals, I am at a loss how to proceed.”

“My advice, father, is to tie a long rope round the sow’s neck, and throw her without ceremony into the sea: her immense bulk will be sure to sustain her above water; and we can draw her after the boat.”

“Your idea is excellent: but unfortunately it is of no use but for the pig; and she is the one I care the least about preserving.”

“Then here is another idea, father: let us tie a swimming-jacket round the body of each animal, and contrive to throw one and all into the water; you will see that they will swim like fish, and we can draw them after us in the same manner.”

“Right, very right, my boy; your invention is admirable: let us therefore not lose a moment in making the experiment.”

We hastened to the execution of our design: we fixed a jacket on one of the lambs, and threw it into the sea; and full of anxious curiosity, I followed the poor beast with my eyes. He sank at first, and I thought him drowned; but he soon reappeared, shaking the water from his head, and in a few seconds he had learned completely the art of swimming. After another interval, we observed that he appeared fatigued, gave up his efforts, and suffered himself to be borne along by the course of the water, which sustained and conducted him to our complete satisfaction.—“Victory!” exclaimed I, hugging my boy with delight: “these useful animals are all our own; let us lose not a moment in adopting the same means with those that remain; but take care not to lose our little lamb.” Fritz now would have jumped into the water to follow the poor creature, who was still floating safely on the surface; but I stopped him till I had seen him tie on a swimming-jacket. He took with him a rope, first making a slip-knot in it, and soon overtaking the lamb, threw it round his neck, and drew him back to our boat: and then took him out of the water.

We next got four small water-butts. I emptied them, and then carefully closed them again. I united them with a large piece of sail-cloth, nailing one end to each cask. I strengthened this with a second piece of sail-cloth, and this contrivance I destined to support the cow and the ass, two casks to each, the animal being placed in the middle, with a cask on either side. I added a thong of leather, stretching from the casks across the breast and haunches of the animal, to make the whole secure; and thus, in less than an hour, both my cow and my ass were equipped for swimming.

It was next the turn of the smaller animals: of these, the sow gave us the most trouble: we were first obliged to put a muzzle on her to prevent her biting; and then we tied a large piece of cork under her body. The sheep and goats were more accommodating, and we had soon accoutred them for our adventure. And now we had succeeded in assembling our whole company on the deck, in readiness for the voyage: we tied a cord to either the horns or the neck of each animal, and to the other end of the cord a piece of wood similar to the mode used for making nets, that it might be easy for us to take hold of the ropes, and so draw the animal to us if it should be necessary. We began our experiment with the ass, by conducting him as near as possible to the brink of the vessel, and then suddenly shoving him off. He fell into the water, and for a moment disappeared; but we soon saw him rise, and in the action of swimming between his two barrels, with a grace which really merited our commendation.

Next came the cow’s turn: and as she was infinitely more valuable than the ass, my fears increased in due proportion. The ass had swum so courageously, that he was already at a considerable distance from the vessel, so that there was sufficient room for our experiment on the cow. We had more difficulty in pushing her overboard; but she reached the water in as much safety as the ass had done before; she did not sink so low in it, and was no less perfectly sustained by the empty barrels; and she made her way with gravity, and, if I may so express it, a sort of dignified composure. According to this method we proceeded with our whole troop, throwing them one by one into the water, where by and by they appeared in a group floating at their ease, and seemingly well content. The sow was the only exception: she became quite furious, set up a loud squalling, and struggled with so much violence in the water, that she was carried to a considerable distance, but fortunately in a direction towards the landing-place we had in view. We had now not a moment to lose. Our last act was to put on our cork jackets; and then we descended without accident through the cleft, took our station in the boat, and were soon in the midst of our troop of quadrupeds. We carefully gathered all the floating bits of wood, and fastened them to the stern of the machine, and thus drew them after us. When everything was adjusted, and our company in order, we hoisted our sail, which, soon filling with a favourable wind, bore us towards the land.

Proud of the success of so extraordinary a feat, we were in high spirits, and seated ourselves in the tubs, where we made an excellent dinner. I was occupied in thinking of those I had left on land, when a sudden exclamation from Fritz filled me with alarm.—“Oh, heavens!” cried he, “we are lost! a fish of an enormous size is coming up to the boat.”—“And why lost?” said I, half angry, and yet half partaking of his fright. “Be ready with your gun, and the moment he is close upon us we will fire upon him.” He had nearly reached the boat, and with the rapidity of lightning had seized the foremost sheep: at this instant Fritz aimed his fire so skilfully, that the balls of the gun were lodged in the head of the monster, which was an enormous shark. The fish half turned himself round in the water and hurried off to sea, leaving us to observe the lustrous smoothness of his belly, and that as he proceeded he stained the water red, which convinced us he had been severely wounded.

The animal being now out of sight, and our fears appeased, I resumed the rudder; and as the wind drove us straight towards the bay, I took down the sail, and continued rowing till we reached a convenient spot for our cattle to land. I had then only to untie the end of the cords from the boat, and they stepped contentedly on shore. Our voyage thus happily concluded, we followed their example.

Ernest and Jack now ran to the boat, and began to shout their admiration of the mast, the sail, and the flag, desiring their brother to explain to them how all the things they saw had been effected, and what he himself did of them. In the meantime we began to unpack our cargo, while Jack stole aside and amused himself with the animals, took off the jackets from the sheep and goats, bursting from time to time into shouts of laughter at the ridiculous figure of the ass, who stood before them adorned with his two casks and his swimming apparatus, and braying loud enough to make us deaf.

By and by I perceived, with surprise, that Jack had round his waist a belt of metal covered with yellow skin, in which were fixed two pistols. “In the name of Heaven,” exclaimed I, “where did you procure this curious costume, which gives you the look of a smuggler?”

“From my own manufactory,” replied he; “and if you cast your eyes upon the dogs, you will see more of my specimens.”

Accordingly I looked at them, and perceived that each had on a collar similar to the belt round Jack’s waist, with, however, the exception of the collars being armed with nails, the points of which were outwards, and exhibited a formidable appearance. “And is it you, Mr. Jack,” cried I, “who have invented and executed these collars and your belt?”

“Yes, father, they are indeed my invention, with a little of my mother’s assistance when it was necessary to use the needle.”

“But where did you get the leather and the thread and the needle?”

“Fritz’s jackal furnished the first,” answered my wife; “and as to the last, a good mother of a family is always provided with them. Then have I not an enchanted bag, from which I draw out such articles as I stand in need of? So if you have a particular fancy for anything, you have only to acquaint me with it.” I tenderly embraced her, to express my thanks for this effort to amuse by so agreeable a raillery, and Jack too came in for his share both of the caresses and our hearty commendations.

Perceiving that no preparations were making for supper, I told Fritz to bring us the Westphalia ham. The eyes of all were now fixed upon me with astonishment, believing that I could only be in jest; when Fritz returned, displaying with exultation a large ham, which we had begun to cut in the morning. “A ham!” cried one and all; “a ham! and ready dressed! What a nice supper we shall have!” said they, clapping their hands to give a hearty welcome to the bearer of so fine a treat.—“It comes quite in the nick of time too,” interrupted I; “for, to judge by appearances, a certain careful steward I could name seems to have intended to send us supperless to bed, little thinking, I suppose, that a long voyage by water is apt to increase the appetite.”

“I will tell you presently,” replied my wife, “what it was that prevented me from providing a supper for you all at an early hour: your ham, however, makes you ample amends; and I have something in my hand with which I shall make a pretty side-dish; in the twinkling of an eye you shall see it make its entrance.” She now showed us about a dozen of turtles’ eggs, and then hurried away to make an omelette of some of them.

“Look, father,” said Ernest, “if they are not the very same which Robinson Crusoe found in his island! See, they are like white balls, covered with a skin like wetted parchment! We found them upon the sands along the shore.”

“Your account is perfectly just, my dear boy,” said I: “by what means did you make so useful a discovery?”—“Oh, that is part of our history,” interrupted my wife; “for I also have a history to relate, when you will be so good as to listen to it.”

“Hasten then, my love, and get your pretty side-dish ready, and we will have the history for the dessert. In the meantime I will relieve the cow and the ass from their jackets. Come along, boys, and give me your help.”—I got up, and they all followed me gaily to the shore. We were not long in effecting our purpose with the cow and the ass, who were animals of a quiet and kind temper; but when it was the sow’s turn, our success was neither so easy nor so certain; for no sooner had we untied the rope than she escaped from us, and ran so fast that none of us could catch her. The idea occurred to Ernest of sending the two dogs after her, who caught at her ears, and sent her back, while we were half deafened with the hideous noise she made; at last she suffered us to take off her cork jacket. We now laid the accoutrements across the ass’s back, and returned to the kitchen; our slothful Ernest highly delighted that we were likely in future to have our loads carried by a servant.

In the meanwhile, the kind mother had prepared the omelette, and spread a tablecloth on the end of the cask of butter, upon which she had placed some of the plates and silver spoons we had brought from the ship. The ham was in the middle, and the omelette and the cheese opposite to each other; and altogether made a figure not to be despised by the inhabitants of a desert island. By and by the two dogs, the fowls, the pigeons, the sheep, and the goats had all assembled round us, which gave us something like the air of sovereigns of the country.

When we had finished our repast, I bade Fritz present our company with a bottle of Canary wine, which we had brought from the captain’s cabin, and I desired my wife to indulge us with the promised history.