Fritz and Eric Part 30

And so it might have been, as he said--beautiful enough for any one!

The moon had risen late on the previous night, and when Fritz and Eric turned out it was still s.h.i.+ning brightly, with the stars peeping out here and there from the blue vault above; while, the wind having died away, all the s.h.i.+mmering expanse of sea that stretched away to the eastwards out of the bay shone like silver, appearing to be lazily wrapped in slumber, and only giving vent to an occasional long hum like a deeply drawn breath. But, all in a moment, the scene was changed--as if by the wave of an enchanter's wand.

First, a rosy tinge appeared, creeping up from below the horizon imperceptibly and spreading gradually over the whole arc of sky, melting presently into a bright, glowing madder hue that changed to purple, which faded again into a greenish neutral tint that blended with the faint ultramarine blue of the zenith above. The bright moonlight now waning, was replaced for an instant or two only--the transition was so short--by a hazy, misty chiaro-oscuro, which, in another second, was dissolved by the ready effulgence of the solar rays, that darted here, there, and everywhere through it, piercing the curtain of mist to the core as it annihilated it.

Then, the sun rose.

But no, it did not rise in the ordinary sense of the expression; it literally jumped up at once from the sea, appearing several degrees above the horizon the same instant almost that Fritz and Eric caught sight of it and before they could realise its presence, albeit their eyes were intently fixed all the while on the point where it heralded its coming by the glowing vapours sent before.

"Ah!" exclaimed Fritz, drawing a deep breath when this transformation of nature was complete, the light touching up the projecting peaks of the cliff and making a glittering pathway right into the bay. "This sight is enough to inspire any one. It ought to make us set to our work with a good heart!"

"Right you are," responded Eric, who was equally impressed with the magic scene--in spite of his disclaimer about having seen a better sunrise in antarctic seas. "As soon as we've had breakfast, for I confess I feel peckish again--it's on account of going to bed so early, I suppose!--I'm ready to bear a hand as your a.s.sistant and help you with the garden. But, who shall be cook? One of the two of us had better take that office permanently, I think; eh, Fritz?"

"You can be, if you like," said the other. "I fancy you have got a slight leaning that way, from what I recollect of you at home."

"When I used to bother poor old Lorischen's life out of her, by running into the kitchen, eh?"

"Yes, I remember it well."

"Ah, that was when I was young," said Eric, laughing. "I wouldn't do it now, when I am grown up and know better!"

"Grown up, indeed! you're a fine fellow to talk of being of age with your seventeen years, laddie!"

"Never mind that," retorted Eric; "I mayn't be as old as you are; but, at all events, I flatter myself I know better how to cook than a sub- lieutenant of the Hanoverian Tirailleurs!"

So saying, the lad proceeded to make a fire and put the kettle on in such a dexterous manner that it showed he was to the manner born, so to speak; Fritz helping to aid the progress of the breakfast by fetching water from a pool which the cascade had hollowed out for itself at the point where it finally leapt to level ground and betook itself to the sea in rivulet fas.h.i.+on.

The brothers only trenched on their stores to the extent of getting out some coffee and sugar, the remains of their supper being ample to provide them with their morning meal; and, after partaking of this, armed with their wheelbarrow and other agricultural implements, besides a bag of potatoes and some seed for planting, they sallied forth from the hut in the direction of the penguin colony.

Here, the Tristaner told them, they would find the best spot for a garden, the soil being not only richer and easier to cultivate but it was the only place that was free from rock, and not overrun by the luxuriant tussock-gra.s.s which spread over the rest of the land that was not thicket.

Proceeding to the right-hand side of the cliff under which their hut was built, they descended the somewhat sloping and broken ground that led in the direction of the penguin colony, the noise from which grew louder and louder as they advanced, until it culminated in a regular ear- deafening chorus.

When they had reached the distance of about a quarter of a mile, they came to a closely grown thicket, princ.i.p.ally composed of a species of buckthorn tree that grew to the height of some thirty feet although of very slender trunk, underneath which was a ma.s.s of tangled gra.s.s and the same sort of debris from the cliff as that whereon their hut stood. The place was overgrown with moss and beautiful ferns, while several thrushes were to be seen amongst the branches of the trees just like those at home, although the brothers did not think they sang as sweetly: they whistled more in the way of the blackbird. The ground here, too, was quite honeycombed with the burrows of the little petrels, and into these their footsteps broke every moment. It was odd to hear the m.u.f.fled chirp and feel the struggling birds beneath their feet as they stepped over the gra.s.s-grown soil. The ground had not the slightest appearance of being undermined by the mole-like petrels, its hollowness being only proved when it gave way to the tread; although, after the first surprise of the two young fellows at thus disturbing the tenants of the burrows, they walked as "gingerly" as they could, so as to avoid hurting the little creatures. The birds, however, seemed too busy with their domestic concerns to take any notice of them.

After pa.s.sing through the strip of wood, which was not of very extensive dimensions, Fritz and Eric found the ground on the other side level and pretty free from vegetation. This open land was just at the angle between the cliffs, occupying a s.p.a.ce of perhaps a couple of acres, exactly as the Tristaner had told them; so, here they began at once their operations for laying out their projected garden, which was to be the first task they had to accomplish before settling down, now that they had been saved the trouble of building a house to live in.

Eric, impetuous as usual, wanted to dig up and plant the entire lot; but Fritz was more practical, thinking it the wisest plan not to attempt too much at once.

"No," said he, "we had better begin with a small portion at first; and then, when we have planted that, we can easily take in more land. It won't be such easy work as you think, laddie!"

Accordingly, they marked out a s.p.a.ce of about twenty yards square; and then, the brothers, taking off their coats, commenced digging at this with considerable energy for some length of time. But, Eric soon discovered that, easy as the thing looked, it was a much tougher job than he had expected, the ground being very hard from the fact of its never having had a spade put into it before; besides which, the exercise was one to which the lad was unaccustomed.

"Really, I must rest," he exclaimed after a bit, his hands being then blistered, while he was bathed in perspiration from head to foot. He did not wish to give in so long as he saw Fritz plodding on laboriously, especially as he had made light of the matter when they began; but now he really had to confess to being beaten. "I declare," he panted out, half-breathlessly--"my back feels broken, and I couldn't dig another spadeful to save my life!"

"You went at it too hard at first," said his brother. "Slow and sure is the best in the long run, you know! Why, I haven't tired myself half as much as you; and, see, I have turned over twice the distance of hard ground that you have."

"Ah, you are used to it," replied Eric. "I'm more accustomed to ploughing the sea than turning up land! But, I say, Fritz; while you go on digging--that is if you're not tired--I've just thought of something else I can do, so as not to be idle."

"What is that--look on at me working, eh?"

"No," said the lad, laughing at the other's somewhat ironical question; "I mean doing something really--something that will be helping you and be of service to the garden."

"Well, tell me," replied Fritz, industriously going on using his spade with the most praiseworthy a.s.siduity, not pausing for a moment even while he was speaking; for, he was anxious to have the ground finished as soon as he could.

"I thought that some of the guano from the place where the penguins make their nests would be fine stuff to manure our garden with before we put in the seeds, eh?"

"The very thing," said Fritz. "It's a capital idea of yours; and I am glad you thought of it, as it never occurred to me. I recollect now, that the Tristaner said they used it for the little gardens we saw at their settlement. It will make our potatoes and cabbages grow finely."

"All right then; shall I get some?"

"By all means," responded Fritz; "and, while you are collecting it, I will go on preparing the ground ready for it; I've nearly done half now, so, by the time you get back with the guano I shall have dug up the whole plot."

"Here goes then!" cried Eric; and, away he went, trundling the wheelbarrow along, with a shovel inside it for sc.r.a.ping up the bird refuse and loading the little vehicle--disappearing soon from his brother's gaze behind the tussock-gra.s.s thicket that skirted the extreme end of the garden patch, close to the cliff on the right-hand side of the bay, and exactly opposite to the site of their cottage, this being the place where, as already mentioned, the penguins had established their breeding-place, or "rookery."

Prior to Eric's departure, the birds had been noisy enough, keeping up such a continual croaking and barking that the brothers could hardly hear each other's voice; but now, no sooner had the lad invaded what they seemed to look upon as their own particular domain, than the din proceeding from thence became terrific, causing Fritz to drop his spade for the first time since handling it and look up from his work, wondering what was happening in the distance.

He could, however, see nothing of Eric, the tussock-gra.s.s growing so high as to conceal his movements; so, he was just about resuming digging, fancying that his brother would shortly be back with his wheelbarrow full of guano manure and that then the uproar would be over, when, suddenly, he distinguished, above all the growling and barking of the penguins, the sound of the lad's voice calling to him for aid.

"Help, Fritz, help!" cried Eric, almost in a shriek, as if in great pain. "Help, Fritz, help!"

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

ERIC'S COOKERY.

To throw down his spade a second time and rush off in the direction from whence his brother's cries for a.s.sistance proceeded was but the work of an instant for Fritz; and when he had succeeded in pus.h.i.+ng his way through the tangled tussock-gra.s.s, which grew matted as thick as a cane- brake, he found the lad in a terrible plight.

At first, the strong ammoniacal smell of the guano was so overpowering, combined with the fearful noise the penguins made--all screaming and chattering together, as if the denizens of the monkey house at the Zoological Gardens, which Fritz had once visited when in London, had been suddenly let loose amongst the parrots in the same establishment-- that his senses were too confused to distinguish anything, especially as the thicket was enveloped in semi-darkness from the overhanging stems of the long gra.s.s which shut out the sunlight; but, after a brief interval, Fritz was able to comprehend the situation and see his brother. Poor Eric was lying face downwards, half-suffocated amidst the ma.s.s of bird refuse, with the wheelbarrow, which had got turned over in some mysterious way or other, lying over him and preventing him from rising.

Really, but for Fritz's speedy arrival, the lad might have lost his life in so strange a fas.h.i.+on, for he was quite speechless and his breath gone when his brother lifted him up.

Nor was this the worst either.

The penguins had made such a determined onslaught on Eric with their heavy beaks and flapping wings, and possibly too with their webbed feet when he was down struggling amongst them, that his clothes were all torn to rags; while his legs and body were bleeding profusely from the bites and scratches he had received. His face alone escaped injury, from the fact of its being buried in the guano debris.

Fritz took hold of him, after pulling away the wheelbarrow, and lugged him outside the penguin colony; when the lad, recovering presently, was able to tell the incidents of the adventure, laughing subsequently at its ridiculous aspect. It seemed funny, he explained, that he, a sailor who had battled with the storms of the ocean and feared nothing, should be ignominiously beaten back by a flock of birds that were more stupid than geese!

He had thought it easy enough to get the guano for the garden, he said, but he had overrated his ability or rather, underrated the obstacles in his way; for, no sooner had he left the level ground which they had selected for their little clearing, than he found that the tussock- gra.s.s, which appeared as light and graceful in the distance as waving corn, grew into a nearly-impenetrable jungle.

The root-clumps, or "tussocks" of the gra.s.s--whence its name--were two or three feet in width, and grew into a mound about a foot high, the s.p.a.ces intervening between, which the penguins utilised for their nests, averaging about eighteen inches apart, as if the gra.s.s had been almost planted in mathematical order.

It would have been hard enough to wheel in the wheelbarrow between the clumps, Eric remarked, if all else had been plain sailing; but since, as he pointed out and as Fritz indeed could see for himself, the stems of the thick gra.s.s raised themselves up to the height of seven or eight feet from the roots, besides interweaving their blades with those of adjoining clumps, the difficulty of pa.s.sing through the thicket was increased tenfold. He had, he said, to bend himself double in stooping so as to push along the wheelbarrow into the birds' breeding-place, which he did, thinking his path would become more open the farther he got in.

So, not to be daunted, Eric trundled along the little vehicle right into the heart of the birds' colony, beating down the gra.s.s as he advanced and crus.h.i.+ng hundreds of eggs in his progress, as well as wheeling over those birds that could not, or stupidly would not, get out of his way; when, as he was beginning to load up the wheelbarrow with a ma.s.s of the finer sort of guano which he had sc.r.a.ped up, the penguins, which had been all the while grumbling terribly at the intruder who was thus desolating their domain--waiting to "get up steam," as the lad expressed it--made a concerted rush upon him all together, just in the same manner as they appeared always to enter and leave the water.

"In a moment," Eric said, "the wheelbarrow got bowsed over, when I managed, worse luck, to fall underneath; and then, finding I couldn't get up again, I hailed you, brother."