Fritz and Eric Part 33

"I can't afford to boast of my courage now! If all goes well, laddie, we will ascend the cliffs to-morrow and have a peep at my gentleman at closer quarters."

"All right," replied Eric, using his stock phrase for everything; and then, as it was getting dark, the brothers turned in for the night--the sailor lad taking particular care, by the way, to see that the door of the hut was carefully barricaded, a precaution which had been omitted since the first evening of their taking possession of the little dwelling.

The next morning was a bright and cheerful one, with no wind to speak of, save a pleasant breeze, while the sun was warm and cheerful--its light dancing on the curly little waves that rippled on the beach, causing the plumage of the penguins as they made their pilgrimages to and from the rookery to gleam with iridescent colours. This was especially the case when the birds emerged from the water, the light just then giving them the tints which the dolphin displays when first caught and before death has deadened its changing hues.

"A splendid day for our exploring trip!" sang out Eric, the early riser, waking up Fritz by rolling away the barrels from before their frail doorway and fussing about the hut. "Rouse up, brother. The old sun has been up for an hour or more, and it will be soon time for us to start."

"Eh, what? oh, yes," cried Fritz, rubbing his eyes and yawning; but, Eric, pulling away his blankets, soon made him bestir himself, when his brother jumped up with his usual alertness--first running down to the beach and imitating the penguins in having a dip in the sea, to wash the cobwebs out of his head, as he laughingly said on his return to their little domicile, when proceeding to dress.

For a sailor, Eric was, strangely enough, not half so fond of a daily bath; but, as he said in excuse to his brother, this was perhaps owing to his having so many impromptu and unexpected douches on board s.h.i.+p.

Most seamen, especially those of foreign nationality, have seemingly a horror of water for ablutionary purposes, in contradistinction to landsmen.

However, there was one advantage in this, to Fritz at least; for, while he was performing his swim and making his subsequent toilet, Eric had lit a fire and was preparing coffee for their breakfast, to which, when ready, Fritz was able to sit down comfortably without any trouble or exertion on his part.

A cup of the steaming fluid apiece warmed the two, invigorating them for the business of the day; and, as soon as the matutinal meal was finished, they set about getting their traps ready.

"Of course, we'll take our guns, eh?" asked Eric; although, as far as he was concerned, he had evidently already come to a decision on the point, for he had carefully selected one of the Remington rifles from their armoury for his own especial weapon.

"Yes, I suppose we had better take something to shoot with," replied Fritz. "We need not pot our old friend the goat yet, however. Judging by his horns and beard, he must be the kaiser of the flock, and so may be a little tough; still, we may find some daintier morsel to shoot. I confess I should be glad of a little fresh meat for a change--a real roast this time, eh, Eric?"

"Oh, bother that roast salt beef; I suppose I'll never hear the end of it!" cried the lad pathetically, although he could not refrain from laughing at Fritz's allusion to the unsuccessful banquet. "You just get me something proper to cook, and I bet you'll not be disgusted with the way in which I dress it!"

"We'll see," replied Fritz, taking up the fowling piece and slinging a powder flask and shot case round his neck. "As you're going to carry a rifle for heavy game, laddie, I'll take this for the benefit of any likely-looking birds we may come across."

"All right," responded Eric; when the two, packing up some biscuit and cheese for their refreshment by the way and barricading the door of the hut from the outside--lest the penguins might chance to pay them a visit in their absence--set forth towards the base of the waterfall up the gorge. Here, the Tristaner had told them, they would be able to climb up by the aid of the tussock-gra.s.s should they wish to reach the summit of the cliff.

It was a tedious ascent, the top of the ridge being over a thousand feet above the little valley in which they lived.

As for Fritz, he was quite worn-out when they arrived at the head of the crags above the waterfall; but Eric found the climbing easier work from his practice in the rigging aboard the _Pilot's Bride_. This was just as well, for he had to pull his brother up nearly all the way.

However, once arrived at the summit, the two had the whole tableland exposed to their view. This sight alone well rewarded them for their trouble, for the plateau stretched like an undulating plain before them, occupying the entire extent of the island--with the exception of the three-cornered slice taken out of it by their valley, like a segment cut from a round cheese. There was, also, a slight depression on the western side, where there was a little cave, although this was not nearly so wide as the bay on the east fronting their valley.

Groups of stunted trees grew in the hollows, in which sprang up in great luxuriance the inevitable tussock-gra.s.s; while, amongst the little thickets that were spa.r.s.ely scattered over the plain, were grazing large numbers of hogs, headed by a monster boar. This animal had tusks nearly a foot long; and he almost impaled Eric against a buckthorn tree, under the shelter of which he had been lying until surprised by the lad, when, after making a rush at him, he ran grunting away, followed by his numerous family.

As the brothers proceeded across the tableland, they also saw numbers of a small bird, about the size of a bantam, called by young Gla.s.s the "island hen." Its plumage was almost entirely black, and its wings were so short that they were useless for flight, the bird running in and out of the long gra.s.s and ferns with which the surface of the plateau was covered in the open, like the partridge does amongst the turnips in England. Fritz shot a couple of the little things, and the brothers plucked and roasted them over an extemporary fire which Eric lit with the box of matches he invariably "carried in his pocket--as a sort of badge of his culinary office," Fritz said. The birds were found to be very palatable for lunch, along with the biscuit and cheese which the brothers had brought with them.

The goats were the main object of the excursion; but Fritz could not see anything of them until they had nearly made the circuit of the plain.

When they had almost given up the animals as a myth, feeling inclined to believe that the old "billy" they had seen the evening before was the creature of their imagination, they suddenly came upon the flock. The goats were secreted in a thicket of buckthorn trees and tussock-gra.s.s, close to where the tableland sloped to the beach at its western extremity.

There were twenty-three in all, and must have been the produce of a pair which some whaling vessel had turned loose on the island; for, they were every one marked in the same way as the patriarchal-looking male,-- evidently their progenitor. He was a stately old fellow, with a fine pair of curving horns that nearly reached to his tail; in addition to which, he could boast of a long silky beard that a Turkish pasha might have envied.

Seeing three kids amongst the number, Fritz told Eric to shoot one; and the lad, after a third attempt with the repeating rifle he carried, succeeded in making a successful shot. There was some excuse for Eric's not killing his kid at first; for, the old male was extremely wary, keeping at a very respectful distance from the two sportsmen and making the flock remain in his rear, while he fronted the intruders-- continually retreating as they advanced, and dexterously s.h.i.+fting his position, by a flank movement every now and then, so as not to be driven over the cliffs.

"Master Billy can't be ignorant of men folk or firearms," said Eric, when he had missed his second shot, "otherwise, he would not remain so far off!"

"He was probably brought here originally from the Cape," replied Fritz, telling his brother to aim lower next time, his last bullet having only missed by too great an elevation. "So, like all animals that have once heard a gun go off, he knows what it means! Most likely, if I had not fired twice at those little birds, we might have got up quite close to the flock; but, the old gentleman must have heard the report and that has made him so cautious about letting us approach. Look out, Eric; now's your chance! Only aim low and steadily, and you will bring down that kid there to the right!"

Puff, bang! No sooner said than done.

"Hurrah!" shouted Eric, "I've got him this time, without fail!"

He had; for, although the flock of goats scampered off from the thicket they were at that moment occupying towards another woody clump on the opposite side of the plain, darting away with the rapidity of the wind, they left one of their number behind.

The unfortunate victim was a pretty little kid, about three months old; and it lay stretched out, bleeding, on the gra.s.s. Its body had been perforated by the bullet from Eric's rifle.

"That was a capital shot!" exclaimed Fritz, when the two came up to where the poor little kid lay. "The ball has pa.s.sed right through its heart; so, you must have aimed, as I told you, behind the shoulder."

"I did," said Eric, alike proud of his powers and the compliment; "but, poor little thing, it seems a pity to have killed it!"

"Ah," remarked Fritz the practical, "still, roast mutton will taste nice after our living on salt meat for so many days, eh?"

"Yes," replied Eric, with much satisfaction, his sympathy for the slaughtered kid quickly disappearing at the thought of all that young Gla.s.s had told him as to the flavour of the animal when cooked. "It is better than the tenderest pork, they say."

"Very well, we'll try it for dinner to-morrow and see whether we agree with that verdict. It will be too late to cook it when we get home this evening."

"Dear me, I really did not think the time was going so fast! Why, it must be within a hour of sunset; don't you think so?"

"Not far off," said Fritz; "so, therefore, there's all the greater reason for our returning down the gully as soon as possible. If the darkness came on while we were descending, I should never be able to scramble down."

"Never fear, brother; I'll look after you," cried Eric.

On their approaching the eastern end of the clift again, the sailor lad first lowered down the dead kid by a piece of rope he had taken with him, on to one of the niches in the gorge above the waterfall, and then prepared for the descent of Fritz and himself. "Never fear brother," he repeated. "Although you may be stronger than I, still my eye is steady and my hand sure!"

"Good!" said Fritz. "You had better then go down first, and direct me where to put my feet. After we've been up and down once or twice, of course, I shall not find it so difficult."

"All right," responded Eric, "here goes!" So saying, he swung himself over the top of the cliff, when, holding on firmly to the tussock-gra.s.s and half slipping down and half stepping on the projections in the face of the crag, he reached in a few minutes the first broad ledge over which the rivulet from above tossed its spray.

"Are you quite safe?" asked Fritz, before adventuring on the descent.

"Certainly," said the other. "Hold on to the gra.s.s stems the same as I did, and let yourself slide over at the corner--there! Now, feel with your foot for a projecting bit of stone just below where you are standing and about a yard to the right. Have you got it?"

"Yes," replied Fritz.

"All right, then, let yourself down on it and take a fresh grip of the tussock-gra.s.s, for you will have to bear more to the left this time.

Hold on tight and take a long step down, now, and you'll be beside me; there you are, you see!"

Eric then proceeded down to the next step, or leap, of the waterfall in the same way, lowering the kid first, and then descending and directing his brother's steps; so that, in a much shorter time than they had ascended, they arrived once more in the valley--although, from the fact of the tableland being more open and exposed and the cliffs obscuring the light, the lads found it quite dark when they reached their hut, the sun having sunk below the western ocean while they were climbing down the crags.

"Thank goodness, we're here at last!" exclaimed Fritz, when, having got within their hut, he sank upon the bed in the corner. "I didn't tell you before, for fear of alarming you; but, as I came down the cliff, I sprained my ankle fearfully. Once, I thought I should never reach the bottom alive, laddie. Really, if we had but another step now to go, I'm certain I would not have been able to limp it."

"Himmel!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Eric, "I couldn't see that you walked lame on account of its being dark; and, you wouldn't tell me, of course, or lean on my arm so as to let me help you!"

Eric spoke in quite an aggrieved tone, which struck his brother keenly, although he refrained from answering him; but, while expressing his sense of hurt feeling at Fritz not asking his aid, the lad was busily employed in lighting the lamp and examining the injured ankle, which, to his consternation, he found so badly dislocated that the bone protruded.

The foot, too, was already swollen to more than twice its size!

"It looks awful," he said; "and, just think, if it had given way when we were descending the crag you might have tumbled down the precipice and made me brotherless! Why did you not tell me and ask my help?"

"Because," replied Fritz, with some reason, "my doing so might perhaps have frightened you, causing you to lose your nerve at a moment when the safety of both of us depended on your keeping cool and steady."