CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
THE WILD GOATS.
"Ach, Himmel! What is it?" exclaimed Eric, getting closer to hisbrother, who also was at first a bit frightened.
"I sure I don't know," said Fritz, quite perplexed for the moment; buthe was soon reassured, for the animal, which had hitherto presenteditself end on towards them, so that its head and body were humped uptogether, now turning sideways, its change of position enabled himbetter to judge of its proportions. "Pshaw!" he cried out, "it's only agoat, after all!"
"A goat?" repeated Eric, still surprised, not catching at once themeaning of the word.
"Yes; don't you remember that young Glass said there was a flock ofgoats on the tableland above the cliff?"
"Oh, I recollect now," said Eric, his mind quite relieved. For themoment, he really believed that some terrible monster inhabited thedesert island besides themselves; and thought that this unknown animalmight possibly sally forth as soon as the sun set and darkness reigned,in search of its prey, when he and Fritz would fall victims to itsrapacity. "I did not understand you at first."
"Well, it's all right now, brother, so you need not be afraid. I cannotwonder at your alarm, however for I was startled, I must confess.Fancy, me, a soldier, to show such want of nerve! Why, I'm as bad asyou were the other morning when the penguins attacked you!"
"Don't say any more about that, please," pleaded Eric, whose fright ofthe birds was still a standing joke with Fritz. "I'm sure when theyrushed at me so fiercely they seemed quite as awful as the sight of thatbig brute up there on the cliff, who looked just as if he were going toleap down on us."
"Very well, we'll let the matter drop, then," said the other, laughing."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 atcloser quarters."
"All right," replied Eric, using his stock phrase for everything; andthen, as it was getting dark, the brothers turned in for the night--thesailor lad taking particular care, by the way, to see that the door ofthe hut was carefully barricaded, a precaution which had been omittedsince the first evening of their taking possession of the littledwelling.
The next morning was a bright and cheerful one, with no wind to speakof, save a pleasant breeze, while the sun was warm and cheerful--itslight dancing on the curly little waves that rippled on the beach,causing the plumage of the penguins as they made their pilgrimages toand from the rookery to gleam with iridescent colours. This wasespecially the case when the birds emerged from the water, the lightjust then giving them the tints which the dolphin displays when firstcaught 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 fraildoorway and fussing about the hut. "Rouse up, brother. The old sun hasbeen 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 hisbrother jumped up with his usual alertness--first running down to thebeach and imitating the penguins in having a dip in the sea, to wash thecobwebs out of his head, as he laughingly said on his return to theirlittle domicile, when proceeding to dress.
For a sailor, Eric was, strangely enough, not half so fond of a dailybath; but, as he said in excuse to his brother, this was perhaps owingto his having so many impromptu and unexpected douches on board ship.Most seamen, especially those of foreign nationality, have seemingly ahorror of water for ablutionary purposes, in contradistinction tolandsmen.
However, there was one advantage in this, to Fritz at least; for, whilehe was performing his swim and making his subsequent toilet, Eric hadlit a fire and was preparing coffee for their breakfast, to which, whenready, Fritz was able to sit down comfortably without any trouble orexertion on his part.
A cup of the steaming fluid apiece warmed the two, invigorating them forthe business of the day; and, as soon as the matutinal meal wasfinished, they set about getting their traps ready.
"Of course, we'll take our guns, eh?" asked Eric; although, as far as hewas concerned, he had evidently already come to a decision on the point,for he had carefully selected one of the Remington rifles from theirarmoury for his own especial weapon.
"Yes, I suppose we had better take something to shoot with," repliedFritz. "We need not pot our old friend the goat yet, however. Judgingby his horns and beard, he must be the kaiser of the flock, and so maybe a little tough; still, we may find some daintier morsel to shoot. Iconfess I should be glad of a little fresh meat for a change--a realroast this time, eh, Eric?"
"Oh, bother that roast salt beef; I suppose I'll never hear the end ofit!" cried the lad pathetically, although he could not refrain fromlaughing at Fritz's allusion to the unsuccessful banquet. "You just getme something proper to cook, and I bet you'll not be disgusted with theway in which I dress it!"
"We'll see," replied Fritz, taking up the fowling piece and slinging apowder flask and shot case round his neck. "As you're going to carry arifle for heavy game, laddie, I'll take this for the benefit of anylikely-looking birds we may come across."
"All right," responded Eric; when the two, packing up some biscuit andcheese for their refreshment by the way and barricading the door of thehut from the outside--lest the penguins might chance to pay them a visitin their absence--set forth towards the base of the waterfall up thegorge. Here, the Tristaner had told them, they would be able to climbup by the aid of the tussock-grass should they wish to reach the summitof the cliff.
It was a tedious ascent, the top of the ridge being over a thousand feetabove the little valley in which they lived.
As for Fritz, he was quite worn-out when they arrived at the head of thecrags above the waterfall; but Eric found the climbing easier work fromhis practice in the rigging aboard the _Pilot's Bride_. This was justas well, for he had to pull his brother up nearly all the way.
However, once arrived at the summit, the two had the whole tablelandexposed to their view. This sight alone well rewarded them for theirtrouble, for the plateau stretched like an undulating plain before them,occupying the entire extent of the island--with the exception of thethree-cornered slice taken out of it by their valley, like a segment cutfrom a round cheese. There was, also, a slight depression on thewestern side, where there was a little cave, although this was notnearly so wide as the bay on the east fronting their valley.
Groups of stunted trees grew in the hollows, in which sprang up in greatluxuriance the inevitable tussock-grass; while, amongst the littlethickets that were sparsely scattered over the plain, were grazing largenumbers of hogs, headed by a monster boar. This animal had tusks nearlya foot long; and he almost impaled Eric against a buckthorn tree, underthe 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 hisnumerous family.
As the brothers proceeded across the tableland, they also saw numbers ofa small bird, about the size of a bantam, called by young Glass the"island hen." Its plumage was almost entirely black, and its wings wereso short that they were useless for flight, the bird running in and outof the long grass and ferns with which the surface of the plateau wascovered in the open, like the partridge does amongst the turnips inEngland. Fritz shot a couple of the little things, and the brothersplucked and roasted them over an extemporary fire which Eric lit withthe box of matches he invariably "carried in his pocket--as a sort ofbadge of his culinary office," Fritz said. The birds were found to bevery palatable for lunch, along with the biscuit and cheese which thebrothers had brought with them.
The goats were the main object of the excursion; but Fritz could not seeanything 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 tobelieve that the old "billy" they had seen the evening before was thecreature of their imagina
tion, they suddenly came upon the flock. Thegoats were secreted in a thicket of buckthorn trees and tussock-grass,close to where the tableland sloped to the beach at its westernextremity.
There were twenty-three in all, and must have been the produce of a pairwhich some whaling vessel had turned loose on the island; for, they wereevery one marked in the same way as the patriarchal-looking male,--evidently their progenitor. He was a stately old fellow, with a finepair of curving horns that nearly reached to his tail; in addition towhich, he could boast of a long silky beard that a Turkish pasha mighthave envied.
Seeing three kids amongst the number, Fritz told Eric to shoot one; andthe lad, after a third attempt with the repeating rifle he carried,succeeded in making a successful shot. There was some excuse for Eric'snot killing his kid at first; for, the old male was extremely wary,keeping at a very respectful distance from the two sportsmen and makingthe flock remain in his rear, while he fronted the intruders--continually retreating as they advanced, and dexterously shifting hisposition, by a flank movement every now and then, so as not to be drivenover 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 sofar off!"
"He was probably brought here originally from the Cape," replied Fritz,telling his brother to aim lower next time, his last bullet having onlymissed by too great an elevation. "So, like all animals that have onceheard a gun go off, he knows what it means! Most likely, if I had notfired twice at those little birds, we might have got up quite close tothe flock; but, the old gentleman must have heard the report and thathas made him so cautious about letting us approach. Look out, Eric;now's your chance! Only aim low and steadily, and you will bring downthat 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 thicketthey were at that moment occupying towards another woody clump on theopposite 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 grass. Its body had beenperforated by the bullet from Eric's rifle.
"That was a capital shot!" exclaimed Fritz, when the two came up towhere the poor little kid lay. "The ball has passed right through itsheart; 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 niceafter our living on salt meat for so many days, eh?"
"Yes," replied Eric, with much satisfaction, his sympathy for theslaughtered kid quickly disappearing at the thought of all that youngGlass had told him as to the flavour of the animal when cooked. "It isbetter than the tenderest pork, they say."
"Very well, we'll try it for dinner to-morrow and see whether we agreewith that verdict. It will be too late to cook it when we get home thisevening."
"Dear me, I really did not think the time was going so fast! Why, itmust be within a hour of sunset; don't you think so?"
"Not far off," said Fritz; "so, therefore, there's all the greaterreason for our returning down the gully as soon as possible. If thedarkness came on while we were descending, I should never be able toscramble down."
"Never fear, brother; I'll look after you," cried Eric.
On their approaching the eastern end of the clift again, the sailor ladfirst lowered down the dead kid by a piece of rope he had taken withhim, on to one of the niches in the gorge above the waterfall, and thenprepared for the descent of Fritz and himself. "Never fear brother," herepeated. "Although you may be stronger than I, still my eye is steadyand my hand sure!"
"Good!" said Fritz. "You had better then go down first, and direct mewhere to put my feet. After we've been up and down once or twice, ofcourse, I shall not find it so difficult."
"All right," responded Eric, "here goes!" So saying, he swung himselfover the top of the cliff, when, holding on firmly to the tussock-grassand half slipping down and half stepping on the projections in the faceof the crag, he reached in a few minutes the first broad ledge overwhich 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 grass stems the same as Idid, and let yourself slide over at the corner--there! Now, feel withyour foot for a projecting bit of stone just below where you arestanding 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 thetussock-grass, 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 inthe same way, lowering the kid first, and then descending and directinghis brother's steps; so that, in a much shorter time than they hadascended, they arrived once more in the valley--although, from the factof the tableland being more open and exposed and the cliffs obscuringthe light, the lads found it quite dark when they reached their hut, thesun having sunk below the western ocean while they were climbing downthe crags.
"Thank goodness, we're here at last!" exclaimed Fritz, when, having gotwithin their hut, he sank upon the bed in the corner. "I didn't tellyou before, for fear of alarming you; but, as I came down the cliff, Isprained my ankle fearfully. Once, I thought I should never reach thebottom alive, laddie. Really, if we had but another step now to go, I'mcertain I would not have been able to limp it."
"Himmel!" ejaculated Eric, "I couldn't see that you walked lame onaccount of its being dark; and, you wouldn't tell me, of course, or leanon 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 hissense of hurt feeling at Fritz not asking his aid, the lad was busilyemployed in lighting the lamp and examining the injured ankle, which, tohis 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 wewere descending the crag you might have tumbled down the precipice andmade me brotherless! Why did you not tell me and ask my help?"
"Because," replied Fritz, with some reason, "my doing so might perhapshave frightened you, causing you to lose your nerve at a moment when thesafety of both of us depended on your keeping cool and steady."
"That might have been so," said Eric; "but, still, I would have beenable to help you more if I had known! However, `everything that is, isfor the best,' isn't that so, brother?"
With this consoling reflection, the sailor lad, under Fritz'sdirections, set about bandaging the wounded limb with a longhandkerchief dipped in cold water and wrapped round it as tightly aspossible.
This surgical operation accomplished, the two then went to bed, prettywell tired with the day's excursion.
They had had a long chase after the wild goats, in addition to firstexploring the tableland above and the exertion of ascending anddescending the cliff--which latter was quite an arduous enoughenterprise in itself and sufficiently dangerous, as was amply proved bythe fact of Fritz's accident, that might lay him up for some time.
However, the next day, the invalid thought roast kid ample payment forsprained ankle; and he was not sorry for the enforced rest he wasobliged to take after the rough exercise he had undergone since landingon the island, having now an opportunity of reading and investigatingthe little library of books given by Celia Brown to Eric, which he hadnot yet had the chance of overhauling.
Indeed, Master Fritz had a nice easy time of it;
for Eric not onlywaited on him, but saw to everything that had to be done until he wasable to move about again.
"That old billy-goat was bound to do me an injury! I thought so when Ifirst saw him that evening, standing out against the sunset sky over ourheads," said the elder brother to Eric, when he was once more out ofdoors and felt again like his old self. "Aha, though, I've not donewith the old rascal yet! Some day, I'll pay him out, never fear!"
"Right you are!" was Eric's answer, laughing the while.
The lad was really so overjoyed to see his brother on his legs again,that he went off into fits of laughter every now and then about nothingat all.
He could not contain himself!