Swiss Family Robinson(fiscle part-3 of 2) by Johann David Wyss (inspirational books for students .txt) 📕

Fritz Threw Down,  Without A Word Of Explanation,  A Bundle Of Thistles.

The Boys Seemed almost Wild With Excitement At The Success Of Their

Expedition,  And Presently Jack Exclaimed:

`Oh,  Father,  You Can'T Think What Grand Fun Hunting on An Ostrich Is;

We Flew Along Like The Wind; Sometimes I Could Scarcely Breathe,  We

Were Going at Such A Rate,  And I Was Obliged to Shut My Eyes Because Of

The Terrific Rush Of Air; Really,  Father,  You Must Make Me A Mask With

Glass Eyes To Ride With,  Or I Shall Be Blinded one Of These Fine Days.'

`Indeed!' Replied i,  `I Must Do No Such Thing.' `Why Not?' Asked he,

With A Look Of Amazement Upon His Face.

`For Two Reasons: Firstly,  Because I Do Not Consider That I Must Do

Anything that You Demand; And,  Secondly,  Because I Think That You Are

Very Capable Of Doing it Yourself. However,  I Must Congratulate You

Upon Your Abundant Supply Of Game; You Must Have Indeed worked hard.

`Yet I Wish That You Would Let Me Know When You Intend Starting on Such

A Long Expedition As This; You Forget That Though You Yourselves Know

That You Are Quite Safe,  And That All Is Going on Well,  Yet That We At

Home Are Kept In a Constant State Of Anxiety. Now,  Off With You,  And

Look To Your Animals,  And Then You May Find Supper Ready.'

Presently The Boys Returned,  And We Prepared for A Most Appetizing meal

Which The Mother Set Before Us.

While We Were Discussing the Roast Pig,  And Washing it Down With

Fragrant Mead,  Fritz Described the Day'S Expedition.

They Had Set Their Traps Near Woodlands,  And Had There Captured the

Musk-Rats,  Attracting them With Small Carrots,  While With Other Traps,

Baited with Fish And Earthworms,  They Had Caught Several Beaver Rats,

And A Duck-Billed platypus. Hunting and Fishing had Occupied the Rest

Of The Day,  And It Was With Immense Pride That Jack Displayed the

Kangaroo Which He Had Run Down With His Swift Courser.

Contributions To The Garden Had Not Been Forgotten,  And Fritz Handed

Over To His Mother Several Cuttings From Cinnamon And Sweet-Apple

Trees. Finally,  When All The Other Treasures Had Been Displayed,  Fritz

Begged me To Examine His Thistles Which He Had Gathered,  Thinking,  He

Said,  That It Was A Plant Used in the Manufacture Of Wool.

He Was Perfectly Right,  For I Recognized it At Once As The `Fuller'S

Teazle',  A Plant Whose Sharp Little Thorns,  Which Cover The Stem And

Leaves,  Are Used to Raise The Nap Of Cloth. We Resolved to Be Up

Betimes The Following morning,  That We Might Attend To The Preparation

Of The Booty,  And As I Now Noticed that The Boys Were All Becoming

Extremely Drowsy,  I Closed the Day With Evening devotions.

The Number Of The Creatures We Killed rendered the Removal Of Their

Skins A Matter Of No Little Time And Trouble. It Was Not An Agreeable

Task At Any Time,  And When I Saw The Array Of Animals The Boys Had

Brought Me To Flay,  I Determined to Construct A Machine Which Would

Considerably Lessen The Labour.

Amongst The Ship'S Stores,  In the Surgeon'S Chest,  I Discovered a

Large Syringe. This,  With A Few Alterations,  Would Serve My Purpose

Admirably. Within The Tube I First Fitted a Couple Of Valves,  And Then,

Perforating the Stopper,  I Had In my Possession A Powerful Air Pump.

The Boys Stared at Me In blank Amazement When,  Armed with This

Instrument,  I Took Up The Kangaroo,  And Declared myself Ready To

Commence Operations.

`Skin A Kangaroo With A Squirt?' Said They,  And A Roar Of Laughter

Followed the Remark.

I Made No Reply To The Jests Which Followed,  But Silently Hung The

Kangaroo By Its Hind Legs To The Branch Of A Tree. I Then Made A Small

Incision In the Skin,  And Inserting the Mouth Of The Syringe Forced air

With All My Might Between The Skin And The Body Of The Animal. By

Degrees The Hide Of The Kangaroo Distended,  Altering the Shape Of The

Creature Entirely.

Still I Worked on,  Forcing in yet More Air Until It Had Become A Mere

Shapeless Mass,  And I Soon Found That The Skin Was Almost Entirely

Separated from The Carcase. A Bold Cut Down The Belly,  And A Few

Touches Here And There Where The Ligatures Still Bound The Hide To The

Body,  And The Animal Was Flayed.

`What A Splendid Plan!' Cried the Boys. `But Why Should It Do It?'

`For A Most Simple And Natural Reason,' I Replied. `Do You Not Know

That The Skin Of An Animal Is Attached to Its Flesh Merely By Slender

And Delicate Fibres,  And That Between These Exist Thousands Of Little

Bladders Or Air Chambers; By Forcing air Into These Bladders The Fibres

Are Stretched,  And At Length,  Elastic As They Are,  Cracked. The Skin

Has Now Nothing to Unite It To The Body,  And,  Consequently,  May Be

Drawn Off With Perfect Ease.

`This Scientific Fact Has Been Known For Many Years; The Greenlanders

Make Constant Use Of It; When They Have Killed a Seal Or Walrus They

Distend The Skin That They May Tow The Animal More Easily Ashore,  And

Then Remove Its Hide At A Moment'S Notice.' The Remaining animals Were

Subjected to The Same Treatment,  And,  To My Great Joy,  In a Couple Of

Days The Skins Were All Off,  And Being prepared for Use.

I Now Summoned the Boys To Assist Me In procuring blocks Of Wood For My

Crushing machine,  And The Following day We Set Forth With Saws,  Ropes,

Axes And Other Tools. We Soon Reached the Tree I Had Selected for My

Purpose,  And I Began By Sending fritz And Jack Up Into The Tree With

Axes To Cut Off The Larger Of The High Branches So That,  When The Tree

Fell,  It Might Not Injure Its Neighbours.

They Then Descended,  And Fritz And I Attacked the Stem. As The Easiest

And Most Speedy Method We Used a Saw,  Such As Is Employed by Sawyers In

A Saw-Pit And,  Fritz Taking one End And I The Other,  The Tree Was Soon

Cut Half Through. We Then Adjusted ropes That We Might Guide Its Fall,

And Again Began To Cut. It Was Labourious Work,  But When I Considered

That The Cut Was Sufficiently Deep We Took The Ropes And Pulled with

Our United strength. The Trunk Cracked,  Swayed,  Tottered,  And Fell With

A Crash.

The Boughs Were Speedily Lopped off,  And The Trunk Sawed into Blocks

Four Feet Long. To Cut Down And Divide This Tree Had Taken Us A Couple

Of Days,  And On The Third We Carted home Four Large And Two Small

Blocks,  And With The Vertebrae Joints Of The Whale I,  In a Very Short

Time,  Completed my Machine.

While Engaged on This Undertaking i Had Paid Little Attention To Our

Fields Of Grain,  And,  Accordingly,  Great Was My Surprise When One

Evening the Fowls Returned,  Showing most Evident Indifference To Their

Evening meal,  And With Their Crops Perfectly Full. It Suddenly Struck

Me That These Birds Had Come From The Direction Of Our Cornfield. I

Hurried off To See What Damage They Had Done,  And Then Found To My

Great Joy That The Grain Was Perfectly Ripe.

The Amount Of Work Before Us Startled my Wife. This Unexpected

Harvest,  Which Added reaping and Threshing to The Fishing,  Salting,  And

Pickling already On Hand,  Quite Troubled her.

`Only Think,' Said She,  `Of My Beloved potatoes And Manioc Roots! What

Is To Become Of Them,  I Should Like To Know? It Is Time To Take Them

Up,  And How To Manage It,  With All This Press Of Work,  I Can'T See.'

`Don'T Be Downhearted,  Wife,' Said I; `There Is No Immediate Hurry

About The Manioc,  And Digging potatoes In this Fine,  Light Soil Is Easy

Work Compared to What It Is In switzerland,  While As To Planting more,

That Will Not Be Necessary If We Leave The Younger Plants In the

Ground. The Harvest We Must Conduct After The Italian Fashion,  Which,

Although Anything but Economical,  Will Save Time And Trouble,  And As We

Are To Have Two Crops In the Year,  We Need not Be Too Particular.'

Without Further Delay,  I Commenced leveling a Large Space Of Firm

Clayey Ground To Act As A Threshing floor; It Was Well Sprinkled with

Water,  Rolled,  Beaten,  And Stamped; As The Sun Dried the Moisture It

Was Watered anew,  And The Treatment Continued until It Became As

Flat,  Hard,  And Smooth As A Threshing floor Need be.

Our Largest Wicker Basket Was Then Slung Between Storm And Grumble; We

Armed ourselves With Reaping hooks,  And Went Forth To Gather In the

Corn In the Simplest And Most Expeditious Manner Imaginable. I Told My

Reapers Not To Concern Themselves About The Length Of The Straw,  But To

Grasp The Corn Where It Was Convenient To Them,  Without Stooping; Each

Was To Wind A Stalk Around His Own Handful,  And Throw It Into The

Basket; In this Way Great Labour Was Saved.

The Plan Pleased the Boys Immensely,  And In a Short Time The Basket Had

Been Filled many Times,  And The Field Displayed a Quantity Of Tall,

Headless Stubble,  Which Perfectly Horrified the Mother,  So Extravagant

And Untidy Did She Consider Our Work.

`This Is Dreadful!' Cried she; `You Have Left Numbers Of Ears Growing

On Short Stalks,  And Look At That Splendid Straw Completely Wasted! I

Don'T Approve Of Your Italian Fashion At All.'

`It Is Not A Bad Plan,  I Can Assure You,  Wife,  And The Italians Do Not

Waste The Straw By Not Cutting it With The Grain; Having more Arable

Than Pasture Land,  They Use This High Stubble For Their Cattle,  Letting

Them Feed in it,  And Eat What Grain Is Left; Afterward,  Allowing the

Grass To Grow Up Among It,  They Mow All Together For Winter Fodder. And

Now For Threshing,  Also In italian Fashion. We Shall Find It Spares Our

Arms And Backs As Much In that As In reaping.'

The Little Sheaves Were Laid In a Large Circle On The Floor,  The Boys

Mounted storm,  Grumble,  Lightfoot,  And Hurry,  Starting off At A Brisk

Trot,  With Many A Merry Jest,  And Round They Went,  Trampling and

Stamping out The Grain,  While Dust And Chaff Flew In clouds About Them.

My Wife And I Were Incessantly Occupied with Hayforks,  By Means Of

Which We Shook