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

Unfasten The Shutters--You Know What Nimble Fingers They Have. Then Of

Course The Whole Posse Of Them Swarmed into Our Nice Tidy Cottage And

Skylarked with Every Single Thing they Could Lay Paws On,  Till Perhaps

They Got Hungry All At Once,  And Bethought Them Of The "Ginseng",  As

You Call It,  Out In the Woods Yonder,  Where We Found Them So Busy

Refreshing themselves,  The Mischievous Villains!'

`While We Were Gazing at All This Ruin In a Sort Of Bewilderment,'

Pursued fritz,  `We Heard A Sound Of Rushing wings And Strange Ringing

Cries As Of Multitudes Of Birds Passing high Above Us,  And Looking up

We Perceived them Flying quickly In a Wedge-Shaped flock At A Great

Height In the Air. They Began Gradually To Descend,  Taking the

Direction Of The Lake,  And Separated into A Number Of Small Detachments

Which Followed in a Long Straight Line,  And At A Slower Rate,  The

Movements Of The Leaders,  Who Appeared to Be Examining the

Neighbourhood. We Could Now See What Large Birds They Must Be,  But

Dared not Show Ourselves Or Follow Them,  Lest They Should Take Alarm.

`Presently,  And With One Accord,  They Quickened their Motion,  Just As

If The Band Had Begun To Play A Quick March After A Slow One,  And

Rapidly Descended to Earth In a Variety Of Lively Ways,  And Near Enough

For Us To See That They Must Be Cranes.

`Some Alighted at Once,  While Others Hovered sportively Over Them. Many

Darted to The Ground,  And,  Just Touching it,  Would Soar Again Upward

With A Strong But Somewhat Heavy Flight.

`After Gambolling in this Way For A Time,  The Whole Multitude,  As

Though At The Word Of Command,  Alighted on The Rice-Fields,  And Began

To Feast On The Fresh Grain.

`We Thought Now Was Our Time To Get A Shot At The Cranes And

Cautiously Approached; But They Were Too Cunning to Let Themselves Be

Surprised,  And We Came Unexpectedly Upon Their Outposts Or Sentinels,

Who Instantly Sprang Into The Air Uttering loud Trumpet-Like Cries,

Upon Which The Whole Flock Arose And Followed them With A Rush Like A

Sudden Squall Of Wind.

`We Were Quite Startled,  And It Was Useless To Attempt A Shot; But

Unwilling to Miss The Chance Of Securing at Least One Of The Birds,  I

Hastily Unhooded my Eagle,  And Threw Him Into The Air.

`With A Piercing cry He Soared away High Above Them,  Then Shot

Downwards Like An Arrow,  Causing wild Confusion Among The Cranes.

`The One Which The Eagle Attacked,  Sought To Defend Itself; A Struggle

Followed,  And They Came Together To The Ground Not Far From Where We

Stood.

`Hastening forward,  To My Grief I Found The Beautiful Crane Already

Dead. The Eagle,  Luckily Unhurt,  Was Rewarded with A Small Pigeon From

My Game-Bag.

`After This We Went Back To Woodlands,  Got Some Turpentine And A Bag Of

Rice--And Set Off For Home.'

Fritz'S Interesting story Being ended,  And Supper Ready,  We Made Trial

Of The New Roots,  And Found Them Very Palatable,  Either Boiled or

Stewed; The Monkey Plant,  However,  If It Really Proved to Be The

Ginseng Of The Chinese,  Would Require To Be Used with Caution,  Being of

An Aromatic And Heating nature.

We Resolved to Transplant A Supply Of Both Roots To Our Kitchen

Garden.

On The Following morning we Were Early Astir; And As Soon As Breakfast

Was Over,  We Went Regularly To Work With The Bird-Lime. The Tough,

Adhesive Mixture Of Caoutchouc Oil And Turpentine Turned out Well.

The Boys Brought Rods,  Which I Smeared over,  And Made Them Place Among

The Upper Branches,  Where The Fruit Was Plentiful,  And The Birds Most

Congregated.

The Prodigious Number Of The Pigeons,  Far Beyond Those Of Last Year,

Reminded me That We Had Not Then,  As Now,  Witnessed their Arrival At

Their Feeding-Places,  But Had Seen Only The Last Body Of The Season,  A

Mere Party Of Stragglers,  Compared to The Masses Which Now Weighed down

The Branches Of All The Trees In the Neighbourhood.

The Sweet Acorns Of The Evergreen Oaks Were Also Patronized; Large

Flocks Were There Congregated; And From The State Of The Ground Under

The Trees It Was Evident That At Night They Roosted on The Branches.

Seeing this,  I Determined to Make A Raid Upon Them By Torchlight,  After

The Manner Of The Colonists In virginia.

Meantime,  The Bird-Lime Acted well: The Pigeons Alighting,  Stuck Fast.

The More They Fluttered and Struggled,  The More Completely Were They

Bedaubed with The Tenacious Mixture,  And At Length,  With Piteous Cries,

Fell To The Ground,  Bearing the Sticks With Them. The Birds Were Then

Removed,  Fresh Lime Spread,  And The Snare Set Again.

The Boys Quickly Became Able To Carry On The Work Without My

Assistance; So,  Leaving it To Them,  I Went To Prepare Torches,  With

Pinewood And Turpentine,  For The Night Attack.

Jack Presently Brought A Very Pretty Pigeon,  Unlike The Rest,  To Show

Me,  As He Felt Unwilling to Kill It; And Seeing that It Must Be One Of

Our Own European Breed,  Which We Wished to Preserve Until Their Numbers

Greatly Increased,  I Took The Trembling captive,  And Gently Cleaned its

Feet And Wings With Oil And Ashes From The Stiff,  Sticky Mess With

Which It Was Bedaubed,  Placing it Then In a Wicker Cage,  And Telling

Jack To Bring me Any Others Like It Which Were Caught. This He Did; And

We Secured several Pairs,  Greatly To My Satisfaction,  As Having

Necessarily Let Them Go Free When We Landed,  They Had Become Quite

Wild,  And We Derived no Advantage From Them: Whereas Now We Would Have

A Cot,  And Pigeon-Pie Whenever We Liked.

When Evening drew On,  We Set Out For The Wood Of Sweet Acorns,

Provided merely With Long Bamboo Canes,  Torches And Canvas Sacks.

These Weapons Appeared very Curious,  And Insufficient To The Children;

But Their Use Was Speedily Apparent: For Darkness Having come Upon Us

Almost Before We Reached the Wood,  I Lighted the Torches,  And

Perceived,  As I Expected,  That Every Branch Was Thickly Laden With

Ortolans And Wild Pigeons,  Who Were Roosting there In amazing numbers.

Suddenly Aroused by The Glare Of Light,  Confusion Prevailed among The

Terrified birds,  Who Fluttered helplessly Through The Branches,  Dazzled

And Bewildered,  And Many Falling,  Even Before We Began To Use The

Sticks,  Were Picked up,  And Put In the Bags.

When We Beat And Struck The Branches,  It Was As Much As My Wife And

Franz Could Do To Gather Up The Quantities Of Pigeons That Soon Lay On

The Ground. The Sacks Were Speedily Quite Full. We Turned homewards,

And On Reaching falconhurst,  Put Our Booty In safety,  And Gladly

Withdrew To Rest.

The Following day Was Wholly Occupied in plucking,  Boiling,  Roasting

And Stewing,  So That We Could Find Time For Nothing else; But Next

Morning a Great Expedition To Woodlands Was Arranged,  That Measures

Might There Be Taken To Prevent A Repetition Of The Monkey Invasion. I

Hoped,  Could I But Catch The Mischievous Rascals At Their Work Of

Destruction,  To Inflict Upon Them Such A Chastisement As Would

Effectually Make Them Shun The Neighbourhood Of Our Farm For The

Future.

My Wife Provided us With A Good Store Of Provisions,  As We Were Likely

To Be Absent Several Days,  While She,  With Franz And Turk,  Remained at

Home.

I Took With Me Abundance Of Specially Prepared birdlime,  Far Stronger

Than That Which We Used for The Pigeons; A Number Of Short Posts,

Plenty Of String,  And A Supply Of Cocoanut Shells And Gourds.

The Buffalo Carried all These Things,  And One Or Two Of The Boys

Besides. I Myself Bestrode The Ass,  And In due Time We Arrived at A

Convenient Spot In the Forest,  Near Woodlands,  Well Concealed by Thick

Bushes And Underwood,  Where We Made A Little Encampment,  Pitching the

Small Tent And Tethering the Animals. The Dogs,  Too,  Were Tied up,  Lest

They Should Roam About,  And Betray Our Presence.

We Found The Cottage Quite Quiet And Deserted; And I Lost No Time In

Preparing for The Reception Of Visitors,  Hoping to Be All Ready For

Them,  And Out Of Sight Before They Arrived.

We Drove The Stakes Lightly Into The Ground,  So As To Form An

Irregular Paling round The House,  Winding string in and Out In all

Directions Between Them,  Thus Making a Kind Of Labyrinth,  Through Which

It Would Be Impossible To Pass Without Touching either The Stakes Or

The Cords.

Everything was Plentifully Besmeared with Bird-Lime; And Basins Of The

Mixture Were Set In all Directions,  Strewed with Rice,  Maize,  And Other

Dainties For Bait.

Night Came Without Any Interruption To Our Proceedings; And All Being

Then Accomplished,  We Retired to Rest Beneath The Shelter Of Our Little

Tent.

Very Early In the Morning we Heard A Confused noise,  Such As We Knew

Betokened the Approach Of A Large Number Of Apes. We Armed ourselves

With Strong Clubs And Cudgels,  And Holding the Dogs In leash,  Made Our

Way Silently Behind The Thickets,  Till,  Ourselves Unseen,  We Could

Command A View Of All That Went On; And Strange Indeed was The Scene

Which Ensued!

The Noise Of Rustling,  Crackling and Creaking among The Branches,  With

Horrid Cries,  And Shrieks,  And Chattering,  Increased to A Degree

Sufficient To Make Us Perfectly Giddy; And Then Out From The Forest

Poured the Whole Disorderly Rabble Of Monkeys,  Scrambling,  Springing,

Leaping from The Trees,  Racing and Tumbling across The Grassy Space

Towards The House; When,  At Once Attracted by The Novelties They Saw,

They Made For The Jars And Bowls.

They Seemed innumerable; But The Confused,  Rapid Way In which They

Swarmed hither And Thither,