Fritz and Eric

by John C. Hutcheson

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

  GARDENING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

  If the brothers thought that they were going to hold undisputed swayover the island and be monarchs of all they surveyed, they were speedilyundeceived next morning!

  When they landed from the ship on the day before, in company with thecaptain and boat's crew, all had noticed the numbers of penguins androck petrels proceeding to and from the sea--the point from whence theystarted and the goal they invariably arrived at being a tangled mass ofbrushwood and tussock-grass on the right of the bay, about a mile or sodistant from the waterfall on the extreme left of the hut.

  The birds had kept up an endless chatter, croaking, or rather barking,just like a number of dogs quarrelling, in all manner of keys, as theybustled in and out of the "rookery" they had established in the arm ofthe cliff; and Fritz and Eric had been much diverted by their movements,particularly when the feathered colonists came out of the water fromtheir fishing excursions and proceeded towards their nests.

  The penguins, especially, seemed to possess the diving capabilities ofthe piscine tribe, for they were able to remain so long under thesurface that they approached the beach without giving any warning thatthey were in the neighbourhood. Looking out to sea, as the little partyof observers watched them, not a penguin was to be seen. Really, itwould have been supposed that all of them were on shore, particularly asthose there made such a din that it sounded as if myriads were gatheredtogether in their hidden retreat; but, all at once, the surface of thewater, some hundred yards or so from the beach, would be seen disturbed,as if from a catspaw of a breeze, although what wind there was blew fromthe opposite quarter, and then, a ripple appeared moving in towards theland, a dark-red beak and sometimes a pair of owlish eyes showing for asecond and then disappearing again. The ripple came onwards quickly,and the lookers-on could notice that it was wedge-shaped, in the samefashion as wild geese wing their way through the air. A moment later, aband of perhaps from three to four hundred penguins would scramble outon to the stones with great rapidity, at once exchanging the vigorousand graceful movements for which they were so remarkable while in thewater for the most ludicrous and ungainly ones possible now that theywere on terra firma; for, they tumbled about on the shingle andapparently with difficulty assumed the normal position which is theirhabit when on land--that of standing upright on their feet. Theselatter are set too far back for their bodies to hang horizontally; so,with their fin-like wings hanging down helplessly by their sides, theylook ashore, as Fritz said to Eric, "just the very image of a parcel ofrough recruits" going through their first drill in the "awkward squad!"

  When the penguins got fairly out of the water, beyond reach of thesurf--which broke with a monotonous motion on the beach in a sullen sortof way, as if it was curbed by a higher law for the present, but wouldrevenge itself bye-and-bye when it had free play--they would standtogether in a cluster, drying and dressing themselves, talking togetherthe while in their gruff barking voice, as if congratulating each otheron their safe landing; and then, again, all at once, as if bypreconcerted order, they would start scrambling off in a body over thestony causeway that lay between the beach and their rookery in thescrub, many falling down by the way and picking themselves up again bytheir flappers, their bodies being apparently too weighty for theirlegs. The whole lot thus waddled and rolled along, like a number of oldgentlemen with gouty feet, until they reached one particular road intothe tussock-grass thicket, which their repeated passage had worn smooth;and, along this they passed in single file in the funniest fashionimaginable. The performance altogether more resembled a scene in apantomime than anything else!

  This was not all, either.

  The onlookers had only seen half the play; for, no sooner had this partyof excursionists returned home than another band of equal numbersappeared coming out of the rookery from a second path, almost parallelwith the first but distinctly separated by a hedge of brushwood--so asto prevent the birds going to and from the sea from interfering witheach other's movements.

  These new--comers, when they got out of the grass on to the beach--whichthey reached in a similar sprawling way to that in which the others hadbefore traversed the intervening space, "jest as if they were all drunk,every mother's son of 'em!" as the skipper had said--stopped, similarly,to have a chat, telling each other probably their various plans forfishing; and then, after three or four minutes of noisy conversation, inwhich they barked and growled as if quarrelling vehemently, they wouldscuttle down with one consent in a group over the stones into the water.

  From this spot, once they had dived in, a long line of ripples,radiating outwards towards the open sea, like that caused by a pebbleflung into a pond, was the only indication, as far as could be seen,that the penguins were below the surface, not a head or beak showing.

  Such was the ordinary procedure of the penguins, according to what Fritzand the others noticed on the first day of the brothers' landing on theisland.

  A cursory glance was also given to the movements of the curious littlerock hoppers and petrels. These made burrows in the ground under thebasaltic debris at the foot of the cliffs, just like rabbits, popping inand out of their subterranean retreats in the same way as peopletravelling in the American backwoods have noticed the "prairie dogs" do;but, both the brothers, as well as the men from the _Pilot's Bride_,were too busy getting the hut finished while daylight lasted andcarrying up the stores from the beach to the little building afterwards,to devote much time to anything else.

  When, too, the captain and seamen returned on board and the ship sailed,leaving Fritz and Eric alone, they had quite enough to occupy all theirtime with unpacking their things and preparing for the night, withoutthinking of the penguins; although they could hear their confusedbarking noise in the distance, long after nightfall, above the singingof the wind overhead through the waterfall gully and the dull roar ofthe surf breaking against the western side of the coast. The brothers,however, were too tired to keep awake long, soon sinking into a heavysleep that was undisturbed till the early morning.

  But, when day broke, the penguins would not allow their existence to beany longer forgotten, the brothers being soon made aware of theirneighbourhood.

  Eric, the sailor lad, accustomed to early calls at sea when on watchduty, was the first to awake.

  "Himmel!" he exclaimed, stretching his arms out and giving a mighty kickout with his legs so as to thoroughly rouse himself. He fancied that heheard the mate's voice calling down the hatchway, while summoning thecrew on deck with the customary cry for all hands. "What's all the rowabout--is the vessel taken aback, a mutiny broken loose, or what?"

  "Eh?" said Fritz sleepily, opening his eyes with difficulty and staringround in a puzzled way, unable at first to make out where he was, theplace seemed so strange.

  "Why, whatever is the matter?" repeated Eric, springing up from amongstthe rugs and blankets, which had made them a very comfortable bed. "Ithought I was on board the _Pilot's Bride_ still, instead of here!Listen to that noise going on outside, Fritz? It sounds as if therewere a lot of people fighting--I wonder if there are any other peoplehere beside ourselves?"

  "Nonsense!" said his brother, turning out too, now thoroughly awake."There's no chance of a ship coming in during the night; still, therecertainly is a most awful row going on!--What can it be?"

  "We'll soon see!" ejaculated Eric, unfastening a rude door, which theyhad made with some broken spars, so as to shut up the entrance to thehut, and rolling away the barrels that had been piled against it, towithstand any shock of the wind from without. The brothers did not fearany other intruder save some blustering south-easter bursting in uponthem unexpectedly.

  "Well!" sang out Fritz, as soon as the lad had peered without--"do yousee anybody?"

  "No," replied Eric, "not a soul! I don't notice, either anything movingabout but some penguins down on the beach. They are waddling aboutthere in droves."

  "Ah, those are the noisy gentlemen you hear," respon
ded the other,coming to the doorway and looking around. "Don't you catch the soundmore fully now?"

  "I would rather think I did," said Eric. "I would be deaf otherwise!"

  There was no doubt of the noise the birds made being audible enough!

  The barking, grunting, yelping cries came in a regular chorus from thebrushwood thicket in the distance, sometimes fainter and then again withincreased force, as if fresh voices joined in the discordant refrain.

  The noise of the birds was exactly like that laughing sort of gratingcry which a flock of geese make on being frightened, by some passer-byon a common, say, when they run screaming away with outstretched wings,standing on the tips of their webbed feet as if dancing--the appearanceof the penguins rushing in and out of the tussock clump where theirrookery was, bearing out the parallel.

  "They are nice shipmates, that's all I can say!" remarked Ericpresently, after gazing at the movements of the birds for some littletime and listening to the deafening din they made. "They seem to be allat loggerheads."

  "I dare say if we understood their language," said Fritz, "we would knowthat each of their different cries has a peculiar signification of itsown. Perhaps, they are talking together sociably about all sorts ofthings."

  "Just like a pack of gabbling old women, you mean!" exclaimed Eric. "Ishould like to wring all their necks for waking us up so early!"

  "Not a bit too soon," observed Fritz. "See, the sun is just rising overthe sea there; and, as we turned in early last night, there is all thebetter reason for our being up betimes this morning, considering allthere is for us to do before we can settle down regularly to thebusiness that brought us here. What a lovely sunrise!"

  "Yes, pretty fairish to look at from the land," replied the other,giving but a half-assent to his brother's exclamation of admiration."I've seen finer when I was with Captain Brown last voyage down belowthe Cape near Kerguelen. There, the sun used to light up all theicebergs. Himmel, Fritz, it was like fairyland!"

  "That might have been so," responded the elder of the two, in his graveGerman way when his thoughts ran deep; "but, this is beautiful enoughfor me."

  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 Ericturned out it was still shining brightly, with the stars peeping outhere and there from the blue vault above; while, the wind having diedaway, all the shimmering expanse of sea that stretched away to theeastwards out of the bay shone like silver, appearing to be lazilywrapped in slumber, and only giving vent to an occasional long hum likea deeply drawn breath. But, all in a moment, the scene was changed--asif by the wave of an enchanter's wand.

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

  Then, the sun rose.

  But no, it did not rise in the ordinary sense of the expression; itliterally jumped up at once from the sea, appearing several degreesabove the horizon the same instant almost that Fritz and Eric caughtsight of it and before they could realise its presence, albeit theireyes were intently fixed all the while on the point where it heraldedits coming by the glowing vapours sent before.

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

  "Right you are," responded Eric, who was equally impressed with themagic scene--in spite of his disclaimer about having seen a bettersunrise in antarctic seas. "As soon as we've had breakfast, for Iconfess 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 assistant and help you withthe garden. But, who shall be cook? One of the two of us had bettertake that office permanently, I think; eh, Fritz?"

  "You can be, if you like," said the other. "I fancy you have got aslight 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 runninginto the kitchen, eh?"

  "Yes, I remember it well."

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

  "Grown up, indeed! you're a fine fellow to talk of being of age withyour 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 insuch a dexterous manner that it showed he was to the manner born, so tospeak; Fritz helping to aid the progress of the breakfast by fetchingwater from a pool which the cascade had hollowed out for itself at thepoint where it finally leapt to level ground and betook itself to thesea in rivulet fashion.

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

  Here, the Tristaner told them, they would find the best spot for agarden, the soil being not only richer and easier to cultivate but itwas the only place that was free from rock, and not overrun by theluxuriant tussock-grass which spread over the rest of the land that wasnot thicket.

  Proceeding to the right-hand side of the cliff under which their hut wasbuilt, they descended the somewhat sloping and broken ground that led inthe direction of the penguin colony, the noise from which grew louderand 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, theycame to a closely grown thicket, principally composed of a species ofbuckthorn tree that grew to the height of some thirty feet although ofvery slender trunk, underneath which was a mass of tangled grass and thesame sort of debris from the cliff as that whereon their hut stood. Theplace was overgrown with moss and beautiful ferns, while severalthrushes were to be seen amongst the branches of the trees just likethose 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 intothese their footsteps broke every moment. It was odd to hear themuffled chirp and feel the struggling birds beneath their feet as theystepped over the grass-grown soil. The ground had not the slightestappearance of being undermined by the mole-like petrels, its hollownessbeing only proved when it gave way to the tread; although, after thefirst surprise of the two young fellows at thus disturbing the tenantsof the burrows, they walked as "gingerly" as they could, so as to avoidhurting the little creatures. The birds, however, seemed too busy withtheir domestic concerns to take any notice of them.

  After passing through the strip of wood, which was not of very extensivedimensions, Fritz and Eric found the ground on the other side level andpretty free from vegetation. This open land was just at the anglebetween the cliffs, occupying a space of perhaps a couple of acres,exactly as the Tristaner had told them; so, here they began at oncetheir operations for laying out their projected garden, which was to bethe first task they had to accomplish before settling down, now thatthey had been saved the trouble of building a house to live in.<
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  Eric, impetuous as usual, wanted to dig up and plant the entire lot; butFritz was more practical, thinking it the wisest plan not to attempt toomuch at once.

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

  Accordingly, they marked out a space of about twenty yards square; andthen, the brothers, taking off their coats, commenced digging at thiswith considerable energy for some length of time. But, Eric soondiscovered that, easy as the thing looked, it was a much tougher jobthan he had expected, the ground being very hard from the fact of itsnever having had a spade put into it before; besides which, the exercisewas one to which the lad was unaccustomed.

  "Really, I must rest," he exclaimed after a bit, his hands being thenblistered, while he was bathed in perspiration from head to foot. Hedid 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 nowhe really had to confess to being beaten. "I declare," he panted out,half-breathlessly--"my back feels broken, and I couldn't dig anotherspadeful to save my life!"

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

  "Ah, you are used to it," replied Eric. "I'm more accustomed toploughing the sea than turning up land! But, I say, Fritz; while you goon digging--that is if you're not tired--I've just thought of somethingelse 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 andbe of service to the garden."

  "Well, tell me," replied Fritz, industriously going on using his spadewith the most praiseworthy assiduity, not pausing for a moment evenwhile he was speaking; for, he was anxious to have the ground finishedas soon as he could.

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

  "The very thing," said Fritz. "It's a capital idea of yours; and I amglad 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 attheir 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, Iwill 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 thewhole plot."

  "Here goes then!" cried Eric; and, away he went, trundling thewheelbarrow along, with a shovel inside it for scraping up the birdrefuse and loading the little vehicle--disappearing soon from hisbrother's gaze behind the tussock-grass thicket that skirted the extremeend of the garden patch, close to the cliff on the right-hand side ofthe bay, and exactly opposite to the site of their cottage, this beingthe place where, as already mentioned, the penguins had establishedtheir breeding-place, or "rookery."

  Prior to Eric's departure, the birds had been noisy enough, keeping upsuch a continual croaking and barking that the brothers could hardlyhear each other's voice; but now, no sooner had the lad invaded whatthey seemed to look upon as their own particular domain, than the dinproceeding from thence became terrific, causing Fritz to drop his spadefor 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-grass growing sohigh as to conceal his movements; so, he was just about resumingdigging, fancying that his brother would shortly be back with hiswheelbarrow full of guano manure and that then the uproar would be over,when, suddenly, he distinguished, above all the growling and barking ofthe 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 greatpain. "Help, Fritz, help!"