by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER XXIV.
A HOUSE AMONG THE TREE-TOPS.
Von Bloom now reflected that the hyenas were likely to prove a greatpest to him. No meat, nor anything, would be safe from them--even hisvery children would be in danger, if left alone in the camp; and nodoubt he would often be compelled to leave them, as he would require theolder ones upon his hunting excursions.
There were other animals to be dreaded still more than the hyenas. Evenduring that night they had heard the roaring of lions down by the vley;and when it was morning, the spoor showed that several of these animalshad drunk at the water.
How could he leave little Trueey--his dear little Trueey--or Jan, who wasnot a bit bigger--how could he leave them in an open camp while suchmonsters were roving about? He could not think of doing so.
He reflected what course he should pursue. At first he thought ofputting up a house. That would necessarily be a work of time. There wasno good building material convenient. A stone house would cost a greatdeal of labour--as the stones would have to be carried nearly a mile,and in their hands too. That would never do, as Von Bloom might onlyremain a short while at that place. He might not find many elephantsthere, and of course would be under the necessity of going elsewhere.
Why not build a log-house? you will say. That would not be so much of ajob, as part of the country was well wooded, and they had an axe.
True, part of the country was wooded, but in a particular manner. Withthe exception of the nwana-trees, that stood at long distancesapart--and regularly, as if they had been planted--there was nothingthat deserved the name of timber. All the rest was mere "bush,"--athorny jungle of mimosas, euphorbias, arborescent aloes, strelitzias,and the horrid zamia plants, beautiful enough to the eye, but of noutility whatever in the building of a house. The nwanas, of course, weretoo large for house-logs. To have felled one of them would have been atask equal almost to the building of a house; and to have made planks ofthem would have required a steam saw-mill. A log-house was not to bethought of either.
Now a frail structure of poles and thatch would not have givensufficient security. An angry rhinoceros, or elephant, would level sucha house to the ground in a few moments.
Suppose, too, that there were man-eaters in the neighbourhood. Swartboybelieved that there were, and that that region was notorious for them.As it was not far from Swartboy's native country, Von Bloom, who hadreason to believe what the Bushman told him, was inclined to creditthis. What protection would a frail house afford against the man-eater?Not much, indeed.
Von Bloom was puzzled and perplexed. He could not commence his huntingexcursions until this question was settled. Some place must be prepared,where the children would be safe during his absence.
While revolving the subject in his mind, he happened to cast his eyesupward among the branches of the nwana-tree. All at once his attentionbecame fixed upon those huge limbs, for they had awakened within him astrange memory. He remembered having heard that, in some parts of thecountry, and perhaps not very far from where he then was, the nativeslive in trees. That sometimes a whole tribe, of fifty or more, maketheir home in a single tree; and do so to secure themselves againstsavage beasts, and sometimes equally savage men. That they build theirhouses upon platforms, which they erect upon the horizontal branches;and that they ascend by means of ladders, which are drawn up after themat night when they go to rest.
All this Von Bloom had heard, and all of it is positively true. Ofcourse the reflection occurred to him, why could he not do the same? Whycould he not build a house in the gigantic nwana? That would give himall the security he desired. There they could all sleep with perfectconfidence of safety. There, on going out to hunt, he could leave thechildren, with the certainty of finding them on his return. An admirableidea!--how about its practicability?
He began to consider this. If he only had planks to make a staging orplatform, the rest would be easy. Any slight roof would be sufficient upthere. The leaves almost formed a roof. But the flooring--this was thedifficulty. Where were planks to be got? Nowhere, in that neighbourhood.
His eye, at that moment, chanced to fall upon the wagon. Ha! there wereplanks there. But to break up his beautiful wagon? No--no--no! Such athing was not to be thought of. But stay! there was no need to break itup--no need to knock out a single nail. It would serve every purposewithout breaking a splinter off it. The fine vehicle was made to take topieces, and put up again at will.
He could take it to pieces. The broad bottom alone should remain whole.That of itself would be the platform. Hurrah!
The field-cornet, excited with the development of this fine plan, nowcommunicated it to the others. All agreed that it was just the thing;and as the day was before them, they made no more ado, but set aboutcarrying out the design.
A ladder thirty feet long had first to be constructed. This occupied agood while; but at length a stout rough article was knocked up, whichserved the purpose admirably. It gave them access to the lowermost limb;and from this they could construct steps to all the others.
Von Bloom ascended, and after careful examination chose the site of theplatform. This was to rest upon two strong horizontal limbs of equalheight, and diverging very gradually from each other. The quantity ofthick branches in the great tree afforded him a choice.
The wagon was now taken to pieces--a work of only a few minutes--and thefirst thing hauled up was the bottom. This was no slight performance,and required all the strength of the camp. Strong "rheims" were attachedto one end, and these were passed over a limb of the tree, still higherup than those on which the staging was to rest. One stood above to guidethe huge piece of plankwork, while all the rest exerted their strengthupon the ropes below. Even little Jan pulled with all his might--thougha single pound avoirdupois weight would have been about the measure ofhis strength.
The piece was hoisted up, until it rested beautifully upon thesupporting limbs; and then a cheer rose from below, and was answered bySwartboy among the branches.
The heaviest part of the work was over. The boxing of the wagon waspassed up, piece by piece, and set in its place just as before. Somebranches were lopped off to make room for the cap-tent; and then it wasalso hauled up, and mounted.
By the time the sun set, everything was in its place; and the aerialhouse was ready for sleeping in. In fact, that very night they slept init, or, as Hans jocularly termed it, they all went to "roost."
But they did not consider their new habitation quite complete as yet.Next day they continued to labour upon it. By means of long poles theyextended their platform from the wagon quite up to the trunk of thetree, so as to give them a broad terrace to move about upon.
The poles were fast wattled together by rods of the beautifulweeping-willow (_Salix Babylonica_), which is a native of these parts,and several trees of which grew by the side of the vley. Upon the top ofall, they laid a thick coating of clay, obtained from the edge of thelake; so that, if need be, they could actually kindle a fire, and cooktheir suppers in the tree.
To make a still finer flooring, they procured a quantity of the materialof which the ant-hills are composed; which, being of a glutinous nature,makes a mortar almost as binding as Roman cement.
After the main building had been finished off, Swartboy erected aplatform for himself, and one for Totty in another part of the amplenwana. Above each of these platforms he had constructed a roof orscreen, to shelter their occupants from rain or dew.
There was something odd in the appearance of these two screens, each ofwhich was about the size of an ordinary umbrella. Their oddity consistedin the fact that they were ears of the elephant!