Perseverance Island; Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century

by Douglas Frazar

  CHAPTER XI.

  Exploration of the island. Third day. Stalking goats. Mirror lake and river and bay. Sad moonlight thoughts.

  I awoke to still another pleasant day, having scarcely moved in myseaweed bed during the night. My first duty was to make my way to therunning brook and have a good wash, and then to look about me forbreakfast. I bethought myself all at once of the turtle that I had seenon the beach the previous day, and I made my way back to the placewhere I observed the marks of its ingress into the sea, and, lookingabout carefully, I soon found its eggs nicely covered up in the sand. Itook as many as I wanted and turned about and made my way back to camp,and soon had them roasting in the ashes.

  After breakfast I pushed my way a little into the island, and foundpleasant groves and fields, in one of the latter of which I observeda flock of goats feeding. They did not see me, and I found by thedirection of the wind that I was to leeward of them, and thereforebeyond their scent, and I determined to stalk them, or creep inupon them, and try to get a shot with my arrows. For this purpose Idivested myself of all extra articles, and, armed only with my bowand two arrows, and my knife in its sheath, I got upon my hands andknees and commenced the task. At first this was not difficult, for theanimals were at least two hundred yards distant from me, and by takingadvantage of different clumps of trees and shrubs I soon approachedwithin one hundred yards of them; but then my labors commenced. Ifelt that I must get very near to be sure of my aim with arrows, andto pierce them sufficiently deep to produce death; at least withintwenty-five yards.

  I made progress for some twenty or thirty yards quite well by keepingwithin range of intervening objects, but when I found myself withinabout sixty or seventy yards of them I found my task difficult, and Ihad often to lie upon my belly and drag myself along, inch by inch, soas not to be seen, and with one hand to clear the ground before me ofthe smallest twig or anything that would make the slightest noise whenmy body was passing over it. It took me a full hour to make twenty-fiveyards in this manner, which brought me within, as I should judge,thirty-five yards of them. Here my precautions had to be increased, andit was with infinite labor, and the expenditure of at least anotherhour (but what was time to me) before I found myself behind a low clumpof bushes, on the other side of which, not more than twenty yardsdistant, I could hear the goats feeding. Silently I fitted an arrow tothe string, and rising inch by inch till the muscles of my arms andthighs were nearly worn out from immovability, I saw through the thintops of the bushes one of the goats not fifteen paces from me. I wasat a fever heat of excitement, and drawing my arrow silently to thehead, and with the utmost force of my arm, I launched it at the game,and saw it pierce the goat through and through, who fell upon his side,but immediately regaining his feet made off with amazing swiftness;its companions, to the number of some six or eight, scattering inall directions. I followed as fast as possible on foot, and saw withsatisfaction that my game had not gone more than one hundred yardsbefore it began to waver and to lose its speed, and within the nextfifty yards, in the open field, to fall upon its side, and, just beforeI arrived, expire, in its fall breaking the arrow short off. I lookeddown upon the creature with exultation, for it was food, and good food,and I had won it by honest and persevering labor, and by means of whatin our day was considered a contemptible weapon.

  I took out my knife and cut the creature's throat and let the bloodescape, and then taking him--for it was a buck--by the hind-legs Ithrew him over my back and started for my camp on the rivulet, where Idumped him down beside my fire and commenced to skin him. This, withmy knife, I soon completed, and, cutting off some of the tender chopsI soon had them roasting on the coals, for, although I had breakfasteda few hours before, I could not resist the temptation of tasting freshmeat, which, on account of my sea voyage, it was so long since I hadenjoyed. I found it exceedingly good in flavor, but a little tough,my customer evidently being far from young. He carried a very handsomepair of curved horns, and a long, majestic beard. The hair was ofrather a finer texture than I expected to find it, and was not verylong or thick; another proof, I thought, of my theory of the mildnessof the climate. The animal was such a true, commonplace goat, such asone sees on whalers, that I felt convinced that the breed had at somelong-distant day been left on the island in this manner, but no signshad I yet found of the island having ever been lived upon or explored.Then, again, it might with great probability have been stocked fiftyor sixty years ago, and any signs of persons having been here, exceptthey had left enduring monuments of some kind, would long ago havebeen effaced or destroyed. I made up my mind to accept the blessingwithout puzzling my brains any more to find out how it happened thatthey were here. I was pained to know what to do with the large massof flesh that I had remaining, and having, at Buenos Ayres, seen thejerked beef of the prairies, I cut large portions of this creature intostrips and hung it on the surrounding trees and bushes to dry and curein the pure air. A large portion of what was left I roasted and put inmy bag, throwing away the remainder of the turtle steaks and gulls'eggs, of which I had become somewhat tired. All this brought me to theafternoon, and, packing up all my articles, after a good long smoke,harpoon in hand I started forth again, heading towards the westward.

  Two miles' walk brought me to an elevation running out into the sea,which was evidently the southern extremity of my island, and I markedit upon the chart _South Cape_, and the hill-top _Watch Hill_, for thereason that I could see from this position much further in both aneasterly and westerly direction than from any point upon the islandthat I had yet reached.

  To the right of me as I faced to the southward was a beautiful andlovely bay, at least a mile and a half deep and three-quarters wide,as smooth as glass, in which the shadows of the surrounding shores andhill-tops were pictured. I marked it down upon my chart as _MirrorBay_. Long and steadily I looked to the southward before leaving SouthCape, but no sign of land met my longing view. To the westward, onthe other side of Mirror Bay, trended the white sand beach, backed bygroves of beautiful trees which were in full verdure. Drinking in allthe beauties of Nature round about me, I turned my steps towards thehead of Mirror Bay, and in about a mile and a half came to a river ofconsiderable size pouring into it, which seemed of some depth, and wasat least thirty or forty yards wide. I followed this stream about amile and a half more, when, struggling along by the side of the river,which I named _Mirror River_, through a short undergrowth of a sort ofscrub oak, I all at once came out upon the most lovely lake imaginable,fringed round about by beautiful groves of trees, and looking likemolten lead or silver in its quietness and calm. I named it at once_Mirror Lake_, but in forcing my way to its margin, after having fora few moments enjoyed its beauties, I started up from its bordersinnumerable flocks of birds, amongst which I distinguished geese,swans, ducks, and other birds of which I knew not the name. I sat downupon the borders of this beautiful sheet of water and contemplated itin silence.

  After having enjoyed its beauties to my fill, I passed again to theriver bank to pass over and get again to the seaside, but I foundthe water rapid and quite deep, although not over my head, and I wasobliged to undress and carry my things over one by one, and to makeseveral trips before I stood with all my weapons round about me on thesouthwestern bank. This lake I should say was about one mile in extentand half a mile wide, of nearly an oval form, and its waters, whichI tasted and found excellent, singularly pure and limpid, with hard,sandy shores, and free from any slime or stagnant water. A walk of amile brought me again to the seaside, and I trudged on, I should judge,about three miles, till I saw a ledge of rocks jutting into the sea andconfining my vision as to the extent of the island in that direction.As I drew nearer I saw forms upon the rocks that looked like humanfigures,--like soldiers in full uniform,--but singularly small in size.For just one moment I was deceived,--nay, even frightened,--but thenext my sailor's eyes told me they were penguins, and sure enough, asI approached, my soldiers gravely plunged into the ocean and swam outseaward. I named the point, _Penguin
Point_, being the first of thesebirds that I had seen. From this point the coast ran in a northerlydirection in almost a straight line, but I had no time to examine itfurther on this day, for the beautiful sun was fast dipping into thewestern ocean before my eyes, with nothing to veil the magnificentsight. Eagerly did I look for land as its lower limb touched the waterand set it all in a blaze, but nothing met my view.

  I did not find here the thick, shady trees of the remainder of theisland; but short, stumpy cedars and pines, and I noticed that the landwas flat and sandy. I built a small fire so as to light my pipe andenjoy its company, and gathered together my customary bed of seaweed.The stars came out in all their brilliancy, and by and by the moon camecreeping up behind me over the island, but I could not sleep as usual.I was too solitary and desolate to enjoy that luxury of forgetfulness,and I sat for long hours into the night, listening to sounds that, inany but a sailor's ear, would have created fear and anxiety; for onthe ocean side I heard the never-ending pulsations and throbs of itsceaseless breathing, and inland the nameless noises of the night whichI had learned years before in anchor-watches in some distant river of afar-off clime. I was not afraid, but I was lonely, and in the agony ofmy spirit I prayed for rescue from my living tomb; but better feelingscame to my mind as the night wore on, and I thought over how much Ihad to be thankful for, and how many comforts I could get round aboutme with a little industry and foresight. I suppose that it was aboutmidnight when I put out my pipe and fell asleep; at any rate, when Iawoke it was broad daylight, and the sun at least two hours high.